Friday, August 31, 2007

Writers' Workshop

WORD POWER

with Shirley Taylor and Alison Lester

Whether you are writing for business or creatively, the words you choose and how you use them will determine not only your impact but also your own personal satisfaction.  Come and learn from Shirley and Alison about the power of language and how it can move people to action or to emotion.

Shirley is author of Model Business Letters, E-mails & Other Business Documents 6th edition, and Alison's book of short fiction is entitled Locked Out: Stories Far from Home. Both Shirley and Alison speak and write regularly on the keys to successful communication.

At this talk, you can expect to:

  • Be introduced to interesting, impactful ways of writing
  • Learn some tricks of the writing trade
  • Tap into your creative juices
  • Spend time discussing the challenge of writing
  • Ask the questions about words, writing and imagination that you've always wanted to ask!

Shirley and Alison will also be sharing their experience in writing and publishing, so it would be a good opportunity for you to get some answers on copyright issues, the publishing process, rates etc.

Date: Aug 31 (Friday)

Time: 7pm till the time you guys feel like going home!

Venue: The Mint Museum of Toys, 26 Seah Street, Singapore 188382

Cost: $25 per pax (inclusive of light food and soft drinks)

Word Power Workshop

Start:     Aug 31, '07 7:00p
End:     Aug 31, '07 10:00p
WORD POWER

with Shirley Taylor and Alison Lester

Whether you are writing for business or creatively, the words you choose and how you use them will determine not only your impact but also your own personal satisfaction. Come and learn from Shirley and Alison about the power of language and how it can move people to action or to emotion.

Shirley is author of Model Business Letters, E-mails & Other Business Documents 6th edition, and Alison's book of short fiction is entitled Locked Out: Stories Far from Home. Both Shirley and Alison speak and write regularly on the keys to successful communication.

At this talk, you can expect to:

*
Be introduced to interesting, impactful ways of writing
*
Learn some tricks of the writing trade
*
Tap into your creative juices
*
Spend time discussing the challenge of writing
*
Ask the questions about words, writing and imagination that you've always wanted to ask!

Shirley and Alison will also be sharing their experience in writing and publishing, so it would be a good opportunity for you to get some answers on copyright issues, the publishing process, rates etc.

Date: Aug 31 (Friday)

Time: 7pm till the time you guys feel like going home!

Venue: The Mint Museum of Toys, 26 Seah Street, Singapore 188382 (www.emint.com)

Cost: $25 per pax (inclusive of light food and soft drinks)

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Harmony & Ornament - Early Baroque Italian Madrigals

Start:     Sep 13, '07 8:00p
End:     Sep 13, '07 9:00p
Location:     The Auditorium Singapore Art Museum 71 Bras Basah Road
Ab Oriente will perform romantic chorale works by Claudio Monteverdi & Orazio Vecchi, through a selection of madrigals from Monteverdi’s Fourth & Fifth Book of Madrigals, published in 1603, and excerpts from Vecchi’s most famous work, the madrigal comedy L’Amfiparnaso, first performed in 1597.

At the turn of the 17th century, the Italian Madrigal became not just individual settings of Italian verse but had evolved into works within an encompassing dramatic theme, usually on the universal topic of Love. The technique of word-painting and late-16th century chromaticism were further enhanced with the use of ornamentation to convey heightened emotions. The Early Baroque Italian Madrigal marked the zenith of the genre, after which the dramatic form evolved into and was replaced by opera.

Ab Oriente is also pleased to welcome guest harpsichordist Chong Ten Yeen who will explore Girolamo Frescobaldi’s contribution to keyboard music in the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods.

Venue:
The Auditorium
Singapore Art Museum
71 Bras Basah Road
Singapore 189555
Thursday & Friday, 13 & 14 September 2007, 8:00 p.m.

Most Funniest eBay description ever

Check it out. This has to be the most funniest eBay ad this year.

In case it gets taken down: I've copied the whole transcript here:


Description (revised)

I'm selling a bunch of Pokemon cards. Why? Because my kids sneaked them into my shopping cart while at the grocery store and I ended up buying them because I didn't notice they were there until we got home. How could I have possibly not noticed they were in my cart, you ask? Let me explain.

You haven’t lived until you’ve gone grocery shopping with six kids in tow. I would rather swim, covered in bait, through the English Channel, be a contestant on Fear Factor when they’re having pig brains for lunch, or do fourth grade math than to take my six kids to the grocery store. Because I absolutely detest grocery shopping, I tend to put it off as long as possible. There comes a time, however, when you’re peering into your fridge and thinking, ‘Hmmm, what can I make with ketchup, Italian dressing, and half an onion,’ that you decide you cannot avoid going to the grocery store any longer. Before beginning this most treacherous mission, I gather all the kids together and give them “The Lecture“.

“The Lecture“ goes like this…

MOM: “We have to go to the grocery store.”

KIDS: “Whine whine whine whine whine.“

MOM: “Hey, I don’t want to go either, but it’s either that or we’re eating cream of onion-ketchup soup and drinking Italian dressing for dinner tonight.”

KIDS: “Whine whine whine whine whine.“

MOM: “Now here are the rules: do not ask me for anything, do not poke the packages of meat in the butcher section, do not test the laws of physics and try to take out the bottom can in the pyramid shaped display, do not play baseball with oranges in the produce section, and most importantly, do not try to leave your brother at the store. Again.”

OK, the kids have been briefed. Time to go.

Once at the store, we grab not one, but two shopping carts. I wear the baby in a sling and the two little children sit in the carts while I push one cart and my oldest son pushes the other one. My oldest daughter is not allowed to push a cart. Ever. Why? Because the last time I let her push the cart, she smashed into my ankles so many times, my feet had to be amputated by the end of our shopping trip. This is not a good thing. You try running after a toddler with no feet sometime.

At this point, a woman looks at our two carts and asks me, “Are they all yours?” I answer good naturedly, “Yep!

“Oh my, you have your hands full.”

“Yes, I do, but it‘s fun!” I say smiling. I’ve heard all this before. In fact, I hear it every time I go anywhere with my brood.

We begin in the produce section where all these wonderfully, artistically arranged pyramids of fruit stand. There is something so irresistibly appealing about the apple on the bottom of the pile, that a child cannot help but try to touch it. Much like a bug to a zapper, the child is drawn to this piece of fruit. I turn around to the sounds of apples cascading down the display and onto the floor. Like Indiana Jones, there stands my son holding the all-consuming treasure that he just HAD to get and gazing at me with this dumbfounded look as if to say, “Did you see that??? Wow! I never thought that would happen!”

I give the offending child an exasperated sigh and say, “Didn’t I tell you, before we left, that I didn’t want you taking stuff from the bottom of the pile???”

“No. You said that you didn’t want us to take a can from the bottom of the pile. You didn’t say anything about apples.”

With superhuman effort, I resist the urge to send my child to the moon and instead focus on the positive - my child actually listened to me and remembered what I said!!! I make a mental note to be a little more specific the next time I give the kids The Grocery Store Lecture.

A little old man looks at all of us and says, “Are all of those your kids?”

Thinking about the apple incident, I reply, “Nope. They just started following me. I’ve never seen them before in my life.”

OK, now onto the bakery section where everything smells so good, I’m tempted to fill my cart with cookies and call it a day. Being on a perpetual diet, I try to hurry past the assortment of pies, cakes, breads, and pastries that have my children drooling. At this point the chorus of “Can we gets” begins.

“Can we get donuts?”

“No.”

“Can we get cupcakes?”

“No.”

“Can we get muffins?”

“No.”

“Can we get pie?”

“No.”

You’d think they’d catch on by this point, but no, they’re just getting started.

In the bakery, they’re giving away free samples of coffee cake and of course, my kids all take one. The toddler decides he doesn’t like it and proceeds to spit it out in my hand. (That’s what moms do. We put our hands in front of our children’s mouths so they can spit stuff into them. We’d rather carry around a handful of chewed up coffee cake, than to have the child spit it out onto the floor. I’m not sure why this is, but ask any mom and she’ll tell you the same.) Of course, there’s no garbage can around, so I continue shopping one-handed while searching for someplace to dispose of the regurgitated mess in my hand.

In the meat department, a mother with one small baby asks me, “Wow! Are all six yours?”

I answer her, “Yes, but I’m thinking of selling a couple of them.”

(Still searching for a garbage can at this point.)

