Mind Whispers: 2010

Singapore Night Market

very difference from Msia's night market, there is no traffic jam (no people jam also..haha!) and all the stalls are set up temporary (along the roadside).

Book: 人体使用手册作者：吴清忠

养生功法结论:

不生气
敲胆经
早睡早起
按摩心包经
保持洁净的肠胃

敲胆经: 如图每天在大腿外侧的四个穴位点，用力敲打，每敲打四下算一次，每天敲左右大腿各五十次，也就是左右各两百下。由于大腿肌肉和脂肪都很厚，因此必需用力，而且以每秒大约两下的节奏敲，才能有效刺激穴位。

按摩心包经: 如图，在心包经的穴位进行按摩，在图中所标示的位置附近寻找穴位，找到了穴位，稍用力压就会感到明显的痛感就对了。每天在每个穴位按摩2-3分钟。
除了心包经之外，应再按摩任脉的膻中穴（两乳之间）和膀胱经的昆仑穴（外侧脚踝后方腱前凹陷处），其中昆仑穴的按摩应在按摩心包经之前实施，这样比较容易将心包积液排出。

症现于四肢五官，病存于五脏六腑，是中医最基本的道理
当做到敲胆经和早睡早起的功课后，人体的血液会很快增加，这些血液会充盈于人体的脏器，这时人的体形不一定会变胖，但是体重一定会增加。
多数发胖的人，都是脾虚的体质。肠胃的细菌感染是最主要的原因。
胆经不通的人，在胆经路过的大腿外侧会堆积脂肪。如果这个人爱好运动，这些垃圾就会往下流动，而堆积在小腿肚上。因此大腿外侧较胖 (现代女人多数如此) 或小腿肚上形成萝卜腿 (现代男人或爱好运动的女人多数如此) 的人，胆功能必定不好。
肥胖不是吃得太多，而是排得太少
多数发胖的人，都是脾虚的体质。肠胃的细菌感染是最主要的原因。
肠胃感染主要来自两个来源，一个是来自唾液的感染，另一个是食用不清洁的食物。

Book: 傻笑着读完心理学　李小洛著

想改变一个人的不良习惯，就对他的不良习惯进行奖励。将内在动机转换成外在动机。
社会性惰化 Social Loafing
皮格马利翁效应　Pygmalion Effect
社会助长　Social Facilitation
反弹效应　Rebound Effect
倒摄压制　Retroactive Inhibition
相比能力，　更应该夸奖付出的努力
习惯性无助　Learned Helplessness
经典性条件反射　Classical Conditioning
凡勃伦效应　Veblen Effect
厌恶亏 Loss Aversion
阶段性邀请　The foot in the door technique
低球技术
非全部技术
焦点效应　Spotless Effect
旁观者效应 Bystander Effect
面部表情回馈理论　Facial Feedback Theory
镜像效应 Mirror Effect

Book: A Step By Step Guide To Getting Your Financial Life On Track

There are many financial advising media. This is one of the e-book i came across online. It is provided for free on http://www.financial-advice-for-beginners.com/ .

The agenda in any financial book is almost the same. The topics covered in this e-book:

Protect yourself and your family first: insurance, look out for term insurance that give you protection and saving returns. I cancel my previous life & invest insurance, i find that it is best to separate investment from insurance. Together, they won't work to optimum.
Manage your money flow: a useful budgeting spreadsheet is provided I've downloaded it and will use it for my new SG money tracking.
Get yourself out of debt: I will try to settle my car loan earlier. But for my 0% interest student loan, may pay according to schedule.
Start accumulating wealth
Learn how to make more money

"If you are working at a job, you can earn more money in working more hours or getting a pay raise. Company bonus is really not reliable as it name suggest. "

Other ways to make more money:

1. Inherit from someone
2. Win lottery
3. Have your money earn more money for you
4. Buy or build a business or asset that can earn you money even if you are not there to run it

In short, this e-book is very simple and basic, good for beginner and for revision. I like the free spreadsheet provided.

HTC Legend

My prepaid phone subscription is approaching expiry, i am thinking to replace it with a postpaid phone package in SG.

One good thing of phone service is SG is there are many options, and phone plan normally come with discounted-price handset. So, i should get myself a new handset instead of having a dual sim handset.

