Quote:
Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it.
My drink is spiked
You can hear some interesting conversations in a hawker centre if you share a table with others:
- She: Did you put something in my drink to make me fall in love with you?
- He: Yes, I did.
- She: I knew it.
- He: However, I also drank a little, so I'm also in love with you.
Other people's past is none of my business
News: Cyndi Wang resolves to face painful past with ex Fan Zhi Wei
Taiwan pop princess Cyndi Wang broke her silence with a blog post on Saturday where she resolved to face the fallout of her failed romance with ex-boyfriend Fan Zhi Wei, following his claims that she gave her first night to someone other than him.
"I thought I could preserve a little piece of a beautiful memory, escape a bad love affair, and that everything will blow over. It turns out that I have to face both the good and bad parts of a relationship. I will not be left off even if I forget everything," wrote Wang in a blog entry that manages to avoid directly stating Fan's name.
"We will all meet the right and wrong kind of person, so we have to learn to accept the joy and the sorrow that love brings," the 28-year-old wrote, adding that she had cried a lot at first but is now feeling better.
"I kept very quiet after the break-up and people said 'No wonder you don't dare to fall in love again'. But I still believe I will find the right person who will bring me a good romantic relationship... I don't want people who care for me and bystanders to feel that falling in love is a scary proposition."
This comes weeks after Taiwan actor Fan Zhi Wei had earlier posted a photo of himself bare-bodied with Wang pressed intimately against him showing a 'V' sign. The photo was taken seven years ago.
Fan, 30, had also suggested on Thursday that he was not Wang's first partner, said Chinese media.
"I thought she was 17 and her first time was given to me (Fan was 19 at the time), but it wasn't the case. In fact I was a little disappointed, because she was only 17, even I felt it's a little unbelievable," Fan told a Chinese entertainment website.
Fan insinuated that Wang's previous boyfriend Edward Ou, 29, who starred in the Mainland adaptation of "Meteor Garden" and later became penniless after a failed acting career, was responsible. Fan even suggested that Ou tried to kill himself when he broke up with Wang.
Ou, on the other hand, recently admitted that he was indeed Wang's first love and did try to off himself, but insisted that they broke it off after just two months and that he "really never touched her'.
Wang reportedly broke down and was inconsolable after finding out about Fan's statements. She even had to take a break for a few days to calm down. She did not respond to Ou's claims.
Fan publicly apologised on Sunday for what he said and blamed the media for twisting his words and allegedly setting him up.
However, it appears this will do him little good: Wang's latest blog post also mentioned that her management company will seek stern legal action against him for harming her reputation.
I came across this news by accident. I have no idea who these people are. I don't think I've seen their faces or their shows. And I don't care what they did in the past. However, two thoughts came to me immediately.
First, why now? That was almost 11 years ago.
Second, apparently the girl still minds. 11 years ago? It seems she minds people knowing about it.
I'm usually pretty forgiving of a person's past, because the past cannot be changed. Therefore, I usually don't give much thoughts about these "scandals", although they may make for sensational news.
Outsmarted by a smart software
I had to gave a presentation, but I did not copy the files to my notebook. Instead, I just pre-opened them in PowerPoint 2007.
I was unable to reach my PC in the meeting room. It worked in my cube. Nevermind, I should still be able to access my already opened presentations, right?
It turned out PowerPoint 2007, for whatever reason, would keep checking the file status. It hung as a result. I was failed by both the network and the application.
Software can be too smart for its own good.
Got my wish, but it is too late
My office "industrial park" has two entrances on the ground level, but has only one exit. It is very inconvenient if you really want to go to the entrance-only road, so many people drove against traffic and turned out from it anyway.
The landlord eventually installed a CCTV and warned drivers not to turn out from there. That stopped most people, but I still see cars exiting from it from time to time.
Even before that, I had requested our admin to ask the landlord to make it into a bi-directional entrance. They said they would do it as part of the upgrading. In other words, don't hold your breath.
