Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Another Waste of Our Money

Once again, our esteem government has shown us how dumb n stupid they can be in coming up with idiotic ideas that in trying to beautify our city, only to cause more problems for its people. Firstly is the $40 million rejuvenation of Orchard Road.

According to the news article, I quote,
Part of the rejuvenation plans is to expand pedestrian walkways and create Urban Green Rooms, which will be used for art exhibitions, mini performances or major events like the Chingay.

The Urban Green Rooms will be constructed at the existing lane along Orchard Road that faces ION Orchard, Wisma Atria and Meritus Mandarin Hotel."

If you ever have been done to Orchard Road, you know how jam that stretch of road is and the situation are much worse during the weekends and peak hours. And now they are planning to make the traffic jam worse by removing one more lane?!! Alamak, the pedestrian walkway is wide enough for Airbus A380 to land. Together with the open area in front of Takashimaya Shopping Centre, there is more than adequate space for all kinds of events, how much space does these things take? And just because they want more space for some once in a while events, they cause a traffic congestion that is happening everyday to go worse. So is this all the many scholars, the ex-army general civil servants, or the out-sourced design gurus the government employed can come up with? It is very obvious, these people lack of a brain to think anything further away than next week. As musings puts it very well, the gov't pays $40m to create traffic jam.

On the other hand, maybe I have missed the big picture. By reducing one more lane on a busy road, they will have another excuse to raise the ERP there. Hmmm...

Talking about ERP, ERP rates are on the raise again merely a few months after the last raise. It's been the third time this year already. After raising so much, does the condition of the road changes? The only things that change are the pockets of our ministers. And when we take the public transport, what does the public transportation companies do? They raise their rates too. So rather than always using the ERP as a quick fire way to resolve traffic congestion, why can't those smart alecks in the gov't agency think of building or redesign the roads to divert/control the traffic better?

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Why Dogs Hate Halloween...



Their faces says it all: "Just kill me..."

More here.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Remember the Dead


Updated: Judge on MC. The case is postponed to either 22 or 24 Oct 07. So coincidence, judge go MC...

15th Oct is supposed to be the trial of Regan Lee, the guy who caused the death of the car sale assistant when he crash the car during a test drive. It's been a long two years. It has been rumoured that Lee is a son of a prominent figure and this case has been delayed hoping people will forget over time. But netizens never let us forget about it, especially after the accident, Lee posted on his online blog asking for views on two high performance cars he had viewed. Remember the dead, I hope justice will be served for once.
Lee officially charged
Netizens keeping watch of the case in forums
Straits Times Report
Straits Times Video

The Crash

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

What a Silly Question? Or Was It?

Angie asks me this question during our flight back from Taipei. Why do all the window shades on the plane have to be raised during take off and landing? Initially I felt that this is a silly question but on second thought, I ask myself, why ah? A question may sound silly but it's not when even you yourself does not know the answer. So dun go laughing at people when they ask something funny. At least they bother to think about it.

As for Angie's question, here's the answer. You learn something new everyday.
You are asked to raise your shade so that in the event of an accident you can see through the window to help you remain oriented (which way is up, etc.). Because of this, it lets you see what hazards there are outside the plane (fires, debris and such), which would be important during an evacuation. It also serves as a way to let light into the cabin and make it easier for rescuers to see inside.

Upon descent they dim the lights to help your eyes adjust to the darkness, so if anything happens and it goes dark, you're not suddenly blinded while dashing for the exits. It makes the emergency path/exit lights more visible, as these might be the only lights you see in an emergency. As with the shades, it allows you to see outside for orientation, because with the cabin lights burning brightly, the glare would make it impossible.
From here

Here's another question: Why are there stones under railway tracks? From Angie's god-daugther, Charmaine.