Ok, after the meat department, my kids’ attention spans are spent. They’re done shopping at this point, but we aren’t even halfway through the store. This is about the time they like to start having shopping cart races. And who may I thank for teaching them this fun pastime? My seventh “child”, also known as my husband. While I’m picking out loaves of bread, the kids are running down the aisle behind the carts in an effort to get us kicked out of the store. I put to stop to that just as my son is about to crash head on into a giant cardboard cut-out of a Keebler elf stacked with packages of cookies.

Ah! Yes! I find a small trash can by the coffee machine in the cereal aisle and finally dump out the squishy contents of my hand. After standing in the cereal aisle for an hour and a half while the kids perused the various cereals, comparing the marshmallow and cheap, plastic toy content of each box, I broke down and let them each pick out a box. At any given time, we have twenty open boxes of cereal in my house.

As this is going on, my toddler is playing Houdini and maneuvering his little body out of the seat belt in an attempt to stand up in the cart. I’m amazed the kid made it to his second birthday without suffering a brain damaging head injury. In between trying to flip himself out of the cart, he sucks on the metal bars of the shopping cart. Mmmm, can you say “influenza”?

The shopping trip continues much like this. I break up fights between the kids now and then and stoop down to pick up items that the toddler has flung out of the cart. I desperately try to get everything on my list without adding too many other goodies to the carts.

Somehow I manage to complete my shopping in under four hours and head for the check-outs where my kids start in on a chorus of, “Can we have candy?” What evil minded person decided it would be a good idea to put a display of candy in the check-out lanes, right at a child’s eye level? Obviously someone who has never been shopping with children.

As I unload the carts, I notice many extra items that my kids have sneaked in the carts unbeknownst to me. I remove a box of Twinkies, a package of cupcakes, a bag of candy, and a can of cat food (we don’t even have a cat!). I somehow missed the box of Pokemon cards however and ended up purchasing them unbeknownst to me. As I pay for my purchases, the clerk looks at me, indicates my kids, and asks, “Are they all yours?”

Frustrated, exhausted from my trip, sick to my stomach from writing out a check for $289.53, dreading unloading all the groceries and putting them away and tired of hearing that question, I look at the clerk and answer her in my most sarcastic voice, “No. They’re not mine. I just go around the neighborhood gathering up kids to take to the grocery store because it’s so much more fun that way.”

So, up for auction is an opened (they ripped open the box on the way home from the store) package of Pokemon cards. There are 44 cards total. They're in perfect condition, as I took them away from the kiddos as soon as we got home from the store. Many of them say "Energy". I tried carrying them around with me, but they didn't work. I definitely didn't have any more energy than usual. One of them is shiny. There are a few creature-like things on many of them. One is called Pupitar. Hee hee hee Pupitar! (Oh no! My kids' sense of humor is rubbing off on me!) Anyway, I don't there's anything special about any of these cards, but I'm very much not an authority on Pokemon cards. I just know that I'm not letting my kids keep these as a reward for their sneakiness.

Shipping is FREE on this item. Insurance is optional, but once I drop the package at the post office, it is no longer my responsibility. For example, if my son decides to pour a bottle of glue into the envelope, or my daughter spills a glass of juice on the package, that’s my responsibility and I will fully refund your money. If, however, I take the envelope to the post office and a disgruntled mail carrier sets fire to it, a pack of wild dogs rip into it, or a mail sorting machine shreds it, it’s out of my hands, so you may want to add insurance. I will leave feedback for you as soon as I’ve received your payment. I will be happy to combine shipping on multiple items won within three days. This comes from a smoke-free, pet-free, child-filled home. Please ask me any questions before placing your bid. Happy bidding! :)


On Aug-17-07 at 14:10:11 PDT, seller added the following information:

Check out my other items!


On Aug-21-07 at 13:37:48 PDT, seller added the following information:

14,000 hits!!! Who would've thought? I just wanted to take a minute and say "thank you" to all the people who have taken the time to write me a comment! I certainly appreciate it! It sure is a nice treat waking up to a full box of compliments! I'm trying to answer each comment, but they're honestly coming in faster than I can type!

Many of you have asked if I have a blog. I do. It's mom2my6pack.blogspot.com

Many of you have suggested I write a book. I think I may just have to give that a try. If it ever comes to fruition, I'll post about it on my blog.

And $40.00??? What are you guys nuts? There's nothing special about these cards. Are you bidding on them thinking I'll be a famous author someday? :::laughing like a crazy lady over that one:::

I'll give writing a shot, but from what I hear it isn't easy to get a book published. I probably have a better chance of losing ten pounds (and that ain't likely to happen!)

Anyway, again I want to say thank you for reading and passing this on. You've all just made my week! :)



http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130144061675&ru=http%25


Tuesday, August 28, 2007

G for Gina

I like reading WW2 stories. Life, death, the extremes of human character are tested. Recently I came across this story: One of the more interesting stories in the Mediterranean warzone was of the phantom P-38, an allied fighter plane, which was shooting down bombers on its own side.

Beginning on June 4, 1943, a crippled bomber was coming back from a mission against the island of Pantelleria. The crew was considering bailing out of their bomber when they spotted a P-38 coming closer. They relaxed knowing it was coming to their aid. The crew even dumped its guns and ammunition to save weight. Before the crew realized what happened, the P-38 erupted in gunfire and destroyed the B-17. The only survivor was the pilot, Lt. Harold Fisher. Fisher was rescued but the fighter pilots scorned his report which suggested that one of their own had mistakenly shot them down.

It was true though. A P-38 was shooting down Allied planes but it was piloted by an enemy pilot!! An Italian pilot, Lt. Guido Rossi came up with the idea of using a captured P-38 against American bombers. Rossi's strategy was to wait until the bombers made their attacks. Rossi would then take off and scout around for stragglers. Using this technique he managed to shoot down several bombers. Until Lt. Fisher, no other crews survived to tell of the phantom P-38 shooting them down. Nobody had an idea that a friendly aircraft was the cause.

After Fisher told his story, however, bombers crews were alerted to look for a lone P-38, which was posing as a friendly. Fisher came up with the idea of using a decoy B-17 to attract Rossi. Fisher's idea was approved and he took off in the experimental YB-40 gunship. This was a modified B-17, which had more armor and guns. He flew several missions lagging behind the rest of the formations, but never encountered Rossi.

Intelligence was being gathered and the Allies finally learned the identity of the pilot. They also learned that his wife was living in Allied occupied Constantine. An artist actually used a picture of Rossi's wife to paint a nose art picture on Fisher's bomber, and included her name,

Gina. On August 31, a B-17 raid struck Pisa. Fisher was flying among the bombers, and was actually damaged by enemy fighters. He recovered at a low altitude and had to feather two engines. Before long, a lone P-38 was approaching and the crew was on high alert. Rossi, using very good English, contacted Fisher, just as he did on previous occasions. Rossi immediately noticed the nose art on the aircraft and spoke with Fisher. Fisher was still uncertain the pilot was Rossi and decided to bait this pilot by talking about Gina and her home in Constantine. When Fisher was describing intimate details of their "relationship", Rossi assumed the worse - that he had been cuckolded - and lost his cool. He peeled off and began his attack.

Fisher ordered all guns to open up and Rossi's plane was badly damaged. Rossi tried to ram the bomber, but his plane began breaking up. He ditched in the water and was later picked up and taken prisoner. Fisher was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross medal for his efforts. Fisher would survive the war, but was killed in a transport accident during the Berlin Airlift. Incidentally, Rossi was one of the mourners at his funeral.

I don't have a photo of G for Gina but here's something similar.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Reign Over Me

Rating:★★★★★
Category:Movies
Genre: Comedy
I got this film thinking it was a Christian movie. In a way, it is. Adam Sandler plays a character who has lost his entire family in the 911 terror attack - which actually is never mentioned specifically. As a result he seems to have developed a form of amnesia. Things change when his college roommate, played by Don Cheadale (Hotel Rwanda, Oceans 11/12), bumps into him. And then resolves to try and help him out of this "crisis" - i.e., by hiring therapists etc.. His kindness leads to an unfortunate series of events.

Although its a "comedy of sorts" - it does offer insights into the lives and minds of people who are grieving, badly. It suggests that understanding and compassion and even forbearance... you know patience and tolerance etc.. might work better than just plain brutal honesty. But the movie does make Sandler's character situation a lot more ... ah... pleasant. At no time is he homeless, in need of any cash, on drugs, or dangerously violent. In short, a feel good movie with a few dark twists...

