New Sand, New Maids, World's fastest walkers.

British researchers have concluded that Singaporeans are the fastest walkers in the world, which is a proxy measure of just how fast-paced life in those cities are.

How did Singaporeans get to be such fast walkers? Like all things, training.
First of all, our MRT train doors are times to close almost immediately after opening. This gives Singaporeans only a split second to get into the train, so they have to move fast! even as they sidestep the commuters trying to get out.

Second of all, our pedestrian crossing lights all come with a countdown timer so you'll be timed as you cross the road. Surprisingly, we have received reports that rather than increasing the walking speed, pedestrian crossings actually slows people down. Numerous drivers have cursed these slow-moving cattle that cuts down on their turning opportunity.

Pedestrians who are usually capable of walking far and fast, sudden come to complete stops when they get on escalators and travellators. This phenomenon is still being investigated.

Anyway, the jaded Singaporean asks, what's the practical use of such a finding? It's not going to change my life!

Ah but that's where you're wrong sir!

Think about it at about 20m per 12 sec (the study found that we cover about 18m in just over 10 sec), the average Singaporean covers up to 100m in 1 minute.

That means that if your home is now within 500m of an MRT, the town centre or other public amenities, you can now truthfully claim that it is just a "5 minute walk" from those amenities.

1 km away? Just 10 minutes walk!

Buangkok Station could have been open earlier!

Newsand

So after Newater, there is new sand. Fortunately we don't have to shit it out. New sand uses copper slag waste which is from our shipyards where the copper slags are used to blast clean vessels. The used slags are used to replace sand for making concrete. Eco-concrete is expected to be as strong as regular concrete.

There are also other advantages. The copper in the concrete may mean that lightning strips may not be needed for buildings constructed with eco-concrete. Of course it also means those metal thieves could leave a gaping hole in your wall. You would also be living in a Faraday cage and your cellular phone signals may not get through.

Hmmm eco-concrete may be the ideal material to build future cineplexes!

New Maids
After Philippines imposed a minimum wage for their maids, Indonesia has decided to follow suit. At this rate we will have to come up with new maids to replace those.

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/robots/japans-makes-maid-robot-that-surprisingly-looks-like-gundam-not-a-sexy-lady-240846.php

Let's get some Japanese robot maids.