Changi Jewel

I like to update myself with the latest aviation news. Mostly with the civil aviation. I'm quite a pacifist, I'm not keen with military aviation. But there's always exception. The Globemaster and Hercules are cute. If only I could pinch their cheeks.

I was reading on Vancouver Airport, then, Dorval, Pearson, LAX, El Dorado, DXB, AMS,... well, thanks to wikipedia, there's always link to other article. So it's a chain of articles. And then YouTube.

Amsterdam Schiphol is by far the most active YouTubers. The videos are fun, and there's always something new in their YouTube channel.

Surfing the internet, one particular airport caught my eye. Singapore Changi airport. They are building a new business hub called JewelChangi. Designed by Moshe Safdie, one of the best architect. Habitat 67 is in his resume. It is an example of metabolic architecture, probably with a hint of Brutalism. First saw this awesome building in Johnny Mnemonic. Yes, brutalism and metabolism architecture fit to be in a science fiction movies, cyberpunk, post-apocalyptic movies. It looks like a heap of junk, only beautiful. Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Art is subjective.

Back to JewelChangi, the centrepeice is it's fountain. Flowing in the centre of the building from the transparent, crystalline-like roof. I'm not sure whether it's made of glass or just membrane. The span is wide, they might use lightweight materials.

The fountain is similar to Suntec City's Fountain of Wealth

And here, I'm typing about 2 things that is of my interest, aviation and architecture. Maybe in a parallel universe, I am a pilot and in other universe, an architect. Too bad, I was born in a typical Asian family. Yup! We really love doctors. Just turn on the telly, and in every drama, it is compulsory to have a doctor as the main character or the supporting character.

Flying is an art

Architecture is an art

But never medicine, although many doctors would say medicine is an art too... which I just couldn't understand. Why is it an art, if one cannot express their artistic side. And hostile to left-handed, the so called creative population.

Facebook Freebooting? Is linking YouTube video in my blog considered as one?

I feel bad after watching this. I made a lot of link to YouTube videos. Not mine. It's sharing. I don't own those videos except for Beau's video, which is mine.

I feel bad. I like watching those videos, so I posted them, just to share. Like BuzzFeed's, Matthew Santoro's, they are informative. And I like informative videos. So I share. Am I freebooting.

If yes, that's not my intention. But I hope, I didn't.

Well, I think of it as promoting my favourite YouTuber, like Matthew Santoro and Sacha Stevenson. Or some old adverts which are funny.

Just to make things clear that I am not freebooting.

And I wish Matthew Santoro, Sacha Stevenson and the BuzzFeed crews read my blog because I want to tell them how much I like their videos.

now, I realized... how important is NATO phonetic alphabet

Yesterday, Jerry and I were sending parcels at the post office. On the way to the post office, we saw a military aircraft.

I refer it as 'Hercules', while Jerry call them 'Charlie'. We were looking at this particular aircraft. A Lockheed C-130 Hercules. We argued, and came to a agreement, it is called 'Charlie' because of the C-130. Or Charlie (Dash) One Three Zero. I refer them as 'Hercules' because they are the model name.

Growing up, I am very familiar with the NATO phonetic alphabet. Well, it's our father, he just wants us to be ready. Maybe too much that it gives us headache, and little control on what we want to learn.

Back then, I think it is fun but a little bit absurd. Why would you say Alpha instead of A, Bravo instead of B. I came to a reasoning that, probably, it's because of the letter 'Z'. We pronounce it as 'ZED' while Big Bird, Ernie, Cookie Monster call is 'ZEE'. One of the reason why my mother was not keen on buying me a Sesame Street book. She is afraid that my English would turn American.

If it's because of the letter Z, why change the whole alphabet?

It was later, after learning a bit of foreign language, I realized that not everybody call A as 'air' or B as 'bee'. The first time I heard the French alphabet, I couldn't differentiate whether it is the letter itself or the sound of the letter.

Little that I know that Indonesian alphabet is different too. Almost similar to French, particularly their A, B and C. It is funny because I can understand Bahasa Indonesia, but not in depth. Their alphabet are different. www is pronounced as way way way. (in French w is double v. Double V instead of Double U)

All this while, I thought English ABC are universal. Everybody is using the English ABC. Probably because we use English ABC in every language which uses the Roman script.

Imagine if NATO alphabet weren't invented, an Indonesian air traffic controller would say AMWAY to refer MW.

Idaho is not in the Mid-West

I was watching a Buzzfeed video where a bunch of west coast and east coast American label the states in the Midwest.

