[MyAppleMenu] Feb 20, 2011

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** Miniaturization Continues: The Apple MacBook Air <http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2011/02/miniaturization-continues-the-apple-macbook-air.html>
Dick Eastman

**** Where's My Apple Wristwatch? <http://www.macworld.com/article/157830/2011/02/ihnatko_ada.html#lsrc.rss_main>
Andy Ihnatko, Macworld

Every once in a while, Apple should let its designers make something crazy.

**** Apple To Bonobo – Retina Is Trademarked, Change Your App Name <http://bonobolabs.com/apple-to-bonobo-retina-is-trademarked-change-your-app-name/>
Bonobo



MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** What Happens In Vagueness Stays In Vagueness <http://www.city-journal.org/2011/21_1_snd-american-english.html>
Clark Whelton, City Journal

The decline and fall of American English, and stuff.

**** Hawking Contra Philosophy <http://www.philosophynow.org/issue82/Hawking_contra_Philosophy>
Christopher Norris, Philosophy Now

Professor Hawking has probably been talking to the wrong philosophers, or picked up some wrong ideas about the kinds of discussion that currently go on in philosophy of science. His lofty dismissal of that whole enterprise as a useless, scientifically irrelevant pseudo-discipline fails to reckon with several important facts about the way that science has typically been practised since its early-modern (seventeenth-century) point of departure and, even more, in the wake of twentieth century developments such as quantum mechanics and relativity.

**** Question? Answered. <http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2011/02/20/question_answered/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+Ideas+section>
Erin McKean, Boston Globe

The growing world of online language advice.

**** What I Learned By Going Blind <http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2011/02/19/going_blind_at_37_open2011/index.html>
Ingrid Ricks, Salon

I was terrified I wouldn't see my girls grow up. But as I lost my sight, I began to focus on what really mattered.

**** You Are Not A Gadget: A Manifesto By Jaron Lanier – Review <http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/20/jaron-lanier-you-are-not-a-gadget-review?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+theguardian%2Fbooks%2Frss+%28Books%29>
Jessica Holland, The Guardian

Lanier's economic argument is designed to scare, but not so much as his argument that web 2.0 – with its anonymously written wikis and multiple-choice expressions of personality on Facebook – is eating away at our very souls.

**** How Borders Lost Its Soul <http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2011/02/19/borders_disappears/index.html>
Edward Mcclelland, Salon

The store went from a true alternative to a big-box bore. Now, it's the independent shops who come out the winners.

**** Forget Fight Club - Join Book Club <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookclub/8330332/Forget-fight-club-join-book-club.html>
Viv Groskop, The Telegraph

Once men used to get together to watch sport and drink beer. Now they have muscled in on a female craze.



SingaporeSurf
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**** Why The Government Persistently Misunderstands The Low Birth Rate Crisis <http://logos-pistis.blogspot.com/2011/02/why-government-persistently.html>
In The Beginning Was The Logos...

This is why Singapore is aging and dying. This is also why Europe and the West are likewise aging and dying. They are all going extinct literally while partying and working their life away.

**** Judge For Yourself <http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2011/2/20/lifebookshelf/8079937&sec=lifebookshelf>
Martin Vengadesan, The Star

Lee’s skill as an English-educated lawyer who manipulated the working-class leaders of his own country reveals a ruthless streak that gives lie to his fantastic rhetoric about building a just and egalitarian society when speaking as a Malaysian parliamentarian. One can only wonder what Lee’s defeated foes made of Lee’s erstwhile passionate pleas for liberty once he asserted his tight control overhis island state.

**** Define Bonanza <http://singaporedesk.blogspot.com/2011/02/define-bonanza.html>
Singapore Notes

What they don't put on the front pages is that minister Teo Chee Hean is getting 5.4% extra for his defence budget, a $620 million jump to $12.05 billion. That should explain his earlier cautionary advice that people should not set their expectations too high for the election budget goodies. The allocation for health is cut by $24 million to $2.6 billion in the revised 2011 budget. Please, please, don't get sick - your TV licence rebate of $110 is barely enough for the A & E admission charges at the nearest public hospital. Transport budget is down by $585 million, a 12.6% reduction to $4 billion. How do you think minister Raymond Lim will make up for the shortfall - other than the traditional bus/train fare hikes, ERP charges, etc? We don't want to know either.

