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Comment by Lucadg | Hacker News Reader

A few years back I was at Singapore's airport and I saw, along many other signs forbidding most human activities one which still haunts me at night. There was this symbol of a person reading and the text was: no studying.

Then one day while I was walking down Orchard road I saw a long line of people quieing on the street to get in...Sweansens (a chain crappy ice-cream store). That's when I decided Singapore was lost.

What scares me the is most is that all the rest of South East Asia aspires to become a big Singapore. Human beings are not supposed to live like that.

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I imagine that "no studying" should really be read as "no loitering." Or perhaps "this is not the place to come and read all day, please, there are other people who need to use this space." It was probably a problem.

I've seen such signs at cheap chain restaurants in Japan. (I'm not attempting to generalize here, just relating an experience) The clear message was that high schoolers would come and buy the $3 all-you-can-drink soda package and sit and study and chat all day. Hence, no studying. Seems reasonable enough. Many places don't have that rule though, and there you can see many people studying all day.

It is common for students who go to Changi Airport studying and gathering. It became problem for the business owners because they are holding on to seats for long hours. The sign you see are put up by the business owners. Similarly you can see such sign at downtown at Starbucks for example. As for the Swenson, the queue is there not because Singaporean are crazy about Swenson. It is just that it is the cheapest western food restaurant the young can afford in Orchard Rd. That was few years back and I think the place is no more btw.

Did you live in Singapore or just stopover?

ok, thanks for the explanation! Actually I imagined there was a good reason. Now it won't hunt me anymore :)

> It is just that it is the cheapest western food restaurant the young can afford in Orchard Rd Ok, I see. Anyway, it was a very long queue, at least 100 people. I know, I probably sound too judgemental, but it looked a bit too much to me.

I was there for a few days, I have lived in Asia a lot and in many places (Bangkok right now).

A week ago, I was at SFO and saw the TSA body-scanning children and elderly people.

Then one day I saw a long line of people on the street to get in... an Apple store.

That's when I decided San Francisco was lost.

Yes, America is going the way of Singapore. I advise people who ask to avoid both.

Sounds like the good thing about Singapore seems to be that is successfully drives out people who go to pieces over others queueing for ice-cream... they must be doing something right there B-)

yep, their filter works :) but my point was not "queueing for ice-cream" rather "queueing for shitty industrial ice-cream". I would queue hours for good ice cream. I mean, they were driven there by some sick marketing effort, brain washed into thinking that there was something there worth the wait.

Imagine people queuing to get in McDondalds in your city. Dou feel it now? That's what I felt. Scary....

There's always a line when I go to McDonald's, especially in the city. Usually not out to the street but at least 10-15 people long. Think about Best Buy or Walmart on Black Friday - people are on the streets camping for days. Same with an Apple product launch, people get there many hours ahead (even though they usually have enough for everyone).

There's sick marketing and commercial brain-washing, if you call it that, going on all over the world.

ok, my fault. I said "a line" and failed to mention "a line of at least 100 people". It's fine to queue for good deals, or products you are passionate about but these guys were going to wait at least one hour to get some low quality ice cream on the most exclusive road in Singapore. I thought (of course I may be wrong) that they were not there for the ice-cream, the price or the atmosphere, but because they wanted a piece Orchard road "experience". And they were ready to wait a long time for it. The thing is the Orchard road experience is not experience at all. It's just shopping malls. I don't know Singapore well (I do know Asia quite well) but the impression I get each time I go there is that life is only about working and shopping. It's a clean and fine city and it's a model for the rest of Asia, but each time I am happy to go back to the rest of Asia with its for sure dirty and messy but at least it has some depth.

That reminds me of the infamous Halal Guy's gyro cart located at 53rd and 6th in Manhattan. The food is sub-par at best but there is always a line of 30+ (I've seen nearly 100 before) people who, at least I think, are there for the experience more than anything.

There are literally dozens of other gyro carts scattered about the vicinity, some with much better food, yet that cart consistently has a huge line.

could have been a field trip. could have been free ice cream day. maybe there was a deal for students. and yeah, people everywhere like crap.

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