Life's Little Instruction Book

Have a firm handshake.

Look people in the eye.

Sing in the shower.

Own a great stereo system.

If in a fight, hit first and hit hard.

Keep secrets.

Never give up on anybody. Miracles happen everyday.

Always accept an outstretched hand.

Be brave. Even if you’re not, pretend to be. No one can tell the difference.

Whistle.

Avoid sarcastic remarks.

Choose your life’s mate carefully. From this one decision will come 90 percent of all your happiness or misery.

Make it a habit to do nice things for people who will never find out.

Lend only those books you never care to see again.

Never deprive someone of hope; it might be all that they have.

When playing games with children, let them win.

Be romantic.

Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.

Loosen up. Relax. Except for rare life-and-death matters.

Don’t allow the phone to interrupt important moments. It’s there for your convenience, not the caller’s.

Be a good loser.

Be a good winner.

Think twice before burdening a friend with a secret.

When someone hugs you, let them be the first to let go.

Be modest. A lot was accomplished before you were born.

Keep it simple.

Beware of the person who has nothing to lose.

Don’t burn bridges. You’ll be surprised how many times you have to cross the same river.

Live your life so that your epitaph could read, No Regrets.

Be bold and courageous. When you look back on life, you’ll regret the things you didn’t do more than the one’s you did.

Never waste an opportunity to tell someone you love them.

Remember no one makes it alone. Have a grateful heart and be quick to acknowledge those who helped you.

Take charge of your attitude. Don’t let someone else choose it for you.

Visit friends and relatives when they are in hospital, you need to only stay a few minutes.

Once in a while, take the scenic route.

Send a lot of Valentine cards. Sign them, ‘Someone who thinks you’re terrific.’

Answer the phone with enthusiasm and energy in your voice.

Keep a note pad and pencil on your bed-side table. Million-dollar ideas sometimes strike at 3 a.m.

Show respect for everyone who works for a living, regardless of how trivial their job.

Send your loved ones flowers. Think of a reason later.

Make someone’s day by paying the toll for the person in the car behind you.

Become someone’s hero.

Marry only for love.

Count your blessings.

Compliment the meal when you’re a guest in someone’s home.

Wave at the children on a school bus.

Remember that 80 per cent of the success in any job is based on your ability to deal with people.

Don’t expect life to be fair.

Insurance and Risk

The purpose of insurance is protection against financial disaster. In this regard, there are usually 3 areas where disaster can strike:

1. Loss of income. Not many people realize that their greatest financial asset is their ability to earn money. A disability, whether physiological (e.g. loss of one hand) or psychological (e.g. mental illness), results in an inability to perform productively. This means that you will either lose your high-paying job or become unable to operate your business effectively. Either way your income falls.

2. Loss of health. A major illness or accidental trauma can run up hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills, in addition to the loss of income during hospitalization.

3. Loss of life. This is actually a variation of a loss of income, since it’s not the life itself but the income associated with the lifespan that can be valued in monetary terms. However insurers distinguish between loss of life and loss of income since you can be alive and kicking but totally unable to earn your previous level of income.

Comparing your lifetime earnings and the typical rates quoted by an insurer, there is no excuse for not insuring your ability to work. A disability income policy will pay a percentage, usually 75% of your last drawn pay, should you become unable to work. If you suffer a pay cut it pays a percentage of the pay cut. A typical 25 year old fellow in Singapore earning say $30,000 annually would likely earn at least $900,000 over the next 30 years, excepting increments and bonuses. Yet the cost of providing 75% replacement income ($650,000) is $400 or less annually. It is the most cost-effective coverage you can buy – ‘leverage’ is over 1,500 times.

The average person gets sick 4-5 days a year, but that’s small things like a cough, cold or the flu. 1 in 3 men will suffer a heart attack, stroke or cancer before age 65. For women, it’s 1 in 5. There are other alarming medical statistics freely available that demonstrate that the likelihood of living out a full life without a major medical incident is rather low. The local Medishield and its variants offer extremely limited coverage – there are dollar caps on every item, plus a significant deductible. At a minimum, all locals should move to IncomeShield (best of the Shield variants), but it’s not enough.

A third-party hospital and surgical plan offers better coverage (no deductible, much higher dollar caps). Premiums are in the mid-hundreds to low-thousands per year, meaning you’ll likely spend $20,000 over a lifetime. But one medical claim alone can hit $20,000, and a major operation like an organ transplant can cost $200,000. So one claim, and you’ve recovered your premium costs. Of course, ideally you don’t want to have to claim at all! Insurance is one bet you always want to lose. Critical illness plans (which pay a lump sum on diagnosis) are a nice-to-have option, although their coverage overlaps with health and surgical plans (which work via reimbursement).

