During the 2nd World War, the use of submarines to torpedo enemy ships was a pretty effective tactic as detection of submarines and incoming torpedoes were difficult then (sonar for submarine detection was new and not very advanced)
The only means available to ships then was to post sailors on the front deck to act as look outs for submarines and torpedoes.
On one instance, a ship was torpedoed because the sailor tasked to do submarine watch on night shift fell asleep on his watch. But because he was one of the least affected by the blast because of his position on the front deck, he ended up going round helping to save other sailors who were sleeping below deck when the ship was torpedoed. The other sailors who were asleep that he saved were very appreciative of his effort and recommended him for a 'hero's medal' and he was subsequently awarded one.
However, people who knew that he was the one who was on submarine watch when the ship was attacked questioned the award and said that he should not be awarded the medal because the ship was torpedoed because of he 'fell asleep' on his watch. His 'heroic act' would not have been necessary if he had not fallen asleep on his job in the first place!
People management schools since then had used it as a case example of bad management practice when managers with bad judgement (or low awareness) reward people for fixing a problem that was caused by them in the first place.
CCK's comment: the award of the medal to that sailor may make him look good to people who were sleeping and did not know that he was the man on watch duty who fell asleep on his job. But to people who knew about his failure on his job, he was not deserving of it. The difference is information and awareness (Level 2 of '3 Levels of Human Development').
Just because one piece of information were witheld from you or you miss it, you may end up with a very different impression. That is why it is important to remember the 'elephant and blindmen' fable...
Thursday, February 09, 2012
Wednesday, February 08, 2012
10 Foods for Fabulous Abs
Yahoo Singapore
1. Yogurt is magic for the tum. Nutritionist Rania Batayneh recommends yogurt, “The probiotic bacteria in most yogurts help keep your digestive system healthy, which translates into a lower incidence of gas, bloating, and constipation, which can keep your tummy looking flat." Ideally go for the plain-flavoured yogurts, that don’t contain added sugars.
2. Switch to whole grain. The body shows a decreased insulin response to whole grain as compared to refined carbohydrate like rice and white bread. So replace those meals of white rice and milk bread with whole grains like lentils, brown rice, and whole wheat bread for a trimmer waistline.
3. Stock up on cruciferous veggies like broccoli, brussels sprouts, asparagus, peppers, and yellow beans. They contain folate, beta-carotene, calcium, magnesium, and fiber, and are rich in vitamins A, C, and K.
4. Olive Oil: Mono-unsaturated fats like those found in olive oil, work to reduce belly fat and don’t increase calorie intake.
5. Apple cider vinegar: New research indicates that 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar (ideally mixed with a glass of water), consumed daily over a period of 12 weeks, works to lower body weight and reduce belly fat. This is attributed to vinegar's acetic acid, which is believed to pump out proteins that break down fat.
6. Green tea contains certain chemicals called polyphenols and catechins that boost metabolism and help burn fat. Including 2-3 cups of green tea in your diet will help reduce that waistline, as well as provide a host of other health benefits.
7. Apples are one of the most popular negative calorie foods. This means that an apple burns more calories that it adds to the body, while being digested, making for a great, tasty snack that does nothing to add to body fat.
8. Eggs are a great source of protein and contain essential amino acids that the body needs to build everything from muscle fibres to brain chemicals. It is the perfect breakfast food, and ensures you feel less hungry during the day and reduces that urge to snack. [CCK : Eggs contain Choline which is essential for brain function]
9. Almonds provide the body with minerals like magnesium, and regulate blood sugar levels. A stable blood sugar level is key to prevent cravings that can lead to overeating.
10. Salmon, tuna and mackerel, in addition to being a great source of omega-3 fatty acids, also improve metabolism and help burn fat faster by improving the body’s glucose-insulin response. [CCK: should be ALL non-farm salt water fish because the oceans are much bigger than fresh water ponds and therefore have lower concentration of pollutants, and farmed fish are fed mam-made chemicals]
1. Yogurt is magic for the tum. Nutritionist Rania Batayneh recommends yogurt, “The probiotic bacteria in most yogurts help keep your digestive system healthy, which translates into a lower incidence of gas, bloating, and constipation, which can keep your tummy looking flat." Ideally go for the plain-flavoured yogurts, that don’t contain added sugars.
2. Switch to whole grain. The body shows a decreased insulin response to whole grain as compared to refined carbohydrate like rice and white bread. So replace those meals of white rice and milk bread with whole grains like lentils, brown rice, and whole wheat bread for a trimmer waistline.
3. Stock up on cruciferous veggies like broccoli, brussels sprouts, asparagus, peppers, and yellow beans. They contain folate, beta-carotene, calcium, magnesium, and fiber, and are rich in vitamins A, C, and K.
4. Olive Oil: Mono-unsaturated fats like those found in olive oil, work to reduce belly fat and don’t increase calorie intake.
5. Apple cider vinegar: New research indicates that 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar (ideally mixed with a glass of water), consumed daily over a period of 12 weeks, works to lower body weight and reduce belly fat. This is attributed to vinegar's acetic acid, which is believed to pump out proteins that break down fat.
6. Green tea contains certain chemicals called polyphenols and catechins that boost metabolism and help burn fat. Including 2-3 cups of green tea in your diet will help reduce that waistline, as well as provide a host of other health benefits.
7. Apples are one of the most popular negative calorie foods. This means that an apple burns more calories that it adds to the body, while being digested, making for a great, tasty snack that does nothing to add to body fat.
8. Eggs are a great source of protein and contain essential amino acids that the body needs to build everything from muscle fibres to brain chemicals. It is the perfect breakfast food, and ensures you feel less hungry during the day and reduces that urge to snack. [CCK : Eggs contain Choline which is essential for brain function]
9. Almonds provide the body with minerals like magnesium, and regulate blood sugar levels. A stable blood sugar level is key to prevent cravings that can lead to overeating.
10. Salmon, tuna and mackerel, in addition to being a great source of omega-3 fatty acids, also improve metabolism and help burn fat faster by improving the body’s glucose-insulin response. [CCK: should be ALL non-farm salt water fish because the oceans are much bigger than fresh water ponds and therefore have lower concentration of pollutants, and farmed fish are fed mam-made chemicals]
Sunday, February 05, 2012
Why Admire Her Old Water and Not NeWater
Sep 2011 (DRAFT)
One day during one of my morning bike rides I took a detour to the water processing plant off Upper Changi Road (near Singapore Expo). On the site is a new water processing plant that uses reverse osmosis to produce what the local company doing it calls 'NeWater'. Opposite that new plant is the previous one that used to process water from a few ponds next to it. It has been decommissioned and being demolished, and a continuous stream of trucks were dumping soil to fill up the ponds there.
With all those ponds, the land area occupied by the old plant was much larger than the NeWater plant. That, I am sure, was one of the reasons why they switched treatment approach - their land is 'valuable real estate'.
From outside the entrance of the old plant I saw many white herons around an unfilled pond next to the entrance. So I went about 20 feet into the compound to take in that beautiful sight before it disappears forever.
A guard approached and told me that I could not enter the compound. I said I would leave in a couple of minutes after taking in the sight. Soon after that, a woman official (of some rank given the way she talked) on her way out told me the same thing and then jokingly asked me 'why are you admiring my old water and not NeWater' (produced by the new plant across the road).
I told the woman this:
That's the problem with Singaporeans. Simply because someone labelled the water they produced 'NeWater', those suckers think that the water from that new plant is better and 'newer' than what nature provides in those ponds (which is 'old water' to her).
They think that with a pump and some membranes, they can treat (and cleanse) salt and sewage water better than Nature can with evaporation, biological filtration and all. If some pumps and man-made membranes can clean sewage and salt water so well, then the whole world especially advanced countries would have done that long ago instead of waiting for them Singaporeans to do it.
Any one who knows about water treatment knows that no man-made water treatment system can compare to the cleansing power of the ecosystem in a natural water system.
Since she obviously does not know that, I told her to go see if the Germans (who, to me, have one of the greatest scientific and engineering minds) would be impressed with their NeWater and produce their drinking water that way.
And pointing towards the herons around the natural pond, I asked if she can find any heron around the new plant which has a man-made pond with kois. Those birds are sharper than many humans - they know which water is better and which is poisonous. Just by the fact that the herons do not find food in some pond is enough indication of the problem with the water in that pond.
In addition, if she thinks that the 'NeWater' is that great, then she should feed her children with only NeWater from the new plant and see what happens in a few years. I am sure their authorities who had been adding NeWater into the fresh water supply they get from Malaysia know of the risks and had been experimenting with different levels of mixtures and tracking the resulting health impact. It is just that people like her does not know about it because the authorities do not tell them or they are not interested. (see notes below)
I also told her to offer 2 glasses of water - one with water from Malaysia and another with NeWater - to any of her Indian workers around there and see which one they pick.
That's the problem with simple and ignorant people who think they are very 'advanced'. They think technology can solve everything. In this case, free up a big piece of land and yet produce 'better' NeWater.
She kept quiet, told me to enjoy the view and went off.
Additional Background :
During the 1998 financial crisis, the Malaysian government approached Singapore for financial help. Singapore said that they would consider the request if Malaysia was willing to negotiate on a 'package' of issues including that of extending fresh water supplies to Singapore.
Apparently, the existing water agreement was negotiated decades ago between the British rulers of Singapore and the then Sultan of Johor who was represented by another British officer. Under that agreement, Singapore pays 3 sen per 1,000 gallons of raw water and there was no allowance for inflation throughout the tenor of the agreement!
Malaysia says that Singapore was making a lot of profits from the old agreement because Singapore charges local households about S$3.50 per thousand gallons and from supplying foreign ships docking in Singapore while Malaysia got only 3 sen (which was less than 1.5 Singapore cents). Singapore's point is they pay for treatment of the raw water and sends some of those treated water back to Malaysia at a discount.
[I did some research on web and found out from a US university study that in the US, the average cost of water treatment was about USD 1.20 or about SGD 1.80 per thousand gallons. Assuming Singapore's cost is as high as that 'first world' country, their total cost was about SGD 1.82 giving profit of about SGD 1.60. So Malaysia do have a point - I make less than 1.5 cents while you make 1.60]
The cause of that problem was because the British had shortchanged the ignorant Sultan of Johor decades ago by not building in inflation into the agreement they brokered among themselves. As a result, Malaysia wanted to raise future price to 60 sen (less than SGD 25 cent) and adjustable for inflation.
Singapore's position is supplies under the current agreement cannot be changed as it was 'agreed' but they are agreeable to new pricing for any extension but the new price 'must be lower than what it costs Singapore to produce water from other sources' (presumably the latter is newer or better!)
For more than a decade since, all the Singaporeans I spoke to do not know or are bothered about the whole thing which I find disturbing. They have no interest for something as important as their future water supply!
One day during one of my morning bike rides I took a detour to the water processing plant off Upper Changi Road (near Singapore Expo). On the site is a new water processing plant that uses reverse osmosis to produce what the local company doing it calls 'NeWater'. Opposite that new plant is the previous one that used to process water from a few ponds next to it. It has been decommissioned and being demolished, and a continuous stream of trucks were dumping soil to fill up the ponds there.
With all those ponds, the land area occupied by the old plant was much larger than the NeWater plant. That, I am sure, was one of the reasons why they switched treatment approach - their land is 'valuable real estate'.
From outside the entrance of the old plant I saw many white herons around an unfilled pond next to the entrance. So I went about 20 feet into the compound to take in that beautiful sight before it disappears forever.
A guard approached and told me that I could not enter the compound. I said I would leave in a couple of minutes after taking in the sight. Soon after that, a woman official (of some rank given the way she talked) on her way out told me the same thing and then jokingly asked me 'why are you admiring my old water and not NeWater' (produced by the new plant across the road).
I told the woman this:
That's the problem with Singaporeans. Simply because someone labelled the water they produced 'NeWater', those suckers think that the water from that new plant is better and 'newer' than what nature provides in those ponds (which is 'old water' to her).
They think that with a pump and some membranes, they can treat (and cleanse) salt and sewage water better than Nature can with evaporation, biological filtration and all. If some pumps and man-made membranes can clean sewage and salt water so well, then the whole world especially advanced countries would have done that long ago instead of waiting for them Singaporeans to do it.
Any one who knows about water treatment knows that no man-made water treatment system can compare to the cleansing power of the ecosystem in a natural water system.
Since she obviously does not know that, I told her to go see if the Germans (who, to me, have one of the greatest scientific and engineering minds) would be impressed with their NeWater and produce their drinking water that way.
And pointing towards the herons around the natural pond, I asked if she can find any heron around the new plant which has a man-made pond with kois. Those birds are sharper than many humans - they know which water is better and which is poisonous. Just by the fact that the herons do not find food in some pond is enough indication of the problem with the water in that pond.
In addition, if she thinks that the 'NeWater' is that great, then she should feed her children with only NeWater from the new plant and see what happens in a few years. I am sure their authorities who had been adding NeWater into the fresh water supply they get from Malaysia know of the risks and had been experimenting with different levels of mixtures and tracking the resulting health impact. It is just that people like her does not know about it because the authorities do not tell them or they are not interested. (see notes below)
I also told her to offer 2 glasses of water - one with water from Malaysia and another with NeWater - to any of her Indian workers around there and see which one they pick.
That's the problem with simple and ignorant people who think they are very 'advanced'. They think technology can solve everything. In this case, free up a big piece of land and yet produce 'better' NeWater.
She kept quiet, told me to enjoy the view and went off.
Additional Background :
During the 1998 financial crisis, the Malaysian government approached Singapore for financial help. Singapore said that they would consider the request if Malaysia was willing to negotiate on a 'package' of issues including that of extending fresh water supplies to Singapore.
Apparently, the existing water agreement was negotiated decades ago between the British rulers of Singapore and the then Sultan of Johor who was represented by another British officer. Under that agreement, Singapore pays 3 sen per 1,000 gallons of raw water and there was no allowance for inflation throughout the tenor of the agreement!
Malaysia says that Singapore was making a lot of profits from the old agreement because Singapore charges local households about S$3.50 per thousand gallons and from supplying foreign ships docking in Singapore while Malaysia got only 3 sen (which was less than 1.5 Singapore cents). Singapore's point is they pay for treatment of the raw water and sends some of those treated water back to Malaysia at a discount.
[I did some research on web and found out from a US university study that in the US, the average cost of water treatment was about USD 1.20 or about SGD 1.80 per thousand gallons. Assuming Singapore's cost is as high as that 'first world' country, their total cost was about SGD 1.82 giving profit of about SGD 1.60. So Malaysia do have a point - I make less than 1.5 cents while you make 1.60]
The cause of that problem was because the British had shortchanged the ignorant Sultan of Johor decades ago by not building in inflation into the agreement they brokered among themselves. As a result, Malaysia wanted to raise future price to 60 sen (less than SGD 25 cent) and adjustable for inflation.
Singapore's position is supplies under the current agreement cannot be changed as it was 'agreed' but they are agreeable to new pricing for any extension but the new price 'must be lower than what it costs Singapore to produce water from other sources' (presumably the latter is newer or better!)
For more than a decade since, all the Singaporeans I spoke to do not know or are bothered about the whole thing which I find disturbing. They have no interest for something as important as their future water supply!
Top 5 Regrets
By Bronnie Ware
For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives.
People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learned never to underestimate someone's capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them.
When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:
1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me
This was the most common regret of all. When people realize that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people have had not honored even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made. It is very important to try and honor at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realize, until they no longer have it.
2. I wish I didn't work so hard
This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence. By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.
3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings
Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.
We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends
Often they would not truly realize the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying. It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier
This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realize until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.
When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying. Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.
For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives.
People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learned never to underestimate someone's capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them.
When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:
1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me
This was the most common regret of all. When people realize that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people have had not honored even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made. It is very important to try and honor at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realize, until they no longer have it.
2. I wish I didn't work so hard
This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence. By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.
3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings
Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.
We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends
Often they would not truly realize the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying. It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier
This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realize until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.
When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying. Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.
Friday, February 03, 2012
Decision Making Tool
Here is a guide to assist in making decisions. This approach is followed by all organisations and businesses when they are about to embark on major projects or undertakings.
There are always many ways or alternatives to achieving a set of goals. The ability to identify different alternatives and choosing the 'best' alternative requires discipline, creativity and structured analysis.
Many people make decision mistakes because they lack discipline and do not properly identify and evaluate alternatives before doing things. Their 'Just Do It' approach is dangerous and can be costly later.