This show starts off with that great opening of Sandler riding down NY city in his little scooter. Great shots of that great city. The characters' apartments are all beautifully decorated. The acting is pretty good - even Sandler did a decent job. And the script is well written. Go watch it. Mind you, the film is subtle and subdued - and may be relatively slow to some people, much of the show is about the slow process of seeing and dealing with grief struck people. Perhaps you might have to be in the right frame of mind to watch this sort of thing. Anyhow I liked it and its 2am.

I thought this was one of the best lines of the show:

"I even see the dog, that's how fucked up I still am. I see a man walking his German shepherd and I see our god damn poodle. ... I have no one. At least you two have each other."

Also starring in this show are Liv Tyler, Jada Pinkett Smith, Donald Sutherland, Saffron Burrows, and Paula Newman (who put the B in itchy).

Friday, August 24, 2007

Kapalai Resort - near Sipadan Borneo

Rating:★★★★★
Category:Other
180 degree view of the pristine Pacific ocean. 20 minutes boat ride to Sipadan, the 10 ten diving spots in the world. An average temp of 25C. The sea water here is so fresh and clean that my eyes don't even hurt when I take off my mask underwater. The marine life is abundant with sea turtles, numerous fish schools and friendly sharks. The coral wall at Sipadan is breathtaking and bottomless. Diving here is like jumping out of a Space Ship. Total Blue - Totally Awesome. What's there not to like?

Kapalai Water Village Resort is located in the ocean off the North East tip of Borneo, East Malaysia section. Its beautiful and the cost is reasonable. Cost about US$1000 for 5 nights - or about Aussie $1700 - Sing $1700 - depending on the exchange rate... That will cover accommodation, food, all transport (except air)...

The chalets are roomy, well built, have great views with modern toilets with a bath - and the sewage is treated. Each chalet can fit a couple; 4 people would be a squeeze. They also have ocean view balconies - 180 degree magnificent views of the ocean. And yes, there is a bar fridge. No mosquitoes due to its unique position. The resort is built on top of a sunken atoll in the middle of the Ocean. There is a security barracks in the resort run by the Malaysian Army.

The food is catered and served buffet style. You get fresh made waffles and pancakes for breakfast. Umm... the usual buffet stuff for lunch and dinner.... But strangely the fish is not fresh. I know that in Mabul - the other resort in Sipadan - you can order fresh fish - Coral trout etc.. - which taste absolutely heavenly.

I'd like to live here for a month or two; with a pleasant female friend. I should have done so at the end of 2007, it would have saved me a whole lot of bother. But in hindsight, things always seem so simple.

To get here you fly into Tawa then the resort bus will take you to Semporna, the port on the North East tip of Borneo - In the morning, the resort jetty takes you to the ocean resort. There used to be a direct flight to Tawa from Johor - but now it seems you have to fly to KK and take a connecting flight.

If any of my dive friends plan a trip there- I'll be there in two shakes of a lamb's tail. :)

Thursday, August 23, 2007

If by Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

--Rudyard Kipling

Meet a courageous woman

Breakout from Islam

The Australian, Janet Albrechtsen | August 22, 2007

I AM sitting in a small book-lined room in Sydney's eastern suburbs with a petite woman in her late 40s dressed in a neat suit and sensible shoes.

Can this be the woman recently described as an "international sensation"? The woman who last year made it on to Time magazine's list of 100 most influential people? Is she really the "uncompromising firebrand in the defence of reason and liberty". Yes, she is. Meet Wafa Sultan.

Last year, the Syrian-born psychiatrist, who has lived in the US for almost 20 years, catapulted herself into the centre of the critical issue of our time: how will Islam embrace modernity? She entered the battle of ideas in a fiery debate with an Islamic scholar on Al Jazeera television when she criticised Islam for its backwardness, for shunning knowledge and progress, for propagating a "mentality that belongs to the Middle Ages".

One question not often asked is why a growing number of Muslim women are speaking out, demanding a reformation of Islam. And the next question is why these brave women are not hailed as heroes and champions by Western leaders at the highest levels. They operate at the fringes on the right side of a crucial battle of ideas. It's still just a handful. Women such Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somalia-born former Dutch MP and author of Infidel, and Irshad Manji, African-born Canadian Muslim and author of The Trouble with Islam. And Sultan.

The answer to the latter question is one for us to ponder. Sultan is unapologetically curt as to why Muslim women are rising to the challenge: "Muslim women have lost everything. They have nothing to lose by speaking up." The security surrounding her visit to Australia last week attests to the fact women such as Sultan have, on the contrary, plenty to lose. They risk their lives when they speak out. Whether you agree with Sultan or not, her arguments about Islam ought to be met with words, not violence. Yet Sultan is used to constant security, FBI visits and daily death threats.

Late on Sunday evening she sent me a collection of them, including this: "I'm warning you to back up or the sword will cut off you're neck."

A crackpot, perhaps. But the slaughter of controversial filmmaker Theo van Gogh in The Netherlands, the heart of multicultural Europe no less, is a reminder that some crackpots deliver on their violent threats. Yet, for Sultan, the choice was obvious. She eschews Islam because, she says, it has so little to offer women. She describes Islam as a war against women, perverted by fear of sex and sexuality that mandates the mistreatment of women.

Sultan spoke to The Australian about her life. "I remember as a little girl trying hard to avoid passing by my father while he was praying because Mohammed once said that if a dog or a woman passes by a man while he was praying he had to rewash himself and pray again, otherwise his prayer wouldn't be accepted.

"I remember hearing as an eight-year-old girl that a woman is nothing but shame. Her marriage will cover up one-tenth of her shame and her grave will cover up the rest of it. Can you imagine, at eight, being consumed by shame just because you are female?" she asks.

Many find Sultan's message too confrontational. Her friends have asked her to soften her words. But she refuses, arguing that her experience as an Arab Muslim woman needs to be exposed. She says that before the Al Jazeera interview, her focus was on educating people in the Arabic world.

"In my (Arabic) writing, I always compare my life in Syria and my life in America, and I let my readers reach a conclusion ... they have never heard such voices as mine."

She receives hundreds of emails each week and thousands of people in Arabic countries click on to her website. She describes the world as a small village, thanks to the internet, where others have the chance to hear and understand what is going on

They see how women in the West are treated. "When they compare it with themselves, they question: 'Why? Why only us? Why don't we enjoy our lives they same way Western women do?"'

Yet Sultan is certain that Islam can reform and will reform if exposed to enough information and if Muslims are able to make choices.

"Human beings look for the best, but many Muslims don't know the best ... they are hostages of their own belief system for many centuries and now I believe, because of the internet, they are exposed to different cultures, different thoughts, different belief systems ... if they are given the freedom to choose, I believe they are ready to mix Islam with other thoughts, to improve it," she says in a voice filled with passion.

But it will be a long battle of ideas.

"Look at any Islamic country. Tell me what you see. Poverty, backwardness, oppression, dictatorship, miserable lives. Somehow we have to help them change their way of thinking, their way of life. We have to re-create a new generation clean of hatred. We have been consumed by hatred. We are not practising our humanity. It's very sad."

Her message is clear. The West must be more confident about espousing its own values. And Islam must accept criticism as a sign of intellectual rigour if it is to reform into a belief system that embraces freedom and progress for its followers. Sultan is full of hope that the information revolution has cracked the wall around the Islamic prison. Not just for Muslim women.

I read another email she has translated from a 16-year-old Palestinian boy in Ramallah: "Without you, I would have been a suicide bomber. They taught me how to bomb, instead of teaching me to listen to music, or to enjoy looking at a beautiful painting."


If by Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

--Rudyard Kipling

Solariums cause skin cancer

The battle to convince young people in particular about the dangers of tanning appears to be a losing one.

According to the Peter MacCallum Hospital, melanoma is the most common form of cancer in the 15 to 30 age group and increasingly it is being linked in part to a veritable explosion in the number of outlets being opened by the unregulated solarium industry.

Melanoma victim Clare Oliver's most precious wish is to live long enough to see her 26th birthday next weekend.

"Here I am, 25 and I've been told that I've got only a few weeks to live and I don't think anything - you know, solariums, looking good, having a golden tan - is worth that," she said.

"I was a 22-year-old, just graduated from uni, and just got into the work force and, yeah, it was all great and then suddenly my world came crashing down. I was told I had cancer."

