ALL THINGS BIG AND SMALL 2.0

SPAM is canned processed meat made by the Hormel Corporation of Austin, Minnesota, USA. Nobody really knows what the word SPAM stands for [and for that matter how it became associated with junk email]. According to Wikipedia, it could be derived from any of these phrases : " Shoulder Pork And Ham", "Special Processed American Meat", or "Spiced Meat and Ham". Those who hate SPAM call it "Spare Parts Animal Meat" or "Something PosingAs Meat". Or it could even denote the place where SPAM is made: "Special Product of Austin, Minnesota" Nevertheless SPAM is more than a type of luncheon meat. It has become a food icon. According to its web site www.spam.com the 7th billion can of SPAM has been sold and every 32 seconds, someone in the USA is opening a can of SPAM. But its not only in America that SPAM is popular. Filipinos and South Koreans eat lots of SPAM and in the South Pacific islands of Fiji and Samoa, SPAM forms so much of...

Paradise Dynasty's multi-colored, multi-flavored Xiao Long Bao The flavors (from left): Original, Ginseng, Foie Gras, Black Truffle, Cheesy,Crab Roe,Garlic and Szechuan. Xiao Long Bao or steamed soup dumplings are a favorite not only among Chinese all over the world, but with Westerners as well. Said to have its origin in Shanghai, it was more recently 'discovered' by the West than the Siew Mai and Har Gau of Cantonese dim sum, and today no self-respecting Chinese restaurant from London to San Francisco would be without xiao long bao on their menu. Xiao Long Bao's novelty lies in the liquid [soup] that it is held inside the skin. Thus, eating a xiao long bao becomes a delightful experience as your teeth sinks into the meat-filled dumpling and hot soup mixed with meat gushes into your mouth. The secret of putting the soup inside the dumpling is to fill it with meat that is in aspic [gel] and as the dumpling is steamed, the apsic melts and voila! you have filled t...

1. A Self-Organizing Map of 2800 US stocks' Beta. Any area can be selected with mouse to Open up and identify the stocks in it. 2. A Daubechies 4 Wavelet; 5 Level decomposition of the Hang Seng Index. 3. Using a Wavelet to De-Noise the Hang Seng Index:more efficient than a Moving Average, with no lag. (click on image to see how the Wavelet 'hugs' the time series closely, yet gets rid of daily noise) 4. A 1-D complex continuous wavelet of the Straits Times Index in Jet Color Mode. Self-similar patterns are indications of fractals i.e. the Index is not totally random but has its own 'memory'. 5. A 1-D Continuous Wavelet of the Straits Times Index in Prism Color Mode. Again we see patterns of sorts. But it takes a skilled Wavelets practioner to interpret, Unfortunately, I'm just beginning to understand Wavelets. Financial markets historical data are essentially the same as digital signals. And therefore they can be processed and analyzed with the tools used in...

Unusual shape of the LollarCharlie Christian neck pickup for Fender Telecaster . Fender Road-worn '50s Telecaster, before the Charlie Christian was installed Ever since I heard jazz guitarist Ed Bickert play his Telecaster, and marveled at his tone, I have been obsessed with the idea of playing jazz on a Telecaster as opposed to a traditional jazz archtop. Ed uses a Tele with humbuckers, and although I have in the past tried the semi-hollow Tele Thinline with neck humbucker, the tone doesn't quite cut it. The tone was too airy. It's still possible to play jazz on the standard pickup of a Tele, and many have done it. But recently I heard about Jason Lollar's hand-wound neck pickup for the Tele based on the one used by Charlie Christian, the grand daddy of all jazz guitarists. Sound Alchemy in Singapore ordered one for me, and they also did the modifications for the installation of the pickup. The pickguard had to be cut due to the Charlie Christian's unusual shape,...

These ten silhouettes of famous personalities were found on a wall outside a stationery store in Melbourne, Florida. I think most people can identify at least three of them. See if you can identify all ten.

Toddy Palm-from which the Indian alcoholic drink Toddy is made Mexican Golden Flame Vine Bleeding Heart Vine Hankerchief Tree Golden Chain Blood Banana tree Bottle Tree Tongkat Ali [Ali's Walking Stick]-the Malay aphrodisiac The Nipple Tree Rarely seen flower of Cannonball Tree It's such a pleasure to meet an interesting taxi driver. After the fall of the Soviet Union and with the closing down of many State establishments, you would meet cabbies who could make really stimulating conversation with you. There were the ex-KGB men who were still feeling grouchy about the whole thing. I once met a former Nuclear Physicist who was retrenched from his Research Center in Siberia and became a Moscow cab driver. There were cabbies who played Tchaikovsky on their cab radios and could discuss Tolstoy's War And Peace with you. Recently I met a Singapore cab driver who amazed me with his knowledge of the botanical life here. He could identify hundreds of plants, trees and shrub...

My friend Bill Kirchen playing his 1953 Telecaster ToneRite: Aging the guitar with vibration technology The back of the ToneRite showing the grooves for the six strings ToneRite affixed on a guitar Road-Worn Fender '50's Telecaster: Cosmetic aging for the cool look Close-up of the Telecaster We all know how old violins especially those made by the Master luthiers of Cremona, Italy are treasured for their glorious tone. Virtuoso musicians always insist on violins such as a Stradivarius, and because the supply is limited, these old violins are worth millions of dollars. Most musicians are loaned vintage violins by rich patrons of the Arts, who fund the purchase of such instruments. Nobody has yet been able to determine why Stradivarius, Amati and Guanarius sound so great. Some say it could be the resins used by the Master luthiers. But one fact is undeniable: the more you play a stringed wooden musical instrument, the better it sounds. Maybe its because of the millions of v...