News Stories

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

Next Years models... don't they already have refrigerates with LCD screens connected to the internet?

Models with LCD screens that scan bar codes or rfid of what you put in, then it either lets you know you're low ... or it could auto-order refills for delivery.

[Xellos-_^]

“When a prosecutor steps over the boundaries of proper conduct and into unethical territory, the government has a duty to own up to it and to give assurances that it will not happen again,” the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said Tuesday.


But in all of the U.S. attorney’s legal filings, the court said, “we cannot find a single hint of appreciation of the seriousness of the misconduct. … Instead, the government attempts to shift blame” to the defense lawyer in the case.


The appeals court is known for liberal rulings, but this decision was written by one of its most conservative judges, Carlos Bea, joined by two fellow Republican appointees.


http://blog.sfgate.com/crime/2012/02...rs-misconduct/

at least one branch of the government still has a partially functional brain.

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

at least one branch of the government still has a partially functional brain.

Talk about getting publicly hoisted by the virtual petard.... I think its great when conservative judges *actually* *think* conservatively - instead as fascist/corporatist puppets.

[ganbaru]

Oldest Swiss private bank is newest U.S. target
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...81F0CE20120216

Fighters, radar, marine patrols top Asia's military wish-list
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...81F0DO20120216

[Rahan]

Switzerland Plans 'Janitor Satellite' to Clean Up Space Junk

http://www.space.com/14584-space-jun...one-swiss.html

PlanetES finally starting to become reality. (surprisingly, before a lethal accident took place, unlike the manga)

[Ithekro]

Israeli official: Iran embellishes nuclear gains

JERUSALEM (AP) – Israel's defense minister said Thursday that Iran's latest claim of dramatic advancements in its nuclear program is exaggerated, but that Tehran's nuclear pursuits remain a threat.

The Iranians are "presenting a situation as better than what it really is," Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Israel Radio.

On Wednesday, Iranian state TV broadcast pictures of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad overseeing what was described as the first Iranian-made fuel rod being inserted into a research reactor in northern Tehran.

Barak dismissed the presentation as a "show," saying that Iran wants to create the impression that its nuclear capabilities are now irreversible.

Iran is trying to "make it seem … like the point of no return is already behind them, which is not the case," Barak said.

Separately, the semiofficial Fars agency on Wednesday reported that a "new generation" of Iranian centrifuges — used to enrich uranium toward nuclear fuel — had gone into operation at the country's main enrichment facility at Natanz in central Iran.

Barak said he doubted that claim. He did not offer reasons for the doubts or elaborate.

Israel has been a leading voice in an international campaign to halt the Iranian nuclear program. Like the West, Israel accuses Iran of pursuing atomic weapons. Tehran denies the accusations, saying its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

Israel considers a nuclear-armed Iran to be a threat to its very existence, citing Ahmadinejad's repeated calls for Israel's destruction and Iran's support for anti-Israel militant groups.

With Israel claiming that time is running out to stop the Iranians, there are growing international concerns that the Israelis are preparing to attack Iran.

Barak spoke during a visit to Japan, where he was meeting senior Japanese officials. On Wednesday, Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda told Barak not to resort to military action against Iran. The international community fears an Israeli strike could set off a region-wide war and roil global oil markets.

Barak told Israel Radio he was "not disappointed" by the Japanese leader's call. He said his visit was a chance to "explain the complexity of the picture and the danger that Iran carries for the stability of the entire world, including the stability of oil supplies."

Barak added he now believes Japan better understands Israel's position and praised Tokyo for acting to reduce its dependence on Iranian oil.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

Israeli official: Iran embellishes nuclear gains

Maybe that is what they want the Israelis to think. To think that they are militarily incapable, then proceed to blow the heck out of the place when they let their guard down.

Come to think of it, for the past 3-4 decades Iran has been dominated by Islamic supremacists. If it wasn't for oil, the country would have turned into another Afghanistan.

[Haak]

Even if it wasn't invaded by the Soviets?

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Haak

Even if it wasn't invaded by the Soviets?

If I remembered the history right (I read a pretty biased history book on Iran/Persia back in the 1990s, thanks to Wikipedia now I know how one-sided the book is), Afghanistan became what it is because US only thought of that place as a way to get back at the Soviets for Vietnam, not going in and turning it into a permanent US ally because there is nothing there.

