Category: Misc

But you may need to visit the supermarket if you don’t keep strawberries handy!

Find out how and why strawberries can be used to whiten your teeth!

Read this article a while back but I think it’s still quite interesting

Otherwise you’ll technically be earning less than the previous year… Check out the latest release from the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and take note of the inflation rates

Maybe you might even consider yourself lucky if you hold on to your job, especially with recession looming and 2009 predicted to be a down year. Hold your cash and keep your belts tightened!

It was almost amusing to see everyone trying to cash out their policies with AIA when they heard of the first sign of trouble with AIG, the parent company. (I only found it almost amusing because I hold a policy at AIA and I was hoping that the run wouldn’t bring it down)

To those who are better educated and have a basic foundation in finance, making a run at a financial institution — in this case an insurer — at the first hint of rumours about its demise is a surefire way to ensure a downward spiral to oblivion. Most financial institutions are highly leveraged, so if people start to make a run and withdraw money, the financial institutions may have no choice but to source for loans or sell off assets to maintain a minimal level of liquidity. In short, don’t make a run unless you are extremely sure that logic — not fear — is guiding your actions. (But of course, if every father, mother, son is making a run, then you will have no choice but to make a run as well since logic no longer rules the mob)

Anyway, for a company like AIG, it is unlikely that the US Government will even allow it to fail as it will void the insurance policies of tons of Americans and result in social turmoil. They will not allow this to happen in any given year, much less a period so close to elections.

Food terrorism has got to stop. Fake food is a terrible thing to do, and unfortunately, there are some unscrupulous individuals and businesses who take advantage of this basic human need. Capitalism has seriously reared its ugly head when people’s lives are risked for the sake of earning a buck. I do not wish ill upon those who have profited from their sick and twisted dealings, but I hope that their conscience will strike them. Hard.

Note that I did not specifically mention that Chinese were the culprits. Without having any first hand information myself, it might even be the case that the Chinese are the victims of some inept or unethical overseas management! Who is to say that some big-shot manager from outside of China did not force the Chinese factory into adding melamine to their food products? Until investigations are complete, 三鹿 should be assumed to be innocent until proven guilty.

Being a parent myself, I can understand the anguish and turmoil that the Chinese parents are facing. Regardless of whose fault it is, the Chinese government should tighten up food safety laws and prevent people — their own citizens especially — from suffering due to the selfish motives of others. One death due to food poisoning is one unnecessary death to many.