The financial model as introduced by Wall Street is already bankrupt not only of money but also of ideas.  It start off on the wrong foot with the idea that any individual can make money out of nothing.  The crash of 1929 had led to extremism in Europe and subsequently the World Wars.  The same monetary system, well is leading us there again.

The pyramid and mutli-level marketing that it entails are also crumbling alongside.

The western model is basically for the young to leave their nest to venture on their own and this often force them to come up ways to make money to remain “independent” which necessitate earning to rent an apartment, get a car etc.  Like I say, to make money and not necessary for the good of society or for the world.

The communist model on the other extreme end is everything belongs to the state and the leader knows best to give everyone equal treatment regardless of  whether one really work or not.  The animal farm had painted a very gruesome picture of this, often in support of the western democracy way of life, which by the way, is also crumbling as well.

The middle of the road kind, the socialist democratic republic is probably to encourage 2 or 3 tier family unit to stay together to save resources.   It is also inevitable with sky-rocketing housing and transport costs.  In Japan and some countries, it may take a family a few generation to pay up for their housing.  For the singles, they may have no other choice but to pool their resources to stay together to have a decent life given their increased life expectancy.

The western model, is often about selling ideas or lifestyle and this can have a very heavy toll on natural resources which necessitates profits along the down or subsidiary line to remain viable till it collapses and another one springs up.  Often under the guise of democracy it sought for regime change which could be a good thing but the as more and more regime falls, ultimately, will the other “regime” that was once normal becomes a renegade?

The Arab Spring had shown that it could happen in Southeast Asia as well, since the focus is now in this region with US and China jostling in the background and foreground.

Already, many countries are bypassing the US dollars and going ahead with bilateral currency swap to remain viable in the face of mounting debt, inflation and weak currency in the “global ” market that continually gets manipulated.

In the future outright takeover of countries’ resources under whatever guise will become the norm.  Use of weather weapon will also become the norm, not only to change weather pattern but directly to sabotage its friends and not necessary its enemies.

Natural disaster assistance will become a way of life for the affected and also a way to make money for those assisting.  Some would even welcome disaster if it cause the government to dispense with the much needed money to maintain a lifestyle.

Everyone will be spending every second thinking of ways to make money, to survive like as if an over-populated carnivorous seeking out the remaining herbivorous or weaker carnivorous.  The entire food chain is already disrupted.

Of course, we need not subscribe to the infamous leaked Nixon’s memo of destroying other races or population when their multilevel marketing strategy fails to feed their downline.

Actually the world has plenty of resources to feed even twice the world population.  The problem can be resolve if “scarce” resources could be used for real purposes and making things that spoils easily and need to be replace etc.  Presently too much energy is spent on destroying “waste” that are actually intentionally design to fail or spoil in order for the company to sell newer or the same product.  Bulk selling in large quantity appear to be the norm in order to gain a few dollars.  So there goes the incessant non-stop production of sub-standard items and selling at a lower price than its nearest competitor just to stay afloat.  So alot of resources were used up for sub-standard items and probably result in health and environment problems and which in turn use up more and more resources.

So this vicious cycle is seen both developing and developed countries that seek to compete for the ever diminishing pie.

The solution:  Presently currency swap appear to be a way to stay afloat but the longer term solutions are probably a mix of democracy, republic and socialist way of life to conserve resources not for warmongering or illegal takeover but to maintain a certain form of dignity for all.   The continual portrayal of wealth in the media is perhaps a wrong motivational force to denote successful living.   The world has to understand that we are all shareholders of this fragile earth and nobody is any more supreme than the rest.  We need wise global leaders and not those that are good in making money.  So each country will nominate a truly wise and intelligent representative to meet and discuss in earnest and openly, without vested interest, for the sake of global preservation and the future generation.  The United Nations, well, is obviously not working. It is plain for all to see.  Neither had the secret societies achieved anything significant other than bloodshed, war and sufferings.  It is time to start anew.

Take Care

mikey

My wife turned around and on closer inspection of the flying thing, realised that it was a really huge butterfly and shouted excitedly.

