Rebooting the Immune System

Did you guys hear the good news? German doctors have cured AIDs. Actually they didn't start out trying to cure AIDs, they were simply trying to do a bone marrow transplant for a patient with leukemia & AIDs. This however is not just any old marrow transplant. The marrow comes from a guy with a resistance to the HIV, meaning he has the CCR5-Delta 32 gene. So it was a pretty new procedure. The patient probably figured he had nothing to lose. Anyway in the end, the doctors realised that the HIV in the patient's bloodstream reduced to a extremely low level and so the guy was cured of his AIDs.

For those who are unaware of what stem cells are. Stem cells are part of the repair system of multicellular organisms. These reproduce through mitotic division and can differentiate into different cell types. Stem cells can be found in the bone marrow and since the marrow came from a donor with CCR5-Delta 32 gene it grows into T cells with receptors that does not allow the HIV to "dock" and insert its viral DNA which causes the cells to be infected. The bad news is finding people who have the HIV resistance gene CCR5-Delta 32 because this gene is completely absent in East Asians. This gene is more prevalent (about 10%) in European populations as it was a resistance built up after the Black Death plague. So like they say, that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

Well I guess the first biotech to find an Asian embryo with the CCR5-Delta 32 will be a forerunner in stem cell lines producing marrow to cure the rich AIDs victims. Meanwhile its still retroviral treatments.

Whats your Totem?!

In the native american culture the people believed in animal spirit guides. American Indians see animal spirit guides or totems as powerful guardians of the land or spirits of living animals. Some psychologists conjecture that a vision or message from an animal spirit guide may be certain aspects of the human psyche resurfacing from the pre-conscious ancient human mind. For example, fish living in the sea are associated with the unconscious mind and symbolize a deep mind. Perhaps evolutionary memory may exist, we don't really know since memory is still largely a mystery.

Carl Jung believed that personalities can be categorised into archetypes. The Self, the regulating center of the psyche and facilitator of individuation.The Shadow, the opposite of the ego image, often containing qualities that the ego does not identify with but possesses nonetheless. The Anima, the feminine image in a man's psyche. The Animus, the masculine image in a woman's psyche. The Persona, how we present to the world. Based on his analytical psychology theories there are quite a few personality classification tests that arose. One of the most commonly used is the Myer-Briggs Type Indicator or better known by its abbreviation MBTI. Here's a good link where you can take this test and check for yourself what personality type you are.

So it turns out that I'm a INTJ- Introverted Inuitive Thinking Judging. Apparently people of this personality type are a mere 1% of the population. Great... we are nearly extinct. I guess that's logical since socializing isn't very high on our scorecards, we are unlikely to sow wild oats all over to beget little INTJs =p. Joking, personality does depend a lot on influences other than genes. Think this test is pretty spot on. If given autonomy and freedom of creation, I'll be at my best form. Rationality is my baseline and that really poses a problem in that I seldom fall head over heels in love. Guess that's my fatal personality flaw.

Also having this INTJ personality tends to make people think I'm arrogant and distant. People who know me well though will tell you that I'm a dedicated friend in deed and one who keeps friends for life. I just tend to think a lot, read a lot and analyse a lot. Just ring a bell to grab my attention to wake me from my waking meditation and I'll be there haha. If I were to identify a spirit animal most like me I would say its a cat. Give me my ball of wool and I'll amuse myself for a looong time. Here kitty kitty!

Money Matters

Came across a valuable piece of golden financial advice in Yahoo pages. It can be accessed with this link : http://finance.yahoo.com/retirement/article/106000/10-Steps-to-Retire-a-Millionaire.

Most of us obsess over money and know its important. We strive to study hard and then work hard at our jobs to earn it. And as we earn more, we desire better things: a comfortable home we can be proud of, a comfortable car we can be proud of, holidays we can remember for life. Oh wait bankruptcy! Hey I shouldn't be bankrupt?! I'm well educated, have a decent job, am smart as hell etc. Yaddah yaddah. As mentioned in the advice prescribed within the Yahoo page link, it is a lack of planning, a lack of patience and a lack of savings.

Planning isn't just laying out the goals: Condo, car,holidays. It is how to achieve all these step by step without going into an oversized debt and having enough emergency funds to tide one and family through sickness/unemployment.

Economy function in cycles, there will be booms and recessions. One can expect to meet 1 recession at least once during their lifetime. Money should be saved during economic booms,purchases/travel trips made during recessions and investments performed on the upcurve of the recession. That's how assets grow.