Each alternative has costs/benefits and risks that should be properly understood and compared against other alternatives in a structured manner. The guide here provides some structure to that analysis and decision making.
Only when one do a good job understanding different alternatives can one make good and effective choices - i.e. attain Level 3 in life. (http://cckplanetblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/2-pieces-of-paper-for-life.html)
Another helpful tool is 'Question 3 Levels Down' when trying to find things out or understand things better (http://cckplanetblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/question-3-level-down.html)
STEPS TO FOLLOW:
1. List out the end goal(s) i.e what one wants out of the project or undertaking
2. Identify alternative ways/paths to achieve those end goal(s)
3. Determine other evaluation criteria that are important to making the right decision. It includes consideraions like costs and benefits (see notes below)
4. Evaluate how well each alternative perform against or meet each evaluation criteria (as compared to other alternatives)
TEMPLATE OF ANALYSIS TABLE FOR DECISION MAKING:
Evaluation Criteria .............. Alternative 1 ........Alternative 2 ........ Alternative 3
GOALS:
- goal 1 .............................................. Hi ............................. Hi .............................. Med
- goal 2 .............................................. Med ......................... Med ........................... Low
TANGIBLE COSTS / BENFITS ($) :
- cost 1 ................................................ ? .................................. ? ............................... ?
- cost 2 ................................................ ? .................................. ? ............................... ?
- benefit (income) 1 ........................... ? .................................. ? ............................... ?
- benefit (income) 2 ........................... ? .................................. ? ............................... ?
NET COST / BENEFIT .................... ? ................................. ? ............................... ?
INTANGIBLE COSTS / BENEFITS :
- intangible cost 1 .............................. Hi ................................ Med .......................... Low
- intangible cost 2 .............................. Low ............................. Hi ............................. Med
- intangible benefit 1 ......................... Med ............................. Med .......................... Low
- intangible benefit 2 ......................... Hi ................................ Med ........................... Hi
RISKS:
- risk 1 ................................................... ? .................................... ? ................................ ?
- risk 2 ................................................... ? .................................... ? ................................ ?
Explanation of Terms:
Goals - the ultimate aims or objectives of the undertaking (always start with the end in mind).
Alternatives - different ways or paths that will accomplish the goals.
Tangible costs/benefits - things that you can put a monetary value to e.g cost of food or accomodation, fees, income etc.
Intangible costs/benefits - things that you cannot put a monetary value to but is nevertheless important to be considered in the decision making. Since you cannot put a value to an intangible item, assign a 'relative score' for each alternative (relative to the other alternatives).
Opportunity Costs - value of something you forgo or give up on if you pick an option. E.g. if you spend $100,000 on something instead of investing it, your opportunity cost for spending that money is the investment income you'd forgo (if you have invested that money instead of spending it)
Risks - potential risks associated with an alternative. See Understanding and Managing Risks http://cckplanetblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/life-is-all-about-understanding-and.html
Evaluation Criteria - the goals, cost/benefit items and risks that one has to consider and analyse as part of the decision making process. Each alternative is evaluated in terms of its impact on or ability to meet each evaluation criteria.
Why Do People Do Analysis Using Such a Tool?
Thoroughness: to capture all inputs & views - there are always many things (evaluation criteria) to consider when making major decisions. In addition, there may be different views or inputs from many people either because they have 'interests' in the undertaking or because one has consulted others for their views. It is not possible for one to remember everything. Putting all those different input/views on paper ensures that all input are not 'forgotten' as one progress with analysis work. (One's precious brain resources are better used on information gathering and analysis work instead)
Framework for comparing alternatives - the template provides a framework to make sure that the decision maker evaluates how each alternative perform against every evaluation criteria so that a 'fair comparison' can be made. Some times unstructured decision makers apply a criteria to some alternatives but do not apply it on others resulting in unfair comparison or incomplete analysis.
Avoid confusion - because there may be many goals, alternatives, evaluation criteria and input (from many people) involved in a big project, the tool ensures that all are captured and considered. That way, the analyser or decision maker would not be confused (or 'gabra') every time something 'new' comes along (like some one giving a new input). If an important new input is received, the decision maker can quickly review the new input against what is existing in template to see if it is already captured/addressed. If not, new input is added and evaluated.
Easy Review - With all key evaluation criteria, findings and comparisons put in one piece of paper, it is much easier to review one's analysis work when required. That includes reviewing it with other people with interests in the project (one does not need to talk and talk or repeat one's findings again and again with different people)
There are always many ways or alternatives to achieving a set of goals. The ability to identify different alternatives and choosing the 'best' alternative requires discipline, creativity and structured analysis.
Many people make decision mistakes because they lack discipline and do not properly identify and evaluate alternatives before doing things. Their 'Just Do It' approach is dangerous and can be costly later.
Each alternative has costs/benefits and risks that should be properly understood and compared against other alternatives in a structured manner. The guide here provides some structure to that analysis and decision making.
Only when one do a good job understanding different alternatives can one make good and effective choices - i.e. attain Level 3 in life. (http://cckplanetblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/2-pieces-of-paper-for-life.html)
Another helpful tool is 'Question 3 Levels Down' when trying to find things out or understand things better (http://cckplanetblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/question-3-level-down.html)
STEPS TO FOLLOW:
1. List out the end goal(s) i.e what one wants out of the project or undertaking
2. Identify alternative ways/paths to achieve those end goal(s)
3. Determine other evaluation criteria that are important to making the right decision. It includes consideraions like costs and benefits (see notes below)
4. Evaluate how well each alternative perform against or meet each evaluation criteria (as compared to other alternatives)
TEMPLATE OF ANALYSIS TABLE FOR DECISION MAKING:
Evaluation Criteria .............. Alternative 1 ........Alternative 2 ........ Alternative 3
GOALS:
- goal 1 .............................................. Hi ............................. Hi .............................. Med
- goal 2 .............................................. Med ......................... Med ........................... Low
TANGIBLE COSTS / BENFITS ($) :
- cost 1 ................................................ ? .................................. ? ............................... ?
- cost 2 ................................................ ? .................................. ? ............................... ?
- benefit (income) 1 ........................... ? .................................. ? ............................... ?
- benefit (income) 2 ........................... ? .................................. ? ............................... ?
NET COST / BENEFIT .................... ? ................................. ? ............................... ?
INTANGIBLE COSTS / BENEFITS :
- intangible cost 1 .............................. Hi ................................ Med .......................... Low
- intangible cost 2 .............................. Low ............................. Hi ............................. Med
- intangible benefit 1 ......................... Med ............................. Med .......................... Low
- intangible benefit 2 ......................... Hi ................................ Med ........................... Hi
RISKS:
- risk 1 ................................................... ? .................................... ? ................................ ?
- risk 2 ................................................... ? .................................... ? ................................ ?
Explanation of Terms:
Goals - the ultimate aims or objectives of the undertaking (always start with the end in mind).
Alternatives - different ways or paths that will accomplish the goals.
Tangible costs/benefits - things that you can put a monetary value to e.g cost of food or accomodation, fees, income etc.
Intangible costs/benefits - things that you cannot put a monetary value to but is nevertheless important to be considered in the decision making. Since you cannot put a value to an intangible item, assign a 'relative score' for each alternative (relative to the other alternatives).
Opportunity Costs - value of something you forgo or give up on if you pick an option. E.g. if you spend $100,000 on something instead of investing it, your opportunity cost for spending that money is the investment income you'd forgo (if you have invested that money instead of spending it)
Risks - potential risks associated with an alternative. See Understanding and Managing Risks http://cckplanetblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/life-is-all-about-understanding-and.html
Evaluation Criteria - the goals, cost/benefit items and risks that one has to consider and analyse as part of the decision making process. Each alternative is evaluated in terms of its impact on or ability to meet each evaluation criteria.
Why Do People Do Analysis Using Such a Tool?
Thoroughness: to capture all inputs & views - there are always many things (evaluation criteria) to consider when making major decisions. In addition, there may be different views or inputs from many people either because they have 'interests' in the undertaking or because one has consulted others for their views. It is not possible for one to remember everything. Putting all those different input/views on paper ensures that all input are not 'forgotten' as one progress with analysis work. (One's precious brain resources are better used on information gathering and analysis work instead)
Framework for comparing alternatives - the template provides a framework to make sure that the decision maker evaluates how each alternative perform against every evaluation criteria so that a 'fair comparison' can be made. Some times unstructured decision makers apply a criteria to some alternatives but do not apply it on others resulting in unfair comparison or incomplete analysis.
Avoid confusion - because there may be many goals, alternatives, evaluation criteria and input (from many people) involved in a big project, the tool ensures that all are captured and considered. That way, the analyser or decision maker would not be confused (or 'gabra') every time something 'new' comes along (like some one giving a new input). If an important new input is received, the decision maker can quickly review the new input against what is existing in template to see if it is already captured/addressed. If not, new input is added and evaluated.
Easy Review - With all key evaluation criteria, findings and comparisons put in one piece of paper, it is much easier to review one's analysis work when required. That includes reviewing it with other people with interests in the project (one does not need to talk and talk or repeat one's findings again and again with different people)
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
How To Check For Dividend Payout
SHARE OWNERSHIP RECORD:
Year Stock (Exchange) WL/LL YL/WT/SZ Value Dividend
2009 CapitaReit China (SGX) 2,000 1,000 ? ?
2010 Australand (ASX) 400 200 ? ?
2011 Ascendas India Reit (SGX) 1,000 500 ? ?
2012 Rickmers Maritime (SGX) 2,000 1,000 ? ?
Notes:
1. There are many ways to check for a company's share price and dividend payouts:
- from company's own website,
- from public market news/data providers (like Bloomberg, Reuters, Google and Yahoo Finance etc.), or
- from the website of the exchange where the share is listed.
I prefer to use the official exchange websites because the information there is official and in addition to that it contains all of the company's other announcements required by law or exchange's listing rules like major news or events that may affect the company's future and share price, buy/sell by substantial shareholders (as insiders their actions are very telling) etc.
Links to major market news/data providers:
http://www.google.com/finance?q=INDEXDJX:.DJI#
http://sg.finance.yahoo.com/q?s=h02.si
Above post made in response to Le's mail below.
From: Le
To: CCK
Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Subject: hi
Dear Uncle,
How are you?
Just wondering about the dividends, which companies I've got and how many dividends for each?
Thanks.
From Le
CCK's response:
Hi,
Happy new year. I thought when I showed you all last year, you wrote down how to check? Do you still have the notes?
Links to exchanges official websites:
(SGX) http://www.sgx.com/wps/portal/sgxweb/home/company_disclosure/company_announcements (ASX) http://www.asx.com.au/asx/statistics/announcements.do
Here are steps to check for dividends :
1. Know the list of stocks (companies) you have shares on (see Notes at bottom)
2. For each stock, go to above links and look for DIVIDEND ANNOUNCEMENTS made by the company from JAN-DEC each year. We go by calendar year so that it is easier to remember what you have taken so far (you all already took for Jan-Dec 2009 and Jan-Dec 2010). Make sure to select the all the right time periods
3. Determine amount of dividend per share. Then multiply with no. of shares you have to get total dividend. Remember, different companies pay dividend at different intervals - some every 3 months, some every 6 months, some once a year only.
WL and me calculated last week and she had about S$318, so yours should be half of that (S$158) because you have half the number of shares compared to her. Try checking the website and verify.
Things to remember when claiming your dividends:
- notify me of your claim by stating the total dividend and share value for each stock you own (by providing the information for '?' in format provided in Notes below).
- claim must be made within the next calendar year (otherwise forfeited). This is so that you learn how to check every year.
- after notification, you can collect your dividend anytime in future (no forfeiture even if you collect a few years later).
Monday, January 30, 2012
Question 3 Levels Down
(DRAFT)
Note: this is a tool/guide for problem solving or acquisition of knowledge, and to develop critical thinking skills
Develop Deeper Understanding of Things and Better Problem Solving Skill:
Follow this rule if you want to have sufficient understand of any topic, issue or problem. People with better understanding of problems are also much better at solving the problems.
When you try to learn or find things out, the first reply or intial information yout get is usually very superficial and will not enable you to truly understand the topic at hand. You need to probe at least 3 levels down.
That means everytime you get or are given an explanation, continue to probe further by asking questions at least 3 more levels down using questions that start with Why, When, Where, What & How
Develop Critical Thinking:
Whenever you try to determine the cause or reason for something, always find or think of at least 3 reasons or causes for it. Do not stop thinking or searching after obtaining the first reason.
In many cases, the first reason that comes to people's mind is the most superficial or obvious one but it may not be the real or only reason. Also, many things in Nature do not happen for only one reason, the same way that there are always more than one use for everything.
In general, inquisitive people with more critical thinking or cynical outlook are better in coming up with more reasons for why or how things happen.
Note: this is a tool/guide for problem solving or acquisition of knowledge, and to develop critical thinking skills
Develop Deeper Understanding of Things and Better Problem Solving Skill:
Follow this rule if you want to have sufficient understand of any topic, issue or problem. People with better understanding of problems are also much better at solving the problems.
When you try to learn or find things out, the first reply or intial information yout get is usually very superficial and will not enable you to truly understand the topic at hand. You need to probe at least 3 levels down.
That means everytime you get or are given an explanation, continue to probe further by asking questions at least 3 more levels down using questions that start with Why, When, Where, What & How
Develop Critical Thinking:
Whenever you try to determine the cause or reason for something, always find or think of at least 3 reasons or causes for it. Do not stop thinking or searching after obtaining the first reason.
In many cases, the first reason that comes to people's mind is the most superficial or obvious one but it may not be the real or only reason. Also, many things in Nature do not happen for only one reason, the same way that there are always more than one use for everything.
In general, inquisitive people with more critical thinking or cynical outlook are better in coming up with more reasons for why or how things happen.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
More Geese That Lay Golden Eggs Please
Jan 2010 (DRAFT)
Hawker selling porridge in Bedok South Blk 58 Market
Hawker selling porridge in Bedok South Blk 58 Market
Life is All About Understanding and Managing Risks
27 Jan 12
Had breakfast with elder daughter at NTUC Foodcourt at Simei. She just got her O Level results and applied to study at Meridian JC - could not enter the supposedly 'better' Temasek JC because their minimum entry requirement was 7 points (she got 9).
I then asked my daughter why she thought Temasek was 'better'. She said 'because the teachers are better?'. I said I didn't think so. If the teachers there are so good they would not have those 'minimum requirements' because good teachers should be able to develop any child regardless of how 'good' the child is and not insist that they be given only 'good' students! That system is just a self-fulfilling rule. The school insists on getting good students so that those students would make them look good, not the other way round!
If a child has the desire to learn and improve herself, no one can stop her. Teachers can help children along the way by raising their awareness or guide them in the right direction but everything still depends on the children's desire to learn or improve. Having other good students around you helps by promoting some level of healthy competition but that is not a must if a child has the will. In the old days where there were no libraries, TV, radio or internet, children rely on teachers, school books and others to tell them new things but today they can get access to new knowledge and information without the help of teachers or school books.
In fact, very few of life's most important things are taught by teachers or school books nowadays! While I learnt the 'elephant and blindmen' fable in primary school in Malaysia, almost all of the Singaporeans old and young I spoke to have not even heard of it! (that is one reason I think the country will run into trouble in 2 to 3 decades)
So took opportunity to recap the 2 important things she need to remember when growing up and dealing with people (like determining the real intentions behind people's actions or words) - what I wrote down on the 2 pieces of paper I passed to her cousin Le a year ago.
http://cckplanetblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/2-pieces-of-paper-for-life.html
At same time, shared with her about another key principle of life I read from a book where a man said that 'human survival and progress are all about humans getting better and better at understanding and managing the risks they face'.
If one think about it, the environment (like weather, pollution), natural events (like earthquake, flood etc) and human undertakings (e.g. dealing with other people like conmen) all have or pose some form of 'risk' to the people involved.
Everyone is fearful when faced with risks but it is how they choose to deal with them that differentiate the more successful ones from the others. Some people are so fearful of dealing with risks that they freeze ('gabra') when faced with them or, worse, they avoid doing anything that may require them to deal with those risks!
That is why some people in authority (like governments) intentionally create fear in the people under them. That's because people living in fear (real or imaginary) are easier to control or manipulate.
