Emergency Lighting

You’ve probably heard about the 6-day blackout in New York by now. With record temperatures set in Europe and North America this summer, power grids will once again be pushed close to their capacity, leading to possibly more blackouts to come (unless the heat subsides). The *really* hot weather this couple of days in Singapore has compelled one Singaporean to take action.

Meet Simon Tay, computer salesperson and self-taught alternative energy electrician. Simon rigged a simple circuit that collects its source energy from the Sun via a PV solar panel, stores the DC electricity in a battery which is then threaded to his room and adjoining toilet LED lights. The picture looks *dark* because it’s taken with a digital camera without the flash, I was told the real effect is that of a dimmer version of a florescent lamp.

The whole setup costs Simon S$135 (see details below). Not too bad because Simon would not have to stumble around the house for a candle should a blackout hit. On top of that, Simon stand to save on his electrical bills should he start using the lights right now – the Sun don’t send you a bill every month, eh?

Bill of Materials	Cost (S$)
2x LED light strips ($17/ea)	$34.00
1x 12V DC Battery	$20.00
1x 12V/2W PV Solar Panel	$42.00
10x PVC Tubing ($2/ea)	$20.00
20m Wire	$18.00
2x Black Tape	$1.00
Total	$135.00

[NEAH] Change in traffic light timing

NEAH – Not Exactly A Hack, because this falls more under the “Did you know” category. Anyway the acronym makes a nice sound.

Anyway, I was driving yesterday and came upon this traffic sign.

It says “Change in traffic light timing”. Changed from what? Changed from the last time I came by this traffic junction? Does it mean that compared to before. the green light will last a little longer before it changes to amber, or does it mean that the amber light will change to red light in a shorter time?

Also, when was this change effected? Yesterday? Last month? Last Year? If this is the first time I come to this junction, how would I know the difference?

The gist is that the sign, aside from being unclear in its language and meaning, does not serve any purpose other than causing confusion to the driver, taking his part of his attention.

So it happens that my wife was on the way to a driving lesson, and she asked her driving instructor about the sign. When you pose the correct question to the correct person, you get good answers. Apparently the “change in traffic light timing” actually means “change in traffic light sequence”.

In almost all traffic junctions in Singapore, when there exist right-turn green arrows, the sequence is:

• Red
• Green
• Amber
• Red + Right-turn green arrow
• Red

Somehow, some smart alec thought that for some junctions this is not sufficient, and has decided to add right-turn red arrows (double negation) and right-turn amber arrows to the above mix. With this addition, the traffic light sequence is changed and the sequence at this particular junction became:

• Red
• Red + Right-turn green arrow
• Red + Right-turn amber arrow
• Red + Right-turn red arrow
• Red
• Green + Right-turn red arrow
• Amber + Right-turn red arrow
• Red + Right-turn green arrow
• Red

I think this is the current sequence, did not spend enough time at the junction, and the confusing sequence does not help in remembering the correct sequence. All I remember is that I approached the junction between the “Red” and “Red + Right-turn green arrow”, and almost happily crossed the junction, until I see that the “Red + Right-turn amber arrow” appear and turn to “Red + Right-turn red arrow” within less than a second. If I did not react fast enough I would have beaten the red light.

It still baffles me on two fronts:

• Why the need to change the traffic light sequence? Isn’t more confusing and potentially may cause more accident?
• Why use “change in traffic light timing” when “change in traffic light sequence” communicates the message better?

So, just be cautious when you approach a junction with these kinds of signs. NEAH!

First Hack: streetdirectory.com Firefox search plugin

Being techies, the first hack is of course technical in nature. However, rest assured that you don’t have to be a techie to appreciate this.

For some reason, Google Maps does not contain map information for Singapore streets, and in any case StreetDirectory.com has been in business long before Google Maps was launched. As such, for one to search locations in Singapore, StreetDirectory.com is the first to come to mind.

If you own a Firefox browser, you can now launch a streetdirectory.com search right from your search box on the top-right-hand corner of your browser. Simply download this zip file and extract the two attached files (streetdirectory.gif and streetdirectory.src) to your C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins folder (this is assuming your installed Mozilla Firefox in the default location). Restart Firefox and you should be able to see the search plugin when you click on the ‘G’ icon.

Welcome

Day by day, life gets a little more challenging all around us: kopi goes up 10 cents, utilities tarrifs are up, you daughter grows taller earlier than the transport company’s averages, and the list goes on and on. When we were younger, lunch conversations were dominated with dreams and erm, chicks. Nowadays, it’s about cost of living, parking warden routes, nagging wifes and <sigh> you know how it goes.

Once in a while, there’ll be little gems (or hacks) that come out of the blue that’ll hit the group that makes us go, “Aw, why didn’t I do that!” Well, this is what this website is going to be about: every other day, we’ll wreck our brains during lunch and think up one good hack, post it here so all of us can be wiser than the system

Caveat: we’re all techies here so our writing ain’t going to be that great, if you read something and don’t really get it, please, just post a comment and we’ll be right back to fix the grammer.

Hack away!