whaleshark / chronicles

Sir, your shirt dem ugly

2007-08-12T09:37:00.000+08:00

Sorry Sir, maybe your people were too respectful to say, but seriously. Dem ugly. White would have been better.

And the video, Sir. Wooden. Serious. Overwhelms the message.

Did they really say that???

2007-02-11T15:50:00.000+08:00

Crazy quotes from today's Sunday Times...

Madam See Biew Wah, who was sent by Singapore Airlines to Paris in 1972 to model for Pierre Balmain, when he was working on the Singapore Girl's iconic uniform: "He was extremely particular. If he didn't like something, he'd just rip it off." She claims she now has an "invisible uniform", which has kept her strong and confident.

You bad boy, Mr Balmain. Now she's all weird and talking about invisible uniforms.

Tan Boon Long, an undergraduate who turned S$125,000 into S$723m over three weeks in a stock-trading contest, when asked what his psychology was during the game: "I was risk-neutral. I placed very big bets I wouldn't have dared to in real life. And I put down all the money I had." His strategy was to buy mainly stocks and covered warrants that cost a few cents and which offered huge gains in percentage terms. He has made 6% on his real-life portfolio since last July.

Ah Boy ah, I think you better go check the real meaning of risk-neutral, hor. Like before you bet the farm would be a good time. Or maybe you should just leave it to the pros. 6% since July long-only is really bad.

On the Landmark Forum

2007-01-07T18:13:00.000+08:00

An old friend has been trying to get me to go to the Landmark Forum, an intense training course touted to bring out the best in you.

There's lots of controversy, as you can see here, here, here and here. Some people call the Landmark Forum a cult. But others swear by it, as you can see here and here. I'm curious, but there are some elements of the Forum which, well, raises my antennae, so to speak.

If anyone has had an experience with them to share, that will really help.

Manscaping comes to the fore

2006-12-02T08:24:00.000+08:00

Hilarious site for Philips' new shaver. Check out the music video.

How to believe...?

2006-11-03T07:07:00.000+08:00

Gahmen: No one will be left behind.

WSM: Get out of my elite uncaring face.

WSK: I stand by her basic point.

Mr Wang says it better.

It's that time of the year again!

2006-10-29T19:30:00.000+08:00

Ahhh white truffles... That, among all the autumnal goodies including moon cakes, sanma (pike mackeral) and ankimo (anglerfish liver) truly gets my juices going.

White truffles on linguini at Iggy's.
So simple yet mind-blowingly good.

White truffles on scallops and mashed potato at Senso.

Science lesson for the Straits Times

2006-10-26T07:04:00.000+08:00

See today's Straits Times, page H1.

Krist, a whale shark is NOT a marine mammal. It is a shark, i.e. a fish, i.e. NOT a mammal.

A simple Google search would have turned up this well known fact.

Rather stupid

2006-10-24T08:22:00.000+08:00

Chicago marathon winner slips on sponsor's decal as he crosses the finish line. Suffers brain hemorrhage. Officials discover plastic is slippery when wet.

Duh.

See the video here.

We're back!

2006-10-17T18:07:00.000+08:00

We're back after a short break! No prizes for guessing where we went... : )

Konichiwa!

Daddy had some airmiles to burn. And yah, it was nice to holiday with Mommy again after quite a few years. So we left the kids with the Grands and zoomed off in search of the quitessential Japan Hour experience. You know, the whole ryokan-onsen-kaiseki-"oiiishiii des!!!" combo. The place was a little onsen town called Kurokawa, a 3-hour bus ride from Fukuoka. We stayed at two ryokans there - Yamamuzuki and Okunoyu. Here's what they look like (click on the pix for slightly bigger versions).

Main entrance at Yamamizuki

Traditional Japanese bedroom

Attached onsen bath

Flagship outdoor riverside bath

Main entrance at Okunoyu

Japanese-Western combo room

Attached outdoor bath

Flagship outdoor riverside bath

Overall, we got what we wanted in all its Japaneseness. A few observations though:

1. The ryokans differ quite a bit in style, but also in subtle details which make all the difference, like whether the decor includes kitschy faux-bamboo, whether you can see the hot water piping or whether they conceal it so well that you actually think it springs from that gap in the rocks. Like whether each dish in the kaiseki meal just feels like it has been given that personal touch. Yamamizuki wins hands down, we think.

2. No matter how many times you have seen it on Japan Hour, it's still a culture shock (but in a such good way!). Like how there's no shower in the room (it's in the communal bath), or how there's no bed in the room at daytime at a traditional ryokan (where do you collapse in front of the TV then?). And of course, bathing au naturel in the open (which Daddy enjoyed, but Mommy took some getting used to).

3. That onsen bathwater is si peh hot!!!

4. That we ate surprisingly little seafood. Maybe foreign Japanese restaurants overemphasize this part of Japanese cuisine. The food was still pretty shiok, though.

Kaiseki spread at Okunoyu. Yamamizuki's was better
but served course-by-course, and less photogenic.

Kurokawa itself is a nice little town, in a Japanese-alpine village kind of way. Here's what it looks like.

A river runs through it

The weather was good, and the autumn colours were just showing. A month more and it would have been brilliant.

Nice to get away from the haze!

We also spent two days in Fukuoka, which is a nice little city, much more manageable in size than Tokyo. Food and shopping were pretty good, and not a expensive as you might think. Like-for-like quality-wise, Japanese food is cheaper than in Singapore. Only thing which marred the experience was that we got ripped off at the local food stalls (which were still cute as a button). Nuff said - do unto others, right?

Fukuoka gets even for Newton Hawker Center

Special mention to Maiko, who sacrificed her half-day off to show us what's special in her part of the world. If you are reading this Maiko, thank you so much. You are welcome at our home anytime.

Arigato gozaimas, Maiko-san!

Fukuoka off-takes

2006-10-17T17:24:00.000+08:00

Click on the pix for bigger versions.

How do you get people to come if it's so terrible?

When you cannot think of a name for your building

Top row, fourth from left says "Toddy Coffee".
Must be from the estate.

Food from all over = GROVAL Buffet?

Can Malaysia move on?

2006-10-10T09:42:00.000+08:00

The Business Times published an article today about an "acrimonious debate" which has broken out in Malaysia over a think tank's claim that the ethnic Malay share of corporate equity had reached 45% by Sep 2005. The current figure, according to the government, is 19%. The think tank's claim is controversial because since 1971, the government has always pushed for Malays to own at least 30% of the country's corporate equity. The article goes to some length to discuss the various methodologies which are employed by both sides to derive their stated results.

One may debate the details, but Manu Bhaskaran, an economist whom I admire a lot, cuts to the chase, saying:

'What strikes me as surprising are all these old stories. The world is moving on and talking about globalisation, of attracting the best talent - and Malaysia is still obsessing about the ethnic division of spoils.'

So the question, I think, is this: can Malaysia move beyond its racial politics and plug in to the world? Or will it be left behind, bickering over who gets what of the pie, and yet ignoring the fact the the pie is in fact shrinking, no, getting eaten, by global competitors?

Going by what PM Adbullah has said, one would think that the Malaysian government is in fact quite aware of the issue at hand. In a speech in Apr 2006 to the KL Business Club, he said:

'We have seen increased competition from our neighbours and from other regions. We have seen foreign direct investments chase new development opportunities elsewhere... With everything that is happening in the world – escalating oil prices, the rise of China and India, a continued global macroeconomic imbalance – the next five years will probably determine whether we’ll make it... The sense of purpose and urgency that it has created is not without basis. I am not an economic historian but as someone who has studied the rise and fall of civilisations, I am under no illusion that this is one of those turning points in our history.'

On the realities of racial politics, he goes on to say:

'If my government had to politically rely solely on a constituency represented by this audience here tonight, we will be out of business. Although you move and shake the world of business, you are in a minority. The mission will only work if i have the support of the majority... The economic philosophy that has allowed for this to be accepted as a national mission is that growth must be accompanied by distribution… Without a solid social foundation created by a distributive policy, we will not have the stability to stay relevant. Policies to help the bumiputera – a cornerstone of our social contract – will continue but will be designed to bring the best out of the community rather than consigning them to a culture of dependency. These socioeconomic priorities are uniquely Malaysian and are firmly non-negotiable.'

Which all sounds very first-world and yet sensitive to local realities. But yet nothing much has actually changed. So where's the disconnect? In all probability, it boils down to the necessities of staying in power, made all the more troublesome by the criticisms of an ex-PM, no less. And the fear is that Malaysia will not be able to get with the big picture, take the tough medicine and move on from the way things have been for the last 35 years...

Jia-Hui is one!

2006-10-02T20:12:00.000+08:00

And this blog was started when she was born - how time flies! All four kiddie cousins gathered at grandma's as usual for the celebrations. But then, hor, combine four rowdy kids, a camera-phobic baby and a jealous elder sister, and you're going to have seriously few decent photos. Still, Daddy got a good one with the girls:

And got Mommy in for one as well:

The kids participated in seasonal festivities:

And had a blast as usual:

Oh, and check out Xin-Hui's vintage tai-kor-tai water bottle!