**** Thoughts On The Budget <http://sgpreparedness.blogspot.com/2011/02/thoughts-on-budget.html>
Singapore Preparedness

Beware of politicians bearing gifts, especially dumb ones.

**** Treat People Equally <http://tankinlian.blogspot.com/2011/02/treat-people-equally.html>
Tan Kin Lian

Stop putting people into different classes according to their residency status, income levels, type of housing, etc. Treat people equally in their daily lives and do not remind them about the differences. Levy the appropriate level of taxation and keep it as a private matter between the government and the individual citizens.

**** Three Potential PAP Candidates In Sembawang GRC <http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_637016.html>
Li Xueying, Straits Times

Mr Edwin Tong, 41, a partner in law firm Allen & Gledhill, and Mr Vikram Nair, 32, from law firm Norton Rose, stood alongside incumbent People's Action Party (PAP) MPs as the team took a four-hour bus tour of Woodlands, Sembawang and Yishun as part of a Chingay parade.

**** 签错打工合约 可能吃大亏 <http://www.zaobao.com.sg/sp/sp110220_019.shtml>
何惜薇, 联合早报

**** 工人党秘书长刘程强：大选日期与政府派红包日子挂钩 <http://www.zaobao.com.sg/sp/sp110220_013.shtml>
郭丽娟, 联合早报

他昨晚在后港区新春晚宴受访时说，他暂时不愿意对新预算案的具体内容发表意见，而会等到一个多星期后国会辩论新财政政策时才发表意见。

坊间把这次慷慨的预算案普遍视为“大选年预算案”，刘程强也认为大选日期将与政府分派现金红包的日期挂钩。

**** ä¸€äº›ä¼ä¸šå¯¹æé«˜å¤–åŠ³ç¨Žå¾ˆæ— å¥ˆ <http://www.zaobao.com.sg/sp/sp110220_010.shtml>
燕燕, 联合早报

**** S’pore Budget Falls Short: Website Panel <http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2011/02/20/spore-budget-falls-short-website-panel/>
Faris, Yahoo!

Among some of the key concerns raised during the three-hour panel discussion organised by socio-political blog The Online Citizen (TOC) was the issue of rising healthcare costs.

Mr Leong, a former President of the Society of Financial Service Professionals, said that the top-ups might not be enough especially when taking into account that inflation is expected rise up to 4% this year.

**** SDP Exposes Government's Budget <http://yoursdp.org/index.php/news/singapore/4613-sdp-exposes-governments-budget->
Singapore Democratic Party

"They are not a derisive attempt to remain in power. That comes from a morally bankrupt government. A government that has proved, with this Budget, that it no longer cares for people of Singapore but for its own political longevity."

**** Budget Sparks Talk Of General Elections In May <http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2011/02/20/budget-sparks-talk-of-general-elections-in-may/>
Alicia Wong, Yahoo!

The Budget unveiled on Friday has sparked talk of Singapore holding its General Election (GE) in May. This is because  the bulk of goodies, in particular the Growth Dividends, will be handed out to the public on May 1.

Meanwhile Yahoo! users’ reactions to the Budget were mixed.

**** The Kids Aren’t Alright, But We Can Pretend They Are <http://creativespark.wordpress.com/2011/02/20/the-kids-arent-alright-but-we-can-pretend-they-are/>
Creative Spark

We’ll be working on closing the income gap by lifting productivity, but some citizens will be cared for and others would be best to just drop off the radar. It’ll be an “inclusive society for all” as long as “all” is tempered to “all who fit the norms laid out by the government as being visible”. And to help that along, the censorship board makes sure that certain things are not reflected on the big screen.

**** The RP’s Response To Budget 2011 <http://votingrp.wordpress.com/2011/02/19/the-text-of-rps-videocast-on-budget-2011/>
Reform Party

Don’t you get the feeling that this is a government that lurches from day to day and has no long term plan?  That there is no one today who is the equal of Dr. Goh Keng Swee who was responsible for the master plan that put Singapore on the road to export-led growth in the 1960s.

This is a shameless electioneering budget laced with one-off payments to the electorate under the guise of not wanting to create entitlements. There is no pretence at putting in place long-term solutions to the problems faced by working Singaporeans.

**** Foreign Worker Policy And Casinos Will “Break Up” Society – Tan Jee Say <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2011/02/foreign-worker-policy-and-casinos-will-“break-up”-society-–-tan-jee-say/>
Joshua Chiang, The Online Citizen

The measures that the government plan to undertake to ‘strengthen society’ will be overwhelmed by the countervailing forces of the liberal foreign worker policy and the casinos, said Mr Tan Jee Say.

