Curious mynahs scaring off cowardly hawk

Posted on October 14, 2012 by gdy2shoez

From ‘Hawk no match for pesky mynahs’, 14 Oct 2012, article by Jessica Lim, Sunday Times

Orchard Road’s hawk patrols have failed. It turns out that the bird of prey is no match for the pesky, noisy mynahs plaguing the shopping strip….The birds moved from that roosting spot to the area near Cathay Cineleisure Orchard and The Heeren, and an estimated 2,000 to 5,000 descend at dusk, especially between 6.45pm and 7pm.

People have complained about noise and droppings that strike pedestrians, cars and walkways. So far this year, the authorities have received 13 reports about the bird nuisance.

…Jurong Bird Park was happy to help, and provided a hawk and handler for three test runs from September last year. Alas, the big bird was found to be intimidated by the large flock of mynahs, said park general manager Raja Segran. He thinks there are other reasons why the idea could not take off, though some might suspect these are just a hawk’s excuses:

The mynahs’ new surroundings meant the hawk needed a long time to adjust;

The thick-canopied trees made it difficult for the bird handler to keep contact with the hawk;

Vehicles could knock down the hawk.

“The movement of the crowd and noise from vehicles along that stretch made the hawk very distracted,” he said. “The flow of traffic on Orchard Road made it too risky to fly our birds there.”

In the trials, which included releasing the hawk onto a tree, it was found that at first the hawk frightened the mynahs off. “But after a while, the mynahs were seen coming back to the tree where the hawk was, as if very curious to see what bird it was,” he said.

No surprise that neither NEA nor AVA was mentioned in this article, with the writer using the annoyingly vague ‘the authorities’, since none of these agencies actually want to take charge of mynahs. Pigeons (AVA) and crows (NEA) yes, but nobody wants their hands full with these rascally birds. In 2008, the NEA did shoot down some crows, but seemingly left most of the mynahs alone since these birds are not ‘in their purview’. Maybe the selective extermination of a bigger ‘competitor’ bird boosted up mynah numbers and made them more fearless since.  So what do Orchard Road tenants do then if the authorities have gone cuckoo over pest control? Take matters into their own hands, of course. By hiring a Jurong Bird Park veteran who trains hawks more for entertainment than stalking and eating smaller nuisance birds. You wouldn’t hire Sylvester the Cat to catch Tweety Bird would you?

You can’t blame the hawk or its handler really. Not only is the force of 5000 mynahs too much to bear, but having led a good life in captivity as a pet, mascot or performer for the Bird park, you would have no incentive to hunt down an unruly flock of squawking, pooping mynahs.  You would rather put on a ‘King of the Skies’ show and awe little children with your gliding prowess and extend your lethal talons ready to strike like you’re plucking a python out of a bush, even if you’ve done nothing with them other than clutching for dear life to some falconer dressed like Mulan.

Glam hawker

Falconry is apparently a noble, majestic sport of sorts that has existed since the Mongols, where raptors are trained to specifically hunt game or impress royal guests at a party. Today falconry is also employed as a natural pest control system, but no one even in medieval times could prepare a hawk for a thousand-strong army of swooping birds, creatures who have no qualms about stealing food from the Apex predators themselves or even go banzai on them on the streets. According to the article, there has been modest success of using hawks to chase off seagulls at a shopping mall in Exeter. Either our mynahs are a formidable guerilla force to be reckoned with, or hawks and their handlers can’t deal with the concrete jungle that is Orchard Road, a jungle where a black bird is king.

If poison, sonic devices, big birds or scarecrows don’t do the job, perhaps ‘the authorities’ should install giant fans in the vicinity of the birds’ roosting areas, which are known to sever bird heads every now and then. Alternatively, you could just take the underpass instead, just to avoid a uniquely Orchard Road weather forecast of Cloudy with a Chance of Droppings.

It’s a bird..

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Filed under: 2000s, 2012, Bureaucrats, Environment, Noise, Orchard Road, Pedestrians, Pesky animals, Shopping malls, Tourists | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

My grandfather road vandalised

Posted on June 4, 2012 by gdy2shoez

From ‘My grandfather road vandal arrested’, 4 June 2012, article in asiaone.com

Police have arrested a 25-year-old woman who is believed to have vandalised several roads in Singapore. Between May 17 to 21 this year, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) saw that the words “MY GRANDFATHER ROAD” were painted along Robinson Road and Maxwell Road and reported the matter to the Police.

