department of crappy engineering

day 2 in sydney (but went to canberra)

2012-01-21T16:15:00.007+08:00

To spend almost 8 hours flying over (and not forgetting the airfare), it does make sense to visit another nearby city. And so I slotted in a day trip to Canberra on the second day, the capital of Australia.

We did it the traditional way, took the CountryLink Xplorer train from Sydney Central to Canberra Kingston which took about 4 hours. Now thinking back, the train journey was equally, if not more, enjoyable than in Canberra itself. We passed by old towns, old train stations, farms, windfarms (which are still farms), very nice scenery from the Southern Highlands. Breakfast was from the train's buffet bar (and man I thought it was a buffet line!) and let's call it the Oz version of train bento.

Our first stop in Canberra was Parliament House, a must-go in Canberra. Maybe I should highlight that it was Christmas Day, so everywhere we went was pretty quiet. Of course, we didn't have the chance to check out the inside of the Parliament House.
Then we crossed the Lake Burley Griffin over to Civic. Seriously most of the shops were closed and we had to have Chinese fast food for lunch, unless we were willing to pay big bucks for Christmas lunch at an Indian restaurant.

We subsequently toured around the Canberra area on a public bus and that's about it for our day trip in Canberra.

I probably should mention that back in Sydney, the street was kind of crowded and we checked out the Christmas projections at the Town Hall. It was pretty cool to see the animated projection on the 100+ years old building. Glad that I caught it.

On day 3 Boxing Day we would be going to the Blue Mountains.

day 1 in sydney

2012-01-14T10:04:00.006+08:00

We took an overnight flight to Sydney. So when we reached Kingsford Smith Airport, coupled with the timezone difference, it was just past 7am. Good timing to start the day.

It was a Saturday, so probably the only chance to catch the weekend markets. Our first stop was Sydney Sustainable Markets at Taylor Square. There are a few farmer's markets in Sydney and I was deciding between Taylor Square and Eveleigh Markets but decided on Taylor Square because I thought we could check out Oxford Street along the way as well. There were 20 odd stalls selling fruits, vegetables, bread, honey, etc. On afterhought probably farmer's market may not be that great a stop for tourist, unless you have ample of time in Sydney.
The next stop was The Rocks. Before that we would pass by Customs House and Circular Quay. Any tourist guidebook would say The Rocks is a must go, and so is The Rocks Market.
My sense of the Rocks Market is that it is one of those doing tourist business. But anyway if you are looking for Australian honey, there is an outlet of Superbee at The Rocks.

From The Rocks you can see the Sydney Opera House from afar, and also you are just next to the Sydney Harbour Bridge. So we crossed the bridge to the opposite side at Milson Point, where the Luna Park is. Milson Point offers quite a nice vantage point where you can see both the Bridge and the Opera House in one frame.
We then went to Sydney Fish Market. Monster crabs, giant lobsters, cheap oysters, they've got them. My advice is, don't get the platter, you'll probably be drown by the fries and fried calamari.

The next stop was relatively nearby Market City (aka Haymarket) and Chinatown. "Skip-able" in my honest opinion but you have to see it to believe it. Nevertheless, Chinatown offers Chinese food (duh!) if you need rice and noodles.
Then we went to QVB (Queen Victoria Building). Must-go, no question asked. It is a shopping mall, very old one. I'm not a shopaholic but I really like the old tiles, the 2 old clocks and the old elevator.

We checked out Westfield and Myer, bought some stuff at Jurlique (good gift idea to bring back). Wanted to go up the Sydney Tower Eye but there was a long queue.

It was Christmas Eve and there was a Christmas Eve Carols and Fireworks at Darling Harbour. We had dinner at Harbourside, one of the few places in Sydney where you can have night shopping (not even talking about late night!) We also strolled along Cockle Bay on the way back to the hotel.

Right, that's about our first day in Sydney. Tiring especially considering the lack of quality sleep on the flight and the number of places we checked out. I was a bit of overly ambitious to pack in so much in the itinerary, and in fact I wanted to check out Bondi Beach on day 1 as well.