Finally, after two years, the new buildings were completed and the road was changed. But it does not matter anymore. My company is going to move away in less than two weeks' time.
New phone; first thoughts
The bad
The Motorola Milestone is slightly bigger and heavier than my old Nokia 6510, so it just barely fits into my pocket. Plus, I can't put other things, such as keys and coins, in the pocket — to avoid scratching the screen.
I also find it harder to glance at the time. I need to press a button to turn the screen on first.
As for the phone itself, I only found several shortcomings:
- The tilt sensor is not very sensitive. The phone is sometimes stuck in portrait mode and refuse to enter landscape mode.
- It is all too easy to press the volume buttons while handling the phone, so the phone enter silent mode and you wonder why you never get a call.
- The phone's alarm does not ring when it is asleep. Do I need to dock it to get it to ring?
- When the data connection is lost, it is sometimes necessary to reboot the phone to restore it. This is potentially a show-stopper.
- The on-screen QWERTY keyboard is hard to use in portrait mode. But this is hardly the fault of the phone. The screen is just too small for my fat fingers. Still, I try to use it as I prefer not to slide the physical keyboard out.
The good
The phone is very responsive and the UI is pretty inituitive otherwise. You can learn all the gestures in 5 minutes — smart phones are all about gestures.
I'm still in the dumb phone mentality, so I have not used the phone to its full capabilities. I have just started to use it as a portable music player and explore the Calendar feature. I doubt I will use the camera feature as I carry a dedicated camera with me all the time.
I have not used the Maps feature much, but it could be a game-changing feature. Just today, when I was asked for the carpark number when I applied for my season parking, I said I didn't know. I could have whipped out my phone and looked for it. (It didn't dawn to me then.)
The My Location feature is somewhat related and is also a game-changing feature. It can be used by locality-aware apps to show all the attractions and facilities nearby. Can't find an ATM or petrol station nearby? Now you can. You'll wonder how you live without it.
One thing I have done is to surf net extensively. It is so liberating to be able to surf net — and get information — everywhere. The screen is small, but it works decently. (It could be better, of course.) The built-in cursor pad is essential to click on most of the links.
Losing your number
Singapore has true number portability since June 2008. Before that, you either lose your number or you have to opt for call-forwarding.
Call forwarding was an option since 1997, but it was not popular, with just 130,000 subscribers out of 5.8 million mobile phone users. It was either not free, or it was not seamless.
I remember I had to update my contact list once in a while in early 2000s, as my contacts switched operators due to better offers. Some of them did so even though they had a nice number. I always thought that was such a pity.
Another reason why people change numbers is because they switch from post-paid to pre-paid. The cheapest subscription is around $12/month. For a low-usage user like me, I can easily survive on $3/month on pre-paid. However, I resisted switching because I wanted to keep my number.
(I think pre-paid and post-paid numbers do not overlap.)
Pre-paid is only meant for voice calls. If you want data plans, you got to go post-paid, and when you do, you got to change your number again.
From Stone Age to Space Age
On the left: Nokia 6510 (97 x 43 x 20 mm, 84g, standby 6+ days), intro 2002
On the right: Motorola Milestone (115.8 x 60 x 13.7 mm, 165g, standby 2 days), intro 2010
I believe I got the Nokia 6510 in 2004, when it was free (or nearly free) because it was EOL. Over the years, the screen had cracked, the keys became unresponsive, the power button was semi-stuck after an unscheduled "drop" test, and the battery lasting just ~3 days.
Yet, I did not upgrade my phone after my phone contract was up, even when later EOL phones had color screen, camera, could play MP3s and were nearly free. (I'm such a cheapo. :lol:)
The reason?
The N6510 is small and light, it is good enough, and I'm used to it.
