I voted him in for his big brains

I just read a poignant blog article on the psyche of Singaporeans' political soul - We like big brains.

Question

My biggest (and potentially most sensitive) question: Do Singaporeans actually support their uniquely efficient policies? An earlier study found that Hong Kongers are statist at heart; are Singaporeans any different? My suspicion is that the source of Singapore's success is not the public's unusually high economic literacy, but its unusual deference to economically literate elites. Will experience confirm my suspicions?

Answer

Admittedly, this informal survey suffers from potentially severe selection bias. Perhaps civil servants exaggerate the incompetence of the public to make themselves feel important. But I suspect that if selection bias plays a role, it goes in the opposite direction: Civil servants are more likely to exaggerate the popularity of their policies to make themselves feel well-liked. The fact that "resignation" remains a popular answer is telling: The architects of policies like ERP might like to fantasize that the public loves their work, but daily experience gets in the way.

My philosophy of running

I have this strange relationship with my running partner, Ben. As we do our morning runs (8 miles), I incessantly complain about how tiring the pace is (well, it is to me), argue about how many hills we are doing (it's becoming a monotonically increasing number), and question why we are even running (actually I do want to run).

Ben just laughs and reminds me that I am constantly the one who is suggesting that we do this or that. Like how right after we did a 10km competition, at the finishing line as I am panting and cussing, I add, "So we do a half marathon next?".

Busy? Mind map!

My colleague has been advocating using mind map to organize his thoughts and to-dos. There are several software which does this, even some on the web. However, the free versions on the web, sadly, do not allow for easy export of data (only easy import).

Thanks to open source though, we have a free implementation of creating mind maps that all the online mind map tools support (but then again, there is always email). [Freemind]

Cool stuff:

• Google can sort 1PB easily.


• My project is mentioned in a Google blog post - can you find out which one it is?

Photographer

:: Schmap San Francisco Fifth Edition: Photo Inclusion


Hi Yew Jin,

I am delighted to let you know that your submitted photo
has been selected for inclusion in the newly released fifth
edition of our Schmap San Francisco Guide:

Lombard Street
http://www.schmap.com/sanfrancisco/sights_nobhill/p=29401/i=29401_24.jpg

If you use an iPhone or iPod touch, then this same link
will take you directly to your photo in the iPhone version
of our guide. On a desktop computer, you can still see
exactly how your photo is displayed and credited in the
iPhone version of our guide at:

Lombard Street
http://www.schmap.com/?m=iphone#uid=sanfrancisco&sid=sights_nobhill&p=29401&i=29401_24

Finally, if you have a blog, you might also like to check
out the customizable widgetized version of our Schmap San
Francisco Guide, complete with your published photo:

http://www.schmap.com/guidewidgets/p=74671132N00/c=SH2001770

Thanks so much for letting us include your photo - please
enjoy the guide!

Best regards,

Emma Williams,
Managing Editor, Schmap Guides

Hey look - I got a photo taken by me in a guide book! Check that off my to-do list!