Month: May 2010

The Need To Be Appreciated

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By P Chong                                               12 May 2010

William James, one of the founders of modern psychology said this: “The deepest principle of human nature is a craving to be appreciated.”

I couldn’t agree more, and in fact, we never know when a few kind words can change a life forever. Feeling valuable and appreciated is the basic & fundamental need & craving of all mankind. You can make a difference in making this world a better place to live in by the words you use & the way you act towards your fellow human beings.

Here’s an unforgettable story about the power of appreciation. I am sure you’ll enjoy it as much as I do! You can paint a picture with a thousand words, but nothing like the physical sight or having it related in the form of a story.

Excerpt from

“The Simple Truths of Appreciation”

by Barbara Glanz

Bob Danzig has an amazing story. Simple words of appreciation and encouragement changed his life. Bob was in five foster homes during his youth, and said he spent his childhood trying to find someone to love and appreciate him.

When he was nine years old, he had a new social worker. He said after she had done all the paperwork to move him to yet another foster home, she sat him down, looked him directly in the eyes, and said, “Bobby, I want you to always remember these words: YOU ARE WORTHWHILE!”

Bob says that no one had ever said anything like that to him, and each time they met, she repeated those words. They became an affirmation of appreciation that he heard over and over again in his head. Those three words “You Are Worthwhile” dwelt permanently in his heart!

Bob graduated at sixteen, not because he was smart, he says, but because he got mixed up in the system!

He soon took a job at the Albany New York Times as a copy boy, and his very first boss was a woman named Margaret. After he had worked there about six months, Margaret called him into her office one day and asked him to sit down. He thought for sure he was going to be fired! She looked him right in the eyes and said to him, “I have been the office manager for 15 years – I have been observing you – and I believe YOU ARE FULL OF PROMISE.” Those words, on that day, gave him permission to aspire.

Those two positive messages of appreciation played over and over again in his head and ultimately gave him the courage to be the very best he could be. Sixteen years later he became the Publisher of the Albany New York Times, and seven years after that, he became CEO of Hearst Newspapers, one of the largest newspaper companies in the world; and he credits it all to those simple words of appreciation and love. What a wonderful example of how little gifts of appreciation can make such a difference in a life!

In this, I am drawn to a similar story “Les Miserables” by Victor Hugo. This famous French novel contains many plots, but the main thread centres on an ex-convict, Jean Valjean (known by his prison number, 24601) whose life was changed for good but could not escape his dark past. A rejected convict he was, until taken in by the benevolent Bishop Myriel, the Bishop of Digne, who gave him shelter. Caught by the police with stealing & running away with the Bishop’s silverware, the Bishop rescued him by assuring the police that the silverware was a gift & further gave him his two silver candlesticks as well.

The Bishop then “reminded” of the promise, which Valjean had no recollection whatsoever, to use the silver to make an honest man of himself.

That little act of the Bishop’s kindness was the turning point for Valjean’s life. Six years passed and Valjean, having assumed the pseudonym Monsieur Madeleine to avoid capture, became a wealthy factory owner and was even appointed mayor of his adopted town of Montreuil-sur-Mer.

Though his dark past kept creeping up on him, he maintained the path of righteousness. In his final moments, he realised happiness with his adopted daughter & son-in-law by his side.

Care to help a fellow being on the right track in life?

Remember what I wrote:”Doing Good Always Feel So Good”

Curry Kills Cancer Cells

On By Paul2 Comments
By P Chong

Curry Chicken

Chemotherapy is not necessary the best treatment for cancer. Often there’s a simple unknown alternative which the giant drug companies are not too favoured that it be known. Also, if it is something so simple, patients tend to be sceptical about it.

Nonetheless, here’s one simple treatment available for esophageal cancer. This is too good to be true, for the Asians consume a lot of curry!

Believe it or not . . .

LONDON – A molecule found in a curry ingredient can kill esophageal cancer cells in the laboratory, suggesting it might be developed as an anti-cancer treatment, scientists said on Wednesday.

Researchers at the Cork Cancer Research Center in Ireland treated esophageal cancer cells with curcumin — a chemical found in the spice turmeric, which gives curries a distinctive yellow color — and found it started to kill cancer cells within 24 hours.

The cells also began to digest themselves, they said in a study published in the British Journal of Cancer.

