Honda Phantom

My new motorcycle makes me as happy as I thought it would and more. Stats? 200cc (small, but this model is the most common bike in Singapore, 200cc may be weak, but anything more powerful is significantly costlier), year 2004, mileage 33,000 km, and takes 10 litres/ 2 in reserve, air-cooled. I love the American inspired cruiser style.

I've found a way to mount my cell phone for GPS on it. Solution? Velcro. It's very strong. Good thing too, because my cell phone is worth half the cost of my motorcycle.

Singapore's at my fingertips now.

Weetabix

Weetabix. I like this commercial. So many bears though, wtf! I want to dance like that.

This has nothing to do with Singapore except maybe to remind you that a great deal of English influence abounds here. Britain ruled in 1824 and until 1959. There was a period where Japan conquered Singapore during WW2.

She's got talent and her own moves. Did you recognize that some of the bears are actually guys in costumes?

Making of:

Surrounded by Muslim Countries

All male Singaporean citizens who have reached the age of 18 are required to enrol in the military.

They serve a two-year or one-year-ten-month period as Full Time National Servicemen (NSFs), either in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), Singapore Police Force (SPF), or the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).

The peaceful, mostly Buddhist nation has decided to make it mandatory. There is a relatively huge amount of wealth that has to be protected, you know.

I saw 5 heavily armed Singaporean men walking in the down town city area. They were carrying automatic rifles, amongst the metropolitan citizens. An unusual sight for an American.

Religion in Singapore:

Buddhism			33.3%
Christianity			18.3%
No religion			17.0%
Islam			14.7%
Taoism			10.9%
Hinduism			5.1%
Others			0.7%

A type of frog with a loud croak.

This Singaporean frog is smart. He hides below the sewer grating and uses the sewer walls to amplify his call. He does this nightly.

See you tomolo !

Singlish is highly discouraged in Singapore. However, people keep using the acronym TML for tomorrow. Now I know what the L is there for.

I looked up tomolo on google and the first hit is amusing.

Infinity Pool and Marina Bay: Night Version

I sneaked my way in. If you go past security to a less used elevator or shall I say 'lift', and wait for a guest to use their card, you can then press the 57th floor button and find yourself at the infinity pool. It's beautiful at night, but I will make a day time trip as well to actually go for a swim.

I had a local ask me 'what is marina bay sands? is it a cool place?' I was like, uhhhh, "its Singapore's most famous skyline symbol...."

It is the world's most expensive stand alone casino property, valued at about $8 billion. But no worries, the annual profit is $1 billion.

Here is a better google pic of it.

No Comment.

I got a car instead of a motorcycle.

Casino Visit: some winnings

I placed an even 50 dollar bet on Roulette and doubled my money. I then proceeded to try to walk away... however a slot machine got 2 bucks from me, right before leaving.

Foreigners get in free to the Marina Bay Sands Casino. Locals must pay a 100 dollar entry fee.

I stumbled upon F1 while in the city.

I was surprised at how the noise makes it much more exciting than I would have anticipated.

The sound reverberates across the skyscrapers.

Merlion Madness

Rubber Bands, Asymptotic Freedom, and the Universe

Lately, I've been investigating a new field that may exist in the Universe which acts like a rubber band.

It's a simple type of field (scalar) and when you add lots of energy the interactions among the particles eventually vanish. It's like adding heat to a rubber band and as it shrinks, the band becomes flimsy.

Toilets vs Restrooms

First the USA will dominate the media, the music, and then we will come for your 'toilets'.
In Singapore, they are overwhelming called "Toilets". However, I have seen at least one instance of American influence trump the British! It's like being back home, home sweet home, honestly.

Fried Oyster Omelet: A popular dish here.

It's a Taiwanese dish of Teochew/Fujian origin. It is also popular in places with Chaozhou and Fujianese influences such as in Guangdong, Hong Kong, Malaysia, (not just Singapore), the Philippines, and Taiwan (where it is often sold as a xiaochi in night markets).

Its almost exotic enough for my red-neck palate.

The state of Georgia vs Gabon

The death penalty is the ultimate, irreversible denial of human rights.

Instead of working towards the abolition of the death penalty worldwide, and aiming to end the cycle of violence created by a system riddled with economic and racial bias, as well as human error, today the state of Georgia decided to stay a man's execution.

The US has good company though, with the likes of China, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, Syria and Saudi Arabia....

Singapore has had capital punishment since it was ruled as a British colony. Sadly however, Singapore's independence came before the UK's decision to abolished capital punishment. To this day the Singaporean procedure of hanging condemned individuals is mostly influenced by the methods formerly used in Great Britain.

Good news however, Gabon, a small country in Africa, abolished the death penalty for all crimes in 2010. Go Gabon.

Ultimate

An international tournament held in Singapore. I filmed this short, boring clip, but a friend of a friend is there playing on the team. There was a great attitude at this place.

On a related note, I played some Ultimate a few days before this and skidded on my knees at one point. It's been awhile (maybe when I was a kid?) since I've scraped my knees so badly. All good fun.

Mudflats of Singapore

She's here at the National Institute of Education. She got a degree at NTU. Here is the link, I'm not making this up.

