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Archive for September, 2009

Daily SG: 30 Sep 2009

Posted by singaporedaily on 30th September 2009

Strangers in a Strange Land
- Toward the Green: Is Singapore’s imports of non-residents hurting its economy?
- The Temasek Review: Latest statistics: Citizens constitute only 63 per cent of Singapore’s population
- Big Talk Singapore: Thanks to foreigners, Singapore population is hitting 5 millions
- ErniesUrn’s Xanga: Singapore is overcrowded

Singaporeans are fed, up with progress!
- Yawning Bread: UBS survey shows Singapore slipping in standard of living
- Diary of A Singaporean Mind: Life really got worse in Singapore..
- The Temasek Review: Why Singapore “meritocracy” isn’t meritocracy
- Feed Me To The Fish: F1 and Men in the Street of Singapore

GIC, Temasek State Fund Investments
- TOC: Analysing Temasek Holdings’ Review: Does portfolio value mean anything?
- The Temasek Review: State media tries to cover up GIC’s gigantic S$109 billion loss in two years
- The Grand Moofti Speaks: Singapore: GIC’s Turn Under the Microscope

Housing
- The Temasek Review: A reply to Ms Mabel Tan’s letter: “How family’s fortunes have grown over the years”

Twilight in Paradise. Growing Old In Singapore
- TOC: Parents suing their children?

Re education
- The Kent Ridge Common: Alternative media in the education of our future generation

National Service
- Sam’s thoughts: MinDEF: More action, less talk please, we’re Singaporeans
- Sam’s thoughts: Full-time student doing reservist

A new low for Ris
- Trapper’s Swamp: Spare me the romanticism

In Remembrance: Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam
- Rachel Zeng’s blog: Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam
- UncleYap: candle-light vigil @ Hong Lim Park for Mr JBJ anniversary 30.Sept.2009 [Thanks uncle]

Daily Discourse
- The Useless Tree: William Safire and Singapore and Williams College
- The Temasek Review: Formula One – A Gold Mine or a Gold-digger

Posted in Daily Sg, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Daily Tech: 30 Sep 2009

Posted by dk on 30th September 2009

It’s Intel Developer Forum and we have a few exciting news coming from San Francisco. Perhaps the most exciting news for me is the instant boot BIOS by Phoenix. No more pressing power button and go fetch coffee.

News
- Cnet: Intel’s Moblin 2.1 to compete with Windows
- Slashdot: New Phoenix BIOS Starts Windows 7 Boot In 1 Second
- Media Memo: Apple’s Apps Flying Off the Virtual Shelves: 6.6 Million Downloads Per Day
- Arstechnica: Windows 7 PCs to go on sale early
- Tech Dirt: Google Ordered To Shut Down Gmail Account Of User Who Received Unsolicited Banking Info
- All Things Digital: USB-IF Sides With Apple, Spanks Palm in iTunes Synch Spat
- Cnet: Picasa 3.5 brings facial recognition to the desktop
- TechCrunch: Google Has A Solution For Internet Explorer: Turn It Into Chrome
- Cnet: Google Toolbar adds comments with Sidewiki
- Techie Lobang: Google Trike Spotted at Singapore F1 Track, Google Street View Coming Soon?
- NY Times: Twitter Appears Set to Raise $100 Million, Valuing It at $1 Billion
- Ridz.sg: HP FOR ME

Reviews | Guides
- Theory is the Reason: Social Cyborg upgrades: GoPro Hero Cam + Xacti HD1010
- Tech65: Review: Olympus Pen E-P1
- Nicole: Review: Lenovo Y450
- LesterChan.net: Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch

Events
- SGEntrepreneurs: Incub3 Presents HungryGowhere and Gothere.sg Founders Talk Series

Posted in Daily Tech | No Comments »

Daily SG: 29 Sep 2009

Posted by singaporedaily on 29th September 2009

Strangers in a Strange Land
- The Temasek Review: Latest statistics: Citizens constitute only 63 per cent of Singapore’s population
- Singaporean Skeptic: Singaporeans are not welcomed in their own country!
- Dee Kay Dot As Gee: We are going to be outnumbered soon
- Diary of A Singaporean Mind: Singapore Population now 4.99M.
- TOC: S’pore population: 4.84 mil or 4.99 mil??