Previous scientific studies have suggested curcumin can suppress tumors and that people who eat lots of curry may be less prone to the disease, although curcumin loses its anti-cancer attributes quickly when ingested.

But Sharon McKenna, lead author of the Irish study, said her study suggested a potential for scientists to develop curcumin as an anti-cancer drug to treat esophageal cancer.

Cancers of the esophagus kill more than 500,000 people across the world each year. The tumors are especially deadly, with five-year survival rates of just 12 to 31 percent.

McKenna said the study showed curcumin caused the cancer cells to die “using an unexpected system of cell messages.”

Normally, faulty cells die by committing programed suicide, or apoptosis, which occurs when proteins called caspases are ‘switched on’ in cells, the researchers said.

But these cells showed no evidence of suicide, and the addition of a molecule that inhibits caspases and stops this “switch being flicked’ made no difference to the number of cells that died, suggesting curcumin attacked the cancer cells using an alternative cell signaling system.

U.S. researchers said in 2007 they had found curcumin may help stimulate immune system cells in the Alzheimer’s disease.

It is a known fact that drug companies will only spend money on research if the bottom line is attractive and provided too they can come through with a manufactured drug in place to duplicate the natural simple remedy – otherwise it’s counter-productive.

You probably know that there are a number of natural cure for cancer which are completely suppressed by drug companies!

This is all a question of capitalism in operation at the expense of human decency & compassion.

Please post your comments.

Read Tomorrow’s Top News Stories Today!

On By Paul2 Comments

By P Chong                                         10 May 2010

Group Disaster

“Capitalism creates a rational frame of mind which, having destroyed the moral authority of so many other institutions, in the end turns against its own.” – Joseph A. Schumpeter

What’s happening in Europe with the great sovereign debt crisis is nothing but a prelude to greater drama that will eventually unfold when the tsunami waves hit the American shores.

Obama, Geithner, Reid & Pelosi are like four drunken sailors still freely spending hundreds of billions which they don’t possess, and like a deranged counterfeiter, Fed Chief Benjamin Bernanke is still happily printing & supplying them with useless unbacked paper money like there’s no tomorrow!

On top of all these, US is indebted to China & Japan

in terms of trillions of dollars.

Can you just visualise or envisage the magnitude of what the consequences will be when the final crunch strikes?

What will happen to the US dollar? Let’s see what’s happening to the Euro – it has already dropped to a 14-month record lows in the last week alone, a massive loss of 16% of its value in just over four months. At which rate, half of European wealth will be effectively wiped off in just one year.

When global investors awaken to the fact that the US indebtedness is far worst than the European nations, there will be greater economic & social catastrophe! Will the two financial saviours China & Japan able to bail out US then? What about IMF? The scenario may be played out in more horrifying proportions!

If you’ve been following the news on satellite TV, be it Aljazeera or RT-TV and Channel News Asia, you wouldn’t believe the chaos of a civilised nation like Greece. Tens of thousands of protesters, from air traffic controllers to teachers & just about everybody hit the streets, hurling rocks & stones & Molotov cocktails, with fire burning in every corner. Three people were reported to have died in the fire that struck an Athens bank branch. Now it’s not just a question of economic loss, but people are starting to lose their lives.

This madness arose out of the stringent austerity measures imposed by the rest of the European Union & the International Monetary Fund (IMF). They are forcing Greece to slash public sector wages, freeze pensions & boost taxes before they’ll start disbursing the $143 billion in bailout money.

What will the future hold for the Greece’s citizens? They are deadly scared over what’s to come, and no less sick of bearing the brunt of the pain & suffering. They obviously don’t want to see their wages & salaries cut & the collapse of their standard of living. Already their unemployment has been running at a six-year high of 11.3%.

Now is pay-back time. Both the people & the politicians have been courting the good life far too long – way beyond their means! You cannot go on forever borrowing & spending like mad and forgetting the day of reckoning will never come.

Hopefully other nations will learn a lesson from here!

The scenario in Greece is ugly!

Madness surge . . . Chaos reign . . . all is futile & vain!

“Greece is petrified & paralysed . . . Athens is up in smoke & flames . . . rioters are firebombing banks, businesses and government buildings . . . the euro is plunging . . . stock markets are reeling . . .”

Now this run-away freight train of great sovereign debt crisis is speeding towards US!

The whole world seems to be in turmoil . . . hung government election in UK . . . Spain, Portugal, Ireland & Italy also plagued with indebtedness . . . wars & atrocities . . . and natural calamities of earthquakes & volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, floods, hunger, refugees & displacement & climatic change . . .

