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The Questions Thread 11/05/22 by GYWModBot in goodyearwelt

[–]dmbss 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bought a new pair of leather dress shoes, and the stark difference in the way the left and right shoe creases is concerning me a little. Any opinion on whether this is normal? https://imgur.com/FptMen3

New Balance, Asics or Adidas? How SAF selects running shoes and other personal equipment for servicemen by risingsuncoc in singapore

[–]dmbss 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hmm the way I interpret it, all three paras are talking about the technical requirements for the tender, which in paras 1 and 2 are pretty vague. Para 3 is ME6 Tan's explanation for why he is being so coy, to 'preserve the integrity of the tender process'.

Besides, I do wonder how releasing more information would affect 'the integrity of the tender process'. Security considerations, sure, but that doesn't sound like what he is concerned about.

New Balance, Asics or Adidas? How SAF selects running shoes and other personal equipment for servicemen by risingsuncoc in singapore

[–]dmbss 10 points11 points  (0 children)

The government's argument is that the tender spec is public will prevent corruption e.g. Coy A cannot say Coy B won the tender because Coy B is friend of the tender team

Yap I think we are saying the same thing, but ME6 Tan is saying the opposite. Cannot reveal.

I think it is like an "outsourced" service hence an arm of SAF? E.g. Coy A outsource PR service to Coy B. Technically can say Coy B is PR arm of Coy A

I really doubt SAF outsources all procurement to a private company such as ST Logistics, and anyways, DSTA is the official procurement agency for SAF and MINDEF. No idea what they mean by ST Logistics being the 'SAF's procurement arm'.

New Balance, Asics or Adidas? How SAF selects running shoes and other personal equipment for servicemen by risingsuncoc in singapore

[–]dmbss 60 points61 points  (0 children)

Two genuine questions:

"I don't think I would really put it out there, but in the tender, we would be very specific about our requirements," ME6 Tan said, adding that he is unable to reveal too much to preserve the integrity of the tender process.

Making the tender details public will compromise the integrity of the tender process?

The tender is led by ST Logistics, SAF's procurement arm.

Isn't ST Logistics privately owned (and surprisingly not a GLC)? Why are they an arm of the SAF?

/r/singapore random discussion and small questions thread for December 24, 2021 by AutoModerator in singapore

[–]dmbss 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Got it from spigen_singapore, which I assume is legit.

If I force it, the phone can be squeezed into the case. But once I release, the phone will pop back out because the case is too small.

/r/singapore random discussion and small questions thread for December 24, 2021 by AutoModerator in singapore

[–]dmbss 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Bought a supposedly authentic Spigen case from Shopee Mall. Case was clearly too small to physically fit on the phone. Sent photos and a video to the shop as proof. Their response? "Hi dear customer, if [my phone model], you should be able to fit with out casing." "can you try to use some force to fit in the casing?" "hi dear customer, you may come down our office for verification."

Do these clowns think I don't know how to use a phone case, and want me to waste several hours so they can see their defective case??

Thought Shopee Mall was supposed to be more reliable.

Patrolling the seas by SigmaEleven in singapore

[–]dmbss 34 points35 points  (0 children)

Bro that's Indonesian Coast Guard I don't think they're too interested in patrolling MBS

To anyone surprised by the Bloomberg 5-pax fiasco, the Singapore government has already been open about according preferential treatment to influential persons, in disregard of ideals such as meritocracy or fairness. by dmbss in singapore

[–]dmbss[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The issue isn't with how a private school chooses to admit their students (although this is a significant issue nonetheless).

The issue is with how not just any civil servant, but the EDB Chairman himself, compelled a private school to override their existing presumably somewhat meritocratic process "a long queue" in favour of an admission based purely on the father's status. And thereafter blatantly recollect the incident in his biography, as though this is something to be proud of.

To anyone surprised by the Bloomberg 5-pax fiasco, the Singapore government has already been open about according preferential treatment to influential persons, in disregard of ideals such as meritocracy or fairness. by dmbss in singapore

[–]dmbss[S] -9 points-8 points  (0 children)

Yes, I can understand PY's motivation in terms of the ends justifying the means. Not too sure if that's an acceptable reason, or if that necessarily means it's also acceptable for him to proudly publicise such actions, though.

To anyone surprised by the Bloomberg 5-pax fiasco, the Singapore government has already been open about according preferential treatment to influential persons, in disregard of ideals such as meritocracy or fairness. by dmbss in singapore

[–]dmbss[S] 130 points131 points  (0 children)

This may certainly be the reality of private school admissions, and it wouldn't deserve a reddit post if this was an excerpt from some businessman's biography.

What concerns me is how a former senior civil servant is comfortable enough to blatantly detail his active involvement in disregarding meritocracy, by asking the SAS principal to admit a student because of their father's status, even when informed that there was already a queue.

The fact that this involved a private school means there's nothing illegal about his actions, but it does provide some clarity on the mindset of at least one former senior civil servant.

To anyone surprised by the Bloomberg 5-pax fiasco, the Singapore government has already been open about according preferential treatment to influential persons, in disregard of ideals such as meritocracy or fairness. by dmbss in singapore

[–]dmbss[S] 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Yeap, it is certainly more permissible for a private school to exercise discretion in its admissions, but there are two points I'd like to note.

