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Money matters:
Graham Macdonald MBMG International Ltd.
Friend or Foe?
After years as the fall guy for Europe’s trade unions and
some politicians, private equity firms were visibly relaxed at the recent World
Economic Forum in Davos, thanks to state funds now being seen as the new scary
faces of capitalism.
Sovereign wealth funds have existed at least since the 1950s, but their total
size worldwide has increased dramatically over the past 10-15 years. In 1990,
sovereign funds probably held, at most, $500 billion; the current total is an
estimated $2-3 trillion.
So what does $3 trillion equate to in relative terms? It depends on the
comparison: U.S. GDP is $12 trillion, the total value of traded securities (debt
and equity) denominated in U.S. dollars is estimated to be more than $50
trillion, and the global value of traded securities is about $165 trillion. In
that context, $3 trillion is significant but not huge.
It is, however, large relative to the size of some emerging markets. The total
value of traded securities in Africa, the Middle East, and emerging Europe
combined is about $4 trillion; this is also roughly the size of these markets in
all of Latin America.
In today’s terms SWFs might be small relative to global traded securities, but
they still have a lot of firepower: they are larger than private equity and
larger than hedge funds.
Simon Johnson, the IMF’s chief economist, thinks sovereign-wealth funds will be
worth $10 trillion by 2012, based on the likely growth rates of current
accounts. Stephen Jen of Morgan Stanley has pencilled in $12 trillion for 2015.
(The size of the US economy today).
Given this as a backdrop, it is probably not surprising that investors wish to
woo them and politicians fear them at the same time. There can be no mistaking
that their money has been sorely needed of late, with rich-world
financial-services groups having been administered nearly $69 billion-worth of
infusions from the savings of the developing world in the past ten months,
according to Morgan Stanley.
However, the relatively friendly welcome sovereign funds have found, may turn
out to be temporary. Before the credit crunch American politicians objected to
Arabs owning ports and Chinese owning oil firms. On January 15th Hillary Clinton
said: “We need to have a lot more control over what they [sovereign-wealth
funds] do and how they do it.” Once an emergency has passed, foreign money can
often be less welcome.
The big fear for politicians is that the managers of these funds have little
accountability to regulators, shareholders or voters. Such conditions are almost
bound to produce rogue traders. But so far there is no evidence of such
“mischievous” behaviour, as the German government calls it and weighing the risk
of such eventualities against the rewards of hard cash, on the table, right now,
makes it clearly daft to raise too much of a stink.
Kevin Hassett of the American Enterprise Institute highlights the fears that
governments have with the following examples. Suppose China were to buy
Citigroup. What if America sought to take sides in a conflict with Taiwan and
China and then threatened to shut the bank down? Or, from a more commercial
point of view, suppose that Venezuela bought Alcoa and set about closing its
aluminium smelters in the United States in order to move production to Latin
America, as part of a strategy for development. And what if a country’s
investment fund ran an active trading operation and - George Soros style, when
he brought down the pound - decided to launch a large-scale speculative attack
on another nation’s currency?
Although the risk that the funds may abuse companies and markets is theoretical,
the danger of financial protectionism is all too real. The idea that secretive
foreign governments are up to no good exerts a powerful hold on the collective
imagination.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor,
have both issued warnings. A former American official, speaking on condition of
anonymity, says that Washington is even now in a state of “high alert”. Yet, for
all these imagined fears, it is hard to find examples of sovereign-wealth funds
abusing their power.
Mohamed Al-Jasser, vice governor of Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, complained in
Davos that sovereign wealth funds were being treated as “guilty until proven
innocent” by politicians suspicious of possible ulterior motives. At the same
forum, many other SWF managers proclaimed that their intentions were pure; they
were investing for the long term, and had a total hands-off approach to the
management of the companies they buy. “Our fund started in 1953,” said Bader Al
Sa’ad, the managing director of the Kuwait Investment Authority. “Kuwait has
been a Daimler shareholder since 1969 ... BP shareholder since 1986, we are one
of the most stable shareholders of these companies.”
Stephen Schwarzmann, chief executive of private equity giant Blackstone, derided
the notion that these funds were a threat: “It’s almost amusing to see that
pools of capital that we have always dealt with now have a new name, sovereign
wealth funds, and are seen as an inherent threat.” He described the funds as
“model investors, smart, highly professional,” simply looking for the best
possible return for their money. “When the Chinese investment fund took a 9.5%
stake in our company there were questions in the press: ‘why do they do this,
what are their motives?’”
