Monday, January 11, 2021

Singapore - To Do 10Jan21 (Singapore Zoo - River Safari)

Singapore Zoo
(River Safari)
*On a really wet wet day*
Click here for ABBA location of River Safari
The River Safari 29Nov2012 is the youngest addition to the Wildlife Reserves Singapore. Singapore Zoo 27June1973 the OG (original), followed by the Night Safari 26May1994.
Click here for latest pricing.
ABBATips:
- No need for a large water bottle. There are plenty of water top up points.
- Dining option is limited to one singular option just after Panda Exhibit (midway through the park circuit) There are much more options prior entry so time your visit accordingly.
*Tiger Fish*
The River Safari is mostly sheltered with the exception of two, monkey outdoor exhibit and Amazon River Quest (additional SGD5 subject to weather) which were open air.
*Sturgeons*
*Red Panda*
Beautiful and immersive enclosures bring you through the various continents.  Though there are various steps for kids to get a closer look, some seated spots would be much appreciated to soak in the living enclosures. Its more like a human conveyor belt, look and move on.
Overall, the river safari is more  fresh water fish and scattering of animal life. In terms of variety its far from the Singapore Zoo and the Night Safari whose focus shifts. River Safari still holds it own and till now, there are still evolutionary upgrades still being made.

The total curation could be gone through in about 2-3hours. There is a single animal show (Max 50pax capacity during COVID and advised to be arrive an hour before show time to avoid being turned away) , and a scenic river cruise (free) which on a previous occasion visited are both entertaining and a change of pace.
Click here for ABBA location of River Safari
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Saturday, January 9, 2021

Aviation Reads - Safety I and Safety II. Shifting focus - What goes Right instead of what goes Wrong.

Disclaimer! This is NOT an opinion piece, but rather a collection of various readings and clippings which serve to spur further exploration in the topic. These are not full articles but simply excerpts from the bulk of reading material that is available.  As much citation and references were taken with regards to the topic. Legitimacy and accuracy of the clippings are read at your own discretion.
Click here for More Aviation Reads

Safety I and Safety II

Safety I vs Safety II: An overview
Different philosophies and not opposing.
What goes wrong to what goes right?
Safety should not only be reactive but proactive as well.
Pic source: https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/business/trends-and-insights/articles/what-our-brains-look-like-on-praise-and-criticism/

The traditional thinking about safety has reached some notable landmarks, but the constantly renewed list of unexpected incidents comes to underline a need for a change in safety perception, unveiling there could be more than the traditional ways of ‘doing safety’.

A 2013 white paper by Professors Erik Hollnagel, Robert L Wears and Jeffrey Braithwaite came to redefine the way we see safety with the introduction of a new definition at the scope: The ‘Safety II’ concept argues that we should stop focusing only on how to stop things from going wrong but emphasize on why things go right instead.

The ‘Safety-II’ perspective acts as an evolutionary complement of the conventional safety thinking, referred as ‘Safety I’.

Safety I

picture source https://blog.sucuri.net/2019/07/how-to-stop-a-ddos-attack-prevent-future-attacks.html

- Takes accidents as the focus point and tries to prevent bad things from occurring
- An accident investigation through the lens of Safety I is to identify the causes of adverse outcomes, while risk assessment aims to determine their likelihood
- As little things to go wrong
- As little things done wrong as possible.
- Safety I relates to a condition where the aim is to be sure that the number of unwanted outputs will be as low as possible.

Safety II

picture source https://www.ethozgroup.com/blog/spread-positivity-not-negativity/

- emphasizing on ensuring that as much as possible goes right, expanding much more than the area of incident prevention and promoting a real safety management over a simple risk assessment.
- Accident investigations under Safety-II seek to understand how things usually go right, as this forms the basis for explaining how things go wrong, while risk assessment aims ‘to understand the conditions where performance variability can become difficult to control’.
- Safety II concerns the condition of being certain that the success of outputs will be as high as possible.
- As many things to go right? What went right?

Notably, the new concept does not seek to supersede what is already being done, but to complement the current approach, which means that many of the existing practices can continue to be used, just ‘with a different emphasis’. However, one cannot exist without the other.

SAFETY I vs SAFETY II



Picture source: https://www.cefa-aviation.com/safety2-swiss-cheese-model/
Safety I Safety II
Learn from our errors Learn from our successes
Safety defined by absence Safety defined by presence
Reactive approach Proactive approach
Understand what goes wrong Understand what goes right?
Accident causation Repeat what goes right
Avoid errors Enforce successful behaviors
Reduce losses Create new process on successful behavior
 
Safety II is to emphasize on enhancing their employees’ resilience, as the ability to monitor things and handle situations.

The way forward for a change of mentality seems long in an industry which has traditionally learned to shed focus on near miss reporting, but not on positive reporting, to claim liability but care less on praising exceptionally good performance.

