Archive for 'Life In General' Category
Global Warming Is A Bubble
7 July 2008Like the latest buzz on commodities, people are overreacting to the concept of global warming. Meet Bjorn Lomborg, founder of the Copenhagen Consensus and a skeptical environmentalist, whose realistic approach to prioritizing global problems is a breath of fresh air after being bombarded by the near suffocating rhetoric on climate change.
Climate change should not be treated like a religion, but as one of many factors that we should attend to–and objectively address it.
Be Prepared: DIY Survival Kits
24 June 2008
The PAGASA has been getting a lot of flack for not making a timely and accurate forecast for Typhoon Frank. But I've been monitoring the typhoon through www.maybagyo.com and the site has a compilation of the forecasted tracks made by the different weather agencies in Japan, USA, Hongkong, Taiwan, Beijing, etc. At first the majority of forecasts showed Frank would hit Metro Manila, then the next forecast showed it missing Metro Manila. I think only one agency made the correct forecast for Frank by sticking with the Metro Manila route. (I had forgotten which agency it was, sorry).
Indiana Jones and search for the Fountain of Youth
3 June 2008My greatest fear, and I think more than fearing death, is getting old. I'm not vain or something, but I just feel sad that one day I will be a senior citizen with sagging skin, with a hundred and one illnesses and has to get someone to wipe my ass. If you guys are wondering what brought me to thinking about aging… go watch Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and you will know what I mean. ( Maybe seeing Harrison Ford in his 60's in a movie set in the 50's gave me the feeling that he is super old. To George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, maybe you should consider using the title of this blog for the next Indi movie). 
Lipitor (atorvastatin) and Grapefruit
28 April 2008
I learned very recently that anyone taking cholesterol lowering drugs from the atorvastatin family (Lipitor, Zocor) should refrain from eating grapefruit or drinking grapefruit juice.
Here is a link from the NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information) website, which is a service of the US National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10460065
In layman's terms, grapefruit has properties which increase the concentration of Lipitor and the other atorvastatin drugs in the bloodstream, and consequently, magnifies side effects as well. The most common and debilitating side effect of statins is muscle pain and I assume that eating grapefruit will worsen this condition. To further highlight the danger, imagine that eating grapefruit with atorvastatins is akin to overdosing. Now who would want that? The fact that these drugs by themselves usually stay in the system for days only multiplies the risk when there is interaction with grapefruit. Locally, the pomelo or suha is more common than the grapefruit but I believe they belong to the same family, so please avoid that as well.
Reflections
16 April 2008I wrote this speech a while back. i was invited to a speaking engagement for the college of Business administration in Lasalle Dasmarinas. I was a Young and Very Successful Entrepreneur back then. my my how times have changed. Just posting this as a way to reflect.
__________________________________________
BA seminar july 9 2004:
by m****** *******
I was invited here to give you a talk about computer centers but I saw this as an opportunity to talk to you about entrepreneurship. And mostly in your case Young entrepreneurship. In an excerpt from the millionaire next door by Stanley danko A professor once asked a group of sixty MBA students who were executives of public corporations this question: what is risk? One student replied: Being an Entrepreneur!
Ashley Dupre Pictures and Philippine Delicadeza
13 March 2008
Ashley Dupre is this pretty girl in the picture, now famous for allegedly being New York Governor Spitzer's $1,000 per hour prostitute. Her myspace is still online and is now full of sympathy messages cheering her up. Sorry, no nude pictures here.
Gov. Spitzer resigned from his post yesterday, a stark opposite of how it is in the Philippines.
Convicted for raping an 11-year-old girl in Makati City on June 20, 1996, Zamboanga del Norte congressman Romeo Jalosjos even reran for Congress and won while behind bars!
Likewise, a different act of crime by Lt. Trillanes of seizing Makati Oakwood Hotel was his ticket to winning a Senate seat! Probably encouraged and emboldened that he got away with it, even took Manila Peninsula last November 2007!
Sharpening the Saw and Life in and around FM
6 March 2008"So what did you do today?"
"Nothing."
"Again?"
Interesting one-word banter with veteran trader and FMer, Antediluvianist as we headed for lunch a couple of weeks back.
Just read whipsaw's technical reports for the past month and one gets the tentative mood of the market these days. Everyone's waiting for that one big move to resume yet again. The "W" pattern I was monitoring on the market, well it's looking more like an "M" now, as the Phisix is nearly back at the subprime lows, and we're all wondering if this is a credible sign that the market is headed further down, much to the chagrin of those who are holding some of their beloved stocks (hey, most of FM is ipit something nowadays).
Year of the rat and stock markets
16 February 2008Some Research on what they're saying on how the year of the rat will affect stock markets
- last three Rat years had all seen very strong stock market growth in Hong Kong. It grew 232 percent in 1972, 30 percent in 1984 and 18 percent in 1996
- In general 2008 is a year of cooling down with more stability and calmness in the stock market. .
- In summary, the industries that will perform well in the year of the Rat will be industries related to earth and metal elements – such as property, hotel, mining, insurance, machinery, engineering, health, computer, and high tech industries. The sectors relating to water and fire will not be doing so well. Water industries include shipping, communication, drinks, and fire industries are stock market, finance, energy, electricity, entertainment business. The wood industries – such as textile, publications, fashion, furniture, etc are into a year with some superficial prosperity but not substantial.