How to add snow fall in WordPress blog

Merry Christmas everyone!

“Oh the weather outside is frightful,
But the fire is so delightful,
And since we’ve no place to go,
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!’

Yes, for a limited time only, WordPress.com allow blogger to add snow flake in our webbie.

How to create snow flakes?

1) Go to dashboard

2) Select Appearance (on the left screen)

3) Select Extras and tick Show falling snow on my blog

4) Select Update Extras

5) Tadaa…. finish.

Let it snow….let it snow….let it snow

What happens if the U.S. Auto Industry collapse?

Financial Post recently said that if Detroit’s automakers shrink further – even fail – the U.S. economy would suffer a crushing blow, losing at least 2.46 million jobs in the first year alone. If Detroit cut output and employment by 50% to meet ever-shrinking market share, which would mean contraction by two of the automakers, 2.46 million jobs would be lost initially. Governments would lose US$108-billion in revenue over three years.

GM on Sunday has posted a You Tube video that shows what can happen if the U.S. auto industry would fall. The video indicates the industry is faced with an “imminent collapse” that could lead to the loss of 3 million jobs in 2009.

Will the US government going to bail out GM, Ford and Chrysler like they do in investment bank?

Lehman minibond investor risk of loosing everything

A friend of mine has recently lost about 45% of it’s value in unit trust due to credit crunch crisis. What will happen to her investment if the the bank were to collapse? Are we protected by government, authority or any law that will ensure us in getting back our investment or even part of it? It remind me of the minibond saga. It baffles many investors that the once low risk and guaranteed paper investment with annual returns is now no longer safe. The Lehman Brothers saga has cause many investor trying to salvage whatever left for them. You can read some of it here. According to the CNA report, Lehman brothers minibond investors will know their options at the end of the month: one, whether restructuring of their investments is still a viable route or two, if they will be liquidated.

Why does a low risk investment scheme causes investor to loose everything? Listen to some of the upset investors have to say;

It’s really disheartening when I listen to their grievances. Many of them lost their savings overnight. Will the credit crisis worsen? Take a look at US, under the Bush administration, the US national debt has risen from $5.7 trillion, to over $10 trillion currently. The terms of the recently-passed bailout legislation increased the statutory debt ceiling to over $11.3 trillion. I wonder where does the government going to get their money from? Steve Keen, the Australian economist said if the debt pyramid come crashing down via a violent and uncontrollable chain of defaults, even the safest risk-free rate of return government bond market will be drag down with it.

Many investors are now turning to precious metals such as gold that would rapidly regain monetary status in such a scenario. If you diversify your portfolio, invest some physical gold as a form of financial insurance. It is a universal finite currency, held by every central bank of note in the world. For more information about gold investment, contact me at albe_chong [@] yahoo.com

Financial Meltdown & Investment Risk

The recent financial meltdown got many investor burned their pocket. Some of the blue chip investment companies where transaction are in billions like Lehman, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, AIG have been wiped out almost of their capital due to crisis.

Below here are some of the capital loses as compare to their peak a year ago.

* A I G -Then: $178.8 billion… Now: $5.46 billion. Down 96.95%
* Bank of America -Then: $236.5 billion… Now: $123.4 billion. Down: 47.82%
* Citigroup -Then: $236.7 billion… Now: $76.34 billion. Down 67.75%
* Merrill Lynch – Then: $63.9 billion… Now: $30.2 billion. Down 52.74%
* Fannie Mae – Then: $64.8 billion… Now: $0.45 billion. Down 99.3%
* Morgan Stanley – Then: $73.1 billion… Now: $41.1 billion. Down 43.78%
* Wachovia – Then: $98.3 billion… Now: $19.44 billion. Down 80.22%
* JP Morgan Chase – Then: $161 billion… Now: $130.2 billion. Down 19.13%
* Capital One Financial – Then: $29.9 billion… Now: $16.9 billion. Down 43.48%
* Washington Mutual – Then: $31.1 billion… Now: $3.64 billion. Down 88.3%
* Lehman Bros. – Then: $34.4 billion… Now: $0.80 billion. Down 97.6%
* Goldman Sachs – Then: 97.7 billion… Now: $40.6 billion. Down 58.7%
* Wells Fargo – Then: $124.1 billion… Now: $111.25 billion. Down 10.35%
* National City – Then: $16.4 billion… Now: $2.8 billion. Down 83%
* Fifth Third Bancorp – Then: $18.8 billion… Now: $7.9 billion. Down 57.6%
* American Express – Then: $74.8 billion… Now: $37.5 billion. Down 49.87%
* Freddie Mac – Then: $41.5 billion… Now: $0.16 billion. Down 58.7%
* Suntrust Banks – Then: $27 billion… Now: $16.07 billion. Down 58.7%
* BB&T – Then: $23.2 billion… Now: $18.4 billion. Down 20.69%
* Marshall & Ilsley – Then: $11.6 billion… Now: $4.48 billion. Down 61.3%
* Keycorp – Then: $13.2 billion… Now: $5.68 billion. Down 56.97%
* Legg Mason- Then: $11.4 billion…Now: $4.96 billion. Down 56.49%
* Comerica- Then: $8.3 billion…Now: $4.74 billion. Down 42.89%
* Countrywide Financial: Then: $11.1 billion…Now: $0.00 billion. Down 100%
* Bear Stearns- Then: $14.8 billion…Now: $ 0.00 billion. Down 100%