As example, during economic crises of the last decade all governments try to distract their people (many who were losing jobs) by spreading news about 'global terrorism' (and SARS, bird flu etc.). The hope is that people would end up fearing about the imaginary threat of terrorism and pay less attention to the real problem which is the economic crises, people losing jobs and government printing money (which is stealing wealth from the common people).
People are fearful usually because they either do not understand the risks enough (see elephant and blindmen) or they do not know how to manage or mitigate those risks (or too lazy to find ways to manage those risks). That is why people operating at Level 1 are especially fearful of things.
As example, when children try to climb onto things some adults/guardians stop them from doing it because it is 'dangerous'. As a result, the kids end up not learning how to climb safely. Those adults, on the other hand, say that those kids that do not climb around are 'good kids'. To them, kids who sit and do nothing are 'good kids' not because they know how to climb safely but because that way there is no need for the adults involved to watch the kids or to spend time teaching them how to manage the risks involved in climbing!
Some people do not just freeze when faced with risk or stop doing things for fear of risks. Instead, they prepare for the potential risks before doing something. Such people are the ones that will progress or lead others to make progress. They are even willing to try new things not because they are brave or simply 'willing to take risks' but because they are well prepared.
Such people have the ability to identify potential risks before hand, understand those risks reasonably well (nothing is 100% or perfect) and have prepared action plans on how to manage those risks. They are Level 2 and 3 people.
That is what differentiate humans from other animals and successful people from others - the ability to imagine and think things through in their minds, and plan ahead. It is known as forward thinking or fore thought. Animals like humans when young and even many adults are incapable of fore thought but live by the day and do whatever they fancy that moment.
The people that make safe airplanes can do that because they understand the risks involved in flying airplanes (like engine failure) and have built into them the things required to manage those risks (like having 2 engines so that plane can still fly when one fails).
Another example. When I was a kid I often heard reports of children being knocked down by cars but not so nowadays even though there are a lot more cars on the roads today than 40 years ago. Asked daughter her thoughts on why so - she said 'because drivers then were more reckless?' But there will always be reckless drivers. In fact there should be more now since there are more people driving. So that's not the answer.
The reason is because there were so few cars 40 years ago that parents then thought that the risk of their children being run over by cars were so low that they did not bother to teach their young how to manage that risk (i.e. lack of awareness and too lazy). Unaware of that risk and not knowing how to manage it, kids then just run across roads without thinking/looking!
In addition, governments later came up with ways to help manage that risk by setting up zebra crossings, traffic lights etc. and the young are taught by schools on road safety. Those are all risk management steps/tools!
In the middle of discussing the life examples like above, I asked my daughter for her views along the way in the hope that she would look at those examples using the basic tenets of the key principles above. Instead of doing that, she talked in specifics based on the specific examples we were discussing.
So told her not to make things complicated - basic principles in life are not complicated because people (good and bad, smart and not so smart, friends/family/colleagues etc.) are all driven by similar things and behave very similarly. If they are similar, then the principles to follow in understanding and dealing with different people under different situations cannot be very different.
There are always variation in situations, type of issues and words/terms used etc. involved in human dealings. So if one talks in terms of the specifics involved/used, it may look like they are very different. But if I can cut through those specifics and boil them down to basic fundamentals then one will see those basic principles at work.
Quote: Make things as simple as possible but not simpler - Einstein
When I asked her to re-cap the discussion at the end of breakfast, I was glad she managed to successfully summarise the 3 key principles above.
However, after dropping her off to meet her friend I remembered that we had been calculating how much dividend her shares with me were for 2011 but I did not pass her the money. So sent her a message saying 'you forgot to claim something from me'. Was disappointed that she could not recall what it was.
Need to discuss that...
Had breakfast with elder daughter at NTUC Foodcourt at Simei. She just got her O Level results and applied to study at Meridian JC - could not enter the supposedly 'better' Temasek JC because their minimum entry requirement was 7 points (she got 9).
I then asked my daughter why she thought Temasek was 'better'. She said 'because the teachers are better?'. I said I didn't think so. If the teachers there are so good they would not have those 'minimum requirements' because good teachers should be able to develop any child regardless of how 'good' the child is and not insist that they be given only 'good' students! That system is just a self-fulfilling rule. The school insists on getting good students so that those students would make them look good, not the other way round!
If a child has the desire to learn and improve herself, no one can stop her. Teachers can help children along the way by raising their awareness or guide them in the right direction but everything still depends on the children's desire to learn or improve. Having other good students around you helps by promoting some level of healthy competition but that is not a must if a child has the will. In the old days where there were no libraries, TV, radio or internet, children rely on teachers, school books and others to tell them new things but today they can get access to new knowledge and information without the help of teachers or school books.
In fact, very few of life's most important things are taught by teachers or school books nowadays! While I learnt the 'elephant and blindmen' fable in primary school in Malaysia, almost all of the Singaporeans old and young I spoke to have not even heard of it! (that is one reason I think the country will run into trouble in 2 to 3 decades)
So took opportunity to recap the 2 important things she need to remember when growing up and dealing with people (like determining the real intentions behind people's actions or words) - what I wrote down on the 2 pieces of paper I passed to her cousin Le a year ago.
http://cckplanetblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/2-pieces-of-paper-for-life.html
At same time, shared with her about another key principle of life I read from a book where a man said that 'human survival and progress are all about humans getting better and better at understanding and managing the risks they face'.
If one think about it, the environment (like weather, pollution), natural events (like earthquake, flood etc) and human undertakings (e.g. dealing with other people like conmen) all have or pose some form of 'risk' to the people involved.
Everyone is fearful when faced with risks but it is how they choose to deal with them that differentiate the more successful ones from the others. Some people are so fearful of dealing with risks that they freeze ('gabra') when faced with them or, worse, they avoid doing anything that may require them to deal with those risks!
That is why some people in authority (like governments) intentionally create fear in the people under them. That's because people living in fear (real or imaginary) are easier to control or manipulate.
As example, during economic crises of the last decade all governments try to distract their people (many who were losing jobs) by spreading news about 'global terrorism' (and SARS, bird flu etc.). The hope is that people would end up fearing about the imaginary threat of terrorism and pay less attention to the real problem which is the economic crises, people losing jobs and government printing money (which is stealing wealth from the common people).
People are fearful usually because they either do not understand the risks enough (see elephant and blindmen) or they do not know how to manage or mitigate those risks (or too lazy to find ways to manage those risks). That is why people operating at Level 1 are especially fearful of things.
As example, when children try to climb onto things some adults/guardians stop them from doing it because it is 'dangerous'. As a result, the kids end up not learning how to climb safely. Those adults, on the other hand, say that those kids that do not climb around are 'good kids'. To them, kids who sit and do nothing are 'good kids' not because they know how to climb safely but because that way there is no need for the adults involved to watch the kids or to spend time teaching them how to manage the risks involved in climbing!
Some people do not just freeze when faced with risk or stop doing things for fear of risks. Instead, they prepare for the potential risks before doing something. Such people are the ones that will progress or lead others to make progress. They are even willing to try new things not because they are brave or simply 'willing to take risks' but because they are well prepared.
Such people have the ability to identify potential risks before hand, understand those risks reasonably well (nothing is 100% or perfect) and have prepared action plans on how to manage those risks. They are Level 2 and 3 people.
That is what differentiate humans from other animals and successful people from others - the ability to imagine and think things through in their minds, and plan ahead. It is known as forward thinking or fore thought. Animals like humans when young and even many adults are incapable of fore thought but live by the day and do whatever they fancy that moment.
The people that make safe airplanes can do that because they understand the risks involved in flying airplanes (like engine failure) and have built into them the things required to manage those risks (like having 2 engines so that plane can still fly when one fails).
Another example. When I was a kid I often heard reports of children being knocked down by cars but not so nowadays even though there are a lot more cars on the roads today than 40 years ago. Asked daughter her thoughts on why so - she said 'because drivers then were more reckless?' But there will always be reckless drivers. In fact there should be more now since there are more people driving. So that's not the answer.
The reason is because there were so few cars 40 years ago that parents then thought that the risk of their children being run over by cars were so low that they did not bother to teach their young how to manage that risk (i.e. lack of awareness and too lazy). Unaware of that risk and not knowing how to manage it, kids then just run across roads without thinking/looking!
In addition, governments later came up with ways to help manage that risk by setting up zebra crossings, traffic lights etc. and the young are taught by schools on road safety. Those are all risk management steps/tools!
In the middle of discussing the life examples like above, I asked my daughter for her views along the way in the hope that she would look at those examples using the basic tenets of the key principles above. Instead of doing that, she talked in specifics based on the specific examples we were discussing.
So told her not to make things complicated - basic principles in life are not complicated because people (good and bad, smart and not so smart, friends/family/colleagues etc.) are all driven by similar things and behave very similarly. If they are similar, then the principles to follow in understanding and dealing with different people under different situations cannot be very different.
There are always variation in situations, type of issues and words/terms used etc. involved in human dealings. So if one talks in terms of the specifics involved/used, it may look like they are very different. But if I can cut through those specifics and boil them down to basic fundamentals then one will see those basic principles at work.
Quote: Make things as simple as possible but not simpler - Einstein
When I asked her to re-cap the discussion at the end of breakfast, I was glad she managed to successfully summarise the 3 key principles above.
However, after dropping her off to meet her friend I remembered that we had been calculating how much dividend her shares with me were for 2011 but I did not pass her the money. So sent her a message saying 'you forgot to claim something from me'. Was disappointed that she could not recall what it was.
Need to discuss that...
Sunday, January 22, 2012
You Can Beat Drums with My Bones
Today is Chinese New Year eve (tomorrow will be year of the Dragon) and time for families to get together for reunion dinners. For me, it is time to reminisce. Usually, this time of year is hot and dry but as I write this with a heavy heart it is raining quite heavily outside...
From age 8 to 20 (when I left for university in Singapore), my family of 7 stayed in a 2 bedroom 1 toilet walk-up flat (no lift) of about 500 square feet in KL (San Peng Road) that my parents bought for RM 9,000. It was on the back half of the top (4th) floor and thus the cheapest unit.
Every day father would carry the bicycle he used to go to work up and down the stairs because anything left on ground floor would be stolen (he lost one when he left it downstairs while home for lunch). I did the same when I got my own bicycle when I was 14.
[My first bike was a small red one that mom 'bought' from her cousin for $10. They lived in a landed house near our flat where we used to go in the evenings so that we could watch TV. That bike was hanging high in their kitchen wall - was their sons' but they had all grown up - and I had been eyeing it for some time. One day I pestered mom to get that bike for me so that I could cycle to school. I was walking 30-40 mins at very fast pace to secondary school 2.5 km away in Kampung Pandan and wear out a pair of shoes every 2 months or so.]
My father initially did not want to buy the flat because he was afraid he could not pay for it. But he relented because of mom's urging (her view was it was better to buy our own house rather than to rent which was what we had been doing) and because his brother used to admonish him for many years in front of their elder sister whenever she visited from Taiping and had been saying that he could help out by lending some money if father did not have enough.
For a year or so when I was still too young to understand all this, my father used to take me on his bicycle every few Sunday or so to visit his brother who co-owned a coffee shop along Pudu Road opposite Pudu Jail. I looked forward to those trips because that was when I got treated to a glass of soft drink! (the only other time was Chinese New Years).
It did not occur to me then that father was making those trips to try and get his brother to lend him some money for the flat as he said he would do. But I did notice that something was not quite right. On those trips, father was very quiet and seemed to be in deep thought as he would open and re-grip his fingers on the bike handles every once a while. (When young, we kids rode in front on the horizontal bar of father's bike which he wrapped with a piece of used blanket as cushion)
Years later I learnt that everytime father went, his brother would give some excuse why he could not come up with any money to lend to father but might be able to do so some time after. That was why father kept going back there with me in tow. After some time we never went back to that coffee shop and father never got any loan from his brother.
Father's view was that his brother did not want to lend him the money because his wife disapproved of it. Father therefore became very bitter with both his brother and sister-in-law. Since then father would never fail to talk about it whenever his elder sister visited or when we visited her in Taiping. That continued until I was over 35 years old.
It was on one such trip I made with father and mom to Taiping that I finally told father off for complaining about what his brother and sister-in-law did to him so many years ago. I told father that he should have ticked them off back then instead of talking about it with others for so many decades.
The analogy I used was 'if a dog keeps barking at you, you should just give that dog a good whack there and then, and the dog would never dare be funny with you again. No use just talking about that dog to others all the time'.
(That trip to Taiping was also one of the last I made - Taiping auntie passed away a few years after that).
Without his brother's help, father was probably desperate but was fortunate that his ex-sifu Low Chow offered to lend him some money (father must have confided his problem to him). In return, my parents offered to rent a room to him (perhaps as surety that we cannot run away).
Mom earned additional money from Low Chow by cooking his dinner and washing his laundry. I used to help mom out with the washing in the small area just outside the small toilet in our flat - with pails around there was barely enough space to squat.
Low Chow came from China when he was a young man and never got married. He used to be one of my father's senior (sifu) when father was a young engineering workshop apprentice many years before that. By the time he moved in with us he was already 50+ years old but still working. In a way, he was very nice to help us out. That money was probably part of his precious retirement savings.
From the beginning we treated him as part of the family and he would go along with us to movies (many times his treat) and family outings.
The good thing about renting the room to Low Chow was that during the day we got to use it to study or catch a nap (he was nice enough not to lock his room when he went out). We would make it a point to leave the room before 6 pm each day before he got home from work. On occassions when he returned early or we overstayed, we would hurrily rush out of the room upon hearing his name being called out by others when he was at the gate (it takes a short while for one of us to open the gate for him - always long enough to vacate his room).
At night, I slept in the living room while the rest of the family slept in the other bedroom - 3 on the master bed, 1 on single mattres in the floor between the bed and the clothes cabinet and 2 on double mattress on the floor at entrance to room. Somehow, all that fitted just right into that small room. Because my bed was a mattress on the floor of the living room, it was sometimes very hard to fall asleep with TV on or others moving and doing things.
In the first few years we did not have a TV and we kids would stand in the corridor outside our flat and peep across the airwell and through the window of our neighbours' flats to watch (4 units - 2 sets of front & back - shared one corridor). 2 neighbouring families were very nice and would usually invite us to watch inside their small flats. We got to watch TV at home years later when mom bought an old black/white TV for $40. It was not in perfect working order and we would occassionally have to turn the knobs to and fro or bang on it to get it to work it but it was still a luxury.
One of the nice neighbours who most frequently invited us into her flat to watch TV was an old lady we called 'Ah Poh' (Chinese for 'granny' or 'old aunty'). Ah Poh was slim, of slight build, cheerful and a very nice woman (I regreted that I never had a picture of her but then we seldom took pictures in those days. Father had a camera but the 120mm films were expensive and picture taking was limited to special occasions only).
Every week Ah Poh was sure to bring us some treats - sometimes a few times a week. Although in those days it was not uncommon for neighbours to occasionally share treats with each other, Ah Poh still stood out. Whether it was something she cooked for her family or some treats her adult children bought for her, she would share with us. Other than very occasionally, she did not do the same with the other neighbours who also had young kids because I think she knew we were poorer and she took pity on us.
When she came calling, she would announce it by calling out my name. On hearing that, we kids would rush to 'welcome' her (and what she was bringing). For us kids, many of her treats like chocolates etc. were things we seldom got to eat. She made us happy. Years later, I wondered to myself what her children thought about her continuously giving things to us.
I will forever remember Ah Poh's great kindness. Nowadays, when I have a good meal I would think of her and her kindness and generosity. When I see a poor women (you can tell) on the streets, I would pass them some money and say to myself 'Ah Poh, that is in memory of you'.
Ah Poh is one of the reasons (my mom being the other) I believe that women are special. They have a natural selfless instinct to share with and take care of others esp. the less fortunate that men do not have (at least not to the same extent).
While speaking to Ah Poh on one trip back from Singapore, somehow the topic of me getting married some day came up and I said that I would invite her to Singapore when that happens. She laughed and said 'by that time, you can beat drums with my bones lor!' Other than vague memories of her looks and the sound of her voice when she called my name, those are the words I remember of her now. To me, those were her last words to me. My eyes get wet whenever I think of her.
About 10 years after we first moved into our flat, another nice neighbour staying on 2nd floor (Mr Gan) who worked for a housing developer offered to help us get a 'medium-cost' terrace house in a project (Taman Maju Jaya) his company was undertaking in Cheras. In Malaysia, every housing development project are required by law to set aside a certain proportion of units as 'low-cost' and 'medium-cost' housing for less well-to-do families. For obvious reason, those 'special price' units are always in great demand and interested and qualified buyers have to go for ballots unless one got help from the inside. Mr Gan got a unit for us - it was opposite the unit he was buying for his family (we are still neighbours).
