Get Ready to be Snapped (your wallet that is!)

Finally, NZ version of contact less smart card: Snapper. Commuters who ride on Go Wellington bus will only need to tap the card on the reader when they board the bus, and tap again when they alight. Snapper is owned by Infratil which also owns Go Wellington bus (self explanatory?).

Using Snapper will cost commuters 25% less than using cash, which is a good thing. Current 10-trip card only gives 20% discount of cash price.
Sounds good?
When I still lived in Singapore, EZ Link card, the Singapore version of Snapper, is very widely used. Its website said they have issued 8 million cards since its introduction in 2002. I admit it is more convenient and efficient; however I have some reservations on implementation of Snapper in Wellington:

• The introduction doesn’t seem to be very well planned. It’s funny that currently not all buses are equipped by Snapper reader. It means that even though you have the card with you, you still have to bring money or the good old 10-trip ticket in your wallet.
  
  
• Snapper (currently) only serves Wellington with only 400,000 people. It just doesn’t make any economic sense to me.
  
  
• What will happen to Newlands bus Smart Card? They’re actually the first one who implements contact less smart card in Wellington area.
  
  
• What’s with the $15 to buy a card? That’s so not world class. You don’t have to pay to get Oyster card in London (with GBP 3 ($8) refundable deposit). EZ Link Singapore used to be the same as Oyster (with SGD 7 refundable deposit); until a couple of years back they started to charge SGD 5 ($5) refundable deposit to get the card. Hong Kong’s Octopus has the On Loan card for HKD50 ($9) refundable deposit. Snapper starts its business by charging customers $15, that’s a rip off.
  
  
• Another rip off: Snapper will charge 25c for top up and 2% for credit card payment. Let’s calculate how much they make from it: if you top up $20 (hence paying $20.25). In a month if you top up four times, that makes $1 extra out of your pocket. It’s worse with Credit card. You will have to fork out $20.4 to get $20 top up. If you travel 3 Zone every day, that’s at least $15 a year (or $25 by credit card) just from you, multiply by the number of commuters, that’s a pretty handsome amount of money isn’t it? I don’t think any other ‘world class’ companies do that. I know EZ-Link doesn’t charge if you top up in their ticketing offices or train stations.
  
  
• I can see the end of monthly pass. It won’t be compatible with Snapper.
  
  
• I don’t care about buying coffee using Snapper. It’s too risky to put too much money in it. When you lose it, anyone can use it straight away. Also remember you have to pay 25c to top up the card, plus all the trouble to find the merchants who provide top up service.
  
  
• Most importantly, I’m gonna miss the small talks with bus drivers (or train conductors) when handing off money or tickets. I hope Wellington will not turn into new Singapore with bus drivers only concentrating at the card reader to make sure you tap your card when you board the bus.
  

This blog has got some interesting posts on Snapper.

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I QUIT!

Nope, just kidding. I'm still happy with what I'm doing now, but boy how fun it was when you said that two words to your boss after you felt you're going nowhere with your current job. It's even more excited if you happen to be 'quite important' in your department and your boss will try his best to prevent you from moving on.

Based on my experience there are 3 phases which you will go through:

Phase 1: Persuasion.
Your boss will PROMISE to give you a raise, promotion, new office, new gadget, better environment, etc. If you think you can survive if you stay, and his offer is really the reason why you leave, and most importantly you BELIEVE he will deliver his promise, why not? Personally, it is amusing how your boss can only realize how valuable you are when you say those 2 words. I usually only listen to all this nonsense just to boost my ego, for once I can feel that I AM that important.

Phase 2: Guilt.
Your boss will beg you, saying how difficult the department (actually himself) would be if you leave. How you have been treated well or have been trained abroad and you just leave them all behind. This is the tough phase. If you're not strong enough you'll fall for it!

Phase 3: Threat
Now that your boss is so desperate, he will try to threaten you. I have one occasion when I was working in Singapore where my boss threatened to file a report to immigration so that my permanent residency would be withdrawn. She claimed I got my PR because she gave me the job there in the first place. Tough luck, I wasn't dumb (otherwise I wouldn't have left in the first place) and I was sure she didn't have power to do that. If you manage to achieve this step, congratulation! You will be SURE that you have made the right decision, that your boss is a crook and doesn't deserve you.

So for all you quitter out there, have fun!

Disclaimer: Do not quit until you get new job, capiche?

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When music was still good...

In a musical mood today and found this while you-tube-walking (is there such word?). Fantastic acoustic version of 'Crush' by Dave Matthews and the underrated Tim Reynolds. Sit back and enjoy!

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Save the Earth or...

What's on 22 April?

In case you're not aware, it's the Earth Day. The day when every body becomes expert on environment, recycling, global warming, etc.