Ms Oliver is the only child of single parent Priscilla Lau Oliver, who maintains a constant vigil by her daughter's bedside.

Ms Oliver was diagnosed with a melanoma four years ago and now in the final days of her life, wants to give young people this warning about solariums.

"I'd much rather be pale, have my life and be able to travel the world again, and go out and work and do what normal 25-year-olds do," she said.

"In one week and a bit it's my 26th birthday and I sit here and I don't even know whether I'm going to make that."

Melanoma is now the most common form of cancer amongst the 15 to 30-year-old age group.


'Solariums are dangerous'

Associate Professor Grant McArthur, from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, says it is possible this figure is linked to the rapidly growing solarium industry.

"What is very clear is that solariums are dangerous," he said.

"They deliver five times the dose of UV radiation than the midday sun. They are also clearly linked to increased rates of skin cancer.

"So we believe solariums are dangerous and should be avoided."

Yet, new solariums are opening everywhere. Nationwide there's been a 300 per cent increase in the last decade, and Melbourne has taken to them even more enthusiastically.

Ms Oliver says having a tan is embedded in the Australian culture.

"That golden tan ... it sort of symbolises health, it symbolises just being a beautiful girl," she said.

She was one user to take advantage of a package deal - 20 visits at a cheaper price - and says she followed the advice of the solarium staff, attending every second day.

"I didn't really know the risks I was exposing myself to," she said.

"Two years after that I soon found that I had melanoma in my lymph nodes, in my left ... armpit."

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

If by Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

--Rudyard Kipling

Getting out of jail then back again

Yesterday seemed to be the accumulation of errors.

The shares rose - we were just a few points to breakeven even profit. Ferro at $1.95 - Midas at $1.30.

Then WTF - mum asks me to go get her an early lunch- and I complacently agreed to.

After I left, the price rise fell apart - the broker called me - but didn't give enough info.

When I got back- instead of studying the charts- I went to sleep.

When the market reopened- I hoped that things would improve

I paid to see the river card. When things didn't - I felt strongly obliged to sell. The whole market was falling apart. And I didn't want to see what the DOW would do later at night.

For all I know it would close 100 - 300 points down - and then I'm fucked.

Fuck. I failed to follow the 2% rule - and just ran on hope - now I'm so screwed.

I sold the stocks at the support line - and now since the DOW didn't close badly- they've all come up.


Tuesday, August 21, 2007

The Day Reality Hit Home

A liberal mind person finds his previous views on life, race, politics, crime may need serious revision.

One thing I find it amazing that the generation who came of age during the 1960s 1970s- yeah, the hippies- wanted to change their parent's world- ended up despising its structure and beliefs, then destroying it. Now they've come to realize the folly of their ways.

Read this article to find out more

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2151530,00.html

In my time, I've come to meet people who they hate their parents and their own culture- and so they embrace atheism or neo-Paganism and seek alternative forms of lifestyle. And for some bizarre reason, they also hate America- whilst at the same breath - condoning the sins of Pol Pot, Stalin, Mao etc.. They try so hard to be anti-establishment that they go down a path of destruction - embracing unhealthy lifestyles, drugs, and just go down a downward spiral.

Isn't it strange- when you hate your enemy and fight against him- the more you end up like that person or institution.

When the French revolted against their King and toppled him - it was Liberty, Equality, and Friendship. They stormed the Bastille, where the monarchy kept its political prisoners- and found a few mad men. Then the Revolutionary committee started killing its enemies - the aristocrats and their families, the King and his entire family, then  the revolutionaries' political enemies - and then the people they quarrelled with - and then virtually anyone who was suspect. Eventually, the French people got a leader - Napoleon Bonaparte - who crowned himself Emperor of France - to this day the French nation reveres him - and he's not even a Frenchman.

Ironic eh? They fought to eliminate injustice but in the end they replaced it with something worse.


Monday, August 20, 2007

Man found half eaten in zoo bear cage

Man found half eaten in zoo bear cage

From our man in Belgrade

August 20, 2007 07:25pm

Article from: Reuters

A 23-year old Serb was found dead and half-eaten in the bear cage of Belgrade Zoo at the weekend during the annual beer festival.

The man was found naked, with his clothes lying intact inside the cage.

Two adult bears, Masha and Misha, had dragged the body to their feeding corner and reacted angrily when keepers tried to recover it.

"There's a good chance he was drunk or drugged. Only an idiot would jump into the bear cage," zoo director Vuk Bojovic said.

Local media reported that police found several mobile phones inside the cage, as well as bricks, stones and beer cans.

(In case you're wondering what a teddy bear is doing stuck to a computer. I thinks its a cover for a USB memory stick. The photo did seem apt - you think - wtf is a teddy bear doing stuck to a computer? My question is wtf is a naked man doing in a bear enclosure - and why are there are a bunch of mobile phones doing inside?? Anyhow the photo of the teddy bear is droll compared to a photo of a half-eaten man, yeah?)

Trends

Well, the SGX is up nearly 5%. In fact the whole world is up now. But of course not ANYWHERE near the midway level where everything fell apart.

I sold some stuff in the morning. UOB at 20.30 - Ferro at $1.75 - and made some money. Bought UOB at 19.90 and Ferro at 1.68. The was a garbra moment and I sold an extra 10,000 shares in UOB - thankfully my broker spotted in and fixed it up for me (guess she either rebought or crossed at the same price). Its now at 20.90. So if the error wasn't spotted- I'd be in trouble; I'd have to buy it now and cough up an extra $6,000.

But yeah, I had a horrid panic attack in the morning. Its just the accumulation of all the troubles- worrying about the portfolio, the phone went funny etc...

I still have a considerable more shares purchased at a higher price. But really this whole shocking episode has taught me the value of trend watching rather than focusing so much on price.

In normal everyday activity, price watching makes sense - because prices stay relatively the same. And so people look out for Sales or discount specials. If a packet of your fav italian pasta is at a 30% discount- you wouldn't hesitate to get it.

In share trading this can lead to trouble. If the trend is going downward- what is cheap today can become cheaper tomorrow. Did you know that the price of Gold was at US$800 an ounce in 1980? It fell to a low of $250 in the Year 2000. You would have lost money if you had bought Gold at $600 - $400 an ounce as the thing went downwards. Keeping Gold doesn't pay you dividends, interest or rent. And you need to pay storage fees too.

As you can see- it eventually picked up - but lets not kid ourselves - it was a bad investment decision - moreso if you dumped all your entire investment money into it.







Sunday, August 19, 2007

In the Desert, fate awaits

From IHT:

"Egypt really is a logic-free zone," said Amr Shannon, a desert guide, "When you go to the sea, you get prepared; you will pack your towel, your bathing suit," he said in an interview in his apartment. "When you go skiing, you pack skis. Now you are coming to Egypt; get prepared for it as well. If you expect logic to prevail, you will find your intelligence insulted 200 times a day."

Shannon is a unique blend of East and West. He says his religion is "let it be," a very common state of mind in Egypt. But he also pays attention to detail and has a tremendous work ethic, values Egyptians are not known to cherish.

As a young man, Shannon planned to follow his father into the military but instead found his passion in art. He studied for three years at art school in Venice but eventually returned to Egypt and his first love - the desert.

Shannon's musings can sound preachy, and a bit loaded with too much homespun philosophy. He seems to be engaged in a constant internal struggle to accept the limitations of people around him, and so he cloaks his frustrations in aphorisms, it may be the result of the four days he spent stuck in the desert, convinced he and his cousin were about to die. They survived on nothing but their own urine and a determination to stay calm.

It was 1989, and Shannon was driving in a desert rally. When his four-by-four broke down, he turned on an emergency beacon and figured he and his cousin would soon be rescued.

They had run out of water - having made the wrong decision when they put the last of their drinking water into the radiator, assuming they would soon reach the finish. But the race organizers never came. It was only after Shannon's uncle, the governor of the Suez region, called the military that they were rescued. That was in the middle of the fourth day in the scorching sun.

"Events don't change you," Shannon said of the breakdown. "They can bring out what is already in you. People go through hard and dangerous situations all the time, and they never learn."

So what did this bring out in him?

"We were actually very calm," he said. "It must have been based on the belief nothing really matters."

Nothing matters, and everything matters, in the desert. Money is meaningless. During his four days in the desert he said he watched thousands of Egyptian pounds held in the glove box of the car blow away in the desert wind. Bad decisions can lead to death. These are lessons learned; the journey is important, not the destination.

