Closest the planet Mercury will be to Earth

Taken poolside Feb 26th 2019 ; Weather is a perfect 22 deg C. 

I am in Doha right now and in the newspapers are reports that today 26th February 2019 is the only day in a long while where the planet Mercury will be closest to Earth.

Called the Red Planet, I wonder whether we can view it from the naked eye. As it is near the desert area, I am quite optimistic that there will nary be many tall buildings or lights which will  be an impediment to viewing such a phenomenon.


I try to make time to experience life even while on the road. With the new experiences, I gain a greater insight into how life is on the 'other side' so it gives me paradigm shifts and new insights to viewing life as I walk this path. 

Carpe Diem. 

Staying Positive

Thankful for health and wits 

This blog post is to just remind myself that there is plenty of things for me to be thankful. We tend to take so many things for granted in life that we forget actually how far and how much we have progressed.

As a country, Singapore has made it up to the first world, in a short span of less than 30 years, since 1965. So while there are still many people struggling, the plight of the poor is never a constant because there are opportunities for the youth and the adaptable to rise up the jobs ladder.

We must always be nimble enough to go out and make good our lives. As I write, I am in Middle East sourcing for new business to take my company forward, hence  the need to have boundless energy and drive to see through the vision.

The struggles of the past have only given me greater resilience to take things in their stride and move ever upward and onward.

This way, I can stay positive and with this mindset pursue the aims I have set out for myself. 

Million Year Old Artefact as Present ; Watch Video

My German friend, Heinz Strobel gave this priceless present to my wife and I as a wedding gift, and it occupies pride of place in my office table, one of the most amazing and intriguing anthropological artifact brought out from the Black Forest Area. 

Supposed to be millions of years old, it is the embodiment of a molusc which has rings around its body, and it was entombed in the earth and somehow when it was dug up in one piece, it was preserved and the 'Ying" and the "Yang' parts can be taken out and the fine lines appreciated every once in a while.  

Enjoy this video, my readers. 

Dragostea Din Tei - Here's to the Uncool People !

Keep Moving Everyday !!!

Here is the secret to living well and living long - at least for me anyway.

My last full marathon was 3 odd years ago !

1. Exercise at least 4 times a week of duration 50 minutes ; a brisk walk, a run, a cycle, 
swim or just climbing stairs just to get that old pump the heart beating relentlessly is a must.

2. Do mind stimulating exercises. I play Sudoku most days, and spend at least 30 minutes  on an challenging level game (Normally Daily Telegraphs competition level games) 

3. Try to focus and be Happy ; Engage in a rewarding experience. My work in my business keeps me pretty happy. Stress is a downer, so I try not to load myself with too much work  - that can be a real killer too. 

4. Give back to society ; I have said it numerous times and will continue to say it. Give my time and some money back, because as the wonderful Mr. Tony Tay of Willing Hearts says, when you give to the less fortunate, you really wake up to the fact that indeed you ARE fortunate. 

5. Wake up, meditate and smell the fresh air. 

6. Seize the Day ; the salad days are gone, but wisdom and experience have replaced the raw energy and blind enthusiasm.  Just enjoy the ride .

Salad Days June 1990 - Visit to Yoshida Seiki 

And the Wolves go marching on !

Today's fifth round FA cup tie away to Bristol City brought another victory to the Wolves who have got 0 silverware of note in the last 38 years. The last serious Cup they secured was the 1980 League Cup which was won by a mistake by Shilton giving Andy Gray an open goal to score.

The only goal came from a beautiful pass from Conor Coady onto Matt Doherty whose jinking run into the penalty box and then hauling the ball back to Ivan Cavaleiro to place it past the hapless Bristol City keeper Fielding. 

They then went on to control the first half with beautiful passes and the mercurial Doherty came very close to a second goal which just nicked the upright. Boly, Gibbs White, Moutinho and Dendonker all either forced their goalie to make finger tip saves or parry their shots out wide.   

Now, they are in the last 8 and my dream as a fan is to go and watch the FA Cup Final with the Wolves once in my lifetime.

Will 2019 be the year ????  I wait with bated breath. 

My Goldfish in my Water Feature live in a Separate Universe to Me.

Here are 4 happy goldfish taken today. I have got them for over 3 weeks and I have learnt a lot about rearing goldfish in the past. There are many factors which will lead to their early demise, so I have alot of pain and heartache in the past, especially when the water in the water feature turns acidic or some disease wipes them out. 

So 3 weeks ago I bought my first pair of goldfish, and so far so good. The thing is that the weather has been very hot and we have no t had much rain. Rain is likely to be acidic in nature, and hence will disrupt the alkalinity in the pool. Before putting the fish in the outdoor pool, I had conditioned the water with lots of salt as well as with an anti-chlorine solution which normally affects ornamental fish.





Once that was done, I also have ensured that there is enough air (ie. bubbles) circulating the pool and that whenever we clean the pool, we do not use any soap or cleaning solution. The fish have led a happy existence, so far, only eating 6 pellets a day (we control their diet very strictly) as well as changing the water only once every 2 weeks or so, ensuring that 2 - 3 pails or about 1/3 of the water is reused.

