Back to Our Original Nature

Top Bankruptcy Myth

2011-06-20T09:35:00.000+08:00

Bankruptcy may not really mean bankruptcy. A neighbor of mine, whom people in Singapore know he is bankrupt has a car to use. Why? because his wife isn't bankrupt. Anyway, came across this expert US site on bankruptcy: Sacramento bankruptcy attorney.

As consumer debt has skyrocketed to over $3 Trillion, many believe the only way out from under the mountain of bills is to declare bankruptcy. But is it right for you? Many myths persist to misinform the public.

“Probably the worst myth about bankruptcy is that you need to be flat broke before you should file,” says Sacramento bankruptcy attorney Gerald B. Glazer. “It is not good to wait until creditors are knocking on your door,” according to Glazer. Planning can prepare you for a bankruptcy that causes the least amount of financial disruption.

Indeed, planning for bankruptcy should be better than being forced into bankruptcy.

This is a paid post.

Focus of religious people

2011-06-11T11:40:00.002+08:00

Should religious people focus be on how to get to heaven (or whatever state/place their faith believe is good/ideal to be)?

Or

Should religious people focus be on how to help other to get there, even to the extend of risking their own chance?

Lets put profit away from the first priority in business

2011-04-07T19:33:00.000+08:00

In an earlier blog post, I defined business as some sustainable activities that will benefit the community, not only the customers only. Since this is not the common definition, in recent years a new term, social entrepreneurship, has become popular that matches closer to my definition.

I feel this is a good development and hope that this model will overtake the typical profit orientated models/concepts of business. When the main purpose is profiting, then many people would do illegal, immoral, detrimental activities if profit can be gained. In my definition, business activities are inherently beneficial to others.

Also, becoming more desired are green activities due to the love of our home, the Earth. In a world where there are still many profit centered businesses, it is helpful to have a popular theme where social entrepreneurship businesses can focus on to achieve, at the minimum, sustainability.

If interested to know more about the successful businesses that have been started by many visionary social entrepreneurs, check out the social entrepreneur blog that aims to empower green and social entrepreneurs.

By the way, businesses are also getting smaller with the advancement of technology. Home business should be suitable for many people to start out from, and I might be interested in this upcycling idea.

A bicycle w/o lock

2011-03-21T18:39:00.005+08:00

A bicycle w/o lock and faulty brakes near Toa Payoh MRT last Thursday evening.

on Evidence Based Medicine

2011-03-14T18:41:00.000+08:00

Medicine or drug? Western? The ideal or your ideal body temperature? Diagnosis = guesses? Below are some of my quick comments on the above.

Technically, those man made "medicines" are not medicines (药), they are drugs (毒).

Instead of calling them western, a more appropriate term is evidence based medicine. However, in order to be evidence based, they need statistics. Yet not many people are good in statistics, and there are limitations in statistics. Thus, most of the time, they need to focus on only a few but typically one measurable quantity, and find evidence of effectiveness of some drugs on that quantity.

These drugs will surely be very effective on making that particular quantity up or down towards the so called ideal, but actually just some typical values, that is believed to be better.

Important notes:
1) These individual quantities (e.g. body temperature, blood pressure, etc.) don't adequately represent our complex biological machine.
2) The typical values may not be the best value, for each individual.

For me, I think our body has a very good design and self-healing ability to handle many known and expected intrusions/poisons/injuries. So, trust it more to heal itself, simply by giving it rest, water and good natural foods. Traditional [Chinese] medicine respects that while the evidence based medicine sees our body as a dumb organic anatomy and simply intervene with short sighted goals (e.g. getting rid of pain, fever, cough, running nose, etc.) while ignoring the cause. By the way, these pain, fever, cough, running nose and etc. are just part of our own self healing processes. Furthermore, most man made drugs have substances that aren't expected to be in our body and many times our body are not effective enough to deal with these drugs.

Recently, there is a discussion about using the term "TCM specialist." I think it might be contradictory in the term "TCM specialist" if by specialist it refers to a particular organ since TCM is about tuning the body as a whole to its balance/healthy state.