Loss of life is actually only an issue for those with dependents (young children, aged parents etc). For those without dependents, life insurance is actually a waste of money, because nobody suffers a financial loss if you die. All you need is enough coverage to pay for funeral expenses – and most locals are covered in this respect by the Dependants’ Protection Scheme (automatically paid from CPF unless you opt out). But for those with dependents, it is prudent to have sufficient coverage to cover the loss of income – disability coverage usually doesn’t pay much on death.

In financial terms, when facing a risk, one should, in order of preference:

1. Avoid it.
2. Minimise it.
3. Transfer it.
4. Absorb it.

As far as health/life is concerned, you can’t avoid getting sick. You can minimise the risk by maintaining a healthy lifestyle. You can transfer the risk of major bills to an insurer. You can absorb the risk of small bills from seeing your general practitioner.

Where income-earning ability is concerned, you can’t avoid getting injured or dying in an accident. You can minimise the risk of death or injury by choosing a less hazardous occupation. You can transfer the risk of consequent financial loss to an insurer. You can’t absorb the loss of income by saving enough money during good times.

Everyone but the extremely rich should have medical insurance to pay for bills and disability insurance to replace lost income. Only those with dependents should bother about life insurance.

Investment is a game of greed where you give up small known losses (in inflation and opportunity cost) in order to get large unknown gains. Insurance is a game of fear where you give up small known losses (in premiums) in order to avoid large unknown losses. Fear and greed are distinct; do not mix the two. Yet both are vital to any financial plan and must be adequately addressed.

Study: Milk dilutes benefits of tea

January 9, 2007

• Milk in tea eliminates protective effect against heart disease, study finds
• Researchers compared health effects on 16 healthy women
• Tea is second only to water in worldwide consumption

LONDON, England (Reuters) — Drinking tea can reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke but only if milk is not added to the brew, German scientists said Tuesday.

Research has shown that tea improves blood flow and the ability of the arteries to relax but researchers at the Charite Hospital at the University of Berlin, Germany, found milk eliminates the protective effect against cardiovascular disease.

“The beneficial effects of drinking black tea are completely prevented by the addition of milk, said Dr. Verena Stangl, a cardiologist at the hospital.

“If you want to drink tea to have the beneficial health effects you have to drink it without milk. That is clearly shown by our experiments,” she told Reuters.

Tea is second only to water in worldwide consumption so any benefits could have important public health implications. But until now it was not known whether adding milk had an impact.

Stangl and her team discovered that proteins called caseins in milk decrease the amount of compounds in tea known as catechins which increase its protection against heart disease.

They believe their findings, which are reported in the European Heart Journal, could explain why countries such as Britain, where tea is regularly consumed with milk, have not shown a decreased risk of heart disease and stroke from drinking tea.

The researchers compared the health effects of drinking boiled water and tea with and without milk on 16 healthy women. Using ultrasound, they measured the function of an artery in the forearm before and two hours after drinking tea.

Black tea significantly improved blood flow compared to drinking water but adding milk blunted the effect of the tea.

“We found that, whereas drinking tea significantly increased the ability of the artery to relax and expand to accommodate increased blood flow compared with drinking water, the addition of milk completely prevents the biological effect,” said Dr. Mario Lorenz, a molecular biologist and co-author of the study.

Tests on rats produced similar results. When rodents were exposed to black tea they produced more nitric oxide which promotes dilation of blood vessels. But adding milk blocked the effect.

Tea has also been shown to have a protective effect against cancer so the findings could have further implications.

“Since milk appears to modify the biological activities of tea ingredients, it is likely that the anti-tumor effects of tea could be affected as well,” said Stangl.

“I think it is essential that we re-examine the association between tea consumption and cancer protection, to see if that is the case,” she added.

The Centre of Love

When the human race learns to live as a family, then the world will finally attain the next stage of civilization and enlightenment. Families are meant to be centers of love, which radiate their love outward to other families. When people understand this purpose and can share the experience, then they can create joy and peace throughout society. When peace reigns, there will no longer be hatred or disturbances between people, and the human mind will automatically be led upward, toward the highest center of consciousness.

Swami Rama

GPS

Did you know that you can download free GPS maps – you will never get lost again and can visit all the hard to find Malaysian seafood places. If you have a car, you can even install a system that will read out directions for you through the car sound system. Your GPS can also be used when you visit other countries like Hong Kong, China, Japan and the U.S..

A good colour GPS Receiver from Garmin is about S$665 (US$365 from U.S., HK$3980 from HK).

Register and read the Wiki at this site for more information: http://www.malsingmaps.com

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Developed by the United States Department of Defence, GPS is officially named NAVSTAR GPS (Navigation Signal Timing and Ranging Global Positioning System). The satellite constellation is managed by the USAF 50th Space Wing. Although the cost of maintaining the system is approximately US$400 million per year, including the replacement of aging satellites, GPS is free for civilian use as a public good.

GPS includes a feature called Selective Availability (SA) that introduces intentional errors between 0 meters and up to a hundred meters (300 ft) into the publicly available navigation signals, making it difficult to use for guiding long range missiles to precise targets. Additional accuracy was available in the signal, but in an encrypted form that was only available to the United States military, its allies and a few others, mostly government users.