Low Chow contributed RM10,000 for that house and moved in there with my family too (he stayed there rent free). By then I was already studying in Singapore. But I spent my last uni holidays at the new house sand papering the wooden parts and painting it to prepare for the move in. Being 'medium cost', quality of things and work were not great.
The house was built on used tin mine land about 1.5 km from the main Cheras road and it was the first housing development in that area (between Cheras and Ampang). So there was no bus service etc. Only other thing there were some squatter run vegetable farms. Weekdays I would go there on bicycle to do the work by myself. On weekends, the rest of the family would get there with me and my father ferrying them from the main road using our bicycles.
6 years after moving there, on one of my trips back home I heard from my parents that Low Chow had claimed that he owned half of the house and wanted my parents to pay him half the market value or something like that. My parents suspected that he had lost a lot of money playing mahjong (his past time at the Selangor Engineering Workshop Employees Association in Jalan Sultan. It later shifted to Pasar Road near Pudu).
I then spoke to Low Chow in private and explained to him that he could not claim half of the house because he contributed only RM10,000 while the price was RM28,000 (and I was then still helping to service the loan). I said that as appreciation for the kind help he gave my family when we needed it most, I would pay him back his RM10,000 plus compounded interest of 10% per year (and we will not collect rent from him for all those years). I calculated it on a calculator for him - it was about RM18,000. Low Chow agreed and I then wrote him a check for that sum.
Some time after that (when I was working in Indonesia) he left our house and we never heard from him since. My parents thought he might have gone back to China where he still had relatives. Once a while I would still think of him and wondered, if indeed he had lost a lot of his savings on mahjong, whether what I paid him was enough for him to live through the rest of his life as a single old man (especially considering that the Malaysian Ringgit had started to drop against Singapore and Brunei dollars since 1983). It still bothers me.
Note: Malaysian Ringgit used to be on par with the Singapore and Brunei Dollars from the beginning (1965 or so). But in 1983 because of mismanagement, Malaysia could not maintain that parity anymore and the Ringgit started to depreciate against those currencies. Today the exchange rate is almost 2.5.
Life Lessons:
Always remember the people who have been kind to us or helped us before. We may not be able to repay them but we can always 'pay forward'.
The Chinese tradition of the Reunion Dinner is such a big thing that every year, almost every true Chinese regardless of where they are (even thousands of miles away) would make their way home to have that important meal with the whole family. Tradition is essentially a collection of 'best practices' of a people. The Reunion Dinner is a reflection of how important the practice of having meals together was to our forefathers. Over thousands of years, they had 'burnt' it into the soul of every one of their young.
Grameen Bank (Bangladesh):
Mohammad Yunus who started the use of micro-credit to help poor women start businesses (soon followed by UN and poor countries) said that he adopted that approach because he found that women are more reliable with money and will use them to benefit their children.
Barefoot College (India):
Founded by Bunker Roy, it teaches women from poor villages around the world solar powered electricity and cooking. Women trainees who are 40-50 years old and selected by their fellow villagers will return to run their villages' electric power system. http://www.barefootcollege.org/sol_approach.asp
From age 8 to 20 (when I left for university in Singapore), my family of 7 stayed in a 2 bedroom 1 toilet walk-up flat (no lift) of about 500 square feet in KL (San Peng Road) that my parents bought for RM 9,000. It was on the back half of the top (4th) floor and thus the cheapest unit.
Every day father would carry the bicycle he used to go to work up and down the stairs because anything left on ground floor would be stolen (he lost one when he left it downstairs while home for lunch). I did the same when I got my own bicycle when I was 14.
[My first bike was a small red one that mom 'bought' from her cousin for $10. They lived in a landed house near our flat where we used to go in the evenings so that we could watch TV. That bike was hanging high in their kitchen wall - was their sons' but they had all grown up - and I had been eyeing it for some time. One day I pestered mom to get that bike for me so that I could cycle to school. I was walking 30-40 mins at very fast pace to secondary school 2.5 km away in Kampung Pandan and wear out a pair of shoes every 2 months or so.]
My father initially did not want to buy the flat because he was afraid he could not pay for it. But he relented because of mom's urging (her view was it was better to buy our own house rather than to rent which was what we had been doing) and because his brother used to admonish him for many years in front of their elder sister whenever she visited from Taiping and had been saying that he could help out by lending some money if father did not have enough.
For a year or so when I was still too young to understand all this, my father used to take me on his bicycle every few Sunday or so to visit his brother who co-owned a coffee shop along Pudu Road opposite Pudu Jail. I looked forward to those trips because that was when I got treated to a glass of soft drink! (the only other time was Chinese New Years).
It did not occur to me then that father was making those trips to try and get his brother to lend him some money for the flat as he said he would do. But I did notice that something was not quite right. On those trips, father was very quiet and seemed to be in deep thought as he would open and re-grip his fingers on the bike handles every once a while. (When young, we kids rode in front on the horizontal bar of father's bike which he wrapped with a piece of used blanket as cushion)
Years later I learnt that everytime father went, his brother would give some excuse why he could not come up with any money to lend to father but might be able to do so some time after. That was why father kept going back there with me in tow. After some time we never went back to that coffee shop and father never got any loan from his brother.
Father's view was that his brother did not want to lend him the money because his wife disapproved of it. Father therefore became very bitter with both his brother and sister-in-law. Since then father would never fail to talk about it whenever his elder sister visited or when we visited her in Taiping. That continued until I was over 35 years old.
It was on one such trip I made with father and mom to Taiping that I finally told father off for complaining about what his brother and sister-in-law did to him so many years ago. I told father that he should have ticked them off back then instead of talking about it with others for so many decades.
The analogy I used was 'if a dog keeps barking at you, you should just give that dog a good whack there and then, and the dog would never dare be funny with you again. No use just talking about that dog to others all the time'.
(That trip to Taiping was also one of the last I made - Taiping auntie passed away a few years after that).
Without his brother's help, father was probably desperate but was fortunate that his ex-sifu Low Chow offered to lend him some money (father must have confided his problem to him). In return, my parents offered to rent a room to him (perhaps as surety that we cannot run away).
Mom earned additional money from Low Chow by cooking his dinner and washing his laundry. I used to help mom out with the washing in the small area just outside the small toilet in our flat - with pails around there was barely enough space to squat.
Low Chow came from China when he was a young man and never got married. He used to be one of my father's senior (sifu) when father was a young engineering workshop apprentice many years before that. By the time he moved in with us he was already 50+ years old but still working. In a way, he was very nice to help us out. That money was probably part of his precious retirement savings.
From the beginning we treated him as part of the family and he would go along with us to movies (many times his treat) and family outings.
The good thing about renting the room to Low Chow was that during the day we got to use it to study or catch a nap (he was nice enough not to lock his room when he went out). We would make it a point to leave the room before 6 pm each day before he got home from work. On occassions when he returned early or we overstayed, we would hurrily rush out of the room upon hearing his name being called out by others when he was at the gate (it takes a short while for one of us to open the gate for him - always long enough to vacate his room).
At night, I slept in the living room while the rest of the family slept in the other bedroom - 3 on the master bed, 1 on single mattres in the floor between the bed and the clothes cabinet and 2 on double mattress on the floor at entrance to room. Somehow, all that fitted just right into that small room. Because my bed was a mattress on the floor of the living room, it was sometimes very hard to fall asleep with TV on or others moving and doing things.
In the first few years we did not have a TV and we kids would stand in the corridor outside our flat and peep across the airwell and through the window of our neighbours' flats to watch (4 units - 2 sets of front & back - shared one corridor). 2 neighbouring families were very nice and would usually invite us to watch inside their small flats. We got to watch TV at home years later when mom bought an old black/white TV for $40. It was not in perfect working order and we would occassionally have to turn the knobs to and fro or bang on it to get it to work it but it was still a luxury.
One of the nice neighbours who most frequently invited us into her flat to watch TV was an old lady we called 'Ah Poh' (Chinese for 'granny' or 'old aunty'). Ah Poh was slim, of slight build, cheerful and a very nice woman (I regreted that I never had a picture of her but then we seldom took pictures in those days. Father had a camera but the 120mm films were expensive and picture taking was limited to special occasions only).
Every week Ah Poh was sure to bring us some treats - sometimes a few times a week. Although in those days it was not uncommon for neighbours to occasionally share treats with each other, Ah Poh still stood out. Whether it was something she cooked for her family or some treats her adult children bought for her, she would share with us. Other than very occasionally, she did not do the same with the other neighbours who also had young kids because I think she knew we were poorer and she took pity on us.
When she came calling, she would announce it by calling out my name. On hearing that, we kids would rush to 'welcome' her (and what she was bringing). For us kids, many of her treats like chocolates etc. were things we seldom got to eat. She made us happy. Years later, I wondered to myself what her children thought about her continuously giving things to us.
I will forever remember Ah Poh's great kindness. Nowadays, when I have a good meal I would think of her and her kindness and generosity. When I see a poor women (you can tell) on the streets, I would pass them some money and say to myself 'Ah Poh, that is in memory of you'.
Ah Poh is one of the reasons (my mom being the other) I believe that women are special. They have a natural selfless instinct to share with and take care of others esp. the less fortunate that men do not have (at least not to the same extent).
While speaking to Ah Poh on one trip back from Singapore, somehow the topic of me getting married some day came up and I said that I would invite her to Singapore when that happens. She laughed and said 'by that time, you can beat drums with my bones lor!' Other than vague memories of her looks and the sound of her voice when she called my name, those are the words I remember of her now. To me, those were her last words to me. My eyes get wet whenever I think of her.
About 10 years after we first moved into our flat, another nice neighbour staying on 2nd floor (Mr Gan) who worked for a housing developer offered to help us get a 'medium-cost' terrace house in a project (Taman Maju Jaya) his company was undertaking in Cheras. In Malaysia, every housing development project are required by law to set aside a certain proportion of units as 'low-cost' and 'medium-cost' housing for less well-to-do families. For obvious reason, those 'special price' units are always in great demand and interested and qualified buyers have to go for ballots unless one got help from the inside. Mr Gan got a unit for us - it was opposite the unit he was buying for his family (we are still neighbours).
Low Chow contributed RM10,000 for that house and moved in there with my family too (he stayed there rent free). By then I was already studying in Singapore. But I spent my last uni holidays at the new house sand papering the wooden parts and painting it to prepare for the move in. Being 'medium cost', quality of things and work were not great.
The house was built on used tin mine land about 1.5 km from the main Cheras road and it was the first housing development in that area (between Cheras and Ampang). So there was no bus service etc. Only other thing there were some squatter run vegetable farms. Weekdays I would go there on bicycle to do the work by myself. On weekends, the rest of the family would get there with me and my father ferrying them from the main road using our bicycles.
6 years after moving there, on one of my trips back home I heard from my parents that Low Chow had claimed that he owned half of the house and wanted my parents to pay him half the market value or something like that. My parents suspected that he had lost a lot of money playing mahjong (his past time at the Selangor Engineering Workshop Employees Association in Jalan Sultan. It later shifted to Pasar Road near Pudu).
I then spoke to Low Chow in private and explained to him that he could not claim half of the house because he contributed only RM10,000 while the price was RM28,000 (and I was then still helping to service the loan). I said that as appreciation for the kind help he gave my family when we needed it most, I would pay him back his RM10,000 plus compounded interest of 10% per year (and we will not collect rent from him for all those years). I calculated it on a calculator for him - it was about RM18,000. Low Chow agreed and I then wrote him a check for that sum.
Some time after that (when I was working in Indonesia) he left our house and we never heard from him since. My parents thought he might have gone back to China where he still had relatives. Once a while I would still think of him and wondered, if indeed he had lost a lot of his savings on mahjong, whether what I paid him was enough for him to live through the rest of his life as a single old man (especially considering that the Malaysian Ringgit had started to drop against Singapore and Brunei dollars since 1983). It still bothers me.
Note: Malaysian Ringgit used to be on par with the Singapore and Brunei Dollars from the beginning (1965 or so). But in 1983 because of mismanagement, Malaysia could not maintain that parity anymore and the Ringgit started to depreciate against those currencies. Today the exchange rate is almost 2.5.
Life Lessons:
Always remember the people who have been kind to us or helped us before. We may not be able to repay them but we can always 'pay forward'.
The Chinese tradition of the Reunion Dinner is such a big thing that every year, almost every true Chinese regardless of where they are (even thousands of miles away) would make their way home to have that important meal with the whole family. Tradition is essentially a collection of 'best practices' of a people. The Reunion Dinner is a reflection of how important the practice of having meals together was to our forefathers. Over thousands of years, they had 'burnt' it into the soul of every one of their young.
Grameen Bank (Bangladesh):
Mohammad Yunus who started the use of micro-credit to help poor women start businesses (soon followed by UN and poor countries) said that he adopted that approach because he found that women are more reliable with money and will use them to benefit their children.
Barefoot College (India):
Founded by Bunker Roy, it teaches women from poor villages around the world solar powered electricity and cooking. Women trainees who are 40-50 years old and selected by their fellow villagers will return to run their villages' electric power system. http://www.barefootcollege.org/sol_approach.asp
Friday, January 20, 2012
Teach a Man How to Fish vs to Plant a Tree
Just got back from waiting for 2nd daughter after school (did not get to catch her). The reason was I was busy talking to a man who was there to pick his son from same school.
We talked about various things like the 'stress' today's children have in school. On 'stress' I said that there is no need for children to score 'top marks' like 90-100% or spend all their time on homework , tuition etc. (although those scoring below 60% may need some help through tuitions). Children should spend some time playing, on hobbies and learning other things outside school because that is also learning, just no marks in school exams.
The man agreed and said that that's why he will be taking his son fishing this weekend. The reason is he wanted to teach his son the saying 'teach a man how to fish and he feeds himself a lifetime but give a man a fish and he eats for only a day'.
I wanted to share with him a better idea but did not have the opportunity as the conversation went into other areas like Singapore's politics and what I wrote about in the posting on Pareto Principle.
That was the idea of 'Planting a Financial Tree' which I try to share with others whenever I can especially Singaporeans who live in a country where land is so scarce and expensive that planting real trees for a living or to survive is close to impossible (most of them live in flats & what Malaysians call 'hutan semen' or 'cement jungle').
In countries where there is plenty of land, many people survive just by living off their land. They own a few (and in come cases, tens to hundreds) acres of land where they plant crops like oil palm and all sorts of fruit trees and vegetables and rear livestocks like chicken, goats etc.
With even a small piece of land (say 1 acre), they can still survive without work for some time. All they have to do is plant some vegetables and fruit trees and live ooff them. After the planting, in a good land those trees would by nature grow by themselves even if the owners sit around and do nothing!
However, in places like Singapore the closest thing to surviving by planting fruit trees is to plant what I call 'financial trees'.
A 'financial tree' is an investment in some real assets that produce continous streams of income much like a fruit tree producing fruits continuously for decades. That can be done by buying things like properties, real estate investment trusts, or shares in companies that own 'financial trees' i.e. companies that own real and income producing assets like lands/properties or good strong businesses with 'high barriers of entry'.
An example of a business with 'high barrier of entry' is telecom or banking business where the startup (investment) costs are high and the operator must have a 'licence' before they can operate (which may be difficult for potential competitors to obtain). Compare that to say a starting a food stall business where anyone with some money can start one.
A person that starts to plant a series of 'financial trees' early in life will get to reap their 'fruits' for many years to come and may not even have to work or work as long (or as many hours) as others who do not have financial trees.
Those financial trees like real fruit trees will give their owner confidence in life knowing that they will not have to rely on the next salary payment to survive. In the worse case scenarios, they can still survive on the fruits of those financial trees.
In addition, that person will achieve personal freedom like being able to choose how they spend their time on instead of just working everyday.
For example, a person with a good stream of regular income from a portfolio of good financial trees can choose a job they enjoy doing even though that job may not be as well paying i.e. they can afford to compromise lower income with greater satisfaction from doing something the person enjoys. Or even choose to stop working or work shorter hours so that he/she can spend more time on things of personal interest.
That is the confidence and freedom that planting financial trees bring.
Now, compare planting financial trees to teaching a person how to fish. Which do you think is better?
