The Singapore Daily

“There is also another country in the world where the newspapers do not suffer the same problems as western newspapers. There is no declining circulation and a sizable segment of the population rely on it for their primary source of information. That country is North Korea.”
skeptic

“Sometimes, the need to “fix the opposition” and “buy votes” can make the current rulers miss the forest for the trees.”
Percevale

“This is the kind of attitude that has earned Singaporeans a reputation for arrogance.”
Alfian Sa’at

“The new [Temasek] charter makes no mention at all of Singapore.”
Ng E-Jay

This week’s roundup and recommended reads after the break.
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September 13th, 2009 | Category: Weekly Roundup | Comments (2)

Singapore’s Newest News Hub: SingaNews
- The Void Deck: Oh When Thios’ New Media Comes Marching in
- HWZ: thio li-ann and new news hub?? [Thanks rueday]

Mainstream vs X-Stream Media
- Sgpolitics.net: Lui Tuck Yew should take his head out of the sand
- TOC: Not mainstream media, not new media, then who?
- Singaporean Skeptic: The World according to Lui Tuck Yew: Balanced if you agree with him. One-sided if you do not.
- The Secret Political Blog: Why we need the mainstream media
- Singapore Social and Political Thoughts : Singapore “Censor Head” Speaks to Singapore Press Club

Road to Perdition Repression Election
- The Temasek Review: The PAP in crisis (Part 2): A disjointed, disconnected and dispirted grassroots and party support base

The Gospel of Harry: Men In White
- The Secret Political Blog: Another Bit of Story – Pappy and Barry Kiss and Make Up

Truth, Justice, and the Singapore Way
- The Temasek Review: Singapore to be criticized at UN Human Rights Council
- Singabloodypore: LI takes up Singapore issue at UN meeting

Twilight in Paradise. Growing Old In Singapore
- Diary of A Singaporean Mind: Lim Boon Heng : Please hire more older workers…

Singapore Coloring
- ed’s Blog: Alfian Sa’at’s observations on bigotry in singapore – in response

High Notes and Minibonbs
- The Temasek Review: Tan Kin Lian snubbed at SGX’s 10th anniversary awards

Healthcare & Healthcare Providers
- Singapore M.D.: Second Wave
- Singapore M.D.: Residency

Burma Rising: Hsien and Thein BFF
- Singapore Dino: Burmese junta’s ill-gotten cash pours into Singapore banks

Daily Discourse
- TOC: Facebook MPs

Life, the universe and everything
- Blowin’ In The Wind: Singapore’s richest 40 worth over 20% of GDP
- The Grand Moofti Speaks: How Chewing Gum Almost Scuttled the Singapore – US Free Trade Agreement
- Mr Wang Says So: Mediums and Channels – A Look at Some Other Worlds
- Balderdash: A letter Paul wrote to complain about the “The Dead Sea Scrolls” exhibition at the Arts House

Infoblogaramous
- No To Rape: No To Rape on Channel News Asia [Monday 14 Sep at 8.30pm]
- Int Coastal Cleanup Singapore: Areas we are NOT collecting data from [Interesting info about our shorelines]
- under a Pipala Tree: T.H.I.S. Buddhist Film Festival

September 11th, 2009 | Category: Daily Sg | Comments (1)

Jun Natsukawa (夏川純) is a gravure idol and actress from Hiroshima (born 19 Sep 1980). She began modeling in 1999, appearing in Weekly Young Jump. In 2003, she released her first photobook Believe under Pyramid Art House. In 2005 she released her debut album Himetra Trance in which she covered the theme song from the anime Cat’s Eye. This is Jun Natsukawa’s photobook Tokyo Voyage released in 2005.

