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

Economy Watch

Non Oil Domestic Export rose for the first time in 19 months as pharmaceutical shipments surged 78% and exports to major markets increased.





NODX 2009 - Year on Year
-20.8 percent in December 2008 - S$10.47 billion
-34.8 percent in January 2009 - S$10.04 billion
-23.8 percent in February 2009 - S$12.87 billion
-17.3 percent in March 2009 - S$11.88 billion
-19.2 per cent in April 2009 - S$11.32 billion
-12.1 per cent in May 2009 - S$10.94 billion
-11.0 per cent in June 2009 - S$11.38 billion
- 8.5 per cent in July 2009 - S$12.08 billion
- 7.1 per cent in August 2009 - S$12.1 billion
- 7.2 per cent in September 2009 - S$12.81 billion
- 6.1 per cent in October 2009 - S$12.50 billion
+8.7 per cent in November 2009 - S$13.1 billion

Legends Then and Now

Hank Marvin Guitar The Shadows



Robert Plant Vocal Led Zeppelin



Jimmy Page Guitar Led Zeppelin



Ian Gillan Vocal Deep Purple



Ian Paice Drums Deep Purple



Ritchie Blackmore Guitar Deep Purple



Mark Farner Vocal Guitar Grand Funk Railroad



Joe Walsh Guitar Eagles



Don Henley Vocal Drums Eagles



Don Felder Guitar Eagles

The Poor Man's Gruel

Rice porridge used to be for the poor, it was served in times of food shortages and famine.

Present day sees many rich and powerful resorting to porridge as a mean to ward off ill health, due to excess rich food.

One natural diarrhea treatment that is simple to prepare and highly effective is rice water. This simple diarrhea treatment not only helps to stop diarrhea, but also to rehydrate the person who is suffering from diarrhea and losing body fluids.



How to prepare the very simple life saving gruel? In a small pot add ½ cup rice, wash then fill the pot with about ¾ water. Bring it to a full boil.

Mothers in traditional Asian societies knew how to stop diarrhea with rice water since ancient times.

The use of rice-water for oral rehydration in the management of acute gastroenteritis was pioneered by a local professor, and this led to a new and highly cost-effective approach to diarrhoeal diseases in the developing world.

One explanation could be that starch-like sugars tend to draw less fluid out of the body and into the gut compared with a similar amount of simple sugar such as glucose.