* 04 August 2006 * From New Scientist Print Edition. Subscribe and get 4 free issues.
Call it yellow ginger, haldi, turmeric or E100, the yellow root of Curcuma longa, a staple ingredient in curry, is turning out to be gratifyingly healthy. NowTze-Pin Ng and colleagues at the National University of Singapore have discovered that curry eating seems to boost brain power in elderly people.
Curcumin, a constituent of turmeric, is anantioxidant, and reports have suggested that itinhibits the build-up of amyloid plaques in people with Alzheimer's. Ng's team looked at the curry-eating habits of 1010 Asian people unaffected by Alzheimer's and aged between 60 and 93, and compared their performance in a standard test of cognitive function, the Mini Mental State Examination. Those people who consumed curry "occasionally" (once or more in 6 months but less than once a month) and "often" (more than once a month) had better MMSE results than those who only ate curry "never or rarely" (American Journal of Epidemiology, DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwj267).
"What is remarkable is that apparently one needs only to consume curry once in a while for the better cognitive performance to be evidenced,"says Ng, who says he wants to confirm the results, possibly in a controlled clinical trial comparing curcumin and a placebo. From issue 2563 of New Scientist magazine, 04 August 2006, page 18
Gotten this article from the newscientist, really amazing what curry powder can do for your brains. so EAT more curry!!
Finally the fat guy decided to do something about the slab of fats in front, so I went jogging in the morning. Woke up at 7 in the morning and set out for east coast at 9. It must be the doing of fate that I met Marcus again after a year, to be more specific I think the lat time I saw him was like last year teacher’s day at SPS. He was cycling alone when I spotted him, call out for him then he was like slowing down because me as I was walking and jogging, a mix of it lah. Traveled a distance with him towards the end of ECP before hitting back home. Luckily I met him, else I think I will be walking the whole stretch of ECP instead of walking. Chatted with him throughout the journey about schools and st pats of course, those were the time where school works were no worries to us haizz miss the good old days.
Then went for driving in the afternoon, make a lot of stupid mistake, hit pole, wrong gear and can’t rememble lah don’t wish to elaborate.
On the way back home saw a new drink at 7-11 haha “pepsi tarik”
this is what wiki describe it as "Pepsi Tarik is a soft drink that combines the taste of coffee and Pepsi cola. Currently, it's available in Malaysia for MYR1.70 a bottle and Singapore for SGD$1.20."
Knn, stupid blogspot keep showing me this "001 java.io.IOException" stupid message while i was trying to republish the blog. Having spent the whole afternoon trying to figure out what the hell this message was about and what was the problem, triggered me to google on the topic and that damn problem was Firefox while it works well with IE. Whats bloggers damn problem with Firefox it is much better then IE and why the discriminate it and dun support it. WTF waste my time...ccnbccb. And now guess what, i have to blog with firefox and republish with IE just because it does allow Firefox to republish and IE have problem add post. DAMN SICKINING
Hong Kong Billionaire Li to Give a Third of Fortune to Charity
By Joshua Fellman and Clare Cheung
Aug. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong Billionaire Li Ka-shing, 78, said today he has no plans to retire and that he will eventually give at least a third of his wealth to his charity foundation.
Speaking at an earnings press conference for his two largest companies, which make up almost 9 percent of Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index, Li also said the 26-year-old Li Ka- shing Foundation has disbursed or committed almost HK$8 billion ($1 billion), about 90 percent of that in Hong Kong and China.
"This may spur more philanthropy in Asia,'' said Michael Troth, Asia Pacific and Middle East head of global wealth structuring at Citigroup Inc.'s private bank. ``An increasing number of our clients are interested in making a positive difference with their wealth and a lot of people look at what Li does when planning their affairs,'' he said. Citigroup does not disclose its private banking clients.
Li, who Fortune magazine says is the world's 10th richest person worth $18.8 billion, joins fellow billionaires including Bill Gates and Warren Buffett in pledging to give away a substantial portion of their wealth. Buffett in June pledged $30.7 billion, over many years, to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the largest charitable commitment in history, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy.
