OCBC Cycle Singapore 2010 Cycling: One of the few types of exercise I can do now without my joints and muscles screaming out for mercy. 40km is do-able, so I signed up again for OCBC Cycle Singapore. Last year, I did the distance in 2 hours 13 minutes, which is slow. This was supposed to be the impetus to train harder and go sub-2 hours. Naturally, things didn’t go as I planned. My training was limited – mostly by sheer laziness – to three short rides at Ubin – and an attempt at the Kallang Park Connector. Nevertheless, I managed to achieve my timing goal. This morning, I clocked myself at an hour and 38 minutes. Almost half an hour better. Not that I can put this down to training. I probably knew how to pace myself better this time round. Perhaps, the earlier start this year helped too. Despite the recent hot weather, it was a relatively cool morning. And with cycling, you always feel a breeze. Although when you’re tired, you feel like the same breeze is conspiring to slow you down. During the ride, I was looking out for @gadgetygirl and @sivasothi (and friends). While I didn’t manage to spot them, I did bump into a friend from secondary school days. Audrey D’cotta was a prefect I knew from CHIJ (Toa Payoh). She now runs her own pilates studio: The Moving Body. Meeting fellow foldie-owners is always a treat too. I think I saw a Dahon guy that I saw last year, on his distinctive yellow-orche bike with matching tyres. As we whizzed past me, he hollered, “Go, bro!”. And the support staff are always generous with their cheers for guys on small bikes (read: supposedly inferior equipment). The ride itself – I preferred last year’s route. The organisers seemed to have switched the start and end sectors, which meant that this year, we headed towards the finish, then headed away from the finish… several times. All in all, I enjoyed myself. The rest area after the ride was much better too. Last year, there wasn’t much. This time, there were a few booths, the most important of which was NPark’s Park Connector booth. They had maps showing the Park Connector Networks, which included park connectors being built and in planning. Picked up a couple of brochures and got myself a nice PCN cap. Oh yes, the goodie bag includes items that I might actually use! Flickr Updates for 2010-03-07 OCBC Cycle Singapore 2010 OCBC Cycle Singapore 2010 [Flickr] acroamatic posted a photo: Goodies I might actually use Flickr Updates for 2010-02-27 Osim Superheroes Flickr Updates for 2010-02-26 Osim Superheroes Osim Superheroes [Flickr] acroamatic posted a photo: Flickr Updates for 2010-02-24 Wedding Cake Wedding Cake [Flickr] acroamatic posted a photo: Photo by Pa Flickr Updates for 2010-02-20 School of the Arts rooftop 360 panorama Welcome to SOTA Spiral Staircase Double O One SJI is Flirting Point School of the Arts rooftop 360 panorama [Flickr] acroamatic posted a photo: Best viewed at original size. Testing PicApp AC Milan 2 Manchester United 3 Pretty amazed that PicApp offers high-quality creative and editorial stock photographs for bloggers to use. For free. And in other news, United beat Milan early this morning. I am still boycotting Mio, so I didn’t get to watch the game. Flickr Updates for 2010-02-17 iPhone Nation Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-034 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-033 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-032 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-031 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-030 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-029 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-028 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-027 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-026 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-025 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-024 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-023 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-022 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-021 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-020 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-019 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-018 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-017 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-016 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-015 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-014 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-013 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-012 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-011 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-010 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-009 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-008 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-007 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-006 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-005 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-004 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-003 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-002 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-001 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-035 [Flickr] acroamatic posted a photo: Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-006 [Flickr] acroamatic posted a photo: Bus invovled in accident blocking Whitley Road [Flickr] acroamatic posted a photo: Cycle-Ubin-025 [Flickr] acroamatic posted a photo: Cycle-Ubin-024 [Flickr] acroamatic posted a photo: Cycle-Ubin-023 [Flickr] acroamatic posted a photo: Cycle-Ubin-022 [Flickr] acroamatic posted a photo: Links for 2010-01-25 [del.icio.us] Color Correction in Lightroom & Photoshop – Video Tutorial « Modifiedphoto’s Blog Richer color without Saturation. « Modifiedphoto’s Blog Don't teach your kids this stuff. Please? - Dangerously Irrelevant BumpTop Mac: Reinventing your Mac desktop. Cool Science Fiction Suggested reading order for Asimov's books Links for 2009-11-19 [del.icio.us] Preetam Rai » Blog Archive » Best Camera Presentation Days of Wine and Roses « The Long and Winding Road Blog post on SJI at Bras Basah Road Using Both Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom - Photo Tips @ Earthbound Light Differences between Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom, including explanation about XMP sidecar. Links for 2009-11-18 [del.icio.us] Your phone could save a life - channelnewsasia.com Leveraging on a Google map, Dr Dana Elliott Srither and a team of helpers at volunteer organisation First Aid Corps, have uploaded the locations of some AEDs across Singapore, Australia, Europe and several other countries. New @Extraordinaries mission: Save lives! Help @firstaidcorps map AED defibrillators around the world - The Extraordinaries