SA typically added signal errors of up to about 10 meters (30 ft) horizontally and 30 meters (100 ft) vertically. The inaccuracy of the civilian signal was deliberately encoded so as not to change very quickly, for instance the entire eastern U.S. area might read 30 m off, but 30 m off everywhere and in the same direction. In order to improve the usefulness of GPS for civilian navigation, Differential GPS was used by many civilian GPS receivers to greatly improve accuracy.

During the Gulf War, the shortage of military GPS units and the wide availability of civilian ones among personnel resulted in a decision to disable Selective Availability. This was ironic, as SA had been introduced specifically for these situations, allowing friendly troops to use the signal for accurate navigation, while at the same time denying it to the enemy. But since SA was also denying the same accuracy to thousands of friendly troops, turning it off or setting it to a error of 0 meters (effectively the same thing) presented a clear benefit.

In the 1990s, the FAA started pressuring the military to turn off SA permanently. This would save the FAA millions of dollars every year in maintenance of their own radio navigation systems. The military resisted for most of the 1990s, but SA was eventually “discontinued”; the amount of error added was “set to zero” in 2000 following an announcement by U.S. President Bill Clinton, allowing users access to an undegraded L1 signal. Per the directive, the induced error of SA was changed to add no error to the public signals (C/A code). Selective Availability is still a system capability of GPS, and error could be in theory reintroduced at any time. In practice, in view of the hazards and costs this would induce for US and foreign shipping, it is unlikely to be reintroduced, and various government agencies have stated that it is not intended to be reintroduced.

The US military has developed the ability to locally deny GPS (and other navigation services) to hostile forces in a specific area of crisis without affecting the rest of the world or its own military systems.

GPS allows accurate targeting of various military weapons including cruise missiles and precision guided munitions. The satellites also carry nuclear detonation detectors, which form a major portion of the United States Nuclear Detonation System. To help prevent GPS from being used in improvised weaponry, the US Government controls the export of civilian receivers. A US-based manufacturer cannot generally export a receiver unless it has limits on the velocities and altitudes at which it will report position and speed information. A general speed limitation of 515 m/sec applies and no GPS unit can function at an altitude of 18 kilometers or above.

faith, hope, love

If I speak in the tongues of men and angels,
but have not love,
I have become sounding brass or a tinkling symbol.

And if I have prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge,
and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains,
but have not love, I am nothing.

And if I dole out all my goods, and
if I deliver my body that I may boast
but have not love, nothing I am profited.

Love is long suffering,
love is kind,
it is not jealous,
love does not boast,
it is not inflated.

It is not discourteous,
it is not selfish,
it is not irritable,
it does not enumerate the evil.
It does not rejoice over the wrong, but rejoices in the truth

It covers all things,
it has faith for all things,
it hopes in all things,
it endures in all things.

Love never falls in ruins;
but whether prophecies, they will be abolished; or
tongues, they will cease; or
knowledge, it will be superseded.

For we know in part and we prophecy in part.

But when the perfect comes, the imperfect will be superseded.

When I was an infant,
I spoke as an infant,
I reckoned as an infant;

when I became [an adult],
I abolished the things of the infant.

For now we see through a mirror in an enigma, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know as also I was fully known.

But now remains
faith, hope, love,

these three;

but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

SCMP: Clean up your act

Friday, December 15, 2006
Clean up your act
By Suzanne Harrison

LATE-NIGHT REVELLERS know about the steam room concept. Sweating out the alcohol makes you feel better, doesn’t it? Maybe so, but tailored spa treatments and/or at-home techniques could be ideal for those suffering New Year burnout – particularly if you combine it with healthy eating and exercise.

Lawrence Brown, from Body Conscious in Central, says now is the time to make the most of promotions for “all those New Year resolutions”. He says it’s a good kick-start in conjunction with a new exercise regimen and diet.

“It will help to get the elimination system moving, improving results of exercise and diet. It’s best to start with a few treatments for maximum benefit. The number will depend on the client and usually there’s following up with maintenance every three weeks to a month.”

Body Conscious offers lymphatic drainage which helps the release of toxins and diminishes the appearance of cellulite, he says. It can be followed by a detoxifying seaweed body wrap.

“This increases the effect, releasing toxins through the kidney and bladder, promoting tissue regeneration and balancing the circulation.”

Samantha Arnold, spa director of the Four Seasons Spa, says there is an increased demand for detoxifying or purifying treatments at the beginning of each calendar year and at the start of summer.

But while pampering yourself at a spa is one New Year’s resolution that’s not difficult to keep, can it really complement a plan to help rid your body of an overload of seasonal toxins?

Some say yes. Gabriela Just, the founder of Just Pure products (used in the Four Seasons Spa), says that according to her company’s concept, detox treatments should be performed during the new moon phase. “At new moon, the body is in its highest readiness for detoxification and change. Anyone who has been thinking of starting a fitness programme or has been working hard for a while at losing a few pounds should really try to start during the new moon. The results are astonishing.”