Pictures after the break. [PNSFW]
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September 11th, 2009 | Category: Daily ChioBu | Comments (2)

Mainstream vs X-Stream Media
- The Temasek Review: Dissecting Minister Lui Tuck Yew’s take on the New Media
- Gimme Some Truth!: Lui Tuck Yew on New Media: Pot Calling the Kettle Black [Thanks Alastair]
- Moving Higher In Souped-up Heuristically Agon Moment: Mainstream Media Not Doing Aggressive Journalism/Campaigns?!
- Simply Gab: Be Warned but Don’t Be Fooled

Road to Perdition Repression Election
- The Kent Ridge Common: Crystal ball gazing by our Minister Mentor

Truth, Justice, and the Singapore Way
- The Temasek Review: WEF ranked Singapore 19th in “judicial independence” which is considered a “competitive disadvantage”

Lee vs Chee
- The Secret Political Blog: Chee Soon Juan Charged for Speaking in Public Without a Permit: Rebuttal to the Objections Raised by BryanT Against CSJ’s Actions
- Singabloodypore: Singapore’s Yap Keng Ho – 20 Days in Changi Jail

GIC, Temasek State Fund Investments
- Sgpolitics.net: Preposterous to suggest that Temasek Holdings does not manage citizens’ earnings

High Notes and Minibonbs
- Singaporean Skeptic: Apathy:The Sickness of Singaporeans

Housing
- Diary of A Singaporean Mind: Home sales – what you’re paying for…

Healthcare & Healthcare Providers
- The Gigamole Diaries: Spike in diarrhoeal diseases? What’s happening?
- Singapore M.D.: Dealing With The Truth
- Today In Singapore: Doctor With A Heart

Regligion
- Irreligious: Christianity and politics go hand-in-hand [Thanks Terence]

Daily Discourse
- Chemical Generation Singapore: Passing the Hat Around

Life, the universe and everything
- Blowin’ In The Wind: Government institutions make Singapore third most competitive economy
- Bernard Leong: Inverting the Pyramid by Jonathan Wilson
- The Brotherhood Press: Why District 9 Teaches You About Humanity – A Study in the Power to Disturb
- The boy who knew too much: The Uncharitable Charity Shops of Singapore.
- Ian On The Red Dot: Possibly Being Spammed by Brew Creative & Charity Isn’t a Business

September 10th, 2009 | Category: Daily Sg | Leave a comment

Credit: Cheong Wing Lee

Road to Perdition Repression Election
- Tantalizine: We need to balance our policy of survival with the democratic process | Supplemental: The Great Purge
- The Temasek Review: The PAP in crisis (Part 1): An ossified structure lacking an institutionalized system of party renewal
- Majulah!: Learn from Obama’s administration | Singapore needs CHANGE

GIC, Temasek State Fund Investments
- The Temasek Review: Temasek rebuts Wall Street Journal again, but fails to answer key questions
- Big Talk Singapore: Chartered Semiconductor Singapore Going down the drain, finally?

The Gospel of Harry: Men In White
- Insane Polygons: 8 Common Things Between Men in Black and Men in White

Singapore Coloring
- TOC: Is Hokkien My ‘Mother Tongue’?
- ed’s Blog: on Malaysian & Singaporean bigotry – in response [Thanks lary]

Housing
- The Temasek Review: Why the prices of HDB flats must be kept high from a political and economic perspective (Part 1)

Regligion
- Sgpolitics.net: Should we accord freedom of speech to those who do not embrace it?

Strangers in a Strange Land
- The Grand Moofti Speaks: ‘New’ Singaporeans: Only Chinese, Malay or Indians Allowed? [Thanks Imran]
- Raindrops of Memories: unseen side of singapore

High Notes and Minibonbs
- Tan Kin Lian’s Blog: Singapore now stands alone

Daily Discourse
- Yawning Bread: Proscribing seditious and hate speech
- Today In Singapore: Uniquely Singapore
- The Brotherhood Press: The Words We Regularly Use To Say Nothing Is Something – A Study in the travesty of reason

Life, the universe and everything
- Blowin’ In The Wind: Singapore lags behind China, Mongolia, Kyrgyztan in Internet upload speed
- The Lycan Times: The Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibition
- Yesterday….Today….Tomorrow: Monster Guns

