Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Chewing food

Most of the time we gulp and swallow our food down quickly. We hardly chew our food so to speak. The moment the food is in our mouth, we take a few bites and down it goes into our stomach. Chewing food properly before swallowing is important as it helps us digest our food more properly and put less strain on the stomach muscle. Food that is not broken properly could cause bacteria overgrowth thus resulting in flatulence and other types of indigestion related complications.

Chewing food properly contributes to proper weight management due the fact that fat digestions begin in our mouth. The secretion of the enzyme lingua lipase by the glands located under our tongue helps to break down triglycerides into fatty acids and monoglycerides. Fatty acid is essential in helping the regulate blood pressure and boosting our immune system. High level of triglycerides in our blood stream is dangerous as it could increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Thus try to make it a habit to chew the food in our mouth 30 times or so before we swallow it. Apart from the above reasons, we could enjoy our meals better when we take time to chew our food properly.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Man made food quality

Heads up on artificial sweeteners. Beware of drinks laden with artificial sweeteners such as diet coke, light peps and a variety of soft drinks. Aspartame, one of the most widely used artificial sweeteners is known to cause weight gains instead of weight loss and potentially may also cause brain damage and cancer. It is surprisingly though the FDA allows such dangerous substance to be widely used in the food industry.
So you have it, forget about Equal, NutraSweet and all those dangerous artificial sweeteners. Most chewing gums contain artificial sweeteners so it pays to cut down on such tidbits. In actual fact the potential health risk posed by aspartame consumption has been known for quite some time.
http://foodqualitynews.com/news/ng.asp?id=84424

When it comes to health, the FDA and those big boys in the food industry would prefer to keep such information from you. Why? Cause it is a multi billion dollar industry and your health is not as important as the dollar and cents of this big corporations. As a matter of fact, the FDA were alerted to the potential danger posed by aspartame, instead it give the green light to go ahead for commercial reasons, all too often citing lack of data to prove that it is indeed harmful to human. If there is the biggest hypocrite in town, it must be the FDA. It is a corrupted agency so to speak. It seems that the FDA is controlled o rather influenced by the big pharmaceutical boys.

Surprisingly though there are some considerable people who has gone the extra mile in conducting experiments to validate the effects of aspartame.
Check it out at http://myaspartameexperiment.com/

I suppose we have to be cautious when it comes to anything that is manufactured in the laboratory. I can’t imagine the steak that we eat may be potentially harvested and grown in laboratory dish. How about that for all your meals? Man made meat? What has the world become?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/dietfitness.html?in_article_id=359117&in_page_id=1798

Friday, April 25, 2008

Feng shui & insomnia

Feng shui is an ancient Chinese practice that is believed to bring good luck and improvement in life. Today’s Feng shui emphasize on rearrangement and orientation of objects to achieve balance in one’s ‘Qi’ or energy so speak. The surrounding environment could affect the ‘Ying’ and the ‘Yang’ and thus determine the degree of harmonization to one’s life.

The ‘Ying’ and ‘Yang’ could be expressed in terms of elements of water, wood, fire and earth. Are there any elements of truth to Feng shui or is it just a bunch of ancient Chinese superstition ideas, teaching and outdated philosophy that is no longer relevant in today’s context?

Surprisingly though, some from the West believed that negative and positive energy impact the quality of one’s life. Doesn’t that sounds quite like ‘Ying’ and ‘Yang’ expressions of the Feng shui?
The term ‘Geopathic Stress’ could be coined very close to the Chinese ‘Qi’ or energy. Geopathic advocators believed that the earth energy system emanates radiation which is usually is in the balance state. The source of radiation comes from the earth energy, running subterranean water flow, certain minerals, fault lines, and many other combinations of sources yet unknown. Constant exposure to these energies and radiations could imbalance thus affect our health and life. The prolong exposure to the negative energy could compromise our body immune system.

There are those who swear that the reorientation of objects such as the bed help to solve and cure their insomnia problem. Avoiding negative energy flow through the body it seems could have tremendous impact to health.

So the next time if you feel that you are constantly having trouble sleeping at night, try to rearrange and reposition your bed. Who knows, perhaps, it might just help. There is no harm trying though.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Experiment with foot detoxification plaster.

Okay, there are many skeptics out there who think that the foot detoxification plaster is nothing more than a waste of money and no basis with regards to health benefit.
I have been using applying foot detoxification plaster for almost over 2 years and feel it helps in terms of improving my health.