The more popular spa treatment ingredients for detox include spirulina algae, Dead Sea salts, black mud and essential oils of juniper, stinging nettle, oregano and fennel.

The Peninsula Spa’s director Sharon Codner – who is also an aromatherapist and reiki master – says that at-home body care practices alongside diet and exercise are an ideal way to enhance a detox plan. “Dry skin brushing helps remove the outer dead skin layers and keeps the pores open. Another good method is vigorous towelling after bathing,” Codner says. “Towel roughly until the skin is slightly red. Change towels often because they will contain toxins.”

Spa treatments can help purge the body of toxins created by overindulgence

She advises pouring half a cup of baking soda, half a cup of Epsom salt or the same quantity of sea salt in a bath. Soak for 15 to 20 minutes then scrub the skin gently with soap inside a natural fibre such as a muslin cloth. Within a few minutes, the water should turn murky and “dirty”.

“The darkness is heavy metals [aluminium and mercury] coming out of the skin. Do this once a week during detox and once a month for maintenance.”

Codner also suggests massage during this time, based on the workings of the lymphatic system.

“It’s one of the five main elimination channels in your body along with skin, lungs, kidneys and bowels,” she says. “It’s also your body’s metabolic waste-disposal system. The lymphatic system clears toxins, unwanted proteins and waste which can’t be removed by any other means from your tissues and cells.”

Lymphatic drainage massage in one of the spa’s anti-cellulite hip and thigh treatments uses a technique designed to stimulate the circulation of the lymph to speed up the removal of wastes from all over the body, Codner says.

“The massage goes from light to vigorous to aid the flow of toxins to the lymphatic glands,” she says. “This works wonderfully on the nervous system and stimulates the defences of the immune system to increase the flow and volume of lymph fluid. People will often feel the results for as long as a week.

“Dry body brushing and weekly exfoliations will help to stimulate the circulation as well as improving skin condition.”

Massage does make a detox more enjoyable. Those used to staying up late or eating out a lot can find it hard to wind down when they take a break from it. Massage relaxes and gives a sense of well-being at a time when starting a new period of healthy activity. It gets the circulation going, which increases the flow of blood and therefore nutrients to organs.

If you want to embark on a serious detox regime, consult a specialist beforehand as some extreme detoxes can be dangerous to your health.

Reflexology can also help, says Shelagh Ho, a practitioner at the Vitality Centre. She says the practice works on the elimination systems of the body, the liver, kidneys and the lymphatic system.

“If you’ve got a better diet, the reflexology will support that and vice versa,” Ho says. “I’d advise six sessions once a week and then review after that.”

However, she says people whose bodies are unbalanced may find they feel worse for 24 hours after a session. This is the body’s reaction to releasing toxins.

Ho’s busiest month is December – and she has a waiting list. “I’ve noticed a pattern … I think people are exhausted. Christmas must be a stressful time.”

According to Kate O’Brien and Troy Sing in their book, Qi! Chinese Secrets of Health, Beauty and Vitality, dry saunas are another option.

“Dry saunas promote sweating and the release of fat-soluble toxins through the skin,” they write. “It is recommended to stay in the sauna for a minimum of 30 minutes [inclusive of short breaks] so the temperature must not be excessive.”

They say to shower afterwards to ensure toxins are completely removed and to take flax seed oil daily to replace the loss of essential fats.

Traditional Chinese medicine also recommends body brushing, O’Brien and Sing say, but according to its practitioners you should brush towards the heart.

“For thorough cleansing … body brushing must be performed daily for up to three months; thereafter twice a week,” the authors say.

Detox guru Nish Joshi says in his book Holistic Detox that massage can be very useful for those following his plan.

Joshi says a “particularly good penetrative treatment” is with hot stones.

“Passing the hot stones over the body makes the muscles loose and more responsive and easier to work on to release any stress,” he says.

However, Joshi says that a course of massage treatment, with reflexology included, is necessary to achieve results. “It is not reasonable to expect your symptoms to disappear in one treatment,” Joshi says. “I recommend committing to four reflexology sessions for best results.”

Using pampering and alternative therapies with a detox is fine. However, a general detox involving diet and exercise is not for everyone.

These places will get under your skin

Here’s where you can “pre-tox” or book early for treatment in 2007.

The Peninsula Spa
7/F The Peninsula hotel, Salisbury Rd, Kowloon. Tel: 2920 2888

Body Conscious
16/F the Centrium, 60 Wyndham St, Central. Tel: 2524 6171

The Four Seasons
8 Finance St, Central. Tel: 3196 8888

Plateau Spa
11/F Grand Hyatt Hotel, 1 Harbour Rd, Wan Chai. Tel: 2588 1234

Shelagh Ho, reflexologist at The Vitality Centre, 801, 35 Queen’s Rd, Central. Tel: 2537 1118

Charlie’s Acupressure and Foot Reflexology Care Centre of the Blind
205 Tung Ming Building, 40-42 Des Voeux Rd, Central. Tel: 2810 6666

Swarming

Swarming is a military strategy in which a military force attacks an enemy from several different directions and then regroups. Important aspects of swarming are mobility, communication, unit autonomy and coordination/synchronization. The coordination and synchronization is of prime importance to protect against fraticide fire and achieve the overwhelming application of forces. The swarm use direct and indirect fire to achieve its goals.