Never ever invest in something we do not understand about. If you only understand property invest in properties and rent out. Equities are good if you can understand the country and the companies its being invested in. Shares are great if you possess a keen awareness of that particular industry and know about the latest developments, major government projects or blockbuster products. Never trust others with your life savings, do that homework and understand the investment. Consult 2nd or 3rd opinions with people who are experienced in that field. Do not take out a loan over an investment, that's akin to gambling. Invest a substantial amount of your savings but never all of it. Keep an emergency fund that will last you half a year.If you can't do that it means you have affordability issues and your financial state is brittle. Fludity is important it allows transfer of funds to investment, to pay for that stay in hospital etc. Cash is king.

An asset in my opinion is something you own/pay >50% of. A liability is something you can manage to own 10-20% of and strive to service a loan for. Liabilities get you into debt. Debt is the best way to ensure one's stay in poverty. Financial freedom is about getting away from debt. A small loan is better than a large one. Affordability should be a huge consideration in purchasing. Think about it why do companies like Courts offer installments, its because it lulls the customer into thinking he/she can afford 10 items when in fact his/her financials may allow for much less.

When friends or relatives approach for loans, issue an IOU. Loans are easy to make out but if you ever intended to recover that sum, make sure you know that debt recovery is one of the worst jobs one can find. Just look at the amount of bad debts banks chalk up.

Credit cards are one of the worst temptations ever in my book. If you lack discipline just take out 1 visa and 1 masters and that should be enough. When you issue sub cards, make sure you understand the person well. If that person is prone to spending spree and has responsibility issues, put a low limit on that card. Similarly if you have no financial discipline, rein yourself by setting a low credit limit on that credit card.

There's a difference in spending on what we need, spending on what we want and frivolous spending. Have a expenditure budget and challenge yourself to find out that minimal sum you can survive on. You'll find that you don't require much to survive. Remind yourself daily that money doesn't come easy and financial falls are difficult to recover from, it may possibly break your marriage, estrange you from your family/friends, cause your death because of the inability to pay for that crucial medical procedure. Now we don't want that do we?

Be patient, save, work hard and afford what you can. One step at a time. Start small. We all learnt to crawl, walk and then run. True there are those who start running faster but make sure you're utterly convinced that you're that special running baby, otherwise you may just cripple yourself for life.

Dark Knight

This is the sequel to Batman Begins and continues in the tradition of humanizing the hero. Great cast with sterling performances by the late Heath Ledger as Joker, Gary Oldman as police lieutenant James Gordon and Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent aka Harvey 2 Face. Yes the villains stole the show for this one. That is not to say that the good guys are lousy. Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine stood well and were convincing characters. Heath Ledger is the core of this movie, if he stood on the street today you'll be clenching your fist at his Joker. He has truly surpassed Jack Nicholson's rendition and brought much depth to the villain.

Joker is a twisted psychopath hell bent on wreaking havoc and bringing chaos by mass murder. He enjoys bringing people to their limits where the distinction between good and evil mashes into a blur. Kill or be killed, ridicule the hunted hero etc.The Joker challenges the principles and the plans of the goody two shoes, has a blatant disregard for life and generally does what he feels like. He brings the bad guys to their knees as well. An agent of utter chaos.

Harvey Dent as the new DA(district attorney) is a tough as nails lawyer seeking to clean up Gotham city's underworld. He put the mob boss trial and threatens the criminals in busting their money laundering by the Hong Kong accountant Lau. Lauded as the White Knight of Gotham he is soon thrown into a horrible situation of being a target of Joker's brainwashing. First his life fell into jeopardy as Joker hunt shim down during a fundraiser ball. This was followed by the kidnapping of both himself and his girlfriend Rachel Dawes in which Rachel perished. He begins to doubt the system of justice and is eventually broken down by Joker to give into his own madness. He begins vengeance on all who were involved in the course of events which led to Rachels death, deciding the fate of his victims with a toss of his coin.

I don't want to give away much of the plot because its a must watch 2008 movie.Overall I give it a high 8.5/10. Great acting, good action, well melded CGI. Very Impressive piece of work.

赤壁 Review

赤壁 aka Red Cliffs is the site of a famous battle near the end of the Han dynasty. It is also the title of John Woo's latest war epic. This movie boasts a stellar cast including: Tony Leung(Zhou Yu), Takeshi Kaneshiro (Zhuge Liang), Zhang Fengyi(Cao Cao),Zhao Wei(Sun Shang Xiang), Chang Chen(Sun Quan), Li Chi Ling(Xiao Qiao, Hu Jun(Zhao Yun) etc.

