Sunday 31 August 2014

Going Bug-Eyed! Two New Art Works


Bugs
Original Digital Art - Roger Smith 2014
See it here.


Bugs Drawing
Original Study - Roger Smith 2014
See it here.

The Joys Of Owning A Cat

Wednesday 20 August 2014

Singaporean Chinese in New Zealand - some statistics

The latest statistics from the recent New Zealand 2013 census have been released and while the country population now number over 1.4 million people, only 741 of them are Singaporean Chinese living here.

That's less than 1% of the total population but not surprisingly nearly 60% of them live in the Auckland area.

21% of Singaporean Chinese living in New Zealand were actually born overseas and the median age of this group is 31.7 years.

Other interesting facts:
  • Only 8.4% of Singaporean Chinese are regular smokers
  • 27% of them can speak two languages
  • 43% own their own residence in NZ, compared to the half the total NZ population who own theirs
  • Singaporean Chinese are more highly educated than the rest of their NZ counterparts with 43.3% holding a Bachelor's degree or higher (overall NZ is only 20%)
  • They are more religious than most New Zealanders with 73.3 % of Singaporean Chinese being  affiliated with at least one religion.  Only 55% of the total NZ population are.

Thursday 14 August 2014

The American View - Singapore As The Social Laboratory

The Social Laboratory
Singapore is testing whether mass surveillance and big data can not only protect national security, but actually engineer a more harmonious society.



The US commentator has a grudging respect for the technology but worries about the apparent lack of government accountability/ public safeguards.  

I am not sure I agree with his view, but the trade-off on so-called US freedoms is Singapore's political and security stability which has allowed it to global weather financial storms and develop at an amazing rate of the past 49 years.

Sunday 3 August 2014

Today's Art - Poltergeist II - After Bacon

Poltergeist II ( After Bacon)
Roger Smith 2014
Sales PDF is available here.
Direct link to the art work on FineArtAmerica - here.