Infoblogaramous
- Notes From Serangoon Road: Persistent Visions, 11 Sep Fri, 6pm

September 9th, 2009 | Category: Daily Sg | Leave a comment

Comex 2009
- HWZ: Comex 2009 Preview
- CNET: Star Buys from COMEX 2009
- VR-Zone: COMEX 2009 Promos Mega Roundup
- itfairsg: Comex 2009 Price Lists and Brochures Listing
- Pico Breeze: 7 tips to survive Singapore’s COMEX 2009 event [Thanks Leslie]
- HWZ: COMEX 2009 Forum
- VR-Zone: COMEX 2009 Forum

News
- PC Mag: The First Intel Lynnfield PCs: Tested and Benchmarked
- Engadget: Seven Samurai chipmakers set to take on Intel
- Netbook Choice: HP Compaq Mini 311c: ION-powered 11.6” netbook?
- VGChartz: PS3 Slim Sells over 500,000 units worldwide in the first week
- HotHardware: Are Open-Source Cameras The Way Of The Future?
- NYT: Facebook Exodus

Reviews | Guides
- Tom’s Hardware: In Theory: How Does Lynnfield’s On-Die PCI Express Affect Gaming?
- Anandtech: Intel’s Core i7 870 & i5 750, Lynnfield: Harder, Better, Faster Stronger
- Guru3D: Core i5 750 – Core i7 860 and 870 processor review
- TweakTown: Intel ‘Lynnfield’ Core i5 750 and Core i7 870 Performance Testing
- INPAI: Twenty-one 45nm CPUs review
- Dee Kay Dot As Gee: Review: Samsung N310
- Hardware Secrets: Seasonic S12D 750 W Power Supply Review
- OCIA: Cooler Master sentinel Advance Gaming Mouse

This will be the last post for Daily Tech.

September 9th, 2009 | Category: Daily Tech | Comments (1)

GIC, Temasek State Fund Investments
- The Temasek Review: Sale of Chartered Semiconductor – An Anatomy
- The Temasek Review: Temasek to suffer heavy loss from sale of Chartered Semiconductor to Abu Dhabi’s ATIC
- Diary of A Singaporean Mind: Chartered Semicon SOLD!

Housing
- The Temasek Review: How the government keeps HDB prices artifically high
- Who Moved My Singapore Cheese: Who let the dogs out

The Gospel of Harry: Men In White
- The Secret Political Blog: Book Review: Men In White – Victor’s Attempt to Rewrite History

Regligion
- The Kent Ridge Common: The divide between religious extremism and free speech
- Carpe Diem: God unites but religion divides

Re education
- HK Journal of Applied Linguistics: Biliteracy in Singapore: A Survey of the Written Proficiency in English and Chinese of Secondary School Pupils [PDF] [via Balderdash]

Pink Issues
- Sam’s thoughts: Transgender Representations: GID

Daily Discourse
- Chemical Generation Singapore: Cow Heads and Scapegoats
- Singapore Angle: The Operating Spectrum of Civil Society
- The Singapore Sports Fan: Move over, SIA, it’s the MCYS’ turn to fend off the brickbats
- Today In Singapore: Toys For Army Boys
- Singabloodypore: Singaporean Capitalism: A Love Story & Freedom for Sale

Life, the universe and everything
- Bernard Leong: Building Online Communities & Social Networks: Strategies, Tools and Trends in Chinese
- The annotated budak: Dairy of a forest
- Singapore Entrepreneurs: Statistics Show Social Media Is Bigger Than You Think
- Tardate 11.2: Could Open Government initiatives help drive innovation in Singapore?
- under a Pipala Tree: 5th Singapore Short Film Festival

Infoblogaramous
- LIANAIN FILMS: Team Hope

September 8th, 2009 | Category: Daily Sg | Leave a comment

The Gospel of Harry: Men In White
- Yawning Bread: Send in the clowns
- Only “objective” and “factual” political films please, we’re Singaporeans: What the left-wing stood for : Dr Poh Soo Kai
- The Secret Political Blog: Is Lee Kuan Yew more interested in Power, Money or Altruism?
- Today In Singapore: Airbrushing History
- Singapore Sojourn: Busker Bliss and Men In White
- Singapore Democrats Blog: ISD to Lim Hock Siew: Confess to save LKY’s face [Thanks Seelan]
- My sketchbook: The new PAP “no- holds-barred” book by ST

Road to Perdition Repression Election: Harry Lee and The Army of Freak Elections
- ed’s Blog: Where Catherine Lim’s question went wrong – send in the clowns
- Singapore Dino: SAF must disobey any order to overthrow opposition-led government
- Seelan Palay: “Singapore is not an electoral democracy.”

