Weighing Scale

Funny Bus Stop...This is real in Singapore (Near Newton-Bt Timah Rd)

Funny bus stop spotted by someone. The bus stop is blocked completed by barrier, so if the bus stops right in front of the bus stop, either the passenger will have walk to the petrol station (in the background) which is a rather long walk before walking the same long distance back to the bus stop again or they could climb over the barriers.

Actually, if you have noticed, the bus stop is not build at the bus bay. (The actual position of where the bus will stop is at the place where the van is in the picture). So the bus driver, who need to stop the bus in the bus bay, would stop there and let his passenger walk to the bus stop. The only problem is when it is raining heavily.

So go figure, either way, it will be weird for the passengers.

Wheat paper

The environmentalist side of me just prompted me to buy this paper as it seems to be rather eco-friendly with the words natural source. At that point of time, it didn't dawn upon me what so special this is about. 

Then when I start to use the paper, I realized that it is made entirely from Wheat Pulp, not trees!! I started to read behind and found that this particular ream of paper that I am carrying is made of wheat straws. It seems slightly rougher than normal paper and not as bright but apart from that, everything else is the same. Actually, rougher (and we are just talking really marginally) is good for the printer as some paper that are too smooth gets fed together easily.

The best part is that the cost of this ream of paper compared to normal ream is the almost the same. About $6+ a ream for 80gsm.

I am in no way affiliated to them but I would urge you to try and support these innovations. 

I will definitely buy again.

Typing LOL - Expectation Vs Reality

Chao Turtle!!!

(Screenshot from mrbrown.com for sharing purposes only) 

Unpardonable typo errors.....

(Taken from mrbrown.com for sharing purposes only)

How to receive my ATM card via email huh? Later must download the card? 

(Taken from mrbrown.com for sharing purposes only)

Either that or maybe this what we call children from lower-income families from now. 

Budget Children. LOL  

Village out of the girl

Things you never thought possible until you see this

Hummer H1 Diving Trip - Amazing

Hydroplanning Quad Bike

Double Decker bus doing a u-turn

Okay, I know you seen this, but won't it be funny if the cops were chasing you and you do just that? 

Move to the rear?

Published on TODAY papers, Friday, 17 Feb 2012, PP26

If you want people to move to the rear of the bus, install an additional door behind (see below). That's almost 100% sure people will move towards the rear.

Same bus model as the A22 that the SMRT is using. I don't see why not? 

Father and Son Facebook Comments

[Motivation] Perspective

A business executive was deep in debt and could see no way out.
Creditors were closing in on him. Suppliers were demanding payment.
He sat on the park bench, head in hands, wondering if anything could save
his company from bankruptcy.

Suddenly an old man appeared before him.

"I can see that something is troubling you," he said.
After listening to the executive's woes, the old man said,
"I believe I can help you." He asked the man his name,
wrote out a cheque, and pushed it into his hand saying,

"Take this money. meet me here exactly one year from today, and you can
pay me back at that time."
Then, he turned and disappeared as quickly as he had come.

The business executive saw in his hand a cheque for $500,000, signed
by John D.Rockefeller, then one of the richest men in the world!

"I can erase my money worries in an instant!" he realized.

Nonetheless, the executive decided to put the cheque in his safe first.
Just knowing it was there, would give him the strength to work
out a way to save his business, he thought.

With renewed optimism, he negotiated better deals and got extended terms
of payment from creditors.

Soon he could close some big sales. Within a few months, he
was out of debt and making money once again.

Exactly a year later, he returned to the park with that uncashed
cheque. The old man did not appear for some time; yet, the business
executive decided to wait for a while more.

A while later the old man came along the way but seemed to be unmindful
of the business executive. He stopped the old man and was about to hand
over the
cheque, with words of thanks, as well as to share his success story.

At the same time, he saw a nurse come running up and grabbing the old
man. "I'm so glad I caught him!" she cried. "I hope he hasn't been
bothering you. He's always escaping from the rest home and telling
people he's John D. Rockefeller." And she led the old man away by the arm.

The astonished executive just stood there, stunned. All year long he'd
been wheeling and dealing, buying and selling, convinced he had half a
million dollars behind him.

Suddenly, he realized that it wasn't the money, real or imagined,
that had turned his life around.

It was his new found confidence that gave him the power to achieve
anything he went after. It was HOPE . Hope given by a passerby.

