My Take on Global Warming

An Irrelevant Introduction

Being influenced by my workplace and mass media on issues like global warming and food resilience, I've succumbed to the idea of having my own little hydroponics farm in my house. My initial intention was to have traditional potted plants growing in soil, until I stumbled upon more convenient means, like hydroponics (which won't attract bugs) and aeroponics (which saves water). Too bad, there isn't any reputable company selling aeroponics kit in Singapore. (There is one offered by Eco City Hydroponics at $220, but there isn't any picture or review available online.) By the way, you can get a hydroponics kit from Oh Chin Huat Hydrponics Farm. Add in a LED growth lamp, and you'll have an automated "farm" that sets you back by a few hundred dollars. That will yield.. 6 vegetable every one to two months?

Plants & Carbon

As I delved further into the hydroponics over the previous week, I realised how minimalistic plants can be. They only require space, gravity, light, carbon dioxide, water and dissolved nutrients to thrive. I began to appreciate that plants don't need a solid/liquid source of carbon (carbohydrates & fats) like us to produce their bulk. Their genetic coding allows each seed to build more cells using carbon dioxide as building blocks. In a way, plants are the essence of carbon dioxide, condensed from the air.

The Cause of Global Warming

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. It traps heat radiated from the sun, forming a blanket which retains heat on Earth's surface. The cause of global warming is that we've been releasing, since industrialisation,  a significant portion of Earth's carbon store into the atmosphere, through combustion of crude oil derivatives and deforestation. The solution, then, is to find a way to store these carbon dioxide back into solid form as cost effectively as possible.

A Small Mental Experiment

Lets imagine that you were given a plot of land, with the sole purpose of reducing carbon dioxide from the air. The first thing to do, instinctively, is to plant lots of fast growing trees and prevent loggers form getting near it. So the first decade past by, and your original barren land is teeming with lush green vegetation. Every ounce of biomass accumulated on your land is a solid store of carbon that was originally in the atmosphere. However, the plot has reached its maximum capacity. Old trees will die and rot, releasing the carbon back into the atmosphere, and new trees will take its place. The amount of biomass would inevitably reach an equilibrium. Your piece of land is no longer sequestering carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Our Best Bet: Wooden Furnitures?

The next task would be to find a way to store the old trees before they die and rot. So we call in the loggers to remove the old trees, and produce timbers. How then, should we store the timber? We could have a giant warehouse designated as a carbon store (generating cost), or we could make them into furnitures or construction materials and get everyone on earth to store a bit of these in their house (generating profit). The latter could be our best bet..

Lets Play Our Part

If you're like me, wanting to do a small part to solve global issues, you could consider using wooden furnitures in your new home or renovation and ensure that they come from sustainably managed forest. By allowing wood to be stored in your home for long-term use, you actually created a little carbon sink at home. With greater awareness, simple habits like this can make a significant impact as a whole.

Thank you for spending time reading this post. Feel free to comment and share your point of view. Do share with your friends if you find it useful. For more information, you can view this YouTube video and this Wikipedia article which I find informative.

Sincerely,
Kwok Leong

How it Feels with Ankylosing Spondititis

Hi all,

If you are on this page, you are either a good friend of mine, or you were being tortured by some unimaginable pain. You feel the world is unfair. Why others can engage in sports and physical activities, while you were limping around in pain?

The pain comes in bouts. Sometimes you are well, but most of the time you’re not. You’ll probably think that you’ve somehow sprained your back, or your hip, and it’s so bad that it didn’t recover for years. Your boss might think you’re trying to skive from work. Your friends think that you are weak. While all the time you’re fighting some persistent pain deep in your hip joint. Changing positions may help, but sometimes it’s so bad that the agony persist no matter what you do. You’re even afraid to cry, as that would involve moving your hip joints. You lie lifelessly in bed, covered in cold sweat, bearing the pain.

The worst part is.. you’re still so young, and you don’t understand why you’re suffering such pain.

Ankylosing Spondititis is an auto-immune disease. Your immune system attacks your joints, especially those in the lower back and hip, causing pain and inflammation. Over time, your body deposits calcium in the damaged sites, and the bones may grow and fuse together. In some extreme cases, all spinal segments were fused into one, forming a “bamboo spine”. By then, can’t turn your neck or torso, and there is no known cure.

There is no sure way of diagnosis either. The average diagnosis time is 7 years, and it is common for patients to be misdiagnosed for other diseases at first, only to be diagnosed correctly when more severe symptoms developed.  By that time, most patients have already received irreparable damage to their bone structure.

I was lucky……

Act of Screaming

Sometimes, certain life experiences take years before you could make some sense out of them. I had this sudden recollection of one of my NS days while mugging for psychology exam…

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It was one of the lucky days in the MTL office, not much job to do and our staff sergeant is not around. Fellow drivers were sitting and lying around in the room, enjoying the air-con, listening to music, snoozing off. It was one of those days that would just pass by quickly, and we could all enjoy our dinner and book out in the evening.

