the 18 who did nothing

The China double hit-and-run case has stirred up a wave of criticism on the 18 passerbys who did not offer help to the 2 years old girl, and the state of moral value in the country. While I think no one will dispute that it was a sad case that such incident happened, but I was quite disturbed by the sudden appearances of so many moral policemen.

It is very easy to make comments when you are miles away from the scene, more bystanders than the 18 passerbys. Have you been to China? How much do you understand the society? Have you heard of cases when drivers stopped to offer help to broken down vehicles on the highway only to be robbed? Have you heard of people helping fallen down old people only to be accused of pushing them? Have you heard of people helping a lost child in the department store then to be accused of abduction? If you haven't, then you may want to think again whether you had make an unfair judgement on the 18 passerbys who didn't offer help. If you were at the scene, would you have done otherwise? (this is a question which I myself don't have a sure answer)

Closer to home, have we always been doing the so-called morally right things? As a student when the invilgilator has said stop, have you reported anyone who was still scribbing away? When you see people tossing the cigarrette butt or tissue paper on the road, have you told them off? Even simpler, do you move to the back of the bus?

Donating a dollar or two on flag day doesn't mean you are a better person than any of the 18.

lesson from the colonel?

While I am not trying to glorify or condemn him, but how many people can rise to become head of a nation at the age of 27 like Colonel Muammar Gaddafi did? It was also reported that when Gaddafi led a bloodless coup to overthrow the monarchy in 1969, he ended poverty in Libya and brought the living standard to be highest in Africa.

There was this sort-of related incident I had. It was during an International Relations class back in secondary school. The teacher was talking about Libya when he asked the class who was the political leader of Libya. Me being the not-so-innocent student back then, knew the answer and said the answer out. However, I was also NOT the teacher's pet student. So, eventhough I was right in front of him when I gave the answer, he pretended not to have heard it and waited half a minute, expecting his pet scholars-to-be students to give the answer. None given. Sometimes this kind of favouritism and elitism really sucks.

Now I remember, I didn't raise my hand. My bad.

china's revolution, 100 years or beyond?

This year marks 100th anniversary of the Chinese Revolution (aka Xinhai Revolution). My closest participation (not in the revolution itself) would be checking out the exhibition at Hong Kong Museum of History back in May.

The centennial brings about many relevant discussion. Many countries talk about their historical involvement in the revolution (like how Mr Sun Yat-sen stopped over, etc). Then the debate on PRC and ROC, and Taiwan's identity. I think such discussions are not so straight forward, as they depend a lot on which angle you are looking from, and looking at. Is monarchy really a bad thing? Can you consider the Tongmenhui as a secret society? Was it wrong that Sun Yat-sen sought Japanese help? Was he a rebel? Was Mao Zedong himself counter-revolutionary by overthrowing the Kuomintang, and now China (PRC) celebrating the revolution that they overthrew (or rather, forced to the island of Taiwan)?

Can I bring the flag with white sun in blue background into China? No.

going on circle

Today is the opening of the full Circle Line, adding yet another mileage to Singapore's MRT network.

We were kind of out of ideas for things to do on this Saturday, so we decided to hop onto the Circle Line and take the chance to visit Clementi, a Western part of Singapore which I haven't been to for a while. Yes, could have gone to Boon Lay but no thanks.

Just to be clear, the Circle Line was opened in stages with the first stage being Bartley to Marymount, second stage the Eastern end of the loop from Tai Seng to Dhoby Ghaut, and now the final portion in the West from Caldecott to Harbourfront. In fact I travel on the Circle Line quite often even before today's full opening, so not much surprise. It wasn't so much about checking out new trains and new tunnels, more like finding out the travelling time to see if I can take this route when I go to work next week. Of course, with the Circle Line it felt less of a mood-spoiler to go to the Western part of Singapore. One weird thing I experienced today was that while the display board at the Station said the train was heading towards Harbourfront, we were only told near reaching Buona Vista that the train would terminate at one-north. This was kind of like once when I boarded a train heading to Jurong East but ended up terminating at Yishun. Bummer.

Just to complete the circle, we took a series of bus rides for the return journey. Interesting journey, we passed by Bukit Merah, Chinatown, Little India, etc. Lots of "street views". No doubt, that would require the luxury of time, but at $1.8 with free sceneries, it kind of beat the $2+ underground ride. That is, like I said, if you have the time.

an apple that changed the world

It was as if a joke was being played when news of Steve Jobs' passing on came out right after the launch of iPhone 4S.

I'm not a fanboi of Apple, I don't wear turtleneck, the only Apple product I have is probably the free QuickTime player. The closest link I have with Apple is that I got invited to join as a design engineer. In fact I kind of have negative view on people who like to stay glued to the iPhone or iPad screen even in front of the MRT station's escalator. But that does not dispute the fact that Steve Jobs have changed the way people live. From the way people are glued to the screen (again), the way people queue up just to be the first to let Apple earn their money, the way people worship Steve, the way authorized retailers (are there unauthorized ones?) are opening up every few steps in town, the way down the supply chain some workers are committing suicide in a factory in China manufacturing Apple products, etc etc. I am not attributing all these to him, just like no one would dispute the inventor of gunpowder was a great mind. But this phenomena could have been different.

Someone said 3 apples changed the world: one from Adam, one from Newtown, and one from Steve Jobs.

practical engineering problem - washing machine

After sitting for the Fundamentals of Engineering Examination, I bumped into a real-life practical engineering problem at home.

When I started up the washing machine, it was taking in water so slowly it looked more like dripping. I vaguely recalled previously the washing machine also did act weirdly, so I tried adjusting the drainage hose. No avail. If it was not the out, then it must be the in.

We opened up the top panel and located the inlet valve. The worst fear would be a faulty circuit board of a fuzzy logic washing machine, cos that's pretty much beyond DIY. The inlet valve looks something like the diagram above. It consists of a solenoid which will pull in the diaphragm when a current passes through the coil. It's not simply letting water coming in, it involves some pressure differentiate, etc etc. We tested the resistance of the solenoid, no problem. We bypassed the circuit board and passed a 220v ac current through it, no problem. Ended up it was the rubber diaphragm which was worn and torn, causing the solenoid valve not able to produce the pressure differentiate to open up the valve properly.

Now the next problem is, where to find a replacement diaphragm? (I actually have contacted the manufacturer. But why would they help you when they could very well sell you a new machine? See how it goes)