http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:June_odd-eyed-cat.jpg
Click on the link... the cat looks evil, but the eyes are oddly hypnotizing.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Its kinda exciting that now the durian season is here, there're gonna be many varieties to try out from. I kinda caught last season late, and when i was into the breeds, the season more or less ended.
Johor durians are great.
There're 3 stalls that you can buy from.
1. The stall at tanjong rhu, jalan batu blocks 7/8/9, he has a stall around there, great stuff, great prices. He opens late, try going after 3pm.
2. There's a stall at tanjong katong, this stall has a name, leong tee. Don't know the address though. Tanjong katong rd towards old airport road, opposite some school like building/place. Great prices, some kampong breeds.
3. My favourite stall, its at Katong, or rather, upper east coast road, near the mobil, same stretch. Do not go to 4 seasons, they're very expensive. Just park at mobil, cross that small residential road and continue on. They're there, ah teck and ah lun.. great prices great variety.
And the adsense ad thingy has been disabled, we've been banned. Thats on a lesser note.
Johor durians are great.
There're 3 stalls that you can buy from.
1. The stall at tanjong rhu, jalan batu blocks 7/8/9, he has a stall around there, great stuff, great prices. He opens late, try going after 3pm.
2. There's a stall at tanjong katong, this stall has a name, leong tee. Don't know the address though. Tanjong katong rd towards old airport road, opposite some school like building/place. Great prices, some kampong breeds.
3. My favourite stall, its at Katong, or rather, upper east coast road, near the mobil, same stretch. Do not go to 4 seasons, they're very expensive. Just park at mobil, cross that small residential road and continue on. They're there, ah teck and ah lun.. great prices great variety.
And the adsense ad thingy has been disabled, we've been banned. Thats on a lesser note.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
And so, i've had the opportunity to drive the Fiat Grande Punto for an entire week. And if you, whoever you are, have stumbled over here while considering investing your hard earned cash into a Fiat Punto, please read on.
My thoughts of the punto might be slightly biased, but the reasons put forth should be valid, at least i reckon so.
People want to hear what's good about the car, and well, here's the good points.
The car looks good. With the Maserati style front end looking better on the Fiat than on the Maserati. One can hardly find anything to complain about that sleek, smooth curves that embodies this model. It looks great, and its eye catching. Internally though, it looks plastic as hell, cheap looking everything. At least its slightly more spacious than my Clio, slightly.
The engine capacity is small, so your road tax will be pretty cheap.
I actually cannot think of any more good points for that car, other than looking nice.
So, now for the bad.
The handling of the car is okay. I say okay because i usually just go straight or along a slightly curved road, no sharp hardcore turns involved, most of the time.
And when there are turns, spoilt by my Clio, i go thinking every car can corner at the speeds i usually do with that Clio. Imagine going for a U-turn at 30 and having your rear slide. Its exciting, and you get a sharper turn, but its also dangerous as hell.
I need something that sticks.
The gear shift mechanism for the (A) version just plainly and simply, sucks. Masquerading as a manual box, it requires a lot of getting used to since its not of the "drag down do D, drag up to P" type of tried and tested design.
Its a pain, and i'm told the car has to have the engine turned off in (N). Just following instructions, the car beeps and beeps when the engine is turned off making me feel that turning off in (N) wasn't such a good idea. Shutting down in (1) or (D) in everyone else's more familiar nomenclature shuts the car up.
All the beeps are irritating, you can actually set a very irritating beep to irritate you when you exceed a certain speed. I'm certain the beep can be set to 20km/h, someone just needs to try it out. You actually get the car to beep by doing a whole lot of shit, some which just doesn't make sense, some which actually do.
You can actually turn off the beep, but who knows what might that do. The car might explode.
Back to the gear box.
Because this is an old car, of probably about 4 years of age, the gearbox might be running a little funky. Like how the gear box would suddenly NOT engage, and beep coupled with a message "Gear not available, check handbook" would irritate you, hampering your ability to resolve the problem, but i reckon thats just the Italian style.
And so, it happens, the gear box WILL sometimes refuse to engage. Sometimes after a traffic light, sometimes just when one wants to go out and get supper, the gear wont engage. It might be due to lack of maintenance, but the fact that it can happen, is quite a scary thought, is it not?
In the space of 1 week, it happened more that 5 times to me.
At last, the final issue that bugs me, is that the car is underpowered. Overtaking is a pain. I bet the lack of engine output is a major boo-boo.
For almost 65k, there are better and more reliable cars out there.
65k can get you an impreza 2.0.
65k can get you a toyota altis.
65k can get you a renault clio with the exhaust mods and an ecu tune, and you'll still have cash for fuel for 3 months at least.
This punto was rented, so it might not have been the most perfect test car. Then in this case, the rental company should be blamed.
