chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Feb 3, 2012, 9:49 pm
Another favourite check-out when in Sydney is the nearby Hunter Valley. Australia being an important wine producing country, and Hunter Valley is one of the major wine regions of Australia, naturally you go for a wine tour when in Hunter Valley. If you drive, you theoretically can visit the wineries...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Jan 27, 2012, 10:01 pm
If you think Sydney is just a city of skyscrapers, then you are missing out the goodies in the wilderness. On day 3 we went to the Blue Mountains, a region some 1 hour's coach journey away. Initially I was considering riding the CityRail to Katoomba and explore Blue Mountains on our own, but that co...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Jan 21, 2012, 3:15 am
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 Canb...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Jan 13, 2012, 9:04 pm
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 T...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Dec 31, 2011, 1:58 am
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 ...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Dec 16, 2011, 8:20 pm
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 _t...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Dec 4, 2011, 4:37 am
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 Dentets...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Dec 2, 2011, 8:29 am
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 ...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Nov 7, 2011, 12:44 am
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 com...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Nov 4, 2011, 9:45 pm
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 sp...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Oct 30, 2011, 4:36 am
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...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Oct 21, 2011, 9:18 pm
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 ...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Oct 16, 2011, 3:25 am
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 abo...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Oct 8, 2011, 8:29 am
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 f...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Oct 6, 2011, 8:53 am
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...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Oct 3, 2011, 9:01 am
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...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Sep 29, 2011, 9:06 am
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 tau...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Sep 18, 2011, 2:05 am
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 wa...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Sep 10, 2011, 8:35 pm
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 rep...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Sep 4, 2011, 5:03 am
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, a...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Aug 31, 2011, 8:07 am
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 is...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Aug 28, 2011, 8:45 am
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 atte...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Aug 24, 2011, 8:58 am
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 th...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Aug 21, 2011, 3:49 am
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 ...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Aug 15, 2011, 8:34 am
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$7500...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Aug 12, 2011, 8:24 pm
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. ...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Aug 9, 2011, 5:20 am
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 c...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Aug 2, 2011, 6:29 am
analyst: you engineers are obsessed with flow charts. engineer: you analysts are obsessed with line charts.
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Jul 31, 2011, 8:08 am
It was quite ironic when I saw someone literally trying to reserve a seat on the MRT. So there was this lady sitting on THE reserved seat. Halfway between stations she stood up, leaned against the grab pole that is right beside the reserved seat, and stared hard at the MRT route map pasted above the...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Jul 22, 2011, 10:45 pm
Saw this very interesting clip that talks about the transit system in Los Angeles, how to increase ridership for public transport, etc. One point it brought up is how to have fixed bus stops but flexible bus routes. I work in the Alexandra area and everyday I take a MRT ride to HarbourFront, then tr...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Jul 17, 2011, 3:03 am
Yesterday I had a one day trip to Johor, Malaysia. Lots of bewildering stuffs. Our destination was Desaru, an Eastern part of Johor State. Our meeting point was at the North-Eastern part of Singapore. So our coach travelled all the way on the expressway to Kranji. Just as I thought we would be going...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Jul 11, 2011, 8:43 am
Do I still owe you anything? - my reporting officer That kind of saved the red paint. But I realize it could be a bad thing that I feel more enthusiastic than my boss. Such is the tug-of-war at work.
