If you try to get free boxes from a shop in Singapore, they will generally refuse to provide empty cardboard boxes to you. This may seem strange to people from countries where its common to get free boxes from shops. There are three reasons for this depending on the kind…

This is a work in progress list of all the things I learn while washing dishes about washing dishes. — Wipe first Use napkins and toilet paper to wipe away leftover food, crumbs, oil before you start washing. Water hand wash Your hand is better than any sponge. While rinsing the dish rub it with your hand cleaning off all the oil and junk. …

Just like any other collectable, bitcoin’s main feature is that people want to collect it. The other things bitcoin can do are secondary; like an old comic. Collectors don’t buy the comic only to read it; they ascribe some value in having it — in collecting it. — We see many digital collectables marketplaces these days. You can collect bitcoin, thousands of other coins, digital property, digital art. There are collectables markets in old coins, Magic the Gathering Cards, magazines and cars. Logically, we should see similar markets appear within the digital space. …

For the last four years, I’ve slowly been removing and reducing my personal digital data. I used to be into lifelogging and was constantly signing up for new tools. At work, I found new ways to create and push content. More Data was always good. — I’ve been writing this article in pieces during the last four years. It’s still incomplete. I’m publishing it in draft as I now realize I’ll be working on this until I die.

Read these pairs and consider “who am I and who are you”. Sometimes our lives are best seen in contrast. — You spend an hour each day working out at the gym. I mop the floors every night. You spend much more than an hour each day liking and commenting on your social feed. Sharing and commenting. I write an article, work on a book, practice sketching or write in my…

Singapore just finished an election cycle. This was the first time I could vote as a new Citizen. I was proud, disappointed, surprised and entertained. — I started wondering about why we vote at all and why do we often default to feeling that “one person, one vote” is a better/the best. The majority (around 80 countries in the world) practice some form of voting representation where each person is given a vote to cast for…

Learning another language (even for children) is a massive investment of time and money (and not as easy as certain apps claim…). Only invest the effort when necessary or with strong personal interest. And keep in mind, technology will likely make it arbitrary, soon-ish. — The science of language learning is complex. Parents stress about ensuring their children learn English, Chinese and their native languages by 5 years old. Yet we have no way to predict the utility of those languages and the cost-impact of learning and maintaining a suitable fluency. …

Starting a company and getting it to the point where it can be sold isn’t easy. The few founders and their teams who do accomplish this each year have accomplished it in a manner that by definition isn’t easily to replicate (If it was easy to replicate, no one would buy your business — they would just copy it.). — There is a massive global cultism to startup founding these days. Everyone believes they should either be founding a startup, working in one or funding one. …

Like all things, it’s relative. Here I do a simple comparison with Hong Kong and plan to add other countries, regions and policy info. — It depends on how you define “green”. Even solar energy can be seen as dirty due to the materials and costs involved in production, maintenance of the panels. The majority of Singapore powergen is via natural gas. They have sizable rooftop solar installations and a test bed for alternative technologies.