A couple of comments.

As you noted, censorship in Singapore is primarily political, although the MDA does also frown upon pornography. Interestingly, and in my opinion properly, they also take a very dim view of hate speech of any kind. This place would tear itself apart quickly if there weren't measures in place to keep three different races and four very different religions from attacking each other. A Christian pastor made some denigrating comments about Buddhism a while back, which brought not only immediate chastising by the entire religious community, but also a rebuke by the government (the ISD is the same group that can detain people indefinitely under the Internal Security Act). Personally, my biggest complaint about censorship is that is prevents me from easily using things like e-books. I have to use an Amazon account I set up while in the US, because e-books or other downloadable media can't be sold in Singapore.

You're also right that cars are very expensive in Singapore, and actually a bit more expensive than your example. A typical Mercedes A-Class here is about $160K without COE (Certificate of Entitlement - a ten year license to own a car). COE prices go up and down with supply and demand, and right now a COE for this type of car is about $65K. When Michael Fay was caned here for vandalizing cars in the Orchard Rd area, a lot of folks in the US didn't realize just how much economic damage he and his friends were doing (they were egging and spray painting cars).

Borders isn't doing well here, either. I would guess that you visited the their Wheelock Place location (corner of Orchard Rd and Paterson/Scotts), which was their flagship store in Singapore and which is now closed. It was a nice store, but it didn't have nearly the selection that Kinokuniya has next door in Ngee Ann City, and as you noted, a lot of what they carried was dreck. Rent in that area is quite expensive (~2 1/2 Mercedes/Month), and my observations were that the casual browsing atmosphere that helps sales in the US worked against it here - People often spent a lot of time in the store without buying anything. The magazine section was particularly bad for this. Add high costs, lower sales, Internet shopping, and e-books, and things don't look too good for them.

All is not lost in the bookstore world, however. If you're ever back here and are interested in a really neat local book store, wander up Orchard Rd to Tanglin Shopping Centre and check out Select Books. It specializes in Asian, and in particular SE Asian topics, including a lot about local politics. It's one of my favorite places to visit on a Saturday afternoon (and yes, I usually buy something ).

This is also the main reason I'm experimenting. The 5 year old laptop is wicked heavy and slow. But "Shiny" as we call it isn't cutting it. Just too dang ting for my eyes -- by the time I zoom and huge the font, I only get 50 words on the page. (I have figured out the First Unread Post thing on TFB though. Don't aim for the NEW button, go for the title. Then the FUP link works.) It's also quite heavy for its size.

I think I'll be trading it in for Addy's lust object the ASUS Prime. If Best Buy will ever stock it. But you'll have to pry my Kindle Keyboard away from me.

The story when I was last there was that much pornography is imported onto the island by guys in small boats landing at (relatively) deserted beaches. The other half of the story was that many of these smugglers were summarily executed before they got to shore. Importation of pornography ranked behind drug smuggling as a major crime and just ahead of importing gum.

There used to be multilingual posters everywhere in the subway stations about the diversity of the people and why they need to live harmoniously together.

The policy on automobiles is softened by really good public transportation systems. It even costs to enter the CBD during the day. And you have to prove that you have a place to park a car before you can obtain one.

Ive had students in "The Developing World" course decide to check out Singapore as a place to live and do business. I do point out the downsides but also speculate that Singapore, more than London or New York City, represents a model for many cities of the developing world.

I gave my Kindle Keyboard to my Mom. She's not liking it from what I hear around the family. She would never tell me directly that she dislikes it. We got our daughter the Kindle touch for her birthday (with ads). I haven't seen it leave her hands since she got it on 12/15. Unfortunately, she was given $150 in Amazon gift cards for Christmas and spent every penny of it not on books, but cosmetics. Teenagers drive me nuts.

Kindle Fire:
Plus: The pretty covers on the bodice rippers.

Minus: The books don't seem to be in their nice collections (folders) so when W2 uses it, he has to wade through 230 trash costume romances to find the real books. "Are there that many Dukes in real life?"

Minus: Hangs when I download apps.

Minus: REALLY shiny, except for the finger spots.

Now this is bad.

Associated Press

I returned the Kindle Fire. Traded it in for an iPad2. Discovered the "3-finger tap" to zoom, and I'm in love. Kindle who?

Do you owe any of your girlfriends money?

Oh yay! Now THAT's a tablet.

I'm jealous, but I'm happy for you

This looks nice. No pricing yet.



PC World

If it was the one with the e Ink, I bet she's pissed off.


Hey, Orly -- we found your laptop!

If the main rumors about the iPad 3 are true, Lenovo is following the venerable IBM tradition of being late with innovations. Consumers are already thinking ahead.

The next big thing seems to be the ultrabooks. I wonder how tablets will stand up to these in the market.

Again without intent to advertise, people of the student persuasion or people who know people of that persuasion might find today's unusual Kindle Daily Deal interesting. There are more than 500 discounted books available that might be of interest to a student, from the old standby reference books to the somewhat more exotic, such as Fieldwork in Ukrainian Sex. Some might be assigned as extra reading in a Spring 2012 class, perhaps including The Collapse of Complex Societies (New Studies in Archaeology) by Joseph A. Tainter or Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson. You have to verify your student status by having an email address that is identifiable as belonging to a school.

You don't have to own a Kindle to download and read Kindle eBooks.

I saw that but didn't bother to look at what books were offered. I went back and find a few I'm going to buy. I'm glad you posted this. I also noticed that there were a few books on the California Bar Exam. Interesting.

[quote="GreatGrey"]Real books have more fun!

Snip ...

Stole it. Wonderful.

Very cute, GG

For crime fiction readers, the Kindle Daily Deal for the next few hours:



I just bought six of them.

Interestingly, Ed McBain wrote more than 35 mystery novels in the 87^th Precinct series. Being a bit intimidated by having to choose a few from 35 novels, I found a review page that lists McBain's novels in order of the most favorable reviews (the list includes novels not in that series as well). Some of the best-reviewed books are not in Amazon's pick of 35. I particularly regret not finding The Frumious Bandersnatch : A Novel of the 87th Precinct. I did buy two.

One of the great things about the Kindle system is that if my DX ever reaches its storage capacity, I can just store them upstairs in my Amazon library. Assuming Amazon remains a viable (and trustworthy) company, they are there for as long as I shall need them.

I now have a Kindle, too, but there's still nothing like a real library, with real books. (I'm sitting in mine right now with a couple thousand books in it.)

Absolutely.

I'm kicking back right now with a very nice single malt, reading Darwin's Vegetable Mould and Earthworms. It's remarkably readable, and much more interesting than I'd originally expected. I've got a copy (free) on my iPad, but the one I'm actually reading is the 1st Edition (11th Thousand) that I found at a nice little place on Charing Cross Road the last time I was in London.

*cough*sellout*cough*

Both physical books and e-books can be appreciated. I, too, am surrounded by books in my study, always have been. I've developed a preference for reading on an e-ink screen. For me, it's superior to reading on book pages. It's just a personal preference, and everybody has them, but I think there will always be a market composed of both types of book-lovers. E-books are books, too, from now on. Nobody has to like both, but you can love books on both or either, and I think that's a good thing.