Elitism

I'm sure all of you guys have heard of the term "elitism" before right ?


Yes, that is something that everyone abhor.


People from the elite schools (not all of course!) have the proclivity to give that smirky look to those who are merely from seemingly degrading neighbourhood schools.

Similarly, the people leading a profligate lifestyle are always giving the poor people that look as well.


We always talk about THE look but recently, a teacher who has just graduated from NIE has just displayed the look through his very own actions.


I will summarise in and express it with much brevity here. For more information, please go read about it on asiaone.


Basically, this teacher who has just graduated from NIE was flabbergasted that he was actually posted to a neighbourhood school to teach and before he even started to teach at the school, his deeply entrenched values told him that he will not be able to adapt to that kind of environment with lots of problem kids with juvenile delinquencies. Hence, he told the teacher that he will be transferring soon as he doubt he will be able to sustain himself mentally in that kind of environment.


On hearing that, the teacher explained to him about how hard it is for the kids and that most of them come from troubled backgrounds which explained why they are so desperate for attention. The boisterous kids are merely clamouring for the attention that appears to be lacking in their lives.

So immediately, the teacher's paradigm seem to have shifted and honestly speaking, I thought that he will quit immediately considering the fact that he's already so dissapointed before he had even started to teach.


As the old adage goes, "Confidence is half the battle won."


In this scenario, he had not even attempted to try and he already admitted defeat. But in the end, he stayed on for a year and eventually he was transferred to his dream "elite" school as a teacher.


Yeah, that's my version of the story, sorry for the sloppiness there but yeah I guess the idea is there.


By the way, this story was emailed to me by the courtesy of my friend who is gifted in IT who goes by the name of Wei Kuan!


I was appalled to be honest when I first saw the news. Which era is that teacher actually living in? Does he really think that he can be posted to anywhere he wants and teach whatever he wants?


No! It's de facto the direct opposite. The truth is, you do not have a choice as to where and what you want to teach. The decision is up to the MOE and the school per se, not you!


Besides, as a teacher, shouldn't you be open-minded. Such a myopic view of his is disgusting!


To be a bona fide teacher is to be one that accepts all the students for who they are and poignantly believe in their potential. BELIEVE !!!!!!! That is exactly what the kids need right now!


In today's maladjusted society, everyone is so competitive and people start to get despondent once they are left behind, even by a small bit. These people need the support and care of the teachers desperately. If even the teachers despise them, then who exactly can they look up to?

Will they just sink into depression and oblivion?


How pathetic.


Then again, it's kinda hopefuly that the teacher actually regretted his childlike-thinking and turned over a new leaf. We ought to condone him since he had decided to give the students at the neighbourhood school a second chance.


Kudos to that!



Credits -eatbees, -protonic, -photobucket

Roundup of Cars

We all know first it started with Toyota.


Toyota had a major problem with their brake pedal. There were consumers who complained that they had difficulty stopping the car and that some of the accidents were linked to the malfunctioning brake pedals.


This is what I find really intriguing.

Brake pedals are almost like the life of the car. Without a good brake pedal, the car will just keep moving and it can never avoid any accident with a close shave because the car cannot stop in time.


Nonetheless, Toyota was the first one to trigger off the chain effect. Look at the number of automobile manufacturers recalling their cars now.


Do you realise that such chain effects happen anywhere? I mean not just in this recalling, it happens in the airline business too. I remember a friend telling me, do you know that after an air plane crush, the number of air plane crushes that follow rise significantly?


So I asked why with my abysmal ignorance at that point of time and he replied, "Well, the other pilots are more apprehensive than before and a huge amount of pressure is piled onto them. Naturally they get more nervous and paranoid and the chances of screwing up is definitely higher than before, in fact, way higher than before."


Remember the time whereby you were so confident in getting an A for your test? After seeing so many failures, don't they dampen your hopes?


Same thing here.


Then we move on to Honda who recalled close to 1 million cars worldwide to replace the airbag inflator.

And now we have Mazda's overheating seats. Apparently the problem lies with the CX-9 seat heater which could not be turned off even though the ignition key was turned all the way to the off side.

I won't be surprised if more automobile manufacturers join in the fun. In fact, I'm pretty confident that a lot of other manufacturers will soon join in the recall game.