SCMP: Survey confirms large numbers of HK people work overtime

A new survey shows many Hong Kong employees work a lot of overtime – and some do as much as six extra hours a day, the Apple Daily reported on Monday. The survey was conducted by Legislative Council member Mandy Tam Heung Man, who interviewed 377 full time employees.

Some 75 per cent of people surveyed said they needed to work overtime. Nearly 20 per cent said they worked overtime for five days or more.

But nine per cent of those surveyed said they had to work, at least, an six additional hours each day.

The survey also found 17.8 per cent worked overtime for five times or more each week. Most needed to work an extra two to three hours.

Over 90 per cent of respondents said the heavy workload affected their health.

“Working overtime has a negative impact on the productivity of employees,” Apple Daily reported citing the survey.

The survey found 46.9 per cent of respondents had taken sick leave in the past three months due to sickness caused by excessive work.

It found employees who needed to work overtime took, on average, more than 4.5 days sick leave annually.

Ms Tam said excessive overtime definitely affected the health of employees.

“It is also counterproductive and affects the daily operations of the organisation. Employees expressed their wish to be paid for their overtime,” she added.

Ms Tam urged the government to introduce legislation to monitor working hours.

Scorched Earth

A scorched earth policy is a military tactic which involves destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area. Apparently a translation of Chinese ?? (Jiao Tu), the term refers to the practice of burning crops to deny the enemy food sources, although it is by no means limited to food stocks, and can include shelter, transportation, communications and industrial resources, which are often of equal or greater military value in modern warfare, as modern armies generally carry their own food supplies. The practice may be carried out by an army in enemy territory, or by an army in its own home territory.

The scorched-earth defense is a form of risk arbitrage and anti-takeover strategy. When a target firm implements this provision, it will make an effort to make it unattractive to the hostile bidder. For example, a company may agree to liquidate or destroy all valuable assets, also called “crown jewels”, or schedule debt repayment to be due immediately following a hostile takeover. In some cases, a scorched-earth defense may develop into an extreme anti-takeover defense called a “suicide pill”.

Salubrion

Charles Saiki, a retired architectural draftsman and lifelong artist, faithfully meditated over the past thirty years in Hawaii. He first developed the idea of a compact meditation chair because he continuously needed to adjust his cushion, never achieving complete comfort or concentration. He spent three years refining its form and function before he shared the product with the world as the Salubrion Meditation Chair, becoming one of the most popular meditation stools in the U.S..

www.salubrion.com
Boing Boing

Dance Anthem

A dance anthem, floor filler or club anthem is a dance (or disco) track which receives almost timeless status, being played commonly many years after its release. Many older (pre-1990) tracks which are referred to as dance anthems are often only played at retro nights in clubs, or at themed parties. A common sub-category of dance anthems have sometimes been referred to as “tunes”, examples of such tracks include “For An Angel” by Paul van Dyk, “Energy 52” by Cafe Del Mar, “Carte Blanche” by Veracocha and “Born Slippy” by Underworld.

However, most commonly a dance anthem is a track which DJ’s still play in normal sets alongside the usual tracks. Some are played only towards the end of a set, almost as if a mini retro set was being played, but some are still used as if they were recently released dance music.

The term floor filler was coined to describe extraordinarily popular songs, due to the ability of certain tracks to bring people from the bar areas of nightclubs onto the dance floor. This is often due to the highly distinctive intros that some songs have but can also be due to the simple popularity and recognition of a song. DJs frequently reserve these tracks for critical times during their performances, to bring people to or keep people on the dance floor, thus ensuring a lively atmosphere.

The Alchemist

It was not easy to do; in earlier times, his heart had always been ready to tell its story, but lately that wasn’t true. There had been times when his heart spent hours telling of its sadness, and at other times it became so emotional over the desert sunrise that the boy had to hide his tears. His heart beat fastest when it spoke to the boy of treasure, and more slowly when the boy stared entranced at the endless horizons of the desert. But his heart was never quiet, even when the boy and the alchemist had fallen into silence.

“Why do we have to listen to our hearts?” the boy asked, when they had made camp that day.

“Because, wherever your heart is, that is where you’ll find your treasure.”

“But my heart is agitated,” the boy said. “It has its dreams, it gets emotional, and it’s become passionate over a woman of the desert. It asks things of me, and it keeps me from sleeping many nights, when I’m thinking about her.”

“Well that’s good. Your heart is alive. Keep listening to what it has to say.”