Not the same when the angmohs do it

2006-09-24T09:33:00.000+08:00

The Departed, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen and directed by Martin Scorsese:

Infernal Affairs, starring Andy Lau, Tony Leung and directed by Alan Mak and Andrew Lau:

The angmoh trailer (they gotta make it more obvious):

Perplexing article on HDB scam

2006-09-21T09:38:00.000+08:00

The Business Times reported today about a new HDB scam called the "cash-down" scheme. Here's how it is supposed to work:

Someone may have bought his flat for, say, $400,000 during the market peak in 1996. With the drop in price, he may be able to sell it today for $300,000 - but the price declared in the official sales documents is lower at, say, $280,000.

The declared sale proceeds ($280,000) will go straight into the seller's CPF account, but he retains the undeclared $20,000 cash that he receives separately from the buyer.

The buyer may be enticed to agree to such an arrangement if he gets to buy the flat at slightly below the market price. In this case, the flat could have fetched a higher price at, say, $310,000, but the seller agrees to sell it for $300,000, so the buyer enjoys a $10,000 saving if he goes along with the seller's scheme.

All sensible so far, but here's where the logic gets confusing:

The scheme is said to involve mostly sellers suffering from negative equity on their property because they had bought their flats at high prices during the boom years. What they do is under-declare their sale price so as to prevent all of the sale proceeds from being returned to their Central Provident Fund (CPF) accounts.

This happens because many owners would have used up a lot of their CPF savings to pay for their flats and the interest cost involved in servicing their mortgages.

and:

Says an HDB resale market observer: 'Whereas the cashback deals were triggered more by greed or profiteering, cash-down deals seem to be driven by hardship and a need for those suffering from negative equity on their HDB flats to get out of the rut - so they can downgrade to a smaller flat, or move on.'

To clarify, negative equity refers to a situation where the value of an asset (in this case an HDB flat) is lower than the value of its attached liability (in this case a loan from the HDB or bank). Hence, asset - liability = equity is negative.

My question is this - how does the scam help you if you are in negative equity? Take the example above. Say the outstanding loan on the flat is $320,000. Hence the seller is in negative equity of $20,000. He will have to repay the bank or HDB $320,000 no matter what.

If he was not in negative equity, i.e. if the flat could be sold at say $350,000 today, the $320,000 loan will be deducted straight from the sale proceeds, with the remainder going first to CPF to cover withdrawals and interest, then to the seller in cash.

If the seller was in negative equity, as in this case where the flat can only be sold for $300,000, all of the proceeds will go to pay off the loan, and HDB or the bank will come after you for $20,000 more in cash. If you under-declare the sale price they will just come after you for more cash.

The only way all this can make sense is if the loan was from the HDB, and it does not have the practice of requiring the seller to top-up the difference between his outstanding loan and the selling price of his flat, i.e. if it forgave the negative equity. (The banks will never do this.)

I have not found anything in HDB's literature to suggest this, and I find it hard to believe HDB will be so generous. If this was true, there will be many who will exploit this route to erase their negative equity. And negative equity will then not be such a big issue.

So I'm back to scratching my head over the logic of the whole thing. Hmmm...

Hedge fund trouble and the analyst job market

2006-09-21T08:59:00.000+08:00

The Business Times reported today that Amaranth Advisors was raising new equity after wrong-way energy bets lost the firm US$4.6b this month. That's quite a chunk of the firm's US$9.5b under management. Apparently, this is the biggest hedge fund loss since LTCM collapsed in 1998.

I'm just looking at this in relation to the huge rise in recruitment by hedge funds in Singapore over the last year. Several of my friends have made the move, lured by lucrative fees, attractive profit-sharing schemes and off course, the potential for outsized gains. Amaranth itself has an office in my building.

Timely reminder... good luck at the tables, guys!

Vroom vroom

2006-09-18T21:39:00.000+08:00

Akan datang, part two.

Scholarship cut-back could be best for all

2006-09-17T15:42:00.000+08:00

"PSA, DBS and SLA have cut back on their scholarship programmes. Is this the start of a trend as employers become more wary of bond-breakers?" So asks the Sunday Times in today's edition. The three agencies did not pin down reasons for the change, said the paper. But a PSA spokesman was quoted to say: "The number of scholarships we offer year to year varies and depends on the organisation's needs and how these needs are met by other channels such as direct recruitment."

I think that the quote is more enlightening, and enlightened, than the paper realizes. My read of the situation is this - that the agencies have awarded far more scholarships than they should have, and in so doing have directly contributed to the bond-breaking problem. Intentions were most probably good when the scholarship schemes were conceived. But honestly, how many Ivy League or Oxbridge graduates does an organization like PSA or SLA really need? Do they really need to bond tens of scholars a year?

My hope is that agencies offering undergraduate scholarships are beginning to realize that bonding large numbers of high-calibre individuals does no one any good when there is no clear understanding of how they will be employed. Unless the right challenges are found for these ambitious scholars, you will always have bond-breakers who leave in frustration. Which leaves the agency equally pissed as well. It is better to not have started the process at all.

Mr Wang has lots more to say on the issue, including answers for those who rue the reduced education funding for those who need it.

Voice & accountability in Singapore lowest in 10 years

2006-09-17T10:42:00.000+08:00

According to the World Bank, voice and accountability in Singapore is at its lowest in 10 years, as measured against a sample of 213 countries. In its 2006 report on governance, Singapore scored 38.2 in the category, meaning that it beat only 38.2% of all the countries surveyed on this measure. Singapore had scored highs of 63.8 in 2002 and 59.1 in 1996, but has seen its rating fall drastically in the last three years.

The World Bank defines voice and accountability as the extent to which a country’s citizens are able to participate in selecting their government, as well as freedom of expression, freedom of association, and free media. I'm still digging into the World Bank's comprehensive website on the survey to see if I can find the exact reason for the decline, but by any measure, the result looks pretty dire.

Meanwhile, I pulled a couple of interesting charts from the site. First, a chart comparing the voice and accountability scores of 20 East Asian countries. At a glance, one can imagine calls of "Look at Taiwan! Look at South Korea! Do we want to be like them?!"

Now let's look at the same chart for 20 OECD countries. Will we then say "Look at Switzerland, Australia, UK and Japan! We do want to be like them!" Food for thought. Click here for a basic table of the World Governance Indicators for each country.

Kiddie pix @ Grandma's!

2006-08-30T15:00:00.000+08:00

So, everyone trooped back to Grandma's for a self-declared long weekend, giving Daddy a much-needed break. Xin-Hui had a blast as usual, and Jia-Hui seemed quite happy too. Except we still have a bit of that reaction to the camera problem...

Left: Xin-Hui at 12 months.
Right: Jia-Hui at 11 months.

Babies and the analyst job market

2006-08-20T15:31:00.000+08:00

So, the gahmen says we'd better make more babies or we'll have to import more foreign talent... Makes me think of the current job situation in my industry. FYI, the job market for equities analysts is hot, hot, hot. This is quite a new phenomenon, taking root really only in the last year or so. Before that the market had been pretty weak following the bear markets of 1998, 2001 and 2003.

I was speaking recently to a senior regional analyst from a top international brokerage. They are looking to fill an analyst position in Singapore and have been looking for months without success. And they can pay MEGA bucks. Another big-name house lost an analyst some weeks ago, and did not even bother looking locally. They brought in someone from their Australia team instead, which I thought was great solution, rather than competing for whatever talent was available in Singapore. At our shop, half the analyst positions have turned over within a year.

I've never seen such a job market before, not even in the go-go mid-90's. Now we have hedge funds and property funds taking analysts from long-only houses, long-only shops ramping up analyst teams, and all three poaching from the sell-side. Meanwhile, sell-side brokers are replenishing numbers and top-tier names are poaching from second-tier houses. On top of that, the traditional breeding ground for new analysts - local brokerages, have all but disappeared. The upshot being, analysts with two to three years' experience are filling jobs specified for five-year-olds, and getting paid that way.

I'm gonna teach my kids to pick stocks, man. A is for "Assets", B is for "Book value"...

Kiddie pix!

2006-08-20T15:06:00.000+08:00

We have a problem. When her photo is taken, Jia-Hui now reacts before the flash by squinting and covering her eyes. Damn, gotta think of ways to sneak up on her. BTW, check out the mountain of toys behind. Note to gahmen: this is why we can't have more kids - no storage space.

Tough month for old friends

2006-08-20T14:26:00.000+08:00

Three old friends of mine are in mourning this month. Two lost their mothers unexpectedly and another, the grandaunt who raised him.

Take good care guys. My thoughts are with you.

In with the new

2006-08-20T13:36:00.000+08:00

Swapped my K750 for a brand new N73. Strangely, I was sad to let the K750 go. I'd gotten used to the interface, which is surprisingly good, and has a few tricks that Nokia should learn. But the hardware was beginning to conk out after just six months (mainly the joystick, which is a known problem), so it was time to cut loss.

