Six Sigma

Six Sigma is a business management strategy, originally developed by Motorola, that today enjoys wide-spread application in many sectors of industry.

Six Sigma seeks to identify and remove the causes of defects and errors in manufacturing and business processes. It uses a set of quality management methods, including statistical methods, and creates a special infrastructure of people within the organization (“Black Belts” etc.) who are experts in these methods. Each Six Sigma project carried out within an organization follows a defined sequence of steps and has quantified financial targets (cost reduction or profit increase).

DMAIC is used to improve an existing business process; DMADV is used to create new product or process designs.

DMAIC

The basic methodology consists of the following five steps:

* Define process improvement goals that are consistent with customer demands and the enterprise strategy.
* Measure key aspects of the current process and collect relevant data.
* Analyze the data to verify cause-and-effect relationships. Determine what the relationships are, and attempt to ensure that all factors have been considered.
* Improve or optimize the process based upon data analysis using techniques like Design of Experiments.
* Control to ensure that any deviations from target are corrected before they result in defects. Set up pilot runs to establish process capability, move on to production, set up control mechanisms and continuously monitor the process.

DMADV

The basic methodology consists of the following five steps:

* Define design goals that are consistent with customer demands and the enterprise strategy.
* Measure and identify CTQs (characteristics that are Critical To Quality), product capabilities, production process capability, and risks.
* Analyze to develop and design alternatives, create a high-level design and evaluate design capability to select the best design.
* Design details, optimize the design, and plan for design verification. This phase may require simulations.
* Verify the design, set up pilot runs, implement the production process and hand it over to the process owners.

5S

5S is a method for organizing a workplace, especially a shared workplace (like a shop floor or an office space), and keeping it organized. It’s sometimes referred to as a housekeeping methodology, however this characterization can be misleading because organizing a workplace goes beyond housekeeping (see discussion of “Seiton” below).

The key targets of 5S are workplace morale and efficiency. The assertion of 5S is, by assigning everything a location, time is not wasted by looking for things. Additionally, it is quickly obvious when something is missing from its designated location. 5S advocates believe the benefits of this methodology come from deciding what should be kept, where it should be kept, and how it should be stored. This decision making process usually comes from a dialog about standardization which builds a clear understanding, between employees, of how work should be done. It also instils ownership of the process in each employee.

In addition to the above, another key distinction between 5S and “standardized cleanup” is Seiton. Seiton is often misunderstood, perhaps due to efforts to translate into an English word beginning with “S” (such as “sort” or “straighten”). The key concept here is to order items or activities in a manner to promote work flow. For example, tools should be kept at the point of use, workers should not have to repetitively bend to access materials, flow paths can be altered to improve efficiency, etc.

The 5S’s are:

Seiri – Sorting. Refers to the practice of going through all the tools, materials, etc., in the work area and keeping only essential items. Everything else is stored or discarded. This leads to fewer hazards and less clutter to interfere with productive work.

Seiton : Set in Order. Focuses on the need for an orderly workplace. “Orderly” in this sense means arranging the tools and equipment in an order that promotes work flow. Tools and equipment should be kept where they will be used, and the process should be ordered in a manner that eliminates extra motion.

Seisp: Sweeping, Systematic Cleaning, or Shining. Indicates the need to keep the workplace clean as well as neat. Cleaning in Japanese companies is a daily activity. At the end of each shift, the work area is cleaned up and everything is restored to its place, making it easy to know what goes where and to know when everything is where it should be are essential here. The key point is that maintaining cleanliness should be part of the daily work – not an occasional activity initiated when things get too messy.

Seiketsu: Standardising. This refers to standardized work practices. It refers to more than standardized cleanliness (otherwise this would mean essentially the same as “systemized cleanliness”). This means operating in a consistent and standardized fashion. Everyone knows exactly what his or her responsibilities are. In part this follows from Seiton where the order of a workplace should reflect the process of work, these imply standardised work practice and workstation layout.

Shitsuke: Sustaining. Refers to maintaining and reviewing standards. Once the previous 4S’s have been established they become the new way to operate. Maintain the focus on this new way of operating, and do not allow a gradual decline back to the old ways of operating. However, when an issue arises such as a suggested improvement or a new way of working, or a new tool, or a new output requirement then a review of the first 4S’s is appropriate.

Dinu Lipatti

Dinu Lipatti (March 19, 1917, Bucharest – December 2, 1950, Geneva) was a Romanian classical pianist and composer whose career was tragically cut short by his death from Hodgkin’s disease at age 33. Despite his short career and a relatively small recorded legacy, Lipatti is considered one of the finest pianists of the 20th century.

Lipatti gave his final recital, which was recorded, on 16 September 1950 in Besançon. Despite severe illness, he gave unmatched performances of Bach’s B flat major Partita, Mozart’s A minor Sonata, Schubert’s G flat major and E flat major Impromptus, and thirteen of Chopin’s 14 Waltzes. He excluded No. 2, which he was too exhausted to play; he offered instead Myra Hess’s transcription of Bach’s Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring. As his wife Madeleine recalled, this was the only way Lipatti could bear to take his leave of the world, since, “For him a concert was a pledge of his love to Music.”

Choral “Jesus bleibet meine Freude” from Cantata “Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben”, BWV 147 (arr. Hess) recorded in Geneva, 1950,
Siciliana from Sonata No. 2 for Flute and Harpsichord, BWV 1031 (arr. Kempff) recorded in Geneva, 1950.

Cognitive restructuring

Cognitive restructuring in cognitive therapy is the process of learning to refute cognitive distortions, or fundamental “faulty thinking,” with the goal of replacing one’s irrational, counter-factual beliefs with more accurate and beneficial ones.