“My heart is a traitor,” the boy said to the alchemist, when they had paused to rest the horses. “It doesn’t want me to go on.”

“That makes sense,” the alchemist answered. “Naturally it’s afraid that in pursuing your dream, you might lose everything you’ve won.”

“Well then, why should I listen to my heart?”

“Because you will never again be able to keep it quiet. Even if you pretend not to have heard what it tells you, it will always be there inside you, repeating to you what you’re thinking about life and about the world.”

“You mean I should listen, even if it’s treasonous?”

“Treason is a blow that comes unexpectedly. If you know your heart well, it will never be able to do that to you. Because you’ll know its dreams and wishes, and will know how to deal with them.”

“You will never be able to escape from you heart. So it’s better to listen to what it has to say. That way, you’ll never have to fear an unanticipated blow.”

Water

Nothing in the world is as soft and yielding as water. Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible, nothing can surpass it. The soft overcomes the hard; the gentle overcomes the rigid. Everyone knows this is true, but few can put it into practice. Therefore the Master remains serene in the midst of sorrow. Evil cannot enter his heart. Because he has given up helping, he is people’s greatest help. True words seem paradoxical.

Tao te Ching, Chapter 78

A Thousand Serious Moves

What is the difference
Between your Existence
And that of a Saint?

The Saint knows
That the spiritual path
Is a sublime chess game with God
And that the Beloved
Has just made such a Fantastic Move
That the Saint is now continually
Tripping over joy
And Bursting out in Laughter
And saying, “I Surrender!”

Whereas, my dear,
I am afraid you still think
You have a thousand serious moves.

Hafiz

Songs of the 80s

Each song reminds me of something.

ABBA – Super Trouper

A-Ha – Take On Me

Bangles – Eternal Flame

Berlin – Take My Breath Away

Breathe – Hands to Heaven

Chris Isaak – Wicked Games

Concrete Blonde – Joey

Crowded House – Weather With You

Duran Duran – Ordinary World

Fine Young Cannibals – She Drives Me Crazy

Freddie Aguilar – Anak

Johnny Hates Jazz – Shattered Dreams

Johnny Hates Jazz – Turn Back The Clock

Laura Branigan – Self Control

London Beat – I’ve Been Thinking About You

Martika – Love Thy Will Be Done

Queen – I Want To Break Free

Rita Coolidge – All Time High (from Octopussy)

Roxette – It Must Have Been Love

Sabrina – Boys

Sade – Smooth Operator

Suzanne Vega – Luka

Suzanne Vega – Tom’s Diner

Tears for Fears – Shout

Tears for Fears – Woman in Chains

The Cars – Drive

The Escape Club – I’ll Be There

The Police – Every Breath You Take

Tina Turner – We Don’t Need Another Hero

Toto – Africa

UB40 – Red Red Wine

U2 – Mysterious Ways

U2 – One

U2 – Pride (In the Name of Love)

Village People – YMCA

Wham – Careless Whisper

Yanni – Aria (From the British Airways Ad)

Happiness

For those I love and those who love me,
may this life be a blessing and a source of happiness to all beings.
Death is no cause for sorrow, but it would be sorrow
if one dies without having done something for oneself and for the world.

Ven. Dr K Sri Dhammananda Maha Nayaka Thera (1919-2006)

You know you are a 70s baby when…

1. You grew up watching He-Man, MASK, Transformers, Silver Hawk, and Mickey Mouse. Not to forget, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, My Little Pony and Smurfs.

2. You grew up brushing your teeth with a mug in Primary school during recess time. You will squat by a drain with all your classmates beside you, and brushed your teeth with a coloured mug. The teachers said you must brush each side 10 times too.

3. You know what SBC stands for.

4. You paid 40 cents for Chocolate or Strawberry milk every week in class.

6. You find your friends with pagers and handphone cool in Secondary school.

7. SBS buses used to be non-air conditioned. The bus seats were made of wood and the cushion is red. The big red bell gives a loud BEEP! when pressed. There were colourful tickets for TIBS buses. The conductor would check for tickets by using a machine, which punches a hole in the ticket.

8. Envelopes given to us to donate to Sharity Elephant every Children’s Day.

9. You read Young Generation magazine. You know who ‘Vinny’ the little vampire and Acai the constable is.

10. You were there when they first introduced MRT here. You went the first ride with your parents and you would kneel on the seat to see the scenery.

11. Movie tickets used to cost only $3.50.

12. Strawberry ShortCake and Barbie Dolls fascinated Gals.

13. You learned to laugh like The Count in Sesame Street.

14. You longed to buy titbits called Kaka (20cents per pack), and Xiao Ding Dang (50 cents per box), that had a toy in and it changes every week not forgetting the 15 cents animal crackers and the ring pop, where the lollipop is the diamond on the ring.

15. You watched TV2 (also known as Channel10) cartoons because SBC never had enough cartoons for you.

16. Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, The Three Investigators, Famous Five and Secret Seven are probably the thickest story books you ever thought you have read. Even Sweet Valley High and Malory Towers.