The N73 has a gorgeous screen, superb speakers, and generally solid build quality. The interface, well I'll say that Nokia has some serious competition to its Human Technology. And it's slower and has hung on me a few times. There's the 3.2 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, of course. Though initial tests indicate that the improvement over the K750's 2 megapixel is not a quantum leap. For one, it tends to overexpose close-up shots, against the K750's perfect exposure. But get this - you can adjust the exposure on the N73.

One last photo using the K750.

N73 photo in good light.

N73 close-up photo.

N73 photo in poor light. Much better than the K750,
which takes very grainy photos in such conditions.

Enough with the STOMP tip-offs already!

2006-08-05T09:15:00.000+08:00

Sian buay?! Tree fall on car, car fall into drain also must report. Liddat also call drama ah?!

Get. A. Life.

Please.

Woodneuk lost

2006-08-02T20:10:00.000+08:00

I'm speechless... a hundred years of history destroyed just like that. There was an article about it in Zaobao on 11 Jul 06. Click here for more pictures of the burnt-out ruins.

Back at the 190

2006-07-30T11:32:00.000+08:00

After a disappointing first experience at the Four Seasons' 190 restaurant, I was invited back by management, following a letter I wrote to them. This time round things worked out a lot better, with everyone getting what they ordered (well, everyone ordered the same thing after all), and pretty solid food quality. Am happy now.

This is going to be interesting

2006-07-29T09:13:00.000+08:00

Why would demonstrators be interested in protesting at a "secure, private area", with "bans on wooden or metal poles to hold up placards". I know - how about balloon clappers and cheerleaders?

Wikipedia says: "A growing trend in the United States has been the implementation of "free speech zones," a fenced-in area which is often far-removed from the event which is being protested; critics of free-speech zones argue that they go against the First Amendment of the United States Constitution by their very nature and that they lessen the impact the demonstration might have otherwise had."

No outdoor demos for World Bank, IMF meets, say police
But those who want to engage the two organisations can do so in secure, private area at Suntec City
The Straits Times, 29 July 2006

OUTDOOR demonstrations and processions will not be allowed during September's International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings, the police said yesterday.

But in keeping with the tradition of these meetings, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) who want to engage the two organisations will be allowed to do so, but only in a private, secured area set aside for them at the Suntec City venue.

Issuing their public order guidelines for the meetings yesterday, the police said demonstrations are already banned by Singapore law, which cannot be changed to accommodate the meeting.

Securing the country against terrorist attacks and protecting residents, conference delegates and visitors, they said, must take priority.

Singapore Police Force chief-of-staff, Senior Assistant Commissioner Soh Wai Wah, said: 'We are talking about a high security period, and we do not want to create opportunities terrorists can exploit, which can then compromise our security.

'The threat of a terrorist incident is a real one, and requires Singapore to take all necessary and effective measures to safeguard the meeting.'

That means accredited CSOs will only be permitted to express their views inside the convention venue, in a special area on Level 1 of the Suntec Convention Centre. Even then, they must stick to the police rules, which include bans on wooden or metal poles to hold up placards.

The area in and around Suntec City, where the meetings are being held, will be tightly secured.

Said SAC Soh: 'We recognise the importance of the participation of CSOs in the event and have made the maximum effort to facilitate their involvement, within the framework of our laws.'

To stay within that framework, groups must not display anything or behave in a way which will offend religious, racial or ethnic sensitivities.

Last night, in response to queries from The Straits Times, the World Bank's Singapore representative, Mr Peter Stephens, indicated that the global body might want to explore alternative arrangements with the Government.

*snip*

Time capsule in the city

2006-07-23T13:17:00.000+08:00

You have driven past it countless times along Holland Road. You may even have heard of it, or seen its pitched blue roof on Google Earth. Built by William Napier in 1854, Istana Woodneuk, also known as Istana Tyersall, was given to Sultan Abu Bakar of Johor in exchange for his land at Telok Blangah. He then had it rebuilt in 1892. Check out these great photos by Wong Chek Poh.

Source: National Archives of Singapore

Source: synapseman

Woodneuk on Google Earth

Is the 140th actually... talking back?!

2006-07-15T18:26:00.000+08:00

Yawning Bread has a thesis that the Straits Times could be sending a message to the Government regarding the Bhavani-Brown Affair in a recent article on political cartoons. Could it be... true?

Our SERS replacement flat

2006-07-15T13:47:00.000+08:00

Akan datang in 2010.

Brown, the Movie

2006-07-08T20:58:00.000+08:00

Brilliant or what? Via Cloudywind.

Feedback also must exprain

2006-07-03T20:36:00.000+08:00

MICA responds to mrbrown's rant on the cost of living. ~~209~~ ~~304~~ 370 angry comments ensue. I can just see it coming:

Customer: Eh, your bak chor mee not nice!
Bak Chor Mee Man: What you mean my bak chor mee not nice?!
Customer: I mean, your bak chor mee is not nice.
Bak Chor Mee Man: So, what's your solution?
Customer: How I know? You are the bak chor mee man what. If I know, I will be selling bak chor mee also!
Bak Chor Mee Man: How I know your see lang tau lah! Comprain also must have solution, feedback also must exprain, OK!

Mr Wang helpfully decontructs MICA's response for us, just so we're sure. Heavyweight bloggers add their take on the issue, but I like these, by The Negative Man, and soulgroove. Everyone is so unhappy with their bak chor mee...

Meanwhile, the man himself comes up with a classic response.

Technorati tags: Singapore , politics

A different take on Joo Chiat

2006-07-03T20:17:00.000+08:00

In a post which will make a real estate analyst envious, yawningbread offers a new angle on the Joo Chiat "problem".

Bourdain boo-boo

2006-07-02T13:36:00.000+08:00

The Straits Times' Cheong Suk-Wai spots Bourdain's mistakes in today's review. I'm reading the book too, and the man got sloppy, I must say.

Food - THE NASTY BITS by Anthony Bourdain
The Sunday Times, July 2, 2006
By Cheong Suk-Wai

THIS magpie's nest of foodie irks and quirks is a trove for couch potatoes mad about tell-all musings.

More Zen than Kitchen Confidential (2001) and less self-absorbed than its sequel, A Cook's Tour (2002), this book is a compilation of Bourdain's gourmand globe- trots, published in such rags as Gourmet and GQ.

The ex-druggie and 28-year veteran of hot stoves has since turned TV host with shows like No Reservations (airing currently on StarHub Channel 16).

He divvies up this selection into Salty, Sweet, Sour, Bitter and Umami but it is largely a bittersweet brittle of his pet peeves, especially celebrity chefs.

Still, whether he is swooning over seawater sorbet or slamming cocktails 'that look like fabric softener', his mind is always inventive, his heart in the right place. This nasty is nice.

His homework is not, though. 'I've really come to love Singapore,' he enthuses on the last page. But not enough to get to know it better. He confuses nasi lemak with Nonya laksa, and calls bak kut teh 'an appetizingly- looking Malay specialty'. And that fabric softener remark? He means the Singapore Sling. Oy.

If you like this, read: Fork It Over: The Intrepid Adventures Of A Professional Eater by Alan Richman (2005, US$11.44 or S$18.15 from www.amazon.com) which, as with Bourdain, is about the man, not his munches.

Numo the supercute hedgehog

2006-06-11T08:33:00.000+08:00

Check out the adventures of Numo, the snowflake hedgehog. Click on the pix.

Crap service at 190

2006-06-10T07:56:00.000+08:00

I thought I'd try the well-reviewed wagyu burger at the Four Seasons' 190, so I suggested it when a business associate hosted lunch yesterday. There were seven of us at the table, and we all ordered either the wagyu or tenderlion burger. Some wanted their's cut in half so that they could share burgers and try both. Most went for the foie gras and truffle toppings.

The food was delivered with a little confusion about which burger was which. They all looked alike and you couldn't tell the level of done-ness till you chomped into one anyway. Conversation was brisk, so it wasn't till a quarter way through my burger that I realised that it did not have the extra toppings that I'd wanted. And one of my colleagues had the toppings instead when he did not ask for any. They had messed up on who was having what.

I was supposed to have the wagyu, and my colleague, the tenderloin. We exchanged the second half of our burgers, but the meats tasted the same, and the colleague's burger was not medium-rare, which was what I wanted. In the end I don't know what I ate. Which was damn disappointing, considering I really wanted to try the wagyu. Other than that, dishes were also not cleared promptly when coffee arrived (again, delivered to the wrong diners).

All in all, completely unacceptable for the Four Seasons. I didn't complain at the restaurant out of deference for my host, but still feel crap enough to blog about it today. Makes me appreciate Iggy's all the more.

Another good one from China

2006-06-08T21:40:00.000+08:00

Mommy styles Jia-Hui too much like a boy

2006-06-04T17:48:00.000+08:00

Meanwhile, in squeaky clean Singapore...