**** AWARE’s Response To The 2011 Budget <http://www.aware.org.sg/2011/02/awares-response-to-the-2011-budget/>
Association Of Women For Action And Research

AWARE welcomes the strong focus in the 2011 Budget on strengthening our society. We are heartened by the Minister’s assurance that steps will be taken to ensure an inclusive society.

We trust that this inclusiveness will extend to marginalised groups such as unwed mothers, many of whom are caught in the poverty trap and struggle to earn a living while also taking care of their child or children. As the Finance Minister said, Singapore needs to be a society where everyone can contribute to and share in the country’s progress “regardless of where they start from”. Unwed mother’s children should not have to suffer because of the way they began life.

**** Minister Quizzed At Residents' Dialogue <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1111945/1/.html>
Satish Cheney, Channel NewsAsia

The issue of overcrowding and increase in new immigrants were the main issues raised at a dialogue on Sunday afternoon, attended by minister for information, communications and the arts Lui Tuck Yew at Tampines Primary School.

**** é©¬æ¥è¥¿äºšé«˜é“æˆ–ç”±ä¸­å›½é€ ? æ–°åŠ å¡æ€åº¦ä¸æ˜Ž <http://finance.huanqiu.com/roll/2011-02/1510023.html>
陶杰，欧贤安, 环球时报

åœ¨æ–°åŠ å¡ï¼Œéš†æ–°é«˜é“ä¸€ç›´æ˜¯ä¸ªæ•æ„Ÿè¯é¢˜ï¼Œæ–°åŠ å¡å›½çˆ¶æŽå…‰è€€ä¸æ–­æé†’å›½æ°‘è­¦æƒ•é©¬æ¥è¥¿äºšâ€œæ—¶åˆ»å­˜åœ¨çš„å†›äº‹å¨èƒâ€ã€‚æ–°åŠ å¡æ”¿åºœçš„æ€åº¦è¿˜ä¸æ˜Žæœ—ã€‚

**** NSP Response To Budget Statement 2011 <http://singaporealternatives.blogspot.com/2011/02/nsp-response-to-budget-statement-2011.html>
Goh Meng Seng, National Solidarity Party

A responsible government should take the welfare of our citizens at heart in longer terms instead of engrossing itself in populist policies which may bring short term alleviation of unhappiness on the ground but totally unhelpful in solving our longer term structural problems.

**** S'pore Not In List Of Cleanest Countries In The World <http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/World/Story/A1Story20110219-264408.html>
AsiaOne

According to 2010 world environmental performance index (EPI), Singapore is not on the top 10 cleanest countries in the world. In fact, it ranked 28, just before Serbia and Montenegro, Ecuador and Peru.

**** Singapore Budget Handouts And Ministry Expenditures <http://www.pressrun.net/weblog/2011/02/singapore-budget-handouts-and-ministry-expenditures.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rana+%28Pressrun.net+%28originally+Blowin%27+in+the+Wind%29%29>
Pressrun.net

**** A Bird’s-eye View Of The Budget <http://yawningbread.wordpress.com/2011/02/21/a-birds-eye-view-of-the-budget/>
Yawning Bread

There are signs that economic power is so entrenched among the upper-middle class and rich that even during a recession, they are able to ensure their incomes do not suffer; this can only mean that pain is disproportionately borne by other sections of society.

**** Critiquing Budget 2011 <http://www.sgpolitics.net/?p=5933>
Ng E-Jay, Sgpolitics.net

The reality is that Singapore’s multi-national corporations and businesses have become addicted to cheap labour because the government has in the past two decades failed to revitalize and diversify the economy sufficiently. Economic planning thus far can best be described as haphazard, ad-hoc, and focused on chasing current fads and hand-picking industry winners rather than on long-term, sustainable growth.

**** Staff Sure Borders Is Not Closing Down Here <http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC110221-0000147/Staff-sure-Borders-is-not-closing-down-here>
Ng Jing Yng, Today

When MediaCorp visited the outlet at Wheelock Place yesterday, staff members said customers have no cause for concern. The employees believe that the latest reports suggesting financial woes at RedGroup Retail, which oversees Borders here as well as in Asia, Australia and New Zealand, will affect stores located Down Under only.