Chlorine, alkalinity and acidity all lead to problems and may eventually kill the fish.

But as goldfish, they lead a very happy existence, playing with one another, exploring the length and depth of the pool and keeping all those who observe their existence quite happy.

Its as if they live in their small universe and we humans in ours. 

There is hardly any interaction between them and us. If they are happy and lively, so am I. 

Joe Cocker - Feeling Alright

What a fantastic song ! 

Streets of Fire - Tonight is what it means to be young

One of the iconic movies of my youth and young adulthood, I believe this superb movie was released to the general public in 1983, I was 21 years of age then. I had the Video Cassette Tape of it and then the CD. I must have watched it over 20 times, I was so enthralled with the actors then as well as the music.

The director was the renowned Walter Hill and he cast the then heart throbs of Michael Pare, Diane Lane as the leads as well as several renowned actors as the supporting cast. The storyline is simple, a rockstar girl who is on her way up is kidnapped by a gang of hoodlums in the '50s ghettos of New York.

Word gets around and her old flame Cody comes flying in to save her from the bad guys, and then its just a cat and mouse game of guy saves girl, they go into hiding with their sidekicks and the 'keh lair fair' (bit part band mates) and the bad guys go all around town looking for her and creating mayhem, finally culminating in a one on one street fight between Cody and the Boss (superbly played by Willem Dafoe).

This final scene is the song of the movie and Cody makes his exit, and once again leads to Ellen's heartbreak but he realises it for the best, so strolls off into the sunset and hops a ride onto the butch girl's car and they lived unhappily ever after.

The acting was quite stiff in retrospect, Diane Lane gave a pretty superb performance but Michael Pare's acting was as stiff as cardboard. He rarely showed emotions as perhaps that was the 'macho' image of the 50s.  

Nowadays with the confusing titles of Metrosexuals, SNAGs, Me Too women and LGBT, we men frankly don't know what persona to carry let alone show. I think the women are just as equally confused.

  

Chinese New Year Resolutions

I have decided on this 2nd day of the Chinese New Year to post 3 Resolutions, 1 for the brain, 1 for my health and 1 for my spirit.

Taken atop St Peter's Basillica in 2017, above all the statues of the saints and apostles

St Peter's Square is in the background. 

1. Brain - to learn a new mathematical game, Mahjong, so that I can play this centuries       old game with my family and friends. Plus it keeps my mind as sharp as can be.



2. Health - To learn a new sport for my late middle age. 70 is now the young old age and 90, the old old age.  



3. Spirit - To seek and find the meaning of Life through seeking the established religions and meditation, to give back more to society so that I can lead a more fulfilling existence.  

Why we like 'stories' of hope ?

I chanced upon an article from the local newspaper headlined "Twins barely made it to Express stream now doing well in IB".

This is the statistical biases which all newspapers can and most often do highlight but do remember it is 5 in 50,000 or 1 in 10,000. 49,995 do not come near this result and probably tens of thousands just scrape through. 

So when you have stories which are full of hope based on say 50,000 students studying for this year's 'O' levels, there will always be the 0.1% of these boys and girls who will come up against the odds.Note 0.1% is still 50. If there were only 5 then the odds would be 0.01 % . 

In Thailand, Dec 1975 for the Sanya Samaki Swim Cup with Bangkok Sports Club

And boy they do make out a great story of success. The reason is that our minds are geared, or primed to react and praise the ones who come out on top. It is so motivational and enriching. Success bias is ingrained in our brains for the longest time. Not so the plodders and mediocre performers who form the bulk of the 95% students.

Our brains are also wired to link instances in time chronoloigically to form a story. Logical or Sensational, we all have the 'capacity to spin a yarn', to make an oration. So that we end up being more popular, more sought after and more liked on Facebook. 

Stories are just events which when scribed down, they are inextricably linked to form a message. The spin is where the writer then knowingly puts in his bias.

Throw in a few 'downers' and there will be many and the story just becomes another one of everybody's life. 

So be careful of what is written out there. Spin doctors make you want to see what they see and are intent to spread a line for the unwitting. 

Its called an Op - Ed, or opinion editorial.    

Another weekend another win by Wolves away to Everton

I am amazed by the consistency of the Wolves team. There are several standout players, in this almost totally standout team. Coach Nuno Esperito Santos is the 'MAN'. He has come in with a grand vision, shaken up the entire team, gotten in star players at very decent prices and now in the 2nd half of the season, with a small squad of 18 players or so, has managed to win against the big 6 clubs and are holding 7th with 4 points ahead of the 8th place.

Dare we view that next season we can play in Europe ?  I think yes.

This season if we reach within the top 6 I would be most happy for this standout team.   

A win in the FA Cup would be the icing on the cake. Achievable ? Yes ! 

DARE TO DREAM AND WORK HARD TO ACHIEVING THOSE DREAMS. FOCUS. 

The thing about the N. Ireland 'Backstop'. A good video below

Why are property prices so high in Hong Kong ?