It also reported that circular stickers printed with captions were pasted on a pavement around Lau Pa Sat and on a road traffic sign along Robinson Road. The female suspect was arrested at her residence in the eastern part of Singapore on June 3. The officers also found several paint-stained stencils and several pieces of stickers printed with captions. These items were seized for investigation.

Investigation is ongoing. The police are also working with LTA on earlier reports of round stickers found affixed on other pedestrian crossings at various places.

The case is classified as Vandalism under Section 3 of the Vandalism Act, Chapter 341. A person who is convicted for the offence shall be punished with a fine not exceeding $2,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding to 3 years and shall be liable to caning subjected to the Criminal Procedure Code 2010.

Sins of the Grandfather

Spray painting a road may land you 3 YEARS in jail and a severe beating, but knocking over someone while drunk driving and splattering someone’s BLOOD all over the road gives you a miserable SIX months sentence, or a fine between $1000 and $5000. So, the police have spent the past month tracking down someone placing stickers on pedestrian crossing buttons, while elsewhere cyclists and joggers are being mowed down by maniac drivers.  Instead of monitoring speedsters, they’re keeping their eyes peeled for sticker vandals, who do nothing more than kill pedestrians’ time, not kill THEM unlike some nuisance drivers we know.

The colloquialism ‘My grandfather’s road’ has been used since the eighties, often used to describe motorists taking their own sweet time on the roads, or road-hoggers. In this case, the phrase could also double up as a visual protest against people who think they ‘own the road’ so they could streak about in the early wee hours in their Ferraris. Just a couple of days back, the ST ran a piece on these mystery ‘Press until Shiok’ stickers, that these  antics were ‘to the amusement’ of Singaporeans, with some speculating that it could be a smart ‘guerilla marketing’ campaign. One interviewee remarked that this shows ‘the vibrant culture of Singapore and a let-your-hair-down attitude’. More like ‘let-your-pants-down for a whipping’ attitude. It almost sounded light hearted and did not end in the typically admonishing ‘Anyone with information on the culprit are to report to the police immediately’.  Next thing you know, the one putting a smile on people’s faces with catchy slogans and making Singapore ‘hip’ again is being hauled to court for vandalising public property. Well thanks a lot, Straits Jinx. Don’t ever attempt to act cool again.

The ‘grandfather road’ vandal brings to mind the ‘white elephant’ incident at Buangkok MRT, where cut outs were put up to mock the two-year delay in the opening of Buangkok MRT station. It remains unknown as to who was ultimately responsible for this ‘outdoor protest’, though it was reported that a ‘veteran grassroots leader’ was behind it and his identity remains protected till this day.  The blatant symbolism seemed to prick the conscience of the authorities that they forgot about the elephant displays being vandalism at all. Instead the police had to investigate if there had been any breach of the ‘Public Entertainments and Meetings Act’. Which means if you’re sticking it to the authorities though a piece of art, you’re ‘protesting’ without a permit. If you’re just trying to be funny with some stencils and stickers, you’re a menace to society.

A couple of years back, the Speak Good English campaign embarked on their own spate of state endorsed ‘vandalism’, putting ugly sticky notes on lampposts and hawker centre tables to instruct people on on speaking properly. So if it’s for a ‘good cause’ and you have a permit, marring the urban landscape is OK, but not if you’re a street artist inspired by the ‘functional’ landscape graffiti of Banksy. With an actual sense of humour. You can’t even walk around with a piece of chalk these days without a cop telling you to stay away from roads and buildings, as if you were in possession of a stick of dynamite instead.

Postcript: Fast turning out to be a anti-establishment cult heroine, ‘Sticker Lady’ is actually Samantha Lo, artist and founder of online magazine RCGNTN. Her Pinterest is still available for viewing, where she appears to have a special interest in typography. Also see the rest of her ‘Press’ series (Tumblr disabled), including ‘Anyhow Press Police Catch’, ‘Press for Nirvana’ and ‘Everything Also Press’. OK I made the last one up.

Then there’s the question of whether My Grandfather Road is considered ‘art’ at all. According to a ST Forum writer and SOTA student Darshini Ramiah (Suspect art has no value, 9 June 2012, ST Forum):

While the works are humorous, parodying Singaporean culture and Singlish, they seem to have no value whatsoever. Furthermore, the removal of the ‘art’ from public property involved spending money, time and effort.

