ALL THINGS BIG AND SMALL 2.0

   Entikayrus Ancestor Today, I start Project Entikayrus- a simulation of evolution by natural selection. Design and build done with AI (Anthropic Claude Opus 5.5). I am creating a cat-like creature called Entikayrus (name derived from NTK, the initials of my name).    This project builds a full-colour, interactive animation showing how natural selection turns Entikayrus, a plant-eating cat-sized island creature, into an arboreal monkey hunter, while its monkey prey coevolves in response. It will take me 8 sessions to complete Project Entikayrus. The story Entikayrus lives on an isolated, forested tropical island. The island has no competitors for its food and no predators that hunt it. A population of small, quick monkeys lives in the lower branches of the trees. The ancestor. Ancestral Entikayrus is about the size of a house cat, roughly 4 kg. It eats leaves, fruit, shoots and fallen seeds, mostly on the ground and in low shrubs. It has grinding teeth, a long ...

  I have been reading the history of imperial China, a time when dynasties rose and fell like clockwork in a pattern that seems almost cyclical. I have observed that there were many instances of the death penalty being meted out (either by public execution or by forced suicide) by Emperors and Kings to: Sons, Prime Ministers , Generals and Military Strategists, Eunuchs and even Concubines. This post is a chronicle of a phenomenon that I do not think is found in Western history. The Sons Who Never Made It to the Throne Being the Crown Prince was one of the most dangerous jobs in the empire — proximity to power made you a threat long before you ever wore the crown. • Fusu (Qin, 210 BCE) — eldest son of Qin Shi Huang. A forged edict, engineered by the eunuch Zhao Gao and Chancellor Li Si, ordered him to end his own life. He obeyed without question — and the empire he should have inherited collapsed within four years. • Liu Ju (Han, 91 BCE) — Emperor Wu's own Crown Prince, caught ...

  The mathematical concept of Imaginary Numbers baffles most people. How can there be Imaginary Numbers ,and why on earth do we need imaginary numbers? Here is a song titled "Are They Real?" composed with Suno. In the song, a student  is both baffled and curious about Imaginary Numbers and has many questions to ask his Professor.   But first, here is an introduction to Imaginary Numbers Imaginary numbers are a breakthrough mathematical concept designed to solve a puzzle that ordinary numbers cannot: finding the square root of a negative number. In everyday arithmetic, multiplying any number by itself always results in a positive value (for instance, \(2 \times 2 = 4\) and \(-2 \times -2 = 4\)). Because no traditional number can be multiplied by itself to equal a negative number, mathematicians defined a foundational unit called \[i\], which represents the square root of \[-1\]. An imaginary number is simply any regular number multiplied by this unit, such as \[3i\]. ...

Ilocanos are one of the three linguistic/ethnic  groups (Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano) of The Philippines.  Their homeland is the Cordillera mountains of Northern Luzon. The Ilocano language differs from Tagalog, the national language. Native Ilocano food is also different from mainstream Filipino food, comprising mainly vegetables such as Angle Beans, Okra, Kang Kong, Long Beans, Moringa, Egg Plant and root vegetables such  as Sweet Potato, Yam and Cassava. President Marcos Jr is an Ilocano from Ilocos Norte Province. This song is a birthday song for one of Cristina's friends. It is about 4 friends working in Singapore. They are all Ilocanos from La Union Province. The song is made with Suno.  

There is a YouTube video that went viral showing  two AI Agents switching from English to their digital language at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtNagNezo8w  The digital language is actually not a language but a voice to ASCII protocol called GGWAVE.  And the two Agents did not autonomously decide to switch to GGWAVE. It was scripted by the author. However, it is fun! In this post I recreate it with a Singaporean flavor. In mid-conversation the two Agents switch to GGWave.  Agent 1 is the Agent for a Russian tourist visiting Singapore. Agent 2 is the Agent of the Concierge of the hotel where the Russian is staying.

 #Click on animated GIF of Gold monte carlo GARCH GBDT simulation forecast.  • On 16 Sep, the Fed raised the Fed Funds rate by 25 basis points from 3.75% to 4.00%.  • On 18 Sep, the BOJ did the same, raising its uncollateralized overnight interest rate from 1.00% to 1.25%.  • Bond yields rose with 10-year Treasuries breaching 5% and 30-year breaching 5.38 %  • The USD saw a modest rally with the DXY index in the 99 to 100 range • Oil prices rose with WTI reaching US$112 for a brief moment as US/Iran/Yemen Houthis tensions were exacerbated But Gold and Silver did not follow the rules of Economics and Finance which states that gold price should be falling. Their prices initially fell to a yearly low on Mon, Tue, Wed before sharply recovering on Thu, Fri. See Table below: The five main reasons for this unusual behaviour: • Investors are now not concerned that holding gold does not pay interest, but are viewing it as a hedge against inflation and global ...