17. KFC used to be a high-class restaurant that serve food in plates and let you use metal forks and knives.

18. Catching was the IN thing and twist was the magic word.

19. Your English workbooks were made of some damn poor quality paper that was smooth and yellow.

20. CDIS was your best friend.

21. The only computer lessons in school involved funny pixellised characters in 16 colours walking about trying to teach you maths.

22. Water bottles were slinged around your neck and a must everywhere you go.

23. Boys loved to play soccer with small plastic balls in the basketball court.

24. Teng-teng, five stones, chapteh, hentambola and zero point were all the rage with the girls and boys too.

25. Science was fun with the balsam and the angsana being the most important plants of our lives, guppies and swordtail being the most important fish.

26. Who can forget Ahmad, Bala, Sumei and John, eternalized in our minds from the textbooks. Even Mr Wally & Mr. Yakki. What about Miss Lala??? And Zaki and Tini in Malay Textbooks?

27. You carried out experiments of our own to get ourself badges for being a Young Zoologist/Botanist etc.

28. Every Children’s day and National Day you received pins or pens with ‘Happy Children’s Day 1993’ or dumb files with ‘Happy National Day 1994’.

29. In Primary six you had to play buddy for the younger kids like big sister and brother.

30. You wore BM2000, BATA, or Pallas shoes.

31. Your form teacher taught you Maths, Science and English.

32. The worksheets were made of brown rough paper of poor quality.

33. You went to school in slippers and raincoat when it rained, and you find a dry spot in the school to sit down, dry your feet, and wear your dry and warm socks and shoes.

34. School dismissal time was normally around 1 pm.

35. There would be spelling tests and mental sums to do almost everyday.

36. Your friends considered you lucky and rich if your parents gave you $3 or more for pocket money everyday.

37. You saw Wee Kim Wee’s face in the school hall.

38. You freaked out when the teacher tells you to line up according to height and hold hands with the corresponding boy or girl.

39. Boys liked to catch fighting spiders.

40. Collecting and battling erasers was a pastime for boys.

41. Autograph books were loaded with “Best Wishes”, “Forget Me Not”, and small poems like “Bird fly high, hard to catch. Friend like you, hard to forget”.

42. Class monitors and prefects loved to say, “You talk some more, I write your name ah!”

43. There were at least 40 people in one class.

44. Large, colourful schoolbags were carried.

45. You brought every single book to school, even though there was one thing called the timetable.

Money Laundering

 

Washing dirty money involves three basic steps: placement, layering, and integration.

In the first stage, the dirty money’s illicit origin is attempted to be hidden by changing its form by having this money invested in cash-intensive businesses. Next, a number of shell companies are set up in countries known for strong bank secrecy laws or for lax enforcement of money laundering statutes. Then the dirty money is circulated within these shell companies until they appear clean.

For circulating this money, two age-old methods are used. The first is the loan-back system and the other the double invoicing system. With a loan-back, the criminal puts the funds in an offshore entity that he owns and then ‘loans’ them back to himself. According to researchers, this technique works because it is hard to determine who actually controls offshore accounts in some countries.

In double invoicing – a method for moving funds into or out of a country-an offshore entity keeps the proverbial two sets of books. To move ‘clean’ funds into say, Singapore, a Singaporean exporter overcharges for goods or service. To move funds out of Singapore, a Singaporean importer is overcharged.

Other ‘layering’ techniques involve buying big items like stocks, luxury cars, travel tickets. The integration stage is the final point when the money is moved into mainstream economic activities – typically business investments, real estate, or luxury goods purchase.

Money laundering is said to have potentially devastating economic, security, and social consequences. It provides the funds needed to finance drug dealers, terrorists, illegal arms deals, corrupt public officials, and others to operate and expand their criminal enterprise.

Because money laundering relies to some extent on existing financial systems and operations, the criminal’s choice of money laundering vehicles is limited only by his or her creativity. Money is laundered through currency exchange houses, stock brokerage houses, gold dealers, gambling houses, automobile dealerships, insurance companies, and trading companies. Private banking facilities, offshore banking, shell corporations, free trade zones, wire systems, and trade financing all can mask illegal activities.

Memories of Murder

This is a true story.

1986 to 1991.

In a small town outside Seoul, over the course of six years 10 women were raped and murdered in a 2km radius. Korean society’s first serial killer took the lives of 10 victims, ranging from a 71 year-old grandmother to a 13 year old schoolgirl.

As time went on, the methods of the killer grew more bold and well-planned. One victim was stabbed 19 times in the chest, while another victim was found with nine pieces of a peach embedded inside her.

Other than the victims, the killer left not a single shred of evidence. Over 3,000 suspects were interrogated. At least 300,000 police took part in the massive investigation. But not a single person was indicted for the crimes.

This is a story about the detectives.

