The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.
It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.

Every morning a lion wakes up.
It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.

It doesn't matter whether you are the lion or the gazelle.
When the sun comes up, you better start running.

So my friends, start running on the first business day of the Golden Piggy Year...

Cheers to good health and fortune!

Pets are not allowed !!!!!

Dear friends,

I am sorry I can't stand the sight of pet dogs sitting on chairs in coffee shops or near where food is being served and consumed.

In sunday's ST, there is a response from S. Satish Appoo, Director, Environmental Health Agency on "Pets not allowed in food outlets".

What does the law say?

It is an offence for pets to be brought into public food outlets and hawker centres, including its outdoor refreshment areas.

Both the operator and the pet owner are liable for any violation.

Any exemptions?
- Unless the outlets are licensed as "pet cafe".
- Unless you are blind and you are walking around with the help of a guide dog. The dog must be properly behaved and well harnessed. Operators of outlets reserve the right to accept the presence of such dogs.

Who do you call for violation?
24-hour Hotline 1800-CALL NEA or 1800-225-5632.

My suggestion
Since NEA (or whoever is that authority) has inspectors checking on smoking outside designated areas, why don't we inspect on the overall operations of food outlets?

Will you pay $5000 for BULGARI ring?

P/S - "BULGARI" - purposely spelt wrongly.

My story seeks to question the need for an expensive artificial thing to be placed on a part of our body.

Yes, it is a very expensive ring on a finger of a possibly very beautiful lady, bought by a well-bonused husband in the banking industry, during the fateful Valentine Day. This act was related to me by my wife, perhaps with a reason :).

I want to discuss the reasons for and against such an act.

"It is worth it if it is for daily use." She is using the depreciation principle to justify the purchase of a $5,000 ring ie. $5,000 over 5 years is only $2.70 a day. "Really value for money." Ok the numbers are there but what values will you derive from using it?

• You feel good and confident about yourself. And thus perform better in your business and career.
• Your business partners / colleagues will see you in a different light.
• Bosses will therefore not ask you to do silly things and assign you to the more classier stuff.
• It is a store of wealth (especially when the wealth was gifted from husband). - ie. when you need money, you can sell it albeit possibly at a significant loss. But still money right?
• You get a bit of upper class treatment at restaurants and musicals. That is assuming we, your fellow colleagues, waiters, .... all know a BVLGARI ring when we see it. Well maybe you do, but I can't tell the difference.

You wouldn't mind the extra weight that your body has to bear.. only a few carats more, nor the higher crime risk performable against you.

So there you have it. There are justifications to having an expensive jewellery on your body. I will now wear my finger-thicked gold chain on my neck.

Are you middle-aged?

P/s - This girl offered me a muay chi.

Dear friends,

I have 2 conversations which I want to share with you.

First Conversation
The first is a dialogue I heard over national radio where people were calling in to express their views on the budget.

Caller - "Hi, I am middle-aged and single. I notice that there is nothing much in the budget for people like."
DJ - "Well if you own a car, then you will get the 8% reduction in road tax."
Caller - "Well for the others, particular those with families, they get conservancy charges rebate, maid levy discount, ..."
DJ - "BTW, how old are you?"
Caller - "29"
DJ - "29?????? .... You are still very young. You should focus on raising a family of your own."

Second Conversation
I was talking to a man who has just sold his business for a pot of gold. He is lamenting that he still has to sustain his level of commitment to the business he sold while being paid a more than modest DAILY rate. He wishes for more time to smell the roses. "How old are you?," I asked. "58," he said.

My comment
Why does a person in his late twenties feel middle-age? Do many in their twenties feel the same? Have you guys done everything and know so much already to feel middle age? Has the pace of current lifestyle accelerate the depreciation of our youth?

On the other side of the coin, should a 58-year-old stop completely and smell the roses? Well Gorbachev was a "young" man in his fifties when he became President of USSR after being endorsed by a Politburo with people in their 60s and 70s.

Hmm... I am very confused.. Am I young, middle age or very old? More importantly, how do you feel about yourself?

My day in brief.

No car for me today. Blur blur and took a cab 5 mins before end of 9.30am peak hour. Paid $2 more lor.

During noon, I was staring straight at this magnificient piece of colours.