I think it should be the other way around, TCM should be a main field of medicine to maintain one's health while western medicine as complementary when it is already too late.

Just as we are encouraged to go for dental checkup every 6 months, or go for health screening regularly, we should also be encouraged to visit a "family" TCM doctor regularly to maintain our health. However, to do this we need to even out the bias in favor of evidence based medicine by the insurance industry. It is financially difficult to go for a non-insurance-covered TCM or natural therapy over a fully covered modern medicine therapy.

Western medicine has a relatively short history and seems mainly sprang off due to demands from large scale wars, where there were many unnatural injuries and short term remedies are priorities over long term health/well being (e.g. the use of marijuana). Thus, it should remain as a complementary mode for people who had failed to maintain their health or had unnatural injuries.

Lastly, all these regulations on western medicine were mainly due to the danger of its drugs developed from narrow "minded" evidence based methods, and its one drug for all application. If you compare the vast amount of regulations on a short history of western medicine to the little or almost nil regulations on a long history of TCM, it implies that the danger/risk levels of western medicine is very very very much higher than that of TCM.

Basically, all doctors diagnosis judgement are guesses. However, western medicine tries to guess the specifics, while TCM guess the general. Western drugs are very effective to the specifics, while TCM tune the body slightly in a general direction. Thus, western medicine doctors are more likely to make wrong guesses, and the more kiasi or inexperienced ones will asked for more tests, i.e. more costs, more time, more inconveniences, more potential harm.

Furthermore, a wrong guess by a western medicine doctor could be very destructive due to the high effectiveness of the drugs, while a wrong guess in TCM is relatively less harmful and patient can easily sense that diagnosis or prescription is not appropriate.

A true TCM doctor should be like what my wife described of an old sinseh she knew as a child who scolded the patient if he tries to describe his conditions to him.

A broken bicycle lock

2011-03-14T13:50:00.000+08:00

by owner or by thief?

Sent from my Samsung Omnia II GT-I8000

Killing the dragon

2011-01-16T11:52:00.000+08:00

Another story told by a colleague:

Once upon a time outside a kingdom there was a dragon. The dragon would come to the people and eat the crops and sheeps causing the people to suffer. The people complained to the King and the King organized a team of the best warriors to kill the dragon.

After a big ceremony they sent the team to the dragon cave. After the warriors went into the cave, those waiting outside heard sounds indicating that there were fightings going on in the cave. After some time, it became quiet, and the dragon didn't appear. So, the assume that the dragon was killed and went back home.

However, the dragon came again the next month. Again, they sent another team of their best warriors. Again, some fighting went on for a while in the cave and the dragon didn't come out. They went back home. However, the dragon came again on the following month.

This went on for many months until they have only one warrior left. Again, after a great ceremony, they sent this warrior to the dragon cave.

This warrior entered the cave, saw the dragon, pulled out his sword, and it didn't took him much effort to kill the dragon. Being the worst warrior in the kingdom, he was curious how could this happen? What happened to the earlier warriors? So, he went deeper in to the cave trying to find out. He saw many gold and treasures inside the cave, and there was a chair made of gold. Still wondering what exactly happened, and being a little tired, he sat on the chair to think.

After some time, he slowly became a dragon.

The neglected R of the 4 Rs

2011-01-15T12:50:00.000+08:00

I learned about the 4 Rs on being more earth friendly a few years back. Recycle is the most well known. Reuse could be the second most well known. I think the last two should need more publicity.

I think the third is reduce. I find it contradictory to conduct reuse competition and projects when participants, even though may be told to collect used item, just buy the materials they need. Sometime even though the main item is truly used item, but the auxiliary items aren't. If, by reusing something you increase, instead of reduce, the consumption of another item, may be it is not worthwhile reusing. Thus, it is more important to stress on the concept of reduce than reuse. It is better to have nothing spare for reuse than to have spare things for reuse.

