voyeurism

Alpha Delta

thanks to the exquisite craftsmanship of Asterion Coen, visitors to Temasek now have the opportunity to get up-close-and-personal with Concorde :-)

built to full-scale, Concorde at Temasek is a replica of G-BOAD.

you can read more about Alpha Delta here :-)

Alpha Delta resplendent in her livery from 1979, making a low pass over Temasek at sunset

Technorati Tags: globalization, Second Life, Singapore, Temasek

personal review of the 2008 Citroën C5 3.0 V6

this is my PERSONAL tongue-in-cheek review of the 2008 C5 3.0 V6.

please take with a VERY LARGE pinch of salt, and a healthy dose of self-deprecating humour :-)

*************************************

okie.

i test drove it three times today.

presently only the 3.0 litre is available for test drive. it has six suspension spheres, six cylinders, and six speeds in its gearbox.

it's been a very tiring day, so i would just like to quickly pen my thoughts while they are still fresh.

much has been made about the 'German-ness' of the C5.

is it a German car?

YES. there's a tremendous heft to the car as a whole, and to many of the constituent parts which are exposed to daily tactility by its driver and passengers (eg, the doors themselves, the door trims, the handbrake actuator, the gearshift lever).

much of the interior trim is soft to the touch, in the right way. the passenger overhead grab handles retract with a suitably damped manner. the seats envelope your frame. the instrumentation cluster would not look out of place in a Bentley (and Bentley is quite German, thank you).

NO. the new C5 feels leagues different from the old C5. apart from its quantum leap in interior quality, there is a tremendous sense of hyper-activity to the car's main controls which are absent in the old C5. this hyper-activity is more akin to Citroëns of old, with their super-high-pressure hydraulics, than with modern-day cars. the steering is supremely light and detached, way way lighter than anything the Germans do (the closest being the Audi A6). and the brakes! you have to caress them with your toes. anything more and you'll stand the car on end and create a massive tailgate chain collision behind you.

i have to talk about the steering again. the steering is so extremely detached, it feels like it's not connected to anything at all (the impression is heightened because of the extreme degree of power-assistance). the car instead seems to steer by thought, rather than by deed.

is it a French car?

YES. with six spheres of nitrogen and hydraulic fluid, you'd better believe this car smothers every terrain surface that the Land Transport Authority can throw at it. it is totally unperturbed, and this sense of unperturbation is heightened because (unlike in the old C5, where you may not feel the surface irritations but you'll certainly hear them) the car does its business in near absolute serenity.

this car is also most definitely French in the way it lacks decent cupholders, has near useless rear aircon vents, and has a wilfully designed steering wheel just for the sheer heck of it.

NO. this is by no stretch of the imagination a French car. it feels far, far too hewn from a single block of granite.

is it an Italian car, then?

YES. in its proportions. this car was designed by a team who had regular and constant communications, all speaking in the same language.

NO. this car refuses to be rushed, and will do everything not to rush the driver.

ah, it must be a Swedish car.

YES. check out the thickness of those B-pillars, all the better to have a side-impact with.

NO. despite the plethora of airbags and the heft of its B-pillars, this car does not exude the impression that it is a product of a culture which cherishes children and family above everything else.

so... a British car?

YES. if by British you mean Rover, or Jaguar. this car has terrific road presence, and it wafts along the road with a regal imperiousness.

NO. are you kidding? which British car ever felt like it was a moving bank vault? (and no, Rolls-Royces no longer count)

umm... an American car?

YES. in that its paramount mission in life is to cosset its occupants and shield them from the terrors of the outside world.

NO. this cannot be an American car for the simple reason its sole front cupholder is in the most awkward of placements.

heaven forbid... a Japanese car?

YES. quality quality quality. sheer precision in terms of panel fit. tonnes of electronic gadgets and doodads to keep the Harajuku crowd happy. damped fluidity in its controls.

NO. this car is the very antithesis of the culture that brought you the Accord Type R, the GTR, and the Mitsuoka.

so...

what are we left with?

well, Citroën do sell in large numbers in the Chinese market...