Even if I teach a person how to fish, that person must still have to rely on the vagaries of the pond, river or ocean. Will the supply of fish be as regular as that of a tree's fruit output?
Even if a person knows how to fish well, he will still have to spend time doing the fishing (in that sense, fishing is more like working)! The more fish one needs the longer time one will have to spend fishing. In addition and unless the person owns a pond/river etc. that person would still have to compete with other fishermen. In contrast, with some good fruit trees in one's own farm one only needs to wait for the fruits to ripe and pluck them off. One has little fear of others 'competing' for those output.
And even though fishes in the ocean multiply, the additional fishes are not yours by right and you will still have to compete with others to catch them. But if you multiply the number of trees in your own garden, their future produce is yours only.
That is why 'teaching a man to plant a tree' is better than 'teaching a man how to fish'....
Some key principles to remember :
- Plant Some Trees Even if You are a Fisherman
Fishing is 'active income' while having one's own fruit trees is more like 'passive income'. So even when one is earning income from a job (active income), one should make sure that there are alternative sources of income that do not take up much of one's time and effort (passive income) and that can become one's supply of money in case one loses his/her job.
- Start Even with One Tree
In all investments, it is never too small an amount to start. The excuse people frequently give for not actively investing their money is that they do not have 'enough capital'. There is no such thing as not enough capital. Just not enough effort or focus into it.
Quote: A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step - Lao Tzu
- Start Planting Early
If one starts planting one's financial trees early but use some of the fruits produced to grow more trees instead of consuming them, over time one will have many more trees than one started with. The concept of 'compound interest' is a good example of this.
- Save Some Fruits for Unexpected Visitors
In farming, there may be unexpected floods or droughts when crops would be destroyed. So, farmers always keep a granary where stocks from perviuos seasons are kept for later use. Similarly for finances. Always save some money for emergencies like when one has a sudden unexpected expense (e.g. medical) or when income from regular job is affected (e.g. job loss).
Rule: The general rule to follow is to have enough emergency cash to last 6 months. However, an investor building up cash while patiently waiting for the right time to invest should have a bigger pool of cash (see below).
- Let the Trees Multiply
It is OK to start with a small base. What is important is to grow it over time. That way, even a fruit garden with one tree will become one with many trees (i.e. more future income).
- Be Patient and Plant/Harvest at the Right Time
As with growing real trees, there is a right season to start planting new trees. Farmers know that late winter or early spring is the best time to start growing. Trees planted in autumn will not survive through winter. They also know when is the best time to pick the fruits (in late summer or autumn).
It is the same with investment management. The world economy and markets go through cycles (like that of seasons). Things like prices of investments go up and down and up again over time. Smart investors therefore monitor the big picture (macro economy) to know what is happening in the world and time when they buy or sell.
For example, the best time to make good solid investments is when the world economy has gone through a down cycle (e.g. after a huge market crash like that of 1997/8 and 2008/9).
The couple of years just before a crash is usually characterised by 'investment frenzies' where every Tom, Dick and Harry were buying even when prices were ridiculously high prices (when measured in ROR - see below). Because prices had been rising for many years they thought prices will continue to go up some more.
Rule: Do not follow the herd. When everyone (the Ah Peks and Ah Sohs in market) is talking about buying shares, it is the time to consider selling.
At the peak of the crises, many people sold what they had at low prices and most dared not buy because of fear - that's why prices collapsed. But people that bought around that time would have bought at prices 60-70% cheaper than 2 years before and locked in investments that generate rate of returns (ROR) of more than 10% per year. People who bought at the high of 2 years before and sold at low prices during the crisis due to fear would have suffered massive losses of 60-70%!
Rule: Be fearful when others are greedy, be greedy when others are fearful - Warren Buffet.
- Not All trees Are the Same
Even though they may be of the same type, some trees of better strains produce more fruits than others. Farmers that know which strain is better would plant new trees using seeds from that strain but not that from other lower producing strains.
In investment, the concept used is Rate of Return or ROR. Other similar concepts are Return on Equity (ROE) and Return on Investment (ROI). ROR is the income one gets from each dollar of investment or capital. E.g. an investment that returns 10% per year is better than one with 5% return (assuming all things being equal).
Note: In general, investments with higher returns tend to have higher risks. But if one buys an investment at a low price (say during crises), one can get a much better ROR for the same investment than if one had bought it during 'herd frenzies'.
Also, one way to find good tree strains is to watch what the top producing farmers do! The equivalaent in investment world are the insiders who knows best about what is happening in their company. E.g. when substantial owners of a major company or its top executives keep buying their company's shares, it suggests that the price at that time may be cheap and one should consider following.
Note: insider actions is just an indicator. One should not follow blindly but do some homework. Never follow insiders of small companies - they may be manipulating the price!
- Do Not Rely on Just One Type of Tree
Good farmers know that they should never plant only 1 type of crop on their land. The main reason being diversification of risks because they know that although infections and infestations that may destroy their crops are beyond their control, they do not affect all type of trees at the same time. Some types may be unaffected and thus continue to bear fruit when others die. Also, crop prices may change depending on market conditions. Single crop farmers will be more affected by large drops in prices than others.
Same with investments. Do not put all your money into 1 or 2 investments. Diversify by investing in different companies, industries and regions around the world so that if one company/industry/region is in trouble, you can still get income from others.
Also, never buy shares in the company that you work in for obvious reason. If your company is in trouble you may lose both your job and investment!
[I know of a case like that. When a local IT company went public, their staff were given priority to buy those shares. One staff apparently bought $80,000 worth using family money. A few years later when the internet bubble burst in 2001, the company was badly affected, its share price dropped way below IPO price, and they had to retrench people. That staff was among them. He ended up losing his job and a big chunk of his family's investment.]
We talked about various things like the 'stress' today's children have in school. On 'stress' I said that there is no need for children to score 'top marks' like 90-100% or spend all their time on homework , tuition etc. (although those scoring below 60% may need some help through tuitions). Children should spend some time playing, on hobbies and learning other things outside school because that is also learning, just no marks in school exams.
The man agreed and said that that's why he will be taking his son fishing this weekend. The reason is he wanted to teach his son the saying 'teach a man how to fish and he feeds himself a lifetime but give a man a fish and he eats for only a day'.
I wanted to share with him a better idea but did not have the opportunity as the conversation went into other areas like Singapore's politics and what I wrote about in the posting on Pareto Principle.
That was the idea of 'Planting a Financial Tree' which I try to share with others whenever I can especially Singaporeans who live in a country where land is so scarce and expensive that planting real trees for a living or to survive is close to impossible (most of them live in flats & what Malaysians call 'hutan semen' or 'cement jungle').
In countries where there is plenty of land, many people survive just by living off their land. They own a few (and in come cases, tens to hundreds) acres of land where they plant crops like oil palm and all sorts of fruit trees and vegetables and rear livestocks like chicken, goats etc.
With even a small piece of land (say 1 acre), they can still survive without work for some time. All they have to do is plant some vegetables and fruit trees and live ooff them. After the planting, in a good land those trees would by nature grow by themselves even if the owners sit around and do nothing!
However, in places like Singapore the closest thing to surviving by planting fruit trees is to plant what I call 'financial trees'.
A 'financial tree' is an investment in some real assets that produce continous streams of income much like a fruit tree producing fruits continuously for decades. That can be done by buying things like properties, real estate investment trusts, or shares in companies that own 'financial trees' i.e. companies that own real and income producing assets like lands/properties or good strong businesses with 'high barriers of entry'.
An example of a business with 'high barrier of entry' is telecom or banking business where the startup (investment) costs are high and the operator must have a 'licence' before they can operate (which may be difficult for potential competitors to obtain). Compare that to say a starting a food stall business where anyone with some money can start one.
A person that starts to plant a series of 'financial trees' early in life will get to reap their 'fruits' for many years to come and may not even have to work or work as long (or as many hours) as others who do not have financial trees.
Those financial trees like real fruit trees will give their owner confidence in life knowing that they will not have to rely on the next salary payment to survive. In the worse case scenarios, they can still survive on the fruits of those financial trees.
In addition, that person will achieve personal freedom like being able to choose how they spend their time on instead of just working everyday.
For example, a person with a good stream of regular income from a portfolio of good financial trees can choose a job they enjoy doing even though that job may not be as well paying i.e. they can afford to compromise lower income with greater satisfaction from doing something the person enjoys. Or even choose to stop working or work shorter hours so that he/she can spend more time on things of personal interest.
That is the confidence and freedom that planting financial trees bring.
Now, compare planting financial trees to teaching a person how to fish. Which do you think is better?
Even if I teach a person how to fish, that person must still have to rely on the vagaries of the pond, river or ocean. Will the supply of fish be as regular as that of a tree's fruit output?
Even if a person knows how to fish well, he will still have to spend time doing the fishing (in that sense, fishing is more like working)! The more fish one needs the longer time one will have to spend fishing. In addition and unless the person owns a pond/river etc. that person would still have to compete with other fishermen. In contrast, with some good fruit trees in one's own farm one only needs to wait for the fruits to ripe and pluck them off. One has little fear of others 'competing' for those output.
And even though fishes in the ocean multiply, the additional fishes are not yours by right and you will still have to compete with others to catch them. But if you multiply the number of trees in your own garden, their future produce is yours only.
That is why 'teaching a man to plant a tree' is better than 'teaching a man how to fish'....
Some key principles to remember :
- Plant Some Trees Even if You are a Fisherman
Fishing is 'active income' while having one's own fruit trees is more like 'passive income'. So even when one is earning income from a job (active income), one should make sure that there are alternative sources of income that do not take up much of one's time and effort (passive income) and that can become one's supply of money in case one loses his/her job.
- Start Even with One Tree
In all investments, it is never too small an amount to start. The excuse people frequently give for not actively investing their money is that they do not have 'enough capital'. There is no such thing as not enough capital. Just not enough effort or focus into it.
Quote: A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step - Lao Tzu
- Start Planting Early
If one starts planting one's financial trees early but use some of the fruits produced to grow more trees instead of consuming them, over time one will have many more trees than one started with. The concept of 'compound interest' is a good example of this.
- Save Some Fruits for Unexpected Visitors
In farming, there may be unexpected floods or droughts when crops would be destroyed. So, farmers always keep a granary where stocks from perviuos seasons are kept for later use. Similarly for finances. Always save some money for emergencies like when one has a sudden unexpected expense (e.g. medical) or when income from regular job is affected (e.g. job loss).
Rule: The general rule to follow is to have enough emergency cash to last 6 months. However, an investor building up cash while patiently waiting for the right time to invest should have a bigger pool of cash (see below).
- Let the Trees Multiply
It is OK to start with a small base. What is important is to grow it over time. That way, even a fruit garden with one tree will become one with many trees (i.e. more future income).
- Be Patient and Plant/Harvest at the Right Time
As with growing real trees, there is a right season to start planting new trees. Farmers know that late winter or early spring is the best time to start growing. Trees planted in autumn will not survive through winter. They also know when is the best time to pick the fruits (in late summer or autumn).
It is the same with investment management. The world economy and markets go through cycles (like that of seasons). Things like prices of investments go up and down and up again over time. Smart investors therefore monitor the big picture (macro economy) to know what is happening in the world and time when they buy or sell.
For example, the best time to make good solid investments is when the world economy has gone through a down cycle (e.g. after a huge market crash like that of 1997/8 and 2008/9).
The couple of years just before a crash is usually characterised by 'investment frenzies' where every Tom, Dick and Harry were buying even when prices were ridiculously high prices (when measured in ROR - see below). Because prices had been rising for many years they thought prices will continue to go up some more.
Rule: Do not follow the herd. When everyone (the Ah Peks and Ah Sohs in market) is talking about buying shares, it is the time to consider selling.
At the peak of the crises, many people sold what they had at low prices and most dared not buy because of fear - that's why prices collapsed. But people that bought around that time would have bought at prices 60-70% cheaper than 2 years before and locked in investments that generate rate of returns (ROR) of more than 10% per year. People who bought at the high of 2 years before and sold at low prices during the crisis due to fear would have suffered massive losses of 60-70%!
Rule: Be fearful when others are greedy, be greedy when others are fearful - Warren Buffet.
- Not All trees Are the Same
Even though they may be of the same type, some trees of better strains produce more fruits than others. Farmers that know which strain is better would plant new trees using seeds from that strain but not that from other lower producing strains.
In investment, the concept used is Rate of Return or ROR. Other similar concepts are Return on Equity (ROE) and Return on Investment (ROI). ROR is the income one gets from each dollar of investment or capital. E.g. an investment that returns 10% per year is better than one with 5% return (assuming all things being equal).
Note: In general, investments with higher returns tend to have higher risks. But if one buys an investment at a low price (say during crises), one can get a much better ROR for the same investment than if one had bought it during 'herd frenzies'.
Also, one way to find good tree strains is to watch what the top producing farmers do! The equivalaent in investment world are the insiders who knows best about what is happening in their company. E.g. when substantial owners of a major company or its top executives keep buying their company's shares, it suggests that the price at that time may be cheap and one should consider following.
Note: insider actions is just an indicator. One should not follow blindly but do some homework. Never follow insiders of small companies - they may be manipulating the price!
- Do Not Rely on Just One Type of Tree
Good farmers know that they should never plant only 1 type of crop on their land. The main reason being diversification of risks because they know that although infections and infestations that may destroy their crops are beyond their control, they do not affect all type of trees at the same time. Some types may be unaffected and thus continue to bear fruit when others die. Also, crop prices may change depending on market conditions. Single crop farmers will be more affected by large drops in prices than others.
Same with investments. Do not put all your money into 1 or 2 investments. Diversify by investing in different companies, industries and regions around the world so that if one company/industry/region is in trouble, you can still get income from others.
Also, never buy shares in the company that you work in for obvious reason. If your company is in trouble you may lose both your job and investment!
[I know of a case like that. When a local IT company went public, their staff were given priority to buy those shares. One staff apparently bought $80,000 worth using family money. A few years later when the internet bubble burst in 2001, the company was badly affected, its share price dropped way below IPO price, and they had to retrench people. That staff was among them. He ended up losing his job and a big chunk of his family's investment.]
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Training of Dogs (draft)
http://www.youtube.com/user/CesarMillan
General Notes:
- best time is when dog is 6 to 12 weeks old
- dog must be trained to know that owners are the 'leaders of pack' and dog must submit
e.g. owner walks in front, dog always give way and not block, dog eats after owners
- ignore dog when it is trying to get attention
- train only 5 to 15 min each session (best after nap), 3 times a day. Results in 3 weeks
- use stern 'No!' as punishment or yank on leash (no delays)
- reward dog immediately with pat, food and/or 'good dog'
- change lesson or stop training when dog is tired or not interested
- end training sessions with 'free' and play with it as reward
How to leash dog during training
Do not put leash low down on neck of dog as dog will have more power to overcome leash pull.
Put leash high up towards head as that gives owner more leverage when pulling on leash.
Order of training:
1. 'Keel' (walk by side of owner): with dog on side, tap your side, say 'keel' and start walking. Never let dog walk ahead (and be leader). When dog goes ahead, yank on leash. Tap your side and say 'heel'. When back on your side, pat and say 'good dog'.
As dog develops, train by going further and in circle or 8-shapes.
2. 'Come': from some distance away say 'come'. Reward dog immediately when dog reaches you
2. 'Sit': with dog beside or in front of you, give command. Wait for dog to sit and reward immediately. Press hind of dog if needed.
3. 'Down' (lie down): same as 'sit' but reward when down on all fours
4. 'Stand': same as 'sit' but more difficult to train as dogs tend to sit or down as submission to leader. So give command gently and don't punish in this training.
5. 'Stay': (do after dog trained on sit, down or stand) Start with dog on your side. Use hand signal, say 'stay', take a step away and keep saying 'stay' & hand signal to make sure dog stays. End by going back to start position and give reward.
As dog gets better, extend training. Take further steps away but keep looking at dog and repeating 'stay' and hand signal. As dog develops, extend duration from 5 sec to 2 mins and distance etc. (including walking around dog).
6. 'Fetch': Use a toy
7. 'Pooh Pooh' (Da Bian): 2 Weeks
- Leash dog to his 'sleep area' (dogs will not shit or urinate there). During training period, do not let dog off its leash.