Day 2 would be day trip to Canberra on Christmas Day!

sydney 2011

2011-12-31T14:58:00.009+08:00

Hey mate! Yours truly here just visited Sydney over the Christmas period. It was quite an impulsive decision to go, didn't avoid the high season and didn't check the balance in my bank account. It was only a week or two before the trip that the air tickets were bought. Anyway 2011 had been a roller coaster ride for me and I thought why not go for a walk.

I am grateful to all the blogs that I've browsed through which had given me invaluable inspiration on planning this trip. So I thought maybe I should chip in my bit to share my trip, just so in case someone bumps in.

At the airport
Make sure you grab the free official Sydney tourist guide at the Sydney airport. Not the Chinese one, not the Korean one, but the English one, and one for each person. Cos only the English version has discount coupons at the back and each coupon admits one person.

Phone
I would have loved to chuck my mobile phone aside and stay primitive if not for all the planning I've done on Google map. And also for getting around which I will elaborate later. Roaming costs bombs and I needed a local number to arrange for local day tours, so before the trip I actually bought a 'yes' Optus prepaid SIM card. The card itself costs AUD$2, of course would cost more if you need it sent to you before the trip to do the necessary registration et al. Don't activate it too early cos it expires a few days after activation if you don't charge up the credit, which itself also has expiry date. And then you can sign up for which ever prepaid plan that suits you. I chose the 2 Dollar Days plan which basically costs AUD$2 per day for unlimited data and local voice. Oh and my phone almost went out of juice. Better to bring extra battery if you don't want to buy a travel adaptor.

Getting around
If you are a public transport freak like me, you'll love Sydney. You'll need a degree of street-smartness to be comfortable commuting on the various rails, buses and ferries of Sydney. For example, Central Station has dozen odd platforms, even the station near my hotel has 6; But with a mobile phone and data plan, the NSW Government's Transport Infoline website comes in VERY handy. If you want convenience of not having to buy tickets every time you take a ride, I highly recommend getting the MyMulti weekly pass. It allows unlimited rides on buses, rails (except monorail) and ferries. By the way I love the CityRail experience and I shall write on this separately.

Shopping
Depending on what you are looking for, for me it was the local products experience. Checking out the mainstream supermarkets like Coles and Woolworths was great experience for me. This may sound odd for people on trips, but I think this is one close experience (besides the public transport) of life of the locals. Do check out the fruits :) By the way, shops close pretty early, so grab the goodies (same goes for dinner) before they close for the day.

Sun protection
I can't emphasize this more. If you don't wear sunblock, at least wear a hat.

Festivity
This is not really a tip, but a little reflection. It was my first time spending Christmas in a western society (erm, also the south-most and east-most, if you go by longitude and latitude). The festive atmosphere was great, people in the service industry greeted people merry Christmas, even policemen wore the Santa hat on top of their uniform cap. And I think I saw a giant inflated Santa on a navy ship. The bad thing is, almost everything closes on Christmas day. Some even close from Christmas all the way to next year. Inconvenient? But hey we Chinese also take long break during Chinese New Year.

Hospitality (or rather, the people)
You can't beat the Aussie's hospitality (maybe minus the hotel staff I met) Be it supermarket cashier or bus driver or train conductor, they chat you up and they looked like a happy bunch. Happy, relax, friendly, efficient, but definitely not laid-back. At first I was a little uneasy when the supermarket cashier asked "how are you", but subsequently I greeted back and a short but wholehearted conversation began. Almost everytime every counter I went. Now compare this with the hello-welcome-without-glancing-up attitude that some of the service staffs we have in Asia. Man, I think these people really love and respect their jobs!

Maybe I'll share my itinerary another time :)

one A short of being SMART

2011-12-17T09:20:00.002+08:00

As a commuter I always think that SMRT runs buses better than SBS Transit. The reverse is true for trains.

