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Repeal penal code s377A

I just signed the online letter to repeal section 377A, with my real name, occupation and constituency.

377A : Any male person who, in public or private, commits, or abets the commission of, or procures or attempts to procure the commission by any male person of, any act of gross indecency with another male person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 2 years.

This archaic law was left behind by the British who abolished it years ago. Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia and even China have also passed laws decriminalising such acts.

I cannot accept that my gay friends are legally criminals in Singapore. So I signed it. Just because homosexuality does not square with my religious beliefs does not mean I think gays ought to be legally criminal.

Mr Wang, who is more eloquent than I am, has a series of posts on this, and you can read it at his site.

You can read the open letter to PM Lee at the repeal377a.com site.

And you can sign the online letter at www.repeal377a.com. The deadline is October 19th 2007.

Comments are CLOSED for this post. Sign or don't sign, support or don't support, that is up to you. But I will not have a flame war over this on my blog. Thanks.

See What Show: The Nanny Diaries, Grey’s Anatomy Season 3 DVD Box Set, The Lookout

We review The Nanny Diaries at the movies, the Grey’s Anatomy Season 3 DVD Box Set, and The Lookout on DVD.

Also new on the show, a segment we call Quick Looks, and this week, we take a Quick Look at the Sunshine DVD!

Check it all out at seewhatshow.com!

See What Show: Balls of Fury, Spiderman 3 2-Disc special edition DVD and Invisible Target

We review Balls of Fury, the Spiderman 3 DVD and Invisible Target, a Hong Kong action flick on DVD at seewhatshow.com!

After few days commuting on the folding bike

Some thoughts about the Dahon Curve D3 after riding it to work and back for a few days and to the mom-in-law's on the weekend. Each trip averages 7 to 10km.

The frame is strong and there is no frame flex there. There is a slight stem flex but not so much that it affects riding.

The 3 gears from the Sturmey-Archer hub work nicely and they cover most of the road conditions. I am on the second gear most of the time, but when I need to climb, the first gear is mostly adequate. The third gear is used only when I am going downhill.

Unlike external gearing from regular dérailleurs. you can change gears while waiting at the traffic lights with an internal hub. However, I found that I often had to stop pedaling to change gears on the Curve. Not a big deal but something to note.

It takes me a little longer to reach my destinations compared to using my Hardrock mountain bike with 26-inch wheels. It may be because I cycle less aggressively on the foldie. Actually the small wheels are supposed to be more efficient at speeds below 25kmh, and big wheels matter more at higher speeds like 40kmh. The smaller wheels do make you very maneuverable, and you can weave around tighter spaces easier compared to a larger bike.

You will feel more of the road riding on the Dahon Curve, although the fat Schwalbe Big Apple tires help alleviate some of the bumpiness.

Folding is fairly easy. I made it easier by marking out the original positions of the handlebar, stem and seat post with a black marker, so that I could restore the bike's settings when I unfolded.

I still wear my Giro E2 helmet when I ride this little bike, so I look a little dorky wearing a fierce helmet sitting on a little foldable. I also look like a Christmas tree at night, because I always make sure I am well-lit, especially from the back, whichever bike I ride. Besides the Cat Eye TL-LD600 rear blinker mounted on the seatpost, I also have a small red blinker on the helmet, and a Cat Eye TL-LD1000 red blinker clipped to my backpack.

I notice mounting holes in two places, on the frame and the front tube. It looks like you can attach a bottle to the body and a bag to the front. The front mounts take the KLICKfix system, though I don't know who sells that in Singapore. Would be nice to click my bag in front instead of carrying it on my back and sweating. There is an option to add small ArcLite rear rack but I don't think regular panniers fit.

My next project is to cycle around to look for good routes to get around with, preferably with park connectors.

The other fun thing I did today was to pump up the Hardrock's mountain bike tires with the Curve's built-in seatpost pump. Easier than using my tiny hand pump.

The strange thing about the Curve is the attention it attracts, on the road and at home. It just looks like a fun bike to ride. When I was at mom's for dinner on Saturday, my mom and my two brothers all took turns to try it. I guess it looks less intimidating than a mountain bike.

My old student transit card

Update: Reader yl asked if this was just the MRT one. Hmmm, not sure if this included the unlimited rides on the buses, it has been a while.

Found this in the house yesterday, it fell out of an old book. I must have been using it as a bookmark.

It is a tertiary student concession card from 1991. For $40, you got unlimited rides on buses and a limited number of MRT trips a day, for a whole month. The next month, you chucked this and bought a new one.

Nothing to top up and very affordable. And every month, you get a free bookmark to use.

