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I moved to Singapore

sivers.org

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Re: I moved to Singapore

#171

Post by thomasgerbe »

Lucadg wrote: post #79
kylec wrote: post #11

I'm surprised at his choice of location - Singapore is quite a nanny state, and the punishments are sometimes quite severe. "Singapore society is highly regulated through the criminalization of many activities which are considered as fairly harmless in other countries. These include failing to flush toilets after use, littering, jaywalking, the possession of pornography, and the sale of chewing gum." "Singapore has o…

A few years back I was at Singapore's airport and I saw, along many other signs forbidding most human activities one which still haunts me at night. There was this symbol of a person reading and the text was: no studying. Then one day while I was walking down Orchard road I saw a long line of people quieing on the street to get in...Sweansens (a chain crappy ice-cream store). That's when I decided Singapore was lost.…

A week ago, I was at SFO and saw the TSA body-scanning children and elderly people.

Then one day I saw a long line of people on the street to get in... an Apple store.

That's when I decided San Francisco was lost.

Re: I moved to Singapore

#172

Post by zephjc »

sivers wrote: post #6
seymores wrote: post #4

Wow, where do you hang out?

Home. Working. I prefer solitude. I don't hang out much. http://www.tagbento.com/243/dereks-desk

You prefer solitude and you moved to a bustling metropolis? That sounds like the ideal city for immersing yourself in the culture and the energy of it all.

Re: I moved to Singapore

#173

Post by georgieporgie »

cubix wrote: post #162
miked wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> had the police order him off the street at gun point because he was jaywalking. I simply don't believe your friend's dad was telling the truth. There are plenty of bad cops in the US, but drawing a gun on someone because they were jaywalking? I call bullshit.

Doesn't sound so outlandish to me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHjjF55M8JQ

Oh, come on. Jaywalking is nothing at all like doing a wheelie down the freeway at 90+ miles per hour and -- knowingly or unknowingly -- evading the police.

Re: I moved to Singapore

#174

Post by evangineer »

z303 wrote: post #169
cletus wrote: post #122

I love Singapore, except for the climate, which is oppressive. There is amazing hawker (street) food everywhere and, thanks for strict enforcement of health regulations, it's pretty cheap too. At least it was. It's been a few years since I was there. I kinda view Singapore as the Zurich of Asia. Zurich (and Switzerland in general) is very regulated (although Singapore more than Zurich; there are no rules against chew…

It sound like your describing Positive liberty vs. Negative liberty, and yes coming from the UK I do find the rules in mainland Europe at time strange. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_liberty http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_liberty

Thanks for the links. This actually relates to a paper that I've been collaborating on.

BTW, Isaiah Berlin's concepts of liberty featured quite strongly in the Adam Curtis documentary series The Trap:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trap_(television_documentar...

Re: I moved to Singapore

#175

Post by uriel »

kgtm wrote: post #110
astrec wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. I'm referring to the constitutional right to free speech. The statement "anybody is free to do whatever they intend to in Australia, so as long as it doesn't impair other people doing so" is as absurd as it is false. There are reams of legislation to prevent you from doing everything from arriving unlawfully by boat, to lying about your income, to using a wire carriage service to cause offence. As to speech, here…

I'm sorry, but I think you are confused regarding what constitutes free speech. Either that, or a very poor example you chose...

Free speech means being free to say things others might not like being said.

If free speech only covers things that others might find acceptable, then it is completely meaningless.

Re: I moved to Singapore

#176

Post by georgemcbay »

cubix wrote: post #162
miked wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> had the police order him off the street at gun point because he was jaywalking. I simply don't believe your friend's dad was telling the truth. There are plenty of bad cops in the US, but drawing a gun on someone because they were jaywalking? I call bullshit.

Doesn't sound so outlandish to me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHjjF55M8JQ

FWIW, the motorcyclist in that video was never once "at gunpoint".