I can't name the rental company behind this, but i can tell you their rates.
$45 a day for the punto, i believe they're the only company renting out the car this cheap. Sucks anyway. And they rent out privately owned/registered cars. Illegal i tell you. And this particular car from this company is SO dirty that the girlfriend gets weird bugs biting her.
8667 is the 4 numbers i never wanna see again.
My thoughts of the punto might be slightly biased, but the reasons put forth should be valid, at least i reckon so.
People want to hear what's good about the car, and well, here's the good points.
The car looks good. With the Maserati style front end looking better on the Fiat than on the Maserati. One can hardly find anything to complain about that sleek, smooth curves that embodies this model. It looks great, and its eye catching. Internally though, it looks plastic as hell, cheap looking everything. At least its slightly more spacious than my Clio, slightly.
The engine capacity is small, so your road tax will be pretty cheap.
I actually cannot think of any more good points for that car, other than looking nice.
So, now for the bad.
The handling of the car is okay. I say okay because i usually just go straight or along a slightly curved road, no sharp hardcore turns involved, most of the time.
And when there are turns, spoilt by my Clio, i go thinking every car can corner at the speeds i usually do with that Clio. Imagine going for a U-turn at 30 and having your rear slide. Its exciting, and you get a sharper turn, but its also dangerous as hell.
I need something that sticks.
The gear shift mechanism for the (A) version just plainly and simply, sucks. Masquerading as a manual box, it requires a lot of getting used to since its not of the "drag down do D, drag up to P" type of tried and tested design.
Its a pain, and i'm told the car has to have the engine turned off in (N). Just following instructions, the car beeps and beeps when the engine is turned off making me feel that turning off in (N) wasn't such a good idea. Shutting down in (1) or (D) in everyone else's more familiar nomenclature shuts the car up.
All the beeps are irritating, you can actually set a very irritating beep to irritate you when you exceed a certain speed. I'm certain the beep can be set to 20km/h, someone just needs to try it out. You actually get the car to beep by doing a whole lot of shit, some which just doesn't make sense, some which actually do.
You can actually turn off the beep, but who knows what might that do. The car might explode.
Back to the gear box.
Because this is an old car, of probably about 4 years of age, the gearbox might be running a little funky. Like how the gear box would suddenly NOT engage, and beep coupled with a message "Gear not available, check handbook" would irritate you, hampering your ability to resolve the problem, but i reckon thats just the Italian style.
And so, it happens, the gear box WILL sometimes refuse to engage. Sometimes after a traffic light, sometimes just when one wants to go out and get supper, the gear wont engage. It might be due to lack of maintenance, but the fact that it can happen, is quite a scary thought, is it not?
In the space of 1 week, it happened more that 5 times to me.
At last, the final issue that bugs me, is that the car is underpowered. Overtaking is a pain. I bet the lack of engine output is a major boo-boo.
For almost 65k, there are better and more reliable cars out there.
65k can get you an impreza 2.0.
65k can get you a toyota altis.
65k can get you a renault clio with the exhaust mods and an ecu tune, and you'll still have cash for fuel for 3 months at least.
This punto was rented, so it might not have been the most perfect test car. Then in this case, the rental company should be blamed.
I can't name the rental company behind this, but i can tell you their rates.
$45 a day for the punto, i believe they're the only company renting out the car this cheap. Sucks anyway. And they rent out privately owned/registered cars. Illegal i tell you. And this particular car from this company is SO dirty that the girlfriend gets weird bugs biting her.
8667 is the 4 numbers i never wanna see again.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
And exercise has just come and gone. Suffering from lack of sleep, and lack of time for most of the exercise, i'm glad it has finally concluded. And upon conclusion of the exercise, my heart felt liberated. It is as if i'm also free, from the grasp of the army. In about 4 weeks or so.
So, with the cessation of my service, comes other more important things in life. My studies, my plans, and my future. What my term as an NSF robbed from me, in loss of earnings and loss of opportunities, i must work doubly hard to earn back.
But i cannot earn time, 2 years of someone's prime, the most important thing the army steals, from every Singaporean born male.
So, with the cessation of my service, comes other more important things in life. My studies, my plans, and my future. What my term as an NSF robbed from me, in loss of earnings and loss of opportunities, i must work doubly hard to earn back.
But i cannot earn time, 2 years of someone's prime, the most important thing the army steals, from every Singaporean born male.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
I went to IKEA for lunch yesterday and today.
The whole place was pretty crowded, probably due to the free parking and relatively cheap food.
And when a place is crowded, the ugly Singaporean rears its head.
Integrity goes out the window.
Impatience rules the day and it seems as if Singaporeans cannot queue. Its quite sickening when you're scooping some ice and some dick shoves into your space and tries to scoop ice from the same hole.