Are all these signs from Heaven as warnings to mankind?

Mother’s Day – Tribute & Appreciation

On By Paul3 Comments

(Sunday      9 May 2010)

By P Chong

<iframe width=”420″ height=”315″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/3q9-Dk8INAU&#8221; frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen>

Play Video: Mum’s the Best!

Good cheers to all the Mothers. Today is your Day!

Yes, you are Queen for the day. So put up your legs & relax.

Let the family do you honour – breakfast in bed, gifts of roses & flowers,

special lunch & dinner . . . every conceivable sign of love & appreciation.

Mothers Day in Australia, the second Sunday of May, is a special day for mothers when family members gather together to celebrate the occasion.

Red Roses from Our Garden

When I was young, I remember listening to a favourite song that was constantly aired over the radio. It’s called “Mother” and the lyrics are too beautiful to be forgotten. Its acronym aptly display the truth of it all:

M is for the million things she gave me

O means only that she’s growing old

T is for her tears she shed to save me

H is for the heart of purest gold

E is for her eyes with love-light shinning

R means right & right she’ll always be

Put them all together, they spell “MOTHER”, a word that means a world to me.

Chrysanthemum popular in Australia on Mothers Day

My mother passed on at age 92 on 11 June 2007. She never had a day of sickness till the day she was taken away from us. She blessed us much & in turn she was greatly blessed. She was truly a woman of substance to raise all nine of us siblings. We attribute our success to her great care & love. Now that she is gone, we can only remember her fondly & dearly missed.

On this special day, I like to pay special tribute to all mothers by relating this beautiful story which depicts every facet of love & care.

The young mother set her foot on the path of life. “Is this the long way?” she asked. The guide said: “Yes, and the way is hard. And you will be old before you reach the end of it. But the end will be better than the beginning.”

But the young mother was happy, and she would not believe that anything could be better than these years. So she played with her children, and gathered flowers for them along the way, and bathed them in the clear streams; and the sun shone on them, and the young Mother cried, “Nothing will ever be lovelier than this.”

Then the night came, and the storm roared, and the path was dark, and the children shook with fear and cold. However, the mother drew them close and covered them with her mantle, and the children said, “Mother, we are not afraid, for you are near, and no harm can come.”

And the morning came, and there was a hill ahead, and the children climbed and grew weary. The mother too was weary. But at all times she said to the children,” A little patience and we are there.” So the children climbed, and when they reached the top they said, “Mother, we would not have done it without you.”

And the mother, when she lay down at night looked up at the stars and said, “This is a better day than the last, for my children have learned fortitude in the face of hardship. Yesterday I gave them courage. Today, I’ve given them strength.”

The next day came strange clouds which darkened the earth, clouds of war and hate and evil, and the children groped and stumbled, and the mother said: “Look up. Lift your eyes to the light. ” The children looked and saw above the clouds an everlasting glory, and it guided them beyond the darkness. That night the Mother said, “This is the best day of all, for I have shown my children God.”

The days went on, the weeks and the months and the years, and the mother grew old and she was a little bent.

But her children were tall and strong, and walked with courage. When the way was rough, they lifted her, for she was as light as a feather; and at last they came to a hill, and beyond they could see a shining road and golden gates flung wide. And mother said, “I have reached the end of my journey. Now I know the end is better than the beginning, for my children can walk alone, and their children after them.”

And the children said, “You will always walk with us, Mother, even when you have gone through the gates.”

And they stood and watched her as she went on alone, and the gates closed after her. And they said: “We cannot see her but she is with us still. A Mother like ours is more than a memory. She is a living presence . . .

Your Mother is always with you . . .

  • She’s the whisper of the leaves as you walk down the street;
  • she’s the smell of bleach in your freshly laundered socks;
  • she’s the cool hand on your brow when you’re not well.
  • Your Mother lives inside your laughter.
  • And she’s crystallised in every tear drop.
  • She’s the place you came from, your first home;
  • and she’s the map you follow with every step you take.
  • She’s your first love and your first heartbreak, and nothing on earth can separate you.

Not time, not space . . . not even death!

Mother Teresa said: “kindness is a language we all understand. Even the blind can see it & the deaf can hear it.”

So, say “Thank You” and say it out loud!

