Home remedies

There are a multitude of home remedies out there that are purported to cure everything from alcoholism to zits. A search for "home remedies" returned nearly four million hits. This, along with traditional Chinese and Indian medicine, seems like the perfect field for a scientist to explore - do these remedies work? How effective are they? Could they be adapted for treatments of other diseases? Is there a way to bottle these remedies or make them into an easily poppable pill? I wish someone would test these theories that are floating around and tell me whether I'm barking up the wrong tree.

Some of the latest theories I've heard of, most of which are currently in practice in my own household, include 

Cancer prevention

Supposedly a soup of equal parts ngao bong, literally "cow tying", radishes and carrots will prevent cancer. Ngao bong is a type of plant, resembles sugar cane, and adds a pleasantly sweet taste to the soup.

Healing wounds

The flesh of the aloe vera plant, rubbed on a cut or burn, is supposed to promote healing, although some studies have shown otherwise. In any case, the jury is still out on this one, but that doesn't stop my mom from slathering the family with the stuff anytime someone gets a cut. 

Swelling reduction

Peptase also known as "that smelly component of vomit and papayas (this guy is hilarious!)", is supposed to help reduce swelling. No, I'm not suggesting you eat your own or *shudder* someone else's vomit. Go for the papayas!

Fighting coughs

A glass of freshly squeezed lemon juice sweetened with honey is supposed to set you straight when you have a cough. I'm currently testing the theory, but haven't noticed much improvement. 

Combating cholesterol

1. The oat challenge

Downing a bowl of instant oats, preferably organic, everyday is meant to lower your cholesterol levels in general and boost your HDL to LDL ratio. My dad did it and it seems to work, although of course it won't send your numbers plunging.

2. Ladies fingers

Eating a few steamed ladies fingers everyday (no dressing!) is supposed to help lower cholesterol levels too. Effectiveness unproven.

I want proof! Does it actually work? Someone needs to do some sort of epidemiological study or whatever it is these things are called and come up with some evidence one way or another.

By the way, has anyone discovered the cure for papercuts yet?

Read Green

Recently, the alumni mailing list that I subscribe to finally proved to be useful. Some environmentally-friendly soul sent an email to the list about this website that's providing a digital magazine service. In fact, they bill themselves as the world's biggest online digital newsstand. They have something for everyone, including Cosmo, ESPN, Business Week and even the TV Guide, although that's not very helpful for someone in Malaysia. Yeah yeah, I know it's nice to flip through a nice solid magazine, but think of all the trees you're cutting down! It's taken me a while to get used to digital flipping, but I think I've gotten the hang of it. 

Try it for yourself. For FREE. Zinio gives you one free magazine subscription to start you off. Check it out today. And trust me, pies have never looked so delicious as when they're on your high resolution screen. Of course I went for the food magazine. I'm Malaysian!

Banking in Malaysia

I finally set up a bank account in Malaysia today after months of living off mommy ATM and daddy card. In my defense, I did transfer some money home when I left the States, so it wasn't exactly like I was sponging off them. Although I think the amountI transferred home was exactly the amount that got put into my new account... Oh well, best not to investigate too throroughly...

I did, however, get a good look at the Malaysian banking sector and I didn't like what I saw. Everything just seems so backward and twenty years behind. Of course you could argue that it's this very backwardness that's keeping us relatively unscathed in today's financial crisis - no loans to people who can't afford to pay it back and all that. But I'm talking about the deposit side of things. 

When you open a savings or current account in a bank, you're lending the bank your money, and you should get paid for that loan in the form of an interest rate. In Malaysia, they do give you some compensation for your loan, but they may as well not bother. For a regular savings account at this particular bank that I chose, you don't get anything if you have less than RM3,000 in the account. Once you break the 3k mark, you get a paltry 0.2% in interest. It's a graduated rate, of course, but at the current inflation rate, I may as well spend all my money on canned food and give some serious thought to building an industrial-sized freezer room for all my groceries for the next ten years. 

Not only do they not compensate you adequately, they also try to milk you for every penny that you own. For starters, they actually expect you to pay to own an ATM card. And it's a yearly fee too! Coming back from the US, where they give you a debit card to go with your order of chai latte, this concept was a little hard to stomach. They also charge you a fee for current accounts. And of course, credit cards, although some banks are wisening up and offering "free for life" credit cards, but only if you spend more than a certain amount per annum. And don't get me started on credit cards. I know the US is paying the price for easy credit, but seriously, can't I get a  credit card without an income tax form? Not even if I show you an offer letter for my next job? And not even if I have a fixed deposit account with your bank? I'm not asking for a high limit. Not to start with anyway. Sigh. 

As for internet banking, as an account holder at this particular bank, you do not automatically have online access to your account. Instead, you have to either register for the service through the ATM or submit a paper form to the branch at which you opened your account. Of course, being too Americanised, I didn't think to ask about it at the bank, so I'll have to go back and set it up. What a hassle. I haven't, obviously, had a chance to use this online banking system yet, but I don't have high hopes for it.

The only nice thing I have to say about the banking system here is that you can have several "tranches" in your fixed deposit account so that if you should ever need to withdraw some money from the account, you don't have to incur the penalty for early withdrawal for the full amount of the deposit. But then again, interest rates for a fixed deposit account here start from 3% so there really isn't much to lose. 

Where are the high interest online savings accounts? No-fee banking? Really cool personalised checkbooks with a large variety of backgrounds to choose from? Debit cards? Credit cards? Sigh, Malaysia still has a lot to learn in the banking department.

Corporate excess

One week-long resort retreat for top sales staff            $442k 

One partridge hunt in England                                      $ 90k

And that's just the small stuff.

CEO bonus                                                                            $5M

CEO golden parachute                                                         $15M

Top executive bonus                                                           $34M

Top executive post-resignation perks                              $1M per month

Sure all this money barely makes a dent into the $85B line of credit extended to this company, AIG, by the Feds, but still, in this day and age, how can they possibly justify all these excesses?

And it's not just corporate America that should be criticized. I know for a fact that a certain local company on a press junket to New York bought something like 15 Broadway seats for six times their face value through the concierge of their hotel. And of course there are little details like flying in first class and staying in expensive suites. 

But maybe I shouldn't be complaining so much since I'm about to join the corporate world of excess too. After all, money makes the world go 'round, right? So someone has to spend it...

Jesse Cook in Malaysia!

Free up your callendars next Thursday, ladies and germs, because guitar legend Jesse Cook will be in town and performing at the Malaysian Philharmonic!

Concert Details

Venue
Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS
Kuala Lumpur City Centre

Orchestra / Conductor / Soloists 
Jesse Cook guitar

Ticket Prices
Premium: RM140, A Reserve: RM100, B Reserve: RM60, C Reserve: RM40

Box Office Hours
Mondays to Saturdays:10.00 a.m. – 6.00 p.m., 9.00 p.m. on performance nights

Sundays: 12.00 noon to performance time

Telephone Bookings: 03 - 2051 7007 Fax Bookings: 03 - 2051 7077

E-mail Bookings:dfp_boxoffice@petronas.com.my 

Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS / MPO website:
www.malaysianphilharmonic.com

I've been a fan ever since I discovered his flamenco rhythms when I was in LPC. Being part of an international community can really widen your horizons :) I used to listen to his music obsessively before I found my next craze. I'm in between crazes at the moment, so now might be a good time to rekindle my romance with Jesse. Anyone else want to come with me?