She studies creatures in mudflats:

"our laboratory has been actively involved in elucidating the biochemical strategies employed by these organisms in adapting to the harsh environment in the mudflats. "

Moving to my new room, Sept 25.

This is what the government built flats look like. It's a bit homogenized, but they work.

I signed my lease for my new room last night. Moving in on Sunday, Sept 25th. I'm really happy to finally have a more permanent location. My flatmate is cool and the upgrade in living conditions is a welcome repose.

Unusual amounts of lizards

These guys are numerous. Seen them all over outside walls, windows, and scampering on the streets. Seen a few squished ones too.

Fastest global trading platform in the world.

Singapore ranks fourth in foreign-exchange trading volumes behind New York, London and Tokyo.

Looks like the biggest challenge facing Singapore is the time it takes to grow certain types of skills sets. A bigshot at Citibank, Michael Zink, gives the example of 'a risk manager' taking 10-years of development. He points to that length of 'skill development time' to the one thing that Singapore really has to focus on. If only there was a way to shorten the time-frame required to train scientists, medical doctors, and other highly specialized professions!

"It has great universities, it has fantastic depth of talent today. But that [time cycle] is a potential constraint. Could a talent shortage emerge if we don't focus on it? It's possible."

Article here.

New SoS Video

Birds outside my office window

Big beaks. Made me hungry for fruit loops.

Smelly Fruit Ice Cream

Yes. This lovely treat had beans, corn, chunks of tapioca, durian pulp and durian ice cream. It was.... really gross. Developing a taste for durian is tough, but I'm not giving up.

Advertised

What was advertised:What was served:

Physics is the easiest subject of all

I try to express this sentiment to people, but its a hard concept to communicate. However Sean Carroll says it well over at Cosmic Variance.

****

None of which is to say that social scientists are less capable or knowledgable about their fields than natural scientists. Their fields are much harder! Where “hard” characterizes the difficulty of coming up with models that accurately capture important features of reality.

Physics is the easiest subject of all, which is why we know enormously more about it than any other science. The social sciences deal with fantastically more complicated subjects, about which it’s very naturally more difficult to make definitive statements, especially statements that represent counterintuitive discoveries. The esoteric knowledge that social scientists undoubtedly possess, therefore, doesn’t translate directly into actionable understanding of the world, in the same way that physicists are able to help get a spacecraft to the moon.

Infamous Smelly Fruit

This thing smells. Its pungent odour is unusual and unique. Many here consider it to be captivating and fragrantful. Others find it malodorous and putrid.

Don't bring it on the trains.

I tasted it. It wasn't that good, but I think mine was too ripe. It had the texture of tender strings of chicken that you'd find in chicken noodle soup.

If I wasn't trying so hard to be incredibly open minded, I probably would have gagged.

Found a place to live!

The rent is more than I thought I would go for. I am surprised I went with something this high. The price may be high but I think the value is higher. I'm excited.

Here's the original advert:

Hey all,

My flatmate's moving out mid-November, so I'll need a new flatmate!

Location: Jurong West, Blk 9xx. 10 minute walk to Nanyang Technological University, and roughly an hour's commute to the city.

Room type: Master bedroom, air-conditioned, with a ceiling fan, furnished with a queen-sized bed and a wardrobe.

About my awesome place:

1. You're only sharing it with one person. Me =)

2. The landlord's completely unproblematic. He stays out of our lives and appears only when repairs need to be done.

3. Full usage of kitchen - I have pots, pans, a mini toaster, a rice cooker, a slow cooker, a blender, an electric kettle and a fridge. We also have a washing machine.

4. Large flatscreen TV inherited from my ex-flatmate. We have Starhub cable TV and a Sony Playstation 3.

5. We live on the 9th floor, it's quiet and airy and there are no windows facing the corridor. Only four units per floor so no long elevator waits.

6. The place is pretty comfortable, nicely renovated and clean.

7. Living room is huge. I've hosted 3 CSers at one go comfortably.

8. We also have a storage room where we stow boxes and luggages and dead bodies.

9. Bus stop's just downstairs. Buses running are 241 and 99 (and the night bus, if I'm not mistaken).

10. 3 minute walk to a 24-hour supermarket and tons of amenities like a few food courts, clinics, a wet market and a whole array of random little shops.

Flatmate that I'd prefer:

1. Friendly, respectful of personal space. You can expect the same of me.

2. I've been hosting CSers and it's been great - so preferably someone who's open to the idea of hosting.

The only down side to my place that I can think of is that it's rather far from the city (Pioneer MRT, green line, and a bus ride), but if you're working/studying in NTU as I am, it's very convenient. The bright side is I always get seats on the MRT =)

So if you're interested, or if you have any friends who may be, do message me. The moving-in time is negotiable if you need to move in earlier than mid November.

Crashing!

Watch the second white obstacle. I didn't know how to turn yet, so I considered just trying to take on the obstacle. At the last moment I remembered the board was not to be used on the ramps, so I just rammed right into it.

