I just opened a shop at Cafepress.com. It is just a basic shop, trying to sell some products that are derived from my photos.
It is my second attempt. The first attempt was not successful at all. Hardly anyone visiting my shop. I don't know how successful this time will be, but at least I give it a try. No harm trying, right?
There are two types of shops at Cafepress, the premium and basic. A basic shop has a lot of limitations, usual tactic to make you upgrade to a premium shop, which you have to pay $$$.
Come visit my store on CafePress!
Monday, January 14, 2008
Taiwan Legislative Yuan Election
The election for a new Legislative Yuan (立法院）is finally over. Kuomingtang (Nationlist) party has 81 seats, the ruling DPP has 27 seats out of a total of 113 seats in the new Legislative Yuan.
Well, at least the people in Taiwan gave the ruling DPP a clear signal to express their unhappiness with DPP's performance.
Whether to be part of China or becoming an independent country is only significant to the few elites in power; as that decides who will be recorded in the history textbooks as heroes. For the general public, what matters more is their daily life. How good their life is, how easy to make a living under the ruling party.
Look at what DPP did in the past 8 years? They provided lots of bad taste entertainment to people in Taiwan, as well as the rest of the world. They had lots of promises, but did they deliver any? They are only interested in cutting ties with mainland China, did they ever care about the lives of the people in the street? Any economic policy that they came up to make Taiwan prosperous?
The utmost important task of whoever in power is to make sure people have a good life. Whoever forgets this important task will be dumped, in any democratic society.
Well, at least the people in Taiwan gave the ruling DPP a clear signal to express their unhappiness with DPP's performance.
Whether to be part of China or becoming an independent country is only significant to the few elites in power; as that decides who will be recorded in the history textbooks as heroes. For the general public, what matters more is their daily life. How good their life is, how easy to make a living under the ruling party.
Look at what DPP did in the past 8 years? They provided lots of bad taste entertainment to people in Taiwan, as well as the rest of the world. They had lots of promises, but did they deliver any? They are only interested in cutting ties with mainland China, did they ever care about the lives of the people in the street? Any economic policy that they came up to make Taiwan prosperous?
The utmost important task of whoever in power is to make sure people have a good life. Whoever forgets this important task will be dumped, in any democratic society.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
CDO and Subprime
Collateralised Debt Obligation (CDO) and the subprime crisis have been the most talk-about topics in the past year. I am reading some materials on CDOs today. From the face of it, I don't think CDOs are bad. If I were offered such structured securities, most probably I will grap them.
Those mortgage-backed CDOs give investors a fixed income based on the money generated from mortgage loans. Houses, which are brick & mortar, serve as collaterals. What can be better than such an investment? If the mortgage lenders stick to the established credit rules in the past, this investment will remain as AAA investment grade investment.
CDOs turn sour only when the subprime factor comes in. That is when some become greedy. On the one hand, they inflate the true value of the houses that serve as collaterals; on the other, they asked people who were not previously qualified for mortgage loans to take up loans, which is the source of all evils of the current subprime crisis.
I suspect I had indirectly fallen prey to the subprime crisis. A fixed-income fund that I have had dropped quite a lot in the past few months. The fund is managed by a bank in Singapore, which has the largest CDO exposure.
Let me pray...
Those mortgage-backed CDOs give investors a fixed income based on the money generated from mortgage loans. Houses, which are brick & mortar, serve as collaterals. What can be better than such an investment? If the mortgage lenders stick to the established credit rules in the past, this investment will remain as AAA investment grade investment.
CDOs turn sour only when the subprime factor comes in. That is when some become greedy. On the one hand, they inflate the true value of the houses that serve as collaterals; on the other, they asked people who were not previously qualified for mortgage loans to take up loans, which is the source of all evils of the current subprime crisis.
I suspect I had indirectly fallen prey to the subprime crisis. A fixed-income fund that I have had dropped quite a lot in the past few months. The fund is managed by a bank in Singapore, which has the largest CDO exposure.
Let me pray...