How does it affect consumer or investor like us? According to Channel News Asia, some 10,000 people in Singapore with a paid out half a billion Sing dollars for structured financial products is linked to bankrupt Lehman Brothers. A 75 year old retiree lost S$400,000 of her retirement savings. It happens when she was introduced to Lehman Brothers Minibonds, promising low risks. Minibonds in short is credit linked note.

Most of the $360 million of structured notes linked to Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. sold in Hong Kong and Singapore – including DBS High Notes 5 in Singapore and the Constellation series in Hong Kong – has been given a value of zero by DBS Group Holdings Ltd.

How did the investors which have no knowledge or experience with capital markets, end up buying a risky and complex structured products?

According to Chinastakes report, the banks have been mis-selling over the past few years. The investors disclosed that the intermediaries had not mentioned that the products were related to Lehman Brothers and potential risks, or explained or showed the prospectus of the products.

One thing we can learn from the crisis is to equip and upgrade our knowledge on investment and to have a diversified investment portfolio such as stocks, mutual funds, bonds, real estate, gold bullion and not putting our whole savings into one basket. If you are planning to invest, take a look at the investment risk pyramid.

Upgrade Girlfriend 5.0 to Wife 1.0

Jokes

Dear Tech Support Team:

Last year I upgraded from Girlfriend 5.0 to Wife 1.0.

I soon noticed that the new program began unexpected child-processes that took up a lot of space and valuable resources.

In addition, Wife 1.0 installed itself into all other programs and now monitors all other system activities.

Applications such as BachelorNights 10.3, Cricket 5.0, BeerWithBuddies7.5, and Outings 3.6 no longer runs, crashing the system whenever selected. I can’t seem to keep Wife 1.0 in the background while attempting to run my favorite applications.

I’m thinking about going back to Girlfriend 5.0 , but the ‘uninstall’ doesn’t work on Wife 1.0.

Please help!

Thanks,
“A Troubled User”

_________________________________________________________________

REPLY:

Dear Troubled User:

This is a very common problem that people complain about.

Many people upgrade from Girlfriend 5.0 to Wife 1.0, thinking that it is just a Utility and Entertainment program. Wife 1.0 is an OPERATING SYSTEM and is designed by its Creator to run EVERYTHING!! It is also impossible to delete Wife 1.0 and to return to Girlfriend 5.0. It is impossible to uninstall, or purge the program files from the system once installed.

You cannot go back to Girlfriend 5.0 because Wife 1.0 is designed not to allow this. (Look in your Wife 1.0 Manual under Warnings-Alimony-Child Support) .

I recommend that you keep Wife1.0 and work on improving the environment.

I suggest installing the background application “Yes Dear” to alleviate software augmentation.

The best course of action is to enter the command C:\APOLOGIZE! Because ultimately you will have to give the APOLOGIZE command before the system will return to normal anyway.

Wife 1.0 is a great program, but it tends to be very high maintenance. Wife 1.0 comes with several support programs, such as Clean 2.5, Sweep 3.0, Cook 1.5 and Do Laundry 4.2. However, be very careful how you use these programs. Improper use will cause the system to launch the program Nag Nag 9.5 .

Once this happens, the only way to improve the performance of Wife 1.0 is to purchase additional software. I recommend Flower 2.1 and Jewellery 5.0

STATUTORY WARNING : DO NOT, under any circumstances, install Secretary 3.3. This application is not supported by Wife 1.0 and will cause irreversible damage to the operating system.

Regards,
Tech Support

source : from internet.

Also see Upgrade boyfriend 5.0 to husband 1.0 pentium

Akaline & Acidic drinking water, unhealthy?