The cognitive restructuring theory holds that your own unrealistic beliefs are directly responsible for generating dysfunctional emotions and their resultant behaviors, like stress, depression, anxiety, and social withdrawal, and that we humans can be rid of such emotions and their effects by dismantling the beliefs that give them life. Because one sets unachievable goals — “Everyone must love me; I have to be thoroughly competent; I have to be the best in everything” — a fear of failure results.

Cognitive restructuring then advises to change such irrational beliefs and substitute more rational ones: “I can fail. Although it would be nice, I didn’t have to be the best in everything.” [Ellis and Harper, 1975; Ellis 1998]

This is accomplished by leading the subject to:

* Gain awareness of detrimental thought habits
* Learn to challenge them
* Substitute life-enhancing thoughts and beliefs

The rationale used in cognitive restructuring attempts to strengthen the client’s belief that 1) ‘self-talk’ can influence performance, and 2) in particular self-defeating thoughts or negative self-statements can cause emotional distress and interfere with performance, a process that then repeats again in a cycle.

Credit crisis far from over: expert

Credit crisis far from over: expert

Geoffrey Newman | May 02, 2008

A DERIVATIVES expert who two years ago warned of a potential meltdown in global credit markets has cautioned that the crisis is far from over, and has endorsed recent calls to relax controls on inflation and allow higher prices to help markets trade their way out of their problems.

Longtime critic of derivatives markets, Satyajit Das, says those who believe the US sub-prime loans crisis, and the drought in credit markets it triggered, are nearly over are wrong.

“I think the cycle has some way to run yet,” he told a Financial Services Institute of Australasia function in Sydney yesterday. “It’s a matter of years, not a matter of months.”

In particular, investors in the US stock market, which has climbed off its lows amid a growing mood that the worst of the crunch was over, were being too optimistic, he said.

The author of Traders, Guns & Money warned that many of the problem financial instruments were still hidden and the total amount of debt attached to them largely unknown.

Losses incurred by US banks were certain to rise as $US1 trillion ($1.06 trillion) in sub-prime housing loans was due to reset to higher interest rates in the next two years.

The use of credit card debt — now totalling $US915 billion — was cushioning US home owners. But, in an ominous sign, card issuers were rapidly increasing their provisions for bad debts, by as much as 500 per cent in the case of one bank.

The use of sub-prime debt structures was also a feature of other markets, such as private equity, where $US300 billion in loans were due to be refinanced in the next two years.

Mr Das said another $US1-$US5 trillion of assets would have to come back on to US bank balance sheets as a result of defaults on housing and other debts, and it was unclear how the banks could fund them — issuance of preference shares by US banks was already at a record high. He said losses at financial institutions from the credit crunch were likely to almost double to $US400 billion.

There were also second-round effects to come as the damage done to the real economy from financial sector losses fed back into further bank losses.
Mr Das said there needed to be a massive reduction in debt levels globally or a “nuclear deleveraging” before the crisis could be said to be over. That could be achieved through an economic crash “on the scale of 1929” but allowing inflation to rise would help to avoid that scenario. Higher inflation was a legitimate policy option since it reduced the real value of debt and gave companies and individuals breathing space to reduce their leverage by helping to put a floor under asset prices.

His comments come as some economists urge Australia’s Reserve Bank to relax its inflation targeting policy to help avoid a severe economic downturn.

He acknowledged that as inflation rose higher it was more difficult to control it, but noted the global economy was moving into a period of higher inflation anyway. “It could be the lesser of two evils,” he said.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23631137-643,00.html

Defend me

“Defend me from my friends; I can defend myself from my enemies.”
Garantissez-moi de mes amis, écrivait Gourville proscrit et fugitif, je saurai me défendre de mes ennemis.

— Gabriel Sénac de Meilhan, Considérations sur l’esprit et les moeurs (1788): “De L’Amitié.”
Sénac de Meilhan was quoting Jean Hérault, sieur de Gourville (1625 – 1703).

Eternity

Eternity isn’t some later time. Eternity isn’t a long time. Eternity has nothing to do with time. Eternity is that dimension of here and now which thinking and time cuts out. This is it. And if you don’t get it here, you won’t get it anywhere. And the experience of eternity right here and now is the function of life.

Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth (2001)

Mark of a leader 'not in his top grades

ST April 4, 2008
Mark of a leader ‘not in his top grades’
That is the assessment of those who were top students. They value competence, leadership qualities, including EQ, more
By Jeremy Au Yong

ACADEMIC grades are a useful measure for identifying a potential political leader but it should not be the topmost criterion.

That assessment came, interestingly enough, from people who were top students, with four As in their A levels.

They were reacting to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s statement on his urgent search for a successor in an interview on Tuesday, when he also highlighted the brain drain among the 4As students. PM Lee had also indicated that based on past experience, it would take about three elections to groom a leader.

The Straits Times interviewed 10 people who had 4As, and the key traits they seek in the country’s leaders are competence, capability and leadership qualities, including emotional quotient or EQ.

Top grades are not critical, they added.

Even a PM without a university degree is not anathema to civil servant Jenny Tan.

BIGGER WORRY

Another civil servant, Mr C.L. Lian, 31, put it this way: ‘The person must have demonstrated intellect and problem-solving ability, but the emphasis doesn’t have to be on grades. I’m sure Bill Gates would be someone you want.’

Mr Gates, co-founder of software giant Microsoft, is one of the world’s most famous university dropouts.

Mr Lian added that though the current selection system was sound, the grooming period might have to be shortened.