But the phone is slowly falling apart, so it is time to look for a replacement. I wanted to get a no-frills phone, but the Motorola Milestone was such a steal that I could not resist the deal.
| Phone | $298 | |
| Upfront discount | -$100 | |
| Port-in discount | -$100 | Switch from other telcos |
| New sign-up | -$50 | If you have an existing StarHub service |
Under the best circumstances, you can get the phone for just $48! If you don't qualify for the $50 off, you'll still get a $50 Robinsons voucher and two movie tickets, which is not a bad deal either.
Another consideration is the line plan. There is no point getting a cheap phone and ending up with an expensive plan — it'll be like paying by installment.
The StarHub 3G SmartSurf 100 gives 100 mins talk time with free incoming, 500 SMS/MMS, 12 GB data at $38/month. In case you exceed 12 GB data, the data bill is capped at $30. This is very important because 1 MB costs $3.48!
To sweeten the deal, the corporate plan is 20% off and throws in free caller-ID and auto-roaming.
No need to think!
It is over if you are late
I value punctuality. When you make an appointment at a certain time, you should be there. I don't care that you were punctual for the last ten times. I only remember the one time you are late — because it really annoys me to waste my time doing nothing.
(Or, at least have the courtesy to notify me early so that I can change my plans.)
That's me. Thus, I try to be the same towards others.
I needed to reach a certain place by 6:15pm. I usually leave at 5:45pm, but the sky was getting darker by the minute, so I decided to leave at 5:30pm. But before that, I went to check if my colleague had done a certain test.
He had not. Did he not know how to do it? Ok, I repeated the steps to him. (We had gone through it earlier.) But he wanted me to stay on, because he claimed to encounter problems along the way. (They were trivial problems; nothing we had not seen before.)
Fine, I stayed on to observe him perform one set of test. So he should be able to perform the same steps on a different version? I need to leave, I told him. No, he told me to stay on to observe.
I looked at the time. I would be cutting it very close, especially with the unfriendly sky. The second test went without a hitch. Now for the third set of test. It was 5:50pm. I really have to leave, I told him, and surely he knew what to do by now.
When I went to the carpark, it just started to rain. I could not leave. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. What was it that I was feeling? Anger? Frustration? Disappointment?
Almost with tears in my eyes, I went back to office to watch my colleague perform his third set of test.
Is regression testing so difficult?
Our test team reported a regression defect for a near-to-launch product. Everyone is very jumpy whenever a new defect is found for such products.
A feature used to work two weeks ago, now it doesn't. My team is responsible for the frontend, so the defect first came to us.
The first logical question is, are we still sending the same update transaction to the backend?
I captured the transaction from the latest code and sent it to the developer responsible. He replied that he doesn't know. Only the backend can verify it.
What? The update transaction is a contract between us and the backend. He has been working on this from the beginning and he doesn't know it at a glance by now?
Okay, nevermind, we'll do a regression test then:
- Flash in current firmware
- Observe update fails; capture update transaction
- Flash in old firmware
- Observe update succeeds; capture update transaction
Is it really so difficult that I must be present to instruct every step for him?
(It turns out we are sending the same update transaction, so the defect is due to the backend.)
I am really hurt.
A close shave with my domain name
My domain name (smallapple.net) was registered on 16 April 2003. It is an annual ritual to renew it. I forgot to do so this year and it actually lapsed. I sort of panicked when it was brought to my attention. It was alright in the morning, but when the magic hour passed at night, boom, no more access.
(It wasn't really instantaneous, as the name needed to be propagated through the DNS network. That's why I was still able to access it until yesterday night.)
I quickly emailed my web hosting company and they were able to renew my domain name for me — even before receiving my payment. :phew:
(In the past, once a domain expired, it was really gone. I googled and apparently there may be a grace period now — depending on the registrar and zone.)
smallapple.net, where did I get the name from?
Friends who knew me from my university days thought it came from the girl I had a crush on. Her name translates literally to "small apple". Nope, it was not entirely true.
Believe it or not, I actually got the name from Apple. Yes, the Apple computer company that I don't really like. I like the design of Apple products, but I don't like how Apple controls/restricts their usage.