Like Buffet, called the ``Sage of Omaha,'' Li, sometimes called ``Superman'' by the Chinese-language press, has built the reputation of being a canny investor. Li became a tycoon by buying Hong Kong real estate in 1967 when riots tied to China's Cultural Revolution caused land prices to collapse.
Plastic Flowers
After arriving in Hong Kong as a refugee from China at age 13, Li swept factory floors to survive during the Japanese occupation of the city in 1942-45. After the war, he opened a plastic flower factory and then began buying real estate.
Among his other successes was a $30 million investment in 1988 with Procter & Gamble Co. to sell shampoo and toothpaste in China. He sold his stake in the venture for $2 billion in 2004. In 1999, he made a $15 billion gain selling his Orange mobile- phone unit in the U.K. to Germany's Mannesmann AG.
Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., his largest company, this half booked a HK$24.4 billion gain from the sale of 20 percent of its port unit, the world's biggest, to Singapore's PSA International Pte, the second-largest operator.
Li said he wouldn't follow Buffet's lead by injecting shares from Hutchison and Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd., his real estate developer, into the foundation, as this would affect the business; instead he may donate ``non-core'' assets.
Hutchison, Cheung Kong
Today, shares in property developer Cheung Kong, 37 percent owned by Li, and its unit Hutchison, which has investments form cellular phones to oil, fell after the companies reported first- half earnings.
Hutchison, Li's biggest company, said first-half profit doubled to HK$18.8 billion on the port stake sale and said its European wireless networks would turn to profit later than it had previously expected.
Cheung Kong, his builder, said operating profit fell 31 percent to HK$3.3 billion on lower home sales.
Li said today he remains optimistic about China's economic development prospects and the outlook for Hong Kong's property market. He described China's recent attempts to curb economic growth as ``reasonable.''
The Li Ka-shing Foundation, established in 1980, has made grants, sponsorships and other commitments to educational, medical and health-care causes, according to its Web site.
Still of Sound Mind
Li also established a university in Shantou, China. Last year, he sold his 4.9 percent stake in the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, of which he had been the largest shareholder, donating the C$1.2 billion ($1.08 billion) in proceeds to a new Toronto-based charity supporting education, medical care, poverty relief and cultural and religious endeavors.
``No family members or directors can get even 10 cents from the foundation,'' Li said. ``It holds of cash and stocks, and I will continue to inject assets into it. If my mind becomes a bit impaired I will not retire, instead I will work for the foundation full time.'' Li said he's still of sound mind.
Li, has never announced any concrete retirement plans. His elder son, Victor, 41, is his heir apparent, acting as deputy chairman of Hutchison and managing director of Cheung Kong.
To contact the reporters on this story: Joshua Fellman in Hong Kong at jfellman@bloomberg.net Clare Cheung in Hong Kong at scheung4@bloomberg.net . Last Updated: August 24, 2006 06:44 EDT
Wow it's hard to think how generous the rich can be at times. It seems like superman li really have the passion for his work, that why he is still working and give away his money….
Finally everything is over!!! But things do look as good as they seem, FMGT confirm die wan 43 marks of blanks, BLAW and HRM should be able to pass and CMA die also. The bloody last 2 Q for CMA today was killer man! Dunno the flexible budgeting they talking about 12 cars or 10 cars then the relevant costing Q was so confusing lah don’t know how to do sia…
FMGT was worse 43 marks of blank, left out the whole Q on time value of money. The most fark up thing was that I actually know how to do Q2 of time value just that I was not so sure if it was the correct answer and wrote did the draft on the question paper itself and never write anything on the exam script. Theory was also another killer, left out most of the theory of the FMGT paper, skipped some Q and got no time to go back and do total lost a minimal of 43marks. BLAW was quite manageable, able to do most of the question except for the copy right stuff can’t remember much about it and the undisclosed principle and rest was quite okay just that I didn’t elaborate much lah…
HRM was also quite okay but my brain was unable to retain much information and thus didn’t elaborate much on some question. The most idiotic thing the did was to ask us to describe any 5 assumption of socialization but the point is we learn 5 assumption eh, then I thought it was to describe 1 assumption out of the 5, luckily asked the teacher about it else 15 marks gone.