While the suspect’s intentions may have been light-hearted, she appears to have had no consideration for the impact that her work may have caused. Art should serve to enhance and better a community. But the suspect’s work seems to be nothing more than a tongue-in-cheek attempt to garner public attention.

The writer fails to mention what is considered ‘proper’ art and how this makes a community ‘better’, using vague words like ‘value’ and ‘enhance’ without explaining why art MATTERS. Value, like art, is subjective and in order to argue if what Sticker Lady did has any ‘value’ in the very mundane sense of dollars and cents, consider if anyone will purchase any of her sticker creations after her conviction (It would probably sell like Hello Kitty plush toys). In terms of more abstract ‘value’, her ‘tongue-in-cheek’ humour may have made someone’s day, or made people conscious of their furious but useless pedestrian button pressing, i.e altered someone’s behavior, at least temporarily.  In contrast, an almost blank piece of canvas may be clamoured to death as a timeless masterpiece, but if it leaves a viewer nonchalant and deemed as mere wall filler, how does it ‘enhance’ the community, despite being extremely ‘valuable’? Does ‘Brother Cane’ and its pubic hair snipping have any ‘value’? When Josef Ng broke the law (for public indecency) staging the act, like how Samantha Lo committed an offence (defacing public property), does it mean that the original Brother Cane wasn’t art?

Sticker Lady was eventually charged with mischief in late March 2013, in which the maximum penalty is one year’s jail and a fine. It was revealed that one of Lo’s creations was labelled ‘So Kancheong For What’. Though it was placed near a pedestrian crossing, I wonder if she was really referring to the government asking us to have more babies.

Filed under: 1980s, 2000s, 2010, 2012, Art, Environment, Fun and games, Justice system/Lawsuits, Motorists, MRT, Pedestrians, Police officers, Public works, Singlish/Broken english | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 38 Comments »

Cyclist punched in the face by jogger

Posted on June 6, 2011 by gdy2shoez

From ‘And then there is jogger rage’, 6 June 2011, Voices, Today online

(Edwin James Fawcett): …Last month, while I was cycling home from work along the Bedok canal on the designated cycle path, a jogger came straight at me.

Rather than cross onto the pedestrian section to avoid him, I stayed as far right as I could. I waved at the jogger to move across and there was no response. Eventually I had to stop, and as I was about to politely mention that he was in the cycle lane, he punched me in the face.

Now as you can imagine I was a little upset about this, so I dismounted and politely chastised him. He then ran off shouting racial abuse at me.

Having lived in Holland for many years, cycling is second nature to me. It is a little annoying seeing the very bad attitudes of pedestrians towards cyclists. Riding at the East Coast Park for example is a nightmare, with people blatantly walking on the cycle paths without a care in the world.

If Mr Fawcett’s account is genuine, then either he’s the most good natured cyclist in Singapore or his reaction to being assaulted by a mad jogger (a LITTLE upset) is a case of severe understatement. How could anyone even be ‘politely chastising’ his attacker after being sucker-punched? Most people would be reeling in shock at the bizarre nature of the incident, with a few chasing the jogger on their bikes to get even, as comical as that looks.  It’s usually the other way round in the urban food chain, the pedestrian gets knocked down by the jogger, the jogger is knocked down by the cyclist, the cyclist by the car, car rams into a tree, and so on. This cyclist face-punching  appears to be a rare case of a ‘run-and-hit-and-run” jogger.

This just proves how inadequate jogging is as a sport in sating our innate bloodlust, that the pumping adrenaline merely primes the jogger to unleash a fist of fury at anyone in their way, bulldozing through cyclists, pedestrians or even old people on a stroll if they have to. Such street violence is uncalled for, though it’s an expression of how stifled some people are without an outlet for male aggression, that when video game shoot-em-ups don’t help, sometimes a little pub brawl and alley scuffling  without the police clamping down on the fun is all we need to release our pent up cravings for a little rough and tumble. Causing vicious hurt to cyclists isn’t the only crime that joggers can commit on the go, sometimes they’re serial molesters too ( See below, 9 May 1979, ST). Cyclists are as much of a nuisance themselves, if not dispersing happy families on pavements they’re knocking old people into a coma. It seems that with the surge of automobiles, we seem to have forgotten how dangerous bicycles could be. In the 1930s, it was even a crime to collide into police constables while you’re on a bike (P C Knocked down, 16 March 1932).

