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For those who have been "looking" down on Suzuki New crash tests replicating some of the most deadly head-on collisions show less expensive midsize cars do a better job protecting the driver and front seat occupants than many luxury and near luxury midsize cars. "This is a surprise to us," says Adrian Lund, President of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. "It shows you don't have to spend a lot of money to get state of the art crash protection." The latest IIHS small overlap crash tests measure how well mid-size cars handle accidents involving their front quarter panels. Small overlap crashes are responsible for approximately one out of every four frontal crashes. The Insurance Institute says more than 10,000 people are seriously injured or killed in small overlap crashes every year. Crash test aftermath of the 2013 Toyota Camry, which has a 5-star overall rating from the NHTSA.The IIHS tested eighteen moderately priced midsize cars and rated two as "good" and eleven as "acceptable." The two cars rated as good by the IIHS are the Suzuki Kazashi and the Honda Accord. Lund credits Honda with making changes to the Accords design and structure so it can better withstand small overlap crashes. Honda's Advanced Compatibility Engineering, also known as ACE, is the key the Accords rating of good. "The idea is to dissipate the crash energy while reinforcing the passenger cabin so the car can better withstand the impact," says Chuck Thomas, Chief Engineer of Auto Safety Research for Honda. Here are the rankings of the midsize cars. Good Honda Accord (4 door) Suzuki Kizashi Acceptable Ford Fusion Honda Accord (2 door) Nissan Altima (4 door) Nissan Maxima Subaru Legacy Subaru Outback Dodge Avenger Chrysler 200 (4 door) Mazda6 Volkswagen Passat Marginal Hyundai Sonata Chevrolet Malibu Volkswagen Jetta Sedan Poor Toyota Camry Toyota Prius V Has Toyota Dropped the Ball? Adrian Lund was not surprised the Toyota Camry and Prius V both rated poor in the small overlap crash test. The Camry is based on the same platform as the Lexus ES, which is one of four luxury midsize sedans rated as poor during the same type of crash tests conducted this summer. "I think Toyota has dropped the ball a bit," says Lund. "Toyota has not been as aggressive as other automakers staying up to date on occupant safety." Luxury Still Struggling The first group of vehicles the IIHS put through small overlap crash tests were midsize luxury and near luxury models. During those tests, just 3 of 11 models were rated as "good" or "acceptable". The Volvo S60 and Acura tl were rated as good while the Infiniti G models were rated as acceptable. The four luxury models rated as poor in small overlap crash tests were the Mercedes C-Class, the Lexus IS, Audi A4, and Lexus ES. Why the difference between the moderately priced midsize sedans and their more expensive counterparts? Lund says automakers have had more time to incorporate design changes in midsize models than they did with luxury models tested earlier this year. .

I searched but could not find a thread on A levels. My older kid just collected her A level results. Total is 71 ranks points. Any idea what are her chances of getting into a local University? Thanks

No real O level thread so here goes. To all the MCF parents, wishing that your kids do well!

I am a parent of 3 kids myself quite concerned leh..I was told by my sister one of the student who committed suicide is my niece's classmate in S..gk..g Primary..reallypityful and my deeepest condolences to the family members......... What is our education system trying to achieve? Any parent bros here wana give good tips on educating kids..please share