When Shannon and his wife prepare for their last few tours they will have spare tires, extra water, food, a GPS device, a satellite phone, a small sink and stove - a do-it-yourself, one-stop fix-it shop. But as Shannon says, the most important thing to carry in the desert is the right attitude. First, accept Egypt for Egypt.

But the second "let it be" can be applied to the desert, or to the life of a man who once wanted to be a military man and then an artist, but ended up a guide in the desert.

"People want to go from point A to point B," Shannon said. "But sometimes fate gives you another path."

In the Desert, fate awaits

From IHT:

"Egypt really is a logic-free zone," said Amr Shannon, a desert guide, "When you go to the sea, you get prepared; you will pack your towel, your bathing suit," he said in an interview in his apartment. "When you go skiing, you pack skis. Now you are coming to Egypt; get prepared for it as well. If you expect logic to prevail, you will find your intelligence insulted 200 times a day."

Shannon is a unique blend of East and West. He says his religion is "let it be," a very common state of mind in Egypt. But he also pays attention to detail and has a tremendous work ethic, values Egyptians are not known to cherish.

As a young man, Shannon planned to follow his father into the military but instead found his passion in art. He studied for three years at art school in Venice but eventually returned to Egypt and his first love - the desert.

Shannon's musings can sound preachy, and a bit loaded with too much homespun philosophy. He seems to be engaged in a constant internal struggle to accept the limitations of people around him, and so he cloaks his frustrations in aphorisms, it may be the result of the four days he spent stuck in the desert, convinced he and his cousin were about to die. They survived on nothing but their own urine and a determination to stay calm.

It was 1989, and Shannon was driving in a desert rally. When his four-by-four broke down, he turned on an emergency beacon and figured he and his cousin would soon be rescued.

They had run out of water - having made the wrong decision when they put the last of their drinking water into the radiator, assuming they would soon reach the finish. But the race organizers never came. It was only after Shannon's uncle, the governor of the Suez region, called the military that they were rescued. That was in the middle of the fourth day in the scorching sun.

"Events don't change you," Shannon said of the breakdown. "They can bring out what is already in you. People go through hard and dangerous situations all the time, and they never learn."

So what did this bring out in him?

"We were actually very calm," he said. "It must have been based on the belief nothing really matters."

Nothing matters, and everything matters, in the desert. Money is meaningless. During his four days in the desert he said he watched thousands of Egyptian pounds held in the glove box of the car blow away in the desert wind. Bad decisions can lead to death. These are lessons learned; the journey is important, not the destination.

When Shannon and his wife prepare for their last few tours they will have spare tires, extra water, food, a GPS device, a satellite phone, a small sink and stove - a do-it-yourself, one-stop fix-it shop. But as Shannon says, the most important thing to carry in the desert is the right attitude. First, accept Egypt for Egypt.

But the second "let it be" can be applied to the desert, or to the life of a man who once wanted to be a military man and then an artist, but ended up a guide in the desert.

"People want to go from point A to point B," Shannon said. "But sometimes fate gives you another path."

Saturday, August 18, 2007

In the Desert, fate awaits

From IHT:

"Egypt really is a logic-free zone," said Amr Shannon, a desert guide, "When you go to the sea, you get prepared; you will pack your towel, your bathing suit," he said in an interview in his apartment. "When you go skiing, you pack skis. Now you are coming to Egypt; get prepared for it as well. If you expect logic to prevail, you will find your intelligence insulted 200 times a day."

Shannon is a unique blend of East and West. He says his religion is "let it be," a very common state of mind in Egypt. But he also pays attention to detail and has a tremendous work ethic, values Egyptians are not known to cherish.

As a young man, Shannon planned to follow his father into the military but instead found his passion in art. He studied for three years at art school in Venice but eventually returned to Egypt and his first love - the desert.

Shannon's musings can sound preachy, and a bit loaded with too much homespun philosophy. He seems to be engaged in a constant internal struggle to accept the limitations of people around him, and so he cloaks his frustrations in aphorisms, it may be the result of the four days he spent stuck in the desert, convinced he and his cousin were about to die. They survived on nothing but their own urine and a determination to stay calm.

It was 1989, and Shannon was driving in a desert rally. When his four-by-four broke down, he turned on an emergency beacon and figured he and his cousin would soon be rescued.

They had run out of water - having made the wrong decision when they put the last of their drinking water into the radiator, assuming they would soon reach the finish. But the race organizers never came. It was only after Shannon's uncle, the governor of the Suez region, called the military that they were rescued. That was in the middle of the fourth day in the scorching sun.

"Events don't change you," Shannon said of the breakdown. "They can bring out what is already in you. People go through hard and dangerous situations all the time, and they never learn."

So what did this bring out in him?

"We were actually very calm," he said. "It must have been based on the belief nothing really matters."

Nothing matters, and everything matters, in the desert. Money is meaningless. During his four days in the desert he said he watched thousands of Egyptian pounds held in the glove box of the car blow away in the desert wind. Bad decisions can lead to death. These are lessons learned; the journey is important, not the destination.

When Shannon and his wife prepare for their last few tours they will have spare tires, extra water, food, a GPS device, a satellite phone, a small sink and stove - a do-it-yourself, one-stop fix-it shop. But as Shannon says, the most important thing to carry in the desert is the right attitude. First, accept Egypt for Egypt.

But the second "let it be" can be applied to the desert, or to the life of a man who once wanted to be a military man and then an artist, but ended up a guide in the desert.

"People want to go from point A to point B," Shannon said. "But sometimes fate gives you another path."

China goes to Africa

LILONGWE, Malawi: When Yang Jie left home at 18, he was doing what people from China's hardscrabble Fujian Province have done for generations: emigrating in search of a better living overseas.

What set him apart was his destination. Instead of the traditional adopted homelands in North America and Europe, where Fujian people have settled by the hundreds of thousands, he chose southern Africa, making his way to this small, landlocked country where Stanley and Livingstone's legendary meeting occurred.

"Before I left China," said Yang, now 25, "I thought Africa was all one big desert," a place forever bathed in terrible heat. So he figured ice cream would naturally be in high demand, and with money pooled from relatives and friends, created his own factory. Malawi's climate, in fact, is subtropical, but that has not stopped his ice cream company from becoming the country's biggest.

Stories like this have become legion across Africa over the last five years or so, as hundreds of thousands of Chinese have discovered the continent, setting off to do business in a part of the world that had been terra incognita for their compatriots. The Xinhua press agency recently estimated there were at least 750,000 Chinese working or living for extended periods on the continent, a reflection of burgeoning economic ties between China and Africa that reached $55 billion in trade in 2006, compared with less than $10 million a generation earlier.

Even when Yang arrived here in 2001, he said he could go weeks without encountering another traveler from his homeland. But as surely as his investments in the country have prospered, he said, an increasingly large community of Chinese migrants has taken root, running everything from small factories to health care clinics and trading companies.

During the previous wave of Chinese interest in Africa in the 1960s and 70s, an era of radical socialism and proclaimed third world solidarity, European and American companies held sway over economies across most of the continent. Here and there, though, the Chinese made their presence felt, often as a curious sight: drably dressed, state-run work brigades that built stadiums, railroads and highways, often crushing rocks and performing other heavy labor by hand. Today, in many of the countries the new Chinese emigrants have settled in, like Chad, Chinese-owned pharmacies, massage parlors and restaurants serving a variety of regional Chinese cuisines can be found; the Western presence, once dominant, has steadily dwindled, and essentially consists nowadays of relief experts working with international agencies or oil workers, living behind high walls in heavily guarded enclaves.

At first, this new Chinese exodus was driven largely by word of mouth, as pioneers like Yang relayed news back home of abundant opportunities in a part of the world where many economies lay undeveloped or in ruins, and where even in the richer countries many things taken for granted in the developed world awaited builders and investors.

Conditions like these often deter Western investors, but for many budding Chinese entrepreneurs, Africa's emerging economies are inviting precisely because they seem small and accessible. Competition is often weak or nonexistent, and for African customers, the low price of many Chinese goods and services make them more affordable than their Western counterparts.

You Xianwen sold his pipe-laying business in Chengdu this year to move to Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, to join a startup company with a Chinese partner he had previously only met online.

"Back where I come from we are pretty independent people," said You, 55. "My brothers and sisters all supported my decision to come here. In fact, they say that if things really work out for me, they would like to move to Africa, too."

