VIDEO: RTÉ News.
Singapore's Public Utilities Board is deploying a robot to encourage people wandering the outdoor parks of the densely populated Asian metropolis to social distance, and "stay safe, stay home". Read the rest
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Tape_measures is a fantastic Instagram account of photographs documenting how tape is being used as a design intervention to direct physical distancing in Singapore.
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View this post on InstagramRead the restToilet, Bras Basah Complex / 5 April 2020 [📷: @punkturedfunktion]
Singapore's Changi Airport is rated the #1 airport in the world by most entities that rate airports. It has theme parks, free movies, a retro video game arcade, hiking trails, and much more. Stephanie Rosenbloom took a 27-hour vacation there with her husband and wrote about it for The New York Times. I was in Singapore in 2018 but didn't spend much time at the airport. I'm headed there again soon and this time I plan to wander around.
As with all wonderlands, though, there’s a fine line between fantasy and dystopia. Looking around, it isn’t hard to imagine a future in which everyone lives in domed cities in temperature-controlled, never-ending summers. Signs refer to “trails” that you can “hike,” as if Jewel’s smooth, clean floors are rugged arteries through the wilderness. The trees and shrubs around the waterfall have a corporate name: the Shiseido Forest Valley, after the Japanese beauty company. The waterfall is officially known as the HSBC Rain Vortex. And it’s surrounded by stores and restaurants, allowing a visitor to keep one eye on the jungle-scape and the other on the latest fashions at Calvin Klein — or the queue for Shake Shack. The result is a staggering display of artificiality and nature, with lights that can turn a waterfall crimson, or make it seem as if you’re dining al fresco under a starry sky.
Image: Creative Commons Zero - CC0 Read the rest
Running for your gate, carry-on in hand to make your flight on-time is the worst. Sliding to your flight's gate? That's the best.
This four floor-high slide located in Singapore's Changi Airport is designed to get you to your departure gate with the smallest number of steps possible. The only catch is that you have to spend S$10 at one of the airport's many restaurants or businesses. Seems like a reasonable price to me.
Image via Changi Airport Read the rest
A senior source at Uber has confirmed to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Four Corners programme that Uber Australia illegally deployed an in-house piece of spyware called Surfcam in order to spy on drivers for a rival rideshare company called Gocatch; Uber was able to compile lists of drivers' emails, car registration numbers and other details and it used these to poach Gocatch drivers and turn them into Uber drivers. Read the rest
Back in 2016, The Intercept ran a blockbuster series revealing how foreign businesspeople were illegally laundering massive campaign contributions to Jeb Bush and other GOP presidential hopefuls. Read the rest
When I spent a week in Singapore I didn't see a single graffiti tag anywhere. I did see a lot of great street art on buildings. This video profiles Singapore's most famous street artist. known as “Zero.” I remember his work well.
Singhealth, a Singaporean public health service, suffered the worst breach in Singaporean history, losing control of 1.5 million peoples' data; included in the breach was prescription data on 160,000 people, including Singapore's prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong. Read the rest
I went to Singapore a couple of months ago and was enchanted with the beauty and cleanliness of the tiny nation-state. I've never been anywhere that felt more futuristic -- the new architecture is Jetsonian. But many neighborhoods look like they haven't changed much since the late 1800s (they are still sparkling clean). It seemed like there were a half dozen restaurants on every block - Chinese, Malaysian, Indonesian, Indian, Middle Eastern. The blend of old and new, and the blend of many different ethnic groups was very appealing.
I was aware that Singapore is a strict country - they execute drug smugglers, and chewing gum is forbidden. But after watching this video, I also learned that selling gum in Singapore can land you in prison for two years. Singing in public (without a license) is punishable by two months in prison. Connecting to someone else's Wifi could cost you three years in the slammer. Neglecting to flush a public toilet could result in a $150 fine -- and cops can tell because some toilets have urine detectors installed in them that cause the door to be locked so the offender can be nabbed. Being naked in your own house carries a $1000 penalty. CCTV's monitor people in public and will get sent tickets for jaywalking. In this Asian Boss video, Singaporeans are asked if they are aware of the laws, and what they think of them. Read the rest
The recent Trump-Kim man-child summit in Singapore was already awkward and now Bad Lip Reading has made it even more so by redubbing some of their conversations.
Nailed it!
Attendees at a silent candlelight vigil in honor of Prabagaran Srivijayan -- a Mayasian migrant worker who was executed for drug trafficking on July 14 -- have been notified that they are the subjects of a police investigation. Read the rest
The Marina Bay Sands in Singapore has lots of cool features, but this whirlpool fountain outisde their shopping area could keep some visitors transfixed all day. Read the rest
Singapore, fearing cyberattacks -- especially ones related to the ongoing South China Sea cold war -- will, as of next May, disconnect its entire civil service from the internet, airgapping the whole government. Read the rest
Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice and Noodle and Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle sell lunch dishes for less than USD2.00, but that's not a predictor of the food's quality, as both restaurants have been awarded Michelin stars for their cuisine. Read the rest
In 2007, Singaporean blogfather Mr Brown discovered this video, which is literally the most best thing you will ever see, this week: middle-aged Singaporean government officials rapping(ish) about the nation's public-private partnership strategy, with fresh rhymes like "They call me CEO, hear me out everyone/My aim, a vibrant media-hub for the city/Singapore-made content can be number one/Media choice and jobs for everyone." Read the rest
Singaporeans are the most prolific speculators on UK commercial property, and the United Overseas Bank is the most prolific lender to Singaporeans who want to speculate in that market -- and now they're turning off the faucet. Read the rest
Show Kites Singapore flew this 200-foot custom-built octopus kite that requires six people to launch and control. Read the rest