‘Currently, there is this grooming period but we may not have 20 years to give,’ he said, referring to PM Lee who entered politics in 1984 and became PM in 2004.

Mr Lian said it was important for the political leaders to decide which parts of government need leaders with knowledge and experience in government, and which ministries can do with leaders without government experience.

He cited Senior Counsel K. Shanmugam – who is going straight from being an MP to Law Minister – as a case of a person who was not groomed to be a minister, but had the right skills and experience.

Some interviewed, like Nominated MP Siew Kum Hong, felt there may be a need to change the way leaders are chosen.

Said Mr Siew, who had 4As in his A levels: ‘Now, we seem to be going about choosing one like we go about giving scholarships. There’s this list of objective criteria.’

The answer to who should be the next PM will depend on how the question is framed, he added. ‘If we are looking for technocrats and managers, then you’ll be competing with the world. If you frame it differently, if you’re looking for leaders of the future, you probably could come up with a different characteristic.’

MP Baey Yam Keng, another top scorer, said academic excellence was a ‘necessary although not sufficient’ criterion. Even then, he said exceptions could be made. ‘Grades are important at the entry point but over the years, they become less and less important.’

In his interview with The Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao, PM Lee had highlighted data that show one in four – 150 out of 600 – top A-level students yearly works overseas after their studies. ‘This flow is going to continue. So it’s a big challenge to find successors, particularly for politics,’ he said.

The extent of this brain drain does not surprise those interviewed, who added that it is not at the heart of the problem.

Said corporate tax associate Sarah Seow, 26: ‘I believe the greater problem isn’t the brain drain, but the political apathy of my generation.

‘I know that among my peers still staying on in Singapore, many of us are talented and intelligent enough to become the Government’s next tier of leaders – the only problem is that we may have become so caught up in our own careers and desires that we don’t see a reason to get involved in politics.’

UBS Gives Haircuts

UBS Gives Haircuts
Vidya Ram, 03.28.08, 5:00 PM ET

LONDON –

In its advertising, UBS tells clients “it’s you and us,” but on Friday it told investors “you’re on your own.”

The Swiss bank told clients it was reducing the value of auction-rate securities in their accounts, by an average amount of 5%. It also refused to buy the bonds back from investors who bought the securities, thinking they were getting an easy-to-sell, higher-yielding alternative to money market funds but instead found themselves stuck with illiquid securities and capital losses, courtesy of the global credit crunch that began in the U.S. subprime mortgage market.

“This is the right thing to do,” said a UBS spokeswoman. “This is in the best interest in our clients regarding our accounts. Given the current market dislocation this the next logical step for any committed wealth manager.”

Auction-rate securities are long-term bonds issued by local governments, agencies, or corporations but sold in periodic auctions, say every 7 to 28 days, to set the interest rate. Firms that handle the auctions, like UBS and most of the big Wall Street concerns, used to step in an buy in the auctions if there weren’t enough bidders.

But that all went by the wayside in January and February as investors fled the bond markets. Auctions failed after no buyers showed up and the banks refused to step in as they had previously done. That meant the auctions failed, leaving brokerage customers holding the bag and issuers paying much higher penalty interest rates. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, for example, saw its rate skyrocket to 20% from 4% when its auction failed in February.

As a consequence of paying soaring penalty rates, many issuers are converting their auction rate bonds to fixed-rate bonds, putting more pressure on the remaining auction-rate securities that still haven’t started selling again. The bonds cost more than the issuers were paying on the auction-rate securities but yield far less than the penalty rates.

The banks backed off supporting the auctions because they didn’t want to risk taking more illiquid assets on their books after collectively writing off more than $100 billion in mortgage and credit derivatives. UBS has been among the hardest hit of the banks, already writing down $17 billion worth of credit holdings and facing another $11 billion in write-downs in the first quarter, according to analysts at Oppenheimer.

Its problems don’t stop there. Massachusetts securities regulators subpoenaed UBS, Merrill Lynch and Bank of America about their sale of auction -ate securities to customers, particularly bonds sold in closed-end mutual funds. The state is looking at what the banks disclosed about the possible risks of the securities.

“We received calls from a young saver whose house down payment is now frozen; two siblings whose family trust is now frozen; and small business owners who find their business interrupted because money they thought was liquid is tied up in these frozen securities,” said William Galvin, the Massachusetts secretary of the commonwealth, in a statement.

UBS wouldn’t say how much its brokerage customers own in auction rate securities, but the market is about $330 billion. The timing of UBS’s decision is perhaps telling. American investors are facing tax time, when many will need access to cash to pay Uncle Sam.

The Swiss banking giant previously told customers who were unable to sell the securities in scheduled auctions that the bonds would retain their full value and receive enhanced interest rates, according to TradeTheNews.com.

After falling 2.4% in Switzerland, to 28.98 Swiss francs, before the announcement, UBS American depositary receipts slid further in New York, dropping to $27.80, a loss of $1.33, or 4.6%, on the day. Less than a year ago, the stock had been above $66.

Investors who feel betrayed are likely to sue, adding to the pressures on UBS from the global liquidity crisis that began in the U.S. subprime mortgage market. UBS was the first major global bank to be hit by a lawsuit over losses related to the subprime crisis.