2006-06-04T17:33:00.000+08:00

There's this curious symbiosis between good food and men's entertainment. I was checking out with some colleagues the #1 rated wanton mee at Keong Siak Rd, which is of course a well known red-light district. And snapped this photo.

We then adjourned to Temple St for Chinese desserts, when this caught our eye. Check out the killer tagline near the bottom (of the poster, lah!).

Cheesy or brilliant?

2006-06-04T07:18:00.000+08:00

Brilliant?!

Give. Me. A. Friggin. Break.

Unless they are purposely being cheesy to get attention...

Eww.

I mean do you expect a potential candidate looking to blow a six-figure sum on a B-school to go "Oo, that's a really cheesy ad. Let's find out more. It may be a good place to bet my career on."

Seriously.

The Chubby Hubby challenge

2006-06-02T21:33:00.000+08:00

Update: Sigh... I'm not in the league. This is my (incomplete) nomination list.

As I've mentioned, Chubby Hubby is compiling an exciting list of the best restaurants in the Asia Pacific. Now it's going to be a real challenge for me to take part. I mean I love food and all, but have I tried enough of the best restaurants to be a good judge? Take Singapore. I love Iggy's, Hua Ting and Inagiku, but I've yet to try Rang Mahal, Morton's or St Pierre. Can my nominations really be worthy? Let's not even talk about restaurants outside of Singapore! Nonetheless, here's my list for now. It's still subject to change, and will be finalised on 2 June, as requested by Chubby Hubby.

Best 2 restaurants in your home city / country:

Iggy's
98th in the world - need I say more? Need I even mention the gratinated sea cucumber with white truffle shavings?

Hua Ting
Best mainstream Chinese restaurant, IMO.

Favourite restaurant in your home city / country:

Kazu
For their sumiyaki foie gras, gritty ambience and whacky location.

3 best restaurants from outside your own home city / country:

This is where I get stuck. I only got one so far:

Xi Yan, Hong Kong
One sentence? I got a whole post, man.

2 favorite restaurants outside your own home city / country:

Ditto, man... I'm not worthy! Gotta think harder...

Mom and pop investors don't stand a chance

2006-05-30T21:38:00.000+08:00

In my job, I read many, many stock reports written by sell-side analysts, who work for the major brokerages. Last weekend, I was trying to access a report by a local broker, which I had read in the office. After exhausting my normal channels, I decided have a look at the broker's research website. I had to register for access, which I did under my personal trading account since it was the weekend and I couldn't call the account manager for my company. Unfortunately I couldn't get immediate access, and had to wait for the broker to "approve", which was to take a couple of days. Oh well.

So, I was rather amused to get this reply today in my e-mail:

Hi,

We refer to your application for an access to the [name blanked] regional research website and regret to inform you that your application has been unsuccessful. According to the MAS rule, clients has to have a net personal assets exceeding S$2m or equivalent in foreign currency or income in the preceding 12 months of not less than S$300k. For stock investment information, you may wish to visit our website at [URL blanked] or check with your dealing representative for advice. Should you have any query, you might want to get back to us.

Thank you for your interest in our research reports.

Yours sincerely
[name blanked] Research Singapore.

Wow. I suppose they mean that under MAS regulations, unless you are a high net worth individual, they are not allowed to give you access to their investment research. Why? Is it because unless you are HNW, you can't handle investment research? Why would MAS think that way? Why would MAS think that way and yet have a research scheme to "widen research coverage of stocks listed on SGX and provide investors with more information to facilitate their investment decisions"? Moreover, reports written under the scheme are accessible by anyone, not just HNWs, and are written by local and international brokers and research houses. Mucho strange.

In comparison, the broker's website has only got for public access snippet-style write-ups without detailed numbers, mostly on small-cap stocks. In this environment, how do mom and pop investors stand a chance? They are already disadvantaged in the type of brokers they can get access to (the top international names serve only institutional clients). And obviously they don't have the same access to management. Now I find out that they don't have access to the same research, even though they probably pay the brokers more per dollar traded than institutional clients. Not a good situation.

I have access to all the investment research and information that I need in my job. And I am lucky to have an employer who will let me invest personally in the same investment ideas which I generate as part of my work (under certain ethical restrictions). If I wasn't in this industry, I'd seriosly consider not trading stocks directly.

Too funny not to post

2006-05-20T13:56:00.000+08:00

It's Bollywood, it's drama, it's the painful reality of outsourcing.

It's The Call Center Movie!

Starting 'em young

2006-05-14T19:44:00.000+08:00

Same pose, same place, 4.5 years apart. And yes, that's a vintage Zip drive in the earlier photo.

Jia-Hui at seven months.

Xin-Hui at seven months.

Dinner at Xi Yan, Hong Kong

2006-05-14T19:02:00.000+08:00

We were lucky enough to get a table at the acclaimed private kitchen on short notice, as someone else had cancelled. The tiny six-table restaurant is located on the third floor of a grimy office building on Queen's Road in Wanchai. The decor was modern Chinese, but hell, it wasn't the ID that we came for!

Our 12-course meal was well-paced over 2.5 hours, contrary to some comments that dinner at Xi Yan's sister restaurant in Singapore tended to be draggy. With a few bottles of wine and good company, it was a breeze, and a lot to eat. Other than that, I'll let the pix do the talking. Damn, the HK trip put me up 1.5kg...

Crummy, but within lies culinary genius.

Skinned tomatoes with a sesame and chinese
mustard sauce.

Steamed tofu topped with fried shallots, salted egg
yolk and dried shrimp, on a soya and vinegar sauce.

Runny-yolked duck egg topped with fish roe
and shredded dried scallop.

Crab and prawn on toast with roe.

Deep fried chicked with plum-powder.

Mix of white-chopped chicken, century egg
and mung bean strips on a mala sauce.

Crispy grouper on a bed of pomelo.

Szechuan braised beef brisket and tendon
with you tiao.

Refresher of guava and jambu air.

Chicken and wolfberry-seed soup with
coconut slice.

Simple stir fried dou miao.

Not pictured: Sweet potato soup with tang yuan.

Iggy's makes it to world's top 100!

2006-05-14T18:58:00.000+08:00

Alerted by the Sunday Times today, I was happy to see that Iggy's is getting the recognition it deserves. I remember thinking "Can I say pretentious?" when I first saw its menu years ago, but after several great experiences, I'm well and truly converted. Chubby Hubby does a better job covering the honours, I feel, and proposes a very sensible and exciting ranking for the Asia-Pacific as well.

Iggy's makes it to world's top 100
Tiny eatery is ranked 98th among world's best restaurants
Sunday Times, 14 May 2006
By Teo Pau Lin

BRING out the champagne: Singapore officially has a world-class restaurant. Iggy's, a tiny, 28-seat modern European eatery in The Regent hotel, has been voted among the best 100 restaurants in the world by the British-based Restaurant magazine.

Put together by an international panel of 560 food enthusiasts, the annual poll, published last month, was topped by the El Bulli restaurant in Spain.

Iggy's came in 98th and was the only South-east Asian restaurant to be ranked.

It came in fourth in Asia, behind Bukhara (46th) in India, and Felix (82nd) and Spoon (91st) in Hong Kong.

Dogs need help

2006-05-06T07:37:00.000+08:00

pc is helping out a friend who runs a dog shelter which is desperately in need of funds. Check out his post, or the shelter's website.

Caring for strays has put these S'pore sisters in debt.
Now they wonder... What is to become of 44 dogs?
By Nicole Na and Belle Charlene Kwan
29 April 2006

MORE than $250,000.

That's how much the two sisters have spent from their own pockets, over the last six years, giving a home to 44 dogs.

They called it Doggie Rescue Shelter.

Ms Jessie, 36, and Elsie Ng, 33, didn't give up even when they changed jobs and took massive paycuts.

But now, their savings have dried up. They hate to think of what would happen to the dogs, which are now housed in 14 rented kennels in Pasir Ris Farmway.

Said a tearful Ms Jessie, who earns less than $2,000 a month from her temporary sales-executive job: 'We can no longer afford to look after these dogs.

'The cost is overwhelming. We have tried every possible way to lighten the financial burden, like switching to lower grade dog food and looking for places with cheaper kennel rentals, but nothing has worked out.

'Ms Jessie hopes that with donations from fellow animal lovers, and interested pet owners coming forward to provide homes for the dogs, she would not have to put them to sleep.

PM accuses WP of inciting insecurity

2006-05-05T06:45:00.000+08:00

Riiiight...

Read what Mr Wang and Mrs Budak has to say about inciting insecurity.

And BTW, you have not read election coverage till you read Yawning Bread's eloquent essay on the rally at Hougang on May Day. Bread is one hell of a cerebral dude. Read his other writings too.

Enough with this Gomez business already!

2006-05-03T06:59:00.000+08:00

More interesting headlines

2006-05-01T08:51:00.000+08:00

Taiwan's underperforming economy
Political infighting affecting island's economic reforms and performance

From today's Straits Times.

