X'mas tree before and after you have kids

Early Merry X'mas to all my readers.

Parents with kids should be able to relate to at least one of the trees below not including the one at the top left corner.

Photo credits to its owner

Fitness

What does ISIL stand for?

In light of the terrorist attacks in Paris, there are many reports that the ISIL has claimed responsibility...Wait a minute, thought it was ISIS or Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in full.

How is it that it became ISIL in the recent reports and what does it stand for:

ISIL stands for Islamic state of Iraq and the Levant, where the levant refers to a large region including areas of Turkey, Israel, Cyprus, Jordan, Labanon, Syria and Palestine.

As for why ISIS is changed to ISIL in reports:

Quote

Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” host Chuck Todd followed up Andrea Mitchell hammering President Barack Obama’s attempt to avoid having to follow ISIS into Syria by saying the administration is referring to the terrorist organization as ISIL instead of ISIS because they “don’t want it to stand for Syria.”

Unquote

Source of quote: 
http://www.breitbart.com/video/2014/09/07/chuck-todd-obama-administration-using-isil-instead-of-isis-to-avoid-dealing-with-syria/

Maslow Hierarchy of Needs - Revised in the Internet age

(Image credit to its owner)

KFC - The Man behind it

He is one of the most recognisable man in the world, one look at this icon and everyone will go; KFC or Kentucky Fried Chicken in the past, As the name imply, this famous fast food chain is originated and founded in the state of Kentucky. 

The man in the picture is called Colonel Sanders  some may remember or 

Colonel Harland David Sanders in full.

This is a picture of how he looked like, not in drawings but in real life: 

This is probably the photo which the world famous icon is based on. 

And these are some of his other photos: 

(All images credit to its owners)

Cute child vs Transport Minister

(Photo credits to its owner)

Conversation between a cute child and transport minister

Bus Passenger

(Photo credits to its owner)

Just another passenger taking bus 

Creative people and MRT stations in Singapore

HAVE A GOOD LAUGH!!

Everybody's a smoker in SG now

Smoke smoke smoke everywhere...in SG as well as in Malaysia and Indonesia

PSI* must be the main topic that everybody is talking about in the recent weeks.
(*PSI = Pollution Standards Index)

Everyone is smoking the smog, complaining about the smog as well as irritated by the smog. Apart from the preventive measures which the governments are talking and implementing, without much success at yet, is there any sustainable solutions for the innocent 'smokers' now when the haze comes?  

A search over the internet reveals this: 

A Dutch inventor, Daan Roosegaarde, has come out with smog-free tower which essential remove the pollution and guess what...it produced DIAMOND as a by effect.

Here's a good presentation of Daan's idea, clearing explaining the concepts involved.

(Video credits to its owner)

And this is Daan Roosegaarde talking about this smog free tower at its initial stage.

(Video credits to its owner)

This is the actual tower built.

(Video credits to its owner)

Little girl and her 2 apples

(Picture taken from the internet)

Meaningful little story about a little girl and her 2 apples

Problem of SMRT A24

Took a production SMRT A24 recently and can't help but notice how many back facing seats there are in the bus.

Here are the facts:

SMRT Man A24 NG363F 

Standing - 80

Seating - 51 

8 seats facing backwards (15%) 

  

SMRT ADL Enviro500

Standing - 51 

Seating - 55 (upper deck)

Seating - 28 (lower deck)

4 seats facing backwards (5%)

I don't know how many people think / feel like me but for taking buses, but i don't usually like that to face the back for a few reasons:

a) I don't like the whole bus to look at me

b) I like to see what is coming and not what has past

c) I feel a little giddy when I am in the bus too long facing backwards (ok, its just me i believe) 

I understand that because of the A24 low floor design, and because of the wheel arch , there is no choice but to place the seats backwards in terms of efficiency, which is why I think the Enviro500 double decker or the Man A95 for the matter, is better, at least as the kind of bus i want to be on. 

Not only does the double deckers have more seats, there are less seats that face backwards. Good for long and comfortable journey rides, actually no, good for any journey, not just those long ones.

A couple of A24s parked at the interchange

Happy SG50 Jubilee Singapore !!!

Des-talk wishes Singapore and all Singaporeans a Happy Jubilee national day 2015. #SG50.

Amazing 50 years of nation building!!!