Hong Kong Reloaded

Not long ago, the city’s time was said to be over. Not anymore. Like an indestructible kung fu champ, it’s kicking back—big time. Karl Taro Greenfeld gets right into the action

We’re downstairs at King of the King, a Cantonese seafood restaurant in Hong Kong’s Central district. Behind lacquered–wood partitions, mah–jongg players shuffle tiles, making that noisy rattle—like a thousand impatient women tapping their fingernails. But the eight of us seated around a white cloth–covered table are playing poker, not mah–jongg. While the cards are dealt, the talk is of deals and business and opportunities and new properties. A hotelier, Jason (who brought me here), is wondering about selling out to a Russian businessman, and Ben, the scion of a wealthy family, is discussing investing in some property in Beijing, and Chris, a trader for a hedge fund, says that the thing to do is borrow in Hong Kong dollars at two and three–quarters percent and deposit in Australia at five and three–quarters and use the spread to buy a new Ferrari. Then the guys are talking about Full House, one of the Korean soap operas sweeping greater China and starring the actress Song Hye Kyo, who is so fine—a little chubby, comments someone, but she’s still so leng lui, dude. But the conversation, between hands, keeps going back to deals and opportunities and property: the development in Kowloon West, Korean equities, new hotels, better cars. As I wait for my cards, I look around and notice that everyone at the table is wearing a better wristwatch than I am. When I ask Chris, who is next to me, what time he has to go to work in the morning, he shrugs. “Whenever.”

In Hong Kong today, it seems that no one is bothering to earn a living because everyone is too busy making a killing.

In between noodles with pork, bowls of fried rice, and crab and corn soup, I find that I am losing track of the half–Cantonese, half–English conversation and become slightly impatient, so I go all in with two pair, kings over sevens, and this guy Scotty across from me in a hoodie sweatshirt, a Nike visor, and his cell phone dangling from a lanyard around his neck calls me and has kings and jacks. I’m about to buy in for another sixty dollars when I look around the table and wonder who the easy money is and realize that it’s me.

I fold my cards and explain to Jason that I have to meet someone, which is true, and I take my leave—past the clattering mah–jongg tables, the fish tanks stocked with garoupa whose bulging eyes make them look as if they are taking pity on my losing ways—and head up the stairs and out the door and onto Queen’s Road, where the air is hot and damp and smells of wet concrete and Victoria Harbour.

There are the usual crowds of well–dressed Hong Kongers out for the evening: businessmen in summer–weight suits and wire frame glasses; pretty girls with hennaed hair, artisanal T–shirts, and treated denim jeans; gweilo—Western women in shiny tops, jeans, and strappy heels. The sidewalk is hard going: The pavement is being torn up. Steel pedestrian bridges laid down over scars in the concrete reveal tangled layers of fresh plumbing and fiber–optic cable. The city, apparently, is rewiring.

I ride up an escalator at the Entertainment Building, cross over an air–conditioned pedestrian bridge to Central Tower, then another to the Central Building, then to The Landmark complex, Alexandra House, and the Princes Building and I’m back in the Mandarin Hotel—all the way across Central Hong Kong without setting foot outdoors. I’ve always enjoyed this particular route, not only for its convenience but also for the feeling of being above it all and for the perspective it provides into Hong Kong’s psyche. In the past, I observed that it took me by two Prada stores (just in case I’d forgotten to pick something up at my first Prada opportunity, or, even more worrying, something I’d bought at the first shop had gone out of fashion before I reached the second). Then, in the bleak early years of this century, the route took me past shuttered boutiques, the occasional bum, and, for a time, anxious pedestrians wearing surgical masks. I recall making the walk in the opposite direction, from the Mandarin to the nightlife district of Lan Kwai Fong, and not seeing another soul for most of the trip. That was in early 2003, at the height of the SARS scare.

My family and I moved away from Hong Kong in 2004, after living in the city for more than three years. When we left, the territory was still reeling from SARS, the lackluster leadership of Chief Executive Tung Chee–Hwa, and paralyzing pro–democracy marches. Unemployment was stuck at ten percent. The property market, still the main economic driver in Hong Kong, had plunged fifty percent from its late–1990s highs, leaving 200,000 homeowners in this city of seven million people in a negative equity position in which they owed more on their flats than they were worth. Luxury hotels were closing. Restaurants were nearly empty. I would occasionally find myself the only shopper in swanky boutiques.

It was as if everyone’s worst fears about Hong Kong’s return to China had come true. With reunification, it seemed that Hong Kong’s advantages—rule of law, convertible currency, world–class service, a large and sophisticated business and financial community—would gradually be arbitraged into irrelevance as Western businesses bypassed the Fragrant Harbor (the literal translation of Hong Kong) and headed straight for Guangdong and Shanghai. Who needed Hong Kong anymore, the reasoning went, if you could deal directly and more cheaply with the Chinese? There was a creeping sense that this city, which had once seemed a world metropolis on a par with New York, London, and Tokyo, was no longer even the most important city in southern China.
Continue reading “Hong Kong Reloaded” →

The Intentions

bsam pa bzang na sa dang lam yang bzang/ /
bsam pa ngan na sa dang lam yang ngan/ /
thams cad bsam pa dag la rag las pas/ /
rtag par bsam pa bzang la ‘bad par bya/ /

If the intentions are good, then so will be the levels and paths.
If the intentions are bad, then the levels and paths will be too.
Since everything depends on one’s intentions,
Always strive to make sure that they are positive.

~ Je Tsongkhapa, A Literary Gem of Poetry ~

VOLAR

SCMP STYLE AWARDS
Feb 26, 2008

The winners in the nightlife and entertainment category, club owners Benedict Ku, Jaime Ku, Ina Yip and Ray Ng, based their unique brand on non-commercial music. Their club Volar brought European electro-rock to clubbers in the city.

Benedict Ku said: “I don’t think it’s a risk. We thought that we needed to bring something different to Hong Kong – give people excitement to come out.”

Mr Ng added: “It was more like setting a trend.”