It then struck me that Big Apple was a nickname for New York. I've always like this name, so I wanted to use it. It was then that I realized Small Apple was more meaningful to me, so I used it instead. And that was how my domain name came to be.
(In hindsight, I should have gone with Big Apple as it was shorter. :lol:)
Why I chose the Sony TX5 over the TX7
There are 3 things I like about the TX5: waterproof, 230k 3" LCD and 720p video.
What about the TX7? Not-waterproof, 921k 3.5" LCD and 1080i video.
The TX5 has one great advantage over the TX7: waterproofness. However, it is just a slight win for me as I won't use it much. (Sony devoted many pages to using this feature properly — it is not 100% hassle-free.)
As for the LCD and video, I actually prefer the TX5 specs! That is the main reason why I got the TX5.
A smaller LCD means a smaller camera and better battery life. 720p video means smaller video files. (I believe so even though the TX7 uses the more advanced AVC encoder.)
Sony and Recommended Retail Price (RRP)
When I got the T50 in late 2006, Sony had a strict RRP policy. It was selling for the same price (S$700) everywhere, so I got the camera at a Sony outlet.
When I shopped for the TX5, I thought it was the same, but I called up two other shops just to be sure. RRP: S$599. First shop: S$550. Hmm, not bad. Second shop: S$540. Wow, even better!
(It is good enough for me. I read it was available for S$530 on some road shows.)
Sony still maintains the S$700 price point for its flagship carry-everywhere camera after all these years. The TX5 is not the flagship, the TX7 is. However, I feel the TX5 is better than the TX7.
A new generation of "everywhere" cameras: the TX5
Key specs:
- Wide angle 25mm
- High ISO 3200
- Waterproof (not just water resistant)
- 3" LCD
- 250 images/charge
Some neat processing:
- HDR (High Dynamic Range) using 2 images
- Cleaner images using 6 stacked images
- Intelligent Sweep Panorama – auto-stitched panoramic photos
Some initial likes:
- 10 Mpx and 3" LCD is a sweetspot
- Touchscreen interface is easy to use
Some initial dislikes:
- Wide angle is harder to use (perspective distortion)
- Glossy finish leaves lots of fingerprints
- Need to open battery compartment to connect to PC (due to waterproof feature)
- Worried about battery life, especially with the special features
The T50 snapshot "everywhere" workhorse camera
November 2006 to April 2010.
The Sony CyberShot T50 is one of the first snapshot cameras that work well in low-light (ISO 1000, anti-shake and denoise). It still works pretty well today, just that low-light quality has dramatically improved recently with new sensor technology and improved software processing.
The T50 is also one of the first (if not the first) touchscreen cameras. I thought a touchscreen interface was a gimmick. Now, I won't get a non-touchscreen device.
Last photo counter before I retire the camera: 9359.
So long, and thanks for all the fish.
One person can cause a traffic jam
A truck parks on the 3rd lane of the busy 3-lane Pioneer North road every morning.
I am already annoyed if anyone does that on a clear road (it forces me out of the 3rd lane when I'm going slow), but on a busy road? That's just plain inconsideration.
Why am I so harsh towards such offenders? 2 usable lanes out of 3 lanes doesn't mean the speed drop only by 1/3. Based on real-world observations, the speed drops by 3x at least! Merging lanes are very slow.
Now, the truck could be unloading, which is allowed on a double-yellow line, but it is still a very inconsiderate behaviour. Plus, loading/unloading implies an immediate short action, not something that takes over 5 minutes.
Time to write in to Traffic Police.
Unable to move whether light is red or green
Every morning, there is a queue of cars waiting to turn left from Jurong West Ave 2 to Corporation road.
When the traffic light is red, the queue cannot move because cars turn in from the opposite side. This is expected.
When the traffic light is green, the queue still cannot move because cars bypass the left-turn slip road and turn in from the junction instead.
Well done, folks!
Guess what, I'm going to spoil your party and write in to Traffic Police. This is a $70 donation if I'm not wrong — making a left-turn where not allowed.