Everyone is talking about iPhone and more and more people are holding one. I think iPhone is really an attractive piece of technology, but Apple teaches us to 'think differently'. Maybe i am just not willing to spend that much of $ on iPhone & the data plan. Check out the prices of iPhone plan under StarHub, Singtel and M1 http://sgcgo.com/singtel-starhub-m1-iphone-price-plans.

I want an iPhone compatible smartphone with a reasonable data plan. So, definitely i am looking into Android phone. Haha, Android vs Apple. HTC Desire is great but i don't want to spend extra and its OS is Windows Mobile (nothing exciting on the OS). Finally, i get HTC Legend.

I am sticking with Singtel for the new plan. As a foreigner in SG, i find it very troublesome to provide 'proof of address' (tenant agreement, employment letter, CPF statement, ect) when signing up a new plan. At the end of the day, i paid SGD368 for my HTC Legend (Singtel customer gets SGD50 discount). My company Corporate Individual Scheme (CIS) gives ~13% discount on the talk plan for 24 months, free incoming calls, 100 min free talktime, 500 free local sms (free auto roam, caller ID for limited period, SIM card & registration waived).

So, a new Android phone to play now :)

Singtel price plan, Starhub price plan, M1 price plan

Book: Inside Steve's Brain by Leander Kahney 2008

What's inside his brain:

Focus means saying no. Jobs focuses Apple's limited resources on a small number of projects it can execute well.
Stay focused means do not allow feature creep. Keep things simple, which is a virtue in a world of overly complex technology.
Generate alternatives and pick the best. Jobs insists on choices.
Don't be afraid to start from scratch. Mac OS X was worth doing over, even if it took one thousand programmers three years of nonstop toil to do it.
Avoid the Osborne effect. keep the new goodies secret until they are ready to ship, lest customers stop buying the current stuff while waiting for new stuff.
Don't shit on your doorstep. Apple's engineers hated the old Mac OS, but Jobs ordered a positive spin on it.
Don't listen to your customers. They don't know what they want.
Don't compromise. Jobs's obsession with excellence has created a unique development process that churns out truly great products.
Design is function, not form. For Jobs, design is the way the product works.
Respect materials. The iMac was plastic. The iPhone is glass. Their forms follow the materials they are made from.
Partner only with A players and fire bozos. Talented staff are a competitive advantage that puts you ahead of your rivals.
Don't listen to yes man. Argument and debate foster creative thinking. Jobs wants partners who challenge his ideas.
Find a passion for your work. Jobs has it, and it's infectious.
Become a great intimidator, inspire through fear and a desire to please.
Study the market and the industry. Jobs is constantly looking to see what new technologies are coming down the pike.
Don't consciously think about innovation. Systematizing innovation is like watching Michael Dell try to dance. Painful.
Concentrate on products. Products are the gravitational force that pulls it together.
Steal. Be shameless about stealing other people's great ideas.
Connect. For Jobs, creativity is simply connecting things.
Burn the boats, Jobs killed the most popular iPod to make room for new, thinner model. Burn the boats, and you must stand and fight.
If you miss the boat, work hard to catch up. Jobs initially failed to see the digital music revolution but soon caught up.
Look for vectors going in time - bigger changes in the wider world that can be used to your advantage. The iPod greatly benefited from improvements in batteries and screens driven by the cell phone industry.
Embrace the team. The iPod does not have a sole progenitor, there is no single Podfather. It is never just one person - success always has many fathers.

Book: Why Men Don't Listen & Women Can't Read Maps, Barbara & Allan Pease

A very interesting book.

Chapter 1. Same species, different worlds

The wiring of our brain in the worm and the effect of hormones will determine how we think and behave.

Chapter 2. Making perfect sense

A boy does not really lose skin sensitivity at puberty, it just all goes to one area.

Chapter 3. It's all in the mind

Men joke that they sleep by the door of their first marital home for a quick getaway. In truth, it's pure defender instinct.
Males have limited abilities when it comes to speech and conversation
Because women use both sides of their brains, many find it more difficult to tell their left hand from their right.
Brain wiring test. (my score was slightly mascurine for a female , haha: a score of 110, lower than the normal range 150-300.

