Sight to Insight

This article is for readers who are invested in the equity market, or who are thinking of making some money out of it. Money is the mean to an end not an end in itself. This ought to be the guiding principle in investing. I have seen a few cycles of bull and bear market. In the early 90s, there was a super-bull run, whereby the joke was to paste the stock market page on a wall, and then you throw a dart at it. Then you go to the stock market and buy that stock. You will make money. Wasn't that easy? Indeed, few people were seriously working. Most were punting and some did make a killing by getting out early, before it crashed. Many people were hurt, and some swore never to buy into equity again. The equity market can be indeed a casino during a bull run, where you buy in the morning and sell the next day or so. You do not even have to fork out any money. This is because the brokerage provides a transaction plus a number of days, usually three (T+3) before you settle your purchase. ...

Last week I attended two "talks" at the Arts House in Singapore. The first one was by the author, Satish Kumar ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satish_Kumar ) and the other by a young man, Yi-sheng Ng. The environment of the two sessions were so very different. Satish in his 60s seriously talked about his adventure of walking for world peace, without a penny in his pocket, as he walked into hostile Pakistan from India. That hostility seemed only in politics, as he was immediately invited for food and lodging by a stranger, who heard about his objective. Soon, he alongside with a friend has gone round the world, ending in the USA. During this trip, he was entrusted four packets of tea by a lady in Russia, to be given one each to the President of Russia, France, the USA, and the Prime Minister of England. When the president of France refused to see them, they protested in front of the Elysee Palace. For that they were imprisoned for a few days. He finally got his packet delive...

One needs to plot well to blog well. This insight came to me, after the fact. I attended two literary sessions at "The Arts House" in Singapore this week. If I wanted to portray the dynamics of people in both the sessions, I need photos and video. As it is harder to integrate video into blog, the next best thing is photos. Yet, I missed taking photos that brings to life the interactions, even though images would have been still static in nature. This plotting of a blog is akin to travel photo-journalism. One has to bring out the adventure with both words and photos. Words alone to me would be too boring. Photos alone will not express that emotion behind the image. The lesson is to plot ahead to blog better. I will be changing my Blog title to "Sight to Insight", after a good comment from a friend who has since immigrated to Australia for a change in life-style. For me, it is also a change in life pattern, as I bring insight (learning) from sight (observations in lif...

Last night my family went to see Spiderman 3. We enjoyed the show firstly as a family outing and secondly as pure entertainment, with such good sound system. As a philosopher by nature, I tend to project the sight (what we see) into insight (what we can learn) from the movie. Here is a good hero, adored by many for bringing to justice of people who find it difficult to bring happiness to others. That good feeling soon turned into pride, and a desire to even want more attention was helped by the 'black rubbery creature' from outside the earth. The 'dark side' as I will call this creature, provided even more power and attractiveness. Few can resist this "positive change" in image, as he walked around with eyes constantly darting in his direction. Soon he found himself having difficulty to let go of this new found power, as he battles with his 'intrinsic goodness'. The word that came ringing loud and clear is 'choice!' That one has a choice to ...

From the calm of Japan to the frenzy paced in Beijing is certainly a contrast. Beijing is preparing for the 2008 Olympic, a very important image building event for all who come to the capital of China. As of now, the air pollution is all too obvious for all to see, as you gazed into the sky. It is yellow in the day and you can hardly see any stars in the night. This is the price of economic progress. I was in this building, Prosper Centre, just across Kerry Shangri -La hotel. This building has to be completed before the end of this year. The government has given the order that all construction will stop by then. This will allow some time, perhaps for the air pollution to clear partially. I was here because this is one of the rare LEED certified building in China. What is LEED ? The acronymn stands for "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design" which is a sort of green building rating. Environmental protection has taken centre stage, now that global warming is really ...