Housing
- Yours Truly Singapore: How HDB keeps it affordable
- The Temasek Review: The macro factors behind the Housing Crisis in Singapore
- The Lycan Times: Coffeeshop Talk – Show Me the $$$
- Singapore Social Activist: Laughing all the way to the bank

CPF: Special, Medisave and Retirement Accounts
- Sgpolitics.net: 4% interest rate for CPF SMRA and CPF Life funds
- The Temasek Review: CPF plans to lower interest rates for medisave and retirement accounts

Fixing The Opposition
- TOC: Circumventing the mainstream media bias: A call for oppositional introspection

Singapore Coloring
- TOC: Why the need to be “proud” of being a Malay Singaporean?

Healthcare & Healthcare Providers
- Mathia Lee: Why are medical costs on the rise and why is it getting higher?
- The Gigamole Diaries: H1N1 – second wave?

Regligion
- The Grand Moofti Speaks: Singapore’s Secularism – Regional Dangers Abound [Thanks Imran]

Pink Issues
- Sam’s thoughts: Transgender Representations: Problems with discourse

Daily Discourse
- The Kent Ridge Common: Post-mortem of a saga: Brand name doesn’t aways sell
- Sg Pirate Game: Faustian Pact
- Singaporean Skeptic: The priorities of our Government.

Life, the universe and everything
- Delawareonline.com: Teaching math, Singapore style [Thanks CelluloidReality]
- Mr Wang Says So: The Necessity of A Physical Brain For the Existence of Consciousness
- The FØØL’s Progress: Gundam Fiesta Singapore 2009
- Singapore Fountain Pen: Singapore 360 – Day 14: Mini Cooper Celebrates 50 Years [Thanks Major]
- Hsienhui’s Blog: Should Traditional Media Be On New Media?

Infoblogaramous
- Singapore Entrepreneurs: Events For The Week – 5-12 Sept

September 7th, 2009 | Category: Daily Sg | Leave a comment

“Paradoxically, I feel increasingly, that to fight against the overwhelming system, we have little choice but to quit the country.”
Not the 1st Pirate

“We are apparently ashamed of other breeds of Singaporeans. We want to dust the broken English-speaking folks under the carpet.”
Sam Ho

“..the saddest and most unfortunate thing about the Viswa Sadasivan episode is one of lost opportunity.”
Andrew Loh

“The tendency of any majority, if left unchecked, is towards tyranny. The tendency of any minority, if left unattended, is towards alienation.”
Alfian Sa’at

“Sir, in the event of a serious threat of a freak election, would you do the unthinkable, that is, send in the army?”
Catherine Lim

This week’s roundup and recommended reads after the break.
More »

September 5th, 2009 | Category: Weekly Roundup | Comments (2)

Road to Perdition Repression Election: Harry Lee and The Army of Freak Elections
- catherinelim.sg: ‘Sir, would you send in the army?’
- Singapore Recalcitrant: A Manifestation of Realism
- Today In Singapore: “Sir, Okay To Send In Army Or Not?”
- The Temasek Review: A rebuttal to MM Lee’s highfalutin ideas of the PAP’s ‘non-interference’ in Singapore’s institutions (Part 1)
- Diary of A Singaporean Mind: MM Lee : PAP in power for 10 more years!
- Chee Wai’s Random Musings: Thoughts on Democracy by D.W. Eisenhower. Something to think about.
- Ian On The Red Dot: How To Send In The Army In Case PAP Loses The Election
- Feed Me To The Fish: Do Singaporeans deserve to be treated like Freaks?
- My sketchbook: Hang in there, boys