You said that before settling on Ethiopia, he had considered other African countries, including Zambia. "Luckily I didn't decide to go there," he said, explaining that he had been frightened by the recent anti-Chinese protests in that country.

His new business, ABC Bioenergy, builds devices that generate combustible gas from ordinary refuse, providing what You says would be an affordable alternative source of energy in a country where electricity supplies are erratic and prices high.

Read the rest here:

IHT: Chinese Flocking to Africa

Africa a source of fascination for China since the Ming Dynasty

(Hopefully, things will improve for Africa. But the continuation of the upheavals we saw in the 60s -80s are still continuing - corrupt governments, inefficient bureaucracies,  nepotism, cronyism, etc.. Who can also forget that thousands of South Asian Indians who had been in Africa for generations - and were good businessmen -were ruthlessly persecuted by the blacks.)

Trade Analysis

Another horror day on the SGX. What began with promise quickly vanished. @#$%. I was sitting on two stocks that were up by 4% in early morning but - in less than 20 minutes barrelled down to negative territory.

I'm all in. That's the sad part. Failed to plan adequately and my portfolio is down 30% - some of the smaller shares are down 50%. Hell some of the medium tier shares I own are down nearly 40% too like FerroChina.

Anyhow enough complaining- here's a trade I'm quite proud of. HGO. Hillgrove Resources is an Australian mining company that situated close to Adelaide- that's good because distance can be a real killer expense.

This is a good example of how studying the moving average can help you choose good buy and sell signals.

(I'm sorry that the MA colors are hard to see but that's the aussie broker's system, can't change it.)

In March and April - HGO was forming a nice upward trend. I got in at 29 cents. There were two major breakouts. The 2nd one happened as the moving averages were linking up - that usually send mixed signals - defensive traders might even have sold on that point. (I sold some of the shares at 35 cents at that point). But the short and medium term averages didn't drift pass the long term average (thats the lower moving trend line, so it can still be viewed as safe.)

There was a strong breakout at the end of May - it hit a high of 70 cents- I was watching it when it happened. And I was overjoyed- I thought it would keep on going towards $1.00.

It didn't.

The trend started running of steam at the end of July. I sold all the shares at around that level between 58.5 - 53 cents. I did a pang of pain - cos I was now wishing I had sold some at the high 60 mark. But there's no place for emotions in this game.

As they say the trend is your friend- follow the trend - so see the moving day average descending downwards? Yah, bad sign. Don't buy.

Unfortunately, I did. I bought some back as it was going downward. Thankfully, I didn't buy much - just about 20% of what I had previously sold. But really, that was a silly move.

That's a powerful trend there. So god knows when it will end.




Friday, August 17, 2007

Trade Analysis

Another horror day on the SGX. What began with promise quickly vanished. @#$%. I was sitting on two stocks that were up by 4% in early morning but - in less than 20 minutes barrelled down to negative territory.

I'm all in. That's the sad part. Failed to plan adequately and my portfolio is down 30% - some of the smaller shares are down 50%. Hell some of the medium tier shares I own are down nearly 40% too like FerroChina.

Anyhow enough complaining- here's a trade I'm quite pleased with. HGO. Hillgrove Resources is an Australian mining company that situated close to Adelaide- that's good because distance can be a real killer expense. Fuel, Water, batteries, everything has to be trucked in. And if its in some gawdforsaken place, with no proper roads, its gonna cost dearly.

This is a good example of how studying the moving average can help you choose good buy and sell signals.

(I'm sorry that the MA colors are hard to see  but that's the aussie broker's computer system, can't change it.)

In March and April - HGO was forming a nice upward trend. I got in at 29 cents - but over a year ago. There were two major breakouts. The 2nd one happened as the moving averages were linking up - that usually send mixed signals - defensive traders might even have sold on that point. (I sold some of the shares at 35 cents at that point). But the short and medium term averages didn't go under the long term average (thats the lower moving trend line, so it can still be viewed as still ok.)

There was a strong breakout at the end of May - it hit a high of 70 cents- I was watching it when it happened. And I was overjoyed- I thought it would keep on going towards $1.00.

It didn't.

The trend started running of steam at the end of July. I sold all the shares at around that level between 58.5 - 53 cents. I did feel a pang of pain - cos I was now wishing I had sold some at the high 60 mark. But there's no place for emotions in this game.

Nor is there any place for hope. And if I had been holding it waiting for it to come back up to 70 cents... well, "Dream on." Look at it now 29 cents and falling like a rock.

As they say the trend is your friend- follow the trend - so see the moving day average descending downwards? Yah, bad sign. Don't buy.

Unfortunately, I did. I bought some back as it was drifting downward. Thankfully, I didn't buy  much - just about 20% of what I had previously sold. But it was a silly move.

Sure, the price is CHEAP. But you should be focused on the overall trend- not the price. In a downhill market- the price can go cheaper each day.

Repeat after me: The trend is your friend. I'll give a free lunch to anyone who repeats that to my face. But just once only :)

That's a powerful downward trend there. So god knows when it will end. Better to stay away - put the money in the bank and go scuba diving with white tip sharks- less risk that way :)




Talking, Charting, Men and Women

I had a blue with HL today. I was chatting about the markets and about charting- and she just got really pissed off at me.

Apparently she had bought some MIDAS shares after I mentioned to her a few days ago that it looked good.

Worse, she attributed a lot of false statements to me.

No where did I say that charting is a perfect crystal ball- I'm not god and I don't claim any special powers and I definitely can't see into the future with 100% accuracy.

Charting however does offer good insight. And it has a failsafe - stop loss - to prevent losing your money. Keep your loses small- stay out of the market during volatility. Keep to your rules. Be disciplined about it.

But if the chart looks good- I say so. MIDAS did look promising a few days ago- but it fell 20% in the last two days. In fact, virtually everything has.

There was no rebound- there was just more selling. A lot of people were expecting this week to be positive- but the strength of the sellers simply overwhelmed the buyers.

I just have to be more careful with talking with HL - sometimes I think she just wants a fight.

The other problem is that hanging around with HL has indeed caused my focus and my share trading disciplines.

Its hard to share trade when you are with someone who is so emotional and doesn't have the same trading methodology as you.

I've copied her bad habits of buying as the stocks go downward - increasing exposure, risk, and tying up capital.

I had to get away from her to rethink my strategy and trading plans.

Trade Analysis

Another horror day on the SGX. What began with promise quickly vanished. @#$%. I was sitting on two stocks that were up by 4% in early morning but - in less than 20 minutes barrelled down to negative territory.

I'm all in. That's the sad part. Failed to plan adequately and my portfolio is down 30% - some of the smaller shares are down 50%. Hell some of the medium tier shares I own are down nearly 40% too like FerroChina.

Anyhow enough complaining- here's a trade I'm quite proud of. HGO. Hillgrove Resources is an Australian mining company that situated close to Adelaide- that's good because distance can be a real killer expense.

This is a good example of how studying the moving average can help you choose good buy and sell signals.

(I'm sorry that the MA colors are hard to see but that's the aussie broker's system, can't change it.)

In March and April - HGO was forming a nice upward trend. I got in at 29 cents. There were two major breakouts. The 2nd one happened as the moving averages were linking up - that usually send mixed signals - defensive traders might even have sold on that point. (I sold some of the shares at 35 cents at that point). But the short and medium term averages didn't drift pass the long term average (thats the lower moving trend line, so it can still be viewed as safe.)

There was a strong breakout at the end of May - it hit a high of 70 cents- I was watching it when it happened. And I was overjoyed- I thought it would keep on going towards $1.00.

It didn't.

The trend started running of steam at the end of July. I sold all the shares at around that level between 58.5 - 53 cents. I did a pang of pain - cos I was now wishing I had sold some at the high 60 mark. But there's no place for emotions in this game.

As they say the trend is your friend- follow the trend - so see the moving day average descending downwards? Yah, bad sign. Don't buy.

Unfortunately, I did. I bought some back as it was going downward. Thankfully, I didn't buy much - just about 20% of what I had previously sold. But really, that was a silly move.

That's a powerful trend there. So god knows when it will end.




An Analysis of a Trade

The most important rule for traders- is to establish a concrete stop loss rule. You must have a stop loss in place especially in times of market volatility.

The downside is that you face the prospect of getting bounced by the market. Meaning you sell when the price hits your stop loss during the day - and you see it rise the next day.