Dr. Hollnagel’s book is to change the classical safety analysis process that focuses mainly on negative causes and impacts of unwanted events, and to take into account the success stories that tend to become invisible and insignificant, because they are considered as normal, i.e. as planned.

Sources:
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285396555_Erik_Hollnagel_Safety-I_and_Safety-II_the_past_and_future_of_safety_management
- https://safety4sea.com/cm-safety-i-vs-safety-ii-an-overview/
- https://vimeo.com/89492241
- https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-man-cave/201908/toxic-positivity-dont-always-look-the-bright-side
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Singapore - To Do 08Jan21 GBTB Garden Rhapsody Nightly Light Show & Winter Wonderland

GBTB Garden Rhapsody
Nightly Lightshow is back!
Showtimes daily at
0745pm & 845pm(15min)
Bayfront MRT (1.3km/18min walk away) 
*As the Sun Sets*
The Gardens By The Bay Light show is back after a long hiatus due Covid. The musical selection changes approximately monthly so remember to check out when there's a change of score to suit the mood. 
18March21 Show
Opera in The Gardens

08 Jan21


ABBATips:
- Bring a picnic mat as there's an open lawn nearby. Seating is available at the bases of super-trees too.
- Bring Mosquito repellent as they can be quite annoying. 
- Note the place is unsheltered but can still be viewed from a distance.
You might also be interested to see what other amazing things there are to do at Gardens. 
Annual Winter Wonderland 21 at Gardens By The Bay
Entry for Adults SGD7, SGD5 for Kids
Carousel ride SGD10 +$5 for accompany child.



It was our first time for entry into the Wonderland and its was a nice experience. Pop-up shops, and out door eatery and loads of pop-up photo opportunities were spread through out. What's great was that the Super Tree shows go on hourly around you, which was fantastic as one soaked in the festive atmosphere.
You maybe interested in these other adventures that the Gardens have to offer. 
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Tuesday, January 5, 2021

Aviation Read - Hazards, Birds. All lights on? According to BOEING FCTM...

Disclaimer! This is NOT an opinion piece, but rather a collection of various readings and clippings which serve to spur further exploration in the topic. These are not full articles but simply excerpts from the bulk of reading material that is available.  As much citation and references were taken with regards to the topic. Legitimacy and accuracy of the clippings are read at your own discretion.
Click here for More Aviation Reads

Bird Hazards
from Boeing.com
While bird strikes usually inflict most damage on the engines, all areas of an airplane can be damaged. Airplane damage and effect on flight from bird strikes are closely correlated to kinetic energy. (A 20% increase in speed raises the kinetic energy by 44%.)

Most bird strikes occur on or near the ground, highlighting the need for wildlife management on airport grounds and in the vicinity.

Common Misconceptions about Bird Strikes
A number of widespread misconceptions about bird strikes may give pilots a false sense of security and prevent them from reacting appropriately to the threat of a bird strike or an actual event.
https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2019/08/28/Artificial-intelligence-helps-scientists-track-birds-migrating-at-night/4981566995292/
 
These misconceptions include:
  • Birds don’t fly at night.
  • Birds don’t fly in poor visibility, such as in clouds, fog, rain, or snow.
  • Birds can detect airplane landing lights and weather radar and avoid the airplane.
  • Airplane colors and jet engine spinner markings help to repel birds.
  • Birds seek to avoid airplanes because of aerodynamic and engine noise.
  • Birds dive to avoid an approaching airplane.

In fact, none of these statements is scientifically proven.


Prevention Strategies according to
Boeing Flight Crew Training Manual (FCTM)

Although it is not possible to avoid all bird strikes, flight crews can take steps to reduce the chance of a bird-strike event. If a bird strike does occur, the appropriate action can improve the flight crew’s ability to maintain control of the airplane and land safely.

This information from Boeing FCTM provides flight crews and flight operations personnel with practical information about preventing and managing bird-strike events.

Prevention strategies
  • Pilots should not rely on onboard weather radar, landing lights, airplane markings, time of day, or visibility to prevent bird strikes.
  • Flight operations may need to be modified in the presence of known or anticipated bird activity.
  • Delay takeoff or landing in the presence of bird activity.
  • Below 10,000 feet, keep speed below 250 knots if operationally possible.
  • Below 2,000 feet, climb at the maximum rate to reduce the flight time exposure to a strike hazard.
  • https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/10/10/sfo-plans-to-surround-airport-with-10-mile-wall-to-protect-against-rising-bay-waters/ 
    Descend with idle power and avoid extended low-altitude level flight, particularly over water courses, nature reserves, or other areas of known or expected bird activity.