Housing
- The Temasek Review: Drawbacks of HDB using STIR benchmark of 30 per cent to assess public housing affordability
- Ian On The Red Dot: Stop Complaining – HDB Is Cheap and Affordable
- Singapore Watch: Let Singles buy HDB
- The Petition Site: Lower HDB Valuations or Build More Affordable HDB Housing for Singaporeans

Lee vs Sadasivan
- TOC: Should Article 152 be scrapped from the Singapore Constitution?
- Trapper’s Swamp: Article 152 of the Singapore Constitution, and why we’re different from Malaysia

Twilight in Paradise. Growing Old In Singapore
- Mathia Lee: Ageing populations: Determining YOUR future
- The Temasek Review: $500,000 v $100m v $40b: Have a sense of proportion, Singaporeans!

Singapore Coloring
- ed’s Blog: The Need for Critical Introspection amongst singaporean Chinese

Healthcare & Healthcare Providers
- The Gigamole Diaries: The Pfizer US$2.3Bn fine,… and off-label use of drugs

High Notes and Minibonbs
- Tan Kin Lian’s Blog: Petition to Prime Minister – Reply by MAS

Daily Discourse
- guanyinmiao’s musings: Programme Advisory Committee for English Programmes (PACE)
- The Temasek Review: Ma Ying-Jeou’s public apology and the lessons for Singapore

Life, the universe and everything
- Singapore Entrepreneurs: On Intellectual Property and Online Strategy
- The FØØL’s Progress: Gundam Gals

Infoblogaramous
- 光でも闇でも: Evangelion 2.0 Is Coming to Singapore!!!!!!!!!

September 4th, 2009 | Category: Daily Sg | Leave a comment

Haruka Ayase (綾瀬 はるか, born 24 Mar 1985) is a Japanese actress from Hiroshima Prefecture. She first achieved widespread recognition for her role in the short film Justice. But it was her award winning role (supporting actress) in the 2004 hit JDrama Socrates in Love (aka Crying Out Love, In the Center of the World, 世界の中心で、愛をさけぶ,) that she rose to stardom. She has also released 3 singles and 3 photobooks. This is her first photobook Birth in Bali, released in 2001.

Pictures after the break. [PNSFW]
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September 4th, 2009 | Category: Daily ChioBu | Comments (2)

Housing
- Who Moved My Singapore Cheese: Mah Bow Tan’s comments will further fuel the property price hike
- The Temasek Review: Debunking the HDB myths (Part 3): Rising prices of HDB flats generate wealth for Singaporeans
- Civic Advocator: Why Singapore keeps pushing up residential property prices
- The Temasek Review: Mah Bow Tan: HDB resale prices to rise, but still “affordable” as they are “subsidized”
- TOC: Cost of building HDB flats – finally an answer?
- The Temasek Review: HDB flats will be “severely unaffordable” using the Median Multiple as a benchmark of housing affordability

Twilight in Paradise. Growing Old In Singapore
- Singapore Social and Political Thoughts: The Poor and Forgotten Nation Builders and Prime Taxi Cabbies’ Dispute
- Singaporean Skeptic: I am glad there is no welfare in Singapore.

Road to Perdition Repression Election
- The Temasek Review: MM Lee cleverly sidetracked Catherine Lim’s question on sending in the army in event of a ‘freak election’
- Singabloodypore: Singapore is not an electoral democracy

Strangers in a Strange Land
- Today In Singapore: Fear Factor
- TOC: Six months on the streets

GIC, Temasek State Fund Investments
- The Grand Moofti Speaks: Wall Street Journal: Temasek Give Singaporeans Back their Money? [Thanks Imran]

ERPains, Trains & Automobiles
- Hard Hitting in the Lion City: The Meaning of Bonus

The Gospel of Harry
- Only “objective” and “factual” political films please, we’re Singaporeans: New PAP book neglects founding members detained for 19 years

Healthcare & Healthcare Providers
- Sgpolitics.net: Urgent need to plug gaping holes in our healthcare system

Religion
- Irreligious: Extreme secularism [Thanks Terence]
- ed’s Blog: The Belief in Gods 1 – in discussion [Thanks lary]
- The Catholic News: Religious Harmony or Religious Apathy? [Thanks lary]

