San Diego Reader | Pedaling Diego: San Diego's Growing Bicycle Mania

Is the photo real?
San Diego Reader | Pedaling Diego: San Diego's Growing Bicycle Mania

Motorcyclist fined, banned for negligence

Motorcyclist fined, banned for negligence

Ha ha, this "needed a driving licence to continue working as a driver for a towing company" makes it more appropriate for him to be barred from driving any vehicle for five [or more] years.

- overtaking a bus on its left.
- did not see Mr Eang riding in front of him between the kerb and the bus.
- exceeded the speed limit.

This punishment will increase the chance of him being alive for the next 5 years.

Get Back On The Bicycle Saddle | Men's Health Singapore

Get Back On The Bicycle Saddle | Men's Health Singapore

Indeed, cycling can be fat burning or not. For commuting purpose, cycling is between walking and brisk walking. Thus, one can choose to sweat less or more.

Recently I re-started cycling longer distances (~10 km per trip) for 2 trips per week and I think my weight is down by 3-5 kg.

Thanks for the jam

For years I avoided cycling via Adam road. Recently took a 93 bus and noticed the jam in the evening times. Thanks for the jam, I think, as it removes my reason for avoiding Adam road: it is much easier to cross the entrance to and exit from PIE when traffic is slow or even stand still.

Endomondo Cycling Workout: "was out cycling 8.95 km in 32m:19s using Endomondo."

Cyclized: Helmet law cartoons

Cyclized: Helmet law cartoons

Endomondo Cycling Workout

Endomondo Cycling Workout: "was out cycling 3.30 km in 17m:09s using Endomondo."
Endomondo Cycling Workout: "was out cycling 5.81 km in 22m:46s using Endomondo."
Endomondo Cycling Workout: "was out cycling 7.74 km in 34m:52s using Endomondo."
Endomondo Cycling Workout: "was out cycling 8.40 km in 31m:35s using Endomondo."

Is number of disabled people moving around related to developed-ness

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of NMEDA. All opinions are 100% mine.

So far, I have yet to see a wheelchair on Wheelchair Accessible Buses (WAB) in Singapore, while I saw them during my short trips to Manchester (only took a bus twice), UK and Honolulu. May be, many of them drive, while most of them at home.

I work within a hospital, and frequently passes by a shop that sells equipments for patients, or people with mobility problems. As in many other cases, efforts to improve quality in USA by organisation such as NMEDA will eventually benefit the people here.

NMEDA stands for National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association, but also includes driver rehabilitation specialists, and other professionals dedicated to broadening the opportunities for people with disabilities to drive or be transported in vehicles modified with mobility equipment. Thus, it doesn't sell things, but only their dealers do the selling.

NMEDA dealers help you in additional training or product refinements, if you still need to, after a personalized “in-person” evaluation to ensure you are getting the right driving solution customized to your specific lifestyle and needs.

It is the only association promoting safe driving and equipment for disabled people. Their members adheres to safety standards of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Furthermore, to satisfy customers consistently, companies must have a systematic and documented approach to quality. So, there are the Quality Assurance Program (QAP) dealers, where QAP is the only nationally recognized accreditation program for the Adaptive Mobility Equipment Industry.

I tried to find out any of their dealers nearby on their website (hit the dealers locator and type in your ZIP code), but too bad, I am in Singapore.

Natural "disasters"

There is a saying in Chinese, "天灾人祸" combining two types of disasters, natural and man made.

It seems the formal type is much more emphasized when earthquakes occurs, but I wonder if the latter is the main culprit for casualties. The recent earthquake in New Zealand where there isn't a single death, may suggest it is.

Earthquakes don't really kill directly. Most mammals just felt the shake. Most trees don't fall. Most fishes and birds might not even be affected.

Then, how did human beings get killed or injured in earthquakes? I think the recent earthquake in New Zealand quite clearly suggests that earthquakes don't really kill human beings, but many times it was the unsafe/unnatural structures that were designed and built by human beings that killed and injured the victims.

5th in Cycling?

5 best biking cities in Asia

If so, lets strive to be the best!