To satisfy my curiosity, I decided to conduct a simple experiment to find out if there are any truths to doubts raised by some people. In particular the change of color in the plaster is due to oxidation of ferrous substance in the plaster.

I choose Takara foot plaster because 1) it is cheap (50 sheets) cost about 50 Singapore dollars and 2) it is effective in dispelling heavy metals and toxics from the body.

The content of Takara foot detoxification plaster are 1) Wood vinegar, 2) Bamboo Vinegar, 3) Vitamin C, 4) Chitin and Chitosan, 5) Dokudami, 6) Shokubutsuseni and 7) Loquat leaf. There is no presence of any ferrous substance as claimed by critics.

Chitosan is derived from the shell of crustaceans such as crabs and seashells. There are plenty of usages for Chitosan, among them as filtration to remove heavy minerals and oils from water. Similarly, Chitin is also derived from shell of crustaceans and used in water purification. Dokudami is a kind plant and has disinfectant and antimicrobial properties. It is used to treat skin disease. Shokubutsuseni has water retention properties.

I apply the plasters in several parts of the body namely, the arm, the knee, palm, neck, elbow, back and finally the sole of both feet. The plasters are applied for at least 8 hours and I turn on the air conditioner with temperature set to 23 degree to rule out perspiration from the experimental equation. The result? As I expect, there were very little colorization of the plasters with the exception of the plasters that were attach to the sole of my feet. Both underwent changed of colors, to dark pitch brown color.

The verdict? Your guess is as good as mine.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Detoxifcation


Are you experiencing constant indigestion, headaches, and allergies or recurring infections? Are you suffering from poor circulation, constant fatigue, acne and stiff joints? Are you suffering from bad breath and skin problems? If your answer is yes to one or more of the above, there is a possibility that you may be suffering from toxins accumulated in your body throughout the years and as a result your body defense and immune system become weak and succumb to gems.

Our body is constantly exposed to harmful toxins. The food that we eat, water that we drink and polluted air that we breathe contains contaminants. There is no way our body by itself is able to expel or get rid of all the harmful toxins and foreign substance accumulated in our body. The human organs such as kidney, liver and lymphatic system could only do so much with regards to expelling harmful waste and toxins from our body. Over time, the toxins accumulated in our body may get recirculated in the blood stream and this may pose serious health problem.

You could just imagine what its like for a clogged drain fill with filth and garbage do to the environment, much less the human body.

All machines needs to be service at one time or another and so is our human body. Our body needs cleansing from inside out to rid itself of harmful foreign substance, for instance mercury. Thus it is important for us to consider detoxification of the body to help expel harmful toxins and restore our health.

There are many ways to dispel waste product from body. Some of the methods are water fasting, medications, diet, and exercise to name a few. Some of the techniques involves are extreme in nature and may not be suitable for busy working people who hardly has times for health care. Furthermore, side effect and symptoms may occur during some of the detoxification process. This may include fever, headaches, fatigues and tight muscles to name a few.

One of the easiest and simples way to cleanse our body is via sole foot detoxification. The interesting thing is that we can even release and discharge harmful waster from our body while we are sleeping.
You can find various brands of foot detoxification plasters from off the shelf counter (OTC). The foot detoxification plasters and pads work based on the basis that tree trunks have numerous tiny tubes that are able to draw water and nutrients through the roots and up to all other part of the tree. Thus it is possible to draw toxins away from our body based on the above principle. Most of the foot detoxification plaster contains natural tree extract. Does foot detoxification works or is it just pure nonsense?


I am confident to say that foot detoxification is beneficial and works.
Of course there are those who thinks it is completely false and claim that the changing of the color of the plaster is due to oxidation of iron based particles. There are researches being conducted to determine the contents of the plaster after it undergoes change of color. Not surprising though, toxic substance such as mercury and other harmful substances were detected. These substances were never part of the plaster to begin with.


Consider the fact that Chinese medical doctors believe the body has over 60 reflexology meridian points on the soles of the foot. The Chinese Theory of Reflexology explained that every organ and system of our body is represented by a specific point of the soles of our feet. Known as the “second heart”, they are the reflective zones of our major internal organs. And, because gravity and our body’s own natural defense system that moves toxins away from vital organs, our feet become a “storage pit” for heavy metals and toxins.