2 train disruptions within a few days. I narrowly escaped the North South Line episode (darn, I have never walked in the tunnel before!) cos I was on the North East Line which is operated by _the_ other transport company. But I was stucked on the earlier Circle Line disruption, resulting in me reaching office late by half an hour. Damn you, you cut short my tea break.

Looking back with 20/20 hindsight, I could have avoided being stuck on the Circle Line. When I transferred at Harbourfront station, the display screen did not show the departure time of the CCL train. That was a sign, which I didn't care about. Everything looked normal, even the SMRT staff at the platform looked normal, telling people not to rush through the closing door and what-not. Then when the train reached Telok Blangah station, it stuck there for I dunno how long. (was pretty fun seeing people running down the escalator just to board a stuck train.) Then some passengers couldn't wait and alighted, and then the train doors closed behind them and moved on, bad luck for them :P

Throughout the whole experience there were only those standard pre-recorded message about how sorry they felt about the disruption. I was expecting them to at least dispatch some free shuttle bus. None. And I pity those of us who reached work late. I read somewhere before that in China, if the train (subway or metro) was disrupted, the train staffs will distribute official letters at the station to the affected commuters so that they can show it to their bosses about being late at work.

When you talk about fare increment you don't even blink an eye. Now something goes wrong and you just say sorry? If sorry is enough, what's the use of policemen?

Hankyu Densha

2011-12-04T17:37:00.005+08:00

If you are the type who believes that things happen on the train and there are a lesson or two to learn, then you probably would like the movie Hankyu Densha (阪急電車, 片道15分の奇跡).

Starring Miki Nakatani, the story revolves around this particular railway line called the Hankyu Dentetsu in Kansai, Japan. A one-way trip from start to end takes 15 minutes. 15 life-changing minutes. You have a grandma who is trying to instil the right values to her granddaughter (oh I love the scene when she shook her head at the train-full of people playing with their mobile phones), a OL whose boyfriend broke up with her to marry her junior, a girl stuck with her handsome yet abusive boyfriend, a housewife who was under peer pressure to join a group of noisy taitais, and a few more characters.

They are daily commuters of the railway line just like you and me, each with his/her own set of life problems. Started off as strangers, they slowly crossed path. One by one they started healing one another, each one turning over a new leaf in life.

No it's not like Densha Otoko, although both movies were adapted from novel of the same titles. There's something to learn from each character's story, and I think one message in common is that we have to take charge of our life, not others.

A return journey may take you back to where you started, but you would have become a different person by then.

train to be gracious

2011-12-02T21:29:00.002+08:00

According to unconfirmed source, the platform of Bishan MRT Station does not have the markings for people to queue up or to stand behind. But yet commuters were seen queueing up orderly before boarding. I don't believe it.

I was standing behind the red line waiting for the next train. A man came to this screen door and stood on the other side, obviously stepping in front of the red line. I twitched a little, and that triggered the man to get closer until he couldn't get any closer to the door. It was like a game of who blinks first.

Dhoby Ghaut Station towards Orchard. A woman cut in front of me as the train arrived (what's new?) I managed to squeeze into the train and got close to this cute looking girl I saw. I kept my hands to myself, of course. But in such a packed train cabin, you don't even need to hold on to the grab poles or handgrips, cos there is no way you can fall. Classical example of "united we stand, divided we fall".

happiness from what you don't have

2011-11-07T13:44:00.002+08:00

Recently there has been this discussion about happiness and the comparison with Bhutan (the country that started Gross National Happiness) in the parliament. Then a Bhutanese wrote in reaction to the example being brought up.

I've never been to Bhutan. I don't know much about that country, so to compare their happiness with ours is like comparing between the Centigrade scale with the Fahrenheit scale.