"Our duty is to encourage anyone in his struggle to live up to his
own highest idea, and strive at the same time, to make the ideal as
near as possible to the truth" - Swami Vivekananda

The role of the passerby s, all that one encounters is key to give that
Hope - a glimpse of what could be.

For a life lived where the past looks better than the future is a life
lived without HOPE

Its all about perspectives!

Amphibious Bus

Damn cool to have the water just below your window on the bus.

I guess LTA can consider this to make better use of our water ways (i.e.: rivers)....it doesn't even matter of there is water inside the river or not.

And unlike duck tours, this can be fully air-con-ed and have a capacity as good as any bus.

Not in production, certainly hope that it would be.

Interesting Concept on Public Transport Vehicle

Interesting Concept of the public transport vehicle running above the road without blocking the cars which uses the road. Kinda like a moving overhead bridge.

Need suggestions right, LTA? Here's one...

HAHAHA Digital Age...

ROFL...

Beat this, MPVs

7, maybe 8-seater Motorcycle
This must be one of the most fuel economical people's carrier in the world.

Public Buses in SG - Doors

I am always in the impression that the doors are designed to be at or near the centre of the bus because it cannot be fitted to the rear, probably because of the engine compartment, height, etc. 

However, if you can see from top photo below, for full low floor bus, it is actually possible. There are in fact 3 doors, the front door, the middle door and the rear doors. This bus has its physical dimension the same as SMRT bus below (Both the A22 Man - the top one being the hybrid while the SMRT's is a full diesel)

MAN A22 Hybrid Demonstrator

SMRT Man A22

And if you had observed that the situation in SG is typically this:

Read: Overcrowding

Read: Overcrowding

...and the fact that 80% of the time people refused to move in all the way to the rear of the bus, due to the fact that it is harder to alight if you are at the extreme end of the bus, why hasn't SMRT or in general bus operators in Singapore thought of building an additional rear door at the back? 

To be fair, I believe that SMRT has already requested to push the doors to as backwards as possible but there are still between the wheels, and still 2 instead of 3.

For space constraint, which I think is one of the consideration, I think that the proposed rear door does not need to be the full size as there is already a middle door. A half size (one door instead of 2 doors, just like those seen in travel coaches) should suffice. 

I believe that it will probably increase efficiency of the service, especially on those route where passengers turnaround are very quick. For example, the feeder services.

How to get Singaporean to the Stadium

(Taken from the Sunday Times, Lifestyle Section, 05 Feb 2012, Imaginery FB page for Celebrities )

[Random] Saw this regarding Facebook on Facebook

Click to enlarge

Social Media Explained...with Donut(s)

McDonald's now extends McValue Breakfast / Lunch to all day

McValue Breakfast / Lunch is now available all day. Breakfast for the whole of breakfast hours instead of just 6am to 9am and Lunch (and hence now dinner too) to be all day instead of 12pm to 3pm.

Expect a more crowded McDonalds in the coming week.

Updates: 6th Feb 2012

Just bought my first McValue Breakfast after the price revision. Here is the menu board:

If it is not clear, here is the breakdown:

Egg Muffin EVM: $4

Sausage Muffin with Egg EVM: $4.50

Fillet-O-Fish EVM: $450

McGriddles with Egg EVM: $5.10

Hotcakes (w/o Sausage): $5.65

Hotcake (w/ Sausage): $6.10

Big Breakfast: $6.30

I note that not all the prices as the same as before. For example, Sausage Muffin with Egg used to cost $4 and now it is $4.50. Big breakfast is $6.30 instead of $5 (or $5.50, not too sure.) 

So if you are those people who buy McValue breakfast every now and then, expect to pay slightly more. If you are those people, like me. who always missed the 9am timeline to buy McValue Breakfast, you will probably benefit. I may not be saving money (as I don't buy if the price is back to its $5.95 original price) but now, I guess i will be eating more McValue breakfast. 

Elsewhere, It will be interesting to see how the other fast food chain reacts, especially close competitors like BK. 

The Month that separate leap year from common year

It is the first of Feb today, thought it might be appropriate with this post.

As you know, 2012 is a leap year, so Feb there is 29 days instead of 28 days.


And if you are wondering why must there by a leap year every 4 years, here is what was extracted from Wiki:

A leap year is a year containing one extra day in order to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical or seasonal year.

Because seasons and astronomical events do not repeat in a whole number of days, the calendar that had the same number of days in each year would, over time, drift with respect with to the event it is supposed to track. By inserting an additional day or month into the year, the drift can be corrected. 

A year that is not a leap year is called a common year.