Bassai Dai Shito Ryu

Beautifully executed by a Japanese Master ; side view shows the stances,blocks kicks and punches perfectly.   

Bassai Dai - Bunkai

This is the application of the most recognised of all Shito Karate style katas. Called the Bunkai, it shows off the many one to 4 step of block and counter strikes in this most beautiful performed katas.

I am adding this as a technique reminder for today's class (1st March 2020).

Tottenham 1 Wolves 3 ; Dec 2018 ; can it be repeated ??

Footnote on 4th March : the answer is "Yes" !  Wolves emerged 3 - 2 winners in London on Sunday 1st March 2020.

What a glorious time to be a Wolves fan !!! 

Your Momma don't dance - Live from Daryl Hall's House 2016

Veteran musicians singing Kenny Loggins and Messina's classic Your Momma don't dance. 

While Loggins plays the lead guitar together with Daryl Hall (of Hall and Oates fame), the rest of the musicians are of world class standards themselves.

I absolutely love this (albeit slow) version of the late '70s classic played by masters such as these !

Bill Gates No Less Said This at a TED Talk in 2015

The key and sad point of all this chest beating and reflection is this, if the people in authority watch this and did nothing, it is indeed a calamity indeed. The fact that Bill Gates no less a person with great standing as a thinker, entrepreneur and philantrophist foretold of this calamity in 2015, (Coronavirus outbreak which is now a Global Health Emergency) and since then, there seemed to be little done globally.  Countries coming together and partnering to form some kind of international 'ringfence' or working together in this regard (to contain the outbreak) still seems quite disjointed or piecemeal. 

I am glad Singapore's response and readiness to act has been up to expectations.  We have learnt well from the painful lessons of SARS some 17 years ago. 

I know and pray that the world's epimediologists are working round the clock to a) contain the spread b) provide prompt and proper medical care to the sick and suspected sick and c) racing against time to find a vaccine. China at the epicentre, needs all the help it can from the world's medical community to firstly fight and contain the spread, and secondly bring it under control. The painful lessons of SARS seem to be recurring again, much to the whole world's anguish and concern. 

Some trends seem to emerge. (I call them trends as they are not yet fully verified as 'facts').

1. The virus is pretty contagious. It is air borne, possibly water droplets and even through tears.

> Latest Update (22 March) : To date, the disease is a GLOBAL PANDEMIC, with over 230,000 and over 10,000 dead. New information of the deadly virus :



2. People who have the virus are contagious, even when they show little or no signs and thus can be mobile and pass it to people they come into immediate contact with.

3. China has sent the genetic data of the virus to WHO and as a result some countries including Singapore have isolated and created the exact replica of the current strain of the Novel CoV -19. Their openness for sharing with the world this data is to be lauded. 

"If you know your enemy and its intentions, you can find the path to defeat it.  "

3. The death rate based on the number of cases in total, seem lower than the other more severe pandemics like SARS, MERS and Ebola. However, this is not conclusive at this juncture.

4. Thailand is the first nation at this point to 'cure' a patient who is 71 with a cocktail of 'flu vaccines, SARs and HIV. While this is excellent news, the combination is probably still too expensive and not easily reproducible at this point. Reference to this article in Fortune below link : 
   
https://fortune.com/2020/02/03/wuhan-coronavirus-treatment-thailand


5. We will beat this virus over time, the only critical issue at this point is to ensure that the Co - R (or rate of infections per cycle) is reduced drastically. The only way is to identify early the victims, give them the best quality medical care and facilities while the people they have come into contact should be kept under quarantine for further observation.

For Singapore, my guess is that most of the victims should recover, if not all.

For the rest of us  Lets Keep Calm and Carry On

The Only thing to Fear is Fear itself

Panic Buying of Masks in Hong Kong (Channel News Asia report)



Here is the philosophy I have developed over the course of my life. Face the ultimate head on. We are all going to face the inevitable end of life one day. Till that day comes, do we cower in fear when a sudden unexpected global epidemic arises ? Or do we take heed, read, check up on what are the causes of the outbreak and then decide what we need to do and the rest we leave it up to probability ?

The last 7 days have been a daily dose of the Novel CO-19 Coronavirus originating from the city of Wuhan China. Up till today, there are over 7,000 cases reported mainly in China with 170 deaths.People are daily posting the worse case doomsday scenarios about this terrible contagious disease, as yet there has been no vaccine found to readily combat it.

The vaccine will be found ONE DAY. Just like in many of the other once deadly and now, just another 'once killer' disease which threatened humankind's very existence like
HIV/AIDS, SARS, Ebola, MERs and yes in 1918 the Spanish 'flu. Till then we wait, and 

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON. 

