(image source: Jerry Holbert)
Remember the speculative proposition about Obama being part Chinese?
Well, I think that when he was doing sing-a-long’s with supporters during his campaign, chanting the famous ”Change We Need” chorus, he was probably thinking of the Chinese remedy of using poison to combat poison or 以毒攻毒?
The poison being CREDIT, in this case.
1. Universal Languages
Math is a universal language.
Fans of John Nash and the ubiquitous π = 3.14159265, will agree with nods to the power of +∞ (positive infinity).
And to those still suffering from the phenomenon intimately known as the Colonial Hangover, the English language articulates everything to the tune of their loyal supporter, that famous Bard. Nothing evades the lingua franca of the modern world.
I beg to differ. (more…)
In my world - a veritable jungle of bulls, bears, stags, butterflies and greedy pigs, charts are to traders as oxygen is to… all other living things.
I scan through an average of 20 charts per day: economic data, forex majors, stocks, bonds, gold, crude oil, indices, wata-wata. A simple example of my daily dose of eye candy:
Being an incidental connoisseur of charts, I must say Mark Ghuneim’s ”12 Graphs of Christmas“ on Mashable, are excellent examples of charts that say it all:
If there is any common link between the Singaporean and French ancenstry, it would lie in the greedy realm of Gastronomie or simply put, the glorious love of food.
Darwin {survival of the fittest} + Malthus {dismal economics} = Eat to Live
For our forefathers and not a small percentage of the current world population, this psuedo-mathematical axiom represents the moyen de vivre. (more…)
In my December 2 post, I wrote about how the crisis triggered by Dubai World, would lead to a strengthening greenback (USD).
A picture speaks 1000 words.
The 20-day intraday chart of my favourite trading pair, the USD/JPY (lead image), tells a 3-points story: (more…)
People generally love to complain. For Singaporeans though, it’s the national pastime.
Let’s have a look at the current alltop list of complaints:
1. Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) – Whether you are driving toward or away from the heart of the lion den… i mean euh… city, there are in total (as at this date), 67 gantries you could try to play hide-and-seek with.
Chicken rice balls, durian chendol, Jonkers Street and … Little Nonya.
These were the Top 4 synonyms that slid to the tips of my friends’ tongues when I mentioned Malacca. And voila! - a portable 4-pointer guiding companion etched onto my memory.
Or so I thought. The superficiality of my knowledge of Malacca could not have lacked more depth.
Without beating around the mangrove tree, let me bring on the 5 Trucs that filled the wide gap of knowledge of this UNESCO World Heritage Site. (more…)
Are you shopping for some recession-proof form of entertainment this holiday season?
Look no further.
You have heard of the trendy line of banal, everyday objects-inspired business innovations that are the talk of the town these days – Back of the Napkin business models, Back of the Envelope calculations, Red Rubber Ball solutions.
Welcome the latest addition to what I call the “Regress to Progress” phenomenon: “The Elastic Band“.
James Reynolds, a recent Graphic Design graduate of Kingston University, took a simple childhood concept and literally stretched it to extremes, producing a mega low-cost, innovative musical instrument:
” Taking an everyday object to its extreme, we chose the ordinary elastic band. When the band is stretched to certain lengths and then strummed, different notes can be made. When played in a particular order, popular songs from various genres of music can be played using only one elastic band. “
Here are two sample songs you can start with: (more…)
You were a celebrity. You’re close to hitting retirement age. Or you have been mired in the shadows of non-existence for too long. What do you do? (more…)
I am not usually enthusiastic about receiving snail mails these days. Aside from bills, bills and more bills, I have my complimentary bloomberg magazine to look forward at best… and faux property guru junk mail, at worst.
So I was delighted when a package from a local artist who goes by the tagline: Eros de la Astro, finally arrived at my desk. The anticipation was well worth the wait, as the “oohs and ahhs” from my fellow traders would testify. (more…)