This week’s news from California is that, four months after the 2008-9 fiscal year began, the California legislature has managed to pass a budget, one that will try to cover its $42 Billion deficit. The reason for all the delay is the legal requirement from Proposition 13 (1978) for a 2/3 majority to pass any […]
Yes, Singapore has been hit hard by the worldwide credit crunch. It started when taxi drivers and other workers lost their shirts when AIG went under – so low are the interest rates at Singapore’s banks that people are encouraged to buy insurance policies with pay-out plans, and annuities, and many people had trusted the […]
Americans are pleased to say that free speech is their national birthright. Well, in Singapore that’s not necessarily the case, but at least everyone has access to cheap fresh fruit. And considering what use a lot of Americans make of their free speech rights (hate speech [including ideological and religious ranting], porn, lobbyists, the Ku […]
Pretty bright, eh? These are indigenous to Singapore, and a few pairs of them live on the NTU campus. They like the palms in front of our apartment block – the ones with fruit on them – but also seem to enjoy zipping around the higher trees nearby. My neighbor and badminton partner Mary says […]
I was observing to a friend that people seem to get referred to this blog mostly from their searches for information on Chinese New Year or different birds. So we thought we’d try an experiment. You guessed it – this posting has nothing whatever to do with the charming Mr. Chow, but is actually a […]
When actress Zhang Ziyi was photographed on a beach without a bikini top in early January, the scandal lasted for days in the Asian press – at least the tabloid parts of that press, which include sections of the Singapore Straits Times, the local paper of record. Pictures of Ms. Zhang on the beach (in […]
Below I’ve pasted in a couple of scans of discarded cigarette packs, in order to show you what a cigarette health warning looks like if your Surgeon-General is NOT in bed with the tobacco industry. These packages are made in Indonesia, probably for the Singapore market (which is why they’re printed in English). I just […]
The singles scene here is dire, apparently. Everyone is too busy working to date. No dating, no offspring, and nobody to support the elderly population. The solution? Encourage marriage! Once married, it’s hoped the couples will take advantage of the Baby Bonus to assist them in reproducing. The Prime Minister is of course behind the […]
On Sunday afternoon, Chinese New Year’s Eve, we went to the local Chinese Gardens (opened 1975) to see how they were decorated. Here’s what a quiet corner of the Bonsai Garden looks like without decorations:Wow! Red flags all over, flapping in the breeze, pots of red and yellow flowers, ditto, lanterns everywhere, red cloths tied […]
Yesterday I was riding an MRT train during the lunch hour, and I scored a seat. The one to my left held a sleeping woman; the one to my right a tall Indian guy, about 38 years old, in a sporty t-shirt. He promptly called someone on his cellphone, and the conversation on his end […]