Because archives are so much easier than having just hundreds of posts on the home page. I learned that the hard way.
It’s time for another of our beloved, quirky and highly useless Rubenerd Blog milestones… this is post number 800! And by sheer coincidence, not only does this post contain the number eight, but it’s also Singapore’s national day.
Well okay, I’m a few days late, but better late then never right? 
My very salubrious bedroom in our study house in Adelaide, with one slight alteration!
Despite WordPress assigning this post as p1198, this is in fact the 777th post! Yes, it’s time for another one of our really hated loved Useless Rubenerd Blog Milestones!
Given the fact I’m in the 700+ range of posts, there are some posts which have the same number as famous Boeing jetliners. Having nurtured an interest in commercial aviation since I was a kid, I figured I’d create some small posts about these planes. I missed the boat on the 707/720 and 727 (no, I’m sorry the 717 was the MD-95!) but I did do posts on these 7×7s: 3, 4, 5 and 6.
Very sleek Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300 9V-SWA from Wikipedia by Juergen Lehle
Despite the name "Boeing 777", the Boeing 777 was designed by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in response to the then large capacity gap between the 767-300ER and the 747-400. The 777 is currently the world’s largest twin engined commercial airliner; in laymen’s terms this means its the largest commercial airliner to have more than 2 full-sized engines, but less than 4. It can carry between 283 and 368 passengers in a three-class configuration and has a top range of 17,500 kilometres, or 6,890,314,960.63 inches for those who use the Imperial system.
The Boeing 777 was the first airliner to be fully designed on a computer; despite this a smaller ratio of airframes have been involved in catastrophic crashes as compared to other airliners currently flying. In another departure (pun intended) from traditional design, eight airlines were directly involved from the beginning of the project (Cathay Pacific, American, Delta, All Nippon Airways, British Airways, Japan Airlines, Qantas, and United).
The latest generation 777s use the world’s largest diameter (3.25m) and most powerful turbofan engines currently avaliable: the General Electric GE90-115B. To get an idea of how gigantic these engines are, take a look at this classic Boeing 747 which has been retrofitted with a GE90 (inner) compared to the original engine (outer):
A GE90-115B mounted on the #2 pylon of GE’s Boeing 747 flight test aircraft at the Mojave Airport in 2002 by Alan Radecki Akradecki
As of May 2008, 56 customers have placed orders for 1,080 777s, with Singapore Airlines being the largest customer; Singapore Airlines of course being the national airline of Singapore, strange though it may seem.
You can find out more about the Boeing 777 at their official website.
UPDATE: Power is back on again! I’ve lived in Singapore on and off (pun intended) for over a decade, and this is only the second blackout I can remember having here (failures from blown fuses in our crappy switch box don’t count!).
There’s a power failure all along the Stevens Road area (Stevens, Balmoral, Draycott). The security guards at our apartment building say that power will be back in 1-2 hours. Not sure how they know this, but I’m sitting at a Starbucks using the internet right now while I wait.
Power failures suck harder than my Vax… the appliance not the computer! Well, neither would work without power.
UPDATE, 20:16: Jim talked about this issue on his latest audio magazine and posted a comment below. As Jean Luc Picard would say: "stand down red alert!"
One of the great things about Whole Wheat Radio, the internet radio station and collaborative wiki for independent artists and just damn nice music, is that you can listen to it anywhere where you have a stable internet connection! Unfortunately, recently it seems to have issues with Wireless@SG, Singapore’s free island-wide WiFi service. When I was at Starbucks yesterday evening at 23:30 having a well deserved Chai Latte (I figure it’s not good drinking coffee at that time of day!) I got the following error message:
I was very used to seeing this message both at home and in public WiFi hotspots when I lived in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia in 2006, but this was the first time I’d seen it here. I assume it was because in Malaysia the broadband provider TMnet shoehorns many customers onto the one IP address in places and uses some form of NAT system, and perhaps Wireless@SG in Singapore is doing a similar thing.
One thing I have noticed about Wireless@SG is the number of IP addresses you’re served at any given time. Sometimes I can be sitting at a Starbucks, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, San Francisco Coffee or Dome for several hours at a time (coffee shops are so much nicer to study and work in than a study hall, and they’re a nice change from sitting at home all day) and I’ve noticed my MacBook Pro will be served 20 or so new addresses in that time period. In that case, I certainly can’t blame WWR for blocking me, I’m sure from their end such activity looks pretty sus.
I guess just like my detailed documentation on Whole Wheat Radio audio players for Linux and FreeBSD, this information would probably not be useful to most people, but just letting potential Singaporean listeners know that it’s not their fault, or WWR’s fault, it’s the WiFi system. Perhaps WWR here is best listened to at home.
While I’m having a quick break from this work assignment (yes I even work on Sundays for clients, aren’t I dedicated?) I thought I’d post some camera phone photos I took last Wednesday.
From my Flickr page:
A gigantic tree fell across Stevens Rd, a major dual carrigeway in Singapore. They had to close the whole side leading away from Orchard!
