Every time when I am walking on the street, or standing at the platforms of the MRT stations, I find many people walk or wait with their earphones on. I really cannot imagine how they can manage to enjoy the music in such a noisy environment. I have tried to make walking on the road less boring by listening to the music but eventually I failed, or I had to turn up the volume until the MP3 player started to bomb my ear. Soon, I found even walking is not a simple task and I decided to keep my concentration on it, and I personally strongly agree that being absorbed in the cellphones or music players when walking or driving is absolutely dangerous.
As the science and technology develops, more and more new things are used to entertain people. However, all those inventors may not know that all these little things can be lethal. When people are walking and listening to the music, or driving and sending short messages, their alertness is lessened and with a high chance they may not see the sudden changes on the road and react accordingly in time. Sometimes it may only be a little ‘scary’, but most of the accidents are severe and may cause death. According to the figures from Traffic Police, the number of summonses issued for the use of cellphones while driving increased from 2,505 in 2007 to 2,583 last year. Needless to say, walking on the road with earphones on or sending SMS when driving are crazy habits.
Despite the fact that doing so has a higher chance to have road accidents, wearing earphone for too long time and turning the volume too high will hurt the ears and possibly will cause the loss of hearing. As the streets are noisy, it is impossible to listen to the music with a low volume. In fact, most of the pedestrians who wear earphones will turn the volume to 50 percent or more and it is definitely beyond the ability a human ear can afford. Also, Sending SMS will cost a lot more money than making a phone call. What is the point for people choosing a more complicated and more costly way to communicate?
To sum up, using iPod or MP3 player when walking, or sending SMS when driving are very dangerous, and they may also be harmful to one’s health. There’s no difference between doing so and enjoying in the danger. It is a stupid action and a crazy habit with no doubt.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Orchard Road Experience
As I step on the busy road last time, it started to rain. I forgot to bring along my umbrella, but for all those huge leafy trees on the both side of the road, I would be a person who has just slipped into a pond. I decided to give up window shopping there, and dashed back to the MRT station. Suddenly I saw a huge bunch of flower standing on my way, I dodged aside and I nearly lost my balance. I know there have been some changes on Orchard Road, but I only found the generous trees which have been planted hundreds of years ago and the annoying flower totems.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Thinking Right but Doing Wrong
Recently, Orchard Road is being made over by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB). It is obvious that Orchard Road facelift has two purposes, first is to make the road less crowded and make the pedestrians feel easier to wander around; the other one is to make the road more beautiful to attract more tourism. Understandably, Singapore needs more travelers to come over, especially at the time of economic depression, and to make the road over will provide the pedestrians with more convenience. However, to spend $40-million on several silent changes on Orchard Road ---- as 40% of the people polled on Orchard Road did not notice the changes, nor will they help the shoppers much, is absolutely disappointing.
As we can infer, if there are some small helpful changes to the public facilities that we use every day, they will be noticed quickly. According to the introduction of the STB, there are numerous changes on Orchard Road including new street lamps, co-ordinated street furniture, decorative glass panels and plotted flower totems. Nonetheless, a poll carried out by LifeStyle shows that nearly a half of the people have noticed the changes, and among the people who have noticed the changes, some of them either can only name one change or do not think they are useful. On the other hand, the STB haven’t made much effort on advertising the changes, and most people are not focusing on the decorations along the road, so it is reasonable for people to ignore those unimportant things.
People may think one of the main reasons that keeps the changes silent is the time taken since the facelift has started in April last year. However, a mere glance at what are changed shows a different picture. First, the trees on the both side of Orchard Road are very tall and big, they hide the nice designed street lamps into the crossing branches, and hence the pedestrians will not notice the changes deep in the trees though it is likely to be brighter at night. Moreover, widening the footpath undeniably helps to make the street less crowded, but another thing has put the situation even worse than before ---- the flower totems. When the travelers come, most of them may stop in front of the totems and have a look at it or take a picture. As most Singaporeans and tourists are well educated, they may not cross over when people are taking photos, and then they will chose to stop for a little while, or walk aside. This will result in getting crowded in the street, because people are at least walking in the past, and now they are lingering.
To sum up, it is indeed a good idea to improve the image of Orchard Road in such economic situation it is also farsighted to upgrade the facilities. However, they have used a wrong way to put things into practice and thus to spread $40-million on Orchard Road becomes a blunder.
As we can infer, if there are some small helpful changes to the public facilities that we use every day, they will be noticed quickly. According to the introduction of the STB, there are numerous changes on Orchard Road including new street lamps, co-ordinated street furniture, decorative glass panels and plotted flower totems. Nonetheless, a poll carried out by LifeStyle shows that nearly a half of the people have noticed the changes, and among the people who have noticed the changes, some of them either can only name one change or do not think they are useful. On the other hand, the STB haven’t made much effort on advertising the changes, and most people are not focusing on the decorations along the road, so it is reasonable for people to ignore those unimportant things.
People may think one of the main reasons that keeps the changes silent is the time taken since the facelift has started in April last year. However, a mere glance at what are changed shows a different picture. First, the trees on the both side of Orchard Road are very tall and big, they hide the nice designed street lamps into the crossing branches, and hence the pedestrians will not notice the changes deep in the trees though it is likely to be brighter at night. Moreover, widening the footpath undeniably helps to make the street less crowded, but another thing has put the situation even worse than before ---- the flower totems. When the travelers come, most of them may stop in front of the totems and have a look at it or take a picture. As most Singaporeans and tourists are well educated, they may not cross over when people are taking photos, and then they will chose to stop for a little while, or walk aside. This will result in getting crowded in the street, because people are at least walking in the past, and now they are lingering.
To sum up, it is indeed a good idea to improve the image of Orchard Road in such economic situation it is also farsighted to upgrade the facilities. However, they have used a wrong way to put things into practice and thus to spread $40-million on Orchard Road becomes a blunder.
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