Meaningful Living

These are some of the questions I ask myself now and then or in the past, many of which have no answers. 1.  How did the Universe start?  If it was the big bang, what caused the big bang?  Where did all the materials come from? 2.  What created the first living cell in the universe?  I mean, besides the theory of God.  How did the first living cell(s) know what to do? 3.  Why is it that insects, fish and animals can evolve features for self-defense or to gain advantage, but human beings didn't/can't do these? Examples: Stick Insects mimicking tree branches to avoid detection. Octopuses' ability to change colour to blend in with the surrounding. Zebras having black and white stripes.  My question for the zebra is not so much about the why, but the how.  How on earth did the zebras know how to divide their hair lines in such neat rows?  Cobra.  How do poisonous snakes know how to evolve poison in their body?    4.  Is g...

I mentioned Purine and Gout in one of my previous posts.  Recently, I learned that boiling meat/bones for many hours in water can significantly increase the amount of purine in the soup too.  Without going into details, the advice from doctors are: Do not boil meat/bones in the soup/broth for more than an hour . Here's a Chicken soup recipe I tried last week, which tasted very good. My proof to my mum that we do not need to boil the chicken for many hours in order to get the taste. Chicken Coconut Soup (for 2 pax): 1.  Get ready half a chicken, chopped into smaller pieces, wash clean.  If your pot is big enough, you can choose not to cut it into smaller pieces. No marination is needed. 2.  Get ready one young coconut.  Pour the juice into a bowl for later use.  Scrape off the coconut flesh if they are tender enough. Otherwise, do without the coconut flesh. 3.  Put the chicken into a pot with about four bowls of water.  Turn on high heat....

Collated these information on collagen from documentaries (Talking Point on Channel 5 and a few other sources): 1.   There are three types of collagen in our body.  Types 1 and 3 are those under our skin.  Type 2 are those found in our knee joints, shoulder joints etc. 2.    Collagen broth and collagen supplements don't work , because collagen molecules are too big to be absorbed by our body.  Even if they are broken down and absorbed by the body, our body will send them to higher priority areas like the muscles, not to the skin.  Hence when taken, there will not likely be any beauty effect on the skin. 3.   Frequent smoking, alcohol consumption and exposure to UV light deplete the natural collagen in our body.  Many people who smoke and drink a lot, have rough and wrinkled faces, as well as those who work under the sun all the time. 4.   A more effective method for improving our skin texture is by applying creams with Vi...

  I have been using chiropractic adjustments for my lower back problem for the past three years and found that it works for me.  Hence giving some information here. History :  More than ten years ago, there was an occasion where I bent my body to pick up a carton of drinks, and my lower back gave way. I had problem moving my body. The next morning, I went to see a Chinese Sensei who did cupping for me. He also held me from the back and "adjusted" the spine.  My back got better after about two days.  I just didn't like the cupping, because it comes with needles poking on the leg, which sent electrical feelings down the leg. Ever since then, about once a year, the problem came back, and I continued to see the Chinese sensei when it happened. Discovery  :  Eager to find a way to get rid of my lower back problem, I did a lot of research on the internet, and came across Chiropractic Adjustments .  When it happened again one day, I called up a Chiropra...

There is a Chinese saying, “The Teacher opens the door, but We need to enter it by ourselves." Basically it means, no matter how good a Master is, it is up to the Disciple to improve himself.  To be good at what we do, for our efforts to be recognised, we need the following: - Good attitude : Always look at the glass half full, never give up, always wanting to learn more, and making the right decisions; - Hard work : Practice makes perfect, do not let laziness overcome us, persevere;  - Learning smart : It is ok to make mistakes, but never make the same mistake more than once.  Learn fast.  This includes looking at mistakes others make, and ensuring we don't make those mistakes too; - Have good plans : Use an organiser to remember 'things to do'.  Do not allow the words "I forgot" to take over our life.  Plan and think before action; - Help from others : Be collegial, work as a team.  Make use of the strength of the individual in the team. Work with th...

There is one interesting Economics theory that we should be aware of, the Multiplier Effect.  I will use just a simple example to illustrate this theory. Why is it that, during an economic downturn, or difficult times like a pandemic, the government still give out aid packages to companies and to the individuals?  Shouldn't they be prudent? In general, it is to help the economy to survive, reducing the number of small and medium size companies closing shop for good. But why, to the individuals?  When people spend less, more people earn less from businesses.  These people in turn spend less.  The compound effect is bad for the economy.  On the other hand, when the government gives out vouchers to the individual households, the general public is able to continue to spend on essentials.  Shop and stall owners who earn these money, in turn have more cash for spending on their own necessities.  And when the shop and stall owners spend, the receiver in ...

I asked a group of students in a group chat :"Does any of you use any other chat apps besides Whatsapp?  If yes, what are they?" One person replied :"Telegram".  And no one else responded after that.  When I asked why no one else replied, a few said "cos same, telegram". So, this blog is to to talk about the difference between a quiz and a survey, according to my humble understanding. A quiz is likely to be one that has a fixed answer, or a fixed set of answers.  For example, if someone asked :"What is 1+1?".  There is no need to respond if the person who responded earlier gave the correct answer.  We can, of course, say the same answer or give another answer if we think the answer given was incorrect.  In this case, it doesn't matter how many people respond to the quiz (but of course, a teacher will want more students to try to answer). On the other hand, a survey requires as many people to respond as possible, because the sample group size ...

In one of Warren Buffet's speech on how to have a successful business, he urged his audience to make a friend out of every customer. Some of his pointers: 1.  Don't worry about things we cannot control or change, but one thing we could change is customer experience.  We want the customer to think of our company the moment they need a product in that area.  For example, if you want to have fried chicken, who do you think of? 2.  In order to provide good customer experience, we need to first give our employees good experience. If I am good, having just one of me is not enough for the company to succeed.  We need to learn to multiply ourselves.  Meaning, impart essential skills and values to the employees, ensuring they are happy working for us, and that they think like us. 3.  Surround oneself with people better than us.  This way, we learn good practices, and we get challenged to do better. 4.  Ask ourselves, what speciality can we bring to th...

One of my former Principals called me a "practical" person, in a good way.  She was telling the rest that to be effective, it is not about doing a lot of things, but doing the right things.  For me, I guess it is more about using logic to help in my decision making. I am not very certain how a practical person is being defined, because it is not likely for a person to be 100% practical. A good match, in my opinion, would be being practical but yet flexible enough to know how to make good decisions fast. The following points are put together after analysing my thinking and choice of actions.  Other practical persons may do things slightly differently. 1.  Sticking to the objective.  When I make decisions, it is heavily dependent on how likely it will achieve the objective of the task.  Many people, when they start brainstorming, may come up with ideas that stray further away from the objective. And in meetings, I am usually the one who voice this out and bri...

Studies show that the odds of saving a goal in a penalty kick in soccer is about 17.4%. Why is the odds so low? Experts also suggest that the best strategy for the goal keeper is to stay central during the penalty kick. Then why, do we almost always see goal keepers diving left or right side when the shooter kicks? Many goal keepers, when interviewed, said that they dived one side because (1) if they guess the direction correctly, that would increase the chance of saving the goal; (2) if they did not save the goal, no one will blame them for "doing nothing". Point (2) above, is an example of the concept of "Perception is Reality".  No matter how good a goal keeper is, if the fans perceive him to do nothing and hence lost the goal, then that becomes a reality, that "he did nothing and hence lost the goal".  The fear of this perception can lead one to choose a less strategic option, as in this case. Another example : You have some very good products in your ...