Singapore to date has 13 cases all arrivals from Wuhan since the start of the contact tracing began on 23rd January and they have been under quarantine since that day.

New arrivals with dubious health statuses from China will need to undergo mandatory quarantine too up to 14 days. 

Hold on a little bit. Lets look at our lives. We all will face the end ONE DAY. How and when that happens depends on either fate, God or the end of life which in most cases being the body is too frail to withstand viruses or bacteria and hence even with the best medicines, death comes.

Then there are the group (my age group friends are facing these days head on) who already have life threatening diseases. Heart disease, diabetes, cancer and yes even colds and coughs which could lead to death. Many people are living with pre-existing conditions ; the older one gets the more bad stuff they have. Life is like that unfortunately. However, we CAN take action from the time we become self aware to :

a) eat heathliy
b) exercise frequently
c) enforce good personal hygiene
d) maintain strong immune system by taking health supplments and the like. 

My point is this, the Novel CO-19 is just another Corona virus (there are many so the scientists say) but the contagiousness is quite high but the death rate is lower than SARS or even Ebola.

So why are people in Singapore panicking and buying masks and acting like they will catch this virus and being so fearful of enduring a painful death ? Are there thousands of carriers from Wuhan China who are in our midst ? Not from what the numbers show from our reliable Health Authorities. Our Government's contact tracing from the point of entry to all visitors from Wuhan in the last month MUST be far more sophisticated than just the routine checking at the entry points surely.

Even then, there will be some spread because the mainlaind Chinese would move here and there, BUT again 14 days  before  23rd January (when the surveillance was started), would mean from 16th January onards till today 30th. Most flights out of China are cancelled or postponed anyway. So it is safe to assume our authorities have rounded up most of the people potentially with the virus.

Again I question this about people's mindsets :  

Is the year end 'flu or the occaisonal fever so painful ?

A fact which a doctor friend told me is that the year end 'flu kills 6,000 - 7,000 in the US ALONE, and probably perhaps a million people die worldwide from it each year. Yet, no one goes into panic mode and drop their IQ by one dozen points and sense and sensibility goes out the window. 

Lets assume you DO have the virus. Or cancer or Heart disease. What do you do then ?

That changes your mindset doesn't it ? Suddenly you realise you only have 2 years or 6 months or whatever to live. The doctors will give you the very best medical care and you need to fight it ; just as in anything which affects your health. 

Then you are no longer fearful and realise  "Hey, I still have a life !  why was  I not enjoying life up to now ??  

Lets Choose to Live Now ! Today. DO NOT BE AFRAID. 

The only thing to fear is FEAR ITSELF. 

Do not do stupid things and mitigate risks such as going to mainland China for holiday or non essential visits.

Live each day as if it were your last.

And when we finally accept that we will all face the end ONE DAY we then understand that we need to SEIZE EACH AND EVERY DAY. You will be satisfied with it (your life I mean) when the time comes. 

Trust Me.

CARPE DIEM. 

Mum and Papa taught me to stand up against tough times

Mum and Papa circa 1984 outside Ming Jiang restaurant 

My Mum Anna (1930 - 2011) and my father Geoffrey (1919 - 2010) were exceptional people. They lived through turbulent times of the 2nd World War and were happily married for 50 years or so till their passing. Life was very hard under the Japanese occupation, my father had an older brother Gerard, who was taken captive by the Japanese and never seen alive again. My Mum endured alot of hardship first in Guangzhou when my Gong Gong left the family and my Por Por (maternal grandmother) had to come to Malaysia to eke out a living amongst the overseas migrants.

They struggled for basic necessities during the war, just to eat rice was a treat. My mother had this knack of charming the Japanese into giving her enough rice for her 3 sisters and younger brother and my Mum was the champion EQ (emotional quotient) person, so she always managed to 'sweet talk' the Japanese soldiers into giving her more than her fair share of rice, while the big strapping whom she went with most often of times, got nothing !

Life was tough then and my father (I believe) was an interpreter between the Japanese and the local people, as he had picked up the language quickly during the tough war times. 

I always am proud to be their elder son, and by being so, I must be resilient, and stand my ground especially when the situation demands it.

I must strive to be better and work towards a happy work life balance. Retirement is at the moment not an option, although I must say I am blessed in health and am getting by in business. I had a torrid time about 5 years ago, and the JV company for testing business is wound up and we are applying to strike it off. The lessons learnt must never be repeated.

Everyone deserves a little kindness and fairness in life. Though that is not very often the case (a few people are very fortunate while the rest of us have to plug through a whole list of very trying times) we need to just grin and bear with the situation and manage it with the heart of a survivor.

Up and On. Never Give Up. Change Tack when Situation Demands It !