Took me 2 hours to go from Ikea (after a hotdog stopover) to Shenton Way and back home. Stuck in jam after jam after jam. Clicked a picture of this lady standing there with a big bouquet of flowers while waiting for her date to turn up. Late.

Vista is the last of the Dynasty?

P/S Things you can find in a lift!

I want to share this piece of article I read from Wharton on Microsoft's Vista. It echoes the same theme as the return of Michael Dell back to Dell.

What is the theme?
A company cannot continue to do the same thing year after year. The business landscape will change. If you are not careful, you will find yourself in the middle of nowhere while others have moved on.

Here is the story on Vista
Vista OS should give the company a revenue stream that will run for years. But experts at Wharton say the end January's launch of the consumer versions of Microsoft's flagship software may be among the last of its kind.

What kind?
A product sold for a flat fee in a shrink-wrapped box.

What are competitors doing?

• The "oldest" competitors to shrink-wrapped would be pay per direct download.
• Or they offer open source stuff as per Linux.
• Or they ask consumers to accept advertising-supported softwares.
• The latest competitors say "You pay only when you use of the software." These softwares are not loaded on your PCs.

Reference - http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1651.cfm

My makeover pictures to share with you

P/S - Things you can do when you are bored during the CNY :)

Pics - courtesy of a friend R.

Friends,


Gongxi!! Gongxi!!


Thank you for your friendship and support in so many ways.


Wish you the best of health and a prosperous piggy year.


edgar

My Valentine!

I gave my heart away to this little girl many years ago.

She would grab and bite my left hand when I try to pacifiy her while I drive her home to bed.

At this one time when I tried to feed her some durian. Some of the durian landed on her nose. The durian came back to my face very quickly too.

I will always cherish those sweet words, "I want a hug." with that melting-heart look. I held her as tightly as I could as I whispered into her ears, "I will always be here for you."

I knew the day will come when she will outgrow the need to have me around. I know not where and how she is now. But I will cherish every moment I had with her.

I can only pray she will be happy and painless/healthy ...

------------------------------------------------------------------------

A passage from an article in a local magazine.

Good nite ...

Can I buy sand from you?

"No," says Malaysia and Indonesia.

Do you wonder why not? To buy sand as a construction material to build our HDB flats, IRs and condos. What is wrong with that?

Nothing much wrong with that until old buildings are being demolished and the debris would be carted away to reclaim land.

The reclaimed land could then be sold for millions after many years of maturing. Or in some instances, it was alleged that reclaimation has affected the water current and thus causing soil erosion and loss of fishing as a livelihood to many fishermen.

I guess the biggest concern would be the sovereignty issue. When a country takes sand harvested from one of its many islands and sells them to another country, it is an act of literally of selling away of a piece of your country!!

If you are going to East Coast Park this weekend, cherish the sand that you are standing on :)

I saw Death today!

At the foot of a block of HDB flats in Bishan.

A Chinese man in black shirt, light beige trouser with black socks and black shoes who has apparently committed suicide by jumping to his death.

Face smashed. Blood splattered. Body twistered. Legs spreaded. Shoes lying next to his head.

Had wanted to take a pic. Decided against it out of respect for the deceased. I am not the STOMP type either.

Medic came and checked for any sign of life.
I am amazed how she can do her job.
She was trying to keep her distance from the body.
Perhaps to preserve the integrity of the scene for the CSI team to move in.
Or perhaps she is still not used to it.

Police came and very politely and even said sorry to spectators as he put up the neon-green police-plastic tape surrounding the site.

The end of a human life. :(

ERP to go up by 50cts!!!

A friend reminded on the headline today at BT, "Major law firms raise charges, salaries."

But I wonder how many people work in law firms and for that matter, in major law firms to benefit from that salary increase.

"ERP to go up by 50cts" - While it did not make the headline, this certainly has a bigger impact on the larger population. The many thousands private vehicles, taxis and delivery vans will be TAXED more every day. Will this add further pressure to costs of running a business here and cost of living for a human being in Singapore? Do you know you just have another pay cut?

Why the increase? The worsening traffice situation.
Why the worsening situation? People are buying cars like nobody's business. COE and car prices are so low and people got jobs. Almost everybody can buy a car these days.

The government has relaxed its policy on car ownership but has tightened its belt on using the car that you own.

But is it a solution to raise the ERP rates to solve the problem?

These are man-made problems. What man can do, man can undo.

