“I think they didn’t fail the system, it’s the system that failed them.”
The Killerzephyr

“What do I tell my children about a government that is rich in wealth but not so wealthy in spirit?”
Ian Tan

“..I am wondering why we need to cast everything in terms of realpolitiks, or look at potential economic returns in everything we do? Isn’t doing the right thing, a good enough reason in itself?”
gigamole

This week’s roundup and recommended reads after the break.
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Housing
- Diary of A Singaporean Mind: MM Lee : You must be daft!
- The Temasek Review: Lee Kuan Yew: Singaporeans must be “daft” if they cast protest vote against PAP over rising HDB flat prices
- The Itch To Write: Would you pay $100, 000 COV?
- The Temasek Review: Mah Bow Tan finally acknowledged that the rising HDB resale flat prices have “raised fresh concerns”

Road to Election
- Die neue Welle: I am Singaporean III – The Importance of a Good Memory

Strangers in a Strange Land
- Gerald Giam’s Blog: Foreigners pay more, but what’s in it for Singaporeans?
- The Temasek Review: Policy Face-off: Immigration policies – how many is enough?

ERPains, Trains & Automobiles
- Diary of A Singaporean Mind: More on Transport..
- Diary of A Singaporean Mind: On Transport Again..

The Gospel of Harry
- Icarus Flew Too High: Ethnic divisions and your grains of rice

Religion
- The Grand Moofti Speaks: Malaysia joins Islam’s ideological fray – Singapore beware!

Daily Discourse
- Big Talk Singapore: Singapore Resident Committee member shortage
- Kaffein-nated: The truth is out… what are you gonna do now?

Life, the universe and everything
- quachee’s blog: Singapore Memories: Singapore Singers & Songs
- The Long and Winding Road: Psst … guess who dropped in today?
- Dee Kay Dot As Gee: 3G Micro SIM
- The Lycan Times: Humor – iPad
- Flying Low: 3D Football
- Singapore Fountain Pen: Asia 360 -Taal Volcano [Thanks Major]
- Vinyarb: Graffiti - AIDS Awareness Paris

Infoblogaramous
- Ong Jiin Joo: FilmCamp Singapore 2010 is this Sunday!

Selected News Stories [Thanks Gerald Ho]
- Asia Pacific Voices: Hong Kong Legislators resign in a bid for full democracy
- The Daily Beast: 9 Key Moments from Obama’s Speech
- AP: Toyota recalls at a glance
- NYT: Twitter Could Become the Unemployed’s Best Friend
- Global Post: Top budget retirement destinations abroad
- BBC: Happiness revisited: Does money make us happy after all?
- Council on Foreign Relations: Global Economic Trends: A Conversation with Joseph E. Stiglitz [Thanks Loyola]

Ayumi Kinoshita 木下あゆ美 is a Japanese actress and model. She is most well known as Deka Yellow from Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger (Power Rangers S.P.D.). Along with Mika Kikuchi, she sings the second ending theme of Dekaranger titled “Girls in Trouble!”. Kinoshita’s most recent work is the film “Master of Thunder” (マスターオブサンダー), an action film where she stars as one of the seven pupils of a martial artist.

This is her photobook La Dolce by famed photographer Nomura Seiichi.
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..when that life which returns to the earth
rises in stagnation one thousand fold
the darkness will rise.
The soul who stands against it,
battles a destiny set in stone.
He bears with him a single thought,
bearing fire, yet frozen.
For his sake, for everyone’s sake.

Tessik no Tenjo

Housing
- Sgpolitics.net: Minister Mentor calls Singaporeans DAFT for faulting Government’s housing policies
- The Temasek Review: PM Lee: Govt does not have control over prices of resale flats
- Who Moved My Singapore Cheese: Let the truth be told

Road to Election
- The Temasek Review: Opposition gunning Tampines GRC to kick unpopular Mah Bow Tan out of office

Singaporeans are fed, up with progress!
- The Temasek Review: Being the second freest economy in the world – What does it mean to Singaporeans?