Not believing, I got up from the sofa and true indeed it was a huge brown butterfly waltzing gracefully around my living room.  As I approach it, it did not fly away but moved towards my arm and fluttered around it before moving towards my Yamaha Clavinova Digital Piano and disappear from sight after I turned to talk to my wife.

After search for a while, I found it clinging behind the digital piano.  I happily told my wife that perhaps it was attracted to the latest piano piece that I had been playing for the past week – “Butterfly Waltz” by Brian Crain.  It was a very beautiful piano composition and I even had a Youtube version on my blackberry.

I move the piano away from the wall to get a good photographic shot and got my wife to hold the “Butterfly Waltz” piano score for a memorable photograph.

As I was looking at my blackberry, searching for the piano clip, I realised that it was 24 January, the 3rd death anniversary of my beloved mother.

Perhaps it was her, perhaps it was just a coincident that a really huge butterfly with a wingspan of 7 inch that had innocuously ventured into our flat, 4 storey above ground.  Maybe it was the fragrance or waff of our small garden by the common verandah that I had constructed for my wife.   Or was it the echo of the “Butterfly Waltz” that had permeated through our flat into the woodlands by the side of our flat drawing this beautiful butterfly to our corridors.

I carefully place it into a basket and released it on a plot of greenery below our flat near the small woodlands. Initially it refused to leave the basket and I had to gently nudge it away from its confines. I was not sure if it would survive the night or that it had wandered into our home to pass away peacefully.

But I guess whether it was fate, coincidence or a manifestation of the “Butterfly Waltz”, it was beautiful.

Cheers Mom!

Mikey

Although some saw it as an auspicious sign to usher in the new Lunar Year of the Dragon on 23 Jan 2012, I hate to remind people that the catastrophic Haiti Earthquake that occurred on 12 Jan 2010, four days after the “Double Rainbow” phenomenon in US.  In all, an estimated 316,000 people perished; 300,000 injured and 1,000,000 rendered homeless.

The distance of Haiti from Yosemite was about 5,000km radius, so it could be anywhere within the Asia-Pacific region.  The movement and concentration of massive rain clouds could offer some clues of heating in the region but probably not at my level of understanding.  Incidentally, on 19 Jan 2012, the evening setting sun was almost twice the usual size, as it there was a huge magnifying glass overhead, that magnify the sun’s heating effect or other unnatural phenomenon.

So take care.

And Happy Lunar New Year!!!

Mikey

So I remember telling my wife at that juncture that maybe the MRT should install microphones not only onboard the train but also under the carriages and maybe the track too besides vibration detectors. Sound is one of the best method for early detection of mechanical faults that could also translate into electrical faults too. Best to have sample sound of normal working parts and any serious creaking or even swaying sound could be analyzed for immediate action.  Visual inspection of parts are difficult along the entire rail system and recording sound or real time broadcast of undercarriage sound could be an immense aid to engineers seating in their offices in the HQ to really hear what the normal working train laden with passengers sound or creak during peak hours, speeding in the tunnel while passengers strive to stand steadily near the entrance without any handrail overhead ( I was just in Beijing and marvel that they actually had a overhead handrail at the entrance but not the vertical bar).  Another simple solution is simply to ask any commuters daily along the same route to tell you if they suspect any mechanical fault.  I can bet you that commuters taking the NS MRT route the past few weeks could have provided crucial cues on something was seriously wrong with the system, from the movement, swaying and creaking sound that deviate from norm.  After all these commuters take the train daily and not just for showmanship.  Even in their doze they can tell when to alight the train.  Sound matters.

Take Care

You Hear Me!!!?