(Source of Story: Unknown)

Indian Holy Man No Food Or Drink For 70 Years.

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Source of Story: Pravda.Ru

Prahlad Jani in hospital under observation

Prahlad Jani is 82. He’s an Indian holy man. He claims to have not taken food or drinks for 70 years. Is this believable? Can he be nothing but a fraud? He looks absolutely fit & healthy.

Indian scientists are now holding him in isolation in a hospital in Ahmedabad, Gurjarat, where he is being closely monitored by India’s Defence Research Organisation, who believe he may have a genuine quality which could help save lives.

So far, Mr Prahlad appears to be standing up to scrutiny. He has not eaten or drunk any fluids in six days, and similarly has not passed urine or a stool in that time. He remains fit and healthy and shows no sign of lethargy. Doctors will continue observing him for 15 days in which time they would expect to see some muscle wastage, serious dehydration, weight loss, and fatigue followed by organ failure.

It is common in India for Jains and Hindus to fast, sometimes for up to eight days, without any adverse affects, as part of their religious worship. Most humans cannot survive without food for 50 days. The longest hunger strike recorded is 74 days.

According to Dr Sudhir Shah, who examined him in 2003, he went without food or water for ten days in which urine appeared to be reabsorbed by his body after forming in his bladder. Doubts were expressed about his claim after his weight fell slightly at the end of the trial.

“The most surprising fact is that his kidneys produce urine in small amounts, but he does not pass urine, it simply disappears,” Professor Anil Gupta said.

Doctor Sudhir Shah said the study could “help in working out strategies for survival during natural calamities, extreme stressful conditions and extra-terrestrial explorations like future missions to the Moon and the Mars.

Mr Jani, who claims to have left home aged seven and lived as a wandering sadhu or holy man in Rajasthan, is regarded as a “breatharian” who can live on a “spiritual life-force” alone. He believes he is sustained by a goddess who pours an ‘elixir’ through a hole in his palate. His claims have been supported by an Indian doctor who specialises in studies of people who claim supernatural abilities, but he has also been dismissed by others as a “village fraud.”

India’s Defence Research Development Organisation, whose scientists develop drone aircraft, intercontinental ballistic missiles and new types of bombs. They believe Mr Prahlad could teach them to help soldiers survive longer without food, or disaster victims to hang on until help arrives.

“If his claims are verified, it will be a breakthrough in medical science,” said Dr G Ilavazhagan, Director of the Defence Institute of Physiology & Allied Sciences.

“We will be able to help save human lives during natural disasters, high altitude, sea journeys and other natural and human extremities. We can educate people about the survival techniques in adverse conditions with little food and water or nothing at all.”

Not all scientists are curious about Jani’s strange capability. Some have dismissed Jani as a fraud.

Could this be possible to go without food & liquid

for 70 long years?

Could be this Prahlad Jani is supernatural?

US Is “W.M.D.”!

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By P Chong                              Friday, 7 May 2010

    US nukes can “destroy the globe several times over,”

    says Iranian President.

    This is the truth that the American may not like to hear of it or would care to admit. US is “W.M.D.” All these conferences of Nuclear non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) are pointless & senselessly ridiculous when the very nation to rid itself of the power of mass destruction is sitting pretty & doing nothing about its own while threatening & advocating others to disarm.

    Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has welcomed the United States’ transparency in declaring it has more than 5,000 nuclear warheads in its stockpile, plus several thousand more retired warheads. But he pointed out Washington’s arsenal had the potential to cause mass destruction on a global scale.

    Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks during a press conference during his visit to attend the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) conference at the United Nations Headquarters Tuesday, May 4, 2010. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, “The fact that the United States has declared it has a few nuclear bombs is a positive step forward, but it still raises some questions. 5,000 bombs could destroy the globe several times over. Moreover, the new bombs are far more destructive in their capacity to destroy and kill. There is no pride in possessing 5,000 nuclear bombs.”

In the history of mankind, no country has ever attained the status of ‘W.M.D.” – the connotation of the word initially made renowned under Ex-President Bush administration. It was under the camouflage of WMD that US pushed its way & invaded Iraq, which atrocities & suffering continued ceaselessly even today!

History shows that the United States was the first country in the world to develop nuclear weapons, and is the only country to have used them in warfare, with two bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II. Before & during the Cold War it conducted over a thousand nuclear tests and developed many long-range weapon delivery systems. It maintains an arsenal of 5,113 warheads and facilities for their construction and design, though many of the Cold War facilities have since been deactivated and are sites for environmental remediation.(Wikipedia).