Almost all label Idaho as a state in the Midwest.

Considering on how I memorize the US states, I could relate why, although I would not put Idaho in the Midwest. It's somewhere between Washington and Montana, a unique shape, like a sandwich with it top right corner bitten. Most of the borders are straight, except the one shared with Montana.

The confusion would arise from the fact that out of 4 states begining with the letter 'I', 3 are neighbours. They are Indiana, Illinois and Iowa, from east to west... and further west is Idaho.

Well, India is in the East, so is Indiana. Big cities are almost always located at the centre, so is Chicago, Illinois. Iowa is westernmost among these 3 states. W is for west, and WA, Washington is at the west.

Indiana is below the mitten (Michigan). Illinois is a rather big state, with the lest shoreline. To the west is Iowa and Missouri. Missouri is below Iowa.

Speaking of Iowa, I've been wondering where Des Moines was, when I was still in school. There's always a subscription form, addressed to Des Moines, in Better Homes and Gardens magazine. Back then, I thought it was somewhere near New York, Boston or Philadelphia (East Coast) or somewhere in California, since it have a non-English sounding name. Sounds Spanish, so California.

Des Moines is not Spanish, it's French, so is Detroit. French name is common in Midwestern cities, and Louisiana. Probably because they were once a French colony, which includes part of modern day Canada.

I wonder, how does it feels like to memorize 50 states. Not impossible, but quite challenging. During our schooldays, we have to memorize all the states. However, they are only as much as the American original colonies.

It's Cinco de Mayo!

I read a lot of American Magazine growing up. Better Homes and Gardens, or The Family's Handyman.

And in their spring edition, there would be mentions on Cinco de Mayo. Back then, I thought it's a new mayonnaise flavour. Like Ranch dressings. I just couldn't understand the plethora of salad dressings. Here, salad dressings are usually mayonnaise, thousand islands and probably some vinaigrette, which is often labelled as French dressings or sometimes Italian dressings.

Well, mayonnaise is the most versatile. Add in some ketchup, they'll turn to thousand islands. Or add some lime juice for more Asian tartness. Stocking the pantry with different types of dressings doesn't make any sense at all, in most Asian household.

Speaking of Cinco de Mayo, I would count in Spanish 'uno, dos, tres, quatro, cinco, de, mayo.... oooopsss!'. At that point, I realized that I don't really know how to count in Spanish. Silly me.

I still am actually clueless about Cinco de Mayo except that it falls on 5th of May. Can someone be kind enough to enlighten me?

Sudden influx of domestic readers...

The paranoid self in me, is the government spying on me? Did I post about how I might have schizophrenia? Well, it's a self diagnosis, probably, me being hypochondriac.

Well, is the government spying on me? Well, the chief police is too free that he reads social media than doing real policing. And insulting the police is an offense, apparently. Ooooopssss! Never knew it is. Insulting the King is an offense, that's a known fact.

A sudden influx indeed. Maybe just my bestie reading and rereading my blog entries.

But the best part is, more diverse foreign reader. Canadians. Finally Canadian reading this blog. Maybe accidentally. Indians, even Chinese. And Spaniard, even from Belarus. Indonesian too.

Those are part of the world which I would like to visit some day. Had I not reply to that cheapskate medical school, I would have crossed India from my bucket list. Haha. A road not taken, said Bob Frost.

Well, I hope you enjoy reading my rants. And Canadians, you are always welcome.

(p/s if it is not obvious enough, Canada is on the top of the list on my 'to-visit-list')

Air France new safety demo is so chic!

Despite not a 5 star airlines, Air France is one of the notable airlines in the world. I never heard of Air France until in the late 90's. Prior to that, the only French airlines with regular services to this place was UTA. Yes, at that time, the only foreign airlines I know is Cathay Pacific, British Airways and UTA. Never heard of Air France, I thought that Concorde was operated only by British Airways. Yes, back then, Air France was rarely heard in the Orient.

Air France is chic. It's First Class is so chic, that, instead of using solid privacy screen, they use curtain, which is way elegant, emulating the romance of flying.

A few days ago, I was browsing their YouTube video, and I found this.

Isn't it chic and elegant?

It's airy, fresh. And that retro soundtrack, made me wish to turn back time, back to probably the 70's? or 80's. 80's Kylie Minogueish, soundtrack.

I should be lucky lucky lucky lucky...

This is among the best safety demo. The best is always Air New Zealand's.