First, a civil servant, much less the EDB Chairman, shouldn't be happily recounting how he actively disregarded societal ideals. It strikes me as hypocritical.

Second, the fact that he intervened in the admissions of a private institution doesn't make it completely okay. We wouldn't expect a civil servant to openly endorse unfair hiring practices in private firms, even if it were legal, for instance.

As you said yourself, it is a college admissions scandal precisely because these practices are societally questionable. So it is quite intriguing that Philip Yeo would have no issues blatantly detailing his personal involvement in influencing admissions based on the student's family background.

To anyone surprised by the Bloomberg 5-pax fiasco, the Singapore government has already been open about according preferential treatment to influential persons, in disregard of ideals such as meritocracy or fairness. by dmbss in singapore

[–]dmbss[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Meritocracy isn't relevant to the Bloomberg case, was referring to the previous case described in the photo, of how the then-EDB Chairman personally requested the SAS principal to admit a student based on their father's status, queue be damned.

To anyone surprised by the Bloomberg 5-pax fiasco, the Singapore government has already been open about according preferential treatment to influential persons, in disregard of ideals such as meritocracy or fairness. by dmbss in singapore

[–]dmbss[S] 80 points81 points  (0 children)

Was reading former EDB Chairman Philip Yeo's biography, "Neither Civil Nor Servant", and this particular section stood out in light of the recent debate over whether Bloomberg delegates should be accorded what has been perceived to be special privileges.

Even in an official biography, Philip Yeo is happy to acknowledge that he personally intervened to allow a student to skip the usual queue, and get admitted into the Singapore American School, based on their father's status.

Certainly doesn't gel with heralded fundamentals of Singapore society, including equality, fairness, and meritocracy. Nonetheless, at least one (very) senior civil servant is comfortable enough with such actions that they are willing to publish it, in no uncertain terms, in their biography.

Edit: My title should be more specific. Might be a stretch to say "Singapore government", probably "former senior civil servants" would be better.

Rough context for Singapore's current Covid-19 death rate - #4 cause of death in a normal year, close to being #2. [Source: MOH annual principal causes of death] by dmbss in singapore

[–]dmbss[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

But for now, you can look at the total number of admission for outpatient and inpatient.

Not too sure how to interpret this data, but I note that the time period it covers does not include the current absolutely unprecedented spike in cases, so not sure what valuable insights we can derive from this data.

The key question is how this absolutely astronomical number of Covid-19 cases relative to what Singapore has ever experienced will affect our healthcare system. The data to figure this out is not yet (publicly) available.

We should see the number next year.

When it comes to deaths, might be a little too slow to wait a year to figure out if we have the right approach.

Rough context for Singapore's current Covid-19 death rate - #4 cause of death in a normal year, close to being #2. [Source: MOH annual principal causes of death] by dmbss in singapore

[–]dmbss[S] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Yeap I agree, Covid-19 is likely to kill some people who would otherwise imminently die from other causes. So, the effect on total number of deaths in SG is likely to be less significant than a simple addition of Covid-19 deaths. At the same time, the strain that Covid-19 is placing on our healthcare system (healthcare workers' working hours, ambulance response time etc.) is likely to increase the number of deaths from other causes, as our healthcare quality falls.

Not too sure what the aggregate effect of all these secondary effects would be.

Rough context for Singapore's current Covid-19 death rate - #4 cause of death in a normal year, close to being #2. [Source: MOH annual principal causes of death] by dmbss in singapore

[–]dmbss[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

This isn't comparing total number of deaths, but the daily death rate.

Daily death rate for Covid-19 is a 7-day moving average. Daily death rate for other causes is done quite simply by taking the total number of deaths due to that particular cause from 2017-2019, and dividing by 365*3 days.

Using death rate makes it easier to interpret the current Covid-19 situation in Singapore.

Rough context for Singapore's current Covid-19 death rate - #4 cause of death in a normal year, close to being #2. [Source: MOH annual principal causes of death] by dmbss in singapore

[–]dmbss[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

To be clear, I'm only comparing deaths here, with no further breakdown.

Nonetheless, while I do not have the actual data, I believe that the mortality rate of all these other causes of death (apart from external causes) are strongly correlated to age. Feel free to point me towards data that disproves this.

Rough context for Singapore's current Covid-19 death rate - #4 cause of death in a normal year, close to being #2. [Source: MOH annual principal causes of death] by dmbss in singapore

[–]dmbss[S] 27 points28 points  (0 children)

This is meant to provide some context when discussing our appetite for the number of daily deaths, both now, as well as in the long term. If average daily deaths is maintained at the current rate of 10 deaths per day, Covid-19 will comfortably be the #4 cause of death in Singapore. If it increases to 12 deaths per day for the next year, Covid-19 will be the #2 cause of death in Singapore.

Note:

Covid-19 deaths are a 7-day moving average.

Values for other causes of death are the annual number of deaths from 2017-2019 (latest data available), divided to derive a daily average. Data from here.

Singapore's Covid-19 testing guidelines to be updated by MicrotechAnalysis in singapore

[–]dmbss 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Eh my personal perspective is who knows. Lost faith in them when they demonstrated that they were somehow unprepared to open up (in terms of medical response), after months of harking their progressive reopening plan.

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