Nice quotes from spam comments

This blog has become a receiver of spam comments. Instead of just wasting my time rejecting each as they appear, not wanting to waste the good part of the comments, so I am posting here the nice quotes in these spam comments:

• 不論做什麼事，相信自己，別讓別人的一句話，把你擊倒。
• 心中醒，口中說，紙上作，不從身上習過，皆無用也。
• 雖天地之大，萬物之多，而惟吾蜩翼之知。
• 河水永遠是相同的，可是每一剎那又都是新的。
• 一個人的價值，應該看他貢獻了什麼，而不是他取得了什麼。
• 一棵樹除非在春天開了花，否則難望在秋天結果。
• 死亡是悲哀的，但活得不快樂更悲哀。

Majority penalized for the minority

Today my family had an experience with a failure of the Distance Fare system.

The bus we took somehow had its fare system not working after a couple of stops. So, all existing passengers could not tap out. After quite some time trying to reset it, and later more time spent trying to resolve the problem by talking to their technical support, still cannot make it work. In the end, almost all alighted and took another bus because we didn't want to waste time waiting for the issue to resolve, which seemed unlikely. Thus, all will be charged the maximum fare, and need to make claim in the following week. Then other bus captain told us that without a ticket from the first bus, we will have to tap in again.

Now, is $ the only issue here?

Wireless technology used in bike sharing

This should be the way. Technology is here, use it.

The Social Bicycle System from Ryan Rzepecki on Vimeo.

An education opportunity

My son is old enough to have some eagerness to watch the NDP fireworks. Also because he has watched it a couple of times. No, he is not old, only 2+, but we have watched it from far during the many past NDP rehearsals in the last few weeks.

Yet, today, the actual NDP day, he was sleeping during the fireworks display. My dad wanted to wake him up to watch, but I said no need. Because

Disappearing scenes

It may not be wise to pay for nice views of a property as nice views could disappear in this ever changing island.

A small area of the Macritchie reservoir still visible now will be blocked by the five 40 storeys DBSS The Peak blocks (now estimated about 20 storeys in the photo).

Another condo constructions will poke out from the faraway flat skyline soon.

The new distance-based fares

The new distance fare reminds me of the good old days (before MRT) when, as a student, I can make as many as transfers as I need with a monthly student bus stamp. With the new distance fare, I can again feel free, almost free, to transfer buses.

Previously, from Buona Vista to Toa Payoh, I used to take bus 105, which waiting time can be as long as 30 mins or more. Now, I have several options. My ultimate aim is to go via Whitley road, so my options are:

Take buses 100 147 196 198 to Mujahidin Mosque, transfer to buses 153 to TPY, or buses 93 855 to Farrer road, transfer to buses 153 to TPY, or buses 48 186 to Whitley road, transfer to buses 105 153 to TPY, or 151, 154 to Jalan TPY, transfer to the many buses that go into TPY.

Another example

Bicycle and water treatment

Read about a good use of bicycle in Singapore relief team helping flood victims

... portable bicycle ultra filtration water treatment system. Mounted on a bicycle the water treatment system can be operated by peddling bicycle and is very appropriate for use in remote disasters stricken areas, where the electricity supply is scares.By this system 600 to 800 liters of water per hour can be treated by removing sediments and bacteria.

Did I?

Did I join a church? No, I don't recall doing so.

Did Jesus came to establish the religion Christianity? Did Buddha envision to the establishment of the religion Buddhism?

I thought I joined a movement. Nevermind if other see it as a religion or even a church, but if the movement I joined starts calling itself a church...

Sent from my Samsung Omnia II GT-I8000

A working TV of the sixties!

Or a LCD implanted?

Sent from my Samsung Omnia II GT-I8000

My cycling in Singapore experiences - commenting on cycling paths

A long comments to the post A little tour of Sembawang bicycle infrastructure.

The main helpful thing is the authority is doing something about it, period. However, the things they have done seems to have almost equal pros and cons.

I am not familiar about the situation in Japan, but it seems like just making the paths wider, less kerbs will do. It is better not to have all those signs and regulations, if what is being requested is not natural and not easy to be enforced. Anyway, cyclists are not evil or stupid to go out to create problems

A simple idea for forgetful people like me

What's this?

Toilet roll lamp?

Feedback loop

Using the Remote Control on my Omnia II to access a PC that is in turn using Wifi Remote Access to remote control my Omnia II.
Feedback loop

My cycling in Singapore experiences - a small discovery

Nowadays I ride around Buona Vista more often, and have more closer look at road bikes. I didn't realized that road bike tire can be as thin as that of a racer bike. I mainly ride a mountain bike as in the tire I use are those thick and rough ones. So, many of my experiences shared here are probably inapplicable to road bikers. Here are two main differences:

Somebody asked Is riding a bicycle on the main road...