Strangers in a Strange Land
- The Temasek Review: Exposing the 6 major flaws in the PAP’s immigration policy

ERPains, Trains & Automobiles
- Singapore Alternatives: Inadequate Public Transportation II

Healthcare & Healthcare Providers
- Singapore MD: Breast cancer screening and adoption of evidence
- The Gigamole Diaries: More on mammograms

The Gospel of Harry
- Seelan Palay’s Blog: Lee Kuan Yew’s remarks deeply offensive to Malays

Daily Discourse
- Midnight Monkey Monitor: Have a say in shaping our home

Life, the universe and everything
- Growing your tree of prosperity: What Apple’s new tablet would mean for writers.
- Memories Archipelago: Behind the scences of Singapore Airshow 2010

Selected News Stories [Thanks Gerald Ho]
- Whitehouse: President Obama’s State of the Union address. [10am, Thursday, Singapore]
- NYT: The iPad’s Name Makes Some Women Cringe
- Reuters: Couture not a crime at Singapore prison
- NYT: Rule of Thumbs: Koreans Reign in Texting World
- LA Times: Toyota Q & A: What to do if your car suddenly accelerates

Singaporeans are fed, up with progress!
- The Secret Political Blog: The PAP imitates the Reform Party
- Furry Brown Dog: Singapore’s policymakers catch up with economic reality
- Sgpolitics.net: A U-turn in PAP’s economic and population policies? We shall see.
- Who Moved My Singapore Cheese: Talking about a revolution

Singaporeans: A Dying Breed
- Empty Vessel: Are they really fixing the birth rate problem?
- Tan Kin Lian’s Blog: Singapore’s declining birth rate

Housing
- Who Moved My Singapore Cheese: Complete denials
- Tan Kin Lian’s Blog: Affordable flats

Road to Election
- Singapore Recalcitrant: The wheel of history will move forward

Re education
- Jacob 69er: {Video} Singaporeans’ views on the mandatory death penalty

Daily Discourse
- The Gigamole Diaries: Do we believe in anything of value….?
- My sketchbook: How to help Haiti-Singapore style
- Barnyard Chorus: What’s shit for the goose
- The Temasek Review: Smear campaign against “new ugly Singaporeans”: Is YPAP fighting back?

Selected News Stories [Thanks Gerald Ho]
- Reuters: FACTBOX-Creditors of Stuyvesant Town & Peter Cooper Village
- Daily Finance: Biggest Real Estate Deal in History Goes Belly-Up
- NYT: N.Y. Housing Complex Is Turned Over to Creditors
- BBC: Equality Commission calls for over-65s to keep working
- Reuters: Singapore sees up to S$12 bln capital investment in 2010
- AP: Pope to priests: Go forth and blog

Nokia shocked the tech world by announcing that they will be giving away free turn by turn navigation on all Nokia GPS devices. So far, only 10 devices are supported but Nokia spokesperson said more will come in the next few weeks. I’ve tried it out on a Nokia N97 Mini and it works great.

If you are still holding shares to Garmin or TomTom, this might be a good time to sell them.

On other news, Steve Jobs will be on stage tonight 2am Singapore time. Rumors says a Tablet is on the way.

News
- Dee Kay Dot As Gee: Free turn by turn navigation from Nokia
- Cnet: China denies involvement in Google cyberattacks
- Wired: Microsoft Learned of IE Zero-Day Flaw Last September
- JustinLee.sg: Most Ridiculous Windows 7 Bug
- Techgoondu: StarHub launches new mobile TV service
- LesterChan.net: Intel’s 2010 Core Processor Family
- Techgoondu: Trend Micro bets on Clouds: a commentary
- Dee Kay Dot As Gee: Lenovo announced Thinkpad X100e and Thinkpad Edge
- Youtube Blog: Introducing YouTube HTML5 Supported Videos
- Straits Times: Is this the Droid you are looking for?
- Techgoondu: StarHub to ship Motorola Milestone lastest by March
- Dee Kay Dot As Gee: Motorola Milestone spotted in Singapore

Reviews | Guides
- LesterChan.net: Synology Disk Station DS210j
- Techgoondu: Hands on: Motorola Dext
- TechieLobang: Limited Edition iPhone Casing with 1450 Swarovski Crystals