A hundred pictures a day keep your memory fresh
Last photo counter before I lent my brother my camera: 7455.
First photo counter after I got my camera back: 9151.
1696 pictures in two weeks? Not bad.
I don't know how my brother used my camera, though. The camera was in macro mode and using 3 Mpx (instead of its native 7.2 Mpx).
The Asus 1201N conspiracy theory
The Asus 1201N never made it to Singapore. Asus has announced its successor: the Asus 1201PN.
Specs: 1.6 GHz Atom N450, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB HD, ION 2, 12" LCD.
The 1201PN is actually lower spec than the 1201N!
It uses a single-core N450 instead of the dual-core N330. The only consolation is that it is much more energy efficient.
It only allows max 2 GB RAM (vs 3 GB). This is sufficient today, but there is no headroom for the next 2-3 years.
It uses a smaller HD too (160 GB vs 250 GB), although it is still enough for me.
It uses ION 2, which may or may not be better than ION. ION 2 has better specs, but it does not have a dedicated bus, which reduces its throughput.
Why is the Asus 1201N replaced so quickly (less than 6 months)?
A straightforward answer: it uses the wrong processor. The Atom N330 is meant for desktop use. The processor family is also phased out. Current netbooks all use Pine Trail Atoms.
Here's what I think: the Asus 1201N is too close to a ultra-light notebook. It is re-spec to make it less attractive.
Will I get the Asus 1201PN? No. I'll wait for a dual-core netbook. That may take another a year. :-(
Not giving way
I'm sorry to the driver of a particular BMW 5-series. I didn't give way to you because of your car. It is nothing personal.
Now, if you drive the BMW 6-series, I would have given way. :lol:
I've got a better deal than you
News: High price of peer pressure
A friend recently bought an apartment and e-mailed me to tell me the good news.
'Did I tell you I finally bought a place? It's in Bukit Timah,' he said. 'Have you bought yours yet?'
'Congratulations,' I replied. 'Yup, we bought an apartment just across the road from our old place.'
'Huh? Why don't you want to move somewhere else?' he asked.
'Well, I really like our location,' I said. 'It's quite close to town and the traffic there is smooth.'
'I prefer Bukit Timah,' came the quick response. 'I think my location is better.'
The rest of the conversation was about how much I had paid for my home, down to the dollar amount per sq ft ('Mine is cheaper,' my friend said); what loan I had taken ('I guess you're more conservative than I am'); and which contractor I was using for my renovations ('Send me your quote, I want to see if mine is better').
By the time I'd finished talking to him, I felt as exhausted as if I had run a marathon - against someone who had decided from the get-go that I had already lost.
Some call it a rat race. To me, it feels more like a shooting competition, only using your friends as targets.
Of course, most of the conversations I have with my friends about Important Life Decisions don't go like this.
While we sometimes compare cars, homes and diamond rings, invariably we all end up assuring others that they've made the best decisions for their own lives. That's what friends are for, after all.
But every once in a while, one of my peers will interrogate me on my lifestyle in a way that makes me feel like there's an invisible but giant scoreboard in the sky.
Not only do they want to know everything I've bought and how much I paid, but they also want to tell me why their choices were all better than mine.
My new home is 10 minutes from Orchard Road? Theirs is 81/2 minutes away. I can walk to the MRT from my place? They'll have an MRT station too, you know - in 2020. And a new hospital nearby. And a park connector.
Wait till you have children, one of my friends told me. The comparisons will get 10 times worse: 'So how's your kid doing? Mine's taking Japanese and Arabic classes, got his Grade 8 in piano last month, and has taken up abstract painting.'
Most of the time, these hyper-competitive conversations are as amusing as they are annoying. But having too many of them can make it feel like the natural process of becoming an adult has turned into a dispiriting game of one-upmanship.
To be fair, it's not hard to understand this behaviour.
For years, my peers and I went through pretty much the same life experiences: We attended the same schools, had the same extracurricular activities, and were mostly offered the same opportunities.