In summary, there is no harm to try out foot detoxification. You’ve got nothing to loose though since it is convenient to use, less expensive and less risky as opposed to other detoxification techniques.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Skin care

1)Cleansing or washing face too frequently in a day.

It is not advisable to cleanse our face too often in a day. Unless our face is exposed to excessive pollution such as dust and other harsh environment, cleansing too often could unnecessary remove too much natural oil that is important to the skin. It is not the frequency of cleansing that really matters; rather how effective is the cleansing in getting rid and removing dirt and excessive oil from the facial skin pores.

Generally, cleansing three times a day will do, once in the morning, once in the afternoon and finally just before bedtime. Always wash hands before washing face.
Firstly use rinse your face with mild warm water to open up the facial skin pores, next apply the necessary cleanser and use circular motion to massage, and thereafter rinse off the cleanser from your face with cold water. If there is really a need to cleanse more than 3 times in day due to severe facial oily skin condition or environmental stress, use oil-blotting paper to remove excessive oil. Never use handkerchief to dry your face. Use soft clean tissue instead to dab your face. Let your face to dry naturally. If you prefer to dry your face with a towel, make sure it is clean. A dirty facial tower could cause more harm than any other factors put together!.


2)Do not use normal soap as facial cleanser

Never use normal soap on the facial skin. Rather, use the appropriate facial cleanser products suitable for your skin type. For instance, if you have oily facial skin condition, use cleanser that is formulated to get rid of excessive oils. If your facial skin is dry, use facial cleaner with conditioner and non-oil based moisturizer. In any case there is no shoe that fits all size. Thus you are your best doctor with regards to knowing which type of facial cleanser is best for your facial skin type. Check with the dermatologist or doctor if your skin condition is serious.


3)OTC Topical Treatment

Most acne can be easily treated with off the shelf counter topical creams. It is very important to follow the directions indicated in the package. If in doubt, apply the creams on small-infected acne areas for at least a day or two to check for allergy or any side effects. There are just too many brands of OTC topical creams, not all are suitable for acne sufferers. Some topical creams dry out skin unnecessary and could worsen the problem.

Getting acne free skin is a process that includes life style changes and knowledge regarding skin care. It is not necessary to waste huge amount of money seeking treatments from commercial skin care centers to solve your acne problems. Consult a qualified dermatologist or a doctor if you have severe acne condition.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Cancer cure

It was reported in the British Journal of cancer that extract from a certain type of mushroom may stop breast cancer cells from growing and could be use as a potential cure for other types of cancers in the future.
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSL1582873820080415

Intake of white button mushrooms could potentially reduce breast and prostrate cancers.
http://www.mushroomcouncil.org/export/sites/default/nutrition/AICRabstract.pdf

Who knows, perhaps in the future, it might just be as easy to treat cancer effectively by popping mushroom extract formulated pills instead of having to undergo chemo treatments. Lets hope that day will come soon.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Insanity

Most of us prefer to live within our own comfort zone. We prefer to live, interact and do the things that we are familiar with so much so to the extent that we sometime don’t realize we keep doing things the same way over and over and over and expecting different results.
I know its sounds crazy but the heck, if you think about it, there are many things we do that sometimes border on insanity isn’t it?
For instance, we keep buying lottery tickets in the hope that we will strike it rich even though the odd is against us.
Of course there are those who says if we don’t try or act on something we don’t stand a chance, if we attempt it, we might stand a chance. However looking at the probabilities and statistic we are well aware what’s our chance of striking the lottery 1st prize.
We enroll in slimming course, once we completed each session, we continue to munch our away throughout breakfast, lunch and dinner with all sorts of unhealthy foods. How to lose weight if don’t change our lifestyle?

Living on the edge


What does living on the edge means to you? It was reported in today’s Channel News Asia that Frenchman Alain Robert, dubbed ‘The French Spiderman’ scaled a top Hong Kong hotel on Tuesday. With no safety rope attach during the climb, one bad move would see the man free falling to certain death. Alain Robert is no stranger to many people; some wondered why he chooses such dangerous acts. It is certainly not worth the money and I suppose most people wouldn’t trade money or fame for such human death defying feats. There are of course those who constantly feel the urge to challenge the human limits. Some called it thrill seekers. No one knows for sure how far Alain will goes with regards to pursuing this philosophy of his. Lets hope someday he would call it quits and share his experiences and life struggle with the younger generations.