Chapter 4. Talking and listening

Mothers who try to talk to their sons are usually disappointed to receive only short grunts in reply.
If men want to get on better with women, then they need to talk more.
To impress men in business, a woman needs to keep her thoughts inside her head and only talk about conclusion.
Men need to understand that when a woman talks, she is not expecting him to respond with solutions.
Women need to understand that when men does not talk, that is not a cue that something is wrong.
The first rule of talking to a man: keep it simple! Give him only one thing at a time to think about.
Men usually only interrupt each other if they are becoming competitive or aggressive.
Men love big words, meaning of words is important. But a woman will use words that she does not really mean.
If a woman is talking to you a lot, she likes you. If she is not talking to you, you are in trouble.
Indirect talk builds rapport among women - but if often does not work with men because they do not understand the rules.
Women use the 'girlie' voice to counteract the power of the large body size and others use it to encourage protective behavior in men they like.

Chapter 5. Spatial ability: maps, targets and parallel parking

The majority women have limited spatial ability
She has no sense of direction, but he can never find socks in his drawer
To have a happy life: never insist that a woman read a map or street directory
Where equal spatial ability exists, women can perform at a higher level than men
If you want to persuade a woman to go with a certain set of plans, show her a three dimensional version

Chapter 6. Thoughts, attitudes, emotions and other disaster areas

Boys like things, girls like people
Boys compete, girls co-operate
Boys want power and status, girls want relationships and co-operation
Girls will ostracize a girl who exerts authority by thinking she is bossy.
Men have side-by-side friendships based on things and achievements, women have face-to-face friendships based on emotional sharing.
If a woman is unhappy in her relationships, she cant concentrate on her works. If a man is unhappy at work he cant focus on his relationships.
Man leave his woman if he feels he cant make her happy. Woman leaves a man not because she is unhappy with what he can provide, but because she is emotionally unfulfilled.
Men hate criticism, that is why they like to marry virgin. A woman needs to make sure she does not make a man feel wrong.
Don't offer a man advice unless he asks for it. Tell him you have confidence in his ability to work things out.
When dealing with an upset woman, do not offer solutions or invalidate her feelings - just show her you are listening
For a woman, sharing problems with her friends is a sign of trust and friendship
Men climb on their rock to solve problems. Women who follow them get kicked off.
A man is expected to communicate: a skill that does not come naturally to him. But these skills can be learned
Real men do cry, but only when the emotion segment of the brain is engaged. Suspect men who cry regularly in public.
For a man to feel energized, he needs an objective, a target to hit and a timetable.
Give women a sincere compliment with more details.

Chapter 7. Our chemical cocktail

Progesterone(causes parental & nurturing feeling) is released when a woman see a baby (teddy bears, short fat men with chubby cheeks)
Blond hair is a sign of high oestrogen and high fertility
Ninety percent of the people in prison are men (high testosterone)
Girls suffering PMT get lower scores in mathematical exams

Chapter 8. Boys will be boys,but not always

Scientists have shown that homosexuality is an orientation that is unalterable. It is not a choice

Chapter 9. Men, women and sex

Testosterone stimulates the desire for sex
Men are microwave, women are electric ovens. This explains the older man/younger woman combination.
When it comes to sex, women need a reason and men need a place
When men feel stress, he sees sex as a sleeping pill.
When men are asked about their relationship, they mentioned in terms of their partner's personal services (cook, iron his shirts, or massage his head). When a woman is asked, she describe based on the recent events (how attentive, his helpfulness and how much he has communicated with her)
The cleverer you are, the less sex you have
Sex increases your testosterone levels which fortify your bones and muscles and supply you a good level of cholesterol.
A woman wants lot of sex with the man she loves. A man wants lots of sex
Men wants women to dress tarts (but never in public)
Testicle size determines the males level of faithfulness or monogamy
Men are stimulated trough their eyes, women through their eyes
The combination of manly body and female values is usually found only in gay or effeminate men
Most women prefer sex with light out - they cant bear to see a man enjoying himself. Men like sex with the lights on - so they can get the woman's name right.