But despite these shared paths in youth, not everyone is finding his first steps in adulthood equally easy.
Some save up for a few years to buy their first flat in Sengkang, and then wait three more years for it to be ready. Others, often with their parents' help, drive BMWs and think nothing of buying a million-dollar condominium for their first home.
To make things worse, even though my former classmates and I may have done similarly well in school, in many cases our income levels started diverging almost from the moment we started work.
This isn't necessarily because some of us work harder or are smarter than the rest, but simply because different industries and companies pay differently, and sometimes all it boils down to is being in the right place at the right time.
So it's little wonder that people in my generation, born and bred on a diet of meritocracy, are finding it hard to swallow any disparity in starting pay and starter assets.
To reassure themselves that they're still on the right track, they constantly compare themselves with their peers. In the process, sometimes unconsciously, they end up putting everyone else down.
It's been drilled into us that we should not judge someone by his possessions and just be content with what we have. But in real life, this state of zen is almost impossible to achieve, especially when you're counting the days to your next pay cheque while your friends have lost count of the designer stuff they own.
Still, life doesn't have to be a zero-sum game. For people my age, it wasn't so long ago when having a friend with a big house meant only one thing: more room in which all of us could play.
Among my closest friends, one person's windfall still has a way of becoming everyone's good fortune. Whoever is earning more or has just received a big bonus will insist on paying for dinner, and those who live in bigger or centrally located houses usually offer to host gatherings.
This can only happen because we're all open with one another about how much we earn and spend - and that is in turn possible only because we don't see our friends' successes as somehow being a reflection on our own failures.
Of course, this harmony may not last after we all have kids. So I'm going to train mine to play the ukulele and become experts in lawn croquet.
That way, the only thing they'll ever be able to compare with their peers meaningfully is how lousy their parents were.
Chinese are naturally competitive, no matter where they are.
Many cabs, just not where you want them
News: Where have all the cabs gone?
FOR Ms Lynne Koh, 26, going to work at 8am every morning used to be a breeze - until about a month ago.
The marketing officer, who lives in Hougang and works in an architecture firm in Tampines, usually got a confirmation within 10 minutes of making a taxi-booking call.
However, these days, even a wait twice that time on the phone does not guarantee a cab.
"It's very frustrating. I make an effort to wake up earlier but reach the office later. I can't get a cab, even when I'm prepared to pay the booking fee," she complained.
Ms Koh is among a growing number of young executives living in Housing Board suburbs who have been experiencing trouble lately getting cabs on weekday mornings.
So, why is it so tough to get taxis? It appears that many cabbies have decided to make a beeline for the Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) integrated resort, where there is a guaranteed line of passengers every morning since it opened in the middle of last month.
This was borne out by the observations made by six out of 10 cabbies my paper spoke to: They noticed more people are queueing for cabs at Sentosa or in the Harbourfront area in the morning.
They said that numerous visitors to the 24-hour integrated resort (IR) have been staying there overnight.
As a result, there is a spike in the demand for cabs to ferry them back home or to work the next morning.
This has resulted in a stream of taxis flocking to the Harbourfront area - and a concomitant shortage of cabs elsewhere.
Ms Tammy Tan, the group corporate communications officer of ComfortDelGro, which runs Comfort taxis and City- Cabs, confirmed: "We have seen an increase in taxi demand in the (Harbourfront and Sentosa) area since Resorts World opened."
A spokesman for SMRT Taxis said the company is unable to provide a number for bookings by location, but added that it "experienced an increase in call bookings in the past three months", as compared with the same period last year.
Its taxi counter at VivoCity, a shopping centre near Sentosa, "also registered an increase in trips", she said.
An RWS spokesman said the IR does not have records of the number of people who remain at its premises overnight.
However, he noted that RWS seldom sees long, stationary queues for cabs.
"There are people waiting at the taxi stands, but the queue moves quite smoothly," he said.
