Posts

My Monster Jazz Archtop Guitar

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A MONSTER JAZZ ARCHTOP GUITAR I got this monster made-in-China Farida 18" archtop from a friend in the UK relocating to Hong Kong and wanting to get rid of excess baggage. Farida is more well-known for their acoustic guitars, this archtop is no longer in production. You can gauge how huge this thing is by comparing with the '68 Morris copy of a Gibson ES175 (Left) which has a lower bout of 16.75 ", and the '78 Yamaha copy of a 17" Gibson L5-CES (Right) The Farida is heavy and won't fit into any standard archtop gig carrying-case. It is very well-made with an Ebony fingerboard, and very loud when played unplugged. And has an old-fashioned sound like those rhythm guitars in a 1930s big band going comp comp comp before electric guitars were invented.  Looking at the tail-bridge, it's a copy of the 1939 D' Angelico New Yorker which probably has a valuation today of at least $50,000.

A China Patriotic Song Composed with Suno AI

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I  composed this song more than a year ago. I repost it because I think its really well-done by the Suno AI. Also, many of my old posts were not viewed because my blog was not able to be indexed by the Google search engine until recently. Unfortunately I forgot how to copy and embed the code. So just click the link to listen.  Chinese patriotic song composed with Suno AI  

On Old Neighborhood Chinese Restaurants

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We went to Chin Lee Restaurant for Cristina's sister Rosalie's Birthday. Chin Lee is one of the few neighborhood Chinese restaurants in Singapore that have survived the onslaught of modernization, fast food, and the changing gastronomic inclinations of the younger generation. Indeed, judging from the crowd on the day of our visit, it is thriving. Old neighbood restaurantsin  the public housing estates of heartland Singapore, where 85% of Singaporeans live, are a focus point for birthday celebrations, and community gatherings, especialy for the older generation.  The food at Chin Lee is old-style Teochew. Like the Hokkiens and Cantonese, the Teochew Chinese hailed from Southern China. Their food is known for its fresh clean taste, with less oil and salt, and more use of steaming and braising  instead of stir-frying  What we ate (see pics below). 1. Pig Trotter in Jelly 2. Birthday Buns with Lotus Paste fillings. 3. Braised Duck with Intestine and Bean Curd sheets. 4. ...

Chinese Animal Zodiac: 2024 1 oz Asahi Silver Dragon Bullion Coin

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  Bullion Star Singapore commissioned Asahi Refinimg of Japan to mint a 1 oz Silver bullion coin commemorating 2024 the year of the Dragon. This an investment grade no-VAT 999 fine silver coin. It is a beautiful coin which will show steady increase in premium over the Silver spot price.  In Chinese culture, the dragon embodies wealth, strength, and power. The Dragon is the fifth mythical animal of the Chinese Zodiac. Each twelve-year zodiac cycle also corresponds with one of the five traditional elements in Chinese astrology: Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and for 2024 – Wood. The Wood Dragon is known for its stoic confidence, and its great zest for life and creativity. The obverse of the BullionStar 1 oz Silver Dragon – 2024 features a roaring dragon with an exquisite, frosted finish, on a field of interlocking six-point stars. The body of the dragon forms a figure of eight, symbolizing prosperity and luck. The left side of the field contains a Lenticular image security feature. ...

The Queen's Beasts Collection: Investable Silver Bullion Coins

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The Queen’s Beasts Collection consisting of 11 distinct 2 oz silver bullion coins was issued between 2016 and 2021. Each coin features a heraldic (coat of arms) animal representing the genealogy of Queen Elizabeth II and the British Royalty. The statues on which the coins are based stood in front of the annexe of Westminster Abbey for the Queen's coronation in 1953. The originals were later presented to the Canadian Museum of History, but replicas are now displayed at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew. The year beside the coin list below is the date of issue of the coin. 2016 The Lion of England The Lion of England is the crowned golden lion of England, which has been one of the supporters of the Royal Arms since the reign of Edward IV (1461–1483). It supports a shield showing the Arms of the United Kingdom as they have been since Queen Victoria's accession in 1837. In the first and last quarters of the shield are the arms of the House of Plantagenet, taken from the arms of Ri...

The Algorithms Behind Drone Swarms

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  Drones can be taught to fly in well-cordinated swarms, like a flock of birds or a school of fish. We see this in the Iran and Ukraine wars where drone attacks are in swarms and air defence cannotcope with such a large number. So even if a few get through , its enough to cause extensive damage. Furthermore, drones cost as little as $20,000 each whereas a Tomahawk or Patriot missile used for shooting them down cost a few million dollars each. See the video below, which was created using the latest Anthropic Claude Fable 5 model. Basically, the drones were driven by two algorithms: (1) The Hungarian Algorithm invented by Harold Kuhn for getting each drone to its target position in the Swarm and (2) The PD (Proportional Derivative) algorithm invented by Elmer Sperry to regulate the speed of the drone as it approaches its target position. Additionally, each drone constantly checks its position in the swarm in relation to its nearest neighboring drones -like what Geese do on their m...

Teaching Your Kids Economics

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I believe that everybody-and that includes your kids-should have some basic knowledge of economics and be financially literate. Else you are at a disadvantage in today's world. * for the full .pdf document you can email me and I will send to you. Lesson 1: What is GDP (Gross Domestic Product) * We use the US economy as our case study. And the data source is FRED (US Federal Reserve Education Department) GDP — Gross Domestic Product — is the total value of everything a country makes and sells in a year: every burger, haircut, movie ticket, house, and computer chip. It's the best single number we have for measuring the size of an economy. Right now, the US economy produces goods and services at a pace of about $31.9 trillion per year — that's $31,900,000,000,000! Economists count GDP by adding up four kinds of spending. The equation looks like this: GDP = C + I + G + (X - M) . See attached Table 1 for what this equation means. Now let's plug the real numbers into the equ...