Mikey

So here goes the $10 per table meal for a group of ten people.  However, there must a stalls or a small food corner willing to cater to this kind of business.

a.  The “poor” only need to fork up a minimum of, say, $1 and as such queue outside the “location” and when there are enough people, they can sit to together and have a simple meal or vegetables, maybe a little meat and mostly rice, and a small bowl of simple soup.  All these for $10 dollars a table for ten people.  It is like a “economy of scale” venture for the stall owner who, at least would not lose money doing this kind of “charity” works.

b.  Should someone in the group, decide to pay his normal meal of, say, $5, then the remaining 9 people can decide how much they want to fork up.  This allow the “someone” to do a bit of charitable work to feed the others.

c.  If the “rich” person decide that day, he can come up with $20 dollars, then he can order better food for his group of ten.   So a better meal for all.   Also good company and maybe bring back the kampung spirit in this concrete jungle.

d.  Better still, if 4 persons decide to pay their normal meal of $5 each, there will be $20 and the remaining 6 can eat for free at the $20 dollar a table meal.

My sons listened to this idea for a while and decided that it was a bit ludicrous but decided not worth arguing about it and went back to their mobile phone games to numb their senses.   I was happy with that thought and told myself I should update it in my blog if I remember. Well I did.

So the starting point would be – Is there any kind soul out there who would start this venture.  It can be profit making too ….. if there are “rich” patrons for this meal with strangers every day.   So there must be a venue, preferably at every housing estate and maybe some publicity.

I think it provide a chance for the common people to reach out to interact and share a meal with the lesser fortunate who could be their neighbours.  You never know, they could be better than you think.  Our lifestyle is becoming too westernized, in that sense, where you are forced to leave your nest at a certain age to fight in the jungle, often ruthlessly to be at the top of the heap.  However, “civilized” nations understood the importance of sharing and not amassing fortune at the expense of others.

In this modern world where war and terror seemed to be the fashion, there are actually kind people out there who do not subscribe to the “conventional wisdom”.

Cheers

mikey

The flood in Bangkok could be seen as a fine-tuning for the HAARP weapon located at Pine Gap in Central Australia to strike London, Paris and Berlin.   They lies in the same straight line trajectory.  Unfortunately, Europe was presently too busy trying to salvage their economies without knowing what is going to happen next.

The recent quake in Denpasar, Bali and Turkey’s Van Province is also related if you draw a straight line trajectory from Pine Gap to the located quake sites.  It will affect Johor, Butterworth, Penang, various parts in India, Vatican, Spain and Portugal.    This indeed a “economical” line that can kill many birds with one stone.

Another line to the Iceland’s volcanoes via Pine Gap will strike Taiwan (Hengchun) and notably  China’s Beijing.  I believe the gigantic volcanic ash will mask the HAARP signature and prevent help for assisting those stricken regions.

The latest news on another Pine -  the Pine Island Glacier (PIG) reported via mainstream news on 5 Nov  2011 is yet another clue that Pine Gap is practicing hard to hit Beijing.  A straight line trajectory will show that Beijing is about the same distance but in opposite direction.  I hope that millions will not die as a result of some cult members (about 800) currently held underground there in Central Australia. Remember Jim Jones, who made his 500 cult member drink poison after who-knows-what they had done prior to their mass suicide.  Brain washing is big-time money spinner in some countries.

Some had earlier correlated the Sichuan Quake and Myanmar’s Cyclone induced Tidal Surge in 2008 to the Haarp station in Alaska via a straight line trajectory.   It makes me wonder what the United Nations is doing??

Perhaps the world need to stop looking at money for the time being and think about how to make this world a better place free from people who would not hesitate to use weapon of mass destruction to cling on to power.

We only have ONE EARTH

Take Care

Mikey

I do not really subscribe to this sort of thing.  But I do want to warn people is that there are actually people out there using this sort of thing to recruit feeble cult member to effect their weapons of mass destructions, whether through the not-so-secretive anymore, HAARP weapons, that had been tested over the last few years vis-a-vis “Hurricane year” like Katrina, Tsunami year, Cyclone years, Flood years, Drought years etc.

So next year could be a crucial year if the global economy reach a stalemate and like the Crash of Wall Street in 1929 which led to extremism in Europe and subsequently the infamous World War II,  it is possible that WWIII might start given the over the last few years, many people had been talking or writing over the net of the test devoted to various forms of weather warfare.

The “military industrial complex” as President Eisenhowser had warn need to feed insatiable need for other wars given the fact that Iraq and Afghan war was “ending” with little profit to be remaining to extracted there.

