That's Life, Get Over It

Some countries are born lucky. They have "money" oozing out of the ground.

Australia produced 40% of the western world's mining production output and has emerged as the world's major alumina producer.

Botswana is the world's leading producer of diamonds. The diamond industry accounts for 70% of export earnings and 30% of Botswana's GDP.

Indonesia is the world’s largest tin producer, followed by Peru and Brazil.

silver

South Africa used to be the world's largest gold producer, but China has surpassed it to become the largest gold producer since 2007.

South Africa is the largest producer of platinum in the world.

Mexico is the largest silver producer in the world.

platinum

Saudi Arabia is the world's biggest oil producer with a daily output of 10 millions barrels. Russia and the USA trail with output of 9 million bpd and 8 million bpd respectively.

And what do Singapore got? The country, a land area of 660 sq km, can only mine the pockets of the population of 4 million. Well, life is never fair and nothing is created equal.

Scams. Cheats or Theft

Quite a handful of scams has been written in the www and travellers are advised to be aware.

City: Bangkok Airport
The Scam: Such con jobs involved travellers who were arrested for leaving the duty-free shop with "unpaid" merchandise. Once in custody, the victim is introduced to a middleman who says he can settle the offence - for a fee. The rogue police officers, in cahoot, share the fee.

City: Bangkok
The Scam: Genuine-looking tour guides approach you at the area around Bangkok Grand Palace, and tell you, that the palace is closed to visitors but they will be happy to take you on a “private tour” for a fee.

City: Airports
The Scam: After you place your belongings at the x-ray machine and about to proceed, a person behind you cuts ahead of you. As he tries to walk through the metal scanner, the alarm rings as he has “forgotten” to remove his keys from the pocket. Meantime, his accomplice has gone through ahead of you and collect your stuff from the conveyor belt.

City: Most Airports
The Scam: The person sitting next to you “accidentally” squirts mustard on you while eating a hot dog (tube of mustard in a bun). Apologising, he offer to clean up the mess while his accomplice walks off with your bags.

City: Beijing and Shanghai
The Scam: Young “art students” approach you on the street and persuade you to visit their school gallery, where they apply strong arm sales pitch to sell overpriced, nothing out of the ordinary works being passed off as art.

City: Most Cities
The Scam: Two male tourists were befriended by two pretty young things who invited them to a pub. When the bill came, the amount was inflated to an unbelievable sum. The bartender with tattooed bouncers demanded cash or else.

Happy Touring.

Houses Bubble

9,865 applications received for 1,718 BTO flats in Dawson,
2,000 applications for 200 5-room BTO Dawson flats costing more than $500K screamed the main headlines.





Pity the present gen x who are now paying an arm and a leg for SkyVille@Dawson and Skyterrace@Dawson which are public flats.
Five-room flats, which cost over half a million Singapore dollars, while the four-room version goes for over $400,000 !
For that money, one can get a decent 3-room condominium in the outlying suburbs.
But then who want to miss the chance to live at Orchard Road doorstep?

The older generation who bought the enbloc flats in the same vicinity are lucky though, paying $400,000 for 5-room units. They will be moving in this year.

A Wealthy Healthy Year, All

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Bad Times

Where are the advertisements ?




There used to be adverts on most trains...




Has the poor economic climate affect the advertising dollars ?

Merry X'mas

Thanks for visiting.

Have a nice peaceful Christmas.

Thy Food is Medicine

Hippocrates the father of Medicine declared 2500 years ago "Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food". This same man also wrote The Hippocratic Oath, traditionally taken by doctors swearing to ethically practice medicine.


The persimmon fruit is described as nutritious although there is a fear that over-consumption of persimmons can cause intestinal blockages.




Persimmons contain chemicals called tannins, which are also found in other plants such as tea. Tannins contain two compounds known as shibuol and betulinic acid that are thought to have anti-cancer properties. Shibuol is the double edged sword. It can help and hurt you. Upon contact with stomach acid, shibuol can polymerize in the stomach forming a gluey coagulum that can affix with other stomach matter. This coagulum is called a bezoar.


Persimmons should only be eaten on a full stomach and never eaten with crabmeat which can increase the tendency for bezoars to form.


Unfortunately persimmons are potentially harmful for dogs and horses. 33 to 35 persimmons can cause a horse to develop a blockage. Vets successfully treated a persimmon bezoar in a pony using nasogastrically instilled diet coke.

Here are some no-no foods to avoid eating at the same time.
Pork + water chestnuts = stomach ache
Crab + persimmon fruit = diarrhea
White wine + persimmon = chest pains
Onions + honey = poor vision
Bean curd + honey = hearing loss
Potatoes + bananas = age spot