Stuff you must read today (Wed, 16 Jan 2013)

A Hand Model Remembers Steve Jobs | The Bygone Bureau
“The 1960s were the golden age of American hand modelling. Despite lithe fingers from the Ukraine and flawless Brazilian cuticles, we retained our stranglehold on the industry. Why? Because we had better moisturizer”.

Choosing an excerpt from this article was damn difficult because there were too many hilarious gems like the one above.

16 Ways I Blew My Marriage | Single Dad Laughing
Quite a good list which makes sense, though my suggestion – if you want to use it for yourself: reverse the negative phrasing of the items so it’s more positive i.e. instead of “Don’t stop holding her hand”, change it to “Keep on holding hands” so that it’s easier to remember/more palatable for the human mind.

Silent treatment: Spin doctors go into damage control mode after disgraced MP Michael Palmer quits politics | Senang Diri
“Indeed, it make take decades of obeisance, war stories handed down from one newsroom generation to the next, more rice bowls of journalists broken over time before one day, Singapore wakes up to a generation of running dogs – to borrow a phrase from Singapore’s first Chief Minister, David Marshall – who will not only eat out of one’s hand but will also beg and do tricks on command”.

A plausible premise for an s/f text set in Singapore?

The private sector does not always deliver better value in public services | The Guardian
“…the limitations of our addiction to private sector leadership models is most obvious when the two sides try and work together and the strained relationship is well-illustrated by the many fiascos over public-private partnership and crises over government outsourcing”.

What is “Society”? And Gay News | bread crumbs and candy cottage
“Please, [Singapore] society has accepted many worse things than homosexuality. Remember the chewing gum ban in Singapore? Remember the building of casinos in Singapore? Society was against them but the government went ahead and now, nobody cares after chewing gum and Singapore hasn’t become a den of vice of mafia shootings and drug smuggling yet. The point is: the government MUST change laws first. Laws are instructive and tell people what to think”.

Policy shapes culture, nowhere more so than Singapore.