What I have heard from an oil engineer who once worked in pre-zenga-zenga Libya is that Afghanistan has oil, same as a couple of old traders. I am not sure about that, but either the people are too laid backed being bankrolled by the Soviets (they did the same to Vietnam and almost killed their economy) to explore for oil.

Then again, it is the reliance on oil that set back the Mideast economies, or rather, their sale of oil to US. Iran is pretty technologically advanced as compared to other ME countries (other than Israel, which is about 20 years ahead of them).

[ganbaru]

Putin's state sector crackdown short on substance
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...81F0NC20120216

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by Tom Bombadil

As for Singapore, why can't it solve its potential population problem by immigration? With the economist advantage it has over its neighbors, I believe Singapore can pick the top of the cream from almost everybody.

I promised a reply. The thread has moved on, so I apologise in advance for returning to an old topic.

As of last year, Singapore's population stands at around 5.2 million, out of which around 1.4 million are non-residents, that is, foreigners. These figures are publicly available at the Department of Statistics Singapore (SingStat) website.

To get a sense of how fast the population is growing, SingStat also provides a time series on population. As you can see, Singapore's population grew from 4.1 million in 2001 to 5.2 million last year, or 26.8%. In contrast, the resident population (which comprises citizens and permanent residents) grew from 3.3 million in 2001 to 3.8 million last year, or 15%.

So, it's clear that Singapore has been nothing but all-welcoming to foreigners. This is not new, actually, for the country's openness to foreigners has always been one of the cornerstones of its success. Singapore has one of the most transparent systems in the world for granting foreigners with permission to work. The schemes range from work permits for low-skilled labourers and domestic helpers to employment passes for graduates.

The government's official stand is that immigration is indeed needed to boost the population and, more importantly, to reduce its rate of ageing. Mr Lee Kuan Yew said as much back in January last year, that Singapore needs young immigrants to compensate for its dismal total fertility rate. Mr Lee repeated his views in September, this time backed up with the results of an Institute of Public Policy (IPS) study: Scenarios of Future Population Growth and Change in Singapore.

The study highlighted four key population-growth scenarios:

1) If total fertility rate (TFR) remains at 1.24 births per woman (as of 2008) and there is zero net migration — the inflow of migrants minus those who leave — the number of citizens and permanent residents would fall to 3.03 million by 2050 (from 3.8 million in 2011).

2) However, if 30,000 net migrants are added each year, Singapore's total resident population would increase to 4.89 million by 2050.

3) At 60,00 net migrants annually, the population would hit 6.76 million by 2050.

4) Assuming zero migration but an increase in TFR to 1.85 by 2025, the total resident population would still decline, to 3.37 million by 2050.

So, to answer your question, Singapore does, in fact, see no choice but to solve its population problem with immigration.

However, this will come at a heavy political price: Many Singaporeans are getting fed up with the perceived competition for resources — homes, public transport and, most crucially, jobs — sparked by the swift influx of foreigners, especially in the last three to four years. Just take a glance at the comments left by irate readers in this independent news site, and you'll get a good gauge of rising unhappiness with the government's relatively loose immigration policies.

The grouse arising from increased competition is real and not just perceived. Inflation has risen sharply in Singapore, from an annual inflation rate of 1% in 2001 to 5.2% last year, peaking at 6.6% in 2008. As visiting professor Linda Lim of the University of Michigan told me in March last year, it doesn't take a genius to figure out what's going on: When you cram so many more people in a small island like Singapore, you're naturally going to get much higher demand for resources. Hence, inflation.

There's another, more worrying, problem: Singapore's reliance on cheap foreign labour — in services as well as construction and manufacturing — has severely dented all incentive to raise productivity over the past decade. This is a problem that the government has belatedly realised and is only now trying to address. But it's an uphill battle, and the results haven't been rosy: Virtually no growth in productivity in 2011.

[SaintessHeart]

^ This.

One thing to note that, the young immigrants process is a vortex downhill. The reason of DINKies making up a large number of the local population is because of the obscene cost of living in Singapore, let alone raising a child. As more couples work harder to save for their future, they realised that the rate of increase in the cost of living would offset whatever they would have in the future, which would be insufficient to raise a child, let alone feed, clothe and send one to school.

The increase in the population density, as you have said, increases resource demand and drives up inflation, adding to the weight of the cost of living. Now people can't even feed themselves in the long term, how are they going to set aside money to raise a child?

And it goes back to square one - lower fertility rate, immigration policies to boost population, inflation and rising cost of living, less money to have kids, lower fertility rate......

Now where is the Bovansky Process when you need it?

