ALL THINGS BIG AND SMALL 2.0

COMPARING GDP AND ECONOMIC GROWTH OF COUNTRIES IN THIS REGION WITH RELATIVELY SIMILAR POPULATION SIZE* * Numbers from  www.tradingeconomics.com Attached snip of a spreadsheet compares Australia, Taiwan and Malaysia. These three countries are relatively similar in population size but their GDP, and GDP growth rate are very different because they are different types of economies at different stages of growth, impacted by different factors: 1. Australia: A mature economy, reliant on export of its natural resources and agricultural commodities. But still a force to be reckoned with. A GDP of US$1.4 trillion for a population of just 23 million- more than the GDP of Indonesia (population 250m. GDP US$889bn) Vietnam (popn 92m, GDP US$186bn) and Philippines (popn 102m GDP US$285bn) 2. Taiwan: Now a backwater because of China's rise? Its GDP of US$530bn is still larger than Malaysia's with an almost similar population size, but its growth rate is negative. Bu...

The Intelli-Menu Generator is a smart menu generator for a one-pot rice meal accompanied by soup. Style of cooking is Chinese and ingredients are mostly found in Chinese cuisine. In its current version the algorithms for combination and selection of ingredients is basic. But later versions will have memory (so as not to repeat a menu or have a big similarity in ingredients between rice dish and soup). User will also have the ability to input by a points system his/her preferences for each ingredient, and system will have output that  has a minimum score. The system is flawed because it does not have human sense of taste and balance between ingredients and it often ends up being too imaginative for human taste or output bizarre combinations like liver and flower crab soup or mud crab with slice beef and chestnut. Probably the only way to improve it is to provide feedback from its human owners via a rating at the end of each meal. Over time the neural network will learn what the ow...

Why do financial markets rise and fall with every announcement of how a country's economy fared? Why does the media consult economists for their views, and why do views invariably differ, sometimes by quite a lot? Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry forecasts the Singapore economy to grow between 1- 3% for 2016. Is this information useful? A 2% admission of possible margin of error is a lot. 2%  of Singapore's GDP of about US$300 billion is US$6 billion. Enough to give each of our 3.27 million citizens US$1,834.00 So what is the value of economic forecasting particularly when it is always being revised up and down as the situation changes? Rationale for still coming out with forecasts: 1. No matter how unreliable macroeconomic forecasts are policy makers still need to have forecasts for decision-making and planning. They cannot rule out the uncertainty but they can do Scenario Planning viz. if scenario A, then do this scenario B then do that. 2. At leas...

THE ZEN OF EATING salted fish pickled greens plain rice porridge slowly i savor every molecule less is more the Zen of eating my dinner.

In Ochanomizu a district of Tokyo, Japan, is a street that has probably the greatest concentration of guitar shops in the world. This is the guitar enthusiast's Heaven where the widest range of guitars are  displayed: With prices from those that cost US$50.00 to US$10,000.00 and more. Of special mention are the dozens of Japanese made brands with astonishingly high quality. The spirit of lawsuit Ibanez, Grecos and Tokais still exist. With workmanship and attention to details much more superior than even Custom Shop Fenders and Gibsons, some of these guitars are not cheap. Indeed they are even more expensive than for example American boutique brands. They have strange names like: Combat, Freedom, History, Bacchus, Momose, Moon and so on. Its a pity that such beautifully-made guitars have names that make a player cringe or hair to stand on end. And these strange names on the headstock are  obstacles to their being accepted by players. Only after decades are the vintage Grecos, T...

In evolutionary biology, convergent evolution is the process whereby organisms not closely related genetically; independently evolve similar traits as a result of having to adapt to similar environments or ecological niches.  Another way of putting it: In Nature, similar problems will generate similar solutions, which are robust and optimal for the species. Whether it be shape or coloration or special features. The accompanying photos of examples of convergent evolution each have a description.   The Shark's ancestor was a fish. But the ancestors of the (now extinct) Ichthyosaur was a reptile. And the porpoise's ancestor was a land mammal. But they evolved to have fish-like shapes in order to live in the water. But still the porpoise is warm- blooded and does not breathe the way fishes do-with gills.   The East African lakes of Lake Tanganyika and Lake Malawi, although physically separated have similar environmental conditions. So you see that some spe...

Common quotes of FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE- the philosopher who may have spawned Nazism, Fascism and Anti-Semitism that you may recognize.. " Without music, Life would be a mistake." " That which does not kill make us stronger." "God is dead" " Love is blind." " Woman was God's second mistake." On Democracy: " the counting of noses." On the English people and their Mercantilism " Shopkeepers, women, cows, Christians, and democrats belong together." Nietzsche's philosophy has had a profound influence on Western philosophy in being an antithesis to the philosophy of rationalism and logic of Kant and Hegel who came before him, and a refinement of the romantic pessimism of Schopenhauer. He was not only a thinker but also a poet (the epic "Thus Spoke Zarathustra"), and a composer of music. Even if you have never read Nietzsche you may recognize some of his famous quotes above: The cont...