Interesting set if headlines on Sunday Times

2006-04-30T08:00:00.000+08:00

After the usual GE coverage on the first few pages, these are some of the stories which followed immediately after:

All grown up...and still getting handouts from mum and dad
Some parents pick up the tab for their working kids' bills

MP Maliki rocks on

From N levels to scoring As in Express
Beatty Secondary student one of many benefiting from 2nd chance offered by education system

Terrorist Noordin evades capture
Police raid at a Central Java village kills two of his aides but the top recruiter for JI remains at large

Al-Qaeda's No.2 leader calls for Pakistani revolt
Zawahiri's message to Pakistanis is the latest release in media offensive by Al-Qaeda

'14,600 killed in 11,000 terror attacks last year'

For the super rich only
Shanghai hosts Millionaire Fair, a sign of Chinese wealth and appetite for luxury goods

China acts to repatriate corrupt officials on the run
Beijing ratifies extradition treaty with Spain, pledging not to execute repatriated criminals

Online political mud-slinging hits Wikipedia

Subliminal, one might think... BTW, interesting to see Madam so involved in the proceedings, too.

Beautiful day in Bintan

2006-04-22T08:39:00.000+08:00

The job does take me to some pretty nice places sometimes...

View from Banyan Tree Bintan's flagship villa.
Merged using Canon Photostitch.

Jia-Hui gets a rare day out

2006-04-16T15:24:00.000+08:00

Xin-Hui is away at grandma's again for the long weekend, so that means Mommy and Daddy can enjoy a bit of quiet, and a bit more time with Jia-Hui (a.k.a. Mei-Mei). It's also hard to bring the whole troop out without a car, so Mei-Mei does not get out as often as Xin-Hui. But today, she got to have lunch with Mommy and Daddy at the Guild House and visit the fabulous Cold Storage at Jelita, where she was asleep most of the time. Daddy got to catch up on a couple of old movies too, which was fantastic.

For pc and E@L, who seem to have gone quiet on L2M...

2006-04-16T14:44:00.000+08:00

A Better Body in 64 Payments
By Steve Friedman
New York Times, January 12, 2006

...At the end of a week I have taken my belt in a notch. After two weeks I have lost five pounds. I don't wheeze quite as much on my trips for Fig Newtons. Also I now use bowflex as a participle.

"What are you up to tonight?" Jack asks one afternoon at the diner, where we are mulling over Villanova's prospects in the forthcoming college basketball season, the heavy toll globalization exacts on the poor and who is a better dancer, Christina Aguilera or Shakira.

"Not much," I say. "I'm just going to grab a salad, maybe watch a little TV, then do some bowflexin." I drop the g because I think it makes me sound more muscular.

In the middle of Week 3, when I look in the mirror, my arms are bigger and my chest and shoulders are more defined. I refer to my arms as guns now, as casually as possible and at the slightest opportunity...

Click through to comments for the full article.

Man sells wife's box on eBay

2006-04-08T10:44:00.000+08:00

Freaking hilarious discussion ensues...
(click images to enlarge)

How to save Google/Youtube videos

2006-03-25T09:53:00.000+08:00

Ever wanted to save a Google/Youtube video for keepsakes? Here's how (same concept may work for streaming music as well):

Play the video in Google/Youtube and wait till it is loaded all the way.
Go to your Temporary Internet Files folder (in IE, go to Tools>Internet Options>Settings>View Files).
Sort the files in order of size. The video will be one of the larger files and you will probably see Google or Youtube under Internet Address.
Copy the file and save it in a desired folder. Rename it *.flv if necessary.
Play the file using FLV player.
Sit back and enjoy.

Xin-Hui draws a dream

2006-03-25T09:24:00.000+08:00

This one is about a dream she had. Mommy, Daddy and Jia-Hui are on the right, and she and that boy are on the left. We are on a beach with the sea in the foreground, and our home in the background with three doors (the middle one is a secret door)...

La mer, qu'on voit danser le long des golfes clairs
A des reflets d'argent, la mer
Des reflets changeants sous la pluie...

(Confused? Look a few posts down.)

My little girl is growing up

2006-03-20T21:30:00.000+08:00

Xin-Hui has been drawing pictures of herself and a boy at school. Daddy thinks she likes him. Why? Because the pictures are invariably of the two of them together - eating, at home, or getting married. Yup, getting married. So cute. She's a little shy about it, and says that she doesn't know whether he wants to marry her. If he doesn't then she says she'll stay with Mommy and Daddy. : ) And she's just five.

The wonderful mind of a child.

Meanwhile here's a latest of Jia-Hui.

You talking about me?

This one sound yummy...

2006-03-19T16:14:00.000+08:00

Taste of Paradise
A new restaurant in Chinatown offers heaven on a plate - at a price
By Wong Ah Yoke
The Sunday Times, 19 March 2006

YOU may remember me writing about a seafood eatery in a Defu Lane industrial canteen last year. Called Seafood Paradise, it was opened by a young man named Eldwin Chua more than four years ago.

Despite being tucked in an industrial estate, it drew crowds each night to its creative offerings such as baby back ribs in honey-pepper sauce.

Last month, Chua, now a slightly more mature 29-year-old, opened his second restaurant.

The new eatery - called Taste Paradise - is a posh 130-seater in the heart of Chinatown. What is most impressive is that, despite having experience only in running a zi char-style set-up, Chua's concept for an upmarket restaurant is spot-on.

Taking up two shophouse units in Mosque Street, it is tastefully designed with dark wood and glass set off by soothing indirect lighting. The look is contemporary, creating a comfortable ambience that is aided by jazzy Chinese music.

Managing the restaurant is another young man, 30-year-old Melvin Fan, formerly from Pine Court in Meritus Mandarin Hotel, who sets himself the task of training a team of waitresses worthy of a five-star establishment. And in just over a month, he has done a decent job. There is even a valet to park your car for you.

The baked lamb rack is so tender,
it's like butter when you slice through it.

The menu of original modern Chinese dishes is created by Hong Kong-born chef Fung Chi Keung. He is also a Pine Court alumnus.

At least half the dishes in Taste Paradise look so intriguing on the menu that I couldn't wait to try them. And those do not disappoint either.

I started my meal with fried carrot cake in XO sauce ($8) that was, without doubt, the best I have eaten in Singapore.

The cubes of carrot cake in this version were fragrant with the oil from Chinese sausages and tingly with the chilli in the sauce.

One would have thought that it would be a tough act to follow, but every dish that came out afterwards was just as laudable.

Whether it was a baked cod fillet ($10 per person) or a double-boiled superior shark's fin with conpoy in Japanese stone pot ($48 per person), there was a twist that made each dish unique.

The cod was topped with two types of preserved fish eggs to give the meat added texture and flavour. And the shark's fin was served with rolled-up popiah skin that was stuffed with chopped onion and deep-fried.

The restaurant's baked lamb rack in red wine sauce ($12 per person) was worth investigating too. The meat was tender enough for one's knife to slice through it like butter.

For a twist, try the double-boiled shark's fin
served with a rolled-up deep fried-popiah.

And you could do worse than to finish your meal with the braised vermicelli topped with simmered crabmeat ($16). Covered with sweet slivers of fresh crabmeat, the rice noodles soaked up the tasty gravy so well that the dish was perfect.

The prices are a bit high for Chinatown standards. But with food so good, can one complain?

TASTE PARADISE
48-49 Mosque Street, Tel: 6226-2958
Opening hours: Noon to
2.30pm, 5.30 to 10.30pm
Food: *****
Service: ****
Ambience: ****
Price: Budget for about $50 per person, more if you order shark's fin or live fish

The truth is out there

2006-03-18T17:12:00.000+08:00

911 Loose Change, 1st Edition:

911 Loose Change, 2nd Edition:

911 In Plane Site:

Facts, theories, counterintelligence. What do you believe?

Heads up from mrbrown

Pick me, pick me!

2006-03-12T10:04:00.000+08:00

Starhub is coming up with their version of the TiVo, dubbed Smart TV. The device basically integrates a dual-tuner set-top box with a HDD/DVD recorder and a cable modem. Features are pretty much what you would expect, including easy show-based recording, recording one channel while watching another, time-slip recording, etc.

Currently Starhub is conducting a survey to pick people to be on their launch trial. Pick me, pick me! Quite simply, I will never be a cable TV subscriber without the new box, because I can only watch TV during weekends, and can never be bothered with conventional recording. Then again, even if I don't get to be on the trial, I'll probably still get the box when it is lauched next quarter anyway...

Baby hands and feet

2006-03-07T21:00:00.000+08:00

I'm using my old Olympus digicam, which seems to do a better job of macro focusing than the newfangled models. Jia-Hui has stubbier hands and feet than Xin-Hui did when she was small. Mommy thinks she'll end up being stubbier overall when she grows up... hmmm.

Oh well, she still is so cute though!

Hand...

and foot!

Cult YTF

2006-03-07T20:44:00.000+08:00

Yong Tau Foo, that is. With a killer sweet and chilli sauce combo, crispy meatballs and succulent braised shitake mushroom. On the 6th floor of Lucky Plaza. Pricing is not for the thrifty.