Technorati Tags: Citroën, geography, globalization, Singapore

active avatars in Second Life, ranked as a proportion of countries' respective population sizes (May 2008)

following up on last month's post, here is the breakdown of figures for active avatars per country for May 2008, normalised against the respective population sizes (again, population totals were obtained from the CIA's World Factbook).

for those of you who are new to this, i'll give you a concrete example (if you've read my post from September 2007 on the same topic, you can just skip ahead to the next paragraph). the United States had 196523 active avatars during May. the population size of the USA in July 2008 is projected to be 303824646. this means that 0.06 percent of the US population had avatars active in Second Life during May.

i took the top 40 countries by active avatars (ranked by absolute numbers), and processed them by 'active avatars as proportion of country population'. just like for the April figures, Argentina, Chile, China, Colombia, India, Mexico, Peru, Russia, South Korea, Turkey and Venezuela have been excluded, because the proportions are really tiny. Other countries excluded for the same reason from this list of 40 are Egypt and Romania; in the latter's case, its proportion has declined below 0.01 percent.

here's what the numbers for May look like :-)

1. the Netherlands 0.10 % (unchanged)

2. United Kingdom 0.07 % (unchanged)

3. USA 0.06 % (unchanged)

4. Australia 0.06 % (unchanged)

5. Belgium 0.06 % (proportion has increased, from 0.05 %; rank has increased, displacing Denmark)

6. Denmark 0.06 % (proportion is stable; displaced in rank by Belgium)

7. Germany 0.06 % (proportion has increased, from 0.05 %; rank has increased, displacing Canada)

8. Canada 0.05 % (proportion is stable; displaced in rank by Germany)

9. Switzerland 0.05 % (unchanged)

10. New Zealand 0.05 % (proportion has increased, from 0.04 %; rank has increased, displacing Slovenia, Portugal, Ireland, Spain, France, and Italy)

11. Portugal 0.05 % (unchanged)

12. Slovenia 0.05 % (proportion is stable; displaced in rank by New Zealand and Portugal)

13. Spain 0.04 % (unchanged)

14. France 0.04 % (unchanged)

15. Italy 0.04 % (unchanged)

16. Ireland 0.04 % (proportion is stable; rank has increased, displaced in rank by New Zealand, Spain, France and Italy)

17. Sweden 0.04 % (unchanged)

18. Austria 0.03 % (proportion is stable; rank has increased, displacing Singapore)

19. Norway 0.03 % (proportion is stable; rank has increased, displacing Singapore)

20. Singapore 0.03 % (proportion is stable; displaced in rank by Austria and Norway)

21. Finland 0.02 % (unchanged)

22. Greece 0.02 % (unchanged)

23. Japan 0.02 % (unchanged)

24. Israel 0.01 % (unchanged)

25. Brazil 0.01 % (proportion is stable; rank has increased, displacing the Czech Republic and Poland)

26. the Czech Republic 0.01 % (proportion is stable; displaced in rank by Brazil)

27. Poland 0.01 % (proportion is stable; displaced in rank by Brazil)

analysed this way, Singapore is still the Asian country with the highest proportion of active avatars in Second Life.

Technorati Tags: geography, globalization, Second Life, Singapore

active avatars in Second Life, ranked as a proportion of countries' respective population sizes (April 2008)

following up on last month's post, here is the breakdown of figures for active avatars per country for April 2008, normalised against the respective population sizes (again, population totals were obtained from the CIA's World Factbook).

for those of you who are new to this, i'll give you a concrete example (if you've read my post from September 2007 on the same topic, you can just skip ahead to the next paragraph). the United States had 189629 active avatars during April. the population size of the USA in July 2008 is projected to be 303824646. this means that 0.06 percent of the US population had avatars active in Second Life during April.

i took the top 40 countries by active avatars (ranked by absolute numbers), and processed them by 'active avatars as proportion of country population'. just like for the March figures, Argentina, Chile, China, Colombia, India, Mexico, Peru, Russia, South Korea, Turkey and Venezuela have been excluded, because the proportions are really tiny.

here's what the numbers for April look like :-)

1. the Netherlands 0.10 % (unchanged)