MC announced wrong winner hahahha

Read this today in The New Paper (someone posted a link earlier but it was hidden amongst other things.) Thought that this is important reading for all the parents here ---------------- She is still coming to terms with the devastating death of her teenage granddaughter, who committed suicide over scoring two Bs in her O levels. Then, three months after the 16-year-old plunged to her death, Madam Ng Siang Mui's grief-stricken and guilt-ridden daughter, who was the teen's mother, also killed herself. The tragic double deaths has left her son-in-law, who is the teen's father, mentally unstable. Fortunately, more children and teenagers have been seeking help for suicidal thoughts, said the Samaritans of Singapore (SOS). In an interview with The New Paper, Madam Ng, 71, shared the devastation and anguish of the triple tragedy that began in January this year. She was reluctant to speak at first, noting that the death had torn the family apart. Madam Ng initially said: "Talking to you now is useless. My daughter is dead. My granddaughter is dead." She changed her mind later because she hoped that sharing their story could help highlight early intervention and save more lives. Madam Ng said that in January, just three hours after getting her results slip, her granddaughter jumped to her death. Except for two Bs - in English and Mathematics - the student had scored distinctions for her other subjects. The only child left a note for her parents: "Mum, I am sorry for being a disappointment. I should have done better. "Dad, I am sorry you will not have the chance to walk me down the (church) aisle to give me away." The child's parents used to fight over their daughter's education. The girl had been a straight-As student who attended a top school. The mum wanted to push her to excel and her dad felt that the child should be left alone. "My Xiao Mei (her granddaughter's nickname) was always affected whenever her parents fought over her studies," Madam Ng said in Khek. At Madam Ng's request, we are not naming the parents or their child. Madam Ng said: "My son-in-law felt very sorry for his daughter. He used to approach me to help him talk to my daughter, to ask her not to push Xiao Mei too hard. He felt that they should let Xiao Mei be, as she was a good girl. "Whenever I tried to broach the issue with my daughter, she'd get angry and tell me not to interfere with the way she wanted to bring her child up. "She often compared Xiao Mei's results with those of her friends' children and would ask, 'How come so and so can do this and you cannot?'" Xiao Mei's mother wanted her to get into medical school. A family friend, Mrs Lynn Wee, 45, a housewife, spoke of how she and three other close friends had tried to keep watch over Xiao Mei's mother after the funeral. Mrs Wee said: "She maintained a stoic front and even admitted that she would have been disappointed with her child's academic performance." But that facade slowly slipped in the weeks that followed, said Madam Ng, who has three grandsons from two other children. Madam Ng said that a month after Xiao Mei's death, her father moved out. "That broke my daughter's heart. I think it was then that she, too, gave up living. "When Xiao Mei died, I didn't just lose one child. Her mother, my own daughter, killed herself three months later." Madam Ng recalled the conversation she had with her daughter a day before she killed herself. "She told me, 'Ma, I shouldn't have pressurised Xiao Mei in her studies. You didn't do that to us when we were young and we all turned out fine'." The New Paper understands that Xiao Mei's father is seeking psychiatric help. Added Madam Ng: "If only we had noticed or realised that Xiao Mei was suffering, we could have asked for professional help and this tragedy would have been prevented." When Xiao Mei died, I didn't just lose one child. Her mother, my own daughter, killed herself three months later. - Madam Ng Siang Mui http://www.tnp.sg/news/singapore-news/straight-student-commits-suicide-over-o-level-results-mum-takes-her-own-life#sthash.8jIPRfol.dpuf

Went for 2nd tire rotation after 20k Inner wall all "eaten" up. Suggest to go alignment Went and done... Results as shown. Question: why after alignment still got Red for camber? Seriously I wonder why I didn't take note when he pass the results to me after I asked for it...

MCFers, A big day for democracy. Let's pen our thoughts here for the last few weeks and recall significant incidents

Any other MCF parents as kan cheong as me?

How come no threads?

From CNA: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/sin...1200014/1/.html Test results on food products from China "satisfactory": AVA By Monica Kotwani | Posted: 08 May 2012 2010 hrs

By DAN FITZPATRICK and VICTORIA MCGRANE Some very large banks are clashing with the Federal Reserve over how much detail the central bank will reveal about them when it releases the results of its latest stress test. The 19 biggest U.S. banks in January submitted reams of data in response to regulators' questions, outlining how they would perform in a severe downturn. Now, citing competitive concerns, bankers are pressing the Fed to limit its release of information

my neice did pretty good for O levels and I'm quite proud of her Wanted to get a present as a reward. What would a 16 yr old gal wants? iPhone and iPad is too ex for me. I poor man. Budget not more than $500. Is there any cheaper tablet than iPad, that is appealing to a young gal? How about Samsung SII?

http://www.------.com/news/news.php?newsid=5609 Volkswagen is behind both Citroen and Peugeot! BMW and Mercedes-Benz performed worse... This should erase the fears of people who want a French car but are unsure about reliability issues (just don't get that Renault). Japanese and Koreans are still the best... brand new Elantra drivers can now have something to rejoice for not choosing the new Jetta!