This video by Vox provides a great insight as to why the property prices in Hong Kong are so expensive and thus forcing ordinary citizens to live in smaller and smaller box units and even cage homes no larger than a car park space. 

The root cause of this problem is inefficient Government policies regulating land use. Only 3.7% of all urban land is let out to the people of HK to live.Of that 3.7 % of land, it is safe to say that 80% of the property is privately owned, with many developers bidding sky high prices per square foot each progressive year. There are of course Government housing, but as I checked only 4,400 was made available to the citizens in 2018. Public housing rentals are there too, but that again comes with a long waiting list and a whole list of eligibility criteria to fulfill. The rest of the time the land sales is bidded and the highest tenderer normally gets the parcel of land. Land sales is the main revenue generator for HK Government, so as to offset the negligible revenue from taxes. 

In Singapore it is the reverse. 80% of  the land meant for housing is  sold to the Housing Development Board (HDB) with a 99 year lease and subsidised pricing for the citizens who can use their CPF (retirement funds) to defray the deposit and grants provided up to $30,000 for units when the citizens live with their parents and $20,000 if they live close to their parents (within 4km radius). Hence, the prices are controlled for new sales, the buildings come with alot of amenities like ramps (for elderly), ample connectivity between the car parks and the blocks, the walkways leading to the bus stops  are covered hence minimising the use of umbrellas in case of rain. 

Town centres come well designed with a large hawker centres, connectivity, ample car park lots and high ceilings with latest mechanised fans for ventilation. 

Back to HK, the tenure is only 50 years (since 1997 when the territory was handed over to Chia) well within the life span of many Hong Kongers and then one is again forced out on to the street unless one has the means to buy the U$ 2000 per square foot of air space in downtown HK.

While there is easily 20 - 30% of usable land which can be tendered out for Government housing, it is few and far between resulting in many people waiting decades just to get a shot to live in one. In the meantime, they have to rent in squalid and cramped subdivided units. A 10 foot by 7 foot square mattress in a cage home goes for US$ 300 (S$ 400).

A room in Jurong Bukit Batok, of size 400 - 500 square foor which is perhaps 30 -45 minutes from downtown Financial District in Singapore can be rented out for a little more than US$ 500 (about S$ 700).  

A really sad situation for the poorer citizens of HK.   

So one may be able to afford an apartment, say in the 80s when price were cheaper and you were in your 20s then. Come 50 years later and in your 70s can you imagine you have saved enough (or your children) to buy another property which has probably price per square foot of 100 times of what you had paid for ??  

Taxes are amongst the lowest in the world, there is no GST, VAT, electronic road pricing and such. Hence land sales is the primary source of revenue generation and it is normally tendered out with the highest bidder winning.

The hardest hit are thus the elderly, poor families with young children and the divorcees.

Trial by Social Media

Recently there was a big fracas on the confrontation between a lady passenger and a Go Jek driver which was uploaded first to Facebook and subsequently shared thousands of times and has since gone viral.

I want to add my 2 cents worth to it, as I feel that the rise of social media and the use of built in cameras and video phones has levelled the playing field of 'he says, she says' but also can be used as evidence if the confrontation , misdemeanor, or simply misunderstanding of the situation can be viewed by perfect strangers and then there will be a 'trial by social media'. 

Why this phenomenon has arisen is that while confrontations, minunderstandings and incidents happen everyday, the 'drama' which unfolds can be worthy of prime time television and people will stop, waste their precious time and cast judgement, and comment on who was right, wrong or plain stupid.

The incident between the Go Jek driver and the lady passenger clearly shows the ignorance of people taking ride sharing apps (the lady in this instance). From what I understand, she wanted to go to town and was ignorant of the fact that she the passenger had to pay the ERP or electronic road pricing upon entering into the Central Business District. Her defence, she had taken other routes driven by other drivers which did not encounter or enter the ERP gantries.

The driver politely asked her to show him the route which she had been taking, but she insisted that he should know and from then on the situation spiralled out of hand. She insisted that he had taken her 'hostage' and called a friend to try to speak to the driver.

The other lady friend was just as clueless and the driver then upped the ante by saying that if she was this unreasonable, and was claiming that he had taken her 'hostage' then he had better drive her to the nearest police station at Toa Payoh to settle the matter amicably.

The sense of entitlement or the attitude of the lady (obviously Singaporean) was really unbecoming. She appeared very patronising. Everyone is working hard and we try to be as amiable to all people we meet and when the driver indicated to her that he did not know other routes, she should then (in hindsight) asked to stop the car, and cancel her ride there and then.

It ended when the driver drove near Toa Payoh Police station and the lady asked for help from the police officer. He asked to hear both their stories and the Go Jek driver with his video on appeared to be telling the who truth from start to end. When she did not hear the response she was expecting to get, she then attempted to get out of the car whereby the door's autolock came on.

The video ended when she finally managed to get out but the policeman was sympathetic to the driver and rightfully so. Unreasonable passengers who cry 'wolf' are unfortunately a by-product of the 'me first' generation of today. They refuse to see anybody else's point of view except their own. 

No sense of give and take at all.