Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Book List Refreshed 28/08/2012

I have removed:

Born to Run by Christopher McDougall
Dying of Money by Jens O. Parsson
Cornered by Barry C. Lynn
Cyber War by Richard A. Clarke and Robert Knake

I have added:

The Wisdom of Whores by Elizabeth Pisani
Tiger Head, Snake Tails by Jonathan Fenby
Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
The Upside of Irrationality by Dan Ariely

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Google Autocomplete: Why is Singapore so...

As inspired by another blog noted in this article...

Basically, the idea is to type "Why is Singapore so" into Google and see how Google autocompletes the query. That way, you can tell what most people are really thinking about this little red dot (and no, it's not about our food, at least not in the way you think).

The valence of the results matters prominently. Most results have negative valence. As the originator of this idea stated, most people tend to search for reasons for negative rather than positive phenomena.So, don't be offended by what you find here.

I did the Googling so you don't have to. Partial queries in bold, in case you want to verify the results yourself.

*Drum roll* please...

The answer to what people think about Singapore?

Why is Singapore so hot, rich, boring and expensive? (Aye to that.)

And the various fun-fun combinations... Take note especially of the order in which the queries are autocompleted. Remember that Google's algorithm sorts by likelihood of the query.

Why Singapore needs immigrants, need foreign talent, banned chewing gum, is so hot?
Why are Singaporeans so rich, kiasu, selfish and unfriendly?
Why are Singapore cars so expensive, and girls so difficult? (Oh, I love this one. Ladies, take note. You're a pain, but less of a pain compared to COE.)
Why Singaporeans migrate, are so stupid, don't recycle and waste food.
Why do Singaporeans hate China, hate foreigners, say la and migrate?
Why Singaporeans like to complain.
Why Singaporeans love to buy property and love food. (note that Google prioritizes property above food. Apparently, condo launch beats prata, laksa and char kway teow hands down.)
Why Singaporeans hate filipinos, foreigners, indians and malaysians?
Why Singaporeans don't recycle, do not recycle, don't splurge with profits and don't want to have children.
(PAP shills and sycophants, and assorted political observers, take note. The environmental lobby here is becoming stronger and stronger.)

This is a gold mine of information. Short, pithy, and you get an inside line on what people are really thinking in the privacy of their Internet searches.