The Present

Updated 28 Mar 2010: Realised that the original quote is not from Kung Fu Panda. :)

I quote from Kung Fu Panda Babatunde Olatunji:

Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And today? Today is a gift. That's why we call it the present.


I think very often all of us are so caught up in our school or our work that we forget all that is happening around us. We worry alot on what is going to happen, but we often do not notice what's happening around us as it happens. Take a break... Sometimes, the answers can be right in front of you, and when you're too busy worrying, you'll not see it.

Learn from the past, enjoy the present, and look forward to the future.

Ban on "naked" shorting, not shorting

Time and time again, I've seen articles in the local newspapers where not enough research is being done, and the articles are not totally correct. Today I see the same thing again!

First, US ban on "naked" short selling of shares, not short selling of shares. Apparently there's a loophole where traders can short shares without borrowing when they do a "naked" short sell. Do read up on the wikipedia article here if you totally do not know what the heck is "naked" short sell.

Next, I totally disagree with the article that states that the market should not follow the US. My question is that does he think the police is an important part of the society? The obvious answer is of course yes. That's what the regulators role in the exchange. They are the "police".

The concept of the exchange is where there are a certain limited number of shares in the market for a company. Therefore, the price is based on a willing buyer, and willing seller basis. One can borrow the shares from a willing owner, and do whatever you wish to the shares, on the condition that you'll return it in x number of days. Now, you're saying that there's a certain rule that allows a trader to bypass this limited number of shares.

This totally distorts the pricing of the shares because

1. The person who did the "naked" short did not even own the share. Therefore, how do the company shareholders stop this person from selling the company at a discount to its true valuation? For normal contra and short selling, you're able to control by just not allowing this person to borrow your shares. For this case, how do you control?
   
   
2. If the shareholders of the company know what's the true valuation of the company, they would never sell it below a certain price. Some use the book value as the "base price" of the company. Do you think this person who "naked" short the share knows anything about book price or any other fundamentals for the matter? No way... See how many perfectly sound companies prices are being driven downwards due to the ignorance of such fundamentals, as the only thing that matters to them is the volatility of the share price.
   
   
3. "Naked" shortists would have the power to control the pricing of the company, and bring a perfectly sound company to its knees. Add the "rumours" and you will see some takeover "actions".
   

If nothing is done to close this loophole, I can think of some consequences:

1. Rise of private equity as private equity will at least buy at a slight discount to your true valuation. Most will buy above valuation.
   
   
2. All the good and sound companies will flock to these private equity investors, or angel investors for capital.
   
   
3. All the remain good and sound companies will find ways and means to delist since the shareholders are no longer value adding to the company, and true valuation is out of the window. Either that, or they will be taken over by bigger fishes that see a very good bargain, and delist it from the exchange.

And guess what? All these things are happening right now, at this instant. Some exchanges have already lost sight of the original fundamentals of a public stock exchange. Very soon, they'll see the ill-effects of this kind of loopholes, and by then, it'll be too late because a stigma has already been attached to it.

To all future companies that wants to go the IPO route, good luck to you... I think you're better off attracting private equity funds, or private companies. At least you get a true valuation.

Leadership

I quote from Nelson Mandela:

It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.


It's quite rare now to find this kind of leaders in this world. Nowadays, to see a leader come out and take responsibility for the blunders of their subordinates is like waiting for a blue moon to rise.

This is what I call true leadership... A leader worthy of following.

iPhone 2.0 problems and fixes

Seems like the Internet is alive with some of the problems the iPhone 2.0 has. So far I've only seen 2 major problems:

1. iPhone 2.0 for both 2.5G and 3G drops off connection randomly. A similar 2.5G/3G phone using the same carrier has better signal than the iPhone 2.0. Apparently, this happened all over the world and its not isolated to US AT&T.
   
   
2. Some users have reported sluggish behaviour from the iPhone Contacts list when they had 1000 over contacts. Apparently, you will experience some slowness the moment you access your contacts, no matter if you're in Mail, or directly accessing the contacts list.

So far these are the major problems I've seen that many users are facing. There are more rumours with regards to new versions and patches:

• iPhone v2.01 has been spotted by some people when they looked through their server logs. Seems like some patches might be on the way, hopefully with regards to the problems the users are facing now.
  
  
• iPhone v2.1 also seems to be in beta testing.It seems to have some copying and pasting capability, and the location based API has been expanded, which hints that it might support turn by turn navigation. That means in-car GPS using the iPhone? Push notification API has also been added in. This is suppose to be out by September, according to a promise made previously.
  