Before the movie screened I watched the trailer and had doubts about the choice of casting Takeshi Kaneshiro as Zhuge Liang. I was proven to be right. Takeshi didn't manage to deliver an in depth interpretation of Zhuge Liang. He had large shoes to fill with remarkable performances by predecessors like Tang Guo Qiang. Takeshi didn't manage to bring across Zhuge Liang's brilliance. Historically Zhuge Liang was described as a tall good looking man with his trademark goose feather fan. Takeshi fits the profile but to me he is just too pretty to imagine him being married to an ugly wife. ps:The real Zhuge Liang was married to an ugly daughter of scholar Huang Chengyan.

Tony Leung's Zhou Yu was intense, sometimes brooding and generally well portrayed as a renaissance man. Zhou Yu was an accomplished musician and tactician. Kudos to Tony Leung for his ability to bring the character to life. Downside, he looked a bit too old and gruff as Zhou Yu. I had always imagined Zhou Yu to look more refined, cultured and younger.

Zhang Fengyi was good as Cao Cao. He delivered as usual. His Cao Cao was proud , lusty, cocky and cynical. I'm slightly disappointed though that the deeply suspicious nature Cao Cao was missing in action. Other than that I'm pretty happy with his portrayal.

Now comes the horrible Liu Bei and the Zhao, Guan, Zhang cast. It was utterly bad. You Yong's Liu Bei looked like a decrepit farmer, Guan Yu was portrayed like a gentle teacher on steroids who morphs into incredible hulk during battle and Zhao Yun was just plain brutish. It was especially disgusting in the Bagua Formation when the fighting scenes looked like they came straight out of the Dynasty Warriors video games. Unrealistic battle where the Wei soldiers just ran like lemmings into the formation without fighting the Sun-Liu soldiers.

End of the day I give it a 6.5/10 and do not recommend hardcore fans or people with no inkling of 三国 personalities and events to watch this movie. John Woo should stick to guns. Sweeping war epics should be left to directors like Ridley Scott.

Homecoming

A year has gone by since I first stepped into the airport at Sydenham, Sydney. The past year has been one of recuperation from the "perils" of work. Reviewing my life at this juncture, there's this maelstrom of thoughts churning in my mind. Penning it out will be a good way to equilibrate myself.

Singapore is a "paper society" that places much emphasis on academic meritocracy . A person's worth is judged by his/her qualifications, a hallmark of the Confucian management style. If you hail from an elite school, it makes you special & valuable. Frankly I think this is a load of bull. I study because I like to understand my discipline better and because I like to analyse things and tinker with high tech instruments that cost over a million bucks. Basically I'm just a hoarder of knowledge. Does that make me better than the hawker who makes his living cooking noodles? I think not.Study requires a good memory, some understanding and the ability to regurgitate; eventually to apply principles. To kickstart a business requires acumen, determination and the ability to anticipate customer preferences; eventually to produce a product. Isn't the ability to create superior to the ability to comprehend.

A good insight into the value of creativity versus stellar academic achievements is the case of Mr Sim Wong Hoo, a polytechnic graduate who is way richer than most of the Singaporean Oxbridge grduates. Mr Sim is always dreaming up new gadgets when we the so called "highly educated intellectuals" are finding ways of fine tuning things, chasing the next storage barrier and trouble shooting problems. Smart people can do a bad job as well. As in the case of the design of the Creative MP3 players. Apple is so successful with Ipods because its products are broad spectrum design. Anyone from 7 to 70 is able to use Apple with ease. Creative MP3 players although fantastic in function are terribly narrow spectrum design products. As a consumer using a gadget daily , do I need a 50000 songs storage space or do I need a 5000 song storage but a quick and user friendly way of getting to a song I want? As a gadget owner I wanna show off my cool gadget. I may want to give it as a gift to my Dad/Mum, but they are gadget dummies who have no idea how tech works so which do I choose? Creative Zen or Ipod? Which person doesn't want to be seen as being cool? In its tech race Creative lost its creativity when it focused solely on scoring high marks in tech barriers.