Is riding a bicycle on the main road dangerous to themselves and other fast moving vehicles?

and made the following comments:

I can understand that bicycle is very eco-friendly. But SG main roads are always very heavy around the clock. Even though there are special roads dedicated to bicycle riders but many riders still prefer to use the main roads and compete with the fast moving motor vehicles.

All the vehicle holders on the road must pay the road tax, why should there be an exception to the bicycle riders?

All motor-vehicle drivers who hug on the road will be summoned, but why should there be an exception given to the bicycle riders?

All the vehicle holders on the road have to go through high-way code and training before using the road, why should there be an exception given to the bicycle riders?

Do bicycle riders care about they are obstructing the traffic most of the time? Do they know that it is not only dangerous to the themselves but also to other motor vehicles trying to avoid them on the roads which are already very heavy?

My response:

Firstly, the question is not good

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Does God need priests, pastors, nuns, monks, and etc.?

Just about slightly more than a year back, I wrote about Is God religious?, and later revisited the same question, Again, is God religious?

Recently, again I am wondering a similar question. Does God need religious setups? More specifically, the question can be broken up into various tenses:
a) Did God need religious setups before the fall of Adam and Eve?
b) Does God need religious setups after the fall until the completion of restoration?
c) Will God need religious setups after the completion of restoration?

Which floor?

The question commonly asked in a lift. I am starting to answer more often by "yeah" or "ok" or "that's it." No, it isn't that I have been more lucky to be going up with neighbors on my level. I started doing so because I need to exercise more. Thus, when their level is not too far from mine, e.g. 3 levels or less, then I would just climb up/down a few flights of stairs.

The other advantages are saving energy and other people time.

My cycling in Singapore experiences - Bike Train Bike

Recently, I started a bike-train-bike commuting mode. I bought a second bicycle to be used for traveling between work place and the MRT station nearby. The last time I did this was more than ten years ago where one bike was used between JB and Marsiling and another in AMK.

I find this is a very convenient, economical and quick way. The risk is that the bicycle stationed near work place is more likely to be stolen during the weekends. Still, I find it economical, comparing a ~$50 bike to a few hundreds dollar folding bike, which cannot be officially brought on the train during peak hours.

Wholesome solution is lacking

A recent experience on the imbalance of modern medical therapy approach. Son is coughing and some kind of smoke treatment is given, but son doesn't like it. However, as the nurse stressed we have to insist, and anyway, the medicine has already been dispensed, i.e. paid for. Thus, we forcefully held son throughout the process.

Later, we were asked to buy a very simplify and easy to use equipment, which is also used for asthma, for the similar purpose. Too bad, we didn't manage to use it because the earlier incident has left a terrible impression and son is unwilling to sniff it. We are also very unwilling to hurt our bond with him.

Between spiritual/social and physical, I value the former much more.

Road tax and bicycle

What is road tax for? Is it for using the road?

From Wikipedia:

Road tax, also Vehicle Excise Duty in the UK, Registration Fee USA, Regco Australia, Vehicle Licensing Fee Brazil, Motor vehicle circulation tax Spain) which is an annual tax which has to be paid on most motor vehicle before using them on a public road.

(bold highlights are mine)

Different countries called it differently such as: performance tax, weight tax, Motor tax, Vehicle Tax, motor vehicle circulation tax, vehicle excise duty, Federal highway use tax.

The rate can be based on: vehicle's weight, vehicle's carbon dioxide emissions, based on the engine's displacement.

Thus

So, what if the law didn't state?

In this modern age, people are asking if this and that is legal or not. Is that the ultimate guideline for us to follow? Have we forgotten this thing called the conscience? By the way, are we to base our acts solely on the laws?

Things that are so obviously wrong that all the while nobody finds the need for such obvious things to be explicitly stated in the laws. Interestingly, when some raise the question asking if such obviously wrong thing is wrong, there are people who really try to answer the question. More surprisingly, such obviously wrong thing could be argued to be not wrong just because legal laws didn't say so!

Never go down. Never slow down.

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Singapore Cyclist Almost Creamed on Clementi Road

Is the number plate GBA 1059X?I stumbled on this via Google Alert, and find it is worth to be spread. So I blogged here, twitted, and forwarded to facebook. Then, someone saw it on facebook and alerted the Traffic Police, and accordingly, they will take action. So, may be more cyclists can mount video cam on their bike or helmet and post such "reality show" up. Not necessarily bad encounters, but also include happy encounters, which I believe are more common.

Maths or English?

