Author: Richard Whitfield
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Gov’t to build a supercharger station in Cotai, review other EV charging facilities
The government will build a new supercharger station for electric vehicles (EVs) in Cotai, the Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Raymond Tam, announced at the ... -
Macao Central Library | Experts highlight flexibility, inclusivity of winning project
The panel of experts that judged the four proposals submitted to the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) for the new Central Library highlighted in their final opinion ... -
Legislative assembly | Cheong pledges more eco-friendly gov’t vehicles
At the Legislative Assembly yesterday, the Secretary for Administration and Justice, André Cheong, replied to the spoken inquiries of lawmakers, saying that they are aiming to ... -
Macau Matters | Get your seaweed here
Climate change, population growth, agricultural and other wastes and other problems are making our planet uninhabitable for humans. Luckily, seaweed can help us, but it will ... -
Macau Matters | Cashless Macau Revisited
In January and December of 2016 I wrote a couple of articles about how Macau should be proactively going cashless. Unfortunately, not much seems to have ... -
Macau Matters | Crowd-sourced data collection
Premise (www.premise.com) is a recently formed data collection and analysis company based in San Francisco. It plans to recruit, and pay, large numbers of people to ... -
Macau Matters | Shenzhen’s new EV Horizon
I subscribe to the electronic newsletter of the Rocky Mountain Institute (rmi.org), which is a well-known, U.S.-based non-profit organization dedicated to researching, consulting, and educating in ... -
Macau Matters | School mobile phone bans
I grew up in the age before mobile technology. All my school work was done on paper, and we were limited to textbooks and the local ... -
Macau Matters | A comedy of errors
To fulfill some family commitments, my wife and I flew to the US on a recent Sunday morning. To avoid the pain and stress of getting ... -
Macau Matters | Troubles with Pork
I am a bit surprised that I have not heard about rising pork prices in Macau. But, I loathe all kinds of shopping, including for food, ... -
Macau Matters | Dementia in Macau
A few years ago I had the very sad experience of not being recognized by an old family friend who had been institutionalized because of dementia. ... -
Macau Matters | A carbon neutral Macau
As I have previously stated in these articles, the science underpinning our understanding of climate change is irrefutable. Only the most selfish and pathological Luddites can ... -
Macau Matters | A Shenzhen Adventure
A Hong Kong friend was my recent tour guide to visit some high, medium and low end furniture centers in deepest, darkest Shenzhen. I got up ... -
Macau Matters | America’s real crisis – opioid overdose deaths
The February 23rd issue of The Economist contains a very sobering article about the opioid crisis currently unfolding in America. This problem can be effectively modeled ... -
Macau Matters | The Re-Emerging Measles Threat
Every time a crackpot tells us that vaccinations have some problem the world becomes a more dangerous place. Science is based on empirical facts, and does ... -
Macau Matters | Changing Childhoods
I grew up feral compared to the kids of today, and most of my generation in the developed world could say much the same. Dad worked ... -
Macau Matters | Personal data in Macau
I won the trifecta and have all the first world fat old men medical conditions – high blood pressure, high cholesterol and type II diabetes. For ... -
Macau Matters | G is for Glulam
Traditionally most of the human built environment was made of stone or wood, but nowadays reinforced concrete is one of the world’s most commonly used ... -
Macau Matters | The hidden tragedy of suicide
I was recently reading that, in general, suicide rates are falling in most parts of the world. Reflecting on this issue, I feel that suicide in ... -
Macau Matters | Getting a Good Night’s Sleep
All round the world, including Macau I am sure, many people suffer from poor sleep quality/quantity, resulting in many health, economic and social issues. For example, ... -
Macau Matters | Shift-work dangers
In Macau a lot of people work on shifts – we are all familiar with the associated early morning, mid-afternoon and late evening traffic jams. This ... -
Macau Matters | To Sleep, Perchance to Dream
I grew up fascinated by the clockwork mechanical systems of our industrial world and studied systems engineering at university, but hated the seemingly meaningless, messy complexity ... -
Macau Matters | Reducing the urban heat island
It has been observed all round the world that cities are substantially hotter than their surrounding countrysides; this is called the Urban Heat Island Effect, eg ... -
Macau Matters | Doctoral examinations
My nomination as an external examiner for a Doctoral dissertation was recently rejected because I had previously worked at the university involved. This annoyed me quite ... -
Macau Matters | The deluded world of air-conditioning
Living in Macau we are all well aware of the great value of air-conditioning (and refrigeration). As countries develop, the first thing that their emerging middle ... -
Macau Matters | Another Effect of Rising Atmospheric CO2
To me, the modern world is largely a product of the Enlightenment – the European intellectual movement that emerged in the late 17th and 18th centuries ... -
Macau Matters | Hotels of the Future
Business and recreational travel have been strongly growing in South-East Asia for many years, and this trend is sure to continue for many years to come ... -
Macau Matters | Coffee Recycling
The natural world is an excellent recycler – biological processes consume natural resources to live and produce waste, and other processes then further “eat” those wastes ... -
Macau Matters | Yet another urban planning mess
The Macau government recently announced that it will develop 2,000 public housing apartments on a waterfront lot near the Pousada Marina Infante Hotel in Taipa. I ... -
Macau Matters | Going postal
I greatly enjoy reading The Economist each week. I find it very informative and like that it covers political, business, social and technological issues, with a ... -
Macau Matters | Cars of the future
I firmly believe that Macau should be a showcase for “living in the future”. The region needs a place that is innovative and creative and shows ... -
Macau Matters | Consulate Woes
I do not know if it is nature or nurture, but many men seem to need regular “alone time” or the company of other men. My ... -
Macau Matters | A Macau Island ferry service
I have previously mentioned having a ferry service to circumnavigate Taipa and Coloane Islands in this column (July 2015) and it is worth discussing this idea ... -
Macau Matters | Our new parking meter system
Everybody should have noticed by now that Macau is converting to a new system of on-street parking meters. From several perspectives I believe that this new ... -
Macau Matters | Local primary & secondary education
The education system in Macau is unusual in that there is no standard national curriculum and most schools are non-government. Moreover, the government is happy to ...