The officer drew his weapon because he did not know how dangerous a situation he would be in with the motorcyclist and he was in a tactically weak position by having to pivot around to face the person he was stopping. He never pointed the gun at the motorcyclist and quickly reholstered it after assessing the situation was non-threatening. And as you can see in the full video, the traffic stop was totally warranted, the idiot on the motorcycle was a danger to himself and everyone else on the road:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7PC9cZEWCQ

There are plenty of bad cops out there caught on video doing horrendous things, but I don't get why anyone would use this as an example of bad police behavior -- the cop in this video was totally reasonable and professional.

Re: I moved to Singapore

#177

Post by sivers »

tlrobinson wrote: post #161

What's the cost of living for a foreigner in Singapore like? Obviously there can be a big range, but I'm curious what your experiences are? More generally, is there some resource for comparing costs of living of various places?

Very very expensive. About the same as central London. I wouldn't recommend it at all if you're concerned about that.

Re: I moved to Singapore

#178

Post by sivers »

caswabi wrote: post #137
sivers wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Home. Working. I prefer solitude. I don't hang out much. http://www.tagbento.com/243/dereks-desk

Welcome! btw, is your office on Beach rd? ours is too (Shaw Tower), hope to run into you around the area.

Feel free to email me anytime : http://sivers.org/contact

Re: I moved to Singapore

#179

Post by bluedanieru »

cletus wrote: post #122

I love Singapore, except for the climate, which is oppressive. There is amazing hawker (street) food everywhere and, thanks for strict enforcement of health regulations, it's pretty cheap too. At least it was. It's been a few years since I was there. I kinda view Singapore as the Zurich of Asia. Zurich (and Switzerland in general) is very regulated (although Singapore more than Zurich; there are no rules against chew…

It's not the rules that keep me out of Singapore it's the disproportionate response for breaking them. I don't mind if a place I'm visiting doesn't want me to chew gum or has a law about flushing the toilet, and I think for both of these the punishment is (high) fines so it's only money. But death penalty for drug possession? Count me out. Not that I would bring drugs there, but in any civilized nation the worst thing that could happen if I were falsely accused and could not prove my innocence is a variable amount of jail time. In Singapore, I would die. You might argue that this could be said of any country with capital punishment and you'd be correct, however for Singapore it applies to more crimes and is administered more freely.

Singapore is a dangerous country.

Re: I moved to Singapore

#180

Post by cubix »

georgemcbay wrote: post #176
cubix wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't sound so outlandish to me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHjjF55M8JQ

FWIW, the motorcyclist in that video was never once "at gunpoint". The officer drew his weapon because he did not know how dangerous a situation he would be in with the motorcyclist and he was in a tactically weak position by having to pivot around to face the person he was stopping. He never pointed the gun at the motorcyclist and quickly reholstered it after assessing the situation was non-threatening. And as you c…

True he wasn't technically at gun point.

However, how was the rider a threat to anyone by that point? He couldn't run the officer down like you could with a car (he would just end up on the ground). He was boxed in.

I would also challenge the notion that the rider is an 'idiot' and a danger to himself or others. Of the 3m39s long video, there's only about 10 seconds (starting at about 0:35) where he accelerates significantly faster than the surrounding cars, and that was clearly to get around a group of cars/transport trucks. Otherwise, he was going just slightly faster than the general flow of traffic. Both of these tactics are basically inline with conventional motorcycle safety recommendations: http://www.sportrider.com/ride/146_9508_motorcycle_riding_ti...

Also, it appears that the officer is hiding his gun when the marked cop car pulls up behind them. I think it's worth pointing out that they charged the rider with wire tapping (which the judge ultimately threw out) and raided his house after discovering the video had been posted on YouTube. It's hard not to interpret these actions as embarrassment on the part of the police. Why would they object to the video being posted if he was completely justified?

The video wouldn't be approaching a million views on YouTube if most people agreed that his actions were as reasonable and mundane as you imply. He didn't show his badge or even identify himself as a police officer until after charging at the guy with gun in hand. That doesn't strike me as 'professional'.

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