Mr Ku, 34, and Mr Ng, 37, said they started going to clubs in their teens and still loved clubbing and chilling out with friends. Mr Ng said that when he was still working as a lawyer, he could not afford the time to party, which caused him much distress. “Now I just spend four days [clubbing]. I used to go out six days [a week],” Mr Ng said.

Both agreed that Hong Kong was the perfect place for nightlife because it was easy to hop between different clubs and bump into a variety of people on the same night.

5+1_Annapurna

The history of Italy’s finest cashmere knitwear is also the story of Annapurna S.p.A. in Prato. Since its foundation in 1978, the company whose name reminds us of a place in the Himalayan mountains, has been benefiting from an exceptionally favorable blend of knowledge and skill. Annapurna S.p.A. owes its impressive growth and leading position in the high-grade cashmere trade to the intuition of Mrs. Aida Barni. She is one of those enterprising women who have committed themselves, and their name, solely to the philosophy and achievement of top quality.

Primarily, Annapurna’s production uses only double-threaded worsted cashmere imported from the Himalayas that is extremely and subtly twisted to create a softer, more resistant and more elastic yarn than conventional single-threaded cashmere. Use of the topmost cashmere, unique design and wide color palette has earned Annapurna a reputation for luxurious Italian knitwear. 5+1 Annapurna is a new line presented by Annapurna S.p.A.

National Day 2000 by Alfian Sa'at

2001-03-17 – 14:50:19

Dear Singapore,

You’re going to be 35 this year. You were born in 1965, which is the same year that you became an orphan. So every year we celebrate your birthday and also–the anniversary of a separation.

This is an image I can’t seem to get out of my mind: a birthday for the orphan. Teachers and classmates surround the orphan boy, sing him a song, and ask him to make a wish. It is the same wish that he has made every single year. Then he blows out the candles, they clap, and he sinks his knife into the cake. Because he is the birthday boy, they let him have the rose-shaped biscuits. He goes to bed with the smell of chocolate cream on his fingers. But what comes after that? What is the meaning of his birthday? Why does his presence in this world also have to coincide with the absence of those who brought him into it?

Maybe you think that I’m looking too far ahead. Why can’t I live just for the present? Why should my eyes be permanently aimed like cannonballs into the fortress wall of the future?

But isn’t that what you’ve taught me to do?

I was born in 1977, which is 12 years after you. According to the Chinese calendar, this would make the both of us snakes. The Chinese supposedly don’t like to have snake babies. I can only guess why: snakes are venomous, they are predatory, they are bad omens. They also shed their skins.

But no animal sheds its skin like you. The generation before mine was the last to see the National Theatre. My generation’s gift to the next is the rubble of the National Library. I could name many more casualties of your developmental frenzy: Van Kleef Aquarium, Chinatown, Kampung Wak Hassan, Capitol Cinema, Noah’s Ark, Sungei Buloh, Pulau Ubin. My inheritance is a legacy of collective amnesia.

I am a snake child too. And sometimes I feel like shedding this skin. Or rather, seven layers of skin: There is one with a permanent sheen of sweat, a souvenir from the current heatwave. There is one with cane marks. There is one where a patch is still burning with the memory of a touch. There is one dye-stained with the green of my army uniform. One tattooed with my I/C number. An iridescent one, coming from pure blue mornings when everything became abundantly clear, the hieroglyphs of clouds spelling out all I needed to know. And finally one bruised by nights when I was dreaming of inhabiting another life.

I went to KL some time last year, and it felt like home. I met all kinds of people involved in all kinds of activities committed to the enlargement of civil space: environmental activists, AIDS activists, people who run women’s shelters and small presses. How easy it would be a few years down the road to shed this skin of my citizenship and begin anew in a place like KL, where the people do not have to continually, helplessly witness spectacles of loss.

But the skin is not a garment. And whatever lacerations inflicted on it, I cannot peel it off and discard it like a tattered rag. The skin must heal, scars must purse their lips, ulcers close their eyes, scabs brushed off crumb by crumb. But healing takes time. And time for you is a luxury.

What I want from you, Singapore, is the recognition that you run the risk of being unrecognisable. Maybe it is economic necessity that propels your constant facelifts. But I don’t want you to shrug off successive incarnations like split-second sleights-of-hand. When you break my heart, Singapore, I don’t want it replaced with a new one, beating to the synchronous rhythm of the Singapore Heartbeat. I want the fracture to close up and heal, however long it takes.

Now I want to return to the orphan boy. Like you and me, he is a snake child too. On the night of his birthday, he lies in his bed and slips into a dream. He sees his parents, who are sitting under a tree. But in his dream he is a snake. He slithers up to his parents and in an outpouring of affection, coils around their bodies. He thinks, like him, that they will be able to shed their skins and return, rejuvenated, for another round of caresses. But they are crying, touching the red welts on each other’s bodies. They run away, and he is alone. Again.

On National Day, Singapore, you will embrace me in your python loops, and the blood will rush into my eyes, exploding in fireworks, and my strangled throat will break into song. But what about the marks you leave behind?

This is what I imagine: after a night of costumed bodies and showers of fire, a melancholy kind of dawn. Silent, except for the sound of brooms raking the ground, drink cans rolling down stadium steps. Black bags of rainbow-coloured confetti. Folded parachutes. Blisters from tight-fitting shoes. Flags dragged back into HDB flats like August laundry from the September rain.

Singapore, give me time to catch my breath. Give me time to examine the sheath of broken skin you have left behind in my hands as you slipped away. And you will return next year, the same snake, but with a different skin, while I can only remain the same. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if you came back to this same spot, to shower me with your reptilian love, only to find–that I am no longer here.