Pre-disease and Pre-crime?

Mr Khaw, the Minister for Health, was discussing whether to allow people to claim health screening charges from Medisave in Parliament recently. He said (if I have quoted him correctly) that too comprehensive (ie. expensive) a health screening package will go beyond the required and necessary tests. It would make the patients and the medical providers go into unproven "pre-disease" management and consequently higher costs.

Pre-disease management - to take the necessary medication now to prevent a disease (that has or may not occur yet) that you have been found out (from the tests) to have some affinity to.

I remember the movie (can't remember title) by Tom Cruise on "pre-crime". In the movie, he works in a special unit that goes around the country arresting people on the verge of committing crimes based on dreams by 3 gifted ones lying in some water.

Does "pre-disease" management hold water?

Sayonara to real Sushi, Sashimi and Ramen?

When you enter a Japanese food joint in Singapore, chances are you will be bombarded by some exclaimation deemed to be some Japanese greetings!!!

I am not sure whether they understand what they are murmuring. Definitely I don't. Then why do they do it? To create an artificial Japanese ambience that you are paying for!

In today's papers, we can read a writeup of the sushi chains, their ratings and the competitive environment in which they operate in.

There is also this method of running a restaurant nowadays. You may at first see a real Japanese doing the sushi and shashimi but that Japanese would be replaced eventually by a local.

The white radish dressing has been obseerved to have been replaced by red carrot dressing in one of this chain.

Even aunties working part-time in neighbourhood supermarkets are preparing sushi.

In last week's papers, I read about this Japanese who had been training under another Japanese for many years in Singapore. Both are now operating their respective restaurants here. The ex-trainee mentioned the many early mornings of sharpening knives. The presentation of every dish to every cut against the vein on a tuna slab are meticulously learned.

I have often asked myself who are these people manning the sushi counters in these chains.

Has Japanese food and culture been taken for a ride? Is commercialisation destroying an art form of many hundred years old?

The Japanese are not taking this lying down. I read that they are working out some form of accreditation to certify that you are operating a true "red" Japanese restaurant.

Maybe then you got to earn the right to serve "sushi, sashimi, ramen, .." in your restaurant.

Sayonara to the Land of the Rising Sun? Hope not.

"Take your medicine sooner," says Dad

"Am I sick, Dad?" asked the meek little girl ... :(

"And do you want to take medicine once or two times?" asked Dad.

The little girl seeks further clarification, "Dad, one time, more pain or, two times, more pain? If take medicine, then no more pain pain and no more medicine FOREVER?".

Dad, getting a bit flushed, said, "Let's be done once, finished. I think it's more straightforward."

The little girl stepped forward and swallowed the 2 teaspoons of medicine. :(...

The End. We hope.

Premium Bus Services - a step forward?

A colleague commented recently I do a put a lot of monies in the cash card in my car. I said I got no choice given the many trips through gantries and parking machines. Silently, the monies got "tiihh! tiihh!" away.

For me to go to the city in the morning, I am very fortunate to have to go through 3 gantries.

The premium bus service would be a welcome relief for me from the gantries, parking machines and crowd if I were to be working in city.

The Public Transport Council (PTC) requires that the buses to be air-conditioned with all passengers seated and having to pay 1.5x the fare of BASIC bus service.

With the exception of requiring seated passengers (I guess for safety reason), why does the PTC need to regulate the pricing and even air-conditioning.
What is this reference point of "basic bus service"? Who is providing that basic service?
Can these buses pick up passengers from bus terminals or stop all over the place?
Do we need to specify the temperature of the aircon as well?

Despite my concerns, I do believe the premium bus service is still a step forward.

Can we now consider the next step ie. providing very basic looping bus service for elderly, children and aunties going to and fro from town centre and flats.

the day after tomorrow

send shivers up my spine...

At the very night when the movie was being shown on tv, the thermometer in my room showed a dip to 24.7C.

Maybe the environment was watching the movie with me and showed its presence by dipping its temperature. It was chilling indeed!!!

I went to chat with my children after the movie. I tried to explain global warming to them. With Singapore being an island, will the island be submerged by rising sea level?

I apologised to my children for what the adults are doing to the environment today. I also said sorry for the world that we, the adults, will hand over to them in the future.

My friends , we have to treat the natural resources responsibly.