Who is a Singaporean?

Seah Chiang Nee has written an excellent piece for Malaysian newspaper, The Star.

In his column, he explores the interesting ambiguity about Singapore's population, and how Singapore citizens are not defined in official references and statistics, but are lumped together with Permanent Residents as "Singaporean residents".

According to 2007 census numbers, our population stands at 4.68 million. Foreigners number 1 million, and "Singaporean residents" number 3.68 million.

What is startling is that, if his estimates are correct, PR's make up 700,000 of the "Singaporean residents" numbers. This means that of the current population, only 63.67% are Singaporean citizens.

With the government's push to increase immigration numbers, I will not be surprised when Singaporean citizens make up less than half the population here, in the next few years.

But Singaporean citizens need not feel shortchanged. We all know it is important to have foreign talent, or we will not have jobs, as gahmen reminds us. Again and again and again.

We have a very Singapore-style level playing field.

Look at the foreign talent schemes where foreign students come into our schools on full scholarships with no strings attached. After they enjoy our local schools for free, they depart for a better future elsewhere, leaving us with the lingering scent of their scholarly contributions.

I am sure Singaporean citizens look at the soaring property prices and unprecedented inflation, and tell themselves, it's all for our country's good. Those are signs of growth!

Also non-citizens cannot vote. You, Singaporean born-and-bred, can sometimes vote during the elections, if there is no walkover in your estate. And you get the wonderful honour of spending two years in National Service, defending both citizens and the other half of the country that does not need to serve it.

See? Being a Singaporean citizen is so good, the gahmen had to hide our numbers in the job stats, and lump us with the PRs. Such a sweet deal should remain a secret, or else wait all the foreigners will trip over themselves to join our privileged ranks.

You can read his column in full, "Reclassifying Singapore’s population", over at his site.

Excerpt:

IN THE face of a foreigner influx, a question that government officials are not rushing to answer is: “Who is a Singaporean?”

Strictly speaking, the Singaporean doesn’t exist in many official references, and has been displaced by ''the Singaporean resident.''

The Singapore resident has become a special category that officials generally use when talking about population and manpower.

Lumped together in this category are Singaporeans born and naturalised and foreigners who have been offered permanent residence (PR) before they apply for or are granted citizenship.

For some time now, the Statistics Department – in line with Manpower and other Ministries – has stopped classifying population the way other countries do, i.e. between citizens and foreigners.

Instead they are either “Singaporean residents” or “foreigners” (those on work passes as professionals, workers and students plus family members).

The word ‘Singaporean’ to refer to true-blue citizens is rarely, if at all, used – especially when talking about jobs.

So when the government announces that that the majority of new jobs had gone to locals, it is referring to Singaporean residents, which, of course, include foreign-born PRs.

Many people have been surprised to learn that there is no longer any separate listing for Singaporean citizens.

The magical shrinking cup of iced tea

Seems like things these days are either going up in price or shrinking in size. Or both.

My bowl of bak chor mee at the coffee shop nearby recently upped their prices from $2 to $2.20. Some have even upped it to $2.50. And don't even talk about aircon food court prices.

Inflation? Where got inflation? Singapore economy booming what.

My new ride III: Dahon Curve D3

This is a new Dahon Curve D3 folding bicycle. It comes with 3-speeds via a Sturmey-Archer 3 hub, 16-inch Schwalbe Big Apple tires, and an integrated BioLogic™ Zorin PostPump seatpost pump. Yes, the seatpost is an air pump.

I added a Cat Eye HL-EL135 light for the handlebar, and a Cat Eye TL-LD 600 rear red blinker to the seatpost.

It is for my wife to ride on weekends. But I took it to the office for a spin. Despite the smaller wheels, I took about the same amount of time to ride to work. In fact, the ride was more fun. It is a very agile little bike.

The three gears are adequate for city riding, although sometimes I wished they had a few more gears, especially on steeper inclines. While it is no speed demon, the bike is a lot more agile than my mountain bike, which is a plus in city environments and heavy traffic.

The bike folds to a compact 34x60x65 cm size. Folding it takes me about 30 seconds. Weight is about 11.4 kg (25.1 lbs). It is not entirely light but you shouldn't be carrying it around a lot anyway. I reckon a bag may be a more useful way of lugging it onto the MRT, which is what a foldie is good for.

Or you could get some of the lighter models, heheh. There is an SL version of the Curve which weighs less than 10kg (21.8 lbs) but it costs more and I don't think it is available here (too bad, it has a 5-speed hub, which would be cool).