I just want to strike this one bargain with you. You stay the same for me, and I will stay behind for you.

I will stay.

Love,

A Singaporean.

Swiss bank UBS reports huge loss after subprime debacle

Eat this, GIC Special Situations Group!

Swiss bank UBS reports huge loss after subprime debacle

22 hours ago

ZURICH (AFP) — Swiss banking giant UBS plunged to its first-ever full-year net loss on Thursday after losing 18 billion dollars in the US subprime mortgage crisis.

Bank chairman Marcel Rohner said the losses were “unacceptable”.

UBS revealed a net loss of 4.4 billion Swiss francs (4.0 billion dollars, 2.7 billion euros) in 2007, compared to a profit of 12.3 billion Swiss francs in 2006.

“We are obliged to confirm these unacceptable results,” Rohner told a telephone conference on the figures.

“While most of our businesses continued to be very profitable, the sudden and serious deterioration in the US housing market, in combination with our large exposure in sub-prime mortgage-related securities and derivatives, has driven us into loss for the year,” he said.

Analysts said the losses were in line with expectations as UBS had already said two weeks ago it would post a full year loss of around four billion francs.

Helvea analyst Peter Thorne warned that UBS is less attractive to investors than its rival Credit Suisse, which on Tuesday announced full year profits of 8.5 billion Swiss francs after limiting its subprime exposure.

UBS’s balance sheet “remains a worry for investors,” the London-based analyst said.

“Our preference for betting on a recovery in financials is with Credit Suisse where exposures are lower and known, and management has for more credibility,” Thorne added.

In the fourth quarter alone, UBS lost 12.45 billion Swiss francs against a profit of 3.4 billion francs in the same period a year earlier.

“Last year was one of the most difficult in our history,” Rohner said.

In the fourth quarter, writedowns linked to the US housing market amounted to 13.7 billion dollars.

For the year as a whole, its exposure was 18.1 billion dollars, making UBS the third-worst hit bank after Wall Street giants Merrill Lynch, with 19.4 billion dollars, and Citigroup 21.1 billion dollars.

UBS said it expected 2008 to be “another difficult year” given plunging stock market values and growing fears of a recession in the United States.

However, the bank’s chief financial officer Marco Suter said there were unlikely to be any more “big surprises” with regard to subprime writedowns.

“We are not expecting any new major surprises and we are continuing to reduce (subprime exposure) in January and February,” he told reporters.

“We were clearly over-exposed in the high-risk US housing sector and ill prepared” for the financial crisis, Suter admitted.

UBS acknowledged that part of its market risk control framework proved inadequate as the subprime crisis gathered pace in the second half of 2007 but said it has taken steps to improve its oversight systems.

In December, UBS turned to Singapore’s state invesment arm (GIC) and an unnamed Middle Eastern investor to help restore its balance sheet.

GIC said it would inject 11 billion Swiss francs into UBS, giving it a stake of around nine percent and thus making it the largest single shareholder, while the Middle Eastern investor was to put up two billion Swiss francs.

Some shareholders have voiced unhappiness with the plans to raise funds from foreign, state-controlled investment bodies, fearing the terms of the deal could put existing investors at a disadvantage.

UBS’ share price has taken a pummelling in recent weeks and Thursday was no exception.

The bank’s shares were down 7.76 percent at 37.68 Swiss francs in late afternoon trade on the Zurich stock exchange, bucking an otherwise positive market trend.

Mark Twain

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

~ Mark Twain

FT Weekend: Air care for frequent fliers

Air care for frequent fliers

By Emma Jacobs

Published: February 2 2008 02:00 | Last updated: February 2 2008 02:00

A petite woman with an elfin haircut, in a black waisted tunic and 4in heels, stands before a group of immaculately tidy men and women. She is delivering a lesson but she has one instruction just for the men – they must never wear Lancôme juicy tubes at work. Mim Allgood will, however, permit tinted moisturiser, clear mascara and lip balm.

That’s because Allgood is teaching grooming to a group of wannabe air stewards and stewardesses in an unprepossessing metallic grey building near Gatwick airport. Inside, the Virgin Airlines campus is like being in Britney Spears’s Toxic video – everyone wears their compulsory post-box red uniforms and the women’s hair is swept up in French pleats and rolled ponytails.

It’s a relatively easy look to maintain on the ground but how do flight attendants manage to look so groomed and fresh at the end of a long flight while passengers’ skin is blotchy and their hair frazzled? Even in the relative luxury of business class, the pallid zombie look, a by-product of the aircraft’s recycled air, is hard to avoid. So perhaps a few tips from the airline grooming classes at Virgin and Silverjet will help to even the score.

Allgood’s class is peppered with women who look like they’re in the qualifying heat for a Miss UK competition. Everyone is impossibly glossy and neat. But the overall message from this seminar is that frequent flying is bad for your skin. The air in the cabin is dehydrating, and moving between climates and time zones will increase your skin’s sensitivity. More worryingly, frequent flying can be ageing. Remedial and preventative action must be taken.

“When you start flying, your skin will become very dehydrated. Look at a bowl of fruit in first class. At the start of the flight, it’s really juicy. At the end, it’s wrinkly and shrivelled. Same for your skin. Even oily skin,” Allgood warns. “People with oily skin often think they escape dehydration because they look shinier at touchdown. But it’s not true.”