Housing
- The Temasek Review: Go back to basics for affordable flats
- SilentAssassin’s Archive: HDB Prices: another lame letter
- Diary of A Singaporean Mind: Jumping onto the Property Bandwagon..
- The Temasek Review: ERA: 40 per cent of buyers of HDB resale flats are PRs

Singaporeans are fed, up with progress!
- Today In Singapore: Have And Have Nots

Recession
- The Sun Shines on Singapore: Belt Tightening and Rallying Rhetoric

A new low for Ris
- Tribolum.com: The Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Fortune
- Today In Singapore: Beauty Before Integrity
- Singapore Life and Times: Cheating beauty

Daily Discourse
- TOC: Handicapped resident applies for aid with MP but faces difficulties
- Senang Diri: Blue on Blue: Part 2
- Rachel Zeng’s blog: On marital rape [Thanks Seelan]

Life, the universe and everything
- Rambling Librarian: Musings about Music: Lilly Allen, File Sharing, the Music Industry, NiN, Creative Commons
- The Temple Of Thoughts 3: The Local Anime Market Paradox
- Singaporean Skeptic: Stupid DJ makes fun of Singapore English
- Singapore Sports Fan: The US pulls out of YOG’s swimming competition; and may skip shooting and cycling too [Thanks SFF]
- Letter to BoBo: Letter 1 [Thanks Gwee]
- Trapper’s Swamp: SIN and Create2010 shoots

Infoblogaramous
- Random Thoughts Of A Free Thinker: “Support the Survivors of Typhoon Morakot”

Forum & campaign to save the life of Yong Vui Kong
Saturday, October 10, 2009
2:30pm – 5:30pm
Oxford Hotel, 218 Queen Street, Singapore

Forum speakers:
M. Ravi, Human Rights lawyer
Alex Au, Yawning Bread
Sinapan Samydorai, Thinkcentre
Breama Mathi, Maruah
Agnes Chia, Social worker
Moderated by local artist Alfian Saat

To visit the event’s facebook page click here

As the World Day against Death Penalty approaches on 10th October 2009, we the Singapore Anti-Death Penalty Campaign call upon the Singapore government to join 138 states throughout the world that have ceased executions in law or practice.

We mark this day by campaigning for the clemency of Yong Vui Kong, 21,a Malaysian who had been sentenced to death as a result of drug trafficking. He was 19 when he was caught for drug trafficking in June 2008.

Singapore is estimated to have one of the highest per capita executions rates in the world.Most death sentences in Singapore follow convictions for drug trafficking. The misuse of Drugs Act provides at least 20 different offences and contains a series of presumptions which shift the burden of proof from the Prosecution to the Defence. The UN Rights Committee have concluded that the death penalty for drug offences fails to meet the condition of “most serious crime”.

The UN Special Rapporteur on extra judicial, summary or arbitrary executions has called for the death penalty to be eliminated for drug-related offences and has argued that the mandatory nature of the sentence is a violation of international legal standards.

There is no credible evidence that the death penalty deters serious crimes in general more effectively than other punishments. The most recent survey of research findings on the relation between the death penalty and homicide rates, conducted for the United Nations (UN) in 1988 and updated in 1996 and 2002, concluded: “…research has failed to provide the scientific proof that executions have a greater deterrent effect than life imprisonment. Such proof is unlikely to be forthcoming. The evidence as a whole gives no positive support to the deterrent hypothesis.”

Yong Vui Kong is a case of a youth who had fallen into the snare of drug trafficking against the backdrop of his vulnerable circumstances. His parents were divorced when he was 10 and had to stop education as he comes from a poor family. His mother suffers from depression and is still kept in the dark about her son’s impending execution. His clemency petition had been submitted to the President a month ago.

We ask that the Ministry of Home Affairs provide annual statistics of executions in Singapore which is part of public information as acknowledged by the Minister of Law recently.

Please join us on 10 October 2009 at 2.30 pm, Oxford Hotel, to mark the World Day against Death Penalty in Singapore and say no to the execution of Yong Vui Kong by signing a petition to the President. This is one of the ways to tell the state that it does not have your mandate to go ahead with its planned execution of Yong Vui Kong which is done on behalf of the people.

In peace,
M. Ravi
Convenor of Singapore Anti-Death Penalty Campaign
mravilaw1@gmail.com

Thanks Seelan for the heads up

Posted in Daily Sg | No Comments »

Daily SG: 28 Sep 2009

Posted by singaporedaily on 28th September 2009

Reform Party’s 1st Anniversary Dinner
- The Kent Ridge Common: A memorable evening at the Reform Party’s First Anniversary
- The Temasek Review: Kenneth Jeyaretnam: “We have credible candidates”
- TOC: Change will not happen if we wait for some other person or some other time [Vid]
- TOC: He is a former hedge fund manager..
- The Temasek Review: Reform Party First Anniversary Dinner

Singaporeans are fed, up with progress!
- TOC: The unsustainable Singapore model: a rejoinder
- Gerald Giam’s Blog: High costs and low wages in Singapore
- Singapore Sojourn: Not Everyone Is Affluent In Singapore

Housing
- TOC: Is Singapore really slum-free?
- Diary of A Singaporean Mind: ERA report : More evidence price rise due to foreign influx.

