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Sunday, Oct 20, 2013 - 22:20 SGT
Posted By: Gilbert

Sticking To The Script

Pushing The Frontiers



Came across this pretty amazing demonstration from SIGGRAPH - extract 3D models from photos! Actually, geometric inference has existed for a long time, but usually required multiple source images. I would therefore say that the major contribution here is in demonstrating that for some classes of objects - i.e. rotationally-symmetric cylinders and boxes - a single photo is adequate for projection estimation, when coupled with good edge snapping and inpainting.

It goes without saying that unseen irregular details cannot be recovered, which recalls the joke about an old lady who was suitably impressed by her retoucher's ability to enhance old photos of her father. "Dear, might you remove his hat too, that I might remember which side his hair is parted on?" Then again, with enough data...


So Carry On

Following on from last week, an MP has weighed in on the electric car situation, and has at least recognized that "citizen initiative" is not going to get us very far here, with successful implementations elsewhere generally backed by favourable policies. Actually, since vehicle prices are heavily distorted here, the obvious approach if the authorities really want more electric cars is to simply allow heavy rebates on the COE.

The biggest remaining bugbears would then be range and recharging time - apparently, while efficient (though it matters a lot how the electricity is generated in the first place), current electric cars manage only about 150km or less on a single charge, about 25% of the range of an average gas-fueled car. Of course, in a dense city like Singapore, this is not necessarily an insurmountable disadvantage... until one realises that charging takes over half an hour in the best case, as opposed to a few minutes for normal cars.

Multiplying these quantities, it is evident that a switchover to electric vehicles would entail a roughly thirtyfold increase in refueling/recharging facilities, just to maintain current turnover times, before taking into account how frustrating it will be to devote half an hour every few days to rejuice the battery, and the chance of logjams at recharging stations.

Don't get me wrong - I'm a fanboy of technological progress - but it looks to me as if a lot remains to be done if electric vehicles are to be a viable option, such as installing charging points at parking lots... and guess who has to do that, since so few here have a garage to run an extension cord from? Ball's in your court, MoT and LTA.

And to round it all up: borg roaches (some surgery required) and amusing animal psychology.


Critical Reading Lesson Of The Week

Usual The State's Times hook (first two paragraphs):

"Tomorrow, Tong Seng Coffeeshop owner Ong Choon Seng is expecting the largest turnout at his halal eatery in its 16-year history... After all, he is giving away free meals during lunch and dinner to say thank you to his loyal customers before Tong Seng rolls down its shutters for good - another casualty of the (alleged) manpower crunch (again)."

Not in the free version, but buried deep in the full story:

"But (the owner's) family, who bought the shophouse a decade ago for under $4 million, has received attractive offers. While he declined to reveal how much, real estate expert Ku Swee Yong estimates that the property could fetch between $15 million and $18 million today." (probably not unrealistic, given that the record is near S$24 million)

Nowhere else is the eminently sensible cashing out with 300+% in capital appreciation suggested as the reason! What the heck are the editors doing?! If it had to be done this way, it should at least be more entertaining... and to top it off, Wednesday's The New Paper covered Tong Seng's last day on Page 18, and had the owner quoted as saying that they closed down as upkeeping a coffee shop in the CBD was difficult, what with all their competitors upgrading their facilities, and nary a word about not having enough employees.

Might we be one of the few places where the tabloids are more credible than the broadsheets, due to the former not bearing the responsibility of being an official newspaper of record(ing whatever the higher-ups want it to say), an attitude that can't be helping their bottom line at all.


Supply Is Its Own Demand

The deluge of labour crunch warnings might be a bit easier to stomach, if the fact weren't that the rate of growth of the foreign workforce has barely hit a speedbump, despite all the statements to the contrary; reproduced here are the Ministry of Manpower's own figures:

DateForeign WorkforceYear-on-year Increase
Dec 2007900800-
Dec 20081057700 156900
Dec 20091053500 -4200
Dec 20101113200 59700
Dec 20111197900 84700
Dec 20121268300 70400
Jun 20131296800 28500 (half-year)


Projecting the half-year growth so far, we would expect a figure of around 57000 for 2013, barely different from what has been observed in the recent past, but which has already drawn a steady stream of sob stories from the bastion of incisive independent thinking that is The State's Times.

Let's put it another way - imagine that our cranky citizens have a total change of heart, and lobby for the government to give businesses all that they want - 60000 to 80000 workers coming in per year still not enough? Why not make it a round 200000 net annual increase? That should crush the crunch completely sooner or later, right? Majulah Singapura!

However, even in this ultra-pro-business fantasy scenario, my guess would be... very unlikely.

Close your eyes and imagine 200000 people.


That's two packed Maracanã Stadiums
(Source: Questpoint)


Quite a lot, isn't it? 200000 additional souls sure can do a lot of work... but they also have to: eat, travel, purchase clothes, visit the doctor, be entertained, get handphones, secure a place to sleep, etc etc - just like all the existing residents.

The next question is, naturally: but who is going to provide all these services, in view of the now-increased demand?

Going by history, government officials and business federation head honchos will sit down over tea, have a pally-pally chat, calculate that 160000 fellows are needed to satisfy the net demand of the 200000 new hires, and get a The State's Times lackey to plead their case, concomitant with their usual standards of journalistic oversight. Once the 160000 enter, however, the government-business complex suddenly "realises" that hey, they generate demand too, to the tune of 130000 more potential (and mostly poorly-paid and not very productive) jobs... and shrug and smile together.

Students of economics (and math) will recognize this as the multiplier effect, which is most commonly stated in the area of money creation in fractional-reserve banking, but quite obviously applies to labour too. One could argue that the multiplier effect in our case is low, but given that a five-year increase of over 360000 workers (some 40% of the total migrant workforce in 2007) has apparently done nothing at all to satiate businesses' appetite, this stand is questionable.

But wait, isn't having more job openings a good thing? Well, the answer is that it depends. If the prevailing wage level is sufficiently depressed, there tends to be positions available. But who does this policy benefit? Hint: it's absolutely fine for rents to be protected and rise, but no-go for wages.

Oh, and The State's Times is steadfastedly insisting that the HDB is losing money yet again. How ah? How? Completely no word on how imputed land costs have almost certainly ballooned (to what end?), on the other hand...


(Source: Demon-cratic Singapore)



Moyes, Moyes...

It's not been going too well for the new old-look United, with yesterday's 1-1 home draw being (likely rightly) pinned on the manager. Giggs on? Defensive subs against Southampton (no disrespect intended)? And has Evil Kagawa hit on his wife or something, to not even get a sniff in? Is Moyes planning to turn United into Everton Mark II? Grudgingly, I've got to admit that Pogba made the objectively right choice to depart for Juventus (though that is, for once, not down to Moyes)


Very Zen

Make-up-your-own philosophy time:


Hokio and Fujio were twins, but they could not have been more different in manner. Hokio was a devout monk who lived his life entirely without sin or blame, and was unanimously elected abbot of the local temple. Fujio, in contrast, was an infamous wastrel, drunkard and womaniser - his exploits were legion, and by the time he was in his fifties, some estimated that he had fathered no less than two dozen children.

One day, Hokio came across his brother, who was nursing a hangover as usual. Unable to bear his behaviour any longer, Hokio sternly reprimanded him: "It is said that the gift of human rebirth is precious, for it offers the possibility of ultimate enlightenment, and the opportunity comes but once in many lifetimes. Why do you waste your chance like this?"

Fujio looked Hokio in the eye. "I sacrificed this lifetime that others might have a chance. I leave the rest to you."



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