Alarms....Hahaha

(Image credits to its owner)

What a brilliant idea!

(Image credits to its owner)

UBERX (Commuters)

(Image credits to its owner)

\
I am writing this as a commuter point of view using UberX.

Why I think UberX will a brilliant idea and will be successful in Singapore and will be the next big thing in transportation

Matching demand & supply
It's a on demand service, just like video-on-demand (VOD) on cable TV. For VOD, you watch the show at a time convenient to you, anytime of the day, even at 3am. You don't have to adjust your schedule to match the timing of the show.

Similarly, for UberX, you can get a cab when you want it. You don't have to wait and see if there is any cab roaming around your area. All bookings are done by the UberX app, all are matching the supply to the demand. Gone are the time when you wait for half an hour and you just couldn't get a cab on the road or through the hotline. Great for business meeting where you need to be on time, all the time!

Even if you are in a situation where demand hugely exceeds supply, for example, after a concert / football match, after partying at a pub, Uber have a surge pricing ('X' amount of the normal price). This encourages drivers to come to your area to pick passengers up and if you are willing to pay, you will likely be able to get a car out of the situation.

Taxi drivers
UberX will probably be less successful if taxi drivers are not included in their business. But they are. Instead of competing directly with taxi drivers on the road (difference between taxi drivers and Uber X drivers being you can flag down a taxi along the road but you cannot flag down a UberX), they included taxi drivers in their equation and this increases their number of drivers / vehicles on the road thus better enabling them to match demand and supply.

With taxi drivers their partner, their real competition they have is really with taxi companies and and will force taxi companies to think of other ways to match the competition if their drivers jump ship to Uber. I will talk about this more on UberX (Drivers)

Cashless cardless payment
One of the limitation of not taking a cab is usually you do not have enough cash in your wallet. Sure, more cabs companies are accepting cards but not all companies does. When commuters are able to swipe with their cards, they will likely be more willing to take cabs (spend now think later mentality). Therefore Uber address this problem beautifully by having the payment on the backend and you basically get up and down the car without even thinking about money or your wallet.

For drivers, they avoid fare evasion commutes which I will talk more about on UberX (Drivers)

Private cars
What UberX called 'Scale down limo service'. While personally I am ok with taking taxi or car as long as it get me there to my destination, there are some people who needs to be disassociated with taxis. For example, getting off a BMW 520i (UberExec) is so much better than getting off a Mercedes E220d (taxi) especially when you are meeting your potential client at the entrance of his building.

Of course UberX has the same effect as long as you don't mind your car to be a Toyota or a Nissan instead of a BMW or a Merc.

Past and Present
In the past where there aren't so many people in the country, taxis are sufficient and there is never almost never a long wait for a taxi. If you can't get a taxi on the road, call one and likely a taxi will come in 10 mins or less. However now, when you try to call any taxi company hotline,  there is a chance that they tell you: "Sorry, no taxi around your area. Please call again later" That's like usually 10 mins of your time on the phone.

Go to a taxi stand and you will see queues at even off peak timing of the day (3-4pm)

Also the weather in Singapore are getting crazier too with hotter days (just why you think now all buses are air-conditioned) and more people are switching to taxis because they cannot stand the heat. Put it this way, more people are willing to pay a premium to get out of an uncomfortable situation.

Government
The government initiative is for people not to own car but take public transport or shared transport, so I think the government should encourage not only public buses, trains but also companies like Uber and car sharing companies. While they provide private vehicles services, its a more efficient use of these vehicles.

In conclusion, let's put it this way,  more people are willing to pay a premium to get out of an uncomfortable situation, be it overcrowding or hot weather or sick of waiting for a prolong period of time.

And for a few dollars extra (for no peak pricing) or even for a few dollars less (for surcharge places with peak pricing), UberX being very likely to have a car pick you up within mins, it's really a no brainer which to choose, especially if time is precious for you.

Rates
As at 15 Jul 2015, UberX charges $3.50 base fare + $0.25 per min + $0.50 per km.
Rates are flat and there are no peak period pricing / additional surcharge.

Taxi pricing are
$3.50 (average) base fare (1st KM)    3.50
1 to 10km every 400m - $0.22            4.95
10km and above every 350m - $0.22  6.30
Every 45 sec waiting time - $0.22
Surcharges apply when applicable.

Hi Keen....

(Photo credits to SGAG) 

SMRT NSEW line breakdown / disruption 7 Jul 2015 (Uber)

What's different from this 2015 major disruption and the 2011 disruption is there is an additional alternatives to bring commuters home other than taxis - UBER.

Although scrutinised by some, personally I think it is a good idea as it very effectively match demand and supply using technology. On period of high demands like Friday, Saturday night, their Uber X (sedan car), Uber XL (MPV) and Uber Exec (luxury cars) inject in more supply to meet the demands. 

It could be a little more expensive but whats a few dollars extra compared to standing along the street for half an hour or more trying to get a cab . Hence its perfect for people who are willing to spend money to get out of the situation (of can't getting a cab). I am sure there will be some who will be willing to wait an hour for a cab, but that's not what we are going into,

Whenever there is an high demand, Uber charges a surge depending on how demand exceed supply. The surge is a multiplier which multiply to the actual amount that you pay on a normal day. For example, if your ride from town to Clementi cost $20 on a weeknight without surge, and the surge from town on weekend nights is at 3X, you will need to pay $60 for the same ride (same distance, same time taken)

Back to the disruption on 7 Jul 2015, naturally, without the trains services there is a extremely high demand of cabs at all the train stations.
With no trains, extremely high demand and people wanting to get home quickly, surge escalated upwards quickly to 5X or 6X. 

While its crazy to pay $120 for a ride home, for some people who critically need to be at a certain place on time, its a way out for them, For example, if you cannot afford to take urgent leave and you need to report for night shift duty at 10pm. Or you need to pick up your child before the childcare closes. Or maybe you are super tired after 20 hours of work and just want to get out of the situation,

Comparing back to 2011 disruptions again, in 2011, you are left with no choice (even when you say $200 in your wallet which you are willing to spend on taxi). All you can hope is to call and call again taxi companies and hope they can get you a cab and although you don't believe that you will get a cab after looking around you, you will just suck thumb and keep calling. Phone bill goes up too! 

Hence Uber provides a solution to what used to be a 'no choice but to be stuck there' situation. You don't have to pay or use uber if you don't want to, but for those who are willing to pay, it's just a few clicks on your smartphone away.

SMRT NSEW line breakdown / disruption 7 Jul 2015 (Affected public transport commuters)

The 2nd major train breakdown since 2011. 

Although the breakdown in 2011 train services were resumed only the next day (longer), this breakdown affected the NS and EW line (read: WHOLE Singapore). So which is more serious, you decide yourself.

I am sure you have all the facts from the mainstream news, social newsfeeds, media, etc already so I am not going into that

Instead I will give my 2 cents on some of the issues / suggestions on what could be done.

People affected were not only those on the trains and waiting to board the trains but also those who took buses (with no intention of taking trains). My mum was one of them and she wanted to take a bus home after work. However, due to the spill off of people from the train stations, she had to wait a few buses to go by before she can board one.  Quite a notable amount of her time is spent on waiting for the bus.And even the bus she boarded, it was extremely crowded.

While free (no cost to commuters) shuttle buses were deployed as an alternative services to train services, the queues are ridiculously long (1 single deck bus can carry less than 100 passengers while 1 train can carry 1000 passengers). It is no wonder many people gave up and went to take other bus services that calls at their MRT stop.

I am not very sure if these bus services are free but even if they are, it is only free at the bus stop at the MRT station. The rest of the bus stops are not. 

Since train disruption affects the both train and bus commuters (even taxi commuters but I dont want to go into that) why not make public transport free for that few hours? People will have more choices and do not need to rely solely on the free shuttle buses. Those bus passengers affected will also get some sort of compensation of a free bus ride. 

You may be asking, all buses islandwide free who will pay for the cost? Afterall, it is not SBS Transit's fault and they should not be penalised.

Yes, i agree, SBST has done a good job be it in trains and buses and should not be penalised However, dont forget that after all the investigations, LTA will have impose a penalty on the disrupted train operator. Instead of specifying a fixed amount like S$1 million for 2011 disruption, the penalty will be that the penalised operator to pay for all trips made by commuters during this period of down time. I think it's win-win because LTA don't get accused of always fining the operator with no benefits to commuters and commuters get compensated for inconvenience by getting free rides.(Its probably insufficient but again its better than nothing) 

And talking about fines  I don't understand why the authorities fine the transport operators like normal companies. Whenever there is a fine, in the operator's books, it will be reflected likely as a expenditure=cost and after a while they will say cost is increasing and they need to submit a request to increase fare. Maybe there should be special treatment for these operators to pay their fines from their NET PROFIT so that their cost wouldn't be affected.  This way, they will be more motivated to ensure a smooth running system as pressure will come from their shareholders. 

Boob - The word

(Image credits to its owner)

Creative!!!

Durians Durians Durians

(Taken from the internet)

Image credits to its owner

Since this is the durian seasons in South East Asia, here are the type of durians commonly available.

Science Teacher

(Image credit to its owner)

My gaming brother...

(Image credit to its owner)

Smove Car sharing

Firstly, to clarify, this is not a sponsored post. Just want to share because i find it worthwhile. 

As with my previous post in March 2015 (view it here) , I never liked car sharing because of 2 main reasons, one - the limited free mileage and two - the need to return the vehicle to the same location.

Smove car sharing totally addressed this 2 issues spot on for me.

The company started out as with a pure electric car fleet before switching to the current fleet of hybrid Prius-Cs. Their system is simple. Pay a one-time fee of $19 (See how you can get a rebate to waive it off below) and start driving at $5 per 15 mins. No petrol or mileage or other hidden cost.

One of Smove Prius-C 

(Image taken from smove.sg)

So $20 per hour isn't exactly cheap...I hear you but it does offer you the flexibility of renting for less than an hour. Say half an hour or 2 hours 15 mins and you are really paying for the time you are in the car and not for time when the car is parked at the carpark.

I'll be honest with you, having joined a few previously, the above reason isn't enough to make me want to join another car sharing scheme. What's alluring me to join is this:

You can collect a car at a location and return it at another location. 

WOW! That makes sense for me. Let me tell you a place which I like to go but am always put off by taking public transport there > IKEA Alexandra. It's nowhere near a train station and for bus services only 2 comes from Redhill mrt and 1 comes from Queenstown mrt and they are not really frequent.

Now I can spend $5, take the car at Commonwealth MRT (one of their locations) and return it at Anchorpoint (another of their location). Then I just cross the road. I can even take up to 4 friends with me and I don't have to pay a single cent for parking. That's what I called flexible.

And, what's more I checked with Smove, as they are using very fuel efficient hybrid cars, the Prius C,

They does not have mileage limits on their cars

So no matter how far i drive,  my cost is fixed at $20 per hour.

Yes, I hear you say that how far can I drive in half an hour or an hour? But what about their 'package deals':

Weekdays (Mon till Fri): 10am to 5pm at $60. That's 7 hours for the price of 3 hours. 

Weeknights (Mon till Thu) 6:30pm to 8:30am at $40. Drive off from a station near your office and return next morning you come back to office.

On times like weekends starting from Friday nights and outside the above timings, it's still at an rather affordable $90 per 12 hours or $130 per 24 hours. Remember this is the actual amount you have to spend (except for ERP and carparks). No petrol cost, no hidden cost, no variable cost and comprehensive insurance is covered. 

Check them out their website at Smove.sg. Click on this link and get $20 credit from Smove while promotion lasts. That means its more than enough to offset the one time fee and there is no joining fee.

Something interesting - The whole time you have the car, there is no car key. To unlock the car, you simply tab your pre-registered EZlink card at the device next to the IU and the car will unlock itself. To lock, tab the card again. To end your trip, lock the car and send an SMS to Smove to end your booking.

Tab EZLink card to unlock and lock

(Image taken from smove.sg)

So far they have their locations mainly at the south-western side of Singapore but I was told that they will expand so we look forward to that.

Travel Smart Rewards - Improvements that I would like to see

I posted a few days ago on the Travel Smart Rewards scheme which manages peak period crowd and encourage people to travel earlier or later to work.

Read:
Public Transport made Interesting - LTA's scheme to manage morning peak crowd

Of course, the scheme is launched not too long ago and I think it's a fantastic scheme for people like me. Like many things, nothing is perfect, so I would like to suggest some improvements that I would like to see in the future.

Peak vs Off Peak
Peak trips and off peak trips current both earn the same number of points.. To encourage people to move out of peak, any time outside the peak period, more points should be given. Even a 2 points per km is double the points of the current 1 point per km.

Evening Peak
LTA may think it is not necessary at this time as people are more relaxed in the evening and have better flexibility of their time as it is after work. However, it is the  very same reasons that make people more willing to get out of peak period and travel in the decongesting evening period (maybe 4:45pm to 5:30pm and after 8pm to 930pm).

Buses
I am sure extending the scheme to buses is already in  LTA's planning and they are likely to extend it. However, to make people stop taking train and start taking buses, the scheme will have to be more attractive on buses and more services will be needed to do direct from the town to the city centre. There is a service to and from my town to the city centre but I do not take because 1) I have to take another bus to get to the bus stop which has the city-direct service and 2) there are only a few trips in morning and in the evening and also 3) they get very crowded and no seats are available.  

Public Transport made Interesting - LTA's scheme to manage morning peak crowd

(Image credits to its owner)

Taking the train to work every morning?? Read on.

Travel Smart Rewards - Earn rebates while doing (really) nothing when you travel on trains

It has been about 1.5 months since I joined Travel Smart Rewards - TSR (www.travelsmartrewards.sg).

In brief, this programme is LTA's move to encourage people to adjust their travelling schedule and move out peak period and into the less peak period. You get points for every km travelled. The incentive is that when you travel in one of the less peak period they designate (they call it decongesting period), you get your points multi folds to up to 8X. These points can either be used to redeem for cash at a very low rate: 1000 points = S$1 or they can be used to play their Spin to win game and win cash along the way. 1000 points can win you a few dollars (up to $200 as the say) depending on your luck. [You can set it in your settings page -See below]

(Screenshot from www.travelsmartrewards.sg)

The amazing thing about this is that there is an automatic spin feature which they will help you play the game every week and what you need to do is really NOTHING except to wait for the winnings to come in, and they will email you every week if you have a $1 or more winning(s).  Even crediting the cash out of the programme doesn't take you any effort. They will just credit your winnings into your EZlink card which you can use to offset your future trips.

(Screenshot from www.travelsmartrewards.sg)

I am not sure if I can be considered lucky compared to others out there who has been using this scheme but to have a rebate of $8 for 1.5 months into the programme, I am rather pleased. Of course, I travel a considerable distance from home to my work (about 20km) and I travel at the time the TSR people encourages us to travel every week day (ie: 8:45am to 9:45am), hence i believe I get more points than many people. 

As comparison, my sis whom I encouraged, has enrolled herself into this programme. She also travel 20+km everyday but she doesn't have the opportunity to travel many times in the decongesting period, hence her points is much less. Her winnings is about $2 for about a month of travel. Actually that's not bad at all in terms or rebates. Here's why:

Considering credit card rebates which is one of the other programmes which give you rebates back from your spendings on public transport. Citibank SMRT credit card gives $0.60 rebate but charges you $0.25 transaction fee for every auto-reload of $30 (default I think). Hence, the net rebates is $0.35. On a $90 or 3 reloads basis, the rebates for the month is $1.05. 

Hence even if winnings is $2 from TSR, the rebates is already double of what the credit cards are offering. What's more, the money savvy people will register and use their Citibank SMRT cards into the TSR programme and earn rebates from both sides. (It's allowed)

So start register yourself into the programme and start earning the rebates. Anyway, all the effort you need is the registration process and everything afterwards is automatic - no effort required.

(This is not a sponsored post and I just want to share my experience on something that's I feel is beneficial to me and I would like you, my readers to know about it and take advantage of it)

Perfectly Timed Military Photos

Some military photos that are taken just at the exact right moment.

Here are some that I specially like...

(Photo via imgur, photographer unknown)

（Photo embedded via @CuriousMsMeg on Twitter 

photographer Visual Information Specialist Jason Johnston）

(Photo embedded via navsource.org, photographer PH3 Brad Dillon, USN)

(Photo via imgur, photographer unknown)

(Photo embedded via popsci.com, photographer Scott Trebble)

(Photo via imgur, photographer unknown)

(Photo embedded via Today.com | Photographer: Baz Ratner / Reuters)

(Photo taken by White House photographers,by way of latimeblog.com)

(Photo credit: Brennan Linsley / AP and embedded from NBC News)

All photos and sources taken and seen on The Roosevelt 

See more at: http://www.rsvlts.com/2015/03/31/perfect-timed-military-photos/