The mantra is: drink lots of water, limit tea and coffee, and avoid alcohol. It’s not just imbibing water but also spritzing it on your face and hair, if it’s prone to frizz. However, steer clear of sprays that are pure water. Marcella Knibb, the Silverjet instructor, puckers her face in disgust at the very thought of them. Water sprays dehydrate your skin by sapping it of any existing moisture so she advises using one with refreshing, hydrating additives such as aloe vera, mint or lavender. If you don’t like spraying liquid on your eyes, then squirt it on cotton pads first. Skin wipes are also a good way to refresh your skin but steer clear of the ones they give away on aircraft – the lanolin in those can be an irritant. Go for ones such as Dermalogica’s skin purifying wipes, which have the added benefit of not being included as a liquid for airport security rules.

Ideally, passengers, not cabin crew, should take make-up off at the start of a flight. But if that is unrealistic, then at least some products are no-nos. Red and yellow dyes in make-up, including red lipstick and fake tan, are dehydrating. We are all fiercely warned away from YSL’s Touche Eclat, which is too drying to wear on a flight. In fact, we should restrict our use of the magic wand for special occasions and never wear it as a concealer – it reflects light so highlights rather than hides spots.

The best make-up for flights is mineral-based such as the ranges produced by ID Bare Minerals or Jane Iredale, which use 100 per cent minerals and no preservatives or oils. Unlike a powder, the crushed minerals won’t be absorbed into pores and nurture spots. “It’s so pure, you can sleep in it,” laughs Allgood. She catches herself: “Although don’t. Always take your make-up off.” Also beware of make-up exploding because of cabin pressure. If you reapply mid-flight, always put a napkin on your lap in case of leaks.

We are advised that, whenever possible, we should use flights for a bit of pampering. Knibb takes us through a flight’s pampering routine and instructs us to scrape our hair back, cleanse and tone. If you’re prone to spots, try pinning your hair back on a flight as flopping fringes will only exacerbate the problem. Then, she suggests using a multivitamin concentrate or Dermalogica’s skin hydrating booster and then moisturiser such as Dermalogica’s anhydrous barrier repair. “Don’t worry about nipping to the toilet to rub in body lotion. It’s only the exposed areas – face, hands and neck – that dry out on flights,” she points out. “If you have the guts, put a face mask on, though not a clay-based one to save embarrassment. [Try] a clear one, perhaps a rose hydrating mask by Aromatherapy Associates.” Allgood would go one step further and put an eye mask on, such as one by Guinot. She recommends dunking the tube in some iced water to make it extra soothing. Steer clear of eye drops as they’re drying.

If all these potions look like they’re going to breach security rules, you should pick up samples from beauty department stores. They’ll fit into the airport’s clear plastic bags.

For those who haven’t the time or inclination to pack a range of products or go through a mile-high beauty routine, Elizabeth Arden’s eight-hour cream is “an essential”, says Allgood. According to Rebecca Wadsworth, a member of British Airways’ crew, her colleagues swear by it as the ultimate multitasking cream. It can be rubbed into cuticles, heels, on your face, on your lips before applying lipstick, on your hands and to calm any rashes.

But the ultimate beauty no-no on a flight is alcohol. On this topic, everyone agrees that water or maybe a drink with Vitamin C is best – and if you’re in the mood for a cocktail, try a tomato juice or water with fizzy Vitamin C as an alternative.

Er, what about something stiffer? “If you need to calm your pre-flight nerves, substitute alcohol with cotton wool dipped in lavender and put it in a sealed plastic bag – open it up and smell it when you need a boost,” suggested one flight attendant. Not quite the substitute you were hoping for? Herbal tea was the other accepted alternative.

But if you just have to have a drink, then be sure to have two glasses of water for every alcoholic beverage. That way, your repeated trips to the loo will give you a bit of exercise and prevent swollen ankles.

‘Make yourself feel better with a pampering session’

Elle Macpherson, model and businesswoman: “After long-haul flights, I go to the Luzmon Clinic in Kensington, London, to relieve jet lag and for rebalancing. Luzmon technology is thermostimulation, a combination of electrostimulation and infra-red heat and works wonders for detoxification.”

Sean Harrington, managing director of Elemis: “There’s a lot of dead time when you travel, so if you can make yourself feel better in the sky with a good pampering session, then why not? I think a scrub is always good to do or even a face mask that you can leave on, so that when you get off the plane, you don’t look exhausted, especially if you have a business meeting straight away.”

Amanda Wakeley, fashion designer: “I always get cold on flights, so I wear different layers of my ultra-fine cashmere that I can peel off as I warm up. I find that Australian Bush Flowers travel essence is unbeatable in countering jet lag. I also advocate going straight to the gym post a long-haul flight – it gets your circulation flowing properly and again counters jet lag. I am also a great believer in mind over matter: set your watch to your destination’s time as soon as you board and begin to imagine you are already there.”

Susan Harmsworth, chief executive of ESPA International, a spa and beauty company: “I swear by the Bose noise eliminators that reduce jet lag by cutting out the sound of the engines during flight.”

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008

SIA shoddily handled extra baggage allowance request

I HAVE always associated Singapore Airlines (SIA) with exceptional customer service, but was disappointed before even boarding my flight.

I am a student going overseas on a six-month study attachment and am facing great difficulty in squeezing all my necessary baggage into SIA’s 20kg Economy Class Checked Baggage Allowance. Hence, I wanted to see if there was any solution other than paying high overweight baggage charges. This was the start of my frustration.

First, I called the Baggage Office number on their website. The baggage officer informed me that I could request for a Baggage Allowance Waiver with valid reasons by calling SIA’s Reservation Hotline. Several attempts to call the hotline were met with a dead tone. When I finally managed to get an officer on the line, I was informed that they had no authority to grant such waivers. He then said that I should call their ‘baggage department’ and directed me to SIA Cargo.