[sneaker]

Though this is hardly an issue that is in any way unique to Singapore, but to most richer countries. Even if Singapore is only topped by Monaco, Japan, Hong Kong and Germany.

[monsta666]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

^ This.

One thing to note that, the young immigrants process is a vortex downhill. The reason of DINKies making up a large number of the local population is because of the obscene cost of living in Singapore, let alone raising a child. As more couples work harder to save for their future, they realised that the rate of increase in the cost of living would offset whatever they would have in the future, which would be insufficient to raise a child, let alone feed, clothe and send one to school.

The increase in the population density, as you have said, increases resource demand and drives up inflation, adding to the weight of the cost of living. Now people can't even feed themselves in the long term, how are they going to set aside money to raise a child?

And it goes back to square one - lower fertility rate, immigration policies to boost population, inflation and rising cost of living, less money to have kids, lower fertility rate......

Now where is the Bovansky Process when you need it?

But we got to remember that immigration or more precisely immigrants are not in themselves causing inflation; it is increasing population and the extra demand created from this population rise that is responsible for inflation. If hypothetically the people of Singapore did manage to maintain the replacement fertility rate or the population rose due to births then the same inflation would result. If anything it could be worse because all those babies/kids have to go through schooling before they become a productive member of society and the increased likelihood that once those kids got jobs they would have better pay or job security. On the other hand immigrants tend to work from day one at a lower wage with less job benefits which will keep costs down.

Also another issue that cannot be dismissed is out of border factors namely other countries surrounding Singapore also have increasing population or/and increasing levels of affluence. That all creates greater demands for resources which will drive costs up. To illustrate this example I show you how much resources China consumes:

This will all have a baring on prices in Singapore.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by sneaker

Though this is hardly an issue that is in any way unique to Singapore, but to most richer countries. Even if Singapore is only topped by Monaco, Japan, Hong Kong and Germany.

The real serious issue is that Singapore is heavily dependent on human resource - their ability to make their own human residents become both labour and consumer units at the same time is critical to domestic growth.

We have nothing else other than human beings (and the bloody Jurong and Tanjong Pagar ports Malaysia have been looking jealously at since 1965) to drive our economic growth. If there is a worldwide embargo on us, it is gg immediately, we are incapable of growing or mining anything on our own - the closest country I can think of that shares the same fate as us is Hong Kong.

[MrTerrorist]

Chinese Government to Directly License Japanese Anime

Well that's oneway to handle piracy.

[sneaker]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

The real serious issue is that Singapore is heavily dependent on human resource - their ability to make their own human residents become both labour and consumer units at the same time is critical to domestic growth.

We have nothing else other than human beings (and the bloody Jurong and Tanjong Pagar ports Malaysia have been looking jealously at since 1965) to drive our economic growth. If there is a worldwide embargo on us, it is gg immediately, we are incapable of growing or mining anything on our own - the closest country I can think of that shares the same fate as us is Hong Kong.

Japan and Germany aren't blessed with many resources either. They all rely on innovation.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by sneaker

Japan and Germany aren't blessed with many resources either. They all rely on innovation.

Uhh no. Japan and Germany has much more resources than Singapore, in terms of land, manpower, natural. Self-sustainment abilities in those two countries are significantly higher than that of Singapore. If there is any problem with Germany in the near future with regards to their economy and society, it would be this :

German president resigns in setback for Merkel

Time to Wulff the fluff in the next German election.

[sneaker]

I was more thinking along the lines of oil, minerals etc., but yeah, I guess I'm going to withdraw my statement as Singapore is on a different scale compared to the others, even if they are facing the same problem.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by sneaker

I was more thinking along the lines of oil, minerals etc., but yeah, I guess I'm going to withdraw my statement as Singapore is on a different scale compared to the others, even if they are facing the same problem.

Come to think of it, you would be right if you are talking about a sole type of industry - primary, secondary and tertiary industry; all the countries you have mentioned got most of their GDP from tertiary industries and HVA (high-value-added) secondary industries, so technically speaking, if we are to talk about manpower affecting the contribution to economy in the tertiary industry, these similarities could serve as a thorn in the flesh to the GDP.

What I meant was that Singapore's HVA secondary industry is too weak and small to fall back on, despite it contributing greatly to the number of jobs here. The root of the problem is land size - unlike Germany, we don't have the land to let Heckler and Koch test their toys or Lufthansa to build those gigantic overhauling/assembly hangars without digging underground.