Don't borrow from our future to feed ourselves today.

Which group do you belong to?

There are 2 groups of people in the world on any product or service.

There are folks that want (need!) an iPhone, and those that couldn't care less. And of course it's not just Apple and it's not just phones.

Immediately after its introduction by Mr Steve Job, Apple is served with a notice that it has violated someone's (can't remember name of company) right on the name "iPhone". Apparently Apple had been in talk with that party on the use of the name prior to its launch. Thus it is a calculated move by Apple to proceed despite probable protest.

This phone is priced in upper range and will not be here for another year. It carries the hope of Mr Job and Apple for the next profit miracle. All the best to your venture!

Well friends, I am in the careless group on this one. Good morning ...

How to best name a business?

I am reading this new book, "small is the new big" from Seth Godin. Share with you his criteria.

• A brand name is a peg where people can attach all attributes of your business.


• Should not relate too much to the category your business is in.


• Pick a real English word, or a string of them. "Amazon" is good but "Altus" is bad.


• Be easy to spell and pronounce. "Prius" is bad.


• Don't get too obsess about getting a short web name. "Nickel" is bad and "NickelVenture" is better.


• Attach a great tagline.

A Taiwanese girl's perspective

Last Friday evening, I had an interesting conversation with the girlfriend of my friend. She is from Taiwan, very well travelled and an entrepreneur. My friend met her while he was on a term assignment in Taiwan.

Our conversation drifted to the topic of how she became my friend's girlfriend. She said she had to ward off a few competitors to "win" him.

I asked her how. She sent a bouquet of 100 roses to his office. Pls note the flowers are from a she to a he. I never had a bouquet delivered to me lei. Haizzz! I asked what for. Besides trying to win his heart, she was using the flowers to mark her "territory". Wow!!!

There were possible competition from the many ladies in his office. She said he would be a highly demanded "trophy" as he was a single in a senior management position, charming, with good taste for food and music and from Singapore.

I asked her what else she likes about my friend.

She said she likes him because he is not careful. Huh??? Apparently he is not very good at hiding things from her. She found a diary of a girl he had dated in his Boss jacket. After the initial explosion between them and after some re-thinking by her, she concluded that it was a ploy set up by a competing girl intended to wreck the relationship. I said wow again! Taiwanese girls so scheming type meh? Like from those Taiwanese TV series :)

A rare feature of him not found in Taiwanese men (that smitten her heart) was the fact that he was almost always at home when she called him during weekends. "At home during weekends", she stressed.

As we finished our bottle of Chilean red "Antares", we adjourned to teh tarik and prawn noodles for more deep insights of their relationship.

My best wishes to you, my old friend.

Can I "chorp" a seat with tissue paper?

There is on-going trailer on tv of someone using packets of tissue papers to "chorp" or reserve a table while they are away to buy food in a hawker centre, coffee shop.

Firstly, what do I think of such acts?
I don't do it. Never thought of doing it as I don't carry any tissue papers. If I need a seat and I see an empty seat with tissue pack, I will take the seat with the packet of tissues complimentary of the hawker centre. So nice :)

Why should I recognise tissue papers as chorping instrument? Is your name on the tissue packs? Why don't you leave monies on the table?

Secondly, will I ever do it ie. tissue papers to reserve?
Don't think so. At the very least, I will sacrifice myself to "hold" the table while the rest of us go hunting for food.

Many many years ago, I went into "loud verbal debate" with some Caucasian tourists in an eatery at Raffles Place. I was seated at a table for 3 persons while A colleague went to get her food. This couple with trays came long and conveniently plonked themselves down on the 2 empty seats. I politely tell them to remove themselves. They refused to accept the protocol of reservation and reserving seats with a human body. I refused to move either.

They tried to eat and they tried to carry a normal conversation while trying very hard to ignore my seated presence. The proprietor came and redirected them to another table to resolve the "conflict".

I tasted my small "victory" for a few seconds and left the table and eatery all together with my colleague immediately without lunch.

As I looked at my then youthful exuberance, I realised the following:-

• These visitors were not familiar to the concept of reserving seats/tables with a human body.
• Maybe they never need to "chorp" as they have plenty of space from where they come from.

So tissue-paper chorpers out there today, please forgive the uninitiated Singaporeans and foreigners who may have taken your seats and tissue papers!!!