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http://www.expatsingapore.com/general/land.htm Singapore consists of one main island and 60 small islands about 137 km north of the Equator (latitude 1° 09'N and longitude 103° 38'E). It has a total land area of 647.5 square kilometres, of which almost half has been set aside as forest reserves, marsh and other non-built-up areas. Three reservoirs occupy the centre of the island. Almost half of the land (49.67 per cent) is for residential, commercial and industrial use. A mere 1.7 per cent, about 10.8 sq km, is for agriculture.
[King County is where Microsoft is located]
http://www.metrokc.gov/about.htm Located on Puget Sound in Washington State, and covering more than 2,200 square miles, King County is nearly twice as large as the average county in the United States. With more than 1.7 million people, it also ranks as the 12th most populous county in the nation.
So, though we may be a nation of numbskulls *and* techwiz', comparing the USA to Singapore just ain't a scale-free issue. And Lee Kwan Yew and his son could never have the kind of power to shape the USA that they enjoy with the political system of Singapore.
>
> The US dropped to fifth from first behind Iceland, Finland and Denmark
> in the annual Global Information Technology report by the World Economic
> Forum (WEF).
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Again, lots of geography, yet small [and talented] populations........
Ian