Many people have asked this question, pure water is acidic and it is not good for the body. On the other hand, Alkaline water is good, as it helps to maintain proper body pH and preventing acidosis. Any water filter product that claims to change the body’s acid/alkaline balance in any substantial way is not based on sound science. The blood plasma pH is 7.4 and anything more than about ±0.1 can be very serious. The pH is tightly control and significant changing of pH balance in your body is virtually impossible as the deviation is only ±0.1. A normal pH, the measure of acidity vs. alkalinity, is carefully monitored by various body systems to stay between 7.35 and 7.45. This is slightly on the alkaline side.

Removing CO2 from the blood helps increase the pH. Removing HCO3- from the blood helps lower the pH.

The kidneys and the lungs work together to help maintain a blood pH of 7.4 by affecting the components of the buffers in the blood. The buffer for maintaining acid-base balance in the blood is the carbonic-acid-bicarbonate buffer. If we have a strenuous exercise, it may be too great for the buffer alone to effectively control the pH of the blood. When this happens, other organs must help to control the amount of CO₂ and HCO₃^- in the blood. The lungs remove excess CO₂ from the blood (helping to raise the pH), and the kidneys remove excess HCO₃^- from the body (helping to lower the pH). In short, the lungs and kidneys respond to pH changes by removing CO₂, HCO₃^-, and H⁺ from the blood.

What about stomach? The pH of Alkaline / Acidic drinking water will have little effect on the pH of the stomach contents because gastric fluid has an overwhelmingly low between 1~2, one million times more acidic than pure water. The pH of the “resting” or empty stomach is 1.~2. If the food / water (alkaline or acidic) we consume raises the pH of the liquid to over 5.0, then it triggers the production of HCl (hydrocloric acid / gastric juice). Enzyme Pepsin is not active above pH 5, so HCl is needed to lower the pH to below 5 for optimal breaking of proteins. All the food that leaves the stomach are acidic. When it enter the intestines, secretions from pancreas will neutralize the stomach acids. Looking at bio-chemistry point of view, the tightly controlled pH in the body is a biological process.

References

Is pure water healthy?

The department of chemistry in Washington University, St. Louis

Department of Energy – Stomach Acid

Parietal cells in the stomach

Colorado State University – The mechanism of Acid Secretion

Hydrogen Chloride

University of Cincinnati – Atoms, molecules, water & body pH

Pharmaceutical Drugs in drinking water

Source : Wikipedia Drugs

About half a year ago in US, it was reported by Associated Press that more than 100 pharmaceutical drugs are found in waters throughout Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe & US. In September 2008, MSNBC stated that 46 millions in US have drugs in their drinking water. Traces of drugs to fight high pressure, cancer, depression, birth control are now finding it’s way to our body. In UK, doctors blame hormones in food and water for some British toddlers showing signs of breast growth. In Japan, traces of drugs in drinking water are reported in 7 states. The contamination is global!

While news are flashing all over world, one might ask, can it actually harm our body? Biologist & poisons expert, Francesco Pomati, concluded that humans could be harmed by ingesting drinking water contaminated with tiny amounts of pharmaceuticals drugs.

How can it be? How do all those drugs get in the water?

It’s when we take medicine, pass motion and flushed into the sewers. Sewage treatment plants don’t remove the drugs. The treated water then flows into lakes, rivers and reservoirs, and finally to drinking water plants, which typically don’t screen for drugs. Since the drugs are found in drinking water, lake, reservoir, the facilities are obviously not doing their jobs. So a number of states in US  have started discouraging pharmacies, hospitals, nursing homes and residents from disposing of drugs this way. Like wise, we should follow the suite too.

There are currently no regulations and standards for how much of any pharmaceutical drugs is too much in drinking water. They are major concern about the possible effects on vulnerable groups, toddler, pregnant woman, old or sick. Imagine, having your own son drinking some stranger’s hormone medicine.

Associated Press interestingly stated that one technology, reverse osmosis, removes virtually all pharmaceutical contaminants. In September 08, WQA, the Water Quality Association released a Fact Sheet on pharmaceutical drugs in drinking water. In the article, WQA gave us assurance that home filtering systems can provide best protection for drinking water.

Further reading & source

Health effects and recommended water filtration

Is pure water healthy?

AP probe drugs in drinking water

46 million in U.S. have drugs in drinking water

Few regulation for drugs in drinking water

How medicine in water could impact human cells

Girl age 3 hitting puberty

picture : www.pbskids.org

GIRLS are starting to hit puberty at the age of THREE.

Shocked doctors blame hormones in food and water for some British toddlers showing signs of breast growth.