As his PA, I was preparing the next day’s vehicle and manpower planning and tending to phone calls. Suddenly, the phone rang. And it is from the admin office. Not a good sign. Turns out, it is from our officer who needed a truck of jerry cans to be shifted from one truck to another truck. It’s not a very difficult job. It can be easily done if everyone chip in a little. But very tiring if one person do it. So I asked for my fellow driver's help.

But guess what? Not a single of them agreed to help. I recalled asking the room as a whole. No answer. Then asking one by one. They are all good friends of mine, but one by one they rejected me! I was raged. Very raged. Fine! No one helping me? I'll shift ALL by myself!! And I stormed out of the room down to the ground floor only to realise that I didn't bring with me the vehicle keys…

I looked up, poor ah hwa walking by the second floor corridor. Wrong place, wrong time. Without caring much, I shouted at the top of my voice, "THROW THE KEYS DOWN TO ME NOW!" These was one of the very few times that I got shocked by my own voice. So loud, so fierce, so many echoes. And I began to see the results. Everyone got out of the room (and slumber) and came down to help. 

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Excerpts from today’s reading:

"Diffusion of Responsibility -Tendency of an individual to assume that others will take responsibilities (as a result, no one does). The larger the group, the higher the tendency.”

And on the same page:

"… the act of screaming can lead to receiving help 75% of the time."

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Moral of the story:
Scream when you need help.

Impress Me

Impress me.
Not with your symbolic display of wealth;
your lavish lifestyle;
your luxury cars;
expensive shelters;
oversized coloured rocks;
trendy apparels and makeup; or
other of your earthly possessions.

Impress me; instead,
with your commitments and dedications;
your iron-willed perseverance;
your character;
knowledge and wisdom;
humour and optimism;
willingness to help others;
allegiance to worthy causes; and
love for our planet and all Mankind.

 

the above work is the result of studying (too much of) Corporate Social Responsibility ( Chapter 13 of Principles of Marketing, UOL External System), in preparation for exam next month; coupled with a burning desire to justify the author’s lack of fashion sense… =P

Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF)

Hi all,

Thanks for the comments in the previous post. Saw Tina's comment about STI ETF and did some research into it. Here are my findings:

What is ETF?

ETF stands for Exchange-Traded Fund. It is a basket of stocks that tries to mimic an index. For example, a Straits Times Index (STI) ETF will try to be as close to the STI as possible by holding the shares which comprises of the STI in the same ratio.

STI ETF

STI ETF was introduced in 2002. When you invest in the STI ETF, you're practically buying all the following shares from all the following companies:

CAPITALAND
OVERSEAS CHINESE BANKING CORP
CAPITAMALL TRUST
SEMBCORP INDUSTRIES
CITY DEVELOPMENTS
SEMBCORP MARINE
COSCO CORPORATION (S)
SIA ENGINEERING
DBS GROUP HOLDINGS
SINGAPORE AIRLINES
FRASER AND NEAVE
SINGAPORE EXCHANGE
GENTING INTERNATIONAL
SINGAPORE PRESS HOLDINGS
HONG KONG LAND
SINGAPORE TECHNOLOGIES ENGINEERING
JARDINE CYCLE & CARRIAGE
SINGAPORE TELECOM
JARDINE STRATEGIC
STARHUB
KEPPEL CORPORATION
THAI BEVERAGE
KEPPEL LAND
UNITED OVERSEAS BANK
NEPTUNE ORIENT LINES
WILMAR INTERNATIONAL
NOBLE GROUP
YANGZIJIANG SHIPBUILDING HOLDINGS
OLAM INTERNATIONAL
YANLORD LAND GROUP

The Good

1) Diverse - You get to spread your risks in all the above 30 blue chip stocks in Singapore Exchange (SGX)

2) Low Entry - The index is currently at 1.700, so you can purchase 1 lot (1000 units) at just $1700. Try buying a lot of each of the 30 companies, you need much more than 30k.

3) Low fees compared to Unit Trust - 0 sales charge, historically less than 0.3% management fee per annum. Capped at 1%.

4) Buy and sell anytime when SGX is open for trading.

5) Dividends - Yes

The Bad

1) Tracking flaws - STI ETF might not be able to fully replicate the performance of the STI index due to factors like timing differences or management fees. Also, it will never outperform the index significantly.

2) Market Movement - Just like securities, it is affected by market movement.

My Personal Take on STI ETF

I think STI ETF is a convenient form of investment. Much like buying a set meal. Save you from the hassle of thinking what to order. Probably good for busy executives who believe in the stability of Singapore blue chip stock and have no time to do analysis.