I mean on the positive note for them, it is not as conspicuous as before if you are going to do the recall now because everyone is doing it.


Imagine at the start, the amount of glaring scrutiny Toyota had to endure, it was painful, really painful.





Credits -businessweek, -zigswheel, -treehugger

10 Most Admirable Quality

Walt Disney

It's impeccable product quality is touted as one of the best in the world. They too, have an excellent management team where they go down to their own theme parks as part of their crew for a week.


On top of that, their Disney channel has gotten themselves lots of money.

This is done to allow the management team to better draft up new policies that can tailor to the needs of the employees on the field.


Intel

The controller of 80% of the world's PC microprocessor market, with a steady inflow of innovations throughout the year.


It's latest innovation is the 32-nanometer chip.


On top of that, it will benefit tremendously from the rise in demand for Intel's processors in an attempt to retrofit by all the corporations out there.


Apple

Without a shadow of a doubt, the many fans out there will agree that Apple is top-notch when it comes to innovation.


It's latest iPad might not have impressed everyone but nonetheless it is something new.


The number of iPhone sales doubled to 25 million, making it the world's 3rd largest smartphone maker even though it has only sold phone in 3 years.



The number of iPods sold has been constantly rising even though it has already been in the market for so long. Innovations is the sole reason why it's market is not satured yet.



Singapore Airlines

All the singaporeans out there, you had better be damn proud man. We are talking about the world ranking here.


First-class passengers still enjoy Dom Perignon, lobster thermidor and saffron rice while reclining in hand-stiched Italian leather seats. They can fall asleep in complimentary Louis Vuitton pajamas while watching a personal 23-inch TV.


Even during the financial crisis, Singapore Airlines did not compromise any one of their services.


This is the type of value that the customers treasure over money. That is why their income is steadily rising and it is still being touted as one of the best airline in the best airport ever made.


We pawned Delta Airlines and American Airlines man! Way to Go!


Adobe

Adobe's products are the gold standard for the toughest of critics: creative professionals. Its Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere programs are must-haves for this group; for the rest of us, there's Adobe's ubiquitous Flash Player and Acrobat PDF reader.


I mean their PDF reader is one of the best when it comes to the submission of an immaculate report. What sucks more than to not be able to read a masterpiece just because your version is not compatible with that of the report's?


Procter & Gamble

One of my favourite brand, too bad it's not in Singapore.


It has recently started an Olay uproar in the market. I'm sure you have seen more of their advertisements on TV and the rise in the number of Olay products on the shelve.


After being touted by the influential beauticians out there, Olay has gained sufficient recognition. It has even managed to steal customers from the up-scale beauty shops out there.


Credits -cnn, -maconlysource, -culturalexploration, -blogspot, -creativebits, -forevergeeks, -dandare

When in rome

Fall in love with Josh Duhamel (Transformers) & Kristen Bell (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) in the romantic comedy of the year, WHEN IN ROME. Coming to theatres, March 25.



An ambitious young New Yorker (Kristen Bell), disillusioned with romance, takes a whirlwind trip to Rome where she defiantly plucks magic coins from a ‘foolish’ fountain of love, inexplicably igniting the passion of an odd group of suitors: a sausage magnate (Danny Devito), a street magician (Jon Heder), an adoring painter (Will Arnett) and a self-admiring model (Dax Shepard). But when a charming reporter (Josh Duhamel) pursues her with equal zest, how will she know if his love is the real thing?


I feel that the charming reporter is the right one for her.

1. He has all the knowledge.

2. He's up to date and has a lot of initiative as expected of a reporter.

3. He knows how to spice up stories and,  of course, life up.

Personally for me, the three things I will look for a partner is ....


1. She must be educated for sure, I'm an elitist in this field, either an accountant or a lawyer or a doctor or some reputable profession.


2. She need not be drop-dead gorgeous but she must have sufficient clout and the classic X-factor but she must not be ostentacious.


3. Last but not least, she must have high EQ and be very sensitive towards the happenings in her surroundings.







 
Catch When In Rome Movie starting from 25th March 2010 and join the official Facebook and Twitter page!

Nestle strikes back

Nestle strikes back is actually an understatement, because it has made a staggering total of $9.58 billion in profits for the year 2009.


It plans to buy back more shares and also, Nestle intends to raise its dividends to its shareholders. Nestle said it plans to raise its dividend by 14.3% to 1.6 francs a share and announced it would buy back around 10 billion francs of shares this year.