Are we happy? *shrug*. I guess instead of looking at it from "we are happy because we have...", why not look at it as "we are happy because we don't have..." Does strong economy make us happier? Maybe. Does infrastructure make us happier? Perhaps. Does technology make us happier? Doubtful. On the MRT, I see roughly 2/3 of the passengers are constantly staring at their screens, big or small. Couples going out, each looking at his/her individual screen. Friends gathering at the cafe, each checking updates from the smartphone. Does it make you happier if you have collected all the coins from the what farming games? Does it bring you satisfaction by clearing 3 jewels in a row? How about telling the world you've checked in to places?

I know at this moment I am looking at the screen in my bedroom. I don't do that every single second when I'm in my room with my eyes open. I've spent time and thoughts decorating my room, choosing my favourite lights, arranging the furnitures. So why let the dark computer screen steal the whole show? I glance around my room, enjoying the slowness and idleness, and make sure that it is also my soul and not only my shell that lives here.

I can go on talking about the happy times I had pumping water from the well in rural China. Turning on the tap?

What you have, may not always bring you happiness.

767 goes on the belly

2011-11-05T09:45:00.002+08:00

A Boeing 767 plane from Polish airline LOT landed on its belly on 1 Nov after the landing gears failed to lower.

No one was injured in this belly landing. In fact it looked quite smooth, thanks to the skill of the crew and the close coordination and preparation from the ground, including the foam sprayed on the runway beforehand.

With all the gloomy feelings around, such good news sure clear the air :)

the 18 who did nothing

2011-10-30T16:36:00.002+08:00

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

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

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

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

lesson from the colonel?

2011-10-22T09:18:00.003+08:00

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

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

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

china's revolution, 100 years or beyond?

2011-10-16T15:25:00.000+08:00

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

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

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

going on circle

2011-10-08T20:29:00.002+08:00

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

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

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

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

an apple that changed the world

2011-10-06T20:53:00.002+08:00

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

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

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

practical engineering problem - washing machine

2011-10-03T21:01:00.002+08:00

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

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

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

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

sitting for the FEE

2011-09-29T21:06:00.002+08:00

The last time when I was in an examination hall, I was an invigilator. :P

Today I just sat for 6 hours 20 minutes of Fundamental of Engineering Examination (FEE) administered by the Professional Engineering Board. Basically the FEE tests you on the fundamentals of engineering, much that has been taught at undergraduate level. Passing the FEE is one of the prerequisites for registering as a Professional Engineer. In a nutshell, if you want to work as an engineering consultant in Singapore, the PE cert is a must-have. As for me, right from the start I took it as a self-challenge to see how much can I keep learning and improving myself. At the moment I don't really need the cert for my rice bowl but more of good-to-have, and that kind of removes the pressure.

Nevertheless, I've made many sacrifices for this examination. I began my preparation from the beginning of the year with quite a structured revision plan. Of course, it wasn't always easy to adhere to it along with work and life commitments. I opted to lunch-in instead of eating out with colleagues so that I could either catch some shut-eye or do some bite-size revisions. Closer to the exam date, I enrolled into a preparatory course run by the Institution of Engineers Singapore. It was a night class and I can tell you it was not easy to rush to class after work, then trying to catch up on precious rest time. This experience also made me reconsider my plan for post-graduate studies. Anyway, I guess the course was helpful cos it was taught my NTU lecturers, so I sort of have 2 engineering education: 1 from NUS, 1 from NTU, albeit unofficially.

Ah the exam. It was quite scary, with people pulling trolleys and lugguage bags of textbooks and notes since it was an open-book exam. The exam venue's lobby was more like the airport. The paper itself was separated into 40 MCQ in paper 1 and 5 out of 7 structured questions in paper 2. By the way, the MCQs were like structured questions themselves. Imagine trying to cramp 4 years' worth of engineering knowledge and trying to answer the questions. Pretty much like searching for a needle in the ocean.