Other pre-school youngsters even experience periods that normally start in their teens – and have temper tantrums just like adolescents.

The phenomenon is feared to have become more common since the 1990s – with doctors having to give increasing numbers of tots jabs to keep puberty at bay.

The mum of one girl, who at three was found to have the “bone age” of a nine-year-old, told how she was stunned when her daughter began acting like a ratty teen.

More on The Sun, UK

Further reading

Health effects and recommended water filtration

Pharmaceutical drugs found in drinking water

Health effects and recommended water filtration

US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set a standards for 80 different chemicals on how much each suppose to be allowed in drinking water. However, there are no regulations for thousands of contaminants making way in our drinking water through discharge from a wastewater treatment plant, factory, leaking underground tanks, etc. In UK, drug hormones in water & food are blamed for a shocking early puberty at the age of 3. It is a fact that pharmaceutical drugs past through modern water treatment process and findings its way to our drinking water all over the world. In New Zealand, it was singled out as having elevated nitrate in groundwater. High level of nitrates are associated to “blue baby syndrome”. Nitrates contaminants are harmful to infants and pregnant women.

While it is a cause for concern, a flood of water filters in the market is making it easier to remove impurities from the tap water but how effective it is to virtually remove all chemicals, viruses, etc? Most water filters are able to filter particles and smaller sediments. Is it possible to filter inorganic minerals & contaminants like Sodium, Calcium, Potassium, Magnesium, Cadmium, Chromium, Lead, Arsenic, Copper, Mercury in its molecular size which is between 0.00011 ~ 0.0003 micron in Radii?

According to Michael R. Long, WQA Certified Water Specialist level VI (the highest certification level), there is no home water treatment system in the world to differentiate the so called “good” minerals such as calcium, magnesium and “bad” minerals such as nitrates, arsenic, lead etc. (source : New Sunday Times, June 1, 2008). Does it mean by drinking mineral water we are also consuming toxic and cancerous contaminants? Try checking with WQA (Water Quality Association) on the type of contaminants your water filter able to remove through NSF 53 certification in http://www.wqa.org/goldseal/detail.cfm?tableDefID=3

Then make a comparison with the list below.

The Water Quality Association (WQA), has a recommended treatment methods list to remove contaminants. Take a look at the list below to see if your home water filters are able to remove inorganic contaminants. Some manufacturers employ different filtration technology by integrating it into one system for effective filtration eg: reverse osmosis & activated carbon.

The Water Quality Association (WQA) is a not-for-profit international trade association representing the residential, commercial, industrial, and small community water treatment industry. WQA maintains a close dialogue with other organizations representing different aspects of the water industry in order to best serve consumers, government officials, and industry members. WQA is a resource and information source, a voice for the industry, an educator for professionals, a laboratory for product testing, and a communicator to the public.

National Primary Drinking Water Standards
Primary (Health Related) Inorganic Contaminants (source : www.wqa.org)

