Got stuck on the slope up the car park of a shopping mall in the east. The car slid backwards, missing the car behind by inches. Held up more than 10 cars in the queue. Finally a kind soul offered to get me out of my predicament. Embarassed but secretly relieved.

Steep gradient + manual transmission + lady driver = road hazard

Another rhetoric from the "Mac is great, Windows sucks" school of thought. This time about security. Courtesy of MyAppleMenu. Briefly, the author uses the 'broken windows' theory of urban decay to explain why there are so many security issues with Windows as an operating system, but Mac remains unscathed in the midst of it all.

Personally, I think that (1) this guy is your classic Mac geek-snob, and (2)though some of his ideas make sense, he was being unfair when he said that "Windows is like a bad neighborhood, strewn with litter, mysterious odors, panhandlers, and untold dozens of petty annoyances".

Come on. The average Windows user is probably less of a geek than your average Mac user. To the average Windows PC user, the computer is just a tool to surf the Net, play some games, and to play multimedia files for entertainment. How many Windows users do you know who eats, lives and breathes computers? On the other hand, how many Mac users you know are like that? Probably all of them. To use the 'broken windows' parable, the Windows neighbourhood probably doesn't care much about broken windows. It's a non-issue for them. Let the Mac geeks bother about their windows, we've got better things to do.

That aside, I do agree that security is a big issue, and that it's high time people understand how much it could affect them. True enough, loss of data/intrusion on surfing privacy might not be that much of a hindrance for someone who does not speak Geek. Still, it is rather annoying when you're trying to surf the Net for some information and your PC keeps shutting down on you. Come on, people, let's bring down our tolerance level before the Mac geeks crack their ribs laughing at us.

Disclaimer: I am not a "Windows apologist", which is the term the above-mentioned author has used rather pointedly in his discussion. I am just your average Windows user who has a lower tolerance level for petty annoyances.

Have you seen this wizard?

I was at a popular supper spot. Parking was a big problem. We decided to park at the nearby private housing instead of by the road like everybody else. It was a narrow two-directional, single-carriage way. With all the cars parked along it (including ours), there was barely room for one car at any one time.

After supper, we walked back to our car. At the entrance of the road, two cars were facing each other, caught in a stand-off. One wanted to get out, the other wanted to get in. Neither would give way.

The two drivers were face-to-face, gesturing wildly at each other for more than 5 minutes. Eventually the one coming out gave way and reversed for roughly 100 metres. He was on the correct side of the road. She was on the wrong side, but refused to reverse out into on-coming traffic.

When both cars finally had enough room to pass each other, both drivers rolled down their windows and had a small argument. All in all, I suppose it took them 15 minutes to clear the 100 metres of road.

I was indignant. He was on the right side of the road; why did he have to give way? She could have just parked by the entrance of the road and wait for the other car to pass by.

Later, when I had time to think it through, I think I could understand why she behaved like that. Home for her was probably at the end of that 100 metres. Given that so many people park along that road to go for supper, there was probably some inconvenience to the residents of the private housing. But still, I don't think that was valid reason for her to behave the way she did.

Singaporeans can be so ugly. What would YOU have done, if you were in their place?