- Identify a 'toilet area' (6 ft x 10 ft) where you want dog to go to urinate or shit. Concrete flooring preferred since you can wash and clean up after that
- Fix a schedule for when you bring dog to 'toilet area' (at least 2 times/day for adults, more often for puppies). Best time for that is after sleep, play or food
- On sheduled time, bring dog on leash to 'toilet area' and stand there for 5 mins to wait for dog to relieve itself. Keep dog on leash so that it cannot run around or play and confuse 'pooh' time with 'free' time and do NOT talk or play with dog while waiting for you want dog to learn that it is 'pooh' time and not play time
- if dog urinate or shit within that time, immediately praise the dog and reward it with food or play (remember to say 'free') and then leash it back to home area. Repeat going to toilet at the next scheduled time
- if dog does not relieve within that time, bring dog back to home area and keep it leashed (do not pat or play with it, and do not wait for more than 5 mins). Repeat going to toilet after 30 mins
- any time you notice that dog bahaves like it want to relieve itself (like sniffing, walking in circle or making sound) bring it to toilet per above
- if training on shedule is done well, it takes 1 to 2 weeks for dog to be trained
General Notes:
- best time is when dog is 6 to 12 weeks old
- dog must be trained to know that owners are the 'leaders of pack' and dog must submit
e.g. owner walks in front, dog always give way and not block, dog eats after owners
- ignore dog when it is trying to get attention
- train only 5 to 15 min each session (best after nap), 3 times a day. Results in 3 weeks
- use stern 'No!' as punishment or yank on leash (no delays)
- reward dog immediately with pat, food and/or 'good dog'
- change lesson or stop training when dog is tired or not interested
- end training sessions with 'free' and play with it as reward
How to leash dog during training
Do not put leash low down on neck of dog as dog will have more power to overcome leash pull.
Put leash high up towards head as that gives owner more leverage when pulling on leash.
Order of training:
1. 'Keel' (walk by side of owner): with dog on side, tap your side, say 'keel' and start walking. Never let dog walk ahead (and be leader). When dog goes ahead, yank on leash. Tap your side and say 'heel'. When back on your side, pat and say 'good dog'.
As dog develops, train by going further and in circle or 8-shapes.
2. 'Come': from some distance away say 'come'. Reward dog immediately when dog reaches you
2. 'Sit': with dog beside or in front of you, give command. Wait for dog to sit and reward immediately. Press hind of dog if needed.
3. 'Down' (lie down): same as 'sit' but reward when down on all fours
4. 'Stand': same as 'sit' but more difficult to train as dogs tend to sit or down as submission to leader. So give command gently and don't punish in this training.
5. 'Stay': (do after dog trained on sit, down or stand) Start with dog on your side. Use hand signal, say 'stay', take a step away and keep saying 'stay' & hand signal to make sure dog stays. End by going back to start position and give reward.
As dog gets better, extend training. Take further steps away but keep looking at dog and repeating 'stay' and hand signal. As dog develops, extend duration from 5 sec to 2 mins and distance etc. (including walking around dog).
6. 'Fetch': Use a toy
7. 'Pooh Pooh' (Da Bian): 2 Weeks
- Leash dog to his 'sleep area' (dogs will not shit or urinate there). During training period, do not let dog off its leash.
- Identify a 'toilet area' (6 ft x 10 ft) where you want dog to go to urinate or shit. Concrete flooring preferred since you can wash and clean up after that
- Fix a schedule for when you bring dog to 'toilet area' (at least 2 times/day for adults, more often for puppies). Best time for that is after sleep, play or food
- On sheduled time, bring dog on leash to 'toilet area' and stand there for 5 mins to wait for dog to relieve itself. Keep dog on leash so that it cannot run around or play and confuse 'pooh' time with 'free' time and do NOT talk or play with dog while waiting for you want dog to learn that it is 'pooh' time and not play time
- if dog urinate or shit within that time, immediately praise the dog and reward it with food or play (remember to say 'free') and then leash it back to home area. Repeat going to toilet at the next scheduled time
- if dog does not relieve within that time, bring dog back to home area and keep it leashed (do not pat or play with it, and do not wait for more than 5 mins). Repeat going to toilet after 30 mins
- any time you notice that dog bahaves like it want to relieve itself (like sniffing, walking in circle or making sound) bring it to toilet per above
- if training on shedule is done well, it takes 1 to 2 weeks for dog to be trained
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Dental Care
Warning: Dental problems can cause heart problems as bacteria enter the blood streams.
What you need
• Dental floss
• Inter-dental or inter-proximal brush (optional)
• Tooth brush (soft or medium)
• Electric tooth brush (brand: Braun precision clean, optional)
• Steel dental pick
• Mouthwash
Cleaning Routine
1. Floss - take away the big pieces. Tie (using double knots) 2 ends of 12-inch long dental floss to form a ring. That will allow you to floss using entire length of the floss and have better grip of the floss. Flossing removes the larger deposits from teeth & gums.
Note:
- Make sure floss wraps around the side of teeth (like 'C') and not cut into and harm gum between teeth. Move floss up and down
- Rotate floss to use new clean section when you move to next tooth
2. Interdental Brush - clean the big holes & back of last teeth. Dip interdental (interproximal) brush in some toothpaste and clean gaps between teeth. Rinse brush with running water before moving to next tooth or quadrant.
Note:
- This step applies only for people with periodontitis (receded gums) which results in gaps/holes between teeth and is not necessary for people with good healthy gums/teeth.
- The back of the last teeth at back of mouth are difficult to reach using normal tooth brush, but easier with a large inter-dental brush.
3. Precision Clean (using electric brush) - getting to hard to get areas. Focus on difficult to reach areas i.e. teeth and gum lines at back of mouth especially wisdom teeth.
Note:
- Electric brushes are expensive, so use them where their return is highest.
- Use Step 9 to determine such areas to focus
4. Main Brush (using normal brush) - Start with Soaking. At start, quickly brush all surfaces of all teeth, gums, tongue and walls of mouth. This is to spread toothpaste around mouth and let the toothpaste's chemical cleaning to start working on all parts from the beginning.
Note:
- Use a good amount of toothpaste - do not try to save on it!
- Change toothpaste brands regularly. Bacteria adapt to cleaning agents. Changing toothpaste regularly reduce chance of that happening.
- Use different pastes for morning/night brush if possible e.g. normal paste for night and sensitive paste for morning or vice versa.
5. Main Brush (using normal brush). Slowly and lightly brush teeth using circular motions with brush tilted at 45 degrees and bristles pointed towards root of teeth. That is to make sure space between gum and teeth are also brushed. After brushing teeth and gum line, make sure to brush the rest of the gums, walls/sides of mouth and tongue
Note:
- It is how long you brush that matters, not how hard. Brushing hard harms gum
- Use different brushes with different patterns/shapes for AM/PM. More thorough since different shapes reach different areas
- Manual brush which has longer bristles is better than electric brush because longer bristles can reach deeper into gaps and hard to reach areas
6. Post Brush Soaking. After brushing, leave tooth paste in mouth for a couple of minutes to let chemical cleaning work longer (have bath in meantime etc).
7. Rinse mouth with mouthwash (optional) for 2 to 3 minutes. Dilute if required. Avoid this except when some bleeding or ulcer detected.
8. Dental Pick - cleanliness check. Use steel dental pick to pick at difficult to reach areas like gaps between teeth and see how clean the teeth and gums are. Spend more time and focus on such areas when flossing, brushing etc.
Note: Unclean areas will smell or bleed because of bacterial infection.
How to Clean Brushes & Dental Pick
Once a while or when you notice plaque (bacterial deposit) formation, clean tooth brushes (incl electric brush heads) and dental pick as follows:
- soak in boiling water with some mild hand wash (or natural anti-bacterial like vinegar, lemon juice)
- while soaking, use dental pick to scrape the base of bristles to loosen and get rid of plaque
- keep soaking for a few hours
Change tooth brush every 3 to 6 months, or if bristles are flared
Go for dental check every 6 months.
You may not be aware of gum infections like gingivitis until it is too late. Dentists can detect such problems early and help correct it before it gets too advanced (condition known as periodontitis - advanced gum infection and irreparable bone loss below gum).
What you need
• Dental floss
• Inter-dental or inter-proximal brush (optional)
• Tooth brush (soft or medium)
• Electric tooth brush (brand: Braun precision clean, optional)
• Steel dental pick
• Mouthwash
Cleaning Routine
1. Floss - take away the big pieces. Tie (using double knots) 2 ends of 12-inch long dental floss to form a ring. That will allow you to floss using entire length of the floss and have better grip of the floss. Flossing removes the larger deposits from teeth & gums.
Note:
- Make sure floss wraps around the side of teeth (like 'C') and not cut into and harm gum between teeth. Move floss up and down
- Rotate floss to use new clean section when you move to next tooth
2. Interdental Brush - clean the big holes & back of last teeth. Dip interdental (interproximal) brush in some toothpaste and clean gaps between teeth. Rinse brush with running water before moving to next tooth or quadrant.
Note:
- This step applies only for people with periodontitis (receded gums) which results in gaps/holes between teeth and is not necessary for people with good healthy gums/teeth.
- The back of the last teeth at back of mouth are difficult to reach using normal tooth brush, but easier with a large inter-dental brush.
3. Precision Clean (using electric brush) - getting to hard to get areas. Focus on difficult to reach areas i.e. teeth and gum lines at back of mouth especially wisdom teeth.
Note:
- Electric brushes are expensive, so use them where their return is highest.
- Use Step 9 to determine such areas to focus
4. Main Brush (using normal brush) - Start with Soaking. At start, quickly brush all surfaces of all teeth, gums, tongue and walls of mouth. This is to spread toothpaste around mouth and let the toothpaste's chemical cleaning to start working on all parts from the beginning.
Note:
- Use a good amount of toothpaste - do not try to save on it!
- Change toothpaste brands regularly. Bacteria adapt to cleaning agents. Changing toothpaste regularly reduce chance of that happening.
- Use different pastes for morning/night brush if possible e.g. normal paste for night and sensitive paste for morning or vice versa.
5. Main Brush (using normal brush). Slowly and lightly brush teeth using circular motions with brush tilted at 45 degrees and bristles pointed towards root of teeth. That is to make sure space between gum and teeth are also brushed. After brushing teeth and gum line, make sure to brush the rest of the gums, walls/sides of mouth and tongue
Note:
- It is how long you brush that matters, not how hard. Brushing hard harms gum
- Use different brushes with different patterns/shapes for AM/PM. More thorough since different shapes reach different areas
- Manual brush which has longer bristles is better than electric brush because longer bristles can reach deeper into gaps and hard to reach areas
6. Post Brush Soaking. After brushing, leave tooth paste in mouth for a couple of minutes to let chemical cleaning work longer (have bath in meantime etc).
7. Rinse mouth with mouthwash (optional) for 2 to 3 minutes. Dilute if required. Avoid this except when some bleeding or ulcer detected.
8. Dental Pick - cleanliness check. Use steel dental pick to pick at difficult to reach areas like gaps between teeth and see how clean the teeth and gums are. Spend more time and focus on such areas when flossing, brushing etc.
Note: Unclean areas will smell or bleed because of bacterial infection.
How to Clean Brushes & Dental Pick
Once a while or when you notice plaque (bacterial deposit) formation, clean tooth brushes (incl electric brush heads) and dental pick as follows:
- soak in boiling water with some mild hand wash (or natural anti-bacterial like vinegar, lemon juice)
- while soaking, use dental pick to scrape the base of bristles to loosen and get rid of plaque
- keep soaking for a few hours
Change tooth brush every 3 to 6 months, or if bristles are flared
Go for dental check every 6 months.
You may not be aware of gum infections like gingivitis until it is too late. Dentists can detect such problems early and help correct it before it gets too advanced (condition known as periodontitis - advanced gum infection and irreparable bone loss below gum).
Pareto Principle (80-20 Rule)
Spending 20% resources (time, effort, money etc.) may obtain 80% of results or returns. The remaining 20% of results or returns may require 80% of resources.
That means that the ‘rate of return’ of spending additional resources on an undertaking may be so low that it may not be worth it (this is also known as 'the principle of dimishing returns'). The additional resources may be better spent on other undertakings with better ‘rates of return’.
Thus, we need to balance how much resource we ‘invest’ in an undertaking againt the ‘return’ we get from spending more resources on it.
Caution: this rule is applies ONLY if the person spends the other 80% of time or resources on other MORE productive undertakings and not waste it on activities that have no benefit.
Application to School Learning
Assuming a student has 10 hours every day to study.
Pareto Principle says that by spending 2 hours studying, a student may be able to attain an 80% score but to score the remaining 20% (to make total of 100%) the student may have to spend all the remaining 8 hours. The ‘rate of return’ of the additional 8 hours is therefore not as good as the first 2 hours. In that case, the other 8 hours may be better spent learning other things e.g. learning things outside school or spending time on hobbies and other personal interests.
In addition, the knowledge taught in schools is only 1 or 2% of total knowledge of the world. That means that a student who spends 100% of time to try score 100% in school exams will at best learn or master only 2% of all world knowledge (see Notes at bottom).
Comparison of amount of knowledge potentially gained by a student following Pareto Principle vs one who does not:
• Student A spends all 10 hours a day (100% of time) studying only what is taught in school. Even though A may master completely everything taught in school, A’s total world knowledge will at most be 2% (because what is taught in schools is only 2% of all knowledge).
• Student B who follows Pareto Principle spends 2 hours a day (20% of time) on school work and the other 8 hours a day learning or doing other things outside school, say on learning about another 10% of world knowledge that is not taught by school. Although B may only master 80% of what is taught in school (or 1.6% of all world knowledge), B may gain an additional 8% (= 80% of 10%) of world knowledge. B’s total world knowledge may be 9.6% (= 1.6% from school and 8% from outside school), or 6 times more than A!
Given that, spending all of one’s time on learning only what is taught in school may not be such a good idea after all. Scoring 80% in school exams may be better (of course, scoring 90% with 20% effort is better still) if one learns much more by spending some time learning and doing other things.
For the same reason, getting high scores may not mean that a student is intelligent. It may be because that student spent disproportionately high amount of time and effort on it. A student that spends 20% of time but scores only 80% may be much smarter than you think (that is assuming that student spends time studying other useful things outside school and not waste it on something worthless).
That is why extra-curricular activities and pursuing interests and hobbies outside what is ‘given’ by the schools is so important in a child’s overall development. That is also why many of the most successful people in the world do not have high educational qualifications or were school dropouts.
Caution:
Pareto Principle is only one of many helpful guides on decision making and should not be taken as gospel. It applies only when one has more than 1 good alternatives and need to decide on how much of one's resource to spend on all of them to maximise returns from those multiple good alternatives. It does not apply when there is only 1 good alternative available.
E.g. A person who knows only how to fish and farm may want to spend 80% of time fishing and 20% farming. But one who only knows how to fish and has no farm should spend all his time fishing! Or a person spends 20% of time working/learning but waste the other 80% on worthless activities like just loitering in shopping complexes.
Pareto Principle also does not apply to a lot of undertakings that require high precision or expertise like medical, scientific and technological undertakings where even a fraction of a percent of inaccuracy or error can lead to great negative consequences.
E.g. to send a space probe to Mars which is 200 million km away, one must be able to predict (by maths calculations etc.) the exact location of Mars at any point in time and be able to control/navigate the probe to rendezvous with the planet. One cannot say 'let's get Mars location 80% accurate and hope for the best'. That may mean that the probe will miss Mars by 40 million km!
Notes on knowledge taught by schools:
• The knowledge taught in schools is only a tiny fraction of all the knowledge known to humanity.
• In addition, they are highly simplified versions (presumably so that all students, including the not so smart ones, can understand) and are mostly hundreds if not thousands of years old.
• For example, Algebra is 1,000 years old, and Newtonian mechanics and Calculus taught in secondary schools are almost 400 years old. Even then, most students do not fully understand or appreciate them.
• Most university students like me never get to learn nor heard of (not to say capable of understanding) Riemannian Geometry which is 100 years old! Riemannian Geometry is ‘the master maths’ of multi-dimensional geometry. In comparison, the more than 2,000 years old Euclidian geometry taught in secondary schools is 2-dimensional geometry.
• My view is what is taught in schools is probably only 2% of all world knowledge.
Notes on tuitions:
• For above reason, do NOT go for tuitions unnecessarily. By going for tuitions, one may be wasting valuable time trying to gain a little bit more score.
• Also, if a student finds that his/her understanding does no improve even with help of tuition, stop tuition. Remember, the smartest people in the world do not become tuition teachers. No point trying to learn from a dumb. Discussing with fellow (and preferably smarter) students and learning from each other may be much better.