Granted that while most Americans agreed that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki hastened the end of the war with Japan, there were & still are questions about the ethics of their use. This is undoubtedly the most highly controversial technology ever devised & used by the Americans to mass destruct fellow humankind.

In the immediate postwar period, much of the public debate was on the question of whether or not the U.S. should attempt to have a monopoly on the weapons — potentially encouraging a nuclear arms race — or whether or not it should relinquish them to an intergovernmental body (such as the newly created United Nations) or contribute to some other form of international control or information dispersal.

According to the historian of science Spencer Weart, it was not until the development of multi-megaton hydrogen bombs in the 1950s that a belief that nuclear weapons could potentially end all life on the planet (especially through means of nuclear fallout, highlighted by the “Castle Bravo” accident) became common in American thought or cultural expression. For the most part, however, the vast majority of American citizens believed during this time that nuclear weapons were necessary in order to ward off the threat from the Soviet Union.

The now-familiar peace symbol was developed (in the United Kingdom) as the logo for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and was taken up enthusiastically by anti-nuclear protesters in the U.S. during the 1960s.

History has also shown that US has invariably experimented with the use of chemical warfare in Vietnam, Iraq, who knows where else. The perpetrator & culprit always have the justification & initiated such uses and getting away with the crime.

In the name of decent human ethical practice including a host of civil rights movement, environmentalism movement, health & mental hazards and global public anxiety, US should be dragged to the International Court of Law & be prosecuted.

Lead by example, clear your own backyard before advocating others to follow suit. This is only logical & plausible. Otherwise, it would be just a case of hypocrisy of the highest order.

There have been periods marked by weapons reduction & restriction treaties between the US and USSR, including the present era. All of which are just for “show” & theatrical plays. The American population must realise that nuclear weapons are not required for US national security. As it is America possesses the greatest armoury & weapons of sorts to defend themselves.

It is utterly shocking to reveal (only after the declassification of Freedom of Information Act in April 2008) that in 1958, the United States Air Force had considered a plan to drop nuclear bombs on China during a confrontation over Taiwan but was fortunately overruled. The plan was to drop 10-15 kiloton bombs on airfields in Amoy (present Xiamen) in the event of a Chinese blockade against Taiwan’s Offshore Islands.

Just imagine the consequences if this were to happen! Not another Hiroshima & Nagasaki again! You don’t have to be experts, historians, scientists, military strategists or analysts, scholars, statesmen or politicians to debate on the the ethical implications, practicality, morality or danger over the use of nuclear weapons. You’ve just got to be human, that’s all!

In 2009 and 2010 the administration of Barrack Obama declared policies that would invalidate the Bush-era policy for use of nuclear weapons and its motions to develop new ones – “a world without nuclear weapons”.

*  Verbal rendering is just plain rhetoric.

  • Action speaks louder than words.
  • Token showing or window dressing to be ruled out.

A case of analogy – let’s say the parents are urging their offspring not to smoke but they themselves are puffing away left & right! What is needed in the world is simple sincerity & humbleness to make the world for peaceful & harmonious living.


.

The Mary Kay Ash Story . . .

On By Paul1 Comment

By P Chong                                         6 May 2010

In the business world dominated by men, here was one great lady who found a niche to stand tall among them. It’s timely with the coming of Mothers day  to pay tribute to her memory in establishing Mary Kay Cosmetics as a great corporation churning out an annual sales volume in excess of two billion in 37 countries with 800,000 independent operators.

This is the kind of story befitting the honour of all the women in the world in view of the coming Mothers Day on Sunday, 9 May 2010.

Mary Kay Inc. is a brand of skincare and color cosmetics founded by Mary Kay Ash (1916-2001) who parlayed her early training in direct sales into a multi-million-dollar based in Dallas. Richard Rogers, her son, is Chairman and CEO.

Excerpt from:
 “The Best Way Out is Always Through” 
by BJ Gallagher

Mary Kay Ash banged her head on the corporate glass ceiling one too many times. Working for several direct sales companies from the 1930’s until the early 1960’s, she achieved considerable success.  She climbed the corporate ladder to become the sole woman on the board of directors of the World Gift Company – quite an accomplishment for a woman in the 1950’s.