In this market, it can easily happen.

So one thing you can do to see analysis the chart as throughly as you can- get in at a good price- set your stop loss close - at 2%.

But frankly to be on the safe side- its best to stay out and see how the market trend develops. At the moment- its pointing downward- so the risk may be too great though tempting.

Anyhow check out the chart for Swiber. Click on the above chart. You can see that it was developing a nice trend channel since 2006 - and then in June 2007 it had a massive breakout and soared upwards to $3.40.

As the price goes upwards- what you should be doing is moving your stop loss upwards - to protect your profit. No point buying it at - say at 50 cents, watching it go to $5 - and not selling it hits back to 50 cents. That's not a fun roller coaster.

One way to determine your stop loss is to do simple line drawing. Draw the lines where you see the top and bottom and you can get an idea.

Now watch out for these things - as the moving day average widens as the share price soars upwards - watch out when they start crossing each other's paths - the yellow and the blue lines representing the short and medium day averages crossed at about $3.20 on the 30th July 2007 - cautious traders could start selling at this point as the trend is coming to strong resistance.

You may have bought in at $1.90 or even $2 - so if you sell everything even at $3.20 you make a 60% return in less than two months. Pretty good eh?

Say you buy 1000 shares at $2 - $2,000 - you have a stop loss at 2% - so you risk only $40 or so. Remember the trend is your friend - so if you jump for that strong ride- you should expect it to keep on going up. Don't set it too far otherwise you may get caught in a false breakout.

So you've made a profit of $1,200 or so - and risked only $40 - $80.

Warning signs.

Be careful when the trend ends- particularly when the market takes a downturn. Don't be too quick to jump back in.

I got in at $2.90 - thinking that the correction would be short-lived- that's what everyone was telling me. But the chart indicators- the moving averages - were not positive. See the moving averages pointing towards a downward descent.

Buy and hold- it sounds great but it does expose you to more risk.

I really should have exited at $2.80 - and taken a 3% loss.

Now I'm holding a stock that's fallen over 17%. Just over 10% today.

It looks like it may down further more.... aiyoh....

Of course its easy to say these sorts of things in hindsight. And the sudden downfall took everyone by surprise. But that's the market.

Anyways, don't listen to me too much- I'm a crappy trader. If you can buy books by Daryl Guppy- he has a series of books on charting which are readable.

I have all of his books- but sadly I rarely read them. lol.

Carnage

Holy fracking cow. The markets really taking a pounding today.

The Index is practically down 5%. Thats about 15% from the high set about three weeks ago. August is going to be remembered as the black month.

I've include this chart of the Sti with the 3 moving averages. If the red line is below the other two lines in a straight vertical ascent - that's good. You can buy in because the market is positive.

The mirror opposite means differently - if the red line is above the two other lines - stay away.

The trend if your friend.

It reallys hard to say for certain whats going to happen next. The selling pressure is very strong. And panic has set in.

Talking, Charting, Men and Women

I had a blue with HL today. I was chatting about the markets and about charting- and she just got really pissed off at me.

Apparently she had bought some MIDAS shares after I mentioned to her a few days ago that it looked good.

Worse, she attributed a lot of false statements to me.

No where did I say that charting is a perfect crystal ball- I'm not god and I don't claim any special powers and I definitely can't see into the future with 100% accuracy.

Charting however does offer good insight. And it has a failsafe - stop loss - to prevent losing your money. Keep your loses small- stay out of the market during volatility. Keep to your rules. Be disciplined about it.

But if the chart looks good- I say so. MIDAS did look promising a few days ago- but it fell 20% in the last two days. In fact, virtually everything has.

There was no rebound- there was just more selling. A lot of people were expecting this week to be positive- but the strength of the sellers simply overwhelmed the buyers.

I just have to be more careful with talking with HL - sometimes I think she just wants a fight.

The other problem is that hanging around with HL has indeed caused my focus and my share trading disciplines.

Its hard to share trade when you are with someone who is so emotional and doesn't have the same trading methodology as you.

I've copied her bad habits of buying as the stocks go downward - increasing exposure, risk, and tying up capital.

I have to get away from her to rethink my strategy and trading plans.

Having her around - is just not good. She has the buy/hold/ rumor trade plans - which has lost a boatload of cash. Sometimes it works spectacularly esp. durin the bull run - but without a stop loss plan - she's gonna get sunk eventually.

I can't allow myself to be like that- but the more I spend with her... the problem is that if she knows my trading plans- it makes it harder for me to execute my stop losses. Because the moment- the shares rise up - she laughs at me mocking the strategy.

This is not a good environment to trade in.


Thursday, August 16, 2007

An Analysis of a Trade

The most important rule for traders- is to establish a concrete stop loss rule. You must have a stop loss in place especially in times of market volatility.

Traders usually set their stop losses at 2% to protect their capital. The downside is that you face the prospect of getting bounced by the market. Meaning you sell when the price hits your stop loss during the day - and lol you see it rise dramatically.

In this market, when everything is falling down, it can easily happen.

But keeping tight stop losses is even more important. A 2% loss can balloon to a 20% loss very quickly. The key idea here is "managing your risk".

So the best thing you can do to see analysis the chart as throughly as you can- get in at a good price- set your stop loss close - at 2%. If its good - its good.

But frankly to be on the safe side- its best to stay out and see how the market trend develops. At the moment- its pointing downward- so the risk may be too great though tempting.

Anyhow check out the chart for Swiber. Click on the above chart. You can see that it was developing a nice trend channel since 2006 - and then in June 2007 it had a massive breakout and soared upwards to $3.40.

As the price goes upwards- what you should be doing is moving your stop loss upwards - to protect your profit. No point buying it at - say at 50 cents, watching it go to $5 - and not selling it hits back to 50 cents. That's not a fun roller coaster. And no one wants to hear your "big fish dat got away" story.

One way to determine your stop loss is to do simple line drawing. Draw the lines where you see the top and bottom and you can get an idea.

Now watch out for these things - as the moving day average widens as the share price soars upwards - watch out when they start crossing each other's paths - the yellow and the blue lines representing the short and medium day averages crossed at about $3.20 on the 30th July 2007 - cautious traders could start selling at this point as the trend has clearly lost its strength.

You may have bought in at $1.90 or even $2 - so if you sell everything even at $3.20 you make a 60% return in less than two months. Pretty good eh?

Say you buy 1000 shares at $2 - $2,000 - you have a stop loss at 2% - so you risk only $40 or so.  Remember the trend is your friend - so if you jump for that strong ride- you should expect it to keep on going up. Don't set it too far otherwise you may get caught in a false breakout.

So you've made a profit of $1,200 or so - and risked only $40 - $80.

Warning signs.

Be careful when the trend ends- particularly when the market takes a downturn. Don't be too quick to jump back in.

I got in at that flattening out level - $2.90 - thinking that the correction would be short-lived- that's what everyone was telling me. But the chart indicators- the moving averages - were negative; see the moving averages pointing towards a downward descent.

Buy and hold- it sounds great but it does expose you to more risk.

I really should have exited at $2.80 - and taken a 3% loss.

Now I'm holding a stock that's fallen over 17%. Just over 10% today.

It looks like it may down further more.... aiyoh....

I've got the money to hold the bastard. But its going to hurt seeing it go downward- and my capital is going to be tied up.

Of course its easy to say these sorts of things in hindsight. And the sudden downfall took everyone by surprise. But that's the market.

Anyways, don't listen to me too much- I'm a crappy trader. If you can buy books by Daryl Guppy- he has a series of books on charting which are readable.

I have all of his books- but sadly I rarely read them. lol.

Talking, Charting, Men and Women

I had a blue with HL today. I was chatting about the markets and about charting- and she just got really pissed off at me.

Apparently she had bought some MIDAS shares after I mentioned to her a few days ago that it looked good.

Worse, she attributed a lot of false statements to me.

No where did I say that charting is a perfect crystal ball- I'm not god and I don't claim any special powers and I definitely can't see into the future with 100% accuracy.

Charting however does offer good insight. And it has a failsafe - stop loss - to prevent losing your money. Keep your loses small- stay out of the market during volatility. Keep to your rules. Be disciplined about it.

But if the chart looks good- I say so. MIDAS did look promising a few days ago- but it fell 20% in the last two days. In fact, virtually everything has.