The day when we pledge ourselves to save the earth or NOT...

Do we really care about the earth?

Don't you think we care more about ourselves?

We try to save the earth so that WE, the shameless humans, can EXPLOIT the earth for a few more years. Aren't we evil? Claiming we want to save something while we wish to kill it as slow as possible. Yet, we can feel good about it, congratulate ourselves that we've done 'good thing'.

The truth is: we only care about ourselves. I'm pretty sure that the earth will be just fine when all men (and women) disappear from the face of the earth. Chances are it will have been a much better place then.

You don't think so? I guess those noble dinosaurs also thought the same way as you do before they were extinct.

I've had enough of this nonsense. My pledge for this year's Earth day will be "go natural": do whatever I want and let nature take its course. I guess I've done the earth a favor: speeding up the extinction of humans which means getting rid of its bigger enemy...

Happy (belated) Earth Day!

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Philosophical question of the day

You're standing at pedestrian crossing
The pedestrian light has turned red

You look to the left:
No car, no truck, no motorcycle, no bicycle

You look to the right:
No car, no truck, no motorcycle, no bicycle

Zip

Should you
Stand there and wait
or
Walk across and move on with you life


Life's hard...

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Mate, don't play play lah...

From NZ Herald

New Zealand police plan to recruit staff from Singapore to overcome a shortage in the force and help Labour to fulfill its election deal with NZ First to appoint 1000 new officers.

What??? I thought 1st of April was already a few weeks behind?


Singapore might have the reputation as one of the safest country (city?) in the world, but it's not because of the police officers. It's Singapore government (read: LKY) managed to instill fear into its people, similar to the way Indonesian feared Suharto in his good days.

This idea is not going to work if NZ decides to put these police officers on the street. There's no fear factor here. Local criminals here are much bigger in posture than most Asian. If you're bigger, and you are threatened by someone smaller than you, you tend to have more guts and fight back. In short, the bad guys won't be afraid of these police officers. In addition to that, in Singapore the patrolling police officers carry guns with them, while here in NZ they only carry handcuffs and tie wraps, so in order for this to work, NZ police needs to recruit only those with martial art skills close to Jet Li.

The other reasons that NZ police cited was that they needed to learn Asian culture and someone who can speak Chinese as the Chinese population has grown quickly (especially in Auckland area)

Singaporean police officers will also have the language and cultural understanding capabilities to help improve our Asian responsiveness.

The question is, does the NZ police (and its officers) really want to learn Chinese culture? If it does, then it doesn't have to hire someone from Singapore. It's a matter of keeping open mind , learning the language, and some good readings (I'd recommend reading Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, where he gave one example of Amadou Diallo who was shot by police officers in US as an inevitable byproduct of racism) When multiculturalism is not encouraged and recognized inside the organization itself, this extra Singapore officers won't be their magic bullet.

Come to think of it, it is not practical too to expect special arm of police to handle specific segment of the society. You don't want this to happen:

Patrolling Police: we got the suspects
HQ: good stuff, where are they now?
Patrolling Police: they're in the car in front of us.
Patrolling Police: err.. bugger, they're Chinese, HELP HELP
HQ: this is a job for Singapore police (theme song here)

Anyway, it will be interesting to see how it will work out...

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The Rules

On a trip to Feilding, about 2.5 hours away from Welly, I came across an interesting second hand shop around Manchester Square. The shop was open, no one's inside, and I saw these rules written on the shop's wall.


It says:
Rules:
- If you like it buy it
- You decide the price
- No items are priced
- Shop is unattended
- Security cameras are watching you
- Please do not steal
- Please pay, be nice
- Thnx

I thought, what a wonderful world it would have been if everyone could play by this rule.

If you like it buy it. Buy only what we like (or what we need maybe?), do not buy things because your neighbors do, or because Paris Hilton wore it on TV :-p.

No items are priced, you decide the price. Shame on the big major companies gang up to set the price to get unlimited profits for themselves. I just read The Truth about the Drug Companies. See how these companies made us believe that we owe them a living for giving us this 'miracle' drugs, therefore they can charge us anything they want. They made us believe that these companies need the money to fund their R&D, while most of it is used to hire spin doctors, while the company owners and CEO are laughing all the way to the bank. On the flip side of it, we often spend countless minutes haggling over a $2 t-shirt in Cambodia or Bali, and later have a $5 cup of coffee from Starbuck while the t-shirt sellers are still living from hand to mouth.

Shop is unattended, do not steal, security cameras are watching you. The temptation is always there, we've got freewill as human being, but remember that the big guy is watching over us. And for the world full of honest people? I'll take two!

Happy Easter guys, Be Nice...

P.S. The shop's owner might just want to have some fun though :-)

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