I feel that the more we study the more limitations we impose on our thinking. Its funny because when one reaches PHD level, the scope of study is so extremely narrow and specialised. A macro view changes to a micro view as one climbs the academic ladder. Makes one wonder if all highly educated people eventually become afflicted with tunnel vision. Brilliance requires a free & inquisitive mind. One with no shackles. The benzene molecule was dreamt up as an ouroboros by Kekule when he opened his eyes to bright sunlight. Teflon was discovered because some chemist was curious enough to saw open a gas cylinder. An act which would be deemed crazy by most singaporeans.

Like homegrown Creative, Singaporeans have such a shackled mindset. In our race to the Mortar and gown, the directorship of a company etc we tend to forget the fun creative things like beer helmets and sportsmanship. We become afraid of failure as that consigns us to the bottom of the heap in a meritocratic society. Thats not true, a winner is one who fights against all odds and thrives. At the very least you will learn to respect yourself. There is no worse enemy than ourselves. Fear is not an external entity. It is within. Fear shackles us. Then again like the Gopher game in the arcade, we get hit by a huge hammer whenever we try to stand up and that doesn't help at all.

Teochew Ah Hia jiak teochew muay

Ta gair hor. Wa si teochew ah hia ji zuung na orr jeu tak ze. Ji gai cheek guek hoong zu tak lio oi sai tng lai chuay gang zhor. Wa si tak huey harg gai shuak shi. Na ji or jeu jing jia sior gair sor yi ging jit wa zu zhi tam por teochew muey lai jia toin. Gaig piak gai tng nang supermarket hao kao wu buey kiam chai puk kuey bor buey oh nam.Bor pang huat ching chai zu hor. Buey tam por san zhang bar lai zhi lou. Ji zuung ti si narng sor yi jiak tam por pui bar. Ji gor jit si buey tarr ging jiak narng puk kuey ahm mare zu oi narng. Wa eh dang pang jing kor liang ji zuung kao zek yi lei kam mao diang lor kar sao. Dang wa kao zek lio wa kor leng zhi tam por bak chor mee lai jia. Ai wa ker tak zek lio, gair gui jit zu kao lio.

Translation:

Hi all. I'm Teochew Big Brother who is studying in Australia at the moment. Come July I'll be finishing my studies and will return home for job hunting. I'm studying for my Masters in Chemistry. Being in Australia, I miss home terribly that's why I'm cooking Teochew porridge today. Thankfully the neighborhood Chinese supermarket sells salted vegetables but no salted olives available. Oh well I'll just make do. Bought some pork belly for stew. The weather is cold so its good to take a bit of fatty meat. Here the weather is cool in the day and cold at night. Pity my roommate who is down with flu and having a bad cough during this exam period. After the exams I'll probably cook some minced pork noodles. Ok I'm off to study, exams in a few days time.

Warning MSN virus on the loose

Seeing that 2 of my contacts in MSN have fallen prey to the new MSN virus, I figured that I should write about it. The modus operandi of this virus is that it sends an offline message containing a link to the MSN contacts found in the host account.Once the contact clicks on that link his/her account will be compromised and the bot located in the server logs on when the MSN user is offline to further propagate this virus. So to keep yourself safe, don't click on any links sent to you as an offline message. In fact do not click on any files sent to you unless you verify with the MSN contact. Take note when receiving files from people you're not familiar with. Always perform a scan of the file. Try to back up your critical files whenever possible. A virus attack is often very damaging and you can spend a lot of time trying to recover your files.

I have had backdoor trojan before and its rather frightening because the hacker can actually control your computer remotely. When you find your typing being overwritten or your drives opening and closing by themselves it is most likely you have fallen victim to this. The only way is to disconnect from internet and run a full system scan. You will also have to change your passwords.

Kaspersky Antivirus software is rather effective and I would recommend it as a good protection for your computers. Although it can be slightly irritating at times, it does its job well.

My very own Sous Chef

Hear ye! Hear ye! Ol Ed has found himself a new pad with 4 other dudes. Too bad there aren't any girls around =(. Destiny has yet again denied me of some female company for this semester. This time round the housemates are older, most of them being at least 24 and doing their postgrads except for one 22 year old. And yup I'm the resident fossil again at the ripe old age of 32. Once again I have taken in disciples for lessons in cooking. This time round I have got 2 housemates apprenticing me. Makes me feel kinda like the Master Bai Mei from Kill Bill Volumes. Haha! So over the past week I have imparted breakfast dishes, chinese stirfrys, pasta dishes and steak. One of the guys is so enamoured of good food now he's beginning to search the web for recipes to hone his cooking skills. The other day he came in after his meal of seafood marinara and said "Ah..zhe jiu shi sheng huo.." In French that would be C'est La vie aka That's Life. I'm a true beliver of leading a quality life, maybe because my job as a quality chemist rubbed off on me lol. Seriously why eat a plate of horrible food when you can eat a meal of much better quality?! And so I just had to rescue them from a dreary student's life of bland & unimaginative meals!Onward to culinary greatness! How did I do it? Seduction with plates of steaming steaks, flavored rice and sphaghetti. Like what my housemate said "Pao mian shi wang shi le" meaning "Instant noodles is a thing of the past".