It really was catastrophic, there were cars jammed all down Scotts Road, detour routes were being set up as I walked past, police cars with sirens flying around. I’m not sure if anyone was injured, from where I was walking on the other side of the road I couldn’t see any crushed cars or ambulances which was a relief.
Walking a little further down Stevens Road, I noticed a huge queue of parked public buses that just kept going and going in both lanes.
One of the reasons I like Singapore is that there are so many trees lining all the streets, even right in the centre of the city with huge buildings. I guess these kinds of accidents are inevitable though.
Isn’t it oh-so-human-nature to only notice how important something is, or how much it shaped and affected your life, when it’s gone? And isn’t it a shame when some people can’t see it at all?
Case in point for the former, the current outage over at Whole Wheat Radio has forced me to temporarily consider other music sources I can listen to over the period of a day in the background while I do studies. It’s a pickle of a dilly.
I tuned into three different terrestrial radio stations: one was playing Fergie (what an insult to ears everywhere!), the second the two DJs were discussing an up and coming concert by a group who can’t sing, and the third was playing a Glenn Miller Orchestra song. At the risk of sounding like an old fart already, take a guess which one I stuck with!
If you’re in Singapore, Gold 90.5FM is a poor substitute to WWR, but they do play some good stuff. Even if their website sucks harder than an industrial vacuum cleaner! Damn I miss the Wiki.
For some smooth evening chill, also check out An Evening with Dadaist Cabaret. The shows are long enough to be interesting and full of good stuff, while still being a manageable enough size to fit on an iPod, or whatever other portable audio device you may be using. I’m still waiting for a music wristwatch that’s also a coffee machine. That would be sweet.
For the time being too I’m also listening to my Whole Wheat Radio iTunes playlist which includes all the CDs I’ve got so far from it including Kevin So, Greg Brown, The Philadelphia Jug Band, The Renovators, Guy Clark and hopefully soon Marian Call when the latest parcel arrives! There’s only so many times I can listen to these fine folks mashed up together and on random before it starts to feel like a scaled down WWR though. And what if I want to say hello to Jimbob, Kelli, Atuuschaw, RubenBot5000 (he’s my robot who chats after midnight Singapore time), Sparkit, FlyingTrout and more… damn I feel like some of my family has gone!
Here’s hoping Whole Wheat will be able to get back up soon. Give ‘em hell Jim!
So I was sitting at Starbucks in Tanglin Mall having a much needed tall Americano (you could take that many ways) when some school girls sat at the table next to mine and proceeded to get out their laptops. After 30 seconds one of their friends arrived and shouted “Go to McDonald’s next door to do this! They have french fry (sic), they have ice cream, much more bright”. After rummaging around, they all stood up and walked away again.
The question I pose is this: why the heck would you want to study in McDonalds when you could study in Starbucks? Come on, they’re playing a Rat Pack CD here, all the chairs are soft and comfy, and they use bright but warm lights instead of rows of fluorescent tubes! McDonalds would rate amongst the last places I’d want to study!
Am I so out of touch? Or is the caffeine affecting my judgement? :-).
The always impartial, unbiased and reliable Channel News Asia is reporting some good news in Singapore-Malaysian relations specifically related to Johor Bahru
SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has responded positively to a suggestion by Johor’s Chief Minister Abdul Ghani Othman to link up the urban rails of Singapore and Johor Bahru.
[Some of the] issues discussed between the Singapore and Malaysian foreign ministers is how to further integrate the economies of both countries and to enhance connectivity across the causeway.
Photo of JB taken from Wikipedia by PM Poon
Having lived both in Singapore and Malaysia since the mid 1990s I’m used to hearing a lot of big talk and not much progress on most matters of collaboration, which even just from an economic perspective is such a shame. With so much competition from other players in Asia for the industries and services that Singapore and Malaysia both provide, it seems now that collaboration should be a top priority.
ASIDE: For my readers who aren’t from around these parts, JB is the near universally used name and acronym for Johor Bahru which is the closest Malaysian city to Singapore, separated only by tiny Straits of Johor.
Wikipedia articles on: Johor Bahru, Malaysia, Singapore.
Take Australia and New Zealand as an example: They’re separated by a strait of water (albeit somewhat larger!) and have roughly similar populations to Malaysia and Singapore respectively, but the difference in the amount of trade is huge! Now granted their economies are at different levels of development and the makeup of their exports and imports are different, but it shows that countries with a shared heritage can benefit each other even when socially and politically they may differ in many ways.
Google Maps imagery of Singapore and surrounds. The white stripe superimposed over the Straits of Johor is the national border between Singapore and Malaysia which is part of the Asian mainland.
Like it or not, Singapore and Malaysia are neighbours, and the only way they’ll each succeed in the long term is if they cooperate. Some more decent connections between JB and Singapore would be a good start.
A macchiato of Mac and FreeBSD whatnot by Ruben Schade from sunny Singapore and Adelaide.