Sometimes it is not easy to set questions that distinctively test on a single subject, especially when understanding the question that is expressed in some written words.

Here is a primary 2 question:

Natasha plants 6 trees on each side of a square garden. There is a tree at each corner of the garden. How many trees are there altogether?

Depending on different understandings, these may be the solutions given by students:
(a) 6 at each side and a square has 4 sides, 1 at each corner and a square has 4 corners. Thus, there are 6x4 + 1x4 = 24 + 4 = 28 trees

Be really safe

Just a quick note to say that the location of the rear light may not be good. It will be blocked when either
(a) the students sling his/her bag behind too low, or
(b) some items are placed on the rear rack.
Picture from The Straits Times article Safe cycling clinic for schools in Tampines.

Snail up a wall

I didn't learn nor read any text regarding Model Drawing as taught in Mathematics classes in Singapore. I am trying this out. Let see if I am on the right track.

Question: A snail is climbing up a wall 20m high. Everyday it climbs up 5m & slips down 2m at night. How many days will it take the snail to reach the top of the wall?

A typical old-days approach would be: each day up 5m and down 2m giving net up of 5-2=3m. To cover 20m, it would take 20/3 = 6 2/3 days. However, this is not exactly correct. This knowledge led me to draw a diagram that gives the above wrong answer. This is a common mistake by many students

Alvin? who? Chipmunks? What?

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Alvin and the Chipmunks. All opinions are 100% mine.

Oh, are they some kind of cartoon/comic/game/movie characters? Sorry, I have very low knowledge on these. I gathered that Alvin is a cartoon character in a movie also acted by real human beings.

From the reviews, it should be a family friendly film, talking about some life lessons. It is suggested to be best for kids from 6-9, but beware of some mild rude humor in it.

Anyway, I bet most of you know Alvin and the Chipmunks better than me. Thus, you should likely be more excited than me that "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel" is available on DVD and Blu-ray, or you could also download it.

If you want more fun, there is a Double DVD pack. It contains more music, mayhem and singalongs in "The Squeak Along" Bonus Disc. How much? Two DVDs at the price of one!

I playfully munked myself at http://www.munkyourself.com. Isn't it cute? Clearly, my artistic quotient is quite low. By the way, can someone tell me what did Alvin say?

It is fun! Try it out or visit http://www.foxfamilyflicks.com for More Munk Mayhem, or just buy it now.

May be I should see if my 2+ year old kid is able to do the munking. However, there is always the concern or worry that he likes it too much and keep wanting to do it.

A simple idea that I think is good

I suppose Sivasothi at Cycling in Singapore thinks likewise and put the comments into a post: From the comments: "dotted line on the road" to gauge safe gaps for cyclists

Mind and body age mismatch

Just heard from wife some days ago that son's classmate is a boy who was abandoned by both his father and mother. We know of another boy in our neighborhood whose young parents were separated less than a year after married and he is raised by his paternal grandparents.

We are not social workers. I believe social workers have more to tell.

Physical body grows according to natural laws, while [spiritual] mind grows from life experiences and guidance from parents and elders. There is too much academic education for the brain, yet virtually no proper education for the mind.

Strange problem with Omnia II

I had an experience where the USB data cable cannot charge up the phone. The charging animation disappeared before completing a cycle, appeared again and this keeps repeating. I think what happened was as it started charging, it also started the connection to the PC, which then drew down the battery or disconnected it due to battery too low, and later reconnected again and this repeats.

However, I also have experiences some how different

Guiding verses manipulating

A way to get someone to do things is to make him feels that that he wants to do it. In doing so, is he being guided or manipulated? What's the difference between guiding someone and manipulating someone so that the results is he willingly want to do something we desire him to do?

Wifi missing or disappeared from Omnia II

This seems to be a common problem that many have encountered since some months ago. Lucky and unlucky for me to have experienced it last night. Nowadays we don't call support to listen to a non-technical person reading out standard scripts that don't help. As usual, I went googling for a while, but still need to browse through discussions on this problem but with issues not related to my case, such as due to SKTools. Finally, found someone with the same problem and solved it

How much does a loopfiet cost?

Found the loopfiet at United Square for toddlers to learn how to balance before learning to ride a bicycle. However, it costs S$180, and has a fur saddle. Would some carpenter at our furniture shop make some at cheap price range?

Actually, can we just remove the the paddle of a bicycle?

