Today in the office an unusual hair conversation started due to a mysterious ball of hair that was found. The funnier thing was what Kang Li said, "everyone's armpit hair and pubic hair, besides the colour, is universal what, they all look the same".

Then Adeline tried to hide her constipated look of amusement and disgust, but was caught by yours truly and I exclaimed, "Adeline is shocked that her pubic hair is the same as Kang Li's"

DT

My traffic woes when SJT9680D is not around.

YZ

People who know me well enough know that I'm quite the car enthusiast, and recently, while waiting in line at a cinema box office, the dual queue system for advanced bookings got me thinking about our nation's traffic woes and I've got it all figured out. I've found the answer to our traffic snarls, if only you'll be patient enough to finish reading my post.

1. Make driving tests really difficult to pass. Like REALLY difficult. For example, in Finland, you have to learn how to drift and make donuts to pass your driving test, it's no wonder that they have the highest F1 drivers per capita in the world. The logic is simple, the more difficult the test, the more people will fail, and that means only the real good drivers are let out into the roads. This could only mean 2 things. One, that the roads are safer because the drivers are really good. Two, that less cars will be on the roads because less people pass the test and that equals smoother traffic. Win-win situation I feel.

2. Contrary to the authorities stance that speeding kills, in my opinion, speed has never killed anyone before. If speed killed anyone, then the Concorde would have killed many people. Let's not all point fingers at speed, it's not speed that kills, it's the inability to stop that kills. It's the same logic with heights. People aren't afraid of heights, they're afraid of falling. Imagine yourself in a plane, you're very high, but are you afraid? No. Now imagine the same plane falling. Are you afraid? So, coming back to my point, don't blame it all on speed. My solution is simple. Brakes. If a Ferrari F430 traveling at 100km/h can brake and come to a complete stop in 50metres, compared to a Toyota Altis traveling at 100km/h who hits the brakes and only comes to a complete stop after 100metres, shouldn't the Ferrari be allowed drive at a faster speed because the Toyota is a deadlier machine than the Ferrari at 100km/h.

3. Dedicated motorcycle lanes on expressways and major roads. It's a simple idea. Just dedicate half a lane, or a road shoulder to bikes. It's already been done in many countries, why not here? The advantages are numerous. One, most fatal accidents on the roads involve a motorcycle and a vehicle, hence, having a dedicated bike lane will significantly reduce the risks that bikers have to face on the roads. Two, once the public realizes that the authorities are seriously taking measures to ensure bike safety, alot of people will start to commute by bike, many of them I reckon, would be drivers. So, instead of a single driver in a car that takes up more space on the roads and causes more pollution, you get a single rider who takes less space and causes less pollution and thereby easing the traffic snarls.

4. Parking (Illegal and legal) woes. This one is simple to solve. ERP carparks eliminate the need for parking attendants. The system is expensive to build I know, but I'm sure it'll pay itself back in no time by eradicating people who cheat with manual coupons, and also the savings on hiring third party parking attendants would be more than enough to pay for the system. Also, in the long run, it'll definitely be cheaper to maintain the ERP system than to maintain an entire battalion of parking attendants. Save the tax payer's money and hire some of these parking attendants to monitor illegal parking instead. This is a win-win-win situation, firstly, you save tax-payers money by hiring less parking attendants, you get more money from carparks because people can't cheat anymore, and you get more money from the summons that are dished out with the increased illegal parking monitoring.

5. Trains. So far, everything has been about private transport, how about public transport? Trains I believe can be improved. Not the physical train, but the whole system. Hear me out. Why is it that all other forms of mass-transportation has class-tiered systems, except public trains? For example, airlines you have First class, Business class and Economy class. Cross country trains you have standing tickets, sitting tickets, sleeper tickets. What am I getting at? Simple. Tier the public train system. Hypothetically, if a single MRT train has 20 cabins, (this is hypothetical, I don't know the exact amount) imagine having 5 cabins that have dedicated seats that are packed more like a bus (a single small aisle with many seats on the left and right of the aisle) rather than the current train system (a single huge aisle with little seats to the left and right of the aisle). Then in the remaining 15 cabins, remove ALL the seats and install more handle bars. If you're still following me, this means that there should be 2-tiered tickets, one for the seating tickets and the other, for the standing tickets. This means that people who are willing to pay more for their ride, get the luxury of sitting down and not squeezing with the crowds. The removal of seats from the other 15 cabins means more people can be able to fit into a single cabin, thereby, increasing the capacity of the train. Simple? Also, with this arrangement, individuals with special needs and handicaps can be allowed special access to the seating cabins to facilitate their transport difficulties, and not have to squeeze with the general public, as is the situation now.