Filed under: 1930s, 1970s, 2011, Cyclists, Motorists, Pedestrians, Violence | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Ads may poke unwary pedestrians’ eyes

Posted on March 13, 2011 by gdy2shoez

From ‘Ban all roadside ads’, 13 March 2011, Your letters, Sunday Times

(Lucas Png): Roadside advertisements are becoming a more common sight, advertising anything from apartments to gyms. But are these ads legal?…I feel that such ads should not be allowed, even if advertisers pay.

First, these ads distract drivers, which could lead to road accidents. Second the presence of legal ads may encourage illegal advertisers to place their own ads among them. For every legal ad displayed, two illegal ones pop up.

All these roadside ads are also an eyesore.

Not only are such ads an eyesore, but some are actually deemed hazardous enough to literally CAUSE an eye sore (see letter below, Can the public help remove hazardous ads, 4 May 2006, Today). There’s no concrete evidence attributing causation of road accidents to roadside ads given the sheer volume of influencing factors, even if you have a topless woman wearing only panties on them. Granted, striking ads do affect one’s attention span, but whether that alone is significant enough to pose a danger to the driver, in light of all the possible obstacles to safe driving, remains fuzzy. Either Singaporean drivers are just plain lucky not to crash after sparing a second or two gawking at ads, or they’re just so accustomed to distractions that you could have a nudist colony marching along the pavement and cars would merely stall in a safe and synchronised manner instead of careening right into a multi-vehicle pile-up.

Roadside ads aside, drivers have to deal with more immediate distractions like noisy children, taxi billboards, kite strings, urgent calls from their bosses, rampant jaywalkers and cyclists in luminous spandex attire, which all make the former seem tame in comparison. It’s  such daily road nuisances which prime drivers to be more alert to their surroundings, honing their instincts as to how to focus on some and ignore others.  Besides, these ads aren’t new, and  banning them, unless they are tied so loosely to railings they fly onto our windscreens, is as useful as calling for the removal of pretty bougainvilleas from overhead bridges.

 

Filed under: 2000s, 2011, Advertisements, Motorists, Pedestrians | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

Pedestrians are kings of the road

Posted on September 20, 2010 by gdy2shoez

From ‘Kings of the road?’, 20 Sept 2010, Voices, Today online

(Yvonne Tan): …As a motorist, I frequently see pedestrians taking their own sweet time to cross at the traffic lights. They often continue walking slowly even when the green man turns to red. They also often continue to cross the road until the “green arrow” for cars that are turning goes off.

I have come across pedestrians crossing the road so slowly that cars have to slow down almost to a stop in the middle of the road.

…I had stopped at a T-junction to ensure that there was no oncoming traffic before turning out. Just then a group of pedestrians crossed the road in front my car. I could see that some did walk faster to cross the road. However, there were others who did not increase their speed.

I honked at them, cut a little into the next lane and drove off. I stopped at the traffic light a few metres away.  While there, one of the pedestrians at whom I had honked approached me and told me that I had to stop because pedestrians had right of way.  He insisted that he had right of way and threatened to call the Land Transport Authority.

I find that this behaviour stems from the belief that pedestrians are kings of the road.

…The law protects pedestrians from reckless and irresponsible drivers. Shouldn’t it also protect motorists from arrogant, uniquely Singapore pedestrians.

No, the law should protect people against impatient, rude, noisy honkers like Yvonne Tan. Whether pedestrians behave like royalty or not, you can grumble all you want to your fellow passengers,  even try to traverse the crossing carefully provided the pedestrians are far away, aware of your illegal movements and not playing with their phones if you’re really in such a rush, but surely there’s no reason to honk at people for walking slowly when they have the right of way. Why should motorists, behind the wheel of a killing, polluting machine, be granted any special concessions against vulnerable, human traffic? What sort of damage can a bunch of slow-crossing pedestrians do to a waiting motorist other than brittle nails from furious steering-wheel drumming that warrants ‘protection?’ Tell that to the family of the savaged Vietnamese tourist who was near decapitated by a runaway taxi even though she was nowhere near a pedestrian or zebra crossing. Car drivers are kings of the road everywhere else, on the expressways, in parking lots, making a nuisance with their modified engines, hell, they are the reason why roads exist in the first place. Granted, it’s annoying to dilly dally and dawdle about but the onus is on drivers to be cautious and alert for unsuspecting, dashing , or in this case, strolling, humans. As much as inconsiderate behaviour by pedestrians is uncalled for, at least it’s not potentially deadly as impatient, aggressive road warriors like Ms Tan here. As for the real ‘King of the Road’, indisputably it is, and has always been, the taxi driver, as seen in this letter dated 14 July 1949.

