CapitaLand entering the dog house

CapitaLand is getting interesting! And I am starting to show more than usual interest. I love it when others hate it. Sometimes they deserve to be hated but other times it is just simply short term players selling a stock unnecessarily. These guys live off movements and on and off they will offer you opportunities because of your longer time horizon.

First piece of  homework: Work through a decade of annual reports. As usual forget the analysts.

Singapore: Moving from "farmer" to "hunter"

I just interrupted myself reading at page 242 of  "The Lords of Strategy".

What if we are propelled into a world of the "hunter" rather than the "farmer"?

The hunter feasts and starves depending on the success of his hunting. Life for the farmer is more consistent and stable. In a stable economy with secure jobs, that is the moral equivalent to the farmer. In a low inertia and responsive economy which turns on a coin, there is no job security. Hired for a project, fired after it is completed, that is one form of the hunter's life. More likely, hired with the "farmer's" promise but lived and eventually fired like a "hunter". In this case the firm does not need to reward you like a hunter for the upside. No wonder workers feel like heads the bosses win, tails they lose.

Voters will finally pressure the government for a farmer's social contract but in a hunter's Zietgeist . It is an impossible task. This transformation takes years to complete and a long time to recognize; like a frog in slowly warming water, you cannot tell that is actually happening.

If we survive this, life for the hunter is marked by unpredictability but unlike the farmer, there are more frequent big game conquests. Modern hunters like their ancient cousins must save for lean times. Not regular savings mind you, but saving like mad, enough to depress the economy. It's a crazy idea. Unrealistic.

It is almost impossible to forecast or more honestly we are just bad at it, the business opportunities that might wash ashore. It is even harder to capture those that are sailing by. That's why we need to import the foreign talent. We have no time to train our own for opportunities that wouldn't wait for us to be ready, much less spend the money to train the workers.

We are drifting toward a hunting paradigm. It comes with businesses increasingly taking a short term view. It is a tough life.

When did this trend start? When pension benefits moved from defined benefits to defined contributions. It has been many years in the making but that process is now accelerating, the backlash has also become stronger.

I sense the seeds for building a new set of binary scenarios around the concept of the farmer and the hunter. I am not sure I have the time for this. What is the value of doing this? May be all I need is to figure it out as I go along. Unlike when I was with a big corporation, there is no need to share this with colleagues.

Yet another Mouse purchase :-(

$85 poorer tonight because of this Arc Touch Mouse. I have never had much luck with computer mice. I just got the Explorer Touch Mouse slightly over a month ago. It felt like I have had that for a very long time and I am surprised when I check the blog entry how recent it was.

I need to fold my pinkie under the mouse which my previous Arc Mouse permitted. You can't do this with the regularly shaped mouse. Over time it cause me discomfort and then eventually pain with those kinds of mouse. I have been putting up with it for years but I shouldn't if there is an ergonomically friendlier alternative.

Well, I hope more mouse makers will make arc mice. Please bring down the price too. I am not confident that this mouse can last years. Only PC displays seem to live forever. My desktop PC is already more than three years old but not without two changes of the motherboard and a change of hard disc. Thanks to the extended warranty.

How to hold a mouse for many hours

The wrist shouldn't be bent so awkwardly. I was in a hurry to get someone to take this photo for me.

If there is space beneath the mouse, our fingers especially the pinkie naturally curls underneath it. This is the most comfortable position to hold and move a mouse.

I don't know what the views of physiotherapists and occupational therapist are. I had tried to google for their advice before without much success.

Sim Wong Hoo remembers Steve Jobs

The first line goes, "Thank you for the great lessons".

Sim Wong Hoo is the gentleman to have taken out an ad like this on ST.

Had there been no Steve Jobs, Creative could have ruled the roost for MP3 players. It wouldn't be as dominant as the iPod but it would likely be a leader sharing the pie with many others.

Dinner at Lau Pa Sat

I have not been to the Lau Pa Sat in years. Didn't keep a blog then and so cannot place when was the last visit.

Dinner was fish ball mee-pok, which wifey gave the thumbs down. I was quite happy with it though.

Now they also tout. Perhaps they have been doing this for a while now.

I am glad I no longer work in the neck of woods here. A look around the towering office blocks tell me that they are keeping later than before. Not good.

Mistakes prone Astons

I finally have enough with the frequent mistakes Astons make with their takeouts.

Why do they have black pepper sauce over the fish? Where is the creamy sauce.

Once the beef came without sauce. Very often they missed the butter take goes with the baked potatoes that we have taken to checking and reminding them every time.

Things are much better at their sit-in outlets.

I have kept a copy of this pic in my phone. The next time I place an order at the coffee shop, I will show them this picture.

Good bye Glenna Baugh

Received the bad news that Glenna Baugh passed away yesterday at about noon. I was on the train in the Circle Line leaving the Botanic Gardens when I spotted the mail of this sad event on my phone. She will really be missed but I will remember her as one of those unsung heroines quietly making her contributions by helping many of us to enable others to leave heart prints on others.

I just put this up at the list, a flash movie I had prepared but hadn't uploaded until now.