“Well, it’s a non-voting investment, that was important for them ... they said
they don’t want to vote.”
In politics, fear usually sells better than reason, but it would be rather
hypocritical to erect barriers to foreign investment while demanding open access
to developing markets. Most countries, for example, limit who can own banks,
because governments often guarantee deposits and because confidence in banks
underpins the financial system. Similarly, most countries curb ownership of
defence technology and utilities. You do not need a handbook of new
restrictions. And you do not need to make sovereign-wealth funds a special case:
instead, you have clear, predictable rules that apply to everyone.
The big problem, however, is that for the most part governments can not
ascertain what a sovereign-wealth fund’s objectives are, precisely how much
money it manages and where it has made its investments. Already the funds use
the full range of investment options, including hedge funds and private equity,
which further covers their tracks.
Criticism of sovereign funds’ investments has by no means all come from
recipient countries. China’s CIC seemed to have scored when it paid $3 billion
for a stake in Blackstone, a private-equity group that listed its shares. Today
its holding is worth closer to $2 billion and CIC has been severely criticised
in Beijing.
The motives of the funds vary, and they don’t always make sense. Consider Abu
Dhabi and Kuwait, which wanted to save their oil endowment for future
generations, an admirable goal. But today they don’t look as clever as
freewheeling Dubai, which has much less oil. Because the rulers of Abu Dhabi and
Kuwait centralized their nations’ wealth in the hands of the state, their state
sectors stifled their economies. Abu Dhabi’s fund may be impressive, but the
entrepreneurial spirit of Dubai has done a far better job of putting sustainable
wealth in the hands of his citizens.
In truth, such funds are nothing for Americans or Europeans to fear. If anyone
should worry about them, it’s the people whose governments are amassing them.
That’s because governments tend to be terrible at managing money that is best
left in the hands of private citizens.
Maybe that’s why sovereign wealth funds are popular with dictators and
semi-authoritarian regimes, which don’t have to answer for the consequences when
they make poor economic gambles.
At the end of the day, whether SWF are to be feared or loved really depends on
your point of view. Western Economies find themselves in a beggars can’t be
choosers situation at the present time and is unlikely that this is going to
change any time soon.
Governments may distrust Sovereign Wealth funds, but until the East and West
even out the surpluses and deficits in their economies, sovereign-wealth funds
will not go away.
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The above data and research was compiled from sources
believed to be reliable. However, neither MBMG International Ltd nor its
officers can accept any liability for any errors or omissions in the above
article nor bear any responsibility for any losses achieved as a result of any
actions taken or not taken as a consequence of reading the above article. For
more information please contact Graham Macdonald on
[email protected]@mbmg-international.com.com
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Snap Shots: by Harry Flashman
Choosing
a new camera
 Cameras
unfortunately become like a pair of favorite shoes. You know you need
new ones, but you are loathe to throw the old ones away, even though
they are on their third pair of heels and second set of soles.
For the avid photographer, the camera is almost an extension of his or
her mind. Never mind Descartes’ ‘cogito ergo sum’, it’s ‘cogito ergo
photographer’.
You become completely at one with the camera, you know how to focus,
change aperture and shutter speed - the whole magic black box is under
your control. How can you turn your back on such a miracle of
engineering and photo-science? The answer is: with difficulty.
However, that is the crossroads that I have found myself. I have used 35
mm Nikons for years. Several FM2n’s, a brace of FA’s, a full complement
of prime lenses (I have never owned a zoom lens in my life), and yet
here I am looking at ditching the lot. Why?
Quite simply, I have come to the conclusion that film, even if it is not
yet dead, it is at least moribund. Digital is here, and you may as well
get used to it. And that means me too.
I had been trying to hang on to my film technology and was doing a half
and half routine. I would get the film developed, but no prints thank
you and getting the negatives converted to CD, and I would download the
images to my computer. So I did end up with a digital image, via a film
pathway. But this was neglecting one of the best reasons to go digital -
the ability to know after just firing the button as to whether you
really did get the shot. No agonizing wait. Any re-shoot can be done
immediately, not days later. Crossed eyes uncrossed while you wait 10
seconds. Just how valuable is that?