Then there is the magnesium Dahon Mu XXV, a limited edition bike, to mark their 25th anniversary. Only 250 will be made, and it weighs in at 7.5kg (16.61lb) and purportedly the lightest foldie in the world. Expected price is €2500. Ouch.

I heard of someone who brought his Dahon foldie down to below 6kg. but it required some crazy upgrading. The carbon fibre components and other lighter parts he bought ended up costing more than the already expensive high-end model he bought. But hey, most people spend more than that kind of money on zhnging their cars, so it isn't so crazy.

The rest of us will make do with the entry-level and midrange sub-11-to-14kg models, I reckon.

A bike like the Curve would be ideal for going to work with, especially if you don't live next to an MRT station like us. Feeder buses suck, and they charge too much. Then there is the wait. Foldies let you do the distances which are too far to walk but too much trouble to take a bus for. And the added bonus is that you never worry about leaving your bike locked outside your office building or at the station. You just carry it in and leave it next to your desk.

And if you rains, or you have a flat, or you feel tired, you have the option of jumping into a cab instead of pedaling in the rain. And there are so many brands to choose from, like Dahon, JZ88, Strida, Birdy, Downtube and Brompton.

Too bad I only had one with me when the wife and I met for a movie one night. You have to fight like mad to find a cab on Orchard Road at 9.30pm. Most cabs are changing shift or just taking call bookings. The area around Wheelock Place and Shaw Centre, where we were, was full of people trying get cabs.

We finally got a cab from the Orchard Towers area, where the nightclubs and the, erm, foreign talent, were. I just folded the bike and chucked it into the cab's boot.

It would have been fun to just get on the bike, cycle to Dhoby Ghaut station, and jump on the North-East Line right away. Don't even need to change trains from the North-South Line (which we would have had to do if we had boarded the train from Orchard station). Just cycle straight to the Dhoby Ghaut NE station, dismount, fold bike, get on train, reach our station, and then cycle again from our station to our home, without waiting for the overpriced and takes-forever-to-arrive feeder bus.

That would mean get a second foldie... hmm.

The strange thing about riding often is, you start to find rising fuel prices and ERP hikes less bothersome. Sure the car is still handy but if you don't depend on it as much, you don't get affected by ever-rising cost of car ownership in Singapore. Nor are you so bothered by the bloody spotty and overcrowded bus system too. Just use the trains, they are more comfortable anyway. When the Circle Line is completed, there will be even more coverage (WHEN it is finally finished, whenever that will be).

And a comprehensive network of park connectors and a bike lane system will be nice too.

Foldies rule!

The new office graffiti wall

Update: Since there were requests, I also uploaded a photo of the wall without us blocking it. Here it is in all its glory.

The artists I share the office with were tasked with filling the new space with graffiti. I contributed a tiny tiny bit: the three angels on the left and the haiku on the right.

From left, Doro, Jasmine, and in the back row, Darren, Zid, Okita, Marc and me, and in the front row, Ben, Chester, Derrick and Kai.

Led by Ben (the one doing the squeezing of Chester's boob), the team started on Sunday and ended on Wednesday, mostly working on it after hours. The smell of paint made everyone in the office a little high for those few days. But the result from their hard work is gorgeous.

The lightning hitting me was purely coincidence. A few more photos at my Flickr set.

What a talented bunch of people I share the office with.

We got 2 more Olympic medals than we thought we had?

Seen on Mediacorp's programme guide, dated Tuesday, 2nd Oct 2007, this entry for a documentary about Singapore swimming legend, Ang Peng Siong.

The blurb says:

"...At the age of 15, Ang Peng Siong won his first silver medal at the 4x100m Freestyle Relay. From then on, Peng Siong continued competing at swimming competitions at regional and international levels. By 1982, Peng Siong was ranked as the world's fastest swimmer, for the 50m Freestyle. However, sponsorship was not forthcoming for sportspeople then. So after winning two Olympic medals in 1984 and 1988, and an illustrious 15 years of competition, Ang Peng Siong retired."

Er, I thought the only Olympic medal Singapore ever won was in the 1960 Summer Olympics, when Tan Howe Liang won a silver medal in lightweight weightlifting?

(via Sammyboy's Alfresco Coffee Shop forum)

I am such a word nerd

I don't care much for most of the apps on Facebook, but Scrabulous, that lets you play Scrabble online, rules.

Especially when you get to bingo with your tiles (all 7 tiles down for an extra 50 points). And can make a new word in another direction too. 81 points of sweetness from "LEAVERS".

It is my favourite Facebook app currently, and I am told it is also a fave with Facebook employees too. Charlie Brooker of the Guardian likes it too.