People have often asked me that since I cooked pretty ok and have a great interest & knowledge of food and drink, that why I'm not opening an eatery or restaurant. When you open a restaurant, the economics come in. That's when the soda bicarbonates comes in to soften beef of inferior quality, the half eaten lobster shells going back to the pot for tomorrow's lobster bisque and roast chicken leftovers going into the curry. I'm have a humanitarian nature, I cant do this to people. If I open a eatery it will have to be on my own terms and with a significant amount of capital because I'm not compromising on quality. Eventually I will open a beach pub cum eatery serving quality meals. A place where you can have real roast beef sandwiches with a good Belgium/German beer and bask in the warm glow of the sun. It will be a pub where you can eat crispy bbq chicken wings with a tangy dip sauce and zone out with a cocktail. Soft music help people drift off an oasis of calm. However I need my first pot of gold or some financial support so I'll need day jobs.

It is my dream to give people and myself a piece of paradise. Life is too short for wars, famines and poltical repression. A mere 70 years shouldn't be wasted on these acts. I always recall how happy people are in the company of good friends, great food and drinks. Life should be good and even more wonderful if I'm able to offer people that. I'm not going to just sell good food , I'm going to sell fond memories. That'll be my life's business!

Back in the Land of the Dreaming

Took a hiatus from blogging and now I'm back. Here I am in the land of the Dreaming again. WTF?! Land of the Dreaming... what the heck is that?! Well the Dreaming is a a term used by Australian aboriginal people to describe relations between the spiritual, natural and moral elements of the world. It relates to a period before living memory or experience - a time of creator ancestors and supernatural beings. Yea and before you say anything, white man don't own this piece of land down under no Sir/ Madam the original owners were the aborigines. Captain James Cook was an invader to the native australian aborigines like Columbus was to the American Indians. Thousands of aborigines were driven out of their ancestral homelands and forced to become slaves. Yep and thats Australia's dark beginnings as a British convict colony, but whats past is past and with the new times the Australians are beginning to look into the aboriginal rights. And that is cool.

Anyways these days I'm kinda marooned in a cheap motel with no internet access until the 8th when I can finally move into my room down in Kingsford. Apparently the previous tenant needed some time to pack and scoot off. So these few days I had to survive on Maccas, sandwiches and pasta from the UNSW eateries and instant noodles. Gonna cook myself a big bloody steak when I get to the kitchen! The weather's been dissappointing, its been god-damned warm and I was expecting a cool autumn coming in when I arrived. Apparently according to the weatherman there's been a warm front which is bringing in a week of warm weather to NSW. The bad thing, I packed thick clothes for autumn and winter zzzzz....... The good thing is eye candy in the form of skimpily dressed babes.Nice.....

As I wandered about UNSW in this Week 0 busy with subject enrolment and getting a renewed student card, I was surrounded by truckloads of freshies parading themselves on campus. Saw a couple of them who had their feet tied together and were trying to climb the stairs to the library. Public humiliation, pretty funny stuff. Reminded me of my Army days when instructors called our names, called out the time while we had to position our arms in the correct positions like clocks and if we failed we were given 20 pushups. Orientation Seniors were dressed in yellow T-shirts and were leading group tours around the campus. Gave me the impression of chickens leading chicks to the academic slaughterfest. The walkway from the main entrance to the stairway of the upper campus was crowded with the stalls of the different clubs and societies trying to sell themselves to the freshies. It was like some medieval gauntlet the freshies had to go through. Me being a moldie scuttered to the shaded sidewalks and alternate paths to escape the hard selling seniors.

This semester is even shorter than the last as UNSW cut the term by 1 week so basically next week we'll start Week 1 and end with the exams in late Jun. Pretty fast I would say. Graduation ceremony would be late July at Shangri La Singapore. Hopefully I'll be able to join that session! Shouldn't be a problem considering the fact that I'm only doing 4subjects this semester, compared to the 6 I did last semester. Ok time for lunch! Will write some more again soon!