There was another reason to look digital, and that is the new anti-shake
technology. When I first started in photography, I could ruin my shots
with camera shake through excitement or nervous anticipation. I had to
learn to slow down and pay more attention to steadying the camera, but I
have noticed that my shots are becoming ‘soft’ again. This I have to put
down to the combination of age and some fungus appearing in my lenses.
One is not curable and the other only partially so.
It is now 12 months since I began to seriously look at what the
replacement would be for the Nikon system. The one I have chosen is made
by an electronics manufacturer, in conjunction with an optical camera
lens manufacturer. It is the Panasonic Lumix FZ-50.
This camera has 10 megapixels and can be run fully auto, and all other
modes in between up to fully manual. Now this is an interesting camera,
being neither the usual compact, nor an SLR, but something in between
called a “Mega-Zoom”. Looks like an SLR, and to be honest, when I was
using it I did not know it wasn’t an SLR, but the FZ-50 has a fixed lens
like a compact. However, this lens is a 12 times optical zoom going from
35 mm to 420 mm, and made by Leica. And what is even better, you can
manually focus and manually zoom. For an old “film camera” buff, this
represents the best of both worlds.
One of the more recent advances in electronics has been image
stabilization. The camera technology is making it hard for you to end up
with blurred shots, and the Panasonic Lumix answer is called MEGA O.I.S.
(optical image stabilization). With this system, you can do hand-held
photography when working at a 250 mm range at 1/60 second shutter speed.
Normally you would have to use at least 1/250 sec.
Another new addition is the Intelligent ISO Control. When the camera
detects movement of the subject, the ISO and shutter speed are adjusted
in a way that ensures the movement of the subject will be frozen. All
good applications of electronic technology to make it even less likely
that you will end up with a blurred picture.
Farewell film. Welcome digital photography.
Modern Medicine:
by Dr. Iain Corness, Consultant
“Slipped discs” - a very painful problem
I was reminded about back problems when I was rung by a
Norwegian doctor holidaying in Hua Hin. A friend of his had sudden onset
acute lower back pain, could not stand on one leg and just where did they go
from there?
These symptoms we meet only too often. The patient is doing something and
suddenly everything locks up and they are immobilized, frozen to the spot. I
was once called out to a factory toilet where the chap was bent over the
urinal, and too afraid to move, the pain was so acute.
Back pain is one of the commonest orthopaedic problems, and the often used
terms such as lumbago, sciatica and slipped disc get bandied about at the
dinner table. However, an acute bad back is not the sort of condition that
you want to chat about over desserts. The condition can be crippling and not
“cute” in any way.
Let’s begin this week with the “slipped disc” problem. First thing - discs
do not “slip”. They do not shoot out of the spaces between the vertebrae
(the tower of cotton reels that makes up your spine) and produce pain that
way. The disc actually stays exactly where it is, but the center of the disc
(called the nucleus) pops out through the edge of the disc and hits the
nerve root. When this happens you have a very painful condition, as anyone
who has had a disc prolapse (our fancy name for the “popping out” bit) will
tell you. Think of the pain when the dentist starts drilling close to the
tiny nerve in your tooth. Well, this is a large nerve! When the nucleus of
the disc hits the sciatic nerve, this produces the condition known as
Sciatica - an acute searing pain which can run from the buttocks, down the
legs, even all the way through to the toes.
Unfortunately, just to make diagnosis a little difficult (if it were all so
easy why would we go to Medical School for six years!) you can get sciatica
from other reasons as well as prolapsing discs. It may just be soft tissue
swelling from strain of the ligaments between the discs, or it could even be
a form of arthritis. Another complicating fact is that a strain may only
produce enough tissue swelling in around 12 hours after the heavy lifting,
so you go to bed OK and wake the next morning incapacitated. And then you
have to convince the employer that you did it on his time.
To accurately work out just what is happening requires bringing in those
specialist doctors who can carry out extremely intricate forms of X-Rays
called CT Scans, Spiral CT’s or MRI that will sort out whether it is a disc
prolapse, arthritis or another soft tissue problem. The equipment to do
these procedures costs millions of baht, and the expertise to use them takes
years of practice and experience. This is one reason why some of these
investigations can be expensive.
After the definitive diagnosis of your back condition has been made, then
appropriate treatment can be instituted. The forms of treatment can be just
simply rest and some analgesics (pain killers), physiotherapy, operative
intervention or anti-inflammatories and traction.
Now perhaps you