What's the rationale of buying back shares which you once offered to the public ?


Well, by buying back more shares, you lower the supply of the stocks to the public. When you lower the supply, ceteris peribus (meaning the demand doesn't change), the price of the stocks will rise. It makes sense right?


Since there are a lower number of stocks left in the market now, people who want them will naturally pay a higher price for them now. Now, the demand becomes inelastic, which is to say that the total revenue will rise even if the price of the stocks is increased.

With the increase in stock prices, Nestle's shareholders benefit as well because their stocks are now worth more. They can sell them at a way higher price than before. On top of that, they are getting a high dividends because of the improving business. Such accrual growth of their returns is coveted by many in the market.


"Our 2009 performance was broad-based across all categories and regions and demonstrates our ability to deliver in the short term whilst continuing to invest for the long term," said Chief Eexecutive Paul Bulcke.


There you have it, a combination of soft and hard. To deliver in the short term and at the same time, planning for the future. That is a genius concoction to success.

Recently, Nestle has bought Digiorno Pizza from Kraft. A shrewd move which is said to have been a great purchase.


1. It is cheaper than expected.


2. It can leap a mile with that business that Kraft has given up. The Digiorno pizza is one of the core business of Kraft's but now, they have sacrificed it for the sake of acquiring Cadbury.


Either way, it does not affect Nestle because they weren't interested in Cadbury to begin with.


As it builds itself up, it buys back more stocks and then the prices start to fly up. When it's really high, they do not need to be afraid that the price level will be saturated because they can emulate Warren Buffett's move, which is to split the stock up.


Then, the whole cycle repeats itself.





Credits -marketwatch, -topnews, -investing-schools, -stockxpert

Final Fantasy 13 Trailer

Enjoy

Truly the "Avatar" of the gaming world!


Credits -youtube

Coca Cola Bottles it Up

On 25 February 2010, Coke said that it would it would buy the North American business of Coca-Cola Enterprises in a deal that will result in about $4 billion in cash to shareholders of the bottler.


This is an extremely precarious move that will definitely harm the stock prices of Coca-Cola in one way or another. Why is this acquisition a precarious one?


"Don't forget the original strategy was to separate out Coke from the low-margin, high-capital-cost bottling business, an enterprise that was dragging down Coke's stock price."

Well, as mentioned, the bottling business runs on economies of scale. No doubt the cost price is not high, but you have to remember that the selling price of these bottles are not high either. Ultimately, the profits go to the people who created the drink, the ones with the formulae and the management of the business.


But, it is imperative for Coca Cola to do this.


1. Thave to spur innovation in the industry once again.


The industry is now extremely competitive as the juices are gaining a lot of market share from the soda industry right now.

By acquiring the bottling business, it is for sure instrumental for they can now make many more decisions like making of smaller bottles, changing of the designs of the bottles, means of distribution of the bottles, etc.


It is easier for time to come up with new strategies that tie hand in hand with the bottles now. You have to stand out on the shelves now, branding is already over for Coca-Cola.


They need a revitalisation strategy.


2. They have to stop the rivalry between them and the bottling business once and for all.

2. Coca-Cola has been trying to deviate slightly from its soda drink business and they are trying to gain some market share from the popular juice section.


Today, a lot of the consumers are pretty much trying to be more health conscious. The thought that they are going to gulp down 10 teaspoons worth of sugar just by drinking Coke is definitely worse than a macabre death for some. It is unthinkable!


Imagine how much exercise you have to do in order to burn away that 10 teaspoon of sugar you've just consumed.

But here comes another problem. Due to the smaller scale of production of juices as compared to the brobdingnagian volume of Coke, the production costs for the bottles for the juices will be high. This will further reduce profit for the bottling industry as costs incurred surge once again.


Everytime they made a new decision, the bottling companies of Coca-Cola will question as to why they made such a fatuous decision.


Having a rivalry between the supplier and the manufacturer is definitely a no-no in business. It is pivotal to maintain a healthy and rich relationship among everyone in the chain of business.


So, all in all, we will be seeing new innovations on the bottle along with new drinks on the shelves soon.


Stay tune!




Credits -moreheadstate, -informationarchitect, -marketwatch, -paindainsight