The neglected one is refuse or reject. In a way, recycle is the most effective way, but that is not on the part of consumer, but the manufacturer, starting from the designer. The design and materials used for a product should be as recyclable as possible. However, if they don't have pressure from the consumer to do so, they are not likely to do so. Thus, as consumers we should learn to refuse and reject products where the recyclable level is low.

One practice I think that can combine the last two is by buying custom made products. Take for example printed T shirts. I think most people don't like to see many others on the street wearing the same T-shirt. Wouldn't it be nice if you can print your own T shirt? For example, if you are a fan of Navy, you may consider printing some navy t shirts, or if you want to spread stories about pirates, you can wear Pirate T shirts. In so doing, T shirt companies may end up reduce their productions for the mass market when more people refuse/reject mass produced products.

Sales without "sales" items

2011-01-15T11:49:00.000+08:00

Consumers want to save money. So, the retailers organize sales. However, there are some problems with sales. If the sales are real, the retailers profit become lesser. If the sales are faked, e.g. by putting up an increased retail price before the discount, then consumers lose trust in the company, and even the whole concept of sales. Another problems is that in general, like the sayings that pay peanuts get monkeys, usually items on offer are not the normal items. It might not be intentional. For example, at clearance sales, as the name suggest, these items were the ones that weren't chosen by earlier customers, which could imply that these were likely not the best ones among the batch of products.

Recently, technology helps to make possible and easy the way to offer cheaper products to selective or a controlled number of customers. The idea of giving/selling discount coupons online. Savings.com is such an example. In this way, as the discount is not for all walk-in customers, you don't expect the products and their displayed retail prices to be difference than during normal days. By controlling the number of coupons given out, the retailers can have good control of their discount budget.

Of course, lets hope no retailers are so free and bad to categorized their products between buyers with and without discount coupons.

Answer by not answering

2011-01-15T11:26:00.000+08:00

A story told by a colleague:

Once upon a time in a forest there was a lion who became a King. As a King he should behave in a royal way, and eating live animal is not appropriate. However, the lion had to do it secretly.

After each daily meetings with all the animals, the lion will ask one to stay behind. He will ask if his mouth smells. If the animal answers "no, Your Majesty, it doesn't smell," he would accuse the animal lying to him and eat the animal. If the animal answers "yes, Your Majesty, it smells," he would accuse the animal dare to say his mouth smell and eat the animal.

Thus, the number of animals decreased daily. A wise rabbit noticed and think something fishy must be happening. One day, this rabbit was told to stay back. When asked the question, this rabbit replied:

"Your Majesty, you know, the weather yesterday was cloudy, windy and raining. I was all wet and caught a flu. Now my nose is blocked and can't tell the smell." The rabbit was spared.

Is this a spot the mistakes advertisement?

2011-01-04T14:29:00.004+08:00

Sent from my Samsung Omnia II GT-I8000

The first mistake I noticed is in the units.
Then I noticed the error in 640, before the words "check again!" got my attention.
On further reading and thinking...
The obvious thing about the unit is the wrong use of cm for volume.
There are more issues:
a) 1st line: There should be units on both LHS and RHS of an equation.
b) 2nd line: cm / cm, or cm^3 / cm^3 gives unitless, not cuts.
c) 2nd line: this calculation should gives number of cubes, not number of cuts.
d) 2nd line: the idea behind this calculation may be workable only if they melt the block of cheese and re-mold it into a rectangular block with dimensions as multiples of the side of the cubes.
e) Are "2cm cubes" cubes of 2cm^3 or cubes of sides 2cm? Should be the latter.
f) Assuming that Mr. Muthusamy is skillful enough to keep the cheese nicely aligned together while making the following cuts:
- 5 cuts perpendicular to the 12 cm side to give 6 2 cm thick slices
- 4 cuts perpendicular to the 9 cm side to give 4x6=24 strips with cross-sectional area of 2x2 cm^2, and 4 strips with cross-sectional area of 2x1 cm^2
- 7 cuts perpendicular to the 15 cm side to give 7x4x6=168 2 cm cubes and 7x4 2x1x1 rectangular blocks.

