[MyAppleMenu] Jun 10, 2012

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** WWDC 2012 Bingo! ****
<http://applebingo.me/wwdc2012/>
Applebingo.me






The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** The Algorithm Didn’t Like My Essay ****
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/10/business/essay-grading-software-as-teachers-aide-digital-domain.html?_r=1>
Rnadall Stross, New York Times


> Software sharply lowers the cost of scoring those essays — a matter of great importance because states have begun to toss essay evaluation to the wayside.



**** Porn, Gambling, And Malware: Bitcoin As The 'Net's Wild West ****
<http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/06/porn-gambling-and-malware-bitcoin-as-the-nets-wild-west/>
Timothy B. Lee, Ars Technica






MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** Farther Away By Jonathan Franzen – Review ****
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/10/farther-away-jonathan-franzen-review>
Geoff Dyer, The Observer


> These essays are exemplary instances of reader-friendly criticism in that they can be studied profitably even by people unfamiliar with the works in question. They also display two related side-effects of becoming a great novelist. First, the ease with which Harold Bloom's idea of the anxiety of influence can be swept aside as an amusing irrelevance. Second, that the great novelist is, by default, a great reader.






SingaporeSurf
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**** Minimum Wage Proposal Is Just A Placebo, Go For The Root Cause Instead! ****
<http://theonlinecitizen.com/2012/06/minimum-wage-proposal-is-just-a-placebo-go-for-the-root-cause-instead-2/>
Kumaran Pillai, The Online Citizen


> The exploitation that is taking place in the market today is not because of greed as what some people put it. It is because the Singapore government is an active participant in the local economy, stifling innovation and drawing monies out of the circular flow of income. It is the rent seeking practices of our government that needs to be abolished.

> I like to add that minimum wage is just an artificial wage floor. What I fear most, is that, unscrupulous employers will start circumventing the proposed minimum wage system by paying lower than the recommended wages. That is bound to happen as long as there are people who are desperate enough to take up those jobs.



**** PM's Speech To The ESS ****
<http://blogging4myself.blogspot.sg/2012/06/pms-speech-to-ess.html>
Blogging For Myself


> May be we will become a global city but it might be more apt to call it a global hotel. We will be Dubai exaggerated, shiny on the surface and soulless underneath. All the great religions here will worship one god: mammon.



**** Thoughts On PM Lee’s Speech At The ESS Dinner ****
<http://ryangoh.wordpress.com/2012/06/10/thoughts-on-pm-lees-speech-at-the-ess-dinner/>
Ryan Goh, Life Through These Eyes



**** What Costs Do We Pay For Economic Growth? ****
<http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC120610-0000065/What-costs-do-we-pay-for-economic-growth?>
Ramzah Osman, Today


> We simply wish for progressive growth, whereby everyone has an equal chance of creating a meaningful livelihood, and not just for foreign talent to be a stop-gap measure to ensure that we meet economic growth targets set by the government.



**** Issue Of Foreign Worker Exploitation Dominates Public Forum ****
<http://sg.news.yahoo.com/issue-of-foreign-worker-exploitation-dominates-public-forum.html>
Gail Chai, Yahoo!


> “Many the waiters and waitresses earn S$450 and you know why?  I did some checking and to my horror, all these interns are not counted in the foreign worker quota so employers can employ as many of them as they like because they don’t count in the foreign worker quota.  so if you’re an employer, you can get this slave for six months for S$450 and the slave will work extremely hard,” he said.

The more we have rules and regulations, the more loopholes there are to exploit. Enacting a high-enough minimum wage across all workers will obsolete many of these rules and regulations.


**** Strict Singapore Divided By Arrest Of Its Own Banksy ****
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/10/sticker-lady-strict-singapore-divided>
Peter Beaumont, The Observer


> In Hoxton or New York, it might be regarded as commonplace – witty stencils and stickers posted by an artist around public spaces. In Singapore, however, a city obsessed with order and where "vandals" can be flogged, 27-year-old Samantha Lo – the so-called "Sticker Lady" – has inspired a massive online campaign after being arrested for posting stickers.



**** Upper Bt Timah Residents, Authorities Reach Compromise Over Land Devt ****
<http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1206634/1/.html>
Monica Kotwani, Channel NewsAsia


> Residents of Dairy Farm, Chestnut and Petir Road have reached an initial compromise with authorities over the development of a parcel of forest land. 

> Among them - placing restrictions on the height of the development so as to not block the pristine views of the many low-rise housing and reviewing a proposal to extend a road along Jalan Pakis that may cut into a popular canal and jogging trail.