So, traffic woes be-gone with my grand plan.

D.T

Here goes another bunch!









-at

There's been a hive of activity around LRA nowadays as we are kept pre-occupied by the impending doom, that is the yearly financial statements to be submitted to the authorities. And so, this has led us thinking about the future and what to do with our savings.

As we all know, banks (esp Singaporean ones) are safe and impeccably bomb-proof. But the interest rates they offer on your savings are a measly decimal points below ONE percent. That's frankly quite disgusting. And inflation was about 3.10% in July 2010. Simply put, you're losing 2% or more of your money each year in your Savings/Savings Plus POSB/DBS/OCBC/UOB accounts.

But investing is tough tough tough and we have no idea what, where or how to do it. But at least we have somewhere to start. This ongoing blog about finance makes a lot of sense and is refreshingly different from all the "get-rich-quick-with-us-cos-we-KNOW-the-market" schemes or blogs out there. And it's drawn on a napkin!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Copyright of NYT"][/caption]

Alex and I have this long going conversation about how camera companies should just consult us to sell more cameras. So listen up Canon, Nikon, Panasonic, Leica, Olympus, Hasselblad, Sony. I'll make you guys richer if you'd only listen.

1. Make a digital Xpan. Really.

2. Put a Canon 5D Mark II sensor into a Leica M9

3. Put a Canon 5D Mark II sensor into a proper video camera, with proper handling and interchange-able lens mount. Although we'll be seeing the Panasonic Af100 soon in Dec, but it's still a Micro 4/3 sensor, but we'll see.

4. Make a digital rangefinder that is actually affordable, and no Leica, 10000 bucks for a body with no lens is not affordable to most. Fuji has the X100 coming, which is wildly exciting, but I think if they made it with a interchangeable lens mount, then we've got a winner.

5. The big names should enter the rangefinder arena. Leica owners are rich. Go bite into their pie. Go buy the Epson R-D1 recipe from Epson/Cosina, build it better, add a fullframe sensor, keep the analogue dials, add a EVF (electronic viewfinder) and you've got a M9 fighter. Even if you sell it for half the price of an M9, it's still a heck of a lot of money.

Also, just some thoughts about cameras these days.

1. Stop making cameras with higher and higher megapixels. You don't need 21 megapixels for a family photo. Simple logic, more pixels means more pixel density, which means more noise. Noise is nasty, so stop making the consumer think megapixels matter. Go make a camera with a huge sensor size and reasonable megapixel count so you get good ISO and proper quality images.

2. Mirrorless is the in-thing now, but if they really want people to spend the big bucks for it, then go make a decent EVF (electronic viewfinder), not something that covers "approximately" the frame. Approximate is lame. Go spend your R&D dollars to fix this. And no, Professionals do not like to take photos using the LCD. Come to think of it, even pro-sumers don't like it. It makes the photo taking process shaky and it makes you look like a amateur. And guess what camera companies, pro-sumers and professionals are the ones spending the big bucks, so why don't you try to satisfy them.

3. Go-retro. Trust me. Look at the success of the Olympus E-P1. Trust me, if the X100 is priced right. It'll be an instant hit too. Go retro, make cameras like they used to. There's a reason why Leica haven't changed their look since the 1930s. It simply works. How come with the onslaught of digital, cameras (professional) got bigger and uglier? In my opinion, the Nikon F3, FM2, those were cameras that the companies should model after. Slim, rugged, built like a brick, works in all conditions, easy to operate, logical. Digital designs seem to be going backwards, not forwards.

4. Go buck up your colors and lens lineup, not make more camera bodies. What do I mean? Personally, I started out digital from the Nikon camp, but after a while, I realized that Canon just had better colors. I switched camp. Simple as that. Color is so important enough to me that I'm willing to spend thousands to switch camp. Some pals of mine switched camp from Nikon to Canon because of 1 lens. The 35mm F1.4. Lens limitations are the pitfalls of why Nikon lost out to Canon in the pro arena, although Nikon is finally showing signs of fighting back. Go update your lens arsenal and you might just win alot more professionals back. Boasting about lenses that are AI or AI-S is nothing to be proud of. Go make some modern pro lenses (primes) with modern coatings and stop it with the budget zooms.

I hope the camera companies are listening. It's not that hard, really.

D.T

Editing does things to people. This is how we look when viewing an edit after 10 hours of work.

charity: water 2010 September Campaign: Clean Water for the Bayaka from charity: water on Vimeo.

