I'm so bored I want to die

• My BMI is 21.7 (Normal weight).
• My ideal weight is between 94.7lbs and 128lbs.
• I need at least 1,755 calories to maintain my current weight and activity level. Of this, 1,170 calories are required to meet my body's basic energy needs.
• My IQ is either 131 or 132.
• My EQ is average.
• I (and all other Scorpios) should avoid making judgments about money today.

If I worked in a fast food chain

I love Savage Chickens.

Vitamins are bad for you!

From Reuters: Report warns of problems with multivitamins:

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - More than 30 percent of multivitamins tested recently by ConsumerLab.com contained significantly more or less of an ingredient than claimed, or were contaminated with lead, the company reports.

ConsumerLab.com, based in White Plains, New York, is privately held and provides consumer information and independent evaluations of products that affect health and nutrition. According to the company, it is neither owned by nor has a financial interest in any companies that make, distribute or sell consumer products.

Several multivitamin products tested, including three for children, exceeded tolerable upper limits established by the Institute of Medicine for ingredients such as vitamin A, folic acid, niacin and zinc, according to the report posted on www.ConsumerLab.com.

For example, the Institute of Medicine sets a recommended daily allowance (RDA) of 1,300 international units (IU) of vitamin A for children ages 4 to 8 years and an upper tolerable limit of 3,000 IU. However, one multivitamin tested provided 5,000 IU of vitamin A.

In the short term, too much vitamin A may cause nausea and blurred vision, and, in the long-term, may lead to bone softening and liver problems.

Upper tolerable limits for niacin and zinc were also exceeded by some of the supplements for young children tested. Excess niacin may cause skin tingling and flushing and high levels of zinc may cause immune deficiency and anemia.

Tests turned up problems with some men's multivitamin products as well. Two of three men's multivitamins failed to pass testing. One contained too much folic acid, which may increase the risk of prostate cancer, while another was contaminated with lead.

Among four women's multivitamins tested, one provided only 66 percent of its claimed vitamin A; one of five seniors' multivitamins selected contained only 44 percent of its vitamin A; and among three prenatal vitamins, one was short on vitamin A.

Two out of five general multivitamins were short on ingredients: one provided only 50 percent of its claimed folic acid and the other was missing 30 percent of its calcium.

A vitamin water tested by ConsumerLab.com had 15 times its stated amount of folic acid, so drinking one bottle would exceed the tolerable limit for adults; less than half a bottle would put children over the limit, the company warns on its website.

I've always said there was something dodgy about multivitamins.

A New Paradise - and it's Malay

Here's a complicated description of how I find out stuff: I was exploring over at Gapminder when this little dot in the middle of the Pacific Ocean of the map appeared. According to Gapminder, it was Cocos Island. A quick google tells me that the island is also known as Keeling Islands, and was - and here's the kicker - a part of Malaysia under the Straits Settlements. The island's website even gives a downlow on the people, who are Malay, from their sarongs right down to the 'bins and bintis' in their names.


Cocos/Keeling Islands is halfway between Australia and India, not far from Christmas Islands, and is now a part of Australia, and holy hell it looks gorgeous. It's so undeveloped that there are no tourist shops. Food on offer is Malay food. So far it's sounding like the ultimate destination for diving, and dammit I am going to go the second I have enough money.

Update: It's duty free! Oh my god, it's like God has just given me a big old pat on the back and said, "Here. This should make up for all the crap I've given you lately." I mean, it won't really, but it's good to know that God's trying.

Did I call it or what?

From Reuters: Author who predicted crisis sees inflation ahead:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An author who saw the global financial crisis coming fears the next bubble will come in the form of inflation and has little confidence U.S. President Barack Obama's team is up to the challenge ahead.

"The Democrats have replaced the Republicans as the big benefactors to the financial community," said Kevin Phillips, author of "Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism."

"The financial community is donating more to Democrats than ever before and you've got more Democrats in the financial community, creating a very powerful pattern there. I don't think you're going to see the Obama administration and Congress willing to be tough enough in dealing with these things," he told Reuters.

A year ago, he warned of a the pending explosion of a 25-year "multibubble" that started in the 1980s, when the financial sector accounted for 10 percent to 12 percent of the U.S. economy had started metastasizing into an "arguably crippling" 20 percent to 21 percent by the middle of this decade.

Overleveraging and easy credit was bound to create disaster, he warned.

"The danger is that the great unwind -- the unraveling of the mammoth buildup of debt -- is under way. If that predominates, Bernanke's theory is you're going to have deflation," Phillips said.

"My theory is that if we are in a commodities cycle, what you will get will be more like 1973-74-75 ... where as soon as the recovery begins you get rising inflation because you're going to play havoc with all money supply and liquidity that's been unleashed " he added.

Meanwhile, the taxpayer and small investor have little defense.

"The average person is going to be on the periphery of concern and I think that's rotten," Phillips said.

I so called it. I should write a book too.

Cuckolded

Ha! This is absolutely brilliant! Talk about cuckolded!

Keep It Out of the Gym

People should be banned from trying to pick up other people in the gym. I mean, the gym is meant to be a sanctuary, where people can feel comfortable going at any given day or time wearing whatever.

What's the point of going to a gym if you don't want to go on particular days because you don't feel comfortable around people? It's just totally selfish to try and pick up someone in a gym. Especially when they're politely trying to brush you off and they're just thick-headed.

There should be mandatory signs posted at all gyms saying, "No picking up". I swear, some people are so ridiculously inconsiderate.

2-years? Already?

I think I'm being hit by the 2-year itch just a couple of months early. It's that combined feeling of, "oh my god the work doesn't stop coming" and "my butt and back hurts from sitting in a computer chair so much".

Actually, it isn't even technically 2 years. Sure, I've been employed for 2 years, but I was moving around and not permanent for a good 1 year 2 months, and 1 of those months was spent in the wilderness of Sabah. So what I have is a 8-month itch.

If I wasn't living on my own with no savings, I'd probably quit at this point and do my masters or something. But no, I had to move out, and I had to start the CFA process. No escape for at least another 2 years and 2 months. I feel trapped. I can't breathe.

Dua Sen

1 sen: Bailouts
How will bailouts help? I mean sure, you spend money today and it helps the economy, but unless the money is spent on something that will result in sustainable development and will continue to provide economic/social benefits to the society, all we're going to end up with is a bunch of white elephants that are sucking the taxpayers' resources to maintain.

2 sen: Bailouts - Medium Term Impact
Does anyone else think it's getting out of hand? Billion Dollar and Trillion Yen bailouts are being announced in so many countries that I can't keep up. Here's an Economics 101 on what could and might possibly happen:

• Inflation, because every Mohammed, Raju and Ah Boy knows that when people spend too much, prices go up and up, and bailout packages in the billions and trillions is pretty much the equivalent of a medium-sized country's GDP. Malaysia's bailout package alone is a substantial percentage of Malaysia's GDP.
• Higher taxes, because the money has to come from somewhere, and the American tradition is to spend now by issuing more debt securities. Once the securities mature and it's time to repay the bondholders, all they do is refinance with new debt securities and increase taxes to pay some of it off. It's called intertemporal financing, i.e. the future generation pays for what we're consuming now.
• Recession, because the majority of developed countries (and lets face it, global demand is dependent on them) is made up of aging populations with very serious population decline issues. In today's overpopulated world, it would be a good thing except their governments are inevitably xenophobic and restrict migration. Alors, in 20 years, they will have a much smaller workforce, meaning that national production will likewise be much smaller and absolute national spending power will be (what a surprise) much lower.

Bailouts aren't the answer. Controlled spending is. You heard it here first.