There was no rebound- there was just more selling. A lot of people were expecting this week to be positive- but the strength of the sellers simply overwhelmed the buyers.

I just have to be more careful with talking with HL - sometimes I think she just wants a fight.

The other problem is that hanging around with HL has indeed caused my focus and my share trading disciplines.

Its hard to share trade when you are with someone who is so emotional and doesn't have the same trading methodology as you.

I've copied her bad habits of buying as the stocks go downward - increasing exposure, risk, and tying up capital.

I had to get away from her to rethink my strategy and trading plans.

An Analysis of a Trade

The most important rule for traders- is to establish a concrete stop loss rule. You must have a stop loss in place especially in times of market volatility.

The downside is that you face the prospect of getting bounced by the market. Meaning you sell when the price hits your stop loss during the day - and you see it rise the next day.

In this market, it can easily happen.

So one thing you can do to see analysis the chart as throughly as you can- get in at a good price- set your stop loss close - at 2%.

But frankly to be on the safe side- its best to stay out and see how the market trend develops. At the moment- its pointing downward- so the risk may be too great though tempting.

Anyhow check out the chart for Swiber. Click on the above chart. You can see that it was developing a nice trend channel since 2006 - and then in June 2007 it had a massive breakout and soared upwards to $3.40.

As the price goes upwards- what you should be doing is moving your stop loss upwards - to protect your profit. No point buying it at - say at 50 cents, watching it go to $5 - and not selling it hits back to 50 cents. That's not a fun roller coaster.

One way to determine your stop loss is to do simple line drawing. Draw the lines where you see the top and bottom and you can get an idea.

Now watch out for these things - as the moving day average widens as the share price soars upwards - watch out when they start crossing each other's paths - the yellow and the blue lines representing the short and medium day averages crossed at about $3.20 on the 30th July 2007 - cautious traders could start selling at this point as the trend is coming to strong resistance.

You may have bought in at $1.90 or even $2 - so if you sell everything even at $3.20 you make a 60% return in less than two months. Pretty good eh?

Say you buy 1000 shares at $2 - $2,000 - you have a stop loss at 2% - so you risk only $40 or so. Remember the trend is your friend - so if you jump for that strong ride- you should expect it to keep on going up. Don't set it too far otherwise you may get caught in a false breakout.

So you've made a profit of $1,200 or so - and risked only $40 - $80.

Warning signs.

Be careful when the trend ends- particularly when the market takes a downturn. Don't be too quick to jump back in.

I got in at $2.90 - thinking that the correction would be short-lived- that's what everyone was telling me. But the chart indicators- the moving averages - were not positive. See the moving averages pointing towards a downward descent.

Buy and hold- it sounds great but it does expose you to more risk.

I really should have exited at $2.80 - and taken a 3% loss.

Now I'm holding a stock that's fallen over 17%. Just over 10% today.

It looks like it may down further more.... aiyoh....

Of course its easy to say these sorts of things in hindsight. And the sudden downfall took everyone by surprise. But that's the market.

Anyways, don't listen to me too much- I'm a crappy trader. If you can buy books by Daryl Guppy- he has a series of books on charting which are readable.

I have all of his books- but sadly I rarely read them. lol.

Carnage

Sorry for not blogging. But this week had been a rough ride for me.

Holy fracking cow. The markets really taking a pounding today.

Its just a powerful downward trend. There's no telling when it will end. Maybe this is the bottom - but its hard to say at the moment.

The Index is practically down 5%. Thats about 15% from the high set about three weeks ago. August is going to be remembered as the Black Month.

I've include this chart of the Sti with the 3 moving averages. If the red line is below the other two lines in a straight vertical ascent - that's good. You can buy in because the market is positive.

The mirror opposite means differently - if the red line is above the two other lines  - stay away.

The trend if your friend. Its extremely hard to time the market- maybe even foolish. So stay with the trend - keep your losses small - I think that's the best plan.

It reallys hard to say for certain whats going to happen next. The selling pressure is very strong. And panic has set in.

Carnage

Holy fracking cow. The markets really taking a pounding today.

The Index is practically down 5%. Thats about 15% from the high set about three weeks ago. August is going to be remembered as the black month.

I've include this chart of the Sti with the 3 moving averages. If the red line is below the other two lines in a straight vertical ascent - that's good. You can buy in because the market is positive.

The mirror opposite means differently - if the red line is above the two other lines - stay away.

The trend if your friend.

It reallys hard to say for certain whats going to happen next. The selling pressure is very strong. And panic has set in.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Sunday night roundup

Its certainly been an eventful week. Top of the list was seeing my entire portfolio fall to the 20% mark. Seeing all that red ink made my heart bleed. I didn't anticipate the market to fall so badly over "old news". But the sub-prime mortgage problem was brewing for awhile. I should have looked at it more closer.

My patriotism got a good shot in the arm on Thursday. I was fortunate to get tickets for the National Day Parade - in the VIP area!!! This years NDP was special - done on the waterfront on a massive floating stage and at the evening, it was a kaleidescope of colors - from the standard red parachutists to the neon rainbow hue of the stage performers to the surreal golden glow of the jellyfish balloons and the fiery fireworks.

I sat with my Uncle's family in the VIP section, it was really cool. Lee Hsien Yang was sitting a few rows behinds us; and a stone throw away :) was the Prime Minister and the rest of Parliament. (No, the thought of throwing something at them during the Mexican wave did not occur to me. Anyhow with my wonky aiming I might have hit my Uncle instead.)

This may sound strange but I was very moved when our national anthem came on and seeing that huge red white star crescent flag stoicly fluttering by. You can see that in my video clip section.

Friday night I was given free tickets to the Newman Covergirl competition held at Zouk. Went  with my friend, Nick. It was a pleasant affair to see the girls in real life. I was surprised that the ones who looked pretty on photo were not so stunning; whereas two of the contestants who didn't look so great in the photo shot- looked spectacular on the stage. Calista Lim looked especially divine - I'm sure she would have won if a vote was done at Zouk. But alas all the votes were cast already. We didn't stay for long. My throat was bugging me again - and drinking all that alcohol didn't help.

Saturday... Ultimate Frisbee got fried good and proper in Sentosa. This weekend we played at the Back Island of Death (the original name for Sentosa - Pulau Blakan Mati). We started at 3pm. But to be frank I wish we had stayed in the shade for another two good hours. The sun was scorching!!!! You could fry an egg on the sand - but having no eggs we decided to fry our feet instead :) Alan can really move despite his rugby player girth. I need to get back to gym.

It was a miracle that I got to church on time today. I think God must have stopped time to allow me to get to church. Maybe He did. I had this strange feeling that He wanted me to hear the message today.

And it was special. Intead of the usual theological roundabout, we heard from a Malay preacher and his helper, a Ken-looking American missionary. For those who don't know anything about South-east Asia, Malay Christian preachers are as rare as diamonds. Most Malays are de facto Muslims. If any of them renounce Islam- they are ostracized from society and face violent reprisals. The Malay preacher did his message entirely in Bahasa. Initially, the congregation just didn't how to react. The last time someone preached in Malay at our church may have over 100 years ago.

He spoke of the difficulty of preaching to his community in Sumatra but he said that through love and care - the hatred towards Christians - came down. His wife and him took care of a village woman who was paralyzed - the rest of the village said she was cursed by God and feared to even touch her. She hadn't taken a bath in four years. In the tropical heat - now that's a horror. They washed her and helped to feed her. In time she came to accept Jesus as her Lord and Savior. Meanwhile, their act of compassion surprised the other villagers and got them to re-think - hopefully in time they took will be Christians.

The US missionary spoke and he urged us to reconsider Jesus' last words- "the Great Commission" in which he told his disciples to:

"Go, preach the gospel, and make disciples of the peoples of the world, from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

In our case, Jesus may have said from Singapore to Johor and to Tibet.

Jesus' disciples, all Jews, had a hard time going out to tell the good news to non-Jewish people, esp. to Samarians whom they disliked. And are we no different from them? I must confess I would find it very hard to talk about Jesus with a foreign blue collar worker from China or India, issues of language and class just make it a mountain to climb over.

As for preaching the gospel to Muslims in Johor, Malaysia... that's almost like asking to be crucified. Hee hee, maybe that's what Jesus wants. Virtually all of his disciples got killed preaching the gospel. Christianity seemed to spread the fastest when Christians acted courageously in accordance with the Gospel - and suffered for it.

I think its time I did more praying.