The logic of too many orders is better than no order

"Businesses should look at the positive side of the new regulations on foreign workers. They are complaining that they cannot fulfil orders because they don't have enough workers. This is a happy problem. Which would you prefer - too many orders, or no orders at all?" - MP Gan Thiam Poh

Assume number of orders received = x, number of workers = y, number of workers to fulfill one order = z.

Thus number of orders that can be fulfilled = y/z
If x = y/z, number of orders that can be cashed in = x
If x > y/z, number of orders that can be cashed in = y/z
If x = 0 then number of orders that can be cashed in = 0

So Mr MP is right that bosses should be happy if they have more orders than they can handle because they still can cash in y/z orders.

However... Mr MP forgot this equation too...

Assume number of customers lost = m,
Number of potential orders lost b = m x n, where n = number of potential order per customer
Number of customers lost to competitors c = m
Number of peers from lost customers that moved over to competitors d = m x p, where p = number of peers per customer

So definitely Mr MP feels that businesses should still be happy and contented even if their number of customers and potential customers who moved over to their competitors is more than their remaining number of customers, because they could not fulfill their orders.

Roger that. A business should be contented to keep y/z constant.

How JTC can just terminate my season parking, because they can!

I've been working at Fusionopolis for years and has been parking there for years. There is a huge basement carpark (all the way to B6 I believe) but alas, most lots are either reserved for those scholars at A*STAR, or are visitor lots. Which is why I was not given a season parking lot at the basement carpark, and have to park at the surface instead.

Here's the interesting part. The basement carpark is never full.

Because the season parking lots allocated to each company is based on the floor area of the company, and since that A*STAR is almost like owning the building, they took up most of the season parking lots. And since there are not enough driving scholars to take up the season parking lots, there are endless empty season parking lots in the carpark everyday.

But well, at least I managed to secure a season parking lot at the surface carpark. Until now.

Today, I've received an sms with this message:

"Please note that fusionopolis surface carpark will be terminated wef 1april 2012. please call 67494119 for more info. Thank you. From P Parking".

Yap. Just a short and sweet sms is needed to chase me, among the other season parkers, out of the carpark. Because according to the season parking contract, as long as they give a minimum of one month's notice, they can terminate our season parking any time they want. No explanation and no alternate solution required. Bravo.

I've got no idea why is JTC closing the surface carpark and what they're going to do with it (among the other endless constructions in the area). But what I do know is that there are now many season parkers like me going to tear our hairs out looking for other possible season car parks around the area.

While the basement carpark is still empty.

According to their website, JTC is "Singapore's leading industrial infrastructure specialist spearheading the planning and development of a dynamic industrial landscape." Right. When they can't even handle their tenants' employees' season parking efficiently.

Review on 8X Zoom Telescope Lens For iPhone 4

The camera on iPhone has been improving all these years, and so many people have been using iPhone as their main camera. Okay lah, with a couple of good camera apps and some post-processing, you are really able to take some pretty good pictures using the iPhone. But sometimes don't you wish you can like... zoom a bit?

So recently I found a 8X Zoom Telescope Lens For iPhone 4 on Gmarket and here's a quick unbox and review on it...



SGD30 gives you an 8x zoom lens and a tripod, seems like a reasonable deal.

The tripod seems pretty stable, but I guess I'll do another video test on it later.



Indoor photo taken using just the iPhone lens.



Photo taken using the 8x zoom lens. The lens is actually screwed to a special phone case but due to the proportion, even though the lens is not very heavy, it is not easy to take a picture with steady hands. Little shakes magnified to big earthquake on the photo. Hmm... well, I know that's what the tripod is meant for, but also very mafang to take the tripod everywhere, no matter how small right?



Outdoor photo taken using just the iPhone lens.



I then took my shot outdoor, hoping that with more light, the picture can be clearer. But it's not easy also because you have to focus manually using the ring on the lens and stabilise the phone at the same time. I was actually trying to focus on the Singtel tower, but obviously I've accidentally focused on the flat on the left...

Conclusion? I need to practise more on the lens...