So back to the question, what does living on the edge means to you? Take look at the above photo shot. A toilet builds on the edge of the high-rise cliff? It takes courage to build such a toilet and it certainly takes even greater courage to relief oneself in it.

Monday, April 14, 2008

New Olympic Relay Torch


Here's a good one, an interesting humorous picture of China's new olympic relay torch.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Black Hole

Heads up, the ‘Large Hadron Collider’ (LHC) is completed and scheduled to be up online for live testing some time this year. The LHC will create the highest energy collisions ever attempted in the history of mankind. Even though there is only remote possibility of creating black holes with such experiments, nevertheless we truly live in frightening times whereby technology has reach such a proportion of considerable concerns.
Lets hope LHC Super Collider experiment will not end up like Spiderman 2 “Dr Octavious” particle physic experiment gone terribly wrong.
Who knows, perhaps such experiments and future particle physic breakthrough may enable us to achieve time travel.

http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0703062
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Hadron_Collider
http://www.nature.com/nature/supplements/insights/hadroncollider/index.html

Failure blueprint

Most people usually focused on doing what needs to be done rather than what should not be done. In other words, we have a tendency to focus on the ‘do’s’ rather than the ‘don’t’. Our mind is automatically program, subconsciously to believe that it is more important to focus on accomplishing the list of the ‘do’s’ task list. We feel better off completing the do’s first and thereafter consider the ‘don’t’ task list later. In reality, at times the cost of one mistake, even minor as it is could wipe out all our hard work and efforts.
We can do nine good things and commit one mistake, people generally will overlook the nine accomplishments and remember us for that one mistake we make. It is human nature to remember a person’s bad past rather than one’s achievements. No one is perfect thus it is normal for us to commit mistakes once in awhile, learn from it and move on with life.
Some mistake must be avoided at all cost though, the consequence are too high a price to pay. For instance, pilot error resulting in air crash.

There is a saying that goes like this:
"A wise man learns from his mistakes. But the wiser man learns from the mistakes of others."

Thus we can prevent wastage of effort and time through minimizing of trials and errors. Smart people pick up cues and learn from the mistakes of others to expedite their success. Yes, one of the shortcuts to success in life is by emulating and doing what successful people did, implementing the blue print of success so to speak.
It is equally important though not take our eyes off the blueprint of failure and avoid unnecessary mistakes in life.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Inflation

We are well aware that the US Fed and JPMorgan stepped in to rescue UBS, pouring billions of dollars to keep the bank afloat, away from possible chapter 11. It seems ridiculous that a huge and reputable bank such as UBS could get away with mismanagement of funds and investments. Big banks go about squandering away money through ill investments and big daddy government bails them out.

This bailed out occurs amidst US debt that has soared to trillions of dollars, continued oil price hikes and US currency dropping to all time low with no economic recovery insight. There are those who believed US government is least concern with or rather perhaps intentionally wants the cause the US currency to drop as much low as possible since a low US currency would make the country more competitive in terms of exports capability. There are also those who believe in the greater US conspiracy theory; the super power nation has no means and has no intention to repay its soaring trillion dollar debts. A nation speaks the loudest when it has the strongest military might.

Whatever which way you choose to believe, it is evident that US economy is in for a rough ride, world renown investors such as Jim Rogers is pulling his money out from US currency basket and moving into Asia funds. Most Singaporeans are beginning to feel the pinch and the aftermath effects of the oil price hikes, faltering US economy and rising inflation.

I went for a medical checkout at Raffles Medical Center at Causeway Point today. Guess what? The basic doctor consultation fee has increased by 5 dollars. Thus a basic appointment and consultation with the doctor could easily set you back by at least 15 bucks. Medical prescriptions are charge separately. There is a joke that you can afford to die but you cannot afford to get sick. Apart from the oil price hikes now it seems there is sign of shortage of rice. Next what’s on the table for price hikes? We’ll see till then what's next on the card.

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Get the things you want!!!

There is an effective method that you could use to get people to subconsciously and voluntary agreeable to render assistance to you. Here’s an example: For instance, you wish to borrow 100 dollars from someone whom you know of but not close though. How do you go about doing it? If you start by asking the person to lend you the amount you need say 100 dollars chances is that he or she will turn you down.