Thus, in this way, the number of cuts is 5+4+7 = 16 cuts to get 168 2cm cubes. Is 16 the minimum number of cuts, and 168 the maximum number of cubes? It is not shown here, and I doubt it is expected in this question. However, if the answer is presented by drawings, then it may be obvious that this is the minimum number of cuts.

Barry Schwartz: Using our practical wisdom | Video on TED.com

2011-01-02T00:38:00.000+08:00

Barry Schwartz: Using our practical wisdom | Video on TED.com

San Diego Reader | Pedaling Diego: San Diego's Growing Bicycle Mania

2010-12-31T15:23:00.001+08:00

Is the photo real?
San Diego Reader | Pedaling Diego: San Diego's Growing Bicycle Mania

Motorcyclist fined, banned for negligence

2010-12-08T20:59:00.000+08:00

Motorcyclist fined, banned for negligence

Ha ha, this "needed a driving licence to continue working as a driver for a towing company" makes it more appropriate for him to be barred from driving any vehicle for five [or more] years.

- overtaking a bus on its left.
- did not see Mr Eang riding in front of him between the kerb and the bus.
- exceeded the speed limit.

This punishment will increase the chance of him being alive for the next 5 years.

Get Back On The Bicycle Saddle | Men's Health Singapore

2010-12-08T18:55:00.000+08:00

Get Back On The Bicycle Saddle | Men's Health Singapore

Indeed, cycling can be fat burning or not. For commuting purpose, cycling is between walking and brisk walking. Thus, one can choose to sweat less or more.

Recently I re-started cycling longer distances (~10 km per trip) for 2 trips per week and I think my weight is down by 3-5 kg.

Thanks for the jam

2010-11-14T19:53:00.000+08:00

For years I avoided cycling via Adam road. Recently took a 93 bus and noticed the jam in the evening times. Thanks for the jam, I think, as it removes my reason for avoiding Adam road: it is much easier to cross the entrance to and exit from PIE when traffic is slow or even stand still.

Endomondo Cycling Workout: "was out cycling 8.95 km in 32m:19s using Endomondo."

Cyclized: Helmet law cartoons

2010-09-28T17:31:00.002+08:00

Cyclized: Helmet law cartoons

Endomondo Cycling Workout

2010-09-22T13:35:00.000+08:00

Endomondo Cycling Workout: "was out cycling 3.30 km in 17m:09s using Endomondo."
Endomondo Cycling Workout: "was out cycling 5.81 km in 22m:46s using Endomondo."
Endomondo Cycling Workout: "was out cycling 7.74 km in 34m:52s using Endomondo."
Endomondo Cycling Workout: "was out cycling 8.40 km in 31m:35s using Endomondo."

Is number of disabled people moving around related to developed-ness

2010-09-17T12:12:00.000+08:00

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of NMEDA. All opinions are 100% mine.

So far, I have yet to see a wheelchair on Wheelchair Accessible Buses (WAB) in Singapore, while I saw them during my short trips to Manchester (only took a bus twice), UK and Honolulu. May be, many of them drive, while most of them at home.

I work within a hospital, and frequently passes by a shop that sells equipments for patients, or people with mobility problems. As in many other cases, efforts to improve quality in USA by organisation such as NMEDA will eventually benefit the people here.

NMEDA stands for National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association, but also includes driver rehabilitation specialists, and other professionals dedicated to broadening the opportunities for people with disabilities to drive or be transported in vehicles modified with mobility equipment. Thus, it doesn't sell things, but only their dealers do the selling.

NMEDA dealers help you in additional training or product refinements, if you still need to, after a personalized “in-person” evaluation to ensure you are getting the right driving solution customized to your specific lifestyle and needs.

It is the only association promoting safe driving and equipment for disabled people. Their members adheres to safety standards of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Furthermore, to satisfy customers consistently, companies must have a systematic and documented approach to quality. So, there are the Quality Assurance Program (QAP) dealers, where QAP is the only nationally recognized accreditation program for the Adaptive Mobility Equipment Industry.