Just upgraded to WM6.5

Finally, just upgraded my Omnia II to run on Windows Mobile 6.5. So far, nothing too fascinating. It could be because I didn't use many of WM6.1 features previously. Thus, I can only share my limited experiences.

This upgrading was very delayed because the last time I upgraded from N80 to N80ie, I only realized that the backup cannot be restored because of different versions. So, this time round I

7 new things in next-gen iPhone

I just read 7 new things in next-gen iPhone:

1. New [touch-sensitive] plastic casing
2. OLED screen
3. [5 or higher Mega pix] Camera [with LED flash]
4. New OS
5. Removable battery
6. Video chat
7. RFID reader

I am using Samsung Omnia II and it has AMOLED screen, 5 mega pix camera with LED flash, removable battery (seems only iPhones don't have), video chat (I guess). I supposed no phone has the touch-sensitive plastic casing and RFID reader. Making the back casing touch-sensitive could be useful, but already I find there is too much "sensitive" area on a touch-screen phone. Shall see what are the benefits. I have no clue why would I need a RFID reader.

This really shows the very importance of the OS!!! Sigh...

Different attitudes towards cyclists

I am delighted to see this:

The foot rest reads: "Hi, cyclist! Rest your foot here... and thank you for cycling in the city."

In contrast, a comment by someone reads

My cycling in Singapore experiences - My once very improvised bike

Another 1.5 year have passed and still no one wants my bike. A reason I think is it has been quite heavily improvised, but, actually, it is now much more normal looking. If you are interested to look at how improvised it was, sorry, I am not posting photo of my bike because I don't think I have any photos of my bicycle :P you can see a photo here. I also prefer not to do so in case it attracts too much attention to my bike and myself in person. So, let me try to describe what have changed here

Be in command

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Charter. All opinions are 100% mine.

I have not paid any television licensing fees. I do so legally in Singapore by not having a television at home. It isn't because the money, which is not much, but my time and selection of contents. I find it difficult to be in command when there is a television set at home.

In a broadcast setting, I can't decide when to watch, what show to watch, watch again fully or partially, pause for a moment, etc. How about you? Do you want to be in command of when, how and what show to watch? Personally, I like the concept of on demand so that I can be

Work and play. Upsized.

Months have passed since I changed my phone from Nokia N80ie to Samsung Omnia II i8000. Another rather big step just as I had previously moved from Nokia 3250 to N80ie.

My verdict after just using for only a few days still stands today, which is that hardware wise, it is a good phone but Windows Mobile 6.1 OS does not match up to it. Now that Apple iPhone 3GS and Google Nexus One just come out more recently, I feel Omnia II is

Hope you find some advertisements of interest to you

Finally, after so many years using Google Adsense, I experimented and found that really a single click can earn money. Now, I need to figure out how to increase the chance of visitor clicking on the ads.

How to learn to ride a bicycle?

I have an untested idea. It started with the question "Did the inventor of bicycle know how to ride a bicycle before his invention?" It sounds like a chicken and egg problem. Without a bicycle being invented, how would the inventor know he could ride one? If the inventor fell from his first invented bicycle, could he have abandoned the invention?

I did a search and found

Others on comparing Omnia II with iPhone 3GS and Nexus One

Followup to the previous question. I did more searches and I found the followings:

Samsung Omnia II slam-dunks the iPhone 3GS, almost on 15 Jun 2009.
Worthy competitor of the iPhone? on 4 Sep 2009.
Samsung Omnia II vs Nexus One: Specification Comparison on 6 Jan 2010.

Again, I want to say, what is Microsoft doing???

Nexus One, Omnia II, iPhone 3GS

HTC Google Nexus One vs Samsung Omnia II I8000 vs Apple iPhone 3GS comparison

Looking at the specifications, isn't Samsung Omnia II I8000 better than both Apple iPhone 3GS and Google Nexus One? Why is it there are so much news about the other two?

What am I missing out? Anyone can enlighten me?

Are traffic rules meant for safety?

I read in Be a cyclist in Singapore? No chance at all that

Traffic engineer Hans Monderman, who reworked Drachten's roads, believes that clear lanes and street signs give drivers a false sense of security. Drivers speed down these lanes thinking there are no obstructions, which increases the severity of accidents should something catch them unawares.

He has the luxury to reworked Drachten's roads. Here, the LTA seems quite reluctant to make any changes. Now, by the logic of Monderman, it might be better for LTA not to do anything. I think as most infrastructures and traffic rules were not there for safety, but rather for speed, and the by-product of false sense of security.