But life wasn’t rosy at the top. Even though Mary Kay had the title and the track record, she was not taken seriously by her male peers. In board meetings, her opinions and suggestions were ignored, dismissed, or even ridiculed. Male board members minced no words in their judgement – pronouncing her guilty of “thinking like a woman.”

Since the sales force was almost entirely female, Mary Kay thought that thinking like a woman was an asset. But her fellow board members disagreed. Finally, in frustration, she retired in 1963, intending to write a book to assist women in the male-dominated business.

Sitting at her kitchen table, she made two lists: one list was all the good things she had seen in the companies where she’d worked, and the other list was all the things she thought could be improved.  As she re-read her lists, she realised that what she had in front of her was a marketing plan for her ideal company.   In just four weeks, her “book” had become a business plan, and her retirement was over.

Both her accountant and her attorney did their best to discourage her, warning that she would be throwing her money away on this venture. But Mary Kay had heard enough male nay-saying in her corporate years – she ignored her advisors.

Her husband, unlike her accountant and attorney, was very supportive. With his help, Mary Kay developed the cosmetic products, designed packaging, wrote promotional materials and recruited and trained her female sales force.

Then the unthinkable happened; her husband of twenty-one years died of a heart attack. Another woman might have dropped her plans, or at least delayed them, but Mary Kay was a strong Texas woman. She stayed on track with the help of her twenty-year-old son, Richard Rogers and rolled out her new business in September of 1963.

Beginning with a storefront in Dallas and an investment of $5,000, Mary Kay Cosmetics earned close to $200,000 in its first year – quadrupling that amount in its second year. When Mary Kay took her company public in 1968, sales had climbed to more than $10 million.

Mary Kay’s unusual corporate motto, “God first, family second, career third,” was unconventional, to say the least. But she understood the need for women to have balance in their lives, and she was committed to providing unlimited opportunity for women’s financial AND personal success.

Mary Kay authored three books, all of which became best-sellers. Her business model is taught at the Harvard Business School. She received many honours, including the Horatio Alger Award. Fortune magazine has named Mary Kay Cosmetics as one of the Ten Best Companies for Women, as well as one of The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America.

At the time of her death in 2001, Mary Kay Cosmetics had 800,000 independent beauty consultants in 37 countries, with total annual sales of over two billion dollars. Never underestimate the power of a woman with a mission!

Who can say that women cannot be business leaders?

Looking Young When Growing Old

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By P Chong                               5 April 2010

The title does suggest some ambiguities. It’s contradicting to expect looking young when chronologically age is catching up whether you like it or not. We can’t do anything with our chronological age, but physically we can help ourselves in the way we look as the years go by.

For a large part, our diet has much to do with our looks. Findings from a new British research show that excessive smoking & drinking, inactivity & poor diet can age you by as much as 12 years

Whitney Houston in her glorious years

Needless to say, if you are on drugs, you’ll go down the gutter even sooner. In this respect, all you need is to look at Whitney Houston – the once upon glamorous singing sensation. Today, she looks far from her glorious days.

Whitney Houston Hooked by Drugs

With my friends, I used to jokingly compliment the guys & the gals about “ . . . a man is as young as he feels, but a woman is as old as she looks. Fortunately, for the woman like good wine she mellows with the years.” Appearance is an asset & so very important for a woman, especially if she is in public light.

In many ways, women have the advantage over men when it comes to looking good & young. They can paint their lips, powder & enhance their faces, eye-shadows, hair-style & colours and a host of beauty aids & accessories – all contributing towards the coffer of the cosmetic companies. Of course, there is their further recourse to plastic surgery, which incidentally has also been attracting some of the masculine gender.

Generally, we can look a lot better with adopting a healthier lifestyle – good diet, exercise & good habits. In that British study, all 314 candidates had all the four unhealthy behaviours of smoking, drinking, inactivity & poor diet. Among them: 91 died during the study (29%). Among the 387 healthiest candidates without the four bad habits, only 32 died (8%).

One lead researcher Elizabeth of the University of Oslo said: “The risky behaviours were: smoking tobacco; drowning more than three alcoholic drinks per day for men & more than two daily for women; getting less than two hours of physical activity per week; and eating fruits & vegetables few than three times daily.

These habits combined substantially increase the risk of death & make people who engaged in them seem 12 years older than people in the healthier group.” (Source: Archives of Internal Medicine).

The most common causes of death are heart disease & cancer, both related to unhealthy lifestyle.