Ha-ha, it’s 3+ in the morning now, taking a little break(supposedly) after read the damn freaking confusing BLaw, can’t seems to get anything into my head sianzz. Have been trying to study for the past few days but things do not seem to go my way. Haizz the bloody information just does sink in, damn jia lat lah, still got so many other subject haven study(okay read through I mean) die lah. Okay shall end ithere.
So here’s the key feature • Packaged with an armband and sport-style ear buds. • Water resistant, can withstand sweat and even rainfall. • Built-in G-Sensor, which allows you to use the NW-S205 as a pedometer. • Can also input your height, weight, age, and stride so that the player will keep track of calories burned. • However No word yet on if Sony intends to include tracking software à la the Nike + iPod. • Built in stopwatch with interval capability, which will automatically stop your music when a time-related goal has been reached. • Includes an FM tuner, particularly handy for tuning into your workout facility's TVs. • Function that switches the player between standard and shuffle playback modes if you shake it three times with the LCD facing up. • Onboard "running" and "walking" play lists that you designate based on the play lists you have already created. If you're strolling along with your player, the "walking" play list comes on, and when you speed up, the "running" one starts.
A nursing student was in need of urgent medical attantion .when he got badly injured Jumping off the railing at block 81. He miraculously healed in days.Rudy Irwan Bin Ramli, 17, a first-year Health Sciences (Nursing) (HSN) student,jumped over the guard railing at the third level while attempting to do a stunt. He was trying to land on the other side on the same level, but missed and fell through the fibre glass canopy, landing on the stair landing almost two floorsdown."I told him not to do anything foolish," said Rudy's good friend, Theinesh S/O Packirisamy, 19, also from HSN. Theinesh was present when Rudy made the jump. According to Theinesh, Rudy went into'a fit and was trembling badly immediately upon landing.He was also bleeding severely from his nose, mouth and head, and his-kft eye was bruised and "as swollen as a tennis ball". Rudy was in such a terrible state that' Theinesh."thought he had lost a friend"; Rudy was unconscious and was heavily sedated for two days.HSN lecturer, Ms Sid Muslehat,' who attended to Rudy after he fell, said he had a blood swelling in his brain but that he "did not sustain any other physical injury and has no visual impairment". Ms Siti described Rudy as -an extremely cheerful and friendly student who "has a heart for nursing".Following the incident, an e-mail was sent to all staff, "to'remind students not to sit on the railings and not to attempt any stunts", said Mr Alan Choy, Manager Student Relations & Discipline of Student Services(SS)Office. .Many people may have noticed that the red painted mild steel railings have been replaced by stainless steel ones that are higher. Mr Mui Cheng Hock, Director 'of Estate Management (EM) Office, however, said. that this was done as part of regular maintenance. The original railings are built in accordance to the regulated heights of 1.2m, assured Mr Mui.Suffering from memory loss, Rudy was unable to recall why he jumped over the railing in the first place.Although he feels ,that it was definitely the most reckless decisision he has ever made, he is "thankful as it opened [his] eyes" to see how good his friends truly are as they "showered him with presents and letters". The accident also brought him closer to his family and friends.According to Theinesh, the doctor told Rudy's parents anp friends that Rudy would "suffer from [a] loss of memory, a change in personality and [also] have speech defects". Thankfully, Rudy seems to have only lost his memory of what happened on theday of the incident, . What makes it doubly miraculous is that'Rudy only spent five days in hospital and recovered in 10 days.The expected recovery period for Rudy was supposed to have been between six an seven months. "Rudy has returned to school and is doing well," said Ms Siti. Theinesh is also extremely grateful that he is all right. He said, "being perfectly normal is a bonus, a change in personality would be a pity."
Was so tried during FMGT tutorial that I doze off half way through the lesson and it was so embarrassing for the tutor to wake me up lah, but lucky she is not the kind of stern tutor. After school was damn fun filled, play the fishing game in the plaza and caught like 10 guppies using the paper net. Then when to Hilton to collect the cheese cake with Chester and Lester and off we go to PS. Waited like half an hour for everyone to get there, then celebrated Edwina’s birthday at rocky master thou with a minimal purchase lah then rushed off to catch “The Click”. Settled our dinners at McKenzie after the movie, then ….. Then what!!! GO HOME LAH