Chapter 10. Marriage, love and romance

Sex is the price women pay for marriage. Marriage is the price men pay for sex
At a base, men want a cross between their mother and a personal servant
Women recognizes when love does not exist. That's why they are much more proactive in finishing relationships.
Men can separate love from sex. For women, love and sex are inter wined. One equals the other.
A woman enters a new relationship looking for romance and love. Sex comes as a consequence. Men frequently enter a relationship through sex and then look to see if there could be the possibility of a relationship.
How do you know if a man is ready for sex? he's breathing
Some surefire romance tips for men:

Set the environment
Feed her
Light a fire (cook)
Bring flowers (new fresh flower brings another chance of romance)
GO dancing
Buy chocolate and champagne (contains chemical in increasing testosterone, except white chocolate and coffee)

The flower of love is the rose. After three days all the petals fall off and you are left with an ugly,prickly thing. Chances are both men and women do not have much in common or much to talk about. Finding the right partner means deciding what things you will have common with someone in long term
Men Men prefer to be touched in main one area, and as often as possible

Chapter 11. Towards a different future
Our biology has not changed much and mostly outdated. Despite the best intentions of equal opportunity employers, boys still stubbornly go into jobs with a mechanical and spatial bias and girls seem compelled to seek jobs involving human interaction.

The END

Book: 我不是教你诈 2

人性:

人都是善中有恶，恶中有善的
做一天和尚，撞一天钟
用小题大作，来避免小事变大
想让自己成功，先得了解人性，先得为别人着想
他吃不下，也不让别人吃，一口咬下，含在嘴里，不吞下去
消息不能提早走漏，是为了减少阻力和对彼此的伤害
别跟不要命的人斗

Getting to Know Singapore - April 2010

Telephone numbers in SG comes in the 8-digit numbering format. I have to add 6 to existing fixed line telephone number. The digit '9' is for mobile phone services.
Calling to and from Malaysia does not require IDD. Call to SG from Malaysia requires only area code 02. Haha, i do not even know SG area code is 02 (KL 03, Penang 04, Perak 05).
Singtel, one of the SG phone provider charges local phone rate to Malaysia, dial 019 + country code+ area code + phone for a limited time.
Receiving local call in SG is chargable (Singtel). I must admit that i do not know SG very well.
SG classifies the foreign workers by how much $$ money they make. R pass for those make less than $1800/month, S pass xxx, Q pass, P2, P1, etc...i am thinking of 'income' discrimination
Subscribing to internet service (Singtel, Starhub, or M1) as foreigner requires deposit money ...it can go up to $200SGD. One good thing is the the application process is fast. Applying as Employee Pass holder/PR/citizen is almost free.
Traveling in SG is convenient because SG is small and the transportation system is well planned. But i found traveling on MRT and buses is 'groomy' and crowded. I have no traffic jam problem, except people jam issue. People in SG seldom smile, especially commuters :(
All banks in SG need Malaysian to produce their Malaysian ID card when opening up a bank account, even they do not publish that requirement on their website. Deposit is needed to open an account, as usual for bank: money comes first (i almost forgot).
You can hardly differentiate between citizen, permanent resident (PR) and foreigners in Singapore. I can easily find an American who is a citizen, a Malay who is PR and a Chinese who is a foreigner. Just throw a stone and you will hit one (throwing is an offense in SG irregardless of hitting the target or not, and you will get fined for that).
SG is a good place to work, but not sure is a good place to live. Will find out more

Preview Trip to SG, March 2010

Beginning...
Album http://picasaweb.google.com/osk803/SGMarch2010#

In Melbourne March 2010

Nice place, nice weather, nice people, nice memory~
Album http://picasaweb.google.com/osk803/Melbourne2010#

Chinese New Year 2010

CNY is all about food, reunion, games and family :). Happy New Year to all!

Move into new house

Finally have to say goodbye to my old house (since 1989) and move into a new house.

My last Weekend - reading, making yogurt and bread

Before Chinese New year 2010,
Making bread is very easy, this round i am trying out a new shape. Making yogurt is not difficult also, these are my steps:

1. Heat the milk until it starts to simmer (~80C) in my rice cooker (haha! No gas stove)
2. Cool until finger can touch (~40C)
3. Add 2 tbspn of yogurt
4. Pour into thermos
5. Stay at room temperature for 8 hours
6. Pour into sterilized container, keep in fridge

This book takes me 3 weeks to finish (The Innovator’s Solution Creating and Sustaining successful growthClayton M. Christensen & Michael E. Rayno, 2003). It answers these questions: