There was this foreign guy who want to get a chicken but didn't know how to say "chicken" in English.
So he grabbed an egg and went up to the staff and said: "Where mother?"
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Thursday, September 29, 2016
Young Singaporean still want to own cars
Read:
The article talk about 1) poor public transport reputation, 2) comfort of not using a car 3) financial "im-savviability"
Efficiency is probably the basic need of transportation. People thinking (especially going to work in the morning) are that "I dont care what I am in as long as it get me to work on time" mentality. MRT, Bus, Car, bicycle - anything that can get me to work on time, secondary-ly anything that can delay me from leaving the house (yet get me to work on time), anything that reduce my time travelling is a good, preferred mode of transport.
The train conceptually is a good concept for the above points, especially for those living far from their work place. Get on the train and it usually takes you to your destination in 30 to 45 mins. Your journey is limited to this timing only if you are living one of the train stations and your work place is also at another train station (that is to say almost zero travelling time from station to workplace).
Unfortunately, most people live 1-3km away from the nearest train station and hence they have the following choices to get to the train station before the 30 to 45 mins ride.
The first choice of taking a bus is most common because of its relatively low, almost zero cost. However, you run a risk of waiting longer (compared to the other options) especially when the buses are not on schedule or when the buses are too crowded and you are not able to board the bus. The same waiting time applies to the taxis when you try to flag one along the road.
The last 4 options eliminates the waiting time and is something that i want to talk about more in details, linking us back to the article of why young Singaporean still want to own cars.
First, walking. Well, if you don't mind a bit of exercise, dont mind sweating, don't mind using some energy early in the morning and your house is not too far from the train station, it is good choice for you. However, most of us are wearing our formal attires (shirts, pants, skirts, blouse) and its probably not a good idea to get any of these attire wet first thing in the morning before we start work. A car will be good, even if I were to drive it and park at the mrt station)
Really? If you have a car, will you just drive to the MRT station and squeeze in the train to work? What about the distance from the station to the office? Will you want to get yourself wet from sweat at the time you step into office? So...(its obvious which you will choose)
I know at this point, some may argue about the cost of driving (petrol, erp, parking) on top of cost of owning the car. This is especially so when the you work right in town and start work at the end of the peak hour (9am). Peak hour slow traffic, ERP at the highest rates...not to mention the sky high parking charges you pay per day or per month.
Of course, if money is not an issue to you, the only thing that you need to endure is the peak hour slow moving traffic. In fact, you would suddenly wish that ERP charges are higher than the already high charge so that people will avoid the ERP gantry and hence not be driving beside you. To these people whose money is 'unlimited', life is always great in Singapore. Tell you what, you should get a chauffeur to drive your Rolls Royce and eliminates the stress of driving too.
For the average man on the street, its moving back to re-exploring the choices.
Alas, we are left with 1 option: E-cycle / scooter / xxx-boards to the station. Its seems to be a great idea because being electronic, these scooters or bicycles doesn't require must effort to keep it moving and its moves relatively quickly compared to walking. You reach the station in less than half the time compared to if you walk, probably uses much less energy and there is not waiting time involved. The scooters (not the bicycles) can also be taken along with you to continue the journey when you alight from the train. Can see why this is getting increasing popular with the layman.
However, as its is not a car, it is still subjected to the elements of the weather and you could also be stuck behind a slow moving pedestrian trying to occupy the whole pedestrian path. And the e-vehicle are good for the last kilometre (mile) commuting, not the whole journey. And you face the same problems of all other train commuters too. Train breakdown, not able to board the train, squeezing like sardines, just to name a few.
Hence, from the above discussion, the group of people who has the least inconvenience is not someone with an e-scooter, but someone with a car (and chauffeur) and with money not an issue for him / her. It's an aspiration of the best and young people are working towards it.
The article talk about 1) poor public transport reputation, 2) comfort of not using a car 3) financial "im-savviability"
Efficiency is probably the basic need of transportation. People thinking (especially going to work in the morning) are that "I dont care what I am in as long as it get me to work on time" mentality. MRT, Bus, Car, bicycle - anything that can get me to work on time, secondary-ly anything that can delay me from leaving the house (yet get me to work on time), anything that reduce my time travelling is a good, preferred mode of transport.
The train conceptually is a good concept for the above points, especially for those living far from their work place. Get on the train and it usually takes you to your destination in 30 to 45 mins. Your journey is limited to this timing only if you are living one of the train stations and your work place is also at another train station (that is to say almost zero travelling time from station to workplace).