June Stevens, a University of North Carolina public health researcher, said the results are in line with previous studies that examined the combined effects of health-related habits on longevity.

However, she said that the findings don’t mean that everyone who maintains a healthy lifestyle will live longer than those who don’t, but it will increase the odds.

We are what we eat.

Do we eat to live

Or live to eat

Seems to be the eternal question.

What Do The Chinese Want In Malaysia?

On By Paul2 Comments

By P Chong                                         Tuesday, 4 May 2010

Eye & Pernas Twin Towers Malaysia

That you may never know & may never too be able to give. That’s what made us different & distinct from you. That which is good & most treasured is time-honoured, respected & revered right through the ages . . . since the dawn of the history of mankind. If you have not been around this long as a nation or race (if ever there was such an “adulterated”race historically), you’d never be able even to understand. Without understanding, you can never acquired the culture & become the benevolent & gracious person that is expected of you.

Small man settles for the crumbs

While great man freely extends his alms.

In the history of mankind, even the great Napoleon Bonaparte in all his conquering glory feared China, leaving it alone for fear of wakening the sleeping Dragon. History does not lie – all truth & falsehood are revealed therein. Try as you might tear off the “unwanted” pages & insert “invented” pages of your own, truth will prevail. You just cannot change past history. The crux is you may not have much of a history as a race!

You cannot grow strong by doing others wrong. You may think it’s so easy to intimidate & dominate others by your threats & wielding your “kris”. Their apparent fear exists only in your mind & imagination. There is such a thing as lowering one’s dignity by joining you in the throng of doing wrong. God forbids. (I have better avoid the use of the word “Allah”).

On the “Bumiputra” question, being “son of the soil”, the connotation is so baseless & laughable with the benefits of special privileges & rights. The international court of law will rule this out as invalid & all acquisitions through this privilege ruled as unlawful & illegitimate. The true “Bumiputra” in Malaysia are the aborigines or as we used to call them “Sakai”. The word “putra”, if I am not mistaken means “prince” and not “son”. By Malaysian law, all other races, though born & bred in Malaysia, are not deemed as “Bumiputra” except the Malays. They don’t even have to be born to be legitimate under the law – so long they profess the Muslim religion & are of Malay origin. Now, you’ll be the judge and jury. What’s your verdict?

How can you ever stand tall, strong & proud by throwing your illegitimate weight about? Deeds & thoughts of great men in the past always provide the guiding light for those blind of sight. You can learn a great deal from Abraham Lincoln, who was perhaps the greatest of the American Presidents. He said:

  • You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
  • You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
  • You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
  • You cannot further the brotherhood of man by encouraging class hatred.
  • You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
  • You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.
  • You cannot build character & courage by taking away man’s initiative & independence.
  • You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could & should do for themselves.

Lincoln had that special ability of “painting with words” with the things he said, and he said it all in pure simple words – nothing bombastic about them.

A good many lessons can be learnt & drawn from the above wisdom for Malaysia. The principles should be advocated & applied to right the wrong, if the young nation hope to have any standing at all in the world stage.

What do the Chinese want? It’s all inherently stated by this brief & concise piece of my writing. Fairness & justice must be seen to be in practice for all Malaysians.

Take heed & implement righteousness with all speed

Squabble not & avoid planting hatred seed

Stand tall & erect as a man

Be fair & just to all in the land!

The writer is  “A Chinese by Descent . . . An Australian by Consent”

Toppling The Greek Domino Other “PIIGS” To Follow

On By PaulLeave a comment

By P Chong                               3 May 2010

Now that news is all over about Greece toppling as the first of the dominoes,  and the credit downgrading of Spain & Portugal that followed, it appears the rest of the other “PIIGS” nations are just teetering on the fringe. The crucial question is with the political and legal wrangling on what to do with these wayward “PIIGS” nations, will Euro survive?

(“PIIGS” stands for Portugal, Ireland, Italy,Greece & Spain)

Corinth Ancient City Ruins

This Mediterranean Greek nation, the first major sovereign debt domino to topple, is just the Eye of the Sovereign Debt Hurricane. Greece is buried under a massive load of debts and deficits, and the numbers are indeed shocking.

Social unrest & austerity riots, protests, strikes over fiscal cuts

According to the European Union’s (EU) statistics agency which has been combing through Greece’s books, the country’s 2009 deficit tally up to a whopping 13.6 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) & may even be as high as 14.1 percent.