Miss Teen USA South Carolina 2007 videos

Above is the original video of Miss Teen USA South Carolina 2007 answering a pageant question with wit and candour (this version has subtitles, to help those of us who don't speak Beauty Pageantese). The video has already been seen millions of times on Youtube.

This is the response from "Miss West Carolina".

This is Miss Teen USA South Carolina making a 911 call.

My new ride II: Specialized Hardrock Comp Disc 2006

I am now riding a used Specialized Hardrock Comp Disc 2006 mountain bike, and my brother now has my Kona Lana'i bike. I spent part of the weekend picking it up from my buddy who lives in West Coast, and getting it fixed up. The Hardrock has a nice strong frame, a Marzocchi MZ-3 fork, Hayes HMX-2 XC mechanical disc brakes (update: changed to Tektro Aquila mechanical disc brakes), and Sram components. It is a little scruffed, but in very good condition. It is in a limited edition Army green color.

Aside from moving over some of my old stuff (lights, rear fender, iPod speakers, Ah Beng tire valve LED lights) I changed the tires from the knobbies to 26x1.75 Schwalbe Marathon Cross tires that have a reflective sidewall. These tires are dual application tires that can do road and a little off-road. Good for touring, I am told. I also swopped out the pedals for Shimano XT M770 SPDs, because I find it odd to ride without SPDs now. Under the seat, I added a Topeak Aero Wedge Clip-on saddle bag. Also added a wireless Cat Eye Strada CC-RD300W cyclometer and left the wired Velo 5 one for my brother to use.

The wife dropped me off at my buddy's place on Saturday morning, and after going to the bike shop near his house to get the tires done, I set off from West Coast and rode. It was not too bad, and it took me an hour via Commonwealth Road, Farrer Road, Lornie Road, Braddell Road, and then Upper Serangoon Road. I avoided some of the fly-overs and fly-unders along Farrer and Braddell because dammit, the slopes can be tough. Instead, I went for the traffic junctions, which had more level road. Not a bad ride home, but the seat needed to be adjusted a little more, because it was giving my ass a hard time after 30 minutes. I think the total distance for the trip was around 20km. Not Tour de France but Tour de Nice Saturday Ride.

I rode it again on Sunday, to the mother-in-law's in Tampines, while the wife drove the family there.

Since I am on the topic of riding and Tampines, may I take this opportunity to say, who came up with the dumb idea of those bike lanes alongside pedestrian walkways?

Bikes belong to the road, not the pavement.

There were so many Dismount and Push signs along the new Bicycle cum Pedestrian footpaths in Tampines, you may as well cycle on the road. If you ever tried to cycle at East Coast Park, you will understand how hard it is to avoid humans on pavements.

In fact, I felt more vulnerable at the crossings while riding on the path. You are better off teaching drivers to share the road with cyclists, and teaching cyclists to ride defensively and safely, than to give riders a false sense of safety on those pedestrian pavements. And if you want to give cyclists their space, do it on the road, with bike lanes, instead of footpaths.

There are supposed to be some cycling warden volunteers on those pavements in Tampines but come on, how many wardens do you have? How useful would they be?

In a country with too many cars (and people buying even MORE cars despite living in the country with the highest car prices in the world) and the ever-spiralling cost of gas, I wonder why we spend so much money putting up ERP gantries (oh wait, those earn money) and building more and more roads. Put some money into making cycling a real option, and you will very likely see fewer cars, lower pollution, lower consumption of earth's natural resources, and healthier Singaporeans.

Look at how successful the Velib’ bike transit system is in Paris. 20,000 bicycles are available for rental from 1,450 automated stations distributed across Paris. Even men in suits and well-dressed ladies cycle there.

And don't tell me Singapore's weather is too hot for it to be viable. I know many people who ride to work daily — my brother-in-law does, and I do it too. On my daily rides, I also see many foreign workers cycling. They need safer cycling conditions too (and probably some road safety tips as well).

Even a mixed mode cycling option will be good, like people cycling to the MRT station, carrying their folding bikes along, and then taking the train. Provide better bicycle lockers at stations for non-folding bikes. Allow bikes on special carriages in the MRT.

In Auckland, you can see buses with bike racks attached outside, and people can mount their bicycles on the racks, and take the bus. In some countries, full-sized bicycles are allowed in certain carriages in trains, and bike lanes are so much a part of city planning, they are taken for granted.

I just want safer roads to ride on. Not half-baked ideas like the Tampines pavement cycling trial.

Note to self, remind brother to find a safe place to practise clipping in and out of the pedals on my Kona, before hitting the road. Or it will be Buang City for him.