The “medical industrial complex” would also be waning given the fact that people are realising that their health had been held hostage over the years of wrong diagnosis, wrong focus, over-medication that led to toxicity etc and like they say, one poison rendered to counter another poison.

Almost everything had gone wrong since the crash of 1929 and we still had not learn our lessons.  The world economy is fundamentally wrong that only serve to promote uncontrolled greed and extreme poverty.    In their desperate attempt to consolidate their wealth and power, it will lead to more war and use of “unspeakable” weapons and ingenious architecture to set some “hardworking” regions reeling backwards and back into poverty again.

2011 – 2012 is also determined as a Solar Flare year and of course, the upper atmosphere will remain a contentious area for global dominance.   Hope the economy could pick up at least as a respite for the desperate rich to prevent a WWIII that could jolly well decimate all of us and fulfill the Mayan prophesy.

So far the infamous Californian-based Doomday pastor, Harold Camping had been coming out to test the public response to various predictions that came and go.   There will always be some groups that will be so fixated by his prediction and would do something so drastic that only God knows what they had done just prior to those predestined dates.   We know now that Jim Jones had forced or indoctrinated some 500 followers to drink poison for their doomsday mission.  But what we do not know is what his followers had done prior to their deliverance.  Did they helped to infect the world with Aids??? After all Jim Jones was a door-to-door salesman selling monkeys in his earlier years.  There are actually quite a lot of loonies in that civilized country and some are in power too.

Take Care

Mikey

Comments:

1.  Know your country geospatial topography and terrain well.

2.  Do not let people map your country and especially if it is for free.

3.  Do not deplete the underground reservoir water supply that cause the land to subside, and worst still if you intent to build alot of heavy buildings indiscriminately on it. However, the possibility of refilling the aquifer like the “Floridan Aquifer” in 2002 as reported. Anyway there was a contention between Coca Cola and Indian campaigners with respect to depletion of underground water for commercialisation versus the dire need for farming land and drinking water. Ultimately it could also lead to land subsidence too.

4.  Without the underground reservoir water supply, another possible worst scenario, is EARTHQUAKE.  Without the natural underground “shock absorber” of water reservoir, any small quake will be magnified hundred times over and now you know why there are more tremors and tremors.

Take Care

mikey

Yesterday’s episode feature about a lady, Ms June Ng Siok Yee who was reported in the Tv show to have succumbed to Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (TEN) purportedly induced by a secondary antibiotic Augmentin and a pain-killer Ponstan (commonly known as mefenamic acid).  I often throw away the latter as it cause gastric easily or bleeding in the stomach.  Often Ponstan was be prescribed together with another another anti-gastric medication.

Anyway, back to to the “Famotidine” link.  According to her brother’s detail blog on her medication and treatment that subsequently led to her “misadventure” death.  It reported that she was given the gastric medicine,  Famotidine together with Ponstan and Anarex for her fever (38.2 deg C), headache and body ache. Subsequently she was given the secondary antibiotic Augmentin. Eventually her condition worsened and she subsequently developed Toxic Epidermal Necrolytic (TEN) that contributed to her death.

I was curious because both Augmentin and Ponstan were widely prescribed here in Singapore and my wife had took it on some occasions for her sinus infection. So I scoured the internet for more details on other medications and possible counter-indications with other medications. Sometimes when one medication can react with another medication leading to increase toxicity and possibly death.

Eventually I settled on the common gastric medication “Famotidine” that was also prescribed to Ms June at the onset. That was in 2005. Today (Oct 2011) was I saw in the internet is quite unsettling, that “Famotidine” the heartburn drug most known by the brand name Pepcid, is yet another drug that has been linked to a deadly skin reaction known as toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), the most serious version of Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS). This was reported last year on 7 July 7th, 2010 by Jennifer Walker-Journey for a legal organisation (http://www.sjs-legal.com/about-us/) – link

It probably reporting from the British Journal of Dermatology (BJD) published online on 29 Jul 2006 was titled “Toxic epidermal necrolysis (Lyell syndrome) following famotidine administration” – link

Hence since June’s untimely demise a year later, another drug, this time, famotidine could be the main culprit that led to the prognosis of TEN. Although it could have been a combination of famotidine and Augmentin and Ponstan. But from her brother’s journal account, it was NOT known if she had continued with Famotidine even as both Augmentin and Ponstan treatment were discontinued.