  • When landing is assured, consider landing through birds versus a missed approach to avoid birds. This reduces the energy of the collision, the potential for increased damage associated with engines at a high power level, and the potential for multiple engine ingestion at low airplane energy states and low altitude.
  • Avoid or minimize maneuvering at low altitude to avoid birds. 
  • Maintain as low a thrust setting as possible.
  • If engine ingestion is suspected, limit reverse thrust on landing to the amount needed to stop on the runway. Reverse thrust may increase engine damage, especially when engine vibration or high exhaust gas temperature is indicated.
Bird strikes during takeoff roll
picture source from:
https://www.thejournal.ie/dublin-airport-birds-runway-2-3456678-Jun2017/
If a bird strike occurs during takeoff, the decision to continue or reject the takeoff is made using the criteria found in the Rejected Takeoff maneuver of the QRH. If a bird strike occurs above 80 knots and prior to V1, and there is no immediate evidence of engine failure (e.g., failure, fire, power loss, or surge/stall), the preferred option is to continue with the takeoff followed by an immediate return, if required.
Detecting a bird strike while in flight
  • Visual: Birds seen in close proximity to the airplane or colliding with the airplane, bird remains on windshield, cracked windshield.
  • Tactile: Vibration of air-frame or engine, thrust loss, asymmetric thrust, increased drag, abnormal airplane handling characteristics.
  • Auditory: Noise of strike or noise attributed to resulting damage: engine surging, compressor stalls, aerodynamic noise from damaged radome, loss of pressurization from pressure vessel penetration.
  • Olfactory: Smoke, odor, or cooked bird smell.
  • Engine indications: Reduction or fluctuation in primary power parameter (e.g., engine pressure ratio, fan speed, or equivalent), abnormal fuel flow, abnormal engine vibration monitoring (e.g., error vector magnitude or equivalent), engine failure, engine exceedances.
  • Flight instruments: Loss of data or erroneous indications arising from damage to air data sensors or angle-of-attack sensors.
  • Other airplane systems or structure affected directly by a strike: Damaged communications or navigation antennas, damage to exposed electrical wiring or hydraulic lines, damaged radome or weather radar, broken landing lights, or cascading and multiple effects from sensor damage or engine damage.
The importance of reporting Bird Strikes

Flight crews and maintenance and line personnel are encouraged to report all bird strikes because data are essential to quantify and manage the hazard. Reporting bird strikes enables aviation authorities to monitor the risk to aviation and the effectiveness of wildlife hazard mitigation measures. Bird-strike data, together with knowledge of the operational environment, are utilized by Boeing as a basis of many airplane design features beyond regulatory requirements. Bird-strike data also help researchers understand the nature of strikes and develop a scientific approach to reduce the cost and safety consequences of bird strikes.

Hudson 15Jan2009

From Sully staring Tom Hanks

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jan/15/us-airways-plane-crash-new-york-hudson-river
Credits
https://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/articles/2011_q3/4/
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Tuesday, December 29, 2020

Singapore - To Do 29Dec2020/26Mar22 (Tanjong Katong Peranakan Houses in Singapore)

Singapore - To Stay
Singapore - To Eat
Singapore - To Do
Singapore - To Do
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Mini Peranakan Homes walk about
The Red House
Closed Monday and Tuesday. 

The red house is a historical landmark, and still is a bakery and confectionery.
Ordered On
26March22
SGD17.70
A very quick and rough review.
Food 4/5
*Great flavors in all and balance out well. The modern eats juxtaposed against the old/traditional was a pleasant dining ambience and place to enjoy a breakfast/brunch/*
Service 4/5
Ambience 4/5
Value 3.5/5
Good cafe eats and vibe in this historic location. There's even a side alley seating. A great way to start of the casual walk around Tanjong Katong area to enjoy the 5foot walkways and artisanal shops in the area.

Rumah Kim Choo

Rumah Kim Choo is co-located with Singapore Tourism Information booth.
The place offers traditional snacks, dumplings and treats. The upper story has got a nice homage of family heirlooms and antiques which gives a peak into Peranakan culture. Their array of beautiful tiled pieces line the stairwell as well and were enjoyable. Rumah Kim Choo also offers an interesting event space on the second floor.
Click here for Rumah Kim Choo, 111 E Coast Rd, 109, Singapore 428801

Walk about down Joo Chiat road
*Traditional gates and signage in the area*
*Small side alley which cuts through the shop houses.*
*Beautifully done decoration outsid of Rumah Bebe Pte Ltd*
*Enjoying the 5ft walk-way*

*Lovely stuff over at Lim's Holland Village (Joo Chiat Branch)*
*Resident cats*
*Lovely shops along the way*
Intersection of Joo Chiat and Duman/Koon Seng Road
 
What used to be the original police station 
 
Loads of eating options in the Katong area with a plethora of cuisines and famous ones like (was told) Yong's Teochew Kueh joints and much debated and contested over 328 Katong Laksa/Original Katong Laksa.
*Little bit of history, little bit of good eats, artisinal coffee/desert joints scattered around the Katong area made it a nice half day out.* 
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