The officer at SIA Cargo directed me back to the Reservation Hotline. The second reservations officer then told me that if I required additional baggage allowance I should have booked my ticket via a travel agent, as there was some extra baggage benefit. Having booked my ticket several months back, this was not a viable alternative. Upon further enquiry, I was told that I should e-mail SQ Reservations with my request. The short reply to my e-mail was that they could not grant my request due to ‘high operational costs’.

My issue is not with being denied the waiver but with the constant redirection of my request to yet another inappropriate department and the shoddy way in which it was handled. With its reputation as a world-class airline, I expected better of SIA. I can only hope that such substandard service is the exception rather than the rule.

Angela Ang Jie Ling (Miss)

What will destroy us?

The things that will destroy us are: politics without principle; pleasure without conscience; wealth without work; knowledge without character; business without morality; science without humanity; and worship without sacrifice.”

~ Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi ~

MM Lee says Singapore must find fourth generation of leaders soon

By May Wong, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 01 February 2008 2115 hrs

SINGAPORE : Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew believes that Singapore needs to find its fourth generation political leadership by the next two elections or it will be in deep trouble.

Speaking at a conference on Friday on the future of Singapore as a global city, he also said he believes that the optimum size of Singapore’s population should be between 5 million and 5.5 million. This compares with the target of 6.5 million set by the country’s planners.

The audience heard Mr Lee’s views on why Singapore should not become like Hong Kong but maintain a certain greenery and space and be unique.

Mr Lee said: “I have not quite been sold on the idea that we should have 6.5 million. I think there’s an optimum size for the land that we have to preserve the open spaces and the sense of comfort.”

The main theme though was on how talent in a globalised world is scarce and for Singapore, this talent pool is scarce.

MM Lee said: “Now we’re confined to a Singapore team. It’s one thing going to the South China Sea for deep sea fishing. It’s another going to Sentosa lagoon. The size of the fish are different.

“But despite that, we have succeeded because I could sense that if we do not produce a team A, what the original team has done would peter away.”

Even among his grandchildren, only one took up a scholarship and he is concerned the rest may not return after their overseas study.

Mr Lee stressed several times that Singapore is losing its top talents abroad. And he is extremely worried that the country will not have enough people to produce a good team of leaders to come up with the best solutions to see Singapore through into the future.

He said that a core of “A” team Singaporeans, born and bred here, has to be found to lead Singapore in the next two elections.

Mr Lee added: “They are the guarantors of the values, the continuity, the sense of commitment that cannot waver in any crisis. I see that as our major threat. Not so much the attraction of talent coming in, but the loss of talent attracted out.

“If in this two elections, you don’t see the silhouette of a fourth generation A team, then you have reasons to worry.”

Mr Lee noted that many talented Singaporeans are drawn to big financial and legal institutions overseas. So the country has set up organisations like Contact Singapore to try and attract them back home with the opportunities available here.

If Singapore wins the challenge of retaining at least two-thirds of the nation’s top talents here, then the country will have a strong central core.

And it is these leaders who have to manage expectations of a population which will increasingly see income disparity.

Derivatives

Notional Value

The total value of a leveraged position’s assets. This term is commonly used in the options, futures and currency markets because in them a very little amount of invested money can control a large position (have a large consequence for the trader).

For example, one S&P 500 Index futures contract obligates the buyer to 250 units of the S&P 500 Index. If the index is trading at $1,000, then the single futures contract is similar to investing $250,000 (250 x $1,000). Therefore, $250,000 is the notional value underlying the futures contract.

Credit Derivative

Privately held negotiable bilateral contracts that allow users to manage their exposure to credit risk. Credit derivatives are financial assets like forward contracts, swaps, and options for which the price is driven by the credit risk of economic agents (private investors or governments).

For example, a bank concerned that one of its customers may not be able to repay a loan can protect itself against loss by transferring the credit risk to another party while keeping the loan on its books.

Credit Default Swap

A swap designed to transfer the credit exposure of fixed income products between parties.

The buyer of a credit swap receives credit protection, whereas the seller of the swap guarantees the credit worthiness of the product. By doing this, the risk of default is transferred from the holder of the fixed income security to the seller of the swap.

For example, the buyer of a credit swap will be entitled to the par value of the bond by the seller of the swap, should the bond default in its coupon payments.

Inemuri

Sleep, or rather the lack of it makes us less able (if not downright dangerous) in the workplace according to sleep expert Dr Neil Stanley of the Norwich University Hospital. “Sleep is as important as diet and exercise when it comes to the nation’s health,” says Dr Stanley, “but we place no importance on it in our culture. When you are sleep deprived you are putting yourself in a stress situation. In our culture it is socially acceptable to have had no sleep and go into work, even though your ability to function is severely impaired and you could be dangerous.” The good doctor recommends ‘power napping’ as a way of countering the effects of too little rest. “A 20-minute nap gives you an amazing boost, it’s much better than having a coffee,” he says. “Even closing your eyes for 20 minutes is better than nothing, but in the UK it is culturally unacceptable for us to be found napping with our head on the keyboard. However, it’s fine to pump yourself with caffeine even though it it’s nowhere near as effective.” Whilst nodding off at work is still largely unacceptable here, across the world in Japan it’s almost mandatory. Know as ‘inemuri’ or ‘to be asleep while present’, the custom is seen as a demonstration of how committed you are to the job (i.e. you are exhausted because you are putting in so many hours for the company). So well regarded is inemuri that many workers apparently fake it even if they aren’t really tired just to impress their bosses. Interesting place Japan. You couldn’t make this up.