• That's why 'good' schools tend to have more high scoring students. It is not only because of the teachers. Healthy competition with and learning together is part of the reason.
That means that the ‘rate of return’ of spending additional resources on an undertaking may be so low that it may not be worth it (this is also known as 'the principle of dimishing returns'). The additional resources may be better spent on other undertakings with better ‘rates of return’.
Thus, we need to balance how much resource we ‘invest’ in an undertaking againt the ‘return’ we get from spending more resources on it.
Caution: this rule is applies ONLY if the person spends the other 80% of time or resources on other MORE productive undertakings and not waste it on activities that have no benefit.
Application to School Learning
Assuming a student has 10 hours every day to study.
Pareto Principle says that by spending 2 hours studying, a student may be able to attain an 80% score but to score the remaining 20% (to make total of 100%) the student may have to spend all the remaining 8 hours. The ‘rate of return’ of the additional 8 hours is therefore not as good as the first 2 hours. In that case, the other 8 hours may be better spent learning other things e.g. learning things outside school or spending time on hobbies and other personal interests.
In addition, the knowledge taught in schools is only 1 or 2% of total knowledge of the world. That means that a student who spends 100% of time to try score 100% in school exams will at best learn or master only 2% of all world knowledge (see Notes at bottom).
Comparison of amount of knowledge potentially gained by a student following Pareto Principle vs one who does not:
• Student A spends all 10 hours a day (100% of time) studying only what is taught in school. Even though A may master completely everything taught in school, A’s total world knowledge will at most be 2% (because what is taught in schools is only 2% of all knowledge).
• Student B who follows Pareto Principle spends 2 hours a day (20% of time) on school work and the other 8 hours a day learning or doing other things outside school, say on learning about another 10% of world knowledge that is not taught by school. Although B may only master 80% of what is taught in school (or 1.6% of all world knowledge), B may gain an additional 8% (= 80% of 10%) of world knowledge. B’s total world knowledge may be 9.6% (= 1.6% from school and 8% from outside school), or 6 times more than A!
Given that, spending all of one’s time on learning only what is taught in school may not be such a good idea after all. Scoring 80% in school exams may be better (of course, scoring 90% with 20% effort is better still) if one learns much more by spending some time learning and doing other things.
For the same reason, getting high scores may not mean that a student is intelligent. It may be because that student spent disproportionately high amount of time and effort on it. A student that spends 20% of time but scores only 80% may be much smarter than you think (that is assuming that student spends time studying other useful things outside school and not waste it on something worthless).
That is why extra-curricular activities and pursuing interests and hobbies outside what is ‘given’ by the schools is so important in a child’s overall development. That is also why many of the most successful people in the world do not have high educational qualifications or were school dropouts.
Caution:
Pareto Principle is only one of many helpful guides on decision making and should not be taken as gospel. It applies only when one has more than 1 good alternatives and need to decide on how much of one's resource to spend on all of them to maximise returns from those multiple good alternatives. It does not apply when there is only 1 good alternative available.
E.g. A person who knows only how to fish and farm may want to spend 80% of time fishing and 20% farming. But one who only knows how to fish and has no farm should spend all his time fishing! Or a person spends 20% of time working/learning but waste the other 80% on worthless activities like just loitering in shopping complexes.
Pareto Principle also does not apply to a lot of undertakings that require high precision or expertise like medical, scientific and technological undertakings where even a fraction of a percent of inaccuracy or error can lead to great negative consequences.
E.g. to send a space probe to Mars which is 200 million km away, one must be able to predict (by maths calculations etc.) the exact location of Mars at any point in time and be able to control/navigate the probe to rendezvous with the planet. One cannot say 'let's get Mars location 80% accurate and hope for the best'. That may mean that the probe will miss Mars by 40 million km!
Notes on knowledge taught by schools:
• The knowledge taught in schools is only a tiny fraction of all the knowledge known to humanity.
• In addition, they are highly simplified versions (presumably so that all students, including the not so smart ones, can understand) and are mostly hundreds if not thousands of years old.
• For example, Algebra is 1,000 years old, and Newtonian mechanics and Calculus taught in secondary schools are almost 400 years old. Even then, most students do not fully understand or appreciate them.
• Most university students like me never get to learn nor heard of (not to say capable of understanding) Riemannian Geometry which is 100 years old! Riemannian Geometry is ‘the master maths’ of multi-dimensional geometry. In comparison, the more than 2,000 years old Euclidian geometry taught in secondary schools is 2-dimensional geometry.
• My view is what is taught in schools is probably only 2% of all world knowledge.
Notes on tuitions:
• For above reason, do NOT go for tuitions unnecessarily. By going for tuitions, one may be wasting valuable time trying to gain a little bit more score.
• Also, if a student finds that his/her understanding does no improve even with help of tuition, stop tuition. Remember, the smartest people in the world do not become tuition teachers. No point trying to learn from a dumb. Discussing with fellow (and preferably smarter) students and learning from each other may be much better.
• That's why 'good' schools tend to have more high scoring students. It is not only because of the teachers. Healthy competition with and learning together is part of the reason.
Thursday, December 01, 2011
About Geniuses
(Comments posted in Malaysia Today)
Geniuses are born out of the environment they live in and a product of their eco-system.
History has shown that humanity made significant leaps in the standard of living for most of its people only in the last 200 years or so, as a result of modern science and the Industrial Revolution.
In Asia, one only has to look back 3 generations or less. Before that, unless you are some 'tuans' (lords) most of the rest lived wretched lives no better than that of slaves or animals. [According to my father, my grandfather came to Malaya from China 100 years ago with only 1 shirt and a pair of pants. When he died, that was also all he left behind. Part of the cause was because he was an opium smoker]
Some historians estimated that modern technology enabled an average human today to live the life of one who had the equivalent of 30 to 40 slaves in the past. They averaged things out over all 6+ billion people (400 million in India today do not even have electricity). Those flying around on airplanes or proton cars for fun would appreciate that it would not be not possible 200 years ago without technology even if they tuaned (lorded) a million slaves.
[That's why supposedly god's son, god's agents etc. had god's permission to own female slaves but could not fly. Yes, all knowing and powerful gods cannot get their sons and agents to fly or make airplanes but ride donkeys, camels and slaves? And go around 'saving' others using wild animals with swords but no F15s and M1 Abrams? Send a battalion of those things out and those Romans and Sassanians would have submitted without a fight! Instead, one god’s bugger got nailed by a few Romans and suckers think it was a ‘great sacrifice’. Gods send messages without even paper, DVD or thumbdrive? That's why suckers that loudly extol those characters today are known as ‘idiots from the dark ages’]
The great leap in technology came about because of the development of rational thought (of which science and maths are the results) in place of ‘faiths’ in some parts of the world where people (along with some protestants) managed to free themselves from the feudal lords and religious idiots tuaning over them from places like Rome and due to the availability of a cheap information (and therefore knowledge) spreading technology called paper and printing.
Stephen Hawking in his book 'God created the Integers' listed 17 great mathematicians without whose breakthroughs today's advanced physics would not be possible. Of that,
- 2 came before the coming of a god's son (Euclid of Egypt, Archimedes of Sicily),
- 1 came before coming of a god's messenger (Diophantus of Egypt),
- 14 came after the arrival of paper & printing in Europe
Of the last 14, 4 were British, 4 French, 6 Germans. Can see the protestant link? German’s contribution was shorted by one because Hawking (a Brit) attributed Calculus to Newton and left out the German Liebniz whose symbols for Calculus we use today [the same way some people think Euclid and Diophantus were Greeks and not Egyptians].
That is one reason why the other animals gang up to whack the Germans. Out of the European 'sovereign debt crisis’ even those without history may notice signs of who the real big brother (and idiotic spoiler) of Europe today is.
[The concept of space-time curvature that many attribute to Einstein (and his Relativity) would not be possible without the geometry of Riemann, a German. Einstein was a German Jew who did not speak any Jewish language and whose dying words were in German. Some idiots from the dark ages today cite Einstein as proof that their religion is ‘the truth’ because his ‘genius’ supports their holy book’s claim that Jews are ‘god’s chosen people’. Einstein on the other hand said people who believe in personal gods are ‘child-like’ – see above for reason why]
In between the first 3 mathematicians and the others is a period of 1,200 years of little major mathematical progress. The period historians call 'the dark ages' falls within that gap.
During that gap, that part of the world was tuaned by 2 groups of people: feudal lords who settle things with swords and religious zealots who burnt disagreeable people on stakes.
[See what happened to Egypt since Diophantus? They went into deep freeze after the coming of some idiots]
With today’s Thievesland tuaned by thieves with crooked knives and a set of idiots from the dark ages, what chance do you think history would give a potential genius to bloom?
There is a higher chance that animals like Ibrahim Ali would do to them what the Anglo-Saxons did to the Germans…
Geniuses are born out of the environment they live in and a product of their eco-system.
History has shown that humanity made significant leaps in the standard of living for most of its people only in the last 200 years or so, as a result of modern science and the Industrial Revolution.
In Asia, one only has to look back 3 generations or less. Before that, unless you are some 'tuans' (lords) most of the rest lived wretched lives no better than that of slaves or animals. [According to my father, my grandfather came to Malaya from China 100 years ago with only 1 shirt and a pair of pants. When he died, that was also all he left behind. Part of the cause was because he was an opium smoker]
Some historians estimated that modern technology enabled an average human today to live the life of one who had the equivalent of 30 to 40 slaves in the past. They averaged things out over all 6+ billion people (400 million in India today do not even have electricity). Those flying around on airplanes or proton cars for fun would appreciate that it would not be not possible 200 years ago without technology even if they tuaned (lorded) a million slaves.
[That's why supposedly god's son, god's agents etc. had god's permission to own female slaves but could not fly. Yes, all knowing and powerful gods cannot get their sons and agents to fly or make airplanes but ride donkeys, camels and slaves? And go around 'saving' others using wild animals with swords but no F15s and M1 Abrams? Send a battalion of those things out and those Romans and Sassanians would have submitted without a fight! Instead, one god’s bugger got nailed by a few Romans and suckers think it was a ‘great sacrifice’. Gods send messages without even paper, DVD or thumbdrive? That's why suckers that loudly extol those characters today are known as ‘idiots from the dark ages’]
The great leap in technology came about because of the development of rational thought (of which science and maths are the results) in place of ‘faiths’ in some parts of the world where people (along with some protestants) managed to free themselves from the feudal lords and religious idiots tuaning over them from places like Rome and due to the availability of a cheap information (and therefore knowledge) spreading technology called paper and printing.
Stephen Hawking in his book 'God created the Integers' listed 17 great mathematicians without whose breakthroughs today's advanced physics would not be possible. Of that,
- 2 came before the coming of a god's son (Euclid of Egypt, Archimedes of Sicily),
- 1 came before coming of a god's messenger (Diophantus of Egypt),
- 14 came after the arrival of paper & printing in Europe
Of the last 14, 4 were British, 4 French, 6 Germans. Can see the protestant link? German’s contribution was shorted by one because Hawking (a Brit) attributed Calculus to Newton and left out the German Liebniz whose symbols for Calculus we use today [the same way some people think Euclid and Diophantus were Greeks and not Egyptians].
That is one reason why the other animals gang up to whack the Germans. Out of the European 'sovereign debt crisis’ even those without history may notice signs of who the real big brother (and idiotic spoiler) of Europe today is.
[The concept of space-time curvature that many attribute to Einstein (and his Relativity) would not be possible without the geometry of Riemann, a German. Einstein was a German Jew who did not speak any Jewish language and whose dying words were in German. Some idiots from the dark ages today cite Einstein as proof that their religion is ‘the truth’ because his ‘genius’ supports their holy book’s claim that Jews are ‘god’s chosen people’. Einstein on the other hand said people who believe in personal gods are ‘child-like’ – see above for reason why]
In between the first 3 mathematicians and the others is a period of 1,200 years of little major mathematical progress. The period historians call 'the dark ages' falls within that gap.
During that gap, that part of the world was tuaned by 2 groups of people: feudal lords who settle things with swords and religious zealots who burnt disagreeable people on stakes.
[See what happened to Egypt since Diophantus? They went into deep freeze after the coming of some idiots]
With today’s Thievesland tuaned by thieves with crooked knives and a set of idiots from the dark ages, what chance do you think history would give a potential genius to bloom?
There is a higher chance that animals like Ibrahim Ali would do to them what the Anglo-Saxons did to the Germans…
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
How Japanese Killed Chinese
[Could not upload PDF with pictures here]
Attached mail contains pictures of what those animals in the Japanese army did to the Chinese people during World War II.
Although they did the same to people in all the countries they invaded, the Chinese were particularly targetted because of the ferocious resistance put up by them. In Malaya and Singapore, for example, people of my parents' generation witness first hand the chopping of (mainly Chinese) heads and the display of decapitated heads in prominent places like major road junctions - supposedly to strike fear and hopefully submission into the populace.
The Japanese on the other hand claimed they were 'liberating Asia from the white colonisers'. Just like some western countries today claim they are 'saving' the Afghans, Iraqis, Libyans etc.
[In fact all throughout history, every occupier would say something similar to the local people of the lands they were about to occupy. Alexander to Napoleon in Egypt, the Conquistadors in the Americas, white colonisers of the 18th and 19th centuries like the British in Africa, mid-East and India. They all claim to be 'saviours' but they always turn out to be anything but. Which is why only historical fools believe what the Americans say about their intentions in places from Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya today.]
The Chinese are particularly tough nuts for those screwed up Jap animals probably because of their strong cultural history and the unity of their people. For example, an uncle of mine volunteered to go back to China to serve in the Kuomintang army (he was assigned as a lorry driver carrying supplies over the Burma-China border). When the Japs 'reached' Malaya, a younger brother of his was taken away one night and never returned.
[It is interesting to note that some other races were not treated quite as brutally perhaps partly because a significant part of those people actually believed the 'saviour' story the Japs were spinning and were happy to cooperate. The most notable example were some Indians under a fella called Bose. To be fair, Bose had to choose between 2 devils - the Brits and the Japs - and did not have the opportunity to know the Japs first hand for the Japs never reached India because the Chinese were keeping them 'occupied' - otherwise pictures of Indian heads being chopped off may also be circulating today]
Any Malaysian or Singaporean Chinese of my generation would have heard stories like above via first-hand witnesses in their families. In other words, those bloody Japs were really animals.
That is the reason why until today, the Chinese and Korean people still hold a big grudge against the Japs.
Made worse by some white devils that many idiots of today think are the 'greatest country in the world'.
Firstly, they let the Japs go on with the war and those killings by not fighting the Japs. See how easy the Japs took places like Malaya and Singapore - it was literally a walkover (that means someone didn't want to play). They only 'supported' the Chinese with arms supplied across Burma - probably just enough to keep Chinamen from losing but not enough to win as many Chinamen had to fight with swords! And to ensure the Japs would not reach someone's 'jewel' in India.
[It was the same trick in Europe where the same devils pretended to fight over some African desert and on ships, and let the Germans and East Europeans kill each other by the 10s of millions first before joining in when the tide has already turrned. That's why when their soldiers landed in Europe they were surprised to find that they were fighting German kids! The real men were on the eastern front]
Then and after the Russians started shifting their army to Asia after whacking the Germans (and after a few 10 millions of Chinamen's lives), that white devil decided to 'end' the war in Asia by nuking the Japs (before that they only fought the Japs on small islands or on ships in the Pacific).
[Interestingly, a senator of that devil at that time said that Truman was his 'hero' for nuking the Japs but his mistake was he should have dropped at least 4 of those things instead of 2. Well, that senator finally got his wish 70 years later. Fukushima has 4 of those things... supplied by who else]
First, they wanted the Japs on their side against Russia and a future China (see today) so they let them off with little accountability.
Those so-call war crimes tribunal were a farce. Other than a few top Japanese generals put up for show, few attempts were made to account for the millions of lives those Jap animals took. As example, my father's family never knew what happened to that young son who was taken away. So many Chinamen were killed anyway, so who cares.
Which is why some Japs today claim that all those Chinese and Korean casualty claims and war history books are hog-wash and instead claim that their Jap version of the war history is the correct one.