2. United Kingdom 0.07 % (unchanged)

3. USA 0.06 % (unchanged)

4. Australia 0.06 % (unchanged)

5. Denmark 0.06 % (unchanged)

6. Belgium 0.05 % (proportion has fallen, from 0.06 %; rank is stable)

7. Canada 0.05 % (proportion has fallen, from 0.06 %; rank has increased, displacing Slovenia and Switzerland)

8. Germany 0.05 % (proportion is stable; rank has increased, displacing Slovenia and Switzerland)

9. Switzerland 0.05 % (proportion has fallen, from 0.06 %; displaced in rank by Canada and Germany)

10. Slovenia 0.05 % (proportion has fallen, from 0.06 %; displaced in rank by Canada and Germany)

11. Portugal 0.05 % (unchanged)

12. Ireland 0.04 % (proportion is stable; rank has increased, displacing Sweden and Spain)

13. Spain 0.04 % (unchanged)

14. France 0.04 % (proportion is stable; rank has increased, displacing Sweden)

15. Italy 0.04 % (proportion is stable; rank has increased, displacing Sweden)

16. New Zealand 0.04 % (proportion is stable; rank has increased, displacing Sweden)

17. Sweden 0.04 % (proportion is stable; displaced in rank by Ireland, Spain, France, Italy and New Zealand)

18. Singapore 0.03 % (unchanged)

19. Austria 0.03 % (proportion is stable; rank has increased, displacing Norway)

20. Norway 0.03 % (proportion is stable; displaced in rank by Austria)

21. Finland 0.02 % (unchanged)

22. Greece 0.02 % (proportion is stable; rank has increased, displacing Japan)

23. Japan 0.02 % (proportion is stable; displaced in rank by Greece)

24. Israel 0.01 % (proportion is stable; rank has increased, displacing the Czech Republic)

25. the Czech Republic 0.01 % (proportion has fallen, from 0.02 %; displaced in rank by Israel)

26. Poland 0.01 % (proportion is stable; rank has increased, displacing Brazil)

27. Brazil 0.01 % (proportion is stable; displaced in rank by Poland)

28. Romania 0.01 % (unchanged)

29. Hungary 0.01 % (new entry)

analysed this way, Singapore is still the Asian country with the highest proportion of active avatars in Second Life.

Technorati Tags: geography, globalization, Second Life, Singapore

active avatars in Second Life, ranked as a proportion of countries' respective population sizes (March 2008)

following up on the preceding post, here is the breakdown of figures for active avatars per country for March 2008, normalised against the respective population sizes (again, population totals were obtained from the CIA's World Factbook).

for those of you who are new to this, i'll give you a concrete example (if you've read my post from September 2007 on the same topic, you can just skip ahead to the next paragraph). the United States had 194899 active avatars during March. the population size of the USA in July 2008 is projected to be 303824646. this means that 0.06 percent of the US population had avatars active in Second Life during March.

i took the top 40 countries by active avatars (ranked by absolute numbers), and processed them by 'active avatars as proportion of country population'. just like for the February figures, Argentina, Chile, China, Colombia, India, Mexico, Peru, Russia, South Korea, Turkey and Venezuela have been excluded, because the proportions are really tiny.

here's what the numbers for March look like :-)

1. the Netherlands 0.10 % (unchanged)

2. United Kingdom 0.07 % (proportion has fallen, from 0.08 %; rank is stable)

3. USA 0.06 % (proportion is stable; rank has increased, displacing Denmark)

4. Australia 0.06 % (proportion has increased, from 0.05 %; rank has increased, displacing Denmark)

5. Denmark 0.06 % (proportion is stable; displaced in rank by the USA and Australia)

6. Belgium 0.06 % (proportion has increased, from 0.05 %; rank has increased, displacing Slovenia, Germany and Switzerland)

7. Switzerland 0.06 % (proportion has increased, from 0.05 %; rank has increased, displacing Germany)

8. Slovenia 0.06 % (proportion has increased, from 0.05 %; displaced in rank by Belgium and Switzerland)

9. Canada 0.06 % (proportion has increased, from 0.05 %; rank has increased, displacing Germany)

10. Germany 0.05 % (proportion is stable; displaced in rank by Belgium, Switzerland and Canada)

11. Portugal 0.05 % (proportion has increased, from 0.04 %; rank has increased, displacing Spain, Ireland, France and Sweden)

12. Sweden 0.04 % (proportion is stable; rank has increased, displacing Spain, Ireland and France)

13. Spain 0.04 % (proportion is stable; displaced in rank by Portugal and Sweden)

14. Ireland 0.04 % (proportion is stable; displaced in rank by Portugal and Sweden)

15. France 0.04 % (proportion is stable; displaced in rank by Portugal and Sweden)

16. Italy 0.04 % (unchanged)

17. New Zealand 0.04 % (proportion has increased, from 0.03 %; rank is stable)

18. Singapore 0.03 % (proportion is stable; rank has increased, displacing Norway and Austria)

19. Norway 0.03 % (proportion is stable; displaced in rank by Singapore)

20. Austria 0.03 % (proportion is stable; displaced in rank by SIngapore)

21. Finland 0.02 % (proportion is stable; rank has increased, displacing Japan)

22. Japan 0.02 % (proportion is stable; displaced in rank by Finland)

23. Greece 0.02 % (unchanged)

24. the Czech Republic 0.02 % (proportion has increased, from 0.01 %; rank has increased, displacing Brazil and Israel)

25. Israel 0.01 % (unchanged)

26. Brazil 0.01 % (proportion is stable; displaced in rank by the Czech Republic and Israel)

27. Poland 0.01 % (unchanged)

28. Romania 0.01 % (unchanged)

29. Hungary 0.01 % (new entry)

analysed this way, Singapore is still the Asian country with the highest proportion of active avatars in Second Life.