Thursday, January 10, 2008
A New STI
Today, they revamp the Straits Times Index's component stocks. The total number of stocks is reduced from 45 down to 30. Some smaller counters have been kicked out and 3 new counters were included in the new 30-component STI.
1st day is always a bit chaotic. Many financial websites displayed erroreous STI numbers. For example, at Yahoo! Finance Singapore, the STI was displayed to be 3344, and the change is in green 3344 points! Wow, how I wish STI would go up 3344 points in ONE day! Haha....
AsiaOne's webpage removed the STI display. Some security firms such as DBS Vickers & Philips Security also removed the STI display from their websites until further notice. I wonder, what's wrong with those guys? They had been informed of the change quite some time ago, yet they still couldn't get things ready when the change happened.
A new STI, unfortunately, did not bring new life to Singapore's stock market. The new STI went down 33 points and ended at 3311 points.
One interesting observation. The last time they changed the component stocks of the Straits Times Index was in 1997-98 during the Asia Financial Crisis. The previous old STI went all the way down to 800+ points. Then the previous old STI was revamped and the new STI went up quite some points.
Looking back, I should have bought shares back when STI was at 800+. A good friend of mine did advise me to buy at that time, but I was too naive, believing in many stupid teachings & principles. I am still naive now, otherwise I would not have missed again the bull market that had been running for the past 3 years or so.
It is always bitter to see your own mistakes. It is even more bitter if you didn't learn from your own mistakes and committ the same sin twice. Hopefully I will learn this time...
1st day is always a bit chaotic. Many financial websites displayed erroreous STI numbers. For example, at Yahoo! Finance Singapore, the STI was displayed to be 3344, and the change is in green 3344 points! Wow, how I wish STI would go up 3344 points in ONE day! Haha....
AsiaOne's webpage removed the STI display. Some security firms such as DBS Vickers & Philips Security also removed the STI display from their websites until further notice. I wonder, what's wrong with those guys? They had been informed of the change quite some time ago, yet they still couldn't get things ready when the change happened.
A new STI, unfortunately, did not bring new life to Singapore's stock market. The new STI went down 33 points and ended at 3311 points.
One interesting observation. The last time they changed the component stocks of the Straits Times Index was in 1997-98 during the Asia Financial Crisis. The previous old STI went all the way down to 800+ points. Then the previous old STI was revamped and the new STI went up quite some points.
Looking back, I should have bought shares back when STI was at 800+. A good friend of mine did advise me to buy at that time, but I was too naive, believing in many stupid teachings & principles. I am still naive now, otherwise I would not have missed again the bull market that had been running for the past 3 years or so.
It is always bitter to see your own mistakes. It is even more bitter if you didn't learn from your own mistakes and committ the same sin twice. Hopefully I will learn this time...
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Life & Death
STI ended the day at 3344.53 points, up 6.26 points. The number really tells a lot. 3344, in Cantonese, it reads as Life Life Death Death! It is a matter of life & death at 3300 points. Once the 3300 points support is broken, STI will go straight down to 3000, the next support level.
STI dipped below 3300 points at start, then it slowly but steadily recovered. In the afternoon, boosted by the optimism with the 500 points rise of Hong Kong's Heng Seng Index, STI gained 6 points before market closed.
The new report season will start this Thursday (Singapore time), how good the big brothers such as Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Goldman, etc, will influence which direction STI will go. STI is weak, flirting with both life & death.
STI dipped below 3300 points at start, then it slowly but steadily recovered. In the afternoon, boosted by the optimism with the 500 points rise of Hong Kong's Heng Seng Index, STI gained 6 points before market closed.
The new report season will start this Thursday (Singapore time), how good the big brothers such as Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Goldman, etc, will influence which direction STI will go. STI is weak, flirting with both life & death.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Bull vs Bear Round 2 - A Draw
DJIA went up 68 points, then went down 68 points in the first hour of trading last night, then finally it ended up 27 points for the day. STI went up in the morning, as usual, then went down in the afternoon, with a long tail, as usual. It ended the day with 14 points down.