[For children and half-childs that cannot get it, it is like this. If a mass murder happened and the policeman not only didn't bother to investigate but also told the mass murderer that if the murderer work for him he would be protected, then the mass murderer is left to write anything he likes about the mass murder! The same policeman, on the other hand, says (to the buying fools) that it is all about the right to 'free speech' and the victims' families therefore have no reason to be pissed]
Then in the early 70s, the same devils under Nixon (perhaps because they were running out of gold to support the Dollar Bluff and needed something from the Japs - remember 'temporary suspension of Bretton Woods'?) agreed to the Japs transferring the ashes of those few 'top generals' above to the Yasukuni Shrine. Since then, Japanese leaders make it their point to make regular visits to that so-called 'heroes shrine' of theirs. Thus the unending stoking of Chinese and Korean anger till today.
[It is like China and Korea setting up a 'heroes shrine' for Truman and his admiring 'my hero should have at least 4-nukes for the Japs' senator, and have their heads of governments go visit that place at every anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and then pretend to act innocent]
So nice, every year they can essentially go show Chinamen and Koreans their 3rd finger and say 'hah see, we slaughtered you fellas like pigs and you cannot touch us!'
Many around the world today wonder why Chinamen and Koreans are so sensitive with a simple visit to a shrine. Yah, so simple. The Chinese did not invent paper for no reason.
In his book 'On China' Kissinger said that in all their dealings the Chinese have a few thousand years of history to refer to as guide while the Americans had only a couple of centuries' worth. In his book 'The Argumentative Indians' Amartya Sen noted that Indians had to learn their own early history from 2 major sources - the Greeks and Chinese.
Now you see why many whitemen today die also claim Greece to be the source of everything great with them and why the Chinese would never submit to the Japs? It is their history.
Seven-11 (or is it 7-Eleven?) idiots, on the other hand, would simply sing to any book they can lay their hands on. And then go tell others to 'be a scientist!' Yah, so simple to be a scientist... to be an idiot is infinitely simpler.
Attached mail contains pictures of what those animals in the Japanese army did to the Chinese people during World War II.
Although they did the same to people in all the countries they invaded, the Chinese were particularly targetted because of the ferocious resistance put up by them. In Malaya and Singapore, for example, people of my parents' generation witness first hand the chopping of (mainly Chinese) heads and the display of decapitated heads in prominent places like major road junctions - supposedly to strike fear and hopefully submission into the populace.
The Japanese on the other hand claimed they were 'liberating Asia from the white colonisers'. Just like some western countries today claim they are 'saving' the Afghans, Iraqis, Libyans etc.
[In fact all throughout history, every occupier would say something similar to the local people of the lands they were about to occupy. Alexander to Napoleon in Egypt, the Conquistadors in the Americas, white colonisers of the 18th and 19th centuries like the British in Africa, mid-East and India. They all claim to be 'saviours' but they always turn out to be anything but. Which is why only historical fools believe what the Americans say about their intentions in places from Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya today.]
The Chinese are particularly tough nuts for those screwed up Jap animals probably because of their strong cultural history and the unity of their people. For example, an uncle of mine volunteered to go back to China to serve in the Kuomintang army (he was assigned as a lorry driver carrying supplies over the Burma-China border). When the Japs 'reached' Malaya, a younger brother of his was taken away one night and never returned.
[It is interesting to note that some other races were not treated quite as brutally perhaps partly because a significant part of those people actually believed the 'saviour' story the Japs were spinning and were happy to cooperate. The most notable example were some Indians under a fella called Bose. To be fair, Bose had to choose between 2 devils - the Brits and the Japs - and did not have the opportunity to know the Japs first hand for the Japs never reached India because the Chinese were keeping them 'occupied' - otherwise pictures of Indian heads being chopped off may also be circulating today]
Any Malaysian or Singaporean Chinese of my generation would have heard stories like above via first-hand witnesses in their families. In other words, those bloody Japs were really animals.
That is the reason why until today, the Chinese and Korean people still hold a big grudge against the Japs.
Made worse by some white devils that many idiots of today think are the 'greatest country in the world'.
Firstly, they let the Japs go on with the war and those killings by not fighting the Japs. See how easy the Japs took places like Malaya and Singapore - it was literally a walkover (that means someone didn't want to play). They only 'supported' the Chinese with arms supplied across Burma - probably just enough to keep Chinamen from losing but not enough to win as many Chinamen had to fight with swords! And to ensure the Japs would not reach someone's 'jewel' in India.
[It was the same trick in Europe where the same devils pretended to fight over some African desert and on ships, and let the Germans and East Europeans kill each other by the 10s of millions first before joining in when the tide has already turrned. That's why when their soldiers landed in Europe they were surprised to find that they were fighting German kids! The real men were on the eastern front]
Then and after the Russians started shifting their army to Asia after whacking the Germans (and after a few 10 millions of Chinamen's lives), that white devil decided to 'end' the war in Asia by nuking the Japs (before that they only fought the Japs on small islands or on ships in the Pacific).
[Interestingly, a senator of that devil at that time said that Truman was his 'hero' for nuking the Japs but his mistake was he should have dropped at least 4 of those things instead of 2. Well, that senator finally got his wish 70 years later. Fukushima has 4 of those things... supplied by who else]
First, they wanted the Japs on their side against Russia and a future China (see today) so they let them off with little accountability.
Those so-call war crimes tribunal were a farce. Other than a few top Japanese generals put up for show, few attempts were made to account for the millions of lives those Jap animals took. As example, my father's family never knew what happened to that young son who was taken away. So many Chinamen were killed anyway, so who cares.
Which is why some Japs today claim that all those Chinese and Korean casualty claims and war history books are hog-wash and instead claim that their Jap version of the war history is the correct one.
[For children and half-childs that cannot get it, it is like this. If a mass murder happened and the policeman not only didn't bother to investigate but also told the mass murderer that if the murderer work for him he would be protected, then the mass murderer is left to write anything he likes about the mass murder! The same policeman, on the other hand, says (to the buying fools) that it is all about the right to 'free speech' and the victims' families therefore have no reason to be pissed]
Then in the early 70s, the same devils under Nixon (perhaps because they were running out of gold to support the Dollar Bluff and needed something from the Japs - remember 'temporary suspension of Bretton Woods'?) agreed to the Japs transferring the ashes of those few 'top generals' above to the Yasukuni Shrine. Since then, Japanese leaders make it their point to make regular visits to that so-called 'heroes shrine' of theirs. Thus the unending stoking of Chinese and Korean anger till today.
[It is like China and Korea setting up a 'heroes shrine' for Truman and his admiring 'my hero should have at least 4-nukes for the Japs' senator, and have their heads of governments go visit that place at every anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and then pretend to act innocent]
So nice, every year they can essentially go show Chinamen and Koreans their 3rd finger and say 'hah see, we slaughtered you fellas like pigs and you cannot touch us!'
Many around the world today wonder why Chinamen and Koreans are so sensitive with a simple visit to a shrine. Yah, so simple. The Chinese did not invent paper for no reason.
In his book 'On China' Kissinger said that in all their dealings the Chinese have a few thousand years of history to refer to as guide while the Americans had only a couple of centuries' worth. In his book 'The Argumentative Indians' Amartya Sen noted that Indians had to learn their own early history from 2 major sources - the Greeks and Chinese.
Now you see why many whitemen today die also claim Greece to be the source of everything great with them and why the Chinese would never submit to the Japs? It is their history.
Seven-11 (or is it 7-Eleven?) idiots, on the other hand, would simply sing to any book they can lay their hands on. And then go tell others to 'be a scientist!' Yah, so simple to be a scientist... to be an idiot is infinitely simpler.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
6 Bosses in a Family
It was Sunday and my father and I had lunch with 2 cousins. One of them (the sister) was from USA and visiting the other (her brother). After lunch, they invited us to visit my male cousin's home. It was newly bought by his daughter who has 3 young children below 8 years old.
The home was a small apartment of about 1,100 square feet (that includes the balcony). The bedrooms were so small that there is hardly space even to do a stretch!
While chatting there, my cousin from the US started telling us that she had been trying to convince her brother for a few years to teach his grandchildren Chinese so that they will be equipped for the future when China will be more important in the world. But apparently, the family 'refused'.
As I agreed with his sister's suggestion (see note below), I curiously asked the brother why they did not think it was a good idea. My cousin's view was too many languages would 'confuse the kids' while his daughter's said his Chinese was 'not good enough' and afraid the kids may end up learning 'bad chinese'!
Note: educationists are of the view that young children can learn and can manage with a few different languages at the same time. In fact, children should start learning new languages when young! Their ability to learn is highest at young ages. So the fear should be under educating.
That made me more curious but I quickly found out that the 'problem' was much bigger. The children's father was not at home (on a sunday) and usually goes home late in evening, the children's mother complained that the grandfather (my cousin) was pampering one of the kids and not the others, his wife said that he complains about her cooking, etc. etc.
After that I told my cousins bluntly that even though I don't know things in detail (don't wish to anyway) my sense is the family's problem is major. And if immediate actions were not taken the young family will be destroyed and one of the causes is my cousin and his wife although they may not see it.
It starts with the size of that household. There were 10 people living in that small apartment. In addition to the 3 children and their parents and their maid, there were my cousin and wife (the in-laws) and their son and his new but expecting wife (so 11 people soon)!
With so many adults around with each probably having their own views on how things should be done in the house, even the maid would be confused and not sure who to listen to, not to say the kids.
And no wonder the supposed 'man of the house' was not coming home! The poor guy must have found his home had been taken over by others. Imagine, living in such a small apartment and having so many people looking over your shoulder even when you shit? It is not healthy.
Told my cousin that he and his wife (grandparents) should not stay at their daughter's house 100% of the time and should go back Malaysia once a while so that the young family can be left alone to have more time together. Family bonds are built by doing things together and not by others getting in the way all the time. And if their bonds is to be rebuilt it has to be done when the children are young. Which father would not want to go home and play with his kids unless some one is interfering?
Even when they are staying there, the grandparents should go out of the house (go take a walk outside for a few hours) when the children's parents return from work so that the family can have some private time together.
But they gave the excuse that they must be there because they were helping look after the children. Otherwise, 'dangerous' if no adult to watch over. Millions of families in the world lived without grandparents around helping out 100% of the time - theirs so special?
As it is, I think that young family was already in danger (likely contributed somewhat by their staying there)!
Told them that better still they should go stay at another place with his son and wife who I think were also affecting his daughter's family. The response I got? The son pays his sister rent ($500)! I said, money is not everything. One cannot buy privacy and time with family with money.
A few weeks after that, I ran into the cousin's son at nearby hawker center and told him about my views above and that he should shift out so that the family has more space and hopefully a better chance at rebuilding their bonds.
His response? His sister and husband's riocky relationship had nothing to do with his staying there but rather because they were not 'mature enough' to work out their problems. In addition, he has to wait for the 'right time' to move out, he was paying rent ($400, not $500 and market rate is close to $1,000), it was his sister who 'invited' him to stay there and it is more convenient to be near his parents when his wife delivers in a few months.
Essentially, his view was it was not his problem, his staying there was not part of the problem, and he cannot help his sister rebuild her family at all.
I found out that he had been staying with his sister for 10 years! Yet, to him the right time to move out is when he has saved enough to buy a flat of his own and when he manages to get a government flat near his in-laws! (for people not familiar with Singapore housing, affordable homes are built by the government and because supply is lower than demand interested buyers have to 'draw' for a chance to buy one. After successful 'draw' there is a few more years of waiting for it to be built).
So when does he plan to buy one and move out? Don't know, as he hasn't applied yet..
Since he planned to get his flat near his in-laws then how about staying with his in-laws for time being? His in-laws were living with a daughter - 3 persons - in a similar sized government flat but it was not convenient for him and wife to stay with them. But his staying in a house with 10 persons was not inconvenient?
At the end, I was convinced that he and his parents were part of the cause of his sister's problem with her husband but they will never see it.
I finally told that guy that humans are like that. It is always self first and consideration for others comes after or none at all. Worse, some even think they were sacrificing and helping others out when they were in fact either taking advantage of them or worse causing destruction.
That's the danger with living or dealing with such people...
See German Field Marshall's People Management Guide: http://cckplanetblog.blogspot.com/2001/02/german-field-marshalls-people.html
The home was a small apartment of about 1,100 square feet (that includes the balcony). The bedrooms were so small that there is hardly space even to do a stretch!
While chatting there, my cousin from the US started telling us that she had been trying to convince her brother for a few years to teach his grandchildren Chinese so that they will be equipped for the future when China will be more important in the world. But apparently, the family 'refused'.
As I agreed with his sister's suggestion (see note below), I curiously asked the brother why they did not think it was a good idea. My cousin's view was too many languages would 'confuse the kids' while his daughter's said his Chinese was 'not good enough' and afraid the kids may end up learning 'bad chinese'!
Note: educationists are of the view that young children can learn and can manage with a few different languages at the same time. In fact, children should start learning new languages when young! Their ability to learn is highest at young ages. So the fear should be under educating.
That made me more curious but I quickly found out that the 'problem' was much bigger. The children's father was not at home (on a sunday) and usually goes home late in evening, the children's mother complained that the grandfather (my cousin) was pampering one of the kids and not the others, his wife said that he complains about her cooking, etc. etc.
After that I told my cousins bluntly that even though I don't know things in detail (don't wish to anyway) my sense is the family's problem is major. And if immediate actions were not taken the young family will be destroyed and one of the causes is my cousin and his wife although they may not see it.
It starts with the size of that household. There were 10 people living in that small apartment. In addition to the 3 children and their parents and their maid, there were my cousin and wife (the in-laws) and their son and his new but expecting wife (so 11 people soon)!
With so many adults around with each probably having their own views on how things should be done in the house, even the maid would be confused and not sure who to listen to, not to say the kids.
And no wonder the supposed 'man of the house' was not coming home! The poor guy must have found his home had been taken over by others. Imagine, living in such a small apartment and having so many people looking over your shoulder even when you shit? It is not healthy.
Told my cousin that he and his wife (grandparents) should not stay at their daughter's house 100% of the time and should go back Malaysia once a while so that the young family can be left alone to have more time together. Family bonds are built by doing things together and not by others getting in the way all the time. And if their bonds is to be rebuilt it has to be done when the children are young. Which father would not want to go home and play with his kids unless some one is interfering?
Even when they are staying there, the grandparents should go out of the house (go take a walk outside for a few hours) when the children's parents return from work so that the family can have some private time together.
But they gave the excuse that they must be there because they were helping look after the children. Otherwise, 'dangerous' if no adult to watch over. Millions of families in the world lived without grandparents around helping out 100% of the time - theirs so special?
As it is, I think that young family was already in danger (likely contributed somewhat by their staying there)!
Told them that better still they should go stay at another place with his son and wife who I think were also affecting his daughter's family. The response I got? The son pays his sister rent ($500)! I said, money is not everything. One cannot buy privacy and time with family with money.
A few weeks after that, I ran into the cousin's son at nearby hawker center and told him about my views above and that he should shift out so that the family has more space and hopefully a better chance at rebuilding their bonds.
His response? His sister and husband's riocky relationship had nothing to do with his staying there but rather because they were not 'mature enough' to work out their problems. In addition, he has to wait for the 'right time' to move out, he was paying rent ($400, not $500 and market rate is close to $1,000), it was his sister who 'invited' him to stay there and it is more convenient to be near his parents when his wife delivers in a few months.
Essentially, his view was it was not his problem, his staying there was not part of the problem, and he cannot help his sister rebuild her family at all.
I found out that he had been staying with his sister for 10 years! Yet, to him the right time to move out is when he has saved enough to buy a flat of his own and when he manages to get a government flat near his in-laws! (for people not familiar with Singapore housing, affordable homes are built by the government and because supply is lower than demand interested buyers have to 'draw' for a chance to buy one. After successful 'draw' there is a few more years of waiting for it to be built).
So when does he plan to buy one and move out? Don't know, as he hasn't applied yet..
Since he planned to get his flat near his in-laws then how about staying with his in-laws for time being? His in-laws were living with a daughter - 3 persons - in a similar sized government flat but it was not convenient for him and wife to stay with them. But his staying in a house with 10 persons was not inconvenient?
At the end, I was convinced that he and his parents were part of the cause of his sister's problem with her husband but they will never see it.
I finally told that guy that humans are like that. It is always self first and consideration for others comes after or none at all. Worse, some even think they were sacrificing and helping others out when they were in fact either taking advantage of them or worse causing destruction.
That's the danger with living or dealing with such people...
See German Field Marshall's People Management Guide: http://cckplanetblog.blogspot.com/2001/02/german-field-marshalls-people.html
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