Comfort cab driver Ong Teck Yi, who is in his 50s, said he used to drive to the Bukit Timah area to pick up customers in the morning.
But since RWS opened last month, he has taken to swinging down to that area. Aside from the fact that he lives nearby, he knows that he will be able to pick up passengers there.
The area has become a pick-up hot spot, like Changi Airport, Mr Ong said, adding that the clientele there is a mix of tourists and Singaporeans.
He described the passengers he picks up as typically men in their late 20s to 50s.
They usually request to be driven home, to Woodlands Checkpoint or to the Central Business District (CBD), he said. He added that, out of curiosity, he had asked his passengers why they wanted to go to the CBD. They explained that they were going straight to work after a night at the casino.
One such customer, who wants to be known only as Mr Tan, 28, works in the banking industry.
He told my paper that he had gone for two separate overnight sessions at the RWS casino.
The second time, he went right to work the morning after.
Mr Tan usually goes with a friend, who also heads to work after a night out. "It's very exciting knowing you just spent the whole night out and doing something that is likely to be frowned upon by your boss," he said.
He added that on the second occasion, when he won a few hundred bucks, it felt "like a one-night stand, but even better, because I have something to show for it the next day".
Mr Tan would book a cab when he wanted to leave the IR, regardless of whether he made a killing.
"I feel weird taking public transport after spending hours at the casino, which is so grand and so different from everyday life," he said. "Plus, I don't want to be late for work and have people asking why."
When told that there are people elsewhere in Singapore who are facing difficulty getting cabs because of the concentrated demand at the IR, he shrugged and said they have to come up with their own solutions, as "this demand is here to stay for some time".
Indeed, for commuters such as Ms Koh, it seems they are resigned to the fact that they have to book taxis earlier or find other forms of transport.
"If this doesn't stop, I guess I?ll have to find other ways to get to work, such as carpooling," she said.
Let me guess: cab booking fee is going up.
Personally, I would have suspected that the cab drivers went to RWS to gamble themselves!
Many things can happen
This exchange was eavesdropped in a university hostel carpark:
- She: It is dangerous for us to be alone in my room. Many things can happen in a room.
- He: Then we should not go to parks either. Many things can happen in a park. At night. In a car. With reflectors.
Many things can happen, but they may also not happen. :lol:
Chasing up the COE
Fresh off the press:
| Category | $ | Filled | Unfilled | Unused |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A (<=1600cc) | 34,001 | 597 | 782 | 108 |
| B (>1600cc) | 45,501 | 571 | 287 | 0 |
| C (goods) | 36,511 | 167 | 162 | 13 |
| E (open) | 49,000 | 328 | 528 | 44 |
Cat A price will be pressed down at the next bid due to the high number of unused quota.
Grab your towels and don't panic. COE price will come down in 6 months time — after these kan cheong spider people get their COE paper. (Don't rely on my advice because I have no money on the table.)
High COE price will discourage genuine drivers from selling their low COE cars (the first step towards deregistration), so there will be fewer COE quota. However, people are also less likely to renew their COE at the 10-year mark, so there will be COE being released.
(Marginal car owners will sell their cars to "take profit". However, the cars will remain in the second hand market and no new COE will be released.)
Wrong choice of words
I won't watch my words. I will be my real self. Sometimes, I choose the wrong words due to my limited vocabulary. I'm sorry. I don't mean that.
The real stress test
Due to a lack of space, I put one development device on one side of my cube opposite from the power socket. I promptly tripped over the power cable. The device barely survive the fall.
After tripping over the cable one more time, I placed the device on the same side as the power socket. I stacked it on top of another device. The power cable was dangling out.
I tripped it again when I entered my cube too quickly. My badge hooked onto the power cable and dragged the device down.
I'm doing a lot of "stress" test for this device.
Getting less and less bike friendly
News: Motorcyclists have it bad
RazorTV's cameraman Raju was about to make his first visit to the newly-open City Square Mall at Kitchener Road.