I tried to find out any of their dealers nearby on their website (hit the dealers locator and type in your ZIP code), but too bad, I am in Singapore.

Natural "disasters"

2010-09-06T18:52:00.001+08:00

There is a saying in Chinese, "天灾人祸" combining two types of disasters, natural and man made.

It seems the formal type is much more emphasized when earthquakes occurs, but I wonder if the latter is the main culprit for casualties. The recent earthquake in New Zealand where there isn't a single death, may suggest it is.

Earthquakes don't really kill directly. Most mammals just felt the shake. Most trees don't fall. Most fishes and birds might not even be affected.

Then, how did human beings get killed or injured in earthquakes? I think the recent earthquake in New Zealand quite clearly suggests that earthquakes don't really kill human beings, but many times it was the unsafe/unnatural structures that were designed and built by human beings that killed and injured the victims.

5th in Cycling?

2010-08-30T21:56:00.001+08:00

5 best biking cities in Asia

If so, lets strive to be the best!

Nice quotes from spam comments

2010-08-16T10:19:00.002+08:00

This blog has become a receiver of spam comments. Instead of just wasting my time rejecting each as they appear, not wanting to waste the good part of the comments, so I am posting here the nice quotes in these spam comments:

不論做什麼事，相信自己，別讓別人的一句話，把你擊倒。
心中醒，口中說，紙上作，不從身上習過，皆無用也。
雖天地之大，萬物之多，而惟吾蜩翼之知。
河水永遠是相同的，可是每一剎那又都是新的。
一個人的價值，應該看他貢獻了什麼，而不是他取得了什麼。
一棵樹除非在春天開了花，否則難望在秋天結果。
死亡是悲哀的，但活得不快樂更悲哀。

Majority penalized for the minority

2010-08-14T18:15:00.000+08:00

Today my family had an experience with a failure of the Distance Fare system.

The bus we took somehow had its fare system not working after a couple of stops. So, all existing passengers could not tap out. After quite some time trying to reset it, and later more time spent trying to resolve the problem by talking to their technical support, still cannot make it work. In the end, almost all alighted and took another bus because we didn't want to waste time waiting for the issue to resolve, which seemed unlikely. Thus, all will be charged the maximum fare, and need to make claim in the following week. Then other bus captain told us that without a ticket from the first bus, we will have to tap in again.

Now, is $ the only issue here? Who is gonna indemnify the time loss of all passengers? Does their insurance policy cater for this? How about if someone's card does not have enough credit for the next trip, especially after the max deduction? There isn't any top up machine at the stop we alighted.

Consider this together with the no drinking on trains (even for infants) rule, I agree with what someone wrote that these policies overly penalize the majority unnecessarily because there might be a few who may behave undesirably.

What is the rational of penalizing maximum charge for not tapping out? Can it be an average charge if from records that is a regular trip the person/card has been making? Can it be estimated by the next tap in, if it happens soon enough at a bus stop / MRT station in the proximity near the bus route? Can the charge be done a day or week later when it became clear enough what had happened?

Also, why is it that we need to make the claim in cases such as this when they have the records of who are affected?

By the way, just read a small notice, in the regular font size (11pt?) that I have noticed for some days regarding an error in distance between two bus stops. Is this a sign of hoping not all will claim back that little money from them?

Wireless technology used in bike sharing

2010-08-12T21:02:00.004+08:00

This should be the way. Technology is here, use it.

The Social Bicycle System from Ryan Rzepecki on Vimeo.

An education opportunity

2010-08-09T23:05:00.000+08:00

My son is old enough to have some eagerness to watch the NDP fireworks. Also because he has watched it a couple of times. No, he is not old, only 2+, but we have watched it from far during the many past NDP rehearsals in the last few weeks.

Yet, today, the actual NDP day, he was sleeping during the fireworks display. My dad wanted to wake him up to watch, but I said no need. Because earlier we have asked him to sleep (the usual afternoon sleep/nap) but he didn't follow. So, for the next few days, I will remind him of how he has missed the fireworks.

What an "evil" dad :P