Technorati Tags: geography, globalization, Second Life, Singapore

active avatars in Second Life, ranked as a proportion of countries' respective population sizes (February 2008)

following up on February's post, here is the breakdown of figures for active avatars per country for February 2008, normalised against the respective population sizes (again, population totals were obtained from the CIA's World Factbook).

for those of you who are new to this, i'll give you a concrete example (if you've read my post from September 2007 on the same topic, you can just skip ahead to the next paragraph). the United States had 182698 active avatars during February. the population size of the USA in July 2008 is projected to be 303824646. this means that 0.06 percent of the US population had avatars active in Second Life during February.

i took the top 40 countries by active avatars (ranked by absolute numbers), and processed them by 'active avatars as proportion of country population'. just like for the January figures, Argentina, Chile, China, Colombia, India, Mexico, Peru, Russia, South Korea, Turkey and Venezuela have been excluded, because the proportions are really tiny. excluded for the same reason from this list of 40 is Afghanistan.

here's what the numbers for February look like :-)

1. the Netherlands 0.10 % (unchanged)

2. United Kingdom 0.08 % (proportion has increased, from 0.07 %; rank has increased, displacing Slovenia)

3. Denmark 0.06 % (proportion is stable; rank has increased, displacing Slovenia and the USA)

4. USA 0.06 % (unchanged)

5. Australia 0.05 % (proportion is stable; rank has increased, displacing Slovenia, Switzerland and Germany)

6. Slovenia 0.05 % (proportion has fallen, from 0.07 %; displaced in rank by the United Kingdom, Denmark, the USA and Australia)

7. Germany 0.05 % (unchanged)

8. Switzerland 0.05 % (unchanged)

9. Belgium 0.05 % (unchanged)

10. Canada 0.05 % (unchanged)

11. Spain 0.04 % (proportion is stable; rank has increased, displacing France, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Norway)

12. Ireland 0.04 % (unchanged)

13. France 0.04 % (proportion is stable; displaced in rank by Spain and Ireland)

14. Sweden 0.04 % (proportion is stable; rank has increased, displacing Italy, Portugal and Norway)

15. Portugal 0.04 % (proportion is stable; displaced in rank by Spain and Sweden)

16. Italy 0.04 % (proportion is stable; displaced in rank by Spain, Sweden and Portugal)

17. New Zealand 0.03 % (proportion has fallen, from 0.04 %; rank has increased, displacing Norway)

18. Norway 0.03 % (proportion has fallen, from 0.04 %; displaced in rank by Spain, Sweden and New Zealand)

19. Austria 0.03 % (unchanged)

20. Singapore 0.03 % (proportion has increased, from 0.02 %; rank is stable)

21. Japan 0.02 % (unchanged)

22. Finland 0.02 % (unchanged)

23. Greece 0.02 % (unchanged)

24. Brazil 0.01 % (proportion has fallen, from 0.02 %; rank is stable)

25. Israel 0.01 % (proportion is stable; rank has increased, displacing the Czech Republic)

26. the Czech Republic 0.01 % (proportion has fallen, from 0.02 %; displaced in rank by Israel)

27. Poland 0.01 % (unchanged)

28. Romania 0.01 % (new entry)

analysed this way, Singapore is still the Asian country with the highest proportion of active avatars in Second Life.

Technorati Tags: geography, globalization, Second Life, Singapore

introduction to Second Life, in Mandarin Chinese, to visitors from Taiwan

the one hundred and forty-fourth episode of ventriloquy is a recording of a talk by my colleague - Assistant Professor Chen Wenli - as she introduced Second Life to a group of visitors to the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, here in Singapore. The visitors were from Taiwan.

even if you don't understand the language, please do consider joining us in this 18.3 MB download, not least because it is such a unique privilege to hear Second Life being discussed by native Chinese speakers.