Contaminant	WQA Recommended Treatment Methods	Potential Health Effects from Ingestion of Water	Sources of Contaminant in Drinking Water
Antimony	Reverse Osmosis Coagulation/Filtration Submicron Filtration Ultrafiltration Distillation	Increase in blood cholesterol Decrease in blood glucose	Fire retardants Ceramics Electronics Solder Discharge from petroleum refineries
Arsenic (+3)	Reverse Osmosis Chemical Oxidation Distillation Iron Based Media Anion Exchange Activated Alumina	Skin damage Circulatory system problems Increased risk of cancer	Discharge from semiconductor manufacturing Petroleum refining Wood preservatives Animal feed additives Herbicides Erosion of natural deposits
Arsenic (+5)	Coagulation/Filtration Submicron Filtration Anion Exchange Activated Alumina Reverse Osmosis Distillation Electrodialysis Iron Based Media	See Arsenic (+3) above	See Arsenic (+3) above
Arsenic (organic complexes)	Activated Carbon	See Arsenic (+3) above	See Arsenic (+3) above
Asbestos (fibers > 10µm)	Coagulation/Filtration Submicron Filtration Reverse Osmosis Ultrafiltration Distillation	Increased risk of developing benign intestinal polyps	Asbestos cement in water systems Natural Deposits
Barium	Cation Exchange Reverse Osmosis Distillation Electrodialysis	Circulatory system effects	Natural deposits Discharge of drilling wastes Discharge from metal refineries
Beryllium	Coagulation/Filtration Submicron Filtration Activated Carbon Activated Alumina Cation Exchange Reverse Osmosis Distillation Electrodialysis Ultrafiltration	Intestinal lesions	Discharge from electrical, aerospace, defense industries Discharge from metal refineries and coal-burning factories
Cadmium	Coagulation/Filtration Submicron Filtration Cation Exchange Reverse Osmosis Distillation Electrodialysis	Kidney effects	Galvanized pipe corrosion Natural deposits Batteries Paints
Chlorine	Activated Carbon Reverse Osmosis	Cancer	Chemical added to disinfect municipal water
Chromium (+3)	Coagulation/Filtration Cation Exchange Reverse Osmosis Distillation Electrodialysis	Liver disorders Kidney disorders Circulatory disorders	Natural deposits Steel and pulp mills
Chromium (+6)	Anion Exchange Reverse Osmosis Distillation Electrodialysis	See Chromium (+3) above	See Chromium (+3) above
Chromium (organic complexes)	Activated Carbon	See Chromium (+3) above	See Chromium (+3) above
Copper	Cation Exchange (20% – 90%) Reverse Osmosis Distillation Electrodialysis Corrosion control Polyphosphate/Silicate feed	Gastrointestinal irritation	Natural/industrial deposits Wood preservatives Plumbing
Cyanide	Chemical Oxidation Anion Exchange Reverse Osmosis Distillation Electrodialysis	Thyroid damage Nervous system damage	Electroplating Steel Plastics Mining Fertilizer
Fluoride	Activated Alumina Bone Char Reverse Osmosis Distillation Electrodialysis	Skeletal & dental fluorosis	Natural deposits Fertilizer Aluminum industries Water additive
Lead	Cation Exchange (20% – 90%) Coagulation/Filtration Reverse Osmosis Distillation Electrodialysis	Kidney damage Nervous system damage Impedes mental and physical development	Natural/industrial deposits Plumbing Solder Brass alloy faucets
Mercury (organic complexes)	Activated Carbon	Kidney damage	Crop runoff Natural deposits Batteries Electrical switches
Mercury (+2)	Submicron Filtration/ Activated Carbon Cation Exchange (20% – 90%) Reverse Osmosis Distillation Electrodialysis	See Mercury (organic) above	See Mercury (organic) above
Mercury (HgCl3-)	Anion Exchange Reverse Osmosis Distillation Electrodialysis	See Mercury (organic) above	See Mercury (organic) above
Nickel	Cation Exchange Reverse Osmosis Distillation Electrodialysis	Heart damage Liver damage	Metal alloys Electroplating Batteries Chemical production
Nitrate (as nitrogen)	Anion Exchange Reverse Osmosis Distillation Electrodialysis	Methemo-globulinemia	Animal waste Fertilizer Natural deposits Septic tanks Sewage
Nitrite (as nitrogen)	Chemical Oxidation Anion Exchange Reverse Osmosis Distillation Electrodialysis	Methemo-globulinemia	Same as nitrate; rapidly converted to nitrate.
Selenium (+4)	Coagulation/Filtration Submicron Filtration/ Activated Carbon Anion Exchange Activated Alumina Reverse Osmosis Distillation Electrodialysis	Hair and fingernail loss Circulatory problems	Natural deposits Mining Smelting Coal/Oil combustion
Selenium (+6)	Anion Exchange Activated Alumina Reverse Osmosis Distillation Electrodialysis	See Selenium (+4) above	See Selenium (+4) above
Sulfate	Anion Exchange Reverse Osmosis Distillation Electrodialysis	Diarrhea	Natural deposits

Upgrade boyfriend 5.0 to husband 1.0 Pentium

Jokes

Dear IT Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a slow down in the overall performance, particularly in the flower, gifts and jewellery applications that had operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, Husband 1.0 un-installed many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, but installed undesirable programs such as Formula One 5.0, NBA 3.0 and World Cup 2.0.

And now Conversation 8.0 no longer runs and House Cleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. I’ve tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.

What can I do?

Signed,

Desperate Housewife

____________________________________________________________________________

Reply:

Dear Desperate Housewife,

First keep in mind:

Boyfriend 5.0 is an entertainment package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system.

Try entering the command C:\ I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME and download Tears 6.2 to install Guilt 3.0 ..

If all works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewellery 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.

But remember, overuse can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy

Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Late Night Teh Tarik 6.1.

Late Night 6.1 is a very bad program that will create SnoringLoudly.wav files.

Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-in-Law 1.0 or reinstall another Boyfriend program. These are not supported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have a limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly.

You might consider additional software to improve memory and performance. I personally recommend Hot Tasty Food 3.0 and Tongkat Ali

Best Regards,

IT Support