While I think my paper was pretty screwed, but it was a good experience nonetheless. It's like in kungfu, you try to learn every move, then you unlearn them (ie, you forgot) :P. Regardless of the result, I think it was a good experience trying to refresh what I've learned in the university days (honestly, you kind of understand the concepts differently), and also trying to challenge thyself. :P

Well, I've set sight for the next challenge, but for now, I need some rest.

we need trained operator

2011-09-18T14:05:00.004+08:00

A while ago when I read from the news that SBS Transit was appointed the operator for Downtown Line which is to be completed in 2017, I couldn't help chuckled to myself.

For background information, SBS Transit currently operates the North East Line. My cynicism was based on my observation at the way the existing North East Line is being managed. Have you seen 2 out of the 4 station doors at Punggol Station not in working order? Have you seen half of the glass doors at Dhoby Ghaut Station locked even during normal operating hours? Not forgetting the horrible sight I saw in the toilet at the station!

I'm not saying the other operator (read SMRT) is doing a fantastic job. In fact some people deserve a trout slap for saying "People can board the train – it's whether they choose to". However I guess it is not a fair comparison since SMRT is running on older infrastructure and system and very different network. I can't imagine the East West line going on unmanned trains.

So, should we have a third operator?

mid-autumn is (also) a season for sharing

2011-09-11T08:35:00.003+08:00

Mid-autumn Festival is around the corner, so I thought of bringing the parents to the Marina Bay area for a lantern walk.

We were greeted by the gigantic air-blown Walter the bunny (no stranger to me, had met it at 8Q SAM) at the entrance of Marina Bay City Gallery. It wasn't a big event, wasn't reported on the Chinese newspaper, wouldn't have known it if not seeing it on xinyun's post. But seriously, you don't need a big event to enjoy yourself. Paper lanterns were distributed and the Gallery staffs were busy helping visitors lighting up the candles. We were also treated to tasty mooncakes from Fullerton Hotel :D

I was holding a lighted lantern when a family of 3 approached me. The father, apparently from mainland China judging by his accent, asked me where did I buy the lantern. I told him it was distributed at the Gallery, but seemed like the stock went out. My father, who was standing beside me, saw the little girl and offered his lantern to her. The man was pleasantly surprised and thanked us. And you know what next? The daughter came forward, standing straight and saying in a very audible voice, "谢谢叔叔！" (thank you uncle in Chinese) before taking the lantern from her father. Her manners beat many of the local kids.

Many-a-times you can't buy happiness (just like you can't find anywhere selling lantern in the Bay area. What a waste), and you can find happiness by giving and sharing a little. A lot of learning points for me from this episode.

creative ziio 10', the accidental comex buy

2011-09-04T17:03:00.002+08:00

I didn't really imagine myself going to Comex 2011. Until I received a call from my parents during office hour on Friday, asking me to go Comex with them that evening.

Well I did think of getting an iPad for them, since it is not uncommon to see old aunties playing with iPhone on the train, and I guess a Windows-based PC could be harder to learn for the oldbies at home. But I didn't do much research prior to heading down Comex. So over there we saw a couple of Chinese brands Android tablets on 7' screen and yada yada, and the ZiiO 10' at the Creative booth. We decided to go for the bigger screen, and the Singaporean brand.

At first glance the ZiiO 10 has a better look than the other low-end tablets. Just to point out, it doesn't have the standard usb port (has a mini USB), neither does it accept USB charging. But that isn't much an issue since the tablet is for my parents, can't expect them to switch on my computer to charge the tablet. Has a resistive touch screen so it doesn't support multi-touch. The volume and power buttons on the right side are also kind of hidden when you use the pouch for the ZiiO. The biggest drawback? It can't access the Android Market!!

I have no idea why it doesn't have Android Market, but in place it has a quite limited Ziio Shop. My heart sank. Well this was the first time I own (ok, my parents shall own it) an Android platform, so it kind of felt like on unfamiliar land. Perhaps there were problems faced across all Android platforms which I thought only my darn set has. I thought ok, that means I have no access to the ocean of Android apps out there. Isn't the spirit of open source mean open access to stuff? So I read up online, and found that a work around is to go to third party sites and download the .apk files direct. That solved quite a bit of the problem.