At a time in Korea when a murder investigation only meant grilling those who knew the victim, for these officers everything was a new experience.

There was no profiling mechanism, nor any idea of preserving the crime scene for forensic investigation. Only search and interrogation based on the detectives’ sense of duty and persistence.

In this age of ignorance, two detectives at the bottom of an ill-supported police force, have only themselves to rely on to face this horrific series of events.

The film reminisces about a time of innocence when the inability to comprehend such heinous acts led to unbelievable mishaps and harrowing nightmares.

Goldman Sachs Business Principles

 

The Goldman Sachs business principles reflect a set of ethics that has become ingrained in our firm’s character. They serve as the bedrock of our determination to provide clients with the industry’s best service. The business principles characterise not only the high standards and aspirations of the people who built this firm, but of our people today.

  1. Our clients’ interests always come first. Our experience shows that if we serve our clients well, our own success will follow.
  2. Our assets are our people, capital and reputation. If any of these is ever diminished, the last is the most difficult to restore. We are dedicated to complying fully with the letter and spirit of the laws, rules and ethical principles that govern us. Our continued success depends upon unswerving adherence to this standard
  3. Our goal is to provide superior returns to our shareholders. Profitability is critical to achieving superior returns, building our capital, and attracting and keeping our best people. Significant employee stock ownership aligns the interests of our employees and our shareholders.
  4. We take great pride in the professional quality of our work. We have an uncompromising determination to achieve excellence in everything we undertake. Though we may be involved in a wide variety and heavy volume of activity, we would, if it came to a choice, rather be best than biggest.
  5. We stress creativity and imagination in everything we do. While recognising that the old way may still be the best way, we constantly strive to find a better solution to a client’s problems. We pride ourselves on having pioneered many of the practices and techniques that have become standard in the industry.
  6. We make an unusual effort to identify and recruit the very best person for every job. Although our activities are measured in billions of dollars, we select our people one by one. In a service business, we know that without the best people, we cannot be the best firm.
  7. We offer our people the opportunity to move ahead more rapidly than is possible at most other places. Advancement depends on merit, and we have yet to find the limits to the responsibility our best people are able to assume. For us to be successful, our men and women must reflect the diversity of the communities and cultures in which we operate. That means we must attract, retain and motivate people from many backgrounds and perspectives. Being diverse is not optional; it is what we must be.
  8. We stress teamwork in everything we do. While individual creativity is always encouraged, we have found that team effort often produces the best results. We have no room for those who put their personal interests ahead of the interests of the firm and its clients.
  9. The dedication of our people to the firm and the intense effort they give their jobs are greater than one finds in most other organisations. We think that this is an important part of our success.
  10. We consider our size an asset that we try hard to preserve. We want to be big enough to undertake the largest project that any of our clients could contemplate, yet small enough to maintain the loyalty, the intimacy and the esprit de corps that we all treasure and that contribute greatly to our success.
  11. We constantly strive to anticipate the rapidly changing needs of our clients and to develop new services to meet those needs. We know that the world of finance will not stand still and that complacency can lead to extinction.
  12. We regularly receive confidential information as part of our normal client relationships. To breach a confidence or to use confidential information improperly or carelessly would be unthinkable.
  13. Our business is highly competitive, and we aggressively seek to expand our client relationships. However, we must always be fair competitors, and must never denigrate other firms.
  14. Integrity and honesty are at the heart of our business. We expect our people to maintain high ethical standards in everything they do, both in their work for the firm and in their personal lives.

Record HK$116m to take Buddha home

SCMP Sunday, October 8, 2006
BARCLAY CRAWFORD and FELIX CHAN

After splashing out a world record HK$116.6 million for a Chinese work of art, a mysterious mainland businessman claimed the bronze Buddha was a bargain and he would happily have paid double.

A beaming Cai Mingchao, manager of the Xiamen Harmony Art International Auction Company, outbid fierce competition to secure a rare Sakyamuni Buddha at a Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong’s Convention and Exhibition Centre yesterday.

Mr Cai refused to reveal the source of his funds and laughed off suggestions he was a Beijing official in disguise. The short, plainly dressed man from Xiamen claimed there had been no central government involvement in the purchase. All he would say was he was part of a “group”.

Mr Cai said he wanted as many people as possible in China to see the 72.5cm tall Buddha. “As long as I am alive I will not sell this and it will not leave Chinese soil again,” he said. “We will exhibit it in a gallery or maybe a temple in Xiamen in about one year. I am not buying this for myself, I am buying it for everyone.
Continue reading “Record HK$116m to take Buddha home” →

Quek Leng Chan

Wall Street Journal: Who gave you the best business advice?

Lillian Too: Quek Leng Chan, the head of the Hong Leong Group, of course. He said that in business there are no friends and there are no enemies and one must not become emotional. I remember on one occasion when I disagreed with him over something and I told him I was prepared to resign over this. He told me straight off not to be dramatic. I still remember his words:

“We are not a political party, we are a business.”