Reports, news and updates

Report:

It's high time to reveal my cycling plans. I've been trying to determine the easiest route to take from Bukit Panjang to Bishan, so that I can visit Ms. (do I see your eyes wide in anticipation?) Ru-Tian and bring her along for a long awaited cycling trip to Yew Tee (where one of her friend stays).

There are 3 ways to get to Bishan from Bukit Panjang, denoted by the 3 lines drawn on the map below.

• Red line: Woodlands road > Mandai road > Upper Thomson road > Hello Bishan


• Blue line: Upper Bukit Timah road > Dunearn road > Adam road > Lornie road > Upper Thomson road > you know the rest


• Brown line: bash through the nature reserve

Since I agreed to undertake the mission of bringing Ms Ru-Tian to cycle to her's friend in Yew Tee, I felt obliged to find the easiest and safest route for her to travel via bicycle.

I knew the entire blue route usually has high traffic density throughout the day, and the pavements are not cyclist-friendly (even though I know cyclists are not supposed to cycle on pavements, Ms. Ru-Tian has no road experience and it would be unthinkable to let her try the busy roads). Thus I had to find alternatives.

I tried the red route last night. Travel time from entering my doorstep after leaving hers was 1 hour and 10 minutes at my fastest pace. There were few cars all along the way, though most were zipping past me as though they were racing. There were mostly forests on either side of the roads throughout the route, which can give a rather creepy feeling when travelling alone at night, especially along a stretch of Mandai Road where the roadlights are dim (and the fact that I had to pass by a crematorium didn't make things better).

Well, there's always the brown route right? I'd hate to disturb the monkeys in the nature reserve, and even more so for making Ms. Ru-Tian cycle through the treacherous cycling (or hiking) trails of MacRitchie and Bukit Timah, so that's out.

Conclusion: take the red route. Friendlier pavement, journey about as long as the blue one, can cycle on the pavements if need be.



News:

Blogging as been the focus of more and more social issues lately. Any Tom, Dick or Harry can start a blog without paying a single cent (excluding fees for using the internet). An increasing number of people are finding an interest in blogging (didn't bother to check up on the statistics, but this is already evident from my friends).

What do people do with their blogs? They post personal thoughts, pictures and whatever information they wish to share with friends or whoever may read the blogs. They use blogs to communicate with friends whom they are too busy to keep real-time contact with.

So everyone (who wants a blog) starts a blog and starts putting in whatever he/she wishes to. But has the blogger ever considered what kind of materials they should withhold from putting up in their blogs? Or do they have the required permission to put certain things up?

I believe the answer is "no". Just as with myself, I've been reminded on several occasions that I've written sensitive topics in my blog entries, or used pictures that belonged to other websites without prior consent. In other words, I've violated the privacy and copyrights of others.

Almost 1 year of blogging has taught me the importance of respecting the privacy of others and acknowledging them when using their works among other things. Doing stuff like putting a statement such as "adapted from xxxxxxx" maybe a bothersome chore, but it is an act of consideration that could be very important to the party whom you took the information from.



Updates:

Itinerary for commando training programme in Taiwan has been finalised. Due to nature of the training, details of the programme has to be kept confidential.

Or rather, this entry is getting a bit too long and I'm trying to bullshit my way out.