Unfortunately, most people live 1-3km away from the nearest train station and hence they have the following choices to get to the train station before the 30 to 45 mins ride.
- Take a bus from their house to the train station (most common)
- Taxi / Uber / Grab to the train station (most comfortable)
- Walk to the train station (if not too far)
- (Electronic) cycle / scooter / hoverboard / skateboard to the train station (getting increasing common)
- Drive to the train station (probably most costly if parking cost is included)
- Get a family member or friend to drop you at the train station
The first choice of taking a bus is most common because of its relatively low, almost zero cost. However, you run a risk of waiting longer (compared to the other options) especially when the buses are not on schedule or when the buses are too crowded and you are not able to board the bus. The same waiting time applies to the taxis when you try to flag one along the road.
The last 4 options eliminates the waiting time and is something that i want to talk about more in details, linking us back to the article of why young Singaporean still want to own cars.
First, walking. Well, if you don't mind a bit of exercise, dont mind sweating, don't mind using some energy early in the morning and your house is not too far from the train station, it is good choice for you. However, most of us are wearing our formal attires (shirts, pants, skirts, blouse) and its probably not a good idea to get any of these attire wet first thing in the morning before we start work. A car will be good, even if I were to drive it and park at the mrt station)
Really? If you have a car, will you just drive to the MRT station and squeeze in the train to work? What about the distance from the station to the office? Will you want to get yourself wet from sweat at the time you step into office? So...(its obvious which you will choose)
I know at this point, some may argue about the cost of driving (petrol, erp, parking) on top of cost of owning the car. This is especially so when the you work right in town and start work at the end of the peak hour (9am). Peak hour slow traffic, ERP at the highest rates...not to mention the sky high parking charges you pay per day or per month.
Of course, if money is not an issue to you, the only thing that you need to endure is the peak hour slow moving traffic. In fact, you would suddenly wish that ERP charges are higher than the already high charge so that people will avoid the ERP gantry and hence not be driving beside you. To these people whose money is 'unlimited', life is always great in Singapore. Tell you what, you should get a chauffeur to drive your Rolls Royce and eliminates the stress of driving too.
For the average man on the street, its moving back to re-exploring the choices.
Alas, we are left with 1 option: E-cycle / scooter / xxx-boards to the station. Its seems to be a great idea because being electronic, these scooters or bicycles doesn't require must effort to keep it moving and its moves relatively quickly compared to walking. You reach the station in less than half the time compared to if you walk, probably uses much less energy and there is not waiting time involved. The scooters (not the bicycles) can also be taken along with you to continue the journey when you alight from the train. Can see why this is getting increasing popular with the layman.
However, as its is not a car, it is still subjected to the elements of the weather and you could also be stuck behind a slow moving pedestrian trying to occupy the whole pedestrian path. And the e-vehicle are good for the last kilometre (mile) commuting, not the whole journey. And you face the same problems of all other train commuters too. Train breakdown, not able to board the train, squeezing like sardines, just to name a few.
Hence, from the above discussion, the group of people who has the least inconvenience is not someone with an e-scooter, but someone with a car (and chauffeur) and with money not an issue for him / her. It's an aspiration of the best and young people are working towards it.
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
What happens to your Whatsapp when you put in another sim card (eg. when you are overseas)
I got asked this question many time, so I thought I write a blog to clarify.
What happens to your Whatapps when you put in another sim card temporary when you are overseas.
Firstly, you will need to know that for Whatsapp, it needs 2 things - a Whatsapp account and internet connection.
Let's talk about internet connection first.
We all know that:
WIFI is one of them;
3G/4G cellular data on your phone is another;
and there is tethering (which is basically using other people's data)
Internet connection allows Whatsapp to know when you are online, to receive the text or media you send to your friend and deliver the same. And of course for them to know if you read the message your friend sent and hence display the BT (blue ticks)
So this part is simple. Whatsapp will work when you are connected to internet. No internet (for example when you're in airplane mode, it doesn't work. Simple as that.
Now the account part which is the slightly more complicating.
Everybody has an account with Whatsapp in which they will uniquely identify by your local number. Say your local number is +65 9888 8888, its unique to you because no one in the world will have this number. Call this number from anywhere in the world, your phone will go ringing, but this is not the point. The point is that they can use a set of number and narrow down to 1 person - you!!
Actually this is really what you need to know for whatsapp to work. No confusing at all.
So what's confusing?