Maybe back in 2005, famotidine was not considered a likely cause of TEN or was not even known to associate with it. Famotidine is also know as Pepcid or just Acid Reducer and comes in varied forms and packaging.

So now in 2011, maybe we should relook at the case, which her father had violently demonstrated in 2006 (link) and perhaps give him a peace of mind. That there were other unknown factor as well and not recognised then.

To improve public health service, it would be good if our Health Science Authority, that already in 2001 had warned online about “Famotidine and Renal function” – that “elderly patients were more likely to have decreased renal function and care should be taken in dose selection”,  Since 2001, the online bulletin by Changi Hospital had promoted Famotidine as one of the easily OTC items purchasable in its pharmacy (link). Maybe given the increased toxicity of Famotidine for TEN and also Renal Function impairment for elderly patients, it should be reclassified too and possibly needing a prescription.  Wouldn’t a simple antacid with lesser contraindications suffice?

Recently, there had been discussions whether the simple paracetamol is too toxic for Asian built and that its dosage was increased over the years to 500mg over the years. Previously one could get 250 or 300mg. But I really want to know the reason behind the increased dosage. It is known that paracetamol or acetaminophen can cause fatal damage. So for those who developed a headache after drinking and popping a few 500mg into their body. Think again. How do you measure how much your liver had been damaged. As you age, can your liver repair itself. If your liver is damaged, maybe 50% can you feel it? Maybe glutathione can help but it is not a panacea (cure all).

Addendum: NOTE!!! Since13 Jan 2011, FDA had been asking manufacturers of prescription combination products that contain acetaminophen to limit the amount of acetaminophen to no more than 325 milligrams (mg) in each tablet or capsule (link).  I had been looking at pharmacies all over Singapore and Malaysia and it seemed that the lowest dosage is still 500mg (as of 17 Oct 2011).  Wonder if somebody care to explain why.  Anyway, I manage to get children tablets at 125mg each and told my wife to give my kids the most two tablets (250mg total) including us in the event of fever.  For those popping two 500mg tablets when previously ten years ago it was 250mg, well you have double your dosage without knowing why.

Seriously the health authority should come up with a drug database that can tally up the individual toxicity from individual drugs to show their increased toxicity. It will take into account their interaction, age, weight of patient, demographic etc to derive the overall weightage of toxicity of drugs prescribed in combination. Thus maybe on hindsight, Augmentin should not be prescribed with Ponstan and worst still with Famotidine etc if the weightage sound out an alarm. Do we have this sort of thing???

This comes to mind another important thing. The bleeding and coagulating factor drugs. I have a friend who was given Celebrax and Ibuprofen both that could cause serious bleeding. So if there is a total bleeding factor for the two drugs, it would be good. Maybe a simple Vitamin K or the fermented soya bean Nattokinase could have moderated and controlled the internal bleeding easily.

Remember the famous experiment, when Vitamin K was identified in 1929 by Danish scientist Henrik Dam when he investigated the role of cholesterol by feeding chickens a cholesterol-depleted diet.[2] After several weeks, the animals developed hemorrhages and started bleeding. These defects could not be restored by adding purified cholesterol to the diet. It appeared that—together with the cholesterol—a second compound had been extracted from the food, and this compound was called the coagulation vitamin. The new vitamin received the letter K because the initial discoveries were reported in a German journal, in which it was designated as Koagulationsvitamin.

So those on anti-cholesterol diet and medication, your bleeding factor also increases and hemorrhages is a problem too.

The pharmacists job is not easy and must rely on a good comprehensive database and well verse with drug interactions and combination toxicity and bleeding factors (as I call it). We need excellent pharmacists and doctors that are not easily swayed by giant pharmaceutical companies for profits.