Lets consider another different scenario. Instead of asking the person to lend you the amount you need (100 dollars), ask instead say 1000 thousand dollars. You might probably get the same negative response.
Tell the person you desperately needed the money and instead of the 1000 dollars that he or she could not afford, ask for 100 dollars instead. I bet he or she will more readily agreeable to lend you the reduce amount, the amount which you need in the 1st place!

Women sometimes wittingly or unwittingly apply this technique to their advantage. For instance a woman may bring the husband to see a very expensive sofa set and tell him how much she desire to acquire that expensive beautiful item. Later she brings him to a slightly cheaper sofa set, beautiful and expensive albeit much cheaper than the initial sofa set, you bet the husband will agree to get his wallet out to pay for it.

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Online bookmark

Spurl is a useful free tool that allows you to bookmark your favorites sites and links online. The tool saves you the trouble of having to export your bookmark and favorite links from one pc to another. Thus you can store and access all interesting pages you find on web from any computer connected to the Internet.
Apart from Spurl, technorati also has similar tools for online bookmarking.
Spurl

On a footnote, this is good, Amazing Dog in my brother's blog ...go check it out!!
Amazing Dog
Cheers
Rich

Healthy complexion.

Cosmetic industry in particular those pertaining to facial skin treatment is a multi-billion dollar business. One of the main problems affecting many of us is outbreak of pimples and acne. Just go to any drug store such as the Guardian Pharmacy and you will find all sorts of facial skin treatment lotion cream , pimple and acne lotion products and etc.

There are multiple factors that cause acne and pimples. Hormone imbalance, menstruation, illness, drug or food allergy, vitamin and mineral deficiency, environmental condition such as stress and lack of sleep exacerbates skin problems.

Generally women are more prompt to facial skin problems as opposed to men. Part of the problem is due to the cosmetic make up products that women apply daily on their face. Barring any serious health problems, there is a simple way to reduce or even get rid of pimple acne effectively. The advice I am about to give couldn’t be simpler; it is however the golden rules that leads to a good facial complexion. It is common sense practice but hard to follow when your face itch though.

The 1st golden rule is that just before you call it off a day, rinse your face with warm water, apply facial foam or facial scrub and thereafter wash your face with cold water. Doing so would help you to get rid of the dirt and dust that clogged your skin pores throughout the day. Get facial cleaning foam and scrub that is appropriate to your facial condition type for e.g. oily, dry or normal skin type. Use a clean tower or facial tissue to dry your face.

The 2nd golden rule is that ensure your pillow is clean to prevent dirt and germs from infecting your face while you spend hours in contact with it. Many people tend to overlook this; no amount of facial treatment could help if your face is in contact with dirty and contaminated material throughout the nights. Change pillow case and bed sheet as often as you can.

The 3rd golden rule, which is probably the most important rules of them all, is that with the exception of bathing or washing our face, under no circumstances, and I repeat, under no circumstances should you ever touch your face with your fingers or hands. Reason being that your finger or hand contains plenty of gems and viruses that could easily aggravate facial acne you are experiencing. Sometimes your face itches so much that you could not control nor help but scratch it. One way to overcome this problem is by applying pimple or acne and itch relief lotion or cream on the affected part of your face to relief the itch.

That's so much to it today, I will be covering more secrets to healthy complexion in next coming blogs.

Cheers
Rich

Sunday, April 06, 2008

More harm than good by too much water intake?

So we are finally told there is no evidence to support the notion that drinking at least 8 glasses of water everyday is good for health. On the contrary drinking too much water it seems could probably put a strain to our kidney. I wonder why it takes so long for the medical authorities to figure this one out. It seems strange though that no one question the recommended amount of water for drinking daily, why 8 glasses and not 10 glasses or 5 glasses? Apart from that the fluorine and chlorine added to the water for drinking is harmful to human and may probably cause serious side effects such as cancer. I wonder what’s next on the table? Perhaps we should avoid taking hot shower?

8 glasses a day?

Saturday, April 05, 2008

Evolution of dance!!!

You gotta see this...This is good!!!



Cheers
Rich

Baoding






Baoding is a city with history dating back to thousands of years. The city is located between Hebei capital Shijiazhuang to the south and Beijing to the north. Like most major cities across China, Baoding enjoyed tremendous economic growth due to its close proximity to Beijing. More and more Beijing residents are moving and relocating to Baoding. It takes 2 hours train ride from Beijing to Baoding and roughly 3 hours ride by car. The train ticket cost less than a hundred Yuan while most Beijing cab drivers asking for 800 Yuan or above to go to Baoding.