But just as he approached the entrance to the mall's multi-storey car park, two security guards were quick to stop him in his tracks. He was told to leave the building and look for a parking lot elsewhere.
The security guards had nothing against him. But their management has a policy against motorbikes.
Raju asked for a reason to the No Motorbike rule, but all he got was an impatient response from one of the security guards.
"I said cannot park means cannot park. You don't understand me."
Many motorcyclists who have been turned away in a similar manner are likely to bear a grudge against these commercial buildings.
They find that such a policy is discriminatory towards customers who come in smaller vehicles.
In Raju's case, riding a big BMW motorcycle did not give him any edge.
Not only was he turned away at City Square Mall, he was also barred from entering Sentosa on his motorbike.
"Singapore is a great place to have motorbikes. I'm surprised it is not more motorbike friendly," commented an expatriate who lives in Singapore.
She has also been turned away at the Sentosa's gantry. Her baby-blue motor scooter was the culprit.
Last year, about 100 motorcyclists signed an online petition requesting for access to Sentosa.
The petition, however, was not submitted to Sentosa Leisure Group as the number of signatures gathered were not significant enough.
But motorcyclists should be heartened to learn that their pleas have not completely gone unheard.
Although some commercial buildings like City Square Mall are determined to stand by their No Motorbikes policy, they are also in the process of putting up more prominent "warning signs" to minimise inconvenience to motorcyclists.
Sentosa has already installed a "No Motorcycles" sign at the start of the Sentosa Gateway at the beginning of this year. A similar alert is also up on its website.
City Square Mall will be putting up signboards to direct motorcyclists to alternative parking lots in the vicinity.
These commercial entities emphasise that they turn away motorcyclists out of safety concerns.
They also do not see motorcyclists as less valued customers with less spending power.
But if you think Singapore can afford to be more motorbike-friendly, do share your suggestions here.
Sometimes it pays to voice your grievances if you want more to be done. And meanwhile, don't miss Raju's eventful journey.
The lack of motorcycle parking is getting worse all the time.
I don't mind paying, but it must use a reasonable formula. Per-minute charging works well. Per-entry (even if $0.65) is not worth it for parking less than an hour, especially if I am going to several such places.
The "storm" in the reservoir
I was at a reservoir admiring the calm black water, the silhouette of the trees and the dark purplish sky. In the distance, I could see some lights, which I think is from the Night Safari. I'm not going to swim over to find out, though.
All of a sudden, a gang of six girls came to decorate a pavillion near me. (It is a small reservoir, so the pavillion is near every park goer.) They were extremely noisy and the balloons they blew kept exploding. They were dressed very casually and looked very young. I would have guessed JC or poly, but they must be at least 18 because one of them drove here. (I overheard "car keys" at a distance of some 30 metres.)
What were they up to? An orientation? Didn't look like the right time of the year. A camp? School holidays were over. A party — in the middle of the week? It turned out to be a birthday bash. But why at night? Were they planning a midnight celebration? (Turning 18 or 21, whichever the magical coming-of-age is.)
I didn't mind the noise. Youngsters are always full of energy. However, someone did and told them to keep the noise down. They argued for a while. The guy mentioned something about being "quiet" and one of the girls retorted something about a "hotel room". In the end, the guy gave up and went back to his bench.
A while later, I saw a police wagon. I thought it was a routine patrol. Oh no, are they going to fine my illegally parked motorbike? Nevermind, I'll claim I didn't see any motorcycle parking lots in the dark — which is the truth. However, I know the patrol police usually won't care unless someone complained. (This can be good or bad.)
When I left, I was surprised to see the police wagon still there. Two police officers were talking to some of the girls. Ah, I see what's going on. The guy must have called the police to report a disturbance! Ha, no wonder the girls became so quiet!
I don't see why the police needed to talk to them for so long. I suspect they were not supposed to decorate the pavillion.
Well, it was not quite the quiet night people were hoping for. Many people were upset instead. The guy, the girls and not forgetting the two policemen who had to come down to settle such a trivial issue.