Bear, Diah and Pasha

Bicycle Test and Being Fair

Posted on the October 13th, 2008 under Life by Papa Bear

Have you ever wondered how safe your neighborhood is? Can you safely leave your doors or your cars unlocked? Mariano Pasik from Buenos Aires came up with the bicycle test to see how long an unchained bicycle last before someone comes and takes it away.

Just by using hidden cameras and cheap bicycles as bait, the Argentine publicist set out to gauge crime in different neighborhoods of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The longer it takes for the bike to be stolen the safer the area, is his hypothesis.

I could still remember the good old days when things can be left safely unlocked or unchained in my neighborhood. Life was not as affluent as it used to be now but we had enough to eat and to wear. May be those those days people believe more strongly in God and punishments as compared to now.

Or, it could be that the beliefs are still as strong as it was today but people are getting more desperate to make ends meet and therefore resorted to crimes as the easiest way out.

Anyway, this bicycle test did produce some interesting results.

In the latest video posted, a bike lasted an hour without being stolen in the unsavory Constitucion neighborhood. But on the upscale shopping street of Santa Fe, a bike lasted a few short minutes before it was stolen.

I wonder how long would an unchained bicycle would last in downtown Kuala Lumpur? Any guess?

Read How safe is your city? Put it to the bicycle test for details.

A divorce settlement can be costly to some couples but nothing can beat this Cambodian couple. In the interest of being fair, all properties should be shared equally including the house that they used to live together.

There is no better way to split a house other than to literally cut it in half. The husband insisted that their house being cut into half so that they can part with their properties equally and he brought his relatives and they used saws to cut the house in half.

I just could not imagine how long or difficult it is but I guess some people would go beyond reasons to get what they wanted. I would say that this is a good example of what could happen if we didn’t use our head that much and follow our heart too much and let our emotions get the better or us.

“Very strange, but this is what my husband wanted,” she said by phone from a village about 62 miles east of Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh. She said they ended their marriage last month.

Do you think that this is the best way to split our properties? I think the best way, if you are married, is to avoid divorce and try to settle our differences as we are all humans after all. I didn’t know whether to laugh or not when I read this but finally, I laughed…

Have you seen any half-cut house in Kuala Lumpur yet?

Read Cambodian couple saw house in half in divorce for details.