I hope June’s father can get some alleviation from this that it was possibly beyond the doctor’s knowledge and wisdom to know the difference and interactions of all COMMON drugs . I also thank June’s brother for detailing her medication and treatment to alert the public and help check for solutions. The Tv show “unnatural” was helpful too. Hopefully my research here is not deemed a “misadventure” too but rather an open verdict, subjected to further inputs and developments.

Take Care

Mikey

Wonder why no action had been taken so far.  I am not sure if my liver is 10, 20 or 50 percent damage.

Update date: 17 Oct 2011

=============

Earlier  Post: 23 May 2011

This is not an alarmist blog entry  In fact it is truer than blue.

Singaporeans should learn to read widely and not rely on government for every thing and must learn to discern good and bad advertisement shown on TV.  The one that showed a person gargling mouthwash without spitting out is a highly dangerous one as I wrote earlier (link).  Kids tend to emulate.

As more companies are venturing into cheaper generic drugs (after the original patented version had expired, usually between 15 to 20 years) to get a share of the profit or genuine affordable health care,  it is often difficult to ascertain if the stabilizing compound (called excipients to keep the highly potent active ingredient stable and a longer shelve life)  of the generic version are really safe indeed.

There is a very thin threshold between toxic and “safe” level for ingestion of Paracetamol.  Recently some companies were selling high strength paracetamol without any warning labelling on TV.  This can be very dangerous because nowadays, the youth go on drinking binge and would take the “safe” paracetamol in double or high strength and this is a major contributing cause of liver failure.

In fact,

Paracetamol hepatotoxicity is, by far, the most common cause of acute liver failure in both the United States and the United Kingdom (wikipedia).

On January 13, 2011, FDA announced that it is asking manufacturers of prescription acetaminophen combination products to limit the maximum amount of acetaminophen in these products to 325 mg per tablet, capsule, or other dosage unit. FDA believes that limiting the amount of acetaminophen per tablet, capsule, or other dosage unit in prescription products will reduce the risk of severe liver injury from acetaminophen overdosing, an adverse event that can lead to liver failure, liver transplant, and death. (link)  Imagine a small-built Asian sized person taking a heavy dosage meant for the ginormous Westerner.  Straight-away liver failure!

Another article warned

Panelists supported the FDA and manufacturer’s efforts to improve labeling for the products, but some pointed out that the proposed changes have been discussed at FDA meetings since the mid-1990s.

“It’s 16 years later, and we still don’t have a clear and effective label for this product,” said Amy Celento, the panel’s patient representative. “This is taking far too long – we can’t go the way of offshore drilling and wait until a disaster before we make necessary changes.” (link)

Paracetamol found to have link to blood cancers (Daily Mail, 11 May 2011).  This ground-breaking study tracked 65,000 older users.  However, Emily White of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, who worked on the new research said it is still that first prospective study and needed further confirmation.

Acetaminophen Use in Adolescents Linked to Doubled Risk of Asthma; increased eczema rate (Science Daily, 13 Aug, 2010).

Of course, it does not mean that we have to immediately dispose of all the paracetamol and take aspirin instead.  What we need to do is to be better informed of common drugs that we normally take and keep abreast with developments.  I hope that current findings and new revelations are not leading the public to look for strange medication treatment or worst still a strategy by giant pharmaceautical companies to launch a new product to overtake the lucrative paracetamol or acetaminophen market that runs into billions of dollars.  Hope there are no scrapegoats out there for some of the contriving and non-ethical pharmaceautical companies.

We should also ask the question of whether cheaper alternative of that drug is worthwhile? (link) or to go for lower dosage of established brand with safe excipient compound or to go for the high strength as advertisement suggest?

You have the right as a consumer but please be better informed.  As least know that taking paracetamol with alcohol actually increases the risk of acute liver failure by fivefolds.   Doctors should not overlook the propensity for youth to take large amount of paracetamol and alcohol unknowingly or unwittingly.

This “Updates on Acetaminophen Toxicity” by Adam K. Rowden, DOa,*, Jeffrey Norvell, MDb,
David L. Eldridge, MDc, Mark A. Kirk, MDa  looked quite sound to me.  Any doctor begs to differ?

Take Care

Mikey