Strangers in a Strange Land
- The Temasek Review: Why should Singapore taxpayers pay $10 million dollars to help immigrants integrate?
- Diary of A Singaporean Mind: “We Prefer Non-Singaporeans…”

Singapore’s Newest News Hub: SingaNews
- The Sketch Times: Singanews and the Wizard of GozD [Thanks thesketch]

The Gospel of Harry: Harry Lee and the Men in White
- Feed Me To The Fish: Whiter Than White

ERPains, Trains & Automobiles
- Dee Kay Dot As Gee: Have you changed your EZ-Link Card?

Healthcare & Healthcare Providers
- The Gigamole Diaries: Slimming pills - The Sunday Times picks up the cudgel

Recession
- The Temasek Review: State media castigates jobless Singaporeans for being “fussy”
- Blowin’ In The Wind: Singapore recovery slowing: All sectors down except biomedicals

AWARE Aftermatch
- flaneurose: DBS Focus on the Family redux II
- The Temasek Review: Former Aware president Josie Lau leaves DBS to join company of Thio Su Mien’s husband

A new low for Ris
- The Temasek Review: Are we being too harsh on Ris Low?
- TOC: Straits Times’ perplexing definition of ‘netizens’
- Empty Vessel: My pet peeves about poor English
- Sam’s Thoughts: Seagulls on the Ris

Daily Discourse
- ErniesUrn’s Xanga: Why you fear politics in Singapore.
- Temasek Hedge: Dirty money in Singapore: perception or reality?
- The Grand Moofti Speaks: Singapore’s Human Rights Debate: Not Just about Gay Right
- Singapore Alternatives: The Contrast Of Democracy And Ill-Democracy
- Yawning Bread: Singapore buskers are really bad
- Hear Ye! Hear Ye!: Sexism in newspapers
- Irreligious: China Wine a wasted opportunity
- The boy who knew too much: Ris Low: Miss Singapore World

Life, the universe and everything
- Dee Kay Dot As Gee: Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Paddock Club 2009
- The FØØL’s Progress: Animation Nation 2009

Infoblogaramous
- Singapore Entrepreneurs: Events For The Week – 26 Sept-3 Oct

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Weekly Roundup: Week 39

Posted by singaporedaily on 26th September 2009

"..PM Lee’s dare to dream is revealing in itself. Against the reality of Singapore, it sounds almost like a taunt: to sleep, perchance to dream, but only if you dare."
Cavalierio

"The thing is, we don’t want to do propaganda art."
Audrey Wong

"..the very fact that all these [CPF Life and Eldershield] schemes and policies are both mandatory and self-funded are indicative that the government has no desire to own the problems."
mjuse

"I feel it is a little ironic that a champion of mainstream values [Singanews] did not want mainstream attention."
Sam Ho

This week’s roundup and recommended reads after the break.
Read the rest of this entry »

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Daily SG: 25 Sep 2009

Posted by singaporedaily on 25th September 2009

Housing
- Singapore Alternatives: HDB High Prices & Influx of FT
- My Singapore News: Downgrading the quality of living
- Singapore Dino: Singapore’s National Disgrace: The Straits Times
- Singapore Social and Political Thoughts: Massive Spin for these Town Council MPs

Town Councils
- Today In Singapore: Some Report Card
- The Temasek Review: Teo Ho Pin blames residents for S&C arrears
- Simply Gab: Town Council Reviews: Where is the Green?!

Strangers in a Strange Land
- BlogTV: Gayle Goh on integration, the UK, and a mindset change. [via TOC]
- The Temasek Review: Are foreigners depriving locals of places in NUS, NTU and SMU? (Part 2)

Road to Perdition Election
- The Kent Ridge Common: Upfront with The Reform Party: An exclusive interview with Mr Kenneth Jeyaretnam and Mr Justin Ong

In Remembrance: Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam
- ed’s Blog: In memoriam, Joshua Ben Jeyaratnam : Move over JBJ, it’s time for ‘ed’

Daily Discourse
- Master of the Obvious: Singapore – where whatever we do, is never good enough
- Blowin’ In The Wind: Singapore F1 spinoffs not easy to calculate
- The Kent Ridge Common: Is Singapore Hungry? – A Project Perk Discussion
- The Temasek Review: PM Lee Wades into Singapore’s Blogosphere
- Alas, a blog!: As SOEasy crashes and burns, Singapore’s Ministry of Education does the Right Thing

Life, the universe and everything
- Tales Over Coffee: Why So Serious? Singaporean Blogosphere Blues
- Dee Kay Dot As Gee: Sneak peek of the F1 Rocks backstage
- pressanykeytocontinue.com: Phuckthis.net Launched ! Vent, Complain, Share!

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