Yummy.

BKK photo update

2006-03-05T09:52:00.000+08:00

Last time I'd been to Bangkok was more than 10 years ago! First thing that hit me was that traffic was actually quite good! OK, except for the gridlocked Ploenchit/Sukhumvit area. Apparently the school holidays had something to do with it, but I get the feeling that execution of urban highways and mass transit has been stronger in BKK than say, in KL, where jams are still horrendous and getting worse.

I saw a few housing developments and generally, they were not cheap by Asian standards - roughly on par with Beijing and KL. Build quality was also about par, but the BKK houses had really nice landscaping, both on the plot itself and in the common areas. Also, upkeep on completed projects was impressive, especially at the condo developments. KL is far, far behind on that score.

High-end house in the suburbs - S$0.7m.

High-end condo in great location - S$0.6m.

Mass market condo in the city - S$0.15m.

And of course there was the food. We had several great meals, including at the panoramic Saffron (Thai) in the Banyan Tree, the lauded Baan Kanitha (Thai), and the very very politically incorrect Kaeik (sharks' fin). We missed out on the highly recommended Zanotti (Italian), but then hey, Italian, after 10 years away from Bangkok??? I think I gained some weight.

Would you like a view with that, sir?

Guilty, guilty, guilty.

The splendid Baan Kanitha.

I also visited a tailor for three pairs of pants. Reasonably priced for the material but workmanship, I felt, was not as good as in Singapore. Well, one has to try to find out, right? The ang mohs rave about it though. Maybe they're just not used to bespoke...

Also did some shopping. Hard to find anything to buy as prices were very similar to Singapore for like-for-like quality. I'm also not one for the night-market knick-knacks. The malls were nice, though.

Siam Paragon - BKK's mall du jour.

All photos taken with my new K750i, which I'm very pleased with.

Back home.

"Lost" is coming back to local TV!

2006-02-26T12:46:00.000+08:00

At long bloody last! Season 2's almost freaking over in the States! Anyway, I've found a cool stream of Last Season's soundtracks, including my fave, I Shall Not Walk Alone, by The Blind Boys of Alabama. To kick start the mood, you know.

Hello again, Maggie...

Oasis live in Singapore

2006-02-24T16:19:00.000+08:00

Best, have not been to a rock concert for ages. Good stuff, they sang quite a few old hits, like Morning Glory, Wonderwall and (saved till the last) Don't Look Back in Anger. Lots of energy. Save for the few investment-banker types who just had to check their Crackberries during the gig.

Good crowd.

Bussed to the concert in a Hippo bus...
with champagne on board...
following a pre-concert party at Molly Malone's...
all in all a good night, I'd say!

2006-02-19T09:35:00.000+08:00

Xin-Hui @ ballet

Yesterday was an important day. You see, Xin-Hui goes to this ballet school which doesn't allow parents to sit in, or even peep in to the classes so as not to disturb the students (though Mommy did sit in one when she first started). Only once a year do they bring all the parents in to see what the girls have learnt, and yesterday was it.

Xin-Hui certainly seems to enjoy ballet, which is nice. But more importantly, since going for the classes, she has been a lot more confident in doing things on her own, away from Mommy and Daddy or her everyday school environment. Far cry from a year ago when she was so afraid of attending ballet on her own. Next target - swimming class.

2006-02-19T09:07:00.000+08:00

Go pc!

My bro pc has hooked up with Expat@Large in a tag-team weight loss challenge dubbed Large2Medium. Going to the extent of posting some seriously sensitive photos on the net! Solidlah bro. Keep it up!

2006-02-16T20:34:00.000+08:00

Simply, mesmerisingly... sand

More at sandfantasy.com

2006-02-16T20:18:00.000+08:00

First there was Google...

Then came GMail.

Now, its GBuy!

If you still don't get it, check this out.

Thanks to mrbrown for the heads up.

ROFLMFAO.

2006-02-11T10:11:00.000+08:00

Hairy crabs invade the UK!

Apparently this is could be an ecological disaster for them. So I thought like, duuuh, just eat the little buggers lah (or at least export them to China, HK and Singapore). Then some further surfing reveals that the crabs often carry the vile-sounding Oriental lung fluke, which can infect the lung and brain in humans. Ewwww.

Eh sai chiak bor?

2006-02-03T10:38:00.000+08:00

A quantitative look at two children's charities

I thought that I should start to be more charitable, after being called a cynic in a comment to an earlier post. So I decided to have a closer look at two children's charities, Club Rainbow (see Mr Wang's post on this) and the Children's Society, and at their finances in particular.

First off, I'll have to say that readily available financial information leaves some room for improvement. In Club Rainbow's case, the numbers did not appear to be fully broken down. For example, we cannot see how much exactly was spent on fundraising (the numbers could be interpreted to mean that no money was spent on fundraising at all, but I think this is unlikely). Neither charity offers its annual report for downloading. I did get a copy of the Children's Society's annual report for 2004 upon request, but I was surprised to see that it did not contain any financial information. In this day and age, I can only hope that this will improve.

So, relying on information for the year 2004 from the two charities' websites (which were of a standard format and seemed to be mandated by some regulation or other), I noticed a few things:

Club Rainbow is a much smaller organisation, with S$538,000 raised (numbers rounded to the nearest thousand), S$694,000 in its general fund and eight staff. The Children's Society raised S$6.8m, had S$18.9m in its general fund and employed 91 staff.

Direct charitable expenses made up 41 cents out of every dollar Club Rainbow spent. For the Children's Society, it was 70 cents. Maybe its small size worked against Club Rainbow.

For every dollar raised from donations, grants, sponsorships and membership fees, the Children's Society spent just 7 cents in fundraising costs. That's impressive. No reliable calculation could be done for Club Rainbow.

For every dollar of income, Club Rainbow ran a deficit of 53 cents while the Children's Society had a surplus of 14 cents. Average cost per employee for Club Rainbow was S$46,000, while for the Children's Society it was S$28,000.

The ratio of general funds (i.e. available reserves) to direct charitable expenses for the Club Rainbow was 2.0, while for the Children's Society, it was 4.6. The Children's Society seems to have more room to gear up on its charitable activites, while Club Rainbow appears to be in more need of funds.

I also thought that it would be a good idea to see who was heading up the two charities. It's good to see prominent persons in business and society in these key positions, since they have lots to lose if their charity is found to have engaged in any undesirable shenanigans. Club Rainbow's president is Gregory Vijayendran. He is a Partner at Wong Partnership and co-heads the firm's Banking and Insolvency practice. Chairman of the Children's Society is Koh Choon Hui. He is Chairman and Managing Director Roche Singapore Pte Ltd (yes, think Tamiflu).

My feel is that the finances of Children's Society read like a decently-run organisation, with ratios which put the old NKF to shame and capacity to do more, while those of Club Rainbow reveal a more immediate need for funds. Which is more worthy of support? Maybe both are. I'll make up my mind shortly. What strikes me, though, is that Singapore does sorely need a charity rating organisation, like the US' Charity Navigator, itself a non-profit entity. Now, in the name of greater transparency, that surely deserves support.

2006-02-01T20:04:00.000+08:00

Weeee're back!

Major photo update. So the whole gang trooped back to Mama and Yeye's for Chinese New Year (trooped being the operative word, considering the logistical complexities of moving one baby, one lively little girl and a maid). Not much visiting this year, mostly stayed at home. Xin-Hui had a blast of course, playing with the younger cousins, running around the house, playing with sparklers and galavanting with Yeye. Jia-Hui was hesitant initially about her first time away from home, but gradually warmed to the occasion. All the kids got dressed up, which was nice, and Daddy put on 2 kg, which was not so nice...

Xin-Hui catches the Korean wave.

A rare family shot.

Fun with sparklers.

The girls and their Mama.

Yeye and Jia-Hui.

Glad to be home!

2006-01-27T11:44:00.000+08:00

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Going back home shortly. Happy New Year, everyone! Will be back with some new kiddie pictures.

2006-01-25T21:10:00.000+08:00

A meme!

Wahhh, pc tagged me with my first meme, leh...

4 Jobs You’ve Had In Your Life

Equities analyst
Entrepreneur
MLM business owner (short lived, that one)
Admin assistant

4 Movies You Could Watch Over And Over

Matrix
Zoolander
Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
Mmm... can't think of any more leh...

4 TV Shows You Love(d) To Watch

C.S.I.
Lost
Survivor
Alias

4 Places You’ve Been On Vacation To

Egypt
Andorra
Alor, Indonesia
The Mergui Archipelego, Myanmar

4 Places You Would Rather Be

Underwater, anywhere (Palau will be nice)
In an onsen in Japan
On the Four Seasons Explorer
In bed, snoozing with Mommy

4 Of Your Favourite Foods

White truffle
Foie gras
Chutoro, or Otoro even better
Durian

4 Websites You Visit Daily

South China Morning Post
Mr Wang
mrbrown
pc

How... no one to tag leh...