Daily Discourse
- Ian On The Red Dot: Miss Singapore World 2009 Ris Low Isn’t A Cunning Linguist
- The Secret Political Blog: Analysis of the Utusan Melayu Attack on Lee Kuan Yew
- StaticVariable: Going the way of Japan?
- Tan Kin Lian’s Blog: A new society (1) – Right to a job on fair terms

Life, the universe and everything
- Cooler Insights: Are Museums All Things to All Men?
- Mr Wang Says So: Odd Thoughts and The Illusion of Free Will
- TOC: My first experience of a public protest

September 3rd, 2009 | Category: Daily Sg | Comments (3)

Housing
- The Temasek Review: Debunking the official myths about HDB flats(Part 1): Singaporeans are owners of their HDB flats | (Part 2)
- Singapore Peak Oil: Peak Sand = Peak Construction = Peak HDB Housing?

Lee vs Sadasivan
- TOC: We should respect MM Lee, but not defer to him
- The Brotherhood Press: The Day The House Came Down On A Souffle – Part 1

Road to Perdition Repression Election
- The Temasek Review: Time for the young to drive the creation of a two-party system in Singapore

Singaporeans are fed, up with progress!
- Frankly Speaking: Singaporeans are fed, up with progress!

High Notes and Minibombs
- The boy who knew too much: An obvious ruse.

Healthcare & Healthcare Providers
- The Kent Ridge Common: Time for a medical media watchdog

Twilight in Paradise. Growing Old In Singapore
- The Temasek Review: Limitations of Tsao foundation study on care of Singapore elderly

National Service
- Singaporean Skeptic: The NS issue revisited.

Daily Discourse
- geraldgiam.sg: Civil servants: Take better care of your Minister’s bosses
- mrbrown: ST Blogs: Internet steals minister’s thunder
- TOC: LTA’s “palpable panic” over news leak
- Tan Kin Lian’s Blog: Running the country

Life, the universe and everything
- Ramblings of DarkMirage: Anime Festival Asia 09 – Press Conference
- The FØØL’s Progress: Peek-a-Boo! Anime Festival Asia 2009

September 2nd, 2009 | Category: Daily Sg | Leave a comment

QuakeCon 2009 Rage Trailer

News
- Mac Rumors: Apple Claims ‘Exploding’ iPhones Due to Screen Pressure, Not Battery Issues
- PC World: Apple’s Sept. 9 Event: 5 Hot Bets
- InfoWorld: Microsoft Xbox 360 price cuts to come later for Asia
- Computerworld: Five reasons to switch to Opera 10
- Fudzilla: RV870 is 1.6 times faster than RV770
- The Tech Report: 12-inch, Ion-based Eee PC may arrive in October
- DigiTimes: Asustek set to launch ultra-thin notebooks using new Intel CPUs
- bit-tech.net: Sharp to launch ultra-mini netbook
- Subba’s Serendipitous moments: Microsoft Windows under siege.
- PC Advisor: WPA wireless security cracked in 60 seconds

Reviews | Guides
- DAP Review: Creative now shipping the Zii EGG, Initial Impressions are in!
- TrustedReviews: HP Pavilion dv6-1210sa – 15.6in Laptop Review
- HWZ: ASUS AT3N7A-1 NVIDIA Ion Motherboard
- Dee Kay Dot As Gee: Review: Acer F900
- Tech65.org: Gear65 #36 – Sony Vaio W
- Anandtech: The SSD Relapse: Understanding and Choosing the Best SSD
- Big Bruin: ASUS Xonar HDAV1.3 Slim Audio Card
- Verdis Reviews: Antec Mini P180 Micro-ATX Case Review
- I4U: Upgrading Windows XP PC with Super Talent UltraDrive GX SSD Well Worth The Money
- DailyTech: Opera 10.0 RC vs. Chrome 4 Benchmarking
- Network World: Obsolete technology: 40 big losers
- PC Authority: Computer History Museum Photo Gallery: weird, fascinating photos including a giant Cray, and a 60Kg hard drive

September 2nd, 2009 | Category: Daily Tech | Comments (1)