Radical solutions can and have solved problems even the experts fail to resolve. For example: if you have only a tiny 'fun' dog the size of a kitten, how do you make it work for you stop burglers breaking into your house? Tiny dog against 200 pounder burgler, or even a noraml 70kg desparate drug addict trying to steal our money while you are sleeping? Impossible?? No, it's highly possible AND effective!! ............ you only need two things to turn this tiny dog into burgler-stopper, no need to swap it with a huge watchdog... you need: #1 an burgler alarm button where the tiny dog can reach easily (go NTUC hyper mart to get one, cheap), #2 the dog must not fall asleep (easy, they dont) Train the tiny dog to press the button whenever he sees stranger at night (most dog, 99% can be easily trained to do it) Ok, back to the topic. One radical solution I can think of also has the side benefit of reducing air pollution. Why do people need cars? Ans: to get from A to B (work, shop, leisure, see friends, etc). In tiny singapore, these journeys usually last not more than 10 to 40 mins and therefore it doesnt matter if you travel in a big (ie E or S- class merc) or small (1000cc or below) car. The comfort or lack of it on this relatively short trips is not going to be a big issue. So, let's make it a default mode of travel within Spore by, wait for it..... using a car-shareing system where the user can pre-book the use of such a small car and pay for the use based of length of use and whether it's peak or non-peak hours. A car-sharing system allows the costs of car ownership / maintenance etc to be shared amongst the users. This is more economical as compared of owning / maintaining one's own private car. After all, why pay for full costs of ownership if he only uses his car less than half the time?? The car-sharing system can have its fleet consists of mainly 1000cc cars (good enough for most users) and some larger models. It can have these cars parked at strategic locations for users to pick up and return. There are electronic systems available for booking, payments etc etc. In fact there are already a few such systems in Spore market, only thing is that they are not large scale. If somehow LTA can make it attractive thru its rules for the people to use such a system, plus making great improvements in MRT / Buses, we can see traffic congestions reduced in a big way. Why? for daily trips to work, more people will take MRT / buses, those who insist on driving, can use the car-share system and pay for it. But when he reaches his office and park the shared-car, the car can be reused by another user who will pay for the use. During the day. This way, we wont see car parks in office areas full of idle cars between 9am-6pm, the cars are being used by others who need them during office hours. Same for weekends and public holidays, the same fleet of shared-cars will be booked and used by families who need them for say between 1 to 8 hours whatever it is. The key advantages are: (a) Shared cost, (b) Cars are fully utalised instead of parked idling. Due to fleet ownership, the companies who operates these cars have the economy of scale to keep maintenance low. The roadtax / insurance costs are shared by many 'users' through rentals. So with the above system, we have low cost use of cars and if these cars are hybric or electric, our envirnment will be cleaner than it is now. You may ask: if I dont like the cars such a system offers, can I have my model of choice? Yes, you will have to buy and maintain one as per current situation, but LTA may up the COE / rdtax / ERP for such private car and use the money collected to off-set the costs of keeping such car-shared systems. ie you pay for the option of having the model you like. On the average, four 1000cc cars use the same road space of three full size cars, or even less. This certainly will help ease traffic congestions. For those who die die must have either big or high power cars, as explain above, they can have it but pay a high price. Yes, it's a socialists' concept, but due to our small land size and high population density, it seems to be a viable solution. The details can be worked out especially with electronic smart systems available in the global market. BTW, LTA can also rent out high power / big cars on requests, at a higher price as mentioned. I wont mind splurging and rent one once in a while. This way, i can still get to enjoy such cars (say on weekends, or once in a while) without having to buy and maintain one in full. I can even try out different models for each weekends. Overall, we can have a choice of MRT / buses or rent/share a car. It's more cost effective and we can have less traffic congestions and a cleaner environment.

Mr Goh has spoken

Disappted with the results so far.... Looks like only WP are winning some seats.......... Pwnd to suffer another 5 yrs........

86-1 any takers 82-5 any takers 81-6 any takers an australian paper conducted a poll study that the PAP will win about 63% of the votes what is the ground feeling in your area after the election we will visit this and see who got it right

Is it on the day itself? Or the day after?

The increasing presence of foreigners in Singapore has long been difficult to ignore. There are now 1.3 million foreigners living and working in Singapore, making up one-third of its population of 5.1 million, according to Singapore's Department of Statistics. The Ministry of Manpower said last month that out of 116,000 jobs created last year, more than half were taken up by foreigners. It is no wonder the foreign talent issue has become a hotly-debated topic for this year's General Election. But what do foreigners themselves have to say about being at the brunt of many Singaporeans' frustrations? And are they concerned at all about how GE results might affect them? Yahoo! Singapore hits the streets to find out

I must post this to allay any fears of freaks results and explain in simple terms as to how our Parliament and Voting System works...... bear with me... this question was asked by one of my friends just this afternoon and I was surprised that he did not know how Parliament works and how the Vote system is in Singapore, which we call our country, our home.... One of my friends asked me over lunch,

http://www.pap.org.sg/articleview.php?id=9...ode=&cid=23

I was looking thru the past COE prices and quota for past years since 2004. Wow! So much changes. For Cat A, there used to be about 2500 quota per month. Now less than 600!! Which means those bread and butter Borneo Motors, Cycle Carriage, Kah Motors, Tan Chong and Korean dealers all eating grass now ah?? Now wonder last time so many complains of them so yaya papaya lah... now every 2 weeks share 600 new car sales among all. Profits must be nose-diving. i wonder how they restructure their business operations. On the other hand for Cat B, the quota used be ard 1000plus odds, now ard 500. Not as drastic as Cat A. Now you know why nowadays see more and more 2litre new cars as relative to Cat A. The first half of 2009 was the cheapest to get a car. CAT A COE was less than $10k. Shld have gotten a better ride back then. :( http://www.sgcarmart.com/news/COE_past.php?YR=2010&CAT=a

Congrats to all car owners in MCF with award winning engines!! Pls click below to know which exact engine won which category http://www.ukipme.com/engineoftheyear/categories.html

Due to stronger sales and equity gains from affiliated companies, Kia Motors was able to quadruple its net profit in the first quarter. In a regulatory filing, Kia disclosed that it earned 398.6 billion won in the three months ended March 31. For the same period last year, Kia reported a net profit of 97.4 billion won. Kia reported that sales for the quarter increased by 39% to 4.86 trillion won from 3.5 trillion won a year earlier. Kia and Hyundai Motor Co. form the world