The bull and the bear are fighting fiercely again after the non-farm payroll data released last Friday appeared to be dismal. For this round, it is only a non-exciting draw. The market did go down a bit, but not very drastic, then it rebounded. Technical rebound, or dead cat rebound, or whatever you want to call it. It seems there is still a lot of money floating around, in investors' pockets, just waiting for the right time to release their power.
From this novice investor point of view, Ah Ben should not simply continue to cut rates. I don't think cutting rates is the right solution. Chinese saying "Cure the head for headache, cure the pain in the feet when there is pain in the feet", it will only cure the symdromes, but not the root cause. Just imagine you cure the syndromes of a cancer patient, but not the root cause, what good will it do to the patient? Oh, yeah, to improve the quality of life of a terminally ill patient.
But you put that in a macro economy, it will only delay the cure, and prolong the suffering.
Let's see what will happen next. It is gonna be interesting.
The bull and the bear are fighting fiercely again after the non-farm payroll data released last Friday appeared to be dismal. For this round, it is only a non-exciting draw. The market did go down a bit, but not very drastic, then it rebounded. Technical rebound, or dead cat rebound, or whatever you want to call it. It seems there is still a lot of money floating around, in investors' pockets, just waiting for the right time to release their power.
From this novice investor point of view, Ah Ben should not simply continue to cut rates. I don't think cutting rates is the right solution. Chinese saying "Cure the head for headache, cure the pain in the feet when there is pain in the feet", it will only cure the symdromes, but not the root cause. Just imagine you cure the syndromes of a cancer patient, but not the root cause, what good will it do to the patient? Oh, yeah, to improve the quality of life of a terminally ill patient.
But you put that in a macro economy, it will only delay the cure, and prolong the suffering.
Let's see what will happen next. It is gonna be interesting.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Face . Mask
The crown prince said: "The best actor wears his mask all day and all night."
"The Best actor wears no mask at any time. His face is his mask." Replied the Queen.
-- A conversation recorded in The Banquet (夜宴）
"The Best actor wears no mask at any time. His face is his mask." Replied the Queen.
-- A conversation recorded in The Banquet (夜宴）
Sunday, January 6, 2008
The Iron...
I hesitated a bit whether I should write this. For sure you have heard of Iron lady, Iron man, Iron fist, etc, etc, but have you heard of IRON GROIN? A video clip is circulating in the Chinese internet community recently showing a man using his genital to pull the weight of a skinny teenager, then he uses his genital to pull a stone drum.
The man is said to be a kungfu monk called Shi Yan-Wu (释延武） from the famous Shaolin Temple, a master of authentic Shaolin Kungfu. When the media contacted Shaolin Temple, they acknowledge there is such Shaolin Kungfu known as Iron Groin (铁档功) and some of the Kungfu monks indeed are master of it; however, they deny Shi Yan-wu is a Shaolin monk. Interesting.
Many have used the Shaolin title to mislead people into believing they are secular disciples of Shaolin Temple, although they are not. The sole purpose is to use the name to profit for themselves.
The video is made like a news broadcast on TV, but the last few minutes which includes contact numbers for people to call (just like those TV ads) makes it look like an advertisement.
What do I say? 无语。
Anyway, the link to the video clip is below.
Warning: Male nudity, enter at your own risk and for 18 yo and above only!
http://www.ku6.com/show/yWXpDjbfnyD6T4mm.html
The man is said to be a kungfu monk called Shi Yan-Wu (释延武） from the famous Shaolin Temple, a master of authentic Shaolin Kungfu. When the media contacted Shaolin Temple, they acknowledge there is such Shaolin Kungfu known as Iron Groin (铁档功) and some of the Kungfu monks indeed are master of it; however, they deny Shi Yan-wu is a Shaolin monk. Interesting.
Many have used the Shaolin title to mislead people into believing they are secular disciples of Shaolin Temple, although they are not. The sole purpose is to use the name to profit for themselves.
The video is made like a news broadcast on TV, but the last few minutes which includes contact numbers for people to call (just like those TV ads) makes it look like an advertisement.
What do I say? 无语。
Anyway, the link to the video clip is below.
Warning: Male nudity, enter at your own risk and for 18 yo and above only!
http://www.ku6.com/show/yWXpDjbfnyD6T4mm.html
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