Hopefully my parents will like the set. For the time being, they are hugging it all day long reading news and listening to oversea radio stations.

comments, complaints, compliments

2011-08-31T20:07:00.002+08:00

Just a few days ago, I received a comment left on a 4 years old blog post of mine. It said something along the line of he has seen more interesting blogs.

Once in a while I do get this kind of less-than-neutral comments on the blog. While we all like to receive positive comments, I think it isn't unfair to receive negative feedback as well. (nah, we don't brush it aside as "noises") But on closer look, the commenter also left his URL with the comment. That is like, trying to earn link-love. If you had put it as a hyperlink on your name, that wasn't that bad; but to put it in the comment box together with whatever you have written, that looks kind of out. In fact that looks very very much like self-advertising. Others, well they did put it in the website box, but it links to nowhere but a web shop. Your intent is quite obvious.

Please, there are better ways to attract web traffic.

foreign talent and being presumptive

2011-08-28T20:45:00.002+08:00

At the night class that I attend, there is this group of foreigners classmates. I don't have much opinion of them except for one of them who seems to like to ask the lecturer questions just to show off how much he knows, and as a result delaying the pace of the lesson.

Being a night class attended by working adults, we have classmates rushing down from work and joining the class after the lesson has begun. So this foreigner classmate of mine was seated near the door with an empty seat next to him. One after another, classmates coming in late asked if the seat was taken, and rejected on all occasion by that foreigner. As the clock ticked by and the seat was still empty, I started to think what kind of selfish person he is. People were trying to settle down fast and he wasn't making things easy by reserving the seat for who, "good brothers"?

3 hour passed and his friend finally entered the classroom, settling down in that seat.

When you have bad impression of a person, it becomes harder to be objective on his actions. Well, you might have heard of this Chinese story about a man missing his axe and suspecting it was his neighbour's son who stole the axe.

My mind needs more training.

de Moivre's question

2011-08-24T20:58:00.002+08:00

The other evening I was doing some reading when I received a sms from an ex-student, asking me about solving this question using de Moivre's theorem. To provide some background, I taught this student O-Level physics and he has since moved on to study engineering in polytechnic. As for de Moivre's theorem, did I only learn it in university?

I clarified with him a bit on the question (those brackets and powers are confusing on sms), and proposed to discuss it on facebook. He replied that he was outside and asked me to call him. Free incoming calls, I have that too. So I was preparing to sms him the answer when he finally couldn't take the wait and called me up. Had I still be a teacher with more energy and time, I would have taught those kids what it means to ask someone for a favour, but not making things easier for them to help you. (just like the previous instance. In fact the same student was involved)

Anyway, we both couldn't get the "textbook" answer. Must be printing error, hur hur.

The ex-student went on to ask if I could give him tuition on engineering topics such as Kirchhoff’s current law and all sorts of circuitry stuff. I told him that nowadays I myself is studying, so I wouldn't have the time (and energy) to teach him. His reply was "wah you hardcore leh!"

One line in the Teacher's Pledge says "We will continue to learn and pass on the love of learning to our pupils". I hope that is the minimum I could pass on.

my favourite president (is butter)

2011-08-21T15:49:00.003+08:00

4 Tans, 3 with black hair, 2 doctors, 1 president.

In a few day's time, Singapore will be choosing the next Mister President. It is hard to decide who to give the cross to because I don't like each candidate for different reasons.

Initially I wanted to list down what I don't like about each of them, but that would be foolish... so I'll just say, I love the President brand butter! And HR department, please gimme the off-in-lieu soon!

who stirred the curry

2011-08-15T20:34:00.002+08:00

So someone went to the Community Mediation Centre cos the neighbour cooks curry and they don't like the smell. According to the newspaper, the complainant just moved to Singapore from China.

Let me share with you this case that happened in Hong Kong in June this year. Someone was fined HK$75000 (~S$11610) for burning joss sticks outside her unit and causing the premature birth of the neighbour's baby. The court also ordered the accused to burn joss stick at specific timing for specific duration.