It’s been almost a year and a half since I last visited Baoding. I will be traveling to Baoding this coming May.

The best time to visit Baoding though is September to October. Baoding has long cold winter and short autumn and spring. Lake Baiyangdian, better known as the Pearl of the North also the largest lake in Northern China and is within 2 hours drive from Baoding city. As usual, most of the China lakes and rivers are heavily polluted. Of late, the Hebei government has disembarked on an ambitious plan to clean up the lake, an important source of water catchments and source of fish for its northern regions.

Baoding is well known for its exercise balls, also better known as meditation health balls. It is believed that the Baoding balls, usually comes in a pair; when placed on the palm of one’s hand and rotated to orbit could help to improve one’s health. Baoding balls come in all sorts of colors, patterns and sizes. I am an avid collector of home decorators, the Baoding balls makes a nice gift to friends and families though. Attached are photo shots of some of the Baoding balls that I brought back home from mythe previous Baoding trip.





Below are links to Baoding Balls.
Enjoy reading and cheers!
http://www.baodingballs.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baoding_Balls

Friday, April 04, 2008

Growing cactus

Growing cactus can be quite fun. As a matter of fact some called growing cactus a lazy man’s hobby since it does not involve lots of efforts. Cactus comes in all sorts of shapes, sizes and colors.
There are three major environmental factors that we should take note with regards to growing cactus successfully.
The factors are 1) soil, 2) water and 3) light.
You can easily get cheap and value for money readily pack soil formulated for cactus from most gardening shops. Some would prefer to spend time mixing the necessary ingredient themselves. Unless you have the time and knowledge, it is better to get pre-mix soil that has the appropriate ingredients for cactus. Try to add fertilizer to the soil if possible; perhaps once every 2 months of so. Get fertilizers that are formulated for cactus.
Cactus thrives under plenty sunlight in particular morning sunlight when the weather is cooler. Provide afternoon shades to protect the cactus from mid noon heat which may be too intense and harmful.
Cactus is able to survive under harsh rugged conditions hence you do not need to water it everyday or too frequently. Too much water may be detrimental instead since it may cause the cactus root to rot if the soil traps too much water. Depending on the climate, chances are that you may probably just need to water the cactus once a week. One simple rule of thumb is that if the cactus is place outdoor and expose to the direct hot afternoon sunlight, water it once every 3 days otherwise once a week will do. Make sure the pot has drain holes at the bottom. Cactus grows fast given the right environment thus it is important to move the cactus to a bigger pot if necessary.

Below are some link resources to cactus gardening tips.
http://www.cactusgardeningtips.com/cactus_resources.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/191631/cactus_gardening_tips_for_the_newbie.html

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Cactus breeding





Jim Rogers, one of the most successful investor who once heads the Quantum Fund sold off his 15 million Manhattan apartment and relocated to Singapore. Singapore is one of the smallest nations in the world; it is just a tiny red dot in the world map.
The tiny nation has been nominated to host the year 2010 Youth Olympics. This coming September will also see the country hosting its first Formula 1 car rally. Apart from that, the country’s first casino and resort, two be exact is scheduled to open by year 2009 and beyond. Singapore Airline is the fist airline in the world to receive and commence the A380 jumbo airbus service. Aircraft engine maker, Rolls Royce established two new engine facilities in Singapore that would result in creation of new jobs for the population.

Despite intense competition with surrounding nations such as China and India for foreign direct investment, the country has relatively coped well by moving into high value added sectors such as the biotechnology, financial services and information technology areas. There is so much going for the country it seems. Despite the glamour and promising future which the nation can look forward to, looming world economic uncertainties such as the deteriorating US economy, rising inflation, oil price hikes and world political conflicts has considerable impact to the country growth. The full impact of the US recession or the world as a whole to the country will only be felt half to a year timeframe down the road. It remains to be seen how prepare or how well its population is ready to cope with economic downturn.

On a lighter note, more interesting photo shots of the baby cactuses that’s thriving in my home. These cute plants with colorful tiny flower buds are wonderful sights to behold. Over the new few weeks, I am going to try my hands on cross breeding and joining the different cactus species. Here is a link to information pertaining to cactus. http://www.cactus-mall.com/

Cheers Rich