Show notes:
- Second Life as a Multi-User Virtual Environment
- User-generated content
- The gameness of Second Life?
- An active economy
- Separation of main from teen grids
- In-world tour
- Q & A

Technorati Tags: globalization, podcast, Second Life, Singapore

visit by faculty and grad students from the University of Texas at Austin to the Raymaker Field Studies Centre at Norma

the one-hundred-and-forty-third episode of ventriloquy is a recording of a brief visit by about 150 faculty and graduate students from the University of Texas at Austin, to the Raymaker Field Studies Centre at Norma.

the visit was part of a larger in-world tour for the group, organised by Dr Leslie Jarmon (SL: Bluewave Ogee). Leslie chairs the Graduate School, Professional Development and Community Engagement, at the University of Texas at Austin. please do join us in this 4.0 MB download :-)

Technorati Tags: education, geography, globalization, learning, podcast, Singapore, the Raymaker Field Studies Centre at Norma, TLLM

21st century pen-pal

the one-hundred-and-forty-first episode of ventriloquy celebrates the Slovenian presidency of the European Union, by bringing you a comparison between Singapore and Slovenia, and how these similarities and differences are mediated in Second Life.

please do join me in this 3.0 MB download, as i ponder anew the extent to which New Media has changed how people communicate, collaborate with, and learn from each other.

Show notes:
- 27 January 2008 Deutsche Welle (Slovenian press freedom is suffering, journalists say)
- CIA - The World Factbook - Slovenia
- BBC News Country Profiles: Slovenia

first look at Lonewolf Switchblade's build at Temasek - an interpretation of a Peranakan shophouse by the river

Technorati Tags: geography, globalization, podcast, Second Life, Singapore, Temasek

active avatars in Second Life, ranked as a proportion of countries' respective population sizes (January 2008)

following up on last month's post, here is the breakdown of figures for active avatars per country for January 2008, normalised against the respective population sizes (again, population totals were obtained from the CIA's World Factbook).

for those of you who are new to this, i'll give you a concrete example (if you've read my post from September 2007 on the same topic, you can just skip ahead to the next paragraph). the United States had 190018 active avatars during January. the population size of the USA in July 2007 was 301139947. this means that 0.06 percent of the US population had avatars active in Second Life during January.

i took the top 40 countries by active avatars (ranked by absolute numbers), and processed them by 'active avatars as proportion of country population'. just like for the December figures, Argentina, Chile, China, Colombia, Hungary, India, Mexico, Peru, Romania, Russia, South Korea, Turkey and Venezuela have been excluded, because the proportions are really tiny.

here's what the numbers for January look like :-)

1. the Netherlands 0.10 % (proportion is stable; rank has increased, displacing Slovenia)

2. Slovenia 0.07 % (proportion has fallen, from 0.11 %; displaced in rank by the Netherlands)

3. United Kingdom 0.07 % (proportion has increased, from 0.06 %; rank has increased, displacing the USA and Denmark)

4. USA 0.06 % (proportion is stable; displaced in rank by the United Kingdom)

5. Denmark 0.06 % (proportion is stable; displaced in rank by the United Kingdom)

6. Switzerland 0.05 % (unchanged)

7. Germany 0.05 % (proportion is stable; rank has increased, displacing Australia and Belgium)

8. Australia 0.05 % (proportion is stable; displaced in rank by Germany)

9. Belgium 0.05 % (proportion is stable; displaced in rank by Germany)

10. Canada 0.05 % (unchanged)

11. France 0.04 % (unchanged)

12. Ireland 0.04 % (proportion is stable; rank has increased, displacing Spain)

13. Italy 0.04 % (proportion is stable; rank has increased, displacing Spain)

14. Portugal 0.04 % (proportion is stable; rank has increased, displacing Spain)

15. Norway 0.04 % (proportion has increased, from 0.03 %; rank has increased, displacing Spain, Sweden, New Zealand and Austria)

16. Spain 0.04 % (proportion is stable; displaced in rank by Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Norway)

17. Sweden 0.04 % (proportion is stable; displaced in rank by Norway)

18. New Zealand 0.04 % (proportion is stable; displaced in rank by Norway)

19. Austria 0.03 % (proportion is stable; displaced in rank by Norway)

20. Singapore 0.02 % (unchanged)

21. Japan 0.02 % (proportion is stable; rank has increased, displacing Finland)

22. Finland 0.02 % (proportion is stable; displaced in rank by Japan)

23. Greece 0.02 % (unchanged)

24. Brazil 0.02 % (proportion has increased, from 0.01 %; rank has increased, displacing the Czech Republic and Israel)

25. the Czech Republic 0.02 % (proportion has increased, from 0.01%; rank is stable)

26. Israel 0.01 % (proportion has fallen, from 0.02 %; displaced in rank by Brazil and the Czech Republic)

27. Poland 0.01 % (unchanged)

analysed this way, Singapore is still the Asian country with the highest proportion of active avatars in Second Life.

Technorati Tags: geography, globalization, Second Life, Singapore