Its also quite sickening when you're filling up your drink, and some unidentified hand rushes in, brushing past your hand, just to fill up the iced lemon tea next to your coke. Imagine 3 people crowding at one dispenser, with 5 outlets.
And, i also see people using the glasses meant for iced water filling up with soft drinks, wheres the integrity? Are times so bad? I see children, i see adults, i see men and women filling up. Is this Kiasu? Cannot afford soft drinks?
I wonder.
I hope the Australians are not as annoying, i hope they're in less of a hurry to go and do nothing. It was the weekend after all. Oh well. 35 days left before i kiss the SAF goodbye. And 43 day s before i kiss Singapore goodbye...
Marikita Rakyat Singapura
Sama sama menuju, bahagia
cita cita kita yang mulia!
Berjaya! Singapura.
The whole place was pretty crowded, probably due to the free parking and relatively cheap food.
And when a place is crowded, the ugly Singaporean rears its head.
Integrity goes out the window.
Impatience rules the day and it seems as if Singaporeans cannot queue. Its quite sickening when you're scooping some ice and some dick shoves into your space and tries to scoop ice from the same hole.
Its also quite sickening when you're filling up your drink, and some unidentified hand rushes in, brushing past your hand, just to fill up the iced lemon tea next to your coke. Imagine 3 people crowding at one dispenser, with 5 outlets.
And, i also see people using the glasses meant for iced water filling up with soft drinks, wheres the integrity? Are times so bad? I see children, i see adults, i see men and women filling up. Is this Kiasu? Cannot afford soft drinks?
I wonder.
I hope the Australians are not as annoying, i hope they're in less of a hurry to go and do nothing. It was the weekend after all. Oh well. 35 days left before i kiss the SAF goodbye. And 43 day s before i kiss Singapore goodbye...
Marikita Rakyat Singapura
Sama sama menuju, bahagia
cita cita kita yang mulia!
Berjaya! Singapura.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Mas Selamat has been apprehended, not that i care very much.
Just that, i'll never really forget March and April of last year, slogging my guts out, just because of one darn bloke.
Now now, if only i could get 10mins alone with him, i'll break his terrorist legs and cut off his terrorist hands, terrorist style.
Just that, i'll never really forget March and April of last year, slogging my guts out, just because of one darn bloke.
Now now, if only i could get 10mins alone with him, i'll break his terrorist legs and cut off his terrorist hands, terrorist style.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
RENAULT-NISSAN ALLIANCE PARTNERS WITH SINGAPORE GOVERNMENT
FOR ZERO-EMISSION MOBILITY
Singapore (May 6th, 2009) - The Renault-Nissan Alliance has formed a partnership with the Energy Market Authority (EMA), the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the Economic Development Board (EDB) of Singapore to explore the development of Zero Emission Vehicles Program.
Under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed in the presence of Lawrence Wong, CE of EMA, Dr Beh Swan Gin, MD of EDB, Yam Ah Mee, CE of LTA and Thierry Koskas, Renault Electric Vehicles Programme Director, the organizations have agreed to set up working team of representatives and promote introduction and expansion of electric vehicles in Singapore.
"EV development is an exciting new area particularly relevant to the Singapore context. Singapore is well-positioned for the deployment of EVs due to our relative small size, urban environment, robust electrical grid and IT infrastructure," said Lawrence Wong, Chief Executive, EMA.
"Renault and Nissan aim to become leading brands in zero emission vehicles. Singapore is for us a key priority, as the geography of the country and the focus on environment issues make fast and strong development of electric cars," said Thierry Koskas Renault electric vehicles programme director. "We are looking forward to working closely with all partners involved to make this project successful."
The Renault-Nissan Alliance has begun ZEV initiatives in Kanagawa Prefecture and Yokohama in Japan, as well as in Israel, Denmark, Portugal, Monaco, the UK, France, Switzerland, Ireland, China and Hong Kong. In the United States, the Alliance is exploring ways to promote zero-emission mobility and the development of an EV infrastructure in the State of Tennessee, the State of Oregon, Sonoma County and San Diego in California, Tucson and Phoenix in Arizona, Seattle in Washington and Raleigh in North Carolina.
The Alliance has formed partnerships with 26 governments, cities and other organizations to advance the deployment of EVs worldwide.
The Renault-Nissan Alliance
The Renault Nissan Alliance, founded in 1999, sold 6,090,304 vehicles in 2008. The objective of the Alliance is to rank among the world's top three vehicle manufacturers in terms of quality, technology and profitability.
EV Taskforce
To spearhead Electric Vehicle (EV) test-bedding and infrastructure development in Singapore, a multi-agency taskforce chaired by Energy Market Authority (EMA) and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) has been set up with members comprising the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Economic Development Board (EDB), National Environment Agency (NEA), Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) and Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI).