2006-01-21T16:08:00.000+08:00

Of maids and their agents, again

Daddy's had it with the maid agent. Recall that our last maid took the easy route, when she decided that coming to Singapore to work was a bad idea. We were fuming mad of course, knowing that the agent was partly to blame. And so to placate us, he offered a replacement, commission-free (we still had to pay for the previous maid's air ticket home, and his costs for a new one). There was a new maid that his agent in the Philippines was recommending, he said, and whom he has "cross-checked" over the phone. We took her, but it turned out that the replacement wasn't at all what he promised. Not by a long way. That was bad enough.

Then, it surfaces that our new maid had paid what sounded like an under-table sum to the agent in the Philippines, so that he would recommend her to our guy in Singapore. What the hell?! It was bad enough that these characters do business less like employment agents and more like human trafickers, with no proper screening of candidates, no training, and terrible treatment of their maids-to-be. Now we are dealing with corruption too?! Mommy told the maid that she's been cheated, and so have we. This is the last time we will do business with this agent. And to think we went to them because they were run by the family of one of Mommy's friends.

We'll have to change maids again (with a new agent). It's ironic - we wanted to get a maid to help when Jia-Hui came along. Yet though she is barely four months old, she would have been through four maids already. Meanwhile Daddy looks forward to the day when eight out of 10 of his conversations with Mommy will NOT be about the maid.

2006-01-15T18:34:00.000+08:00

Too many days without a baby picture?

Here you go :)

2006-01-15T17:26:00.000+08:00

For George

Latest: George is having his book launched at POD, National Library Building, on 17 Jan 06 (Tuesday), from 4pm to 7pm. Have a good one, George!

My friend George has written his first two books and Breakthrough, his first, has risen to No. 8 on the Life! bestsellers list! You are a multitalented man, my friend. Here's hoping your other big ambition gets a boost in 2006!

Click on the image for a sample chapter.

George Tan was born a loser. His coolie father, a gambler and an alcoholic, abused him badly and treated him unfairly. A young George could not understand: Why his brothers wore slippers while he went barefoot? Why they had white socks while he was punished in school for wearing black socks? Why he had to go hungry while others licked ice-cream? Why…

In a neighbourhood ruled by gangsters, George grew up well-acquainted with gambling and the 3V’s: vulgarism, vandalism and violence. But he broke free. From red marks in primary school, George went to university and, at age 27 whilst holding a full-time career, topped his diploma and master’s degree classes with flying colours. He went on to succeed in both career and business.

George’s ascent from the depths of hopelessness leaves a trail of soulprints. His life story – set against major world events that left their imprints on the soul of humanity – is interesting, instructive and inspirational.

2006-01-15T12:18:00.000+08:00

A child's life is so fragile

Toddler dies after neck gets caught in car window
The Straits Times, 15 Jan 2006

Hollywood, Florida - A toddler was killed when his neck got stuck in a car window while his father was asleep in the driver's seat. Thomaris Waite, who would have been two years old last week, and his 25-year-old father Thomas Waite were waiting in the family's car on Thursday while his mother and sibling were visiting a paediatrician.

The car's ignition was turned on to operate the radio. While Mr Waite was dozing, his son leaned his head out of the window and hit the switch that raised the glass. His neck was pinned between the window and the frame, causing him to suffocate. A woman leaving the paediatrician's office happened to pass by, and she pounded on the window to wake up the toddler's father.

The boy was taken to the clinic and then transferred to hospital, where he was pronounced dead. No charges have been filed. --AP

2006-01-15T10:42:00.000+08:00

Killer product!

The Straits Times ran an article today about this device called the Slingbox. This how CNET describes it:

Back in the 1970s, the first VCRs introduced a radical notion to the home marketplace: the ability to record your favorite TV shows - even when you weren't at home - and view them at a more convenient time. It took another quarter-century before ReplayTV and TiVo refined the VCR concept, subbing a hard drive for videotapes. It's now easier than ever before to watch your favorite TV shows when you want - but watching them where you want is a bit more challenging.

Sling Media aims to change that. The start-up's Slingbox Personal Broadcaster ($249 list) is a small, silver box that digitizes the programming from your cable or satellite box and streams it - in real time - to a remote PC. The receiving computer needs to be a Windows XP or Windows 2000 PC with access to a broadband Internet connection and be running Sling's SlingPlayer viewing software. But as long as you can find a Wi-Fi hot spot, you can watch your home TV channels live from anywhere in the world, be it Beijing or your bedroom.

What a brilliant idea!!! Just the kind of under-the-radar vigilante-noncompliant product needed to shake up the IP tyrants who continue to deprive tiny markets like Singapore. Check out the company's must-see product tour here, especially the part ("Why Slingbox?") about how you can use the device to remotely control and watch content from a TiVo or DVR.

Looks good enough to eat.

So I thought, hey maybe... I should buy the stock (occupational hazard again). Unfortunately, according to the company's website:

Sling Media is a privately held organization. The Company raised $11.5 million in their Series A financing in October 2004. Series A investors include Mobius Venture Capital, DCM - Doll Capital Management, and several undisclosed strategic investors.

Too bad, atleast you can still enjoy the product. Check out the Straits Times article to see what a few locals have done with it.

2006-01-14T07:40:00.000+08:00

iTunes anticlimax

In The Straits Times today:

S'pore to get Apple's iTunes Music Store... finally

Oh Joy! Oh Momentous Day! Tell me more...

Apple Computer has news that will be music to the ears of iPod owners in Singapore.

Aha...

The company plans to open an iTunes Music Store here...

AHA...

...by the end of next year...

*facepalm* Che... Placed next to a story about illegal music downloaders some more, for that extra tu l*n effect.

2006-01-10T09:05:00.000+08:00

Yet another charity stunt show

So the monk was at it again. Believe it or not, I didn't even know that Ren Ci had another charity show until I saw the newspaper reports the next day. Fortunately for Ren Ci, most Singaporeans were not as blah as I was, as evidenced by the handsome sum collected, again.

In today's Straits Times, Lee Sze Yong wrote:

Charities depend on the public for funds to help their beneficiaries. And stunts are efficient means to an end. In 3 1/2 hours, more than $6.8 million was collected for Ren Ci patients. Would artistes just singing have drawn such generous donations? I think not. If artistes know the risks of what they are doing, if they take part willingly and there are safety precautions, I don't see why stunts should be discouraged or stopped.

Show me someone who was not touched by the monk's selfless act on Sunday, and I will show you a cynic. It will take a lot more than just volunteers selling flags on Saturdays to raise funds for a charity's activities. To some, that might be a sad commentary on the Singaporean's approach to charity, but to me, it's just a fact of life. Accept it.

To which I am thinking: who's calling who a cynic?

2006-01-10T08:56:00.000+08:00

One kilat looking set of dumbbells

Adjustable from 5 to 65 lbs in 5 lb increments at the turn of a dial, nickel plated chrome, equal weight always on both ends of the dumbbell, handle is only as long as weights selected, lifetime warranty. US$545 only.

Click on the image to link to their website. Check out the videos.

2006-01-07T08:34:00.000+08:00

My blog is worth....

Zero!

My blog is worth $0.00.
How much is your blog worth?

What? Nothing for the cute kids? : )

2006-01-01T07:27:00.000+08:00

Five wishes for 2006

Healthy and happy children.

Harmony at home and at work.

Enough money not to worry.

Fitness and strength.

Sane and just normal maids.

2005-12-31T08:54:00.000+08:00

Xin-Hui gets a REAL fairy costume

Daddy had quite a backlog of department store vouchers to clear, so Xin-Hui got an early birthday present. Unlike mrbrown's day out, however, the shopping experience was really not as good. Over a few short hours at two major Orchard Road department stores, Mommy and Daddy endured several instances of bad service including:

i) a blur cashier who didn't know what an American Express Gift Cheque was and was too bleeding lazy to check. Much easier just to say "no" and hope that the customer will hurry up and get out of your face, mah. Fat hope.

ii) a totally green attendant at a branded lingerie counter who didn't know her stuff, her stock and how to take simple instructions. Seems like the experienced aunties all siam somewhere, just when there was a major sale on.

iii) a facist Nazi attendant at a luxury luggage brand who was more interested in keeping her displays lined up just so, than in making a sale. Hello, you are talking hundreds for a suitcase OK, so what's with the monosyllabic answers?

Totally wrecks your day out, if you ask me. With competition like this, it must be a walk in the park for Robinson's.

The one that Daddy made? Not good enough, OK.

2005-12-29T21:27:00.000+08:00

Finding it hard to hit the gym?

Put it this way. Say you are paying $60 a month for your membership. If you go once a month, that session just cost you a whopping $60. Once a week, and it drops to $14. If you haven't gone since September (you know who you are), that workout you just did cost you something like $100. Wow.

Or you can try this alternative (I've heard it really works):

For FB.

2005-12-25T09:32:00.000+08:00

Merry Christmas!