  However this iPhone 2.1 beta doesn't seem to be compatible with the current App Store. Maybe that's why it has only been released to developers and its in beta.

I hope that when Singtel release the iPhone, it would have all these patches, and the dropping connection problem should at least be resolved. The dropping connection problem will be a real pain.

Take Joy

I quote from Fra Giovanni in his "A letter to a friend", also known as "Take Joy":

"I salute you. I am your friend and my love for you goes deep. There is nothing I can give you which you have not got; but there is much, very much, that, while I cannot give it, you can take. No Heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today. Take Heaven! No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instant. Take peace!

The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy. There is radiance and glory in the darkness, could we but see; and to see, we have only to look. I beseech you to look.

Life is so generous a giver, but we, judging its gifts by their covering, cast them away as ugly or heavy or hard. Remove the covering, and you will find beneath it a living splendor, woven of love, by wisdom, with power. Welcome it, grasp it, and you touch the Angel’s hand that brings it to you. Everything we call a trial, a sorrow, or a duty: believe me, that angel’s hand is there; the gift is there, and the wonder of an overshadowing Presence. Our joys, too: be not content with them as joys, they too conceal diviner gifts.

Life is so full of meaning and of purpose, so full of beauty—beneath its covering—that you will find that earth but cloaks your heaven. Courage, then to claim it: that is all! But courage you have; and the knowledge that we are pilgrims together, wending through unknown country, home.

And so, at this Christmas time, I greet you; not quite as the world sends greetings, but with profound esteem, and with the prayer that for you, now and forever, the day breaks and the shadows flee away."

Appreciate what you have around you... All you need to do is to look.

Opt out for Singpost Admail service

I happened to glance at the New Paper and realised that there is actually an opt out service for the advertisement mail (Admail) we get through out mailbox. I will paste this section which I got from Singpost website:

Residents who do not wish to receive unaddressed promotional mail through SingPost’s Admail service, can call our hotline number 6845-6210 to inform us.
Our operating hours are
Monday to Friday: 0830am to 0500pm (but closed for lunch from 1230pm to 0130pm)
Saturdays: 0830am to 1230pm
Closed on Sunday and Public Holidays


For me, I still find the Admail useful. Sometimes they do have interesting offers, and the fastfood coupons are useful too. :p

$80psf?? Ridiculous!

Read that the Ion Orchard is selling retail space for $80psf?!?!?! That is ridiculous. As far as I know, the highest rental is only like at the very most $50psf at Wisma. Ion Orchard is just next to it, and its like almost double the rental??

The management of Ion Orchard must be living in some other world... It'll be interesting to see how much of a "ghost mall"Ion Orchard will be when it opens.

Inflation is up 7.5%

These are the Singapore inflation rates for 2008:
January: 6.6%
February: 6.5%
March: 6.7%
April: 7.5%
May: 7.5%
June: 7.5%

Food and Housing is leading the charge, rising by 9.2% and 13.4% respectively year on year. Singapore seems to be controlling the inflation quite well. The currency has been growing stronger almost every month.

Everyone is expecting July inflation rate to be much lower. However, did they know that inflation only jumped 1.3% from June to July, and not the 2% everyone is talking about? I think the inflation rate will still hover at around 6+% before moderating downwards in September.

Believe in yourself II

I quote from Bertrand Russell:

The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd.


Sometimes I get very frustrated with people who keeps quoting from this so and so book, or this so and so person, and just because it/he/she is famous/popular, whatever that it/he/she says is correct.

This quote pretty sums up my feelings. If I'm wrong, prove it to me I'm wrong. Don't tell me that just because so and so said it, I'm wrong. Likewise, if it can be done, prove to me that it can be done with the current resources available. Just because someone has done it doesn't mean that anyone can do it at anytime.

Believe in yourself, and believe in what you can achieve. Let no one tell you otherwise because guess what? Only you know yourself best.

DL reviews of phones below standard!!

I almost wanted to laugh out when I read Digital's Life (DL) review of some phones. I believe they might have misunderstood something. I'm interested in buying a phone, not a camera. So what on earth are they harping on that stupid 5MP camera that the phone has???

There was no mention of:

• Battery life
• Talk time hours (real)
  
• Standby hours (real)
  
• Clarity of conversation
• WAP/3G performance
• Phone accessories
  

All those that's important about the phone, there was not even a mention of it. Instead they kept harping on how grainy the photo is in indoors. Hello!! If I'm interested in a camera, I will buy a camera, not a phone!

Sometimes I do wonder why I bother to read the phone reviews in DL... Maybe just to get a few laughs.