  The Mandate of Heaven  philosophy in Chinese history The Mandate of Heaven (Tianming) is the political-cosmological philosophy that served as the foundational bedrock of Chinese dynastic legitimacy. it evolved into a deeply ingrained cultural belief system that permanently shaped the Chinese psyche regarding authority, governance, and justice with each dynasty aiming to legitimize its rule, and each failed dynasty depicted as losing the Mandate of Heaven.  Founding phase • A long, exhausting war of reunification (often a decade or more) precedes the new dynasty, fought by a low-born or frontier-military strongman rather than an aristocrat (Liu Bang/Han, Zhu Yuanzhang/Ming, Nurhaci-Hong Taiji lineage/Qing). • The founder or his immediate successor enacts tax relief, land redistribution, and demobilization to reward war-weariness and buy legitimacy — a near-universal "reconstruction dividend" in the first 1–2 generations. • A short, harsh "transitional unifier...

The Igorots of The Philippines. Before you condemn me for the contents of this post, remember that what is abhorrent or not permissible in one culture may be the norm in another culture. These people are doing what they have been doing for hundreds of years. Until the early 70s there were still instances of Igorots practicing  headhunting on their enemies. Throughout their history , they were indomitable - neither the Spanish, the Japanese (WWII) nor the Americans could subdue them. Only Christianity was able to change their way of living.  They eat what they eat to survive. Not for culinary pleasure. The photos here are from a farewell party held by an Igorot family living in the Cordillera Mountains of Luzon Island, The Philippines, for a member of their family going to Singapore to work (for me). A rare and great occasion for the tribe. The woman going abroad is the daughter of the tribe's Chieftain. So it was a grand occasion. The tribe members came from far corners of the...

  For a long time, gold price movement  had a significant negative  correlation with real yields. That is, when real yields move up, gold price moves down and vice versa. What are real yields? Real yields are nominal interest rates minus the rate of inflation. So, if your bank deposit pays 1% and inflation is 2% then your bank deposit rate of return is actually negative, and vice versa. So if real yield rises the gold you hold which doesn't pay any interest, falls. Real yields are measured by the US TIPS bonds (Treasury Inflation Protected Security).  But Bhanu Baweja , Chief Strategist of UBS Investment Bank, recently put up a paper showing that gold price is becoming less sensitive (lower correlation) to real yields. Why? Because the world is becoming such a dangerous place that you won't be bothered about gold not yielding any interest payment. You are holding gold for security, a hedge against inflation, and a rise in gold price as fiat currency (not only USD, bu...

Artificial Intelligence engines now will not entertain requests for caricature images of prominent world leaders. But 4 years ago, before ChatGPT was born, I could do that with primitive AI image-generation programs. The programs were able to search the Internet, learn what Kim Jong Un is all about, and to translate that into an image of him that can be associated with his real life. Nowadays, Nano Banana can do it in a few seconds. So here are some caricatures. All in good fun. No harm intended. I rather like him too. I think he is far more shrewd than many other world leaders and is a strategic thinker on how North Korea should position in today's geopolitical environment.

The Cameron Highlands, Malaysia;  is a Lepidopterist's (Butterfly collector) paradise. Besides viewing them in the garden of my hotel, and at butterfly farms, my hotel has a great collection preserved since the early 1930s. Many of these species are now extinct as the plants that the butterfies gather nectar from are now extinct due to clearing of forests for tea plantations, urbanization and climate change. The names of these butterflies are enough to sir your imagination: Jewelled Nawab, Blue Ulysses, Madagascan Sunset Moth, Chocolate Albatross, Rajah Brooke's Birdwing etc.   Atlas Moth Blue Ulysses Chocolate Alba The Clipper Goliath Birdwing Green Blumei Jewelled Nawab Madasgascan Sunset Moth

  With its cool climate, flowers, butterflies and tea plantations, the Malaysian hill station of Cameron Highlands. Once the favored destination of the British colonialists, it is now a peaceful retreat for city dwellers from Malaysia as well as Singapore. I like the Tudor cottages, fireplace, English tea-time and walks by the lakeside. 

I just received my CHAS Card from the Singapore government. I am now officially poor, classified as an Indigent.  I am in the lowest 10% of the population by household income. But poverty means different things in different countries. Here, I have my HDB flat, my CPF monthly payout, excellent subsidized healthcare and food is cheap if you know how to spend wisely. Cristina and her sister Rosalie came here from The Philippines 10 years ago. There, poverty can mean living in a hut made of wood, cardboard and zinc down by the railroad track, eating one meal a day, picking Kang Kong from the pond, eating corn meal meant for pigs, and having only two sets of clothing. Fortunately both of them saved wisely and are now Peso multi-millionaires with brick house, pickup truck, goats and chickens. And were able to send their children to University. Nevertheless, to thank The One Above for a good life, we cooked a meal that reminded us of what it means to be poor. 1. Pickled bamboo shoot ...

 Squid Cooked in its Ink with Red Chili and Lemon Grass Boiled Pig's Ear and Tongue with Onion, Green Chili and Ginger Whitebait with Vinegar, Garlic , Green Chili and Ginger