Filed under: 1940s, 2010, Motorists, Pedestrians, Taxi drivers | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

To the left, to the left

Posted on March 22, 2010 by gdy2shoez

From ‘Let’s all keep to the left’ 22 March 2010 Voices Today online

I suggest that the Government standardizes all walkways. Whether it is an underpass, pedestrian crossing or pavement, pedestrians should only walk along the left of the direction in which they are heading. Moving along the left would eliminate both human and traffic jams as the right side can be left for those who are overtaking or approaching in the opposite direction.

So do we walk on the left or on the right? This lack of consensus is exactly the reason why people are walking all over the place. Human traffic is as scientific as the weather. The real problem is people don’t pay attention when they walk, being plugged into their headphones, holding hands abreast or texting on their phones and what nots.

Filed under: 2010, Campaigns/Elections, Pedestrians | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

Walk this way

Posted on March 19, 2010 by gdy2shoez

From The ‘right way to walk’ 19 March 2010 Voices, Today online

Having pedestrians keep to the right can still prove useful in Singapore, especially if we want our target population of 6.5 millions to move efficiently. If we can have rules for the smooth flow of vehicles, why not rules for pedestrians, too?

The whole point is to put greater emphasis on pedestrians to apply common sense for the common good.

If we don’t have a national policy governing this, everyone will be going their own way, which will lead to more frequent jams, human and traffic.

I can see the pun and video coming a mile away. Phua Chu Kang doing a Singlish rendition of Run DMC’s rap Classic Walk This Way. Hark my words. A national policy to walk properly sounds dangerously Orwellian. The only laws that work in this land are the unwritten laws. Like chope-ing seats with tissue paper. Educating people to walk is asking for parody, none done with as much ingenuity as Monty Python’s Ministry of Silly Walks.

Filed under: 2010, Campaigns/Elections, Pedestrians | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Your grandfather’s pavement is it

Posted on March 10, 2010 by gdy2shoez

From A new road bully 10 Mar 2010 ST Forum

I had a head-on collision with a cyclist along the pavement between Kallang and Lavender MRT stations and suffered cuts to my hands. Instead of pulling over to find out if I was all right, the cyclist scolded me, spewing vulgarities.

The authorities should reconsider the introduction of bicycle registration for riders. They could also produce a series of road safety videos and fliers to teach cyclists that riding on footpaths is an offence.

There’s a cycling path beneath a MRT station nearby which cyclists never use because 1. It’s winding and there’s a perfectly straight footpath next to it and 2. Pedestrians like to use it on a hot day despite its windiness for the shade. Even with designated lanes, Singaporeans will choose to ignore and dawdle, roller-blade, skateboard or jog wherever they want. So maybe the problem is not with cyclists but maybe just a general lack of  space for everyone.

Filed under: 2010, Cyclists | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

Go fly kite

Posted on February 27, 2010 by gdy2shoez

From Go fly a kite but do it responsibly 27 feb 2010 St Forum online

Last weekend, a taxi unknowingly snagged some kite strings as it turned from Anchorvale Link into Sengkang East Way. The strings, if made of nylon (which some kite-fliers use), could seriously injure pedestrians if dragged at high speeds by vehicles.

The dangers of nylon can’t be expressed more vividly than in the opening mass mutilation scene of the horror film Ghost Ship.

Filed under: 2010, Motorists, Pedestrians | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Dawdlers

Posted on February 13, 2010 by gdy2shoez

From Why some people deliberately dawdle 24 March 1988 ST Forum

S Dhanabalan is quite right to say that Singapore pedestrians are ‘a spoilt lot’.

I have seldom seen people deliberately dawdle on pedestrian crossing as do  we Singaporeans. But, you see, this is the only way we pedestrians can get our own back on the often selfish and impatient motorist.

Filed under: 1980s, Pedestrians, Politicians | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

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