Just put aside the issue of foreigners coming to Singapore and being super ethnocentric. It doesn't quite help that the anti-foreigner sentiment is running quite high in Singapore. Putting nationality aside, we don't complain when our neighbour's curry smell gets into our house because, well, most probably we ourselves eat curry once in a while. Now how about you are in the midst of preparing for the exam and your neighbours play mahjong or blast music, even when it is day time? Or your neighbour's dog barks all Saturday and Sunday long? Or even on public transport, when the person next to you blasts music while you are trying to catch some shut-eye?

The fact that we don't make noise is due to us being used to getting violated (yes, when the smell and the noise enters our body, it is as good as a military aircraft crossing the border) or we don't mind being violated, or we dare not make noise. Using back the military aircraft analogy, yes you can choose to lodge a formal complaint or to keep quiet, maybe you love to admire your neighbour's more advanced jet or you just like to be violated, or your radar is so dumb you don't even know your territory has been violated, but the fact is, the goddamn aircraft did enter your airspace.

Another example to share. At my old place, a group of foreign students shifted into the unit next to mine. They liked to have barbecue in the corridor (hello, HDB flat common corridor!) The smoke and the soot got into my house and I went over to "express my concern". So from then on they had their barbecue inside the unit. Let's hope they don't get carbon monoxide poisoning.

It was just a few lines from the tabloid, how much info could we get from there? We don't even know head and tail of the whole curry story. Instead of slamming the foreigners, why not rethink what harmony is about. To me, harmony is not about tolerance, it's about acceptance. We only tolerate nonsense, but we accept differences.

majulah mobile phone

2011-08-13T08:24:00.003+08:00

And so a public figure was caught using her mobile phone during the singing of the National Anthem at the National Day Parade. Her attention being captured by the phone was also captured and broadcast in High Definition, live.

If you have seen her so-called "apology", it was quite a cow-crap. First she said she was so caught up, then she said _IF_ she had offended anyone, please accept her apology. To end it, she gave people a lesson on NDP is a time to unite not divide.

You really don't need to have a degree in computing to know that anything with an _IF_ is conditional. "If you are offended, then I am sorry. (else, I am NOT!)" Another way to put it, I punch you in the stomach, if your mum finds out, then sorry; if not, move along, you loser! The true sincerity and spirit of apologizing is totally not there. And what has uniting and dividing got to do in this matter? Is it like sedition to point out someone's mistake? Now I am scared.

If you see school children checking into facebook games and collecting coins during the morning flag raising ceremony, don't feel surprised, cos we have such role models. Anyway, the kids were just "caught up in the wonderful morning flag-raising and felt so proud of being a Singaporean, and wanted to capture that moment of pride, to share some coins on FB with my neighbours". If the teacher wants to record it as an offence, the students can say "morning flag-raising is a time to unite not divide."

Majulah.

46 years on, the singapore spirit

2011-08-09T17:20:00.003+08:00

Today is Singapore's 46th National Day.
Happy National Day!
Lately I have been seeing this question: "What do you think is the Singapore spirit?" For something to qualify as a spirit pegged to nationality, it must be something common to all (if not most) citizens. The first things that came to my mind were stuffs like "queuing for bubble tea", "rushing and squeezing onto buses and MRTs", "looking at the phone's screen everywhere you go", etc. But then you think further, these aren't things that reward you with a pat on the back plus a "that's the spirit!" kind.

So what is the Singapore spirit?

Personally I would say our spirit is the ability to adapt but not forgetting to find ways to be in control. The unique geopolitical situation imposed on us needs no reminder. We are natural resources-scarce, we are price-taker, but we are progressively opening more taps to put us at a better bargaining position. Yes, no doubt we pay more for our water and our electricity, but how many countries have access to safe-to-drink water from the tap? How many countries have reliable electricity supply? (let's put public transport aside. We pay more, both our wallet and our body got squeezed.)

So what is your idea of the Singapore spirit?