2005-12-22T20:15:00.000+08:00

So cute

Jia-Hui: Weahhhhhhh!!!
Xin-Hui: OK, OK, jie jie pei ni... (big sister keep you company)

Jia-Hui has a passport photo taken (nowsaday digital one).

2005-12-20T21:15:00.000+08:00

Chinese teenager beats Steve Davis to win snooker's UK Championship

Wow. China boleh.

2005-12-20T20:45:00.000+08:00

This one takes the cake

Of all the incredible excesses revealed by KPMG, this one really did it for me:

Nothing to show for $70,000 Las Vegas 'study trip'
The Straits Times, 20 Dec 2005
LAST year, former NKF chief executive T.T. Durai apparently felt that the foundation's annual charity shows had become stale and repetitive and needed the injection of some new performers and cutting edge techniques.

His answer was a study trip that cost about $70,000 to Las Vegas for him and five members of the events marketing team, including a former board member and a senior volunteer.

The executive committee noted: 'The team attended several shows...to study various concepts in entertainment marketing...Since the team intended doing at least three shows in the following year, it was imperative that they do the necessary research for the same. The shows they attended offered various innovative concepts in the use of light and sound,' said the minutes of an October 2004 executive committee meeting.

On the agenda was a sports event at the MGM Grand Hotel and a concert at Caesars Palace. In his written response to KPMG's report, Mr Durai had clarified: 'The purpose of going to Las Vegas was (i) to see and get ideas from the Andre Agassi children's charity show; (ii) to meet the creative directors of the famous Ronald McDonald show; (iii) to gather creative content and experiential ideas so critical for a successful organisation of the NKF's charity shows; (iv) to make useful contacts in the creative arena, for example, to meet show production people; and (v) to try and make contact with top artistes from Las Vegas to attract them to perform in Singapore in an NKF charity show.'

Yeah, right.

2005-12-17T10:08:00.000+08:00

Maidless

Or "helperless", for you PC types. Daddy is just not feeling PC at all towards our love-them-hate-them domestic help right now. Or the bloody businessmen who bring them in either. Why?

Because on Monday morning, the maid ran away. Yup, just upped and walked out when Mommy was having a shower, leaving the door unlocked and the baby unattended. Mommy couldn't get hold of Daddy on the phone and SMSed him about it. Meanwhile, Daddy was in the midst of a meeting getting hit with enough work to make a grown man cry. It was not a good morning.

And some more this is the new maid, who has been with us for all of two weeks (we got rid of the previous one after she developed a major attitude problem). Seems she (the new maid) never wanted to come work in Singapore in the first place, and said that the agent coerced her to. NB, then the agent still recommended her to us.

So she got this bright idea, probably from some friend, to run to the embassy, with a pack of lies about how badly we treated her. From the embassy's point of view, once that happens, the employer has to foot the bill to send her home. No evidence needed, no negotiation. And she's off the hook on her loan from the agent too. Good deal, if you ask me.

So we got through these few days with the house looking mostly like a war zone until today. Help from the folks is not really forthcoming, so we got Xin-Hui's old confinement lady to come in for two weeks to help out while we got another maid. What to do, just spend more money lor. Now Daddy understands why some people never let their maids out of the house, never let them have the keys, and screen all their letters.

Daddy thinks part of the problem is with the gahmen (arthen?). Bloody because we are paying the maid levy, we can't afford to pay our maids as much, and therefore cannot compete with the HKers and Taiwanese for quality domestic help who actually want to do an honest job. Pay And Pay, as they say.

So it's back to the bloody lottery of getting a new maid, and doing the training all over again. It's a necessary evil that in an ideal world, we'd be better off living without.

2005-12-11T14:48:00.000+08:00

Then again, ah, Mr Ee...

I was just thinking further from my last post, especially on the large amount of new money that is likely be needed if NKF's reserves were to last for its target of another 10 years. Why 10 years? Because the majority of dialysis patients live longer than this.

Now I am no charities expert, but I really wonder whether NKF *absolutely must* provide for the expected lifespan of its patients in its reserves. Like as if all its sources of funds could disappear anytime just like that, totally without warning. Bear in mind we've been through the Asian financial crisis, 9-11, SARS and the Durai crisis, and yet I believe the majority of NKF's donors have stayed faithful to the cause.

My question is this: Should the NKF not weigh the probability (or improbability) of a dramatic fall in its donations against the need for a high level of reserves? After all, every dollar (or million) sitting in NKF's reserves could be a dollar spent on a more desperate need.

How about this: Supposing the NKF's yearly donations are at level which is sufficient for its operational needs and a little set aside for future capital expenditure. Then, supposing the NKF sees a 30% chance that all contributions could cease, and that if this happens, it still wants to be able to provide for its patients for another 10-15 years. The appropriate level of reserves might then be 3-4.5 years (30% multiplied by 10-15 years).

This, IMO, could be the larger question.

Technorati tags: Singapore, NKF

2005-12-11T08:09:00.000+08:00

By golly, Mr Ee, you're not kidding!

Call it an occupational hazard, but when the NKF issued a press statement saying that their reserves could run out in as little as 4.5 years, I decided to check out whether it was reasonable (you know, given the wide-ranging views on this issue). So I got hold of their latest financials, and did a little projecting of my own.

To cut a long story short, I forecast that NKF will run out of funds as early as 2011, just a year longer than NKF's projection. I think what most people (including me) did not realise was that the number of dialysis patients could grow by about 10% a year. If we assume that NKF will not shut its doors to new patients, this means that its patient load could double in roughly seven years. This puts a larger strain on resources than previously thought. Also, when I looked at the financials back in the Durai-controversy days, I did not assume that they will cut dialysis fees, which would have been a further drain.

So I guess its safe to take out your wallets now, folks. In fact, I estimate that the NKF will need S$530m in its reserves (from S$206m currently) if they were to last for 10 years which is what the NKF is targeting. In other words, reserves no enough.

Here are my workings:

And this is what I did. First, I took the 2004 statements and adjusted them (column 2004A and 2004P) to what they would have been if the NKF:

1. Stopped collecting funds and placed all their reserves in no-interest checking accounts.
2. Cut out all fund-raising, PR and investment management (woe to my industry!) costs, leaving dialysis and admin costs.
3. Halved dialysis fees.

From 2006, I assumed that the NKF will:

1. See patient load rise by 10% a year, in line with recent trends.
2. Be able to cut dialysis cost per patient by 10% in 2006, but will see cost rise by 2% a year thereafter.
3. Raise dialysis fees per patient by 2% a year, after halving them.

Technorati tags: Singapore, NKF

2005-11-27T19:07:00.000+08:00

Video: Octopus Eats Shark

Holy crap. If you thought sharks were scary, you better think again.

2005-11-26T16:51:00.000+08:00

Quiet

Xin-Hui is away at Grandma's in JB for the weekend. This is a grand experiment, as it's the first time she's been away from Mommy AND Daddy overnight. Reports say she does not miss Mommy (or Daddy) a single bit.

So as you can imagine, it is real quiet at home, so Daddy has had a chance to take some new pictures.

With Xin-Hui's old toys, recycled.

With Mommy and matching shirts.

Xin-Hui (left) and Jia-Hui (right). They DO look so alike don't they?
Xin-Hui is a month older in the pictures.

2005-11-20T10:02:00.000+08:00

Still Busy

Daddy has been very busy still, but managed to snap a few more nice shots including this one of Jia-Hui:

Hey there!

And these of Xin-Hui:

Xin-Hui plays zookeeper.

That's a map of her zoo, just like what you have in Mandai.

Xin-Hui being a fairy.

Daddy helped make her wings and wand in between pulling off recommendations on about a dozen stocks. If the prices tank unexpectedly, you know why... Chiak lat.

A vase of flowers that Xin-Hui made. Got real water, one.

2005-11-20T09:36:00.000+08:00

That Numa Numa Song

Apparently the poor dude is not very happy with his sudden fame. Relaxlah, the world will move on. From this page, which also links a few more silly music videos.

Still on videos, check out the fansite of those hilarious Chinese boys (who hail from a school in Guangzhou BTW), containing faster links to their hit video and even a live performance!

2005-11-13T12:03:00.000+08:00

A few interesting movies

First: The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Much more complex than The Exorcist was. Check out Roger Ebert's review. Ebert's one of my fave reviewers.

And while I was poking arount his site, I also came across Dark City. Kind of like Matrix meets the Truman Show.

Then there's Saw. This is the prequel to Saw II, which is showing now. Malaysian director, man... boleh.

Finally, this is one of my fave reviews: Grave of the Fireflies. Sounds so sad, especially when you have kids.

2005-11-12T07:04:00.000+08:00

Roger Kool dies

My defining memory is listening to the man on a Saturday afternoon, sitting on the floor talking cock in Kingsmead Hall. Yes, and that thing he does with the bell.

If you're too young to know Roger, well, you're a different generation, babe.

Thanks for being a part of the good days, Roger. Be Kool.

An icon passes.