You see, many people come asking me, see, my local phone +65 9888 8888 is the number i use to call, text, Whatsapps, etc. When I go overseas, say I travel from Singapore to Australia. Roaming (more specifically data roaming) is very expensive for Singapore SIM so you won't want to explore that option, especially when you are on a budget trip. So the next best alternative is to buy an Australia SIM card, take out my Singapore SIM and put in the Australia SIM and use it for the duration of my trip.
So when I call back to Singapore, my Aust. number will show. When I text back to Singapore, my Aust. number will show, when I Whatsapp to Singapore...wait a minute....why is it still my Singapore number?
If you haven't done any setting changes in Whatsapp, and when you send a message to your friend, they will not know from Whatsapp that you are in Australia and they will not know that you are using an Australia number know in your phone.
And why is it so?
That's because the only thing your Australia SIM does is to provide **scroll back to the top of this article** an internet connection for Whatsapps to connect itself to its server. Your account remains unchanged if you left the settings untouched. Your Australian SIM doesnt modify your account to have its number on Whatsapp. That will be scary if it happens, isn't it? )
So don't get confused as to what number to use? It's always your local number.
The only time you need to change number on Whatsapp is when you changed your local number (say you switched your service provider) and you wish to use your new number as your permanent number.
Even when you are changing phone and not number, you're merely telling your Whatsapp that this is my new phone, bring all data from my existing account to the new phone. Nothing has changed actually.
What happens to your Whatapps when you put in another sim card temporary when you are overseas.
Firstly, you will need to know that for Whatsapp, it needs 2 things - a Whatsapp account and internet connection.
Let's talk about internet connection first.
We all know that:
WIFI is one of them;
3G/4G cellular data on your phone is another;
and there is tethering (which is basically using other people's data)
Internet connection allows Whatsapp to know when you are online, to receive the text or media you send to your friend and deliver the same. And of course for them to know if you read the message your friend sent and hence display the BT (blue ticks)
So this part is simple. Whatsapp will work when you are connected to internet. No internet (for example when you're in airplane mode, it doesn't work. Simple as that.
Now the account part which is the slightly more complicating.
Everybody has an account with Whatsapp in which they will uniquely identify by your local number. Say your local number is +65 9888 8888, its unique to you because no one in the world will have this number. Call this number from anywhere in the world, your phone will go ringing, but this is not the point. The point is that they can use a set of number and narrow down to 1 person - you!!
Actually this is really what you need to know for whatsapp to work. No confusing at all.
So what's confusing?
You see, many people come asking me, see, my local phone +65 9888 8888 is the number i use to call, text, Whatsapps, etc. When I go overseas, say I travel from Singapore to Australia. Roaming (more specifically data roaming) is very expensive for Singapore SIM so you won't want to explore that option, especially when you are on a budget trip. So the next best alternative is to buy an Australia SIM card, take out my Singapore SIM and put in the Australia SIM and use it for the duration of my trip.
So when I call back to Singapore, my Aust. number will show. When I text back to Singapore, my Aust. number will show, when I Whatsapp to Singapore...wait a minute....why is it still my Singapore number?
If you haven't done any setting changes in Whatsapp, and when you send a message to your friend, they will not know from Whatsapp that you are in Australia and they will not know that you are using an Australia number know in your phone.
And why is it so?
That's because the only thing your Australia SIM does is to provide **scroll back to the top of this article** an internet connection for Whatsapps to connect itself to its server. Your account remains unchanged if you left the settings untouched. Your Australian SIM doesnt modify your account to have its number on Whatsapp. That will be scary if it happens, isn't it? )
So don't get confused as to what number to use? It's always your local number.
The only time you need to change number on Whatsapp is when you changed your local number (say you switched your service provider) and you wish to use your new number as your permanent number.
Even when you are changing phone and not number, you're merely telling your Whatsapp that this is my new phone, bring all data from my existing account to the new phone. Nothing has changed actually.
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
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.
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
Thursday, December 3, 2015
Thursday, November 19, 2015
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
http://www.breitbart.com/video/2014/09/07/chuck-todd-obama-administration-using-isil-instead-of-isis-to-avoid-dealing-with-syria/
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/
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Monday, November 2, 2015
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)
Friday, October 30, 2015
Cute child vs Transport Minister
(Photo credits to its owner)
Conversation between a cute child and transport minister
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
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)
(*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.
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)
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Little girl and her 2 apples
(Picture taken from the internet)
Meaningful little story about a little girl and her 2 apples
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
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
Sunday, August 9, 2015
Happy SG50 Jubilee Singapore !!!
Des-talk wishes Singapore and all Singaporeans a Happy Jubilee national day 2015. #SG50.
Amazing 50 years of nation building!!!
Amazing 50 years of nation building!!!
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