First Aid Corp is mapping a global database of AEDs to help people find the closest one in the event of an emergency. They have called in The Extraordinaries to help them build this database. You never know, this service might just save someone you love! Online registry to save lives To save more lives, a new online registry has been set up by the Singapore Heart Foundation to let people know where the nearest automated external fibrillators (AEDs) are located. Scene City: Singapore – Wednesdays 8.30pm on Channel News Asia Scene City: Singapore – Promo Description from YouTube:A BRAND NEW photographic & cultural series that checks out the less explored & undiscovered Singapore, follow TOM ANG – as he leads 2 guests photographers each week as they visit places less known! Lineup 19th August – Resorts World & School of the Arts 26th August – Singapore Dance Theatre & Timbre 2nd September – Semakau Landfill & Pulau Ubin 9th September – Kim Keat Lane Bakery & Changi Fishery 16th September – PSA & Print Dynamics 23rd September – Pearl Bank Apartments & Margaret Drive 30th September – Southern Ridges & Sungei Buloh 7th October – Star Cruises Scene City: SingaporeChannel News AsiaWednesdays, 8.30pm to 9pm Scene City: Singapore – Wednesdays 8.30pm on Channel News Asia Scene City: Singapore – Promo Description from YouTube:A BRAND NEW photographic & cultural series that checks out the less explored & undiscovered Singapore, follow TOM ANG – as he leads 2 guests photographers each week as they visit places less known! Lineup 19th August – Resorts World & School of the Arts 26th August – Singapore Dance Theatre & Timbre 2nd September – Semakau Landfill & Pulau Ubin 9th September – Kim Keat Lane Bakery & Changi Fishery 16th September – PSA & Print Dynamics 23rd September – Pearl Bank Apartments & Margaret Drive 30th September – Southern Ridges & Sungei Buloh 7th October – Star Cruises Scene City: SingaporeChannel News AsiaWednesdays, 8.30pm to 9pm Sarah auditions for TV! This is Sarah Soh. Formerly Sarah Wong. (Salah So Wrong… hahah!) And this is her audition for a new Australian Broadcasting Corporation kids’ channel. Gooooo Sarah! Hope you get this. =) Her boy, Aidan, is already the face of Heinz formula milk… so she has to keep up with him! Sarah auditions for TV! This is Sarah Soh. Formerly Sarah Wong. (Salah So Wrong… hahah!) And this is her audition for a new Australian Broadcasting Corporation kids’ channel. Gooooo Sarah! Hope you get this. =) Her boy, Aidan, is already the face of Heinz formula milk… so she has to keep up with him! Raffles the Biodiversity Geek There has been a flurry of letters and coverage in the press recently about the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research. What I don’t think has been mentioned is: why is the museum named after the founder of Singapore? As the Guardian puts it, the man was a “voracious wildlife enthusiast”. I’m sure Raffles would be delighted if the Raffles Museum finds a large, permanent and accessible location. Raffles the Biodiversity Geek There has been a flurry of letters and coverage in the press recently about the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research. What I don’t think has been mentioned is: why is the museum named after the founder of Singapore? As the Guardian puts it, the man was a “voracious wildlife enthusiast”. I’m sure Raffles would be delighted if the Raffles Museum finds a large, permanent and accessible location. Digitised and searchable Straits Times archives (1845-1982) I have used the National Library’s microfilm collection a few times. They have issues going back to to the beginning of the Straits Times. If you are searching for an article with microfilm, you have to know roughly when the article was published. The microfilms have a number of issues on each reel. You load it onto a special projector, then start scrolling through the film to find what you are looking for. It’s manual and tedious – though strangely enjoyable, like a treasure hunt – but if you have absolutely no idea when an certain article was published, then you’re stuck. At very least, you need to know the month and the year. So, I want to thank the National Library Board for coming up with http://newspapers.nl.sg/. (Thanks, Ai Lin, for pointing this out!) NLB has scanned its Straits Times microfilms, so now the text is searchable. No more wading through rolls of microfilm. And you can discover other articles related to your search which you might not have been aware of. If you search from home, you get article titles and short abstracts. The microfilm reel number is listed too. You can only access full text and get prints if you’re at the library using one of their multimedia terminals. Or, since you now know the microfilm number, you can zoom in to the article faster. At least you know which reel it’s on! You still have to scroll through the film to get to a particular article. No shortcuts there. It’s an amazing resource! Will have to try “Malay Regiment” and “Battle of Pasir Panjang”. Already saw some interesting abstracts… Microball by Serenity Nichols Ibsen reproduced under a CC-BY-NC 2.0 license Digitised and searchable Straits Times archives (1845-1982) I have used the National Library’s microfilm collection a few times. They have issues going back to to the beginning of the Straits Times. If you are searching for an article with microfilm, you have to know roughly when the article was published. The microfilms have a number of issues on each reel. You load it onto a special projector, then start scrolling through the film to find what you are looking for. It’s manual and tedious – though strangely enjoyable, like a treasure hunt – but if you have absolutely no idea when an certain article was published, then you’re stuck. At very least, you need to know the month and the year. So, I want to thank the National Library Board for coming up with http://newspapers.nl.sg/. (Thanks, Ai Lin, for pointing this out!) NLB has scanned its Straits Times microfilms, so now the text is searchable. No more wading through rolls of microfilm. And you can discover other articles related to your search which you might not have been aware of. If you search from home, you get article titles and short abstracts. The microfilm reel number is listed too. You can only access full text and get prints if you’re at the library using one of their multimedia terminals. Or, since you now know the microfilm number, you can zoom in to the article faster. At least you know which reel it’s on! You still have to scroll through the film to get to a particular article. No shortcuts there. It’s an amazing resource! Will have to try “Malay Regiment” and “Battle of Pasir Panjang”. Already saw some interesting abstracts… Microball by Serenity Nichols Ibsen reproduced under a CC-BY-NC 2.0 license