I personally like Buffett style of investing. To look at the intrinsic value of stocks and see if they are oversold. Then purchasing them at bargain price. So I'll rather buy individual stocks, Right now it is a good time to spot some bargain because emotions have brought shares of certain stable company to low level. Still researching on this. Meanwhile, I'll continue to observe and learn about the market.

OK, hope this post benefited you. Oh, and one last advice:

Never rush into any investments without understanding.

                                                              - Lam

Ha ha.. ok, that's all, enjoy your long weekend and remember to post your comments!

Sincerely,

Lam

Is Gold a Good Investment?

 

Hi All,

I did some research on gold this weekend, here are some of my findings:

Gold and Equity Market

When there is uncertainty in the equity market, prices of gold usually rise. This is because investors flocks to a more stable form of investment. As shown in this graph:

Graph of Gold vs S&P 500

How do we invest in gold in Singapore?

Well, I found a place where you can buy "gold bars" literally. Visit this link:

http://www.uobgroup.com/pages/personal/investments/treasury/preciousmetals/index.html

 

Warren Buffett's Stand on Gold

"It gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head."

Warren Buffett,1998 at Harvard, on the non-productivity of Gold

Conclusion

So, I in my opinion, I think that gold only serves aesthetic purposes. And there is no such thing as investing in gold, only trading or speculating. Personally, it does not fit my investment taste. I want put money in places that do good to Mankind. Certainly not paying people to dig, bury and guard it. So, I guess I'll stay on with Government bonds and equity market.

Hope this post helped increased your knowledge. Do let me know if you actually purchased a gold bar from UOB. Would like to take a look at a real gold bar. Haha.. Ok, feel free to comment and add in your personal view. Thanks for viewing!

Sincerely,

Lam

Flaws in Commission Based Marketing and Media

Hi all,

I wish to discuss an issue on a topic that is close to us. That is the flaws in current commission based marketing and media.

Media - Too much subjective representations?

Today I heard on the radio about a medical professor on the radio speaking about health problems and recommending a product claiming that it will help in prevention of certain medical conditions.

I stopped and wondered. Is the information he shared really objective? Or is it tinted by his own subjective opinions and biases? Probably his paycheck next month will depend on the sales of this product?

My mind wandered again. This time I thought of the numerous shows on TV between 8 to 9pm, showing true cases of people who succeeded in slimming or hair treatment. Are all these successful cases accurate representations of all clients? Or is the company highly selective in the programme? Can we, from these few highly selective cases, generalise that all people who go for slimming programme will achieve similar results?

It is widely known that media is a very influential, and influence is like a double edged sword. When used correctly, it can help keep society in order and thrive. When abused, it can sway the opinions of the masses to the advantage of its wielder.  Many people listened to the radio and watched TV in the evening after a hard day's work, continuously being bombarded by information made by company with motive of maximising profit. With no one to remind them that the objectivity of the information is debatable.

Commission Based Marketing

What about companies (eg. financial and health supplement) using commission based model?

As the old Chinese saying goes:

“老王卖瓜，自卖自夸”

"Old Wang's selling melons, praising the melons as he sells"

Obviously, the seller's advice is definitely subjective, and that his next paycheck is 100% depended on his sales.

Well I'm ok with commission based model is used to sell melons. It is because most people understand melon. And they can expect how the melon will look like (unless it is rotten) inside, and how they can benefit from the melon. However, many commission based model today are being used to sell complicated financial instruments and health supplements.

Some of the people who joined these systems have inadequate training, and mainly motivated by financial rewards. A deadly combination.

Common sense tells us not to totally trust salesman. But in today's world, almost all information available on the Internet, TV, radios, newspaper, books, flyers, magazine are created by people who wants to make profit. Not much places where can we find objective, third-party, not-for-profit knowledge. Even doctors who owned their own private clinics have their income linked to the sales of medicine.

Vision of a Perfect Solution

I think the perfect and idealistic way is to have a publicly funded solution provider that is third party and not for profit. They back claims with accurate, objective statistics. Publishes their advices online,for the good of consumer, as though they are the consumer, and take responsibilities for the decisions made by the customer. The performance of this body is judged by customer satisfaction as well as a regulatory body (possibly from academic statisticians) that ensures their information for consumers are accurate and objective.

CASE is a good example of such regulatory body. However, CASE is more passive and response to complaints. Also they charge a high fee(in my opinion) making them unsuitable to help customers on small items. But, it is a good start.

At the same time, commission sales team and media advertisements should be transparent and regulated to avoid misrepresentations. Sales force should be well educated on the product. Presents benefits as well as drawbacks during sales pitch.

Consumer should get advice from the expert group, and do thorough research before purchasing products. As well as research of the company's previous lawsuit and complaints. Have a cooling off period before purchasing any item pitched. Have the courage to say no.  Never buy anything that you don't understand fully.

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Alright, wow, that's a long entry. Do give me your comments, or share any experiences that you may have. Thanks.

Sincerely,

Lam