ALL THINGS BIG AND SMALL 2.0

I had 15 minutes to kill waiting for a taxi in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; so I copied down the name of the King of Malaysia and his titles written beneath his photo hanging in the hotel lobby. No time to spell in capitals or put in the full stops and commas. I think it will take a TV  newscaster 2 minutes to read this out if there is news about the King. Note: The King of Malaysia is chosen by rotation from among the Sultans of each of the States in Peninsula Malaysia that has a Sultan (Negri Sembilan, Malacca and Penang have no Sultan): Johor, Pahang, Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis, Perak, Terengganu,- for a period of 5 years.  The present King's name is:   Paduka Baginda Yang Di Pertuan Agong XIV Almu'Tasimu Billahi Muhibbuddin Tuanku Alhaj Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah Ibni Almarhum Sultan Badlishah D.k. dkh dkm dmn duk dmk dk kelantan dk pahang dk selangor dk perlis dk negeri sembilan dk perak dk johor dk terengganu dk perak dk brunei dp sarawak dunmm smdk shms sgmk sp...

We all know why Inflation is bad but why is Deflation bad? All growing economies have a healthy mild inflationary bias (prices slowly creep up). However the Eurozone just announced that in December 2014, prices turned negative. Japan has been in a deflationary state for decades despite several government efforts to inflate the economy. For most of this decade, governments and Central Banks (especially in Asia) have been focusing on how to contain Inflation and curb asset bubbles (stock markets, property). It looks like this year, they will be more concerned with the threat of Deflation. We all know why Inflation is bad: $1.00 worth less than $1.00 can buy less things. Your savings worth less and less in terms of real purchasing power. Your salary fails to keep up with cost of living. But why is deflation bad? Isn’t it good that petrol, food, clothes, transportation etc is cheaper? Here are some of the reasons why Deflation is bad: 1.       Consumers...

If you think the free-form jazz of Ornette Coleman, the abstract art of Jackson Pollock or John Cage’s 4’33’’ are too far-out, consider the art of experimental artist/musicians Eduardo Kac and Peter Gena who used Biology to do their Art and Music. WHAT EDUARDO KAC DID (see image above) In his live Art entitled ‘Genesis’, Eduardo: 1.       Took a passage from the Bible (Genesis 1:26) “Let man have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." 2.       Translated it into the dots and dashes of Morse Code 3.       Using an algorithm he designed, he then translated it to DNA’s  A, C, T, G protein base pairings  to have a design for a strand of DNA 4.       He then synthetically manufactured and injected this DNA strand into live bacteria. 5.       Using an elec...

No one can predict the oil price 1 month ahead, next week or even tomorrow. But still, some businesses e.g. Airlines have to try because they have to hedge their fuel cost against swings in their fuel cost. In economic planning, governments also need to forecast revenue and expenditure.  One of the ways to hedge is by buying a Futures contract [which is the promise to deliver something at a certain price at a certain time in the future]. Such as the Brent Oil Crude Futures of the CME Group (former Chicago Mercantile Exchange) in the chart above. Can the 1-year, 2 year and 5-year Futures price of oil give us an indication of the direction of oil price? We know that prices change according to events that happen every day and every hour; and no one can predict such events from Libya oil terminals burning to release of data on China’s economic growth. There are two reasons why the Futures price can be a predictor of prices in the future: (1) The futures price is determined by ...

For a long time I have been confused by the terms DNA, Genes, and Chromosomes and what do people mean when they say we have good or bad genes. After reading "The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins (Oxford University Press, 1976), I have a clearer picture. With the help of the graphics enclosed, here is an explanation of what are genes, DNA and chromosomes:   Our bodies are made up of thousands of millions of individual cells. Each cell contains your DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) – a molecule with a complete set of instructions for making your body. The double-helix DNA is made up of strings of A,T,C,G* nucleotides stringed together in a particular sequence with  "A" always pairing with "T" and "C" with "G"  *Adenine, Thymine, Cytosine and Guanine. A gene is a particular length of DNA with a particular sequence of A,T,C,G pairing; that has properties which enable it to survive several generations e.g. a Blue eye gene, a Brown eye...

At a  Palm Civet cat farm near Bandung, Indonesia. The cat is fed fresh coffee berries. When he shits, his poo contains undigested parts of the coffee berry. This is processed to give Kopi Luwak (Civet Cat coffee) which is the most expensive coffee in the world. You may pay up to  US$40.00 for a cup of Kopi Luwak in New York or San Francisco.' The civet cat's stomach enzymes do their work on the beans, and the resultant cup of coffee is a strong, snooth and fragrant, but not acidic.

Recently, Singapore citizens who were born before before 31 Dec 1949 were accorded the status of Pioneer Generation by the Singapore government. This group of over-65 baby boomers received several perks and privileges such as on healthcare and transportation costs. According to the government, Singapore owes its success to their stoic, conservative and hardworking nature, their endurance of hardship, their determination to ensure that their children receive a good education and are inculcated with the right values. But now that they are old, we would think that they would be contented to retire and have a good rest. However: Yesterday, in the elevator, I met the lady who sells fresh chicken meat in the market. I asked her why every time I pass by, her stall is closed. She said she spent three weeks in the UK, with her son who has a Masters in Engineering from Imperial College on a government scholarship and is now working for a multinational corporation in London .She still wi sh...