Charity Water's September campaign for 2010 is out and touches on the Bayaka people of Central African Republic. I first noticed the organisation after it launched its 2009 Sepember campaign trailer - The Story of Charity Water.



I think behind the success of Charity Water and its campaigns lies the staff who understand how media works. Founder Scott Harrison spent time as a photojournalist with Mercy Ships, a humanitarian organization which offered free medical care in the world's poorest nations via surgery ships. Before that he was promoting nightclubs and fashion events. And Charity Water has since attracted an office of people coming from School of Visual Arts, Pratt Institute and Missouri School of Journalism, one of the top communications colleges. They make "giving up" sexy (It's not just money you are giving up, it's your birthday!) They make you feel smart and sleek, just like their videos, by associating yourself with them. And they are not afraid to boast about their success. This is a really crucial strategy. People are less likely to donate if they can't be assured of the success. By showing the rising amount of money raised, instead of hiding it for fear of drawing less sympathy, they actually encouraged more people to put the money in their bin because actions beget actions. I don't even have to discuss about the quality of their media production - charismatic narration, lively camera work, hopeful visuals, mood setting music.. Now, we might not want to donate immediately after viewing the video (who would? It's really hard to affect action just by showing something), but the organization, its motto and the work it does, is unlikely to be forgotten by anyone who has seen this. And people might not give now, but they will give later when confronted with a more direct opportunity to, such as in an event or roadshow.



Philip's Question from Nuru International on Vimeo.

I  also want to show this video. The quality of production is decent, not wowing but decent. Sometimes, it's the idea behind the production. In this case, Nuru International has decided to frame its work based on one individual's thought - Philip Mohochi's, Nuru's chairman. The script revolves around Philip questioning his fate to be born poor (and his community to remain so even as he got out of the cycle). It resonated with me because it reminds me that poor people can think about their situation in a very philosophical way, not just limited to worrying about the day-to-day issues. It gives a lot of dignity back to the people we are helping. The central idea is reinforced with the repetition of the catchphrase or slogan - "Why am I poor?"

-kl

As you can read from our bio, I was formally trained as a journalist, as are two others of us (Alex and Adeline). And today, I stumbled upon a whole multimedia package about the works of Nicholas Kristof, a New York Times columnist well known for his humanitarian reporting. Built around a podcast where he was interviewed about the role of journalism and his perspectives on global humanitarian issues (I will update this after I give it a listen), the website also offers many small nuggets of treasure very relevant to the podcast centerpiece of this web show.

The yearning to tell important stories will remain in me all the time, even as I become very involved with the corporate side of things in our studio. I have no doubt that the rest feels the same as well.

I will update this post after going through the package that can be found here:

http://being.publicradio.org/programs/2010/journalism-and-compassion/

-kl

If "digital" is the new word for the 21st century, then the new phrase for the 21st century should be "back up, back up, back up".

You would be thinking, hardisk are quite hardy stuff, well, they are. But shit happens.

In the past year alone, we have encountered 2 hard drive failures, 5 Raid system failures, 6 solid state card issues and a whole lot of data-recovery. We've even come to the conclusion that there is simply no other situation possible for data to be lost that we have not encountered. Having said that, we have in place a backup system that is quite full proof, so thankfully, throughout all the failures, we have not lost any crucial data.

Backing up should not be a "if I have the time, I'll do it" kinda thing. It should be integrated into your workflow, especially for those whose work involves massive data storage. I think with our experience, I can share with you our backup system for those who would like to emulate it.

First, we have a copy of everything on the working scratch disk, this is the disk that is used to edit. Then, there is another copy of the data on a RAID 0 system, for those who are not familiar with RAID 0, it just means that data is being cloned to 2 separate hard disks. Then, the cards are not formatted until the next job arrives. So, if you're counting, we have 4 copies of the exact same data lying in separate mediums. Then, when everything is all done and edited and outputted. The end product files are duplicated onto a dedicated hard disk for storing end product files and another copy goes into our mini-server. Then, when one of the RAID hard disks is full, it goes off site, meaning, out of the office. This is a precautionary step, so that in the unfortunate event that a fire or theft happens in the office, we still have a copy of our data elsewhere.

So, as you can see, we are KIASU. But, we are proud of our KIASU-ism. Digital has made life alot easier for all of us, but with it also comes inevitable dangers, hard disks will encounter bad sectors, RAID systems do crash, solid state gets corrupted. Part and parcel of going digital, so backup, backup, backup.

DT