Birds are popular among some Chinese in Singapore

It's a hobby. They like to sit and talk together with their birds singing. They were not friendly in revealing this information to me. I had to ask a local Indian guy what was going on. The Chinese guys were very protective of their fowl.

Tarheel in Singapore

Lots of Boats,.... and Tai Chi

They slap their legs in Tai Chi.

Wonder about all those boats you see?

"

Currently the world's busiest port in terms of total shipping tonnage, it also tranships a fifth[1]of the world's shipping containers as the world's busiest container port, half of the world's annual supply of crude oil, and is the world's busiest transshipment port.

"

East Coast Park: Tai Chi

Lots of Tai Chi, tents, runners, all along the East Coast. This seems to be the only 'beach' in Singapore. They love their Tai Chi here.

You couldn't see it, but roller-blading is also a big past time.

cable-ski in Singapore near east coast

Singapore's First Cable-Ski Park. Went wake boarding for the first time.

A crash video and aftermath are forthcoming...

learning... slowly.

Learning my first few words of Chinese today. Ate lunch with the Chairman of World Scientific Publishing again and others and they spoke Chinese throughout....

Not a grave

These small stelae are common on the NTU campus. They seem to be city water or electrical markers. I kept thinking 'what's with all the random tombstones??' .

Motorcycle? Car?

Singapore gasoline is currently about SG$2.00 per litre, which equates to about US$6.06 per gallon.

If I want my motorcycle I'd have to pay nearly 2k just for the certificate of entitlement.

*******

Singapore, being a small and densely populated city-state, cannot really accommodate a large fleet of autos traveling on its roads and filling its car parks, so it has adopted policies to encourage use of public transportation, and discourage private auto ownership. A quota system controls the number of autos in the city. It also makes a nice revenue stream for the government. The discouragement part of the strategy is apparently not working.

In order to purchase a vehicle, you must acquire a COE. This entitles you the privilege to buy and own a vehicle. A quota is established each year for the number of COEs to be issued, and it is necessary to pay the bid for one. A COE is good for 10 years, after which you must must export (sell) or scrap the vehicle, or purchase a new COE for the auto. With a limited supply, and an ever increasing demand (ask any taxi driver-- the roads are "getting worse", even with the controlled increase in autos) the COE prices continue to rise. The most recent prices were published in the news today (shown above). Note that this is the price for the COE-- in addition you would still need to purchase the automobile, and license it.

******

Once I ask a few people how they got there and what they paid, perhaps I can find one. It takes too long to travel to the center of the city on the MRT for my taste.

World Scientific Publishing

Ate dinner at Phua's house Saturday night, Professor K K Phua is Chairman of the IAS and Chief Editor of World Scientific Publishing. It was a nice place, and the cooking was amazing.

4 ounces versus 30 ounces

The iPhone 4 is about 5 ounces.

My new cell (Samsung Galaxy s2) is 4 ounces.

Merlion

A symbol of Singapore. The blasted thing is everywhere. It's cool, but also wholly ridiculous.

The fish body represents Singapore's origin as a fishing village when it was called Temasek, which means "sea town" in Javanese. The lion head represents Singapore's original name — Singapura — meaning "lion city" or "kota singa".

Lions probably never lived in Singapore; the beast seen by Sang Nila Utama, founder of ancient Singapore, who gave the city its name, was most likely a tiger.

Apparently, Singaporeans often substitute the term "Merlion" in lieu of vomiting, in reference of the constant gushing of water from the Merlion's mouth. Apparently this use is now appropriated by Singaporean medical staff as slang for a patient who has intractable vomiting.

A first

Today I saw not a wild cat, or a wild dog, or a wild rabbit or wild fox, but yes, a wild monkey. That's the fellow right there. I followed him for about 400 meters till he climbed a tree to about 4 meters high and then bared his teeth, somewhat calmly at me. That was enough to keep me away.

Singapore Flight, 31 year old dude, choked, had heart problems

Wow. I think I'll be eating very carefully next time I get on that plane.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2033546/Man-chokes-death-flight-meal.html

The Great American Teddy Bear

At the zoo yesterday. Walked past the bears and a sign telling about 'teddy bears' came about. One Singaporean girl looked at it briefly and told her friend "Just another story about how Americans are soo great..."

I looked at her and she smiled.

Legacy of Watch Making at Singapore National Museum (for Dad)

http://www.vacheron-constantin.com/treasures-of-vacheron-constantin-singapore/

Snails

There are many many snails here. Big ones too. I don't think I'd like the sound of it crunching under my shoe.

Art in the Bank: Overseas China Banking Corp (OCBC)

Lots of He-Man, Starwars, etc. Quite the mix.

Typical Awnings (like Hawaii)

It works.

Most don't drink while eating...

This image is typical of about 80% of people during their meal:

Notice she has no drink. I made a big fuss with about three employees at the canteen trying to get a cup of water for my meal because, well, I LIKE TO HAVE A DRINK WHILE I EAT.

It turns out that as children, most people in Singapore are told that drinking while eating is bad for digestion because it dilutes the stomach acid.

Diet or Light?

Tray Return

I wonder what this is all about?

Fish head is #1 on the menu

They ran out of just fish heads. They did however serve me the fish head + body.