That’s more than four times the official “limit” for a country in the EU. And the nation’s total debt load is now closing in on $400 billion, or 115 percent of GDP. That’s among the worst ratios on the planet.

Greece is said to be an utterly corrupt nation . . . hence this plight. Towards the end of April 2010, Standard & Poor’s Agency lowered Greek debt to junk causing ripples in the world stock market & shares fell sharply. The other “PIIGS” nations are bound to be contaminated & it would mean just days for Euro to save itself. Already, sooner than expected, Spain & Portugal have also been downgraded by Standard & Poor’s.

Greek interest rates have exploded higher, with yields on 10-year Greek government bonds surging above 10 percent. Meanwhile, two-year note yields soared past 11 percent, more than a sub-prime mortgage borrower pays in the U.S.!

That’s a recipe for disaster for a country that needs to sell $72 billion in debt to cover its deficits just in the coming months.

In a report by Vincent Fernando CFA, from the Business Insider: “ . . . there’s just a broad deterioration in perceived creditworthiness happening right now, but it is particularly severe for the sovereign nation above given that their spreads are hitting record highs.”

Dr Marc Faber, an economic commentator, believed that the “PIIGS” nations will be defaulting & slaughtered. News from BBC carried the same kind of message.

Today’s clever acronym “PIIGS” for these EU nations of Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece & Spain is quite apt.

Facing a full-scale meltdown, Greece did the unthinkable recently by asking for a bailout from the EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The lifeline will take the form of up to $40 billion in three-year loans from the 15 other nations that share the Euro currency. Those loans will carry a below-market rate of just 5 percent. Greece can also get its hands on another $20 billion in low-rate loans from the IMF.

Greece is far from being alone. We’ll take at one other of the “PIIGS” countries, Portugal:

  • GDP shrank 2.7 percent in 2009, the worst recession in more than six decades.
  • The unemployment rate recently hit a 23-year high of 10.1 percent.
  • Budget deficit jumped to 9.3 percent of GDP.
  • Total debt is more than 85 percent of GDP, the worst in 20 years.

What about Ireland?

  • The budget deficit is almost 12 percent of GDP.

Italy?

  • Its total debt load is on track to hit 117 percent of GDP.

Plus, Spain is battling a budget deficit of 11.4 percent of GDP.

The bottom line is among the “PIIGS” nations, Greece is just the first domino to fall. Many other European countries are next in line. If truth be told, Greece hasn’t done anything different from many other countries including the U.S.

The biggest domino of all will be the U.S.! Budget deficit is soaring . . . debt load is exploding . . . bond yields are starting to rise . . . and their risk premium is beginning to climb.

As evident as it is, it’s been reported what we could expect:

“The folks in Washington are sticking their heads in the sand, ignoring the warning signs all around them. They believe the same kind of bond market collapse that just struck Greece can’t happen there. So they’re continuing to bail out banks, brokers, mortgage companies, insurance companies, automakers, unions, homeowners and the unemployed.

But now, with demand for U.S. Treasuries waning — as evidenced by a string of disastrous auctions and continued net selling by China — the only question that remains is, “Who will bail out Washington?”

The simple fact is, no institution or group of institutions on Earth has the resources to save Washington when the bond market finally gives up on their ability to manage their own finances. When that day dawns, the bond market will come apart at the seams. Interest rates will shoot the moon. Their feeble economic recovery could just vanish.”

It’s all very well to go on a spending spree & enjoying lifge as though there’s no tomorrow, but sooner or later, the bills become due which must be paid, and if there’s no cash then what can you expect?

With well over 80% of the American population not trusting Washington with its free spending & free printing of paper money . . . doomsday is predictably not too far off!

In a recent report by Vincent Fernando of the Business Insider, he said that “the U.K. is about to crash along with the sovereign-default “PIIGS”.

Too much freedom in Democracy

Makes control go crazy!

Breaking News Over Aljazeera (Live): “Greekonomics” – Greece been granted a bailout package for 110 Billion Euros for three years from IMF & EU combined.

7 May 2010 Breaking News: Greece is paralyzed … Athens is in flames … rioters are firebombing banks, businesses and government buildings … the euro is plunging … stock markets are reeling …

And now, this great sovereign debt crisis is speeding towards US like a run-away freight train. Other “PIIGS” are cringing – UK included.