The EV taskforce was set up to assess the benefits and applicability of adopting EVs in Singapore. It will draw up the overall plan of EV test-bedding and evaluation of the environmental and economic benefits, with a view of a potential larger scale adoption of EVs in future. The taskforce will work with key industry players to examine infrastructural requirements, policy requirements and new business models arising from EVs, as well as identify industry development and R&D opportunities. It will also look into educating the public on EV technology though a nationwide EV sharing programme or through corporate fleets. The taskforce will set aside funding for interested parties to develop infrastructure and buy electric vehicle during the test-bedding process.
Energy Market Authority
Energy Market Authority (EMA) was formed on 1 April 2001 as a statutory board under the Ministry of Trade and Industry to forge a secure, long-term electricity industry that thrives on healthy competition. New market structures have been created to promote competition in the electricity and gas industries. EMA will also continue to promote cost-competitive outcomes for consumers by ensuring a level playing field for competition within the electricity and gas. As co-chair of the EV Taskforce, EMA endeavors to establish strategic partners for test bedding, identify power grid regulation/licensing for EV charging systems and develop relevant codes and standards.
Land Transport Authority
Land Transport Authority (LTA) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Transport. LTA plans the long-term transport needs and spearheads land transport developments in Singapore. While serving commuters by providing an integrated and user-friendly transport system, LTA addresses wider issues such as sustainable development, economic growth, and community life. As a co-chair of the EV Taskforce, LTA helps ensure that relevant regulations, standards and infrastructure are in place. LTA looks forward to working with leading companies such as Renault-Nissan to develop innovative transport solutions, and making Singapore's transport system greener, cleaner, and more people-centred.
Economic Development Board
EDB is the lead government agency for planning and executing strategies to enhance Singapore's position as a global business centre and grow the Singapore economy. In so doing, we attract economic opportunities and jobs for the people of Singapore, and help shape our country's economic future.
EDB's role in the MOU is to work with industry partners like Renault-Nissan to jointly identify industry development opportunities such as manufacturing and R&D. The MOU is aligned with EDB's positioning of Singapore as a "Living Laboratory" where leading-edge urban mobility solutions, such as electric vehicles, are tested, developed and exported to the rest of the world.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
And so, my HSBC supplementary credit card has been cancelled due to an incident at the Pepper Lunch at Jurong Point. The cashier swiped my card twice, saying that my card cannot be used, which was fine and dandy. So i paid cash.
When the credit card bill came, i was charged $17.40 twice. Which comes up to about $34.80. And that is a lot of money. I can survive an entire week on $34.80, if i don't leave camp, and don't leave bed.
And so, the charge was disputed, and through some complicated chain of events, my HSBC card was cancelled. Which is actually rather annoying. These people can void my card in the middle of the night, making me pay cash for my petrol, and then call me up to verify if i'm the owner of the card.
Ridiculous i tell you. And never once has a cashier looked properly at my signature and name to verify anything. Its done a lot in Australia though.
Now, back to work, i'm done ranting.
When the credit card bill came, i was charged $17.40 twice. Which comes up to about $34.80. And that is a lot of money. I can survive an entire week on $34.80, if i don't leave camp, and don't leave bed.
And so, the charge was disputed, and through some complicated chain of events, my HSBC card was cancelled. Which is actually rather annoying. These people can void my card in the middle of the night, making me pay cash for my petrol, and then call me up to verify if i'm the owner of the card.
Ridiculous i tell you. And never once has a cashier looked properly at my signature and name to verify anything. Its done a lot in Australia though.
Now, back to work, i'm done ranting.
Monday, May 4, 2009
The Nissan GT-R, is a great car.
I had the opportunity to ride in one the other day. It CAN comfortably seat 4 with a seat change. And instead of hearing or reading how awesome it was, i could see it with my own eyes, and feel it with my own body. Awesome.
It was a hectic weekend, and now, its a hectic week. How many ORD-ing personnel are this busy? I would safely assume there are not many, because they have no exercise to attend. Tsk, this is making me annoyed.
And so, if anyone wants to donate to my skyline fund, but cannot be bothered to wire me some cash, please click on my ads, and look through the content. I get cash, you get information about products and services...
I had the opportunity to ride in one the other day. It CAN comfortably seat 4 with a seat change. And instead of hearing or reading how awesome it was, i could see it with my own eyes, and feel it with my own body. Awesome.
It was a hectic weekend, and now, its a hectic week. How many ORD-ing personnel are this busy? I would safely assume there are not many, because they have no exercise to attend. Tsk, this is making me annoyed.
And so, if anyone wants to donate to my skyline fund, but cannot be bothered to wire me some cash, please click on my ads, and look through the content. I get cash, you get information about products and services...
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