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Jul 8, 2011, 9:52 pm
Sometimes I can't help feeling that some local companies like to "inflate" their employees' rank. Is that one way to make them happy and keep them in the company? Take for example, a newbie with no prior industry experience, after sticking with the company for 1-2 years, he becomes a senior engineer...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Jul 3, 2011, 5:19 am
Yesterday the crew from OpenNet came to my place for the optical fibre installation. 3 men installed the trunking from the telecom compartment all the way to my TV point, then another 2 with big yellow equipment boxes tested out the signal. Swift. With a packed appointment schedule, they had to be q...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Jun 27, 2011, 8:58 am
An ex-colleague was saying the company rewarded him for not taking a single MC (medical certificate) for half a year. Something is amiss here. There are reasons why employees take MC. It could be genuine ill-health, could be bacteria-filled workplace, could be psychologically harmful working enviro...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Jun 25, 2011, 10:19 pm
Yesterday I was alighting from the MRT. You know, it is almost a SOP for people on the platform to rush in before the passengers are able to get off the train. Then I saw this lady holding her 3 children back, telling them to wait for the passengers to alight first. This was while everyone else were...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Jun 18, 2011, 5:08 am
I have a weak spot for cute stuff, and that was part of what led me to try out Sushi Express (争鲜回转寿司) from Taiwan, at CityLink Mall. Let me be upfront. I am no food blogger, but I do know when I like a place. Other than the killer-cuteness, there is something conceptually different about...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Jun 11, 2011, 9:28 am
Just yesterday I was on the MRT when I saw a man fighting with a woman for an empty seat. The man was originally standing and reading newspaper while the woman was leaning against the pole. As a seated passenger got up to alight, the 2 made a life-or-death dash towards the seat. The man won, raising...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Jun 4, 2011, 8:53 pm
The GF was telling me how convenient the Octopus card in Hong Kong is, cos you don't need to tap out when alighting from bus. But I told her that is because you pay the full trip's fare regardless of where you are alighting (or, where you are boarding). It will be pretty unwise if you board a cross-...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Jun 1, 2011, 8:26 am
Some bank really have a weird sense of logic. I have been using online banking services from this particular bank. One day I received an SMS telling me about a special promotion only for online banking users. Open a time deposit account and you will get some special interest rate. So I logged in to ...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - May 30, 2011, 1:41 am
The other night I was at this engineering networking session. I had a chat with this chap who used to work in a steel plant in this particular developing country. He shared that in the manufacturing process, carbon monoxide is a by-product which normally is collected and sold to other industries. Bu...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - May 27, 2011, 9:34 am
And so I had the chance to visit the RSAF Open House 2011 on the preview date today. I've visited almost every single open house at Paya Lebar Air Base since primary school, and to put it simply, this time round I was there just for one bird: the F-15SG. Of course, there were other new stuffs on dis...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - May 22, 2011, 1:42 am
Hong Kong recently passed the Minimum Wage Ordinance, guaranteeing workers with the Statutory Minimum Wage rate of HK$28 per hour. It stirred up quite a bit in the society and I happened to be in Hong Kong during the Labour Day period to observe a little. The move towards minimum wage started with t...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - May 14, 2011, 10:49 pm
I have this habit of observing people's behaviour at MRT stations. Like how they don't queue up, how they rush into the train before people can alight, how they don't move in, how they blast music, whether they offer their seats, etc. I thought these are uniquely Singapore, but during my recent trip...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - May 10, 2011, 9:57 am
And so the GF and I just came back from a trip to China and Hong Kong (yeah yeah, HK is part of China...). Having only decided to go for the trip one month ago and not really having an itinerary, you can say it was an unplanned trip. That kind of added to the fun. *smirk* This trip was symbolic in m...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Apr 26, 2011, 9:17 am
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. On 26 Apr 1986, what started off as an experiment resulted in one of the worst nuclear incidents in human history. On this occasion, Spot Image, a satellite imagery company, has published a flipbook on the satellite images over Cher...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Apr 25, 2011, 9:52 am
They always say, give up your seat to those who need it more that you. But do some people deserve it less than others? The other day I was on the train. I saw this woman with a big tummy, standing with one hand holding onto nothing, and the other hand holding her iphone up, looking at the screen int...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Apr 22, 2011, 11:41 pm
The electoral boundary map never fails to amuse me. Next time when you say you are going to East Coast or Aljunied or Marine Parade or Tanjong Pagar, make sure you say clearly which part of that place you are going. Hey, Pulau Ubin is part of East Coast! Whole new meaning to cycling in East Coast.....
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Apr 17, 2011, 4:46 am
Yesterday I was on this feeder bus. A Chinese woman in her 60s boarded the bus and asked the driver if the bus goes to "Street 22". The driver, apparently a Chinese National, replied that the bus goes to "er shi er jie". It seemed to take the woman a fair while to realize "er" = 2, "er shi er" = 22,...
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chilly c. posted an article on Department of Crappy Engineering - Apr 14, 2011, 8:31 am
I was on the train ride back when I saw something not very right. It was a crowded train. Knock-off timing. A very old man was seated at the "Reserved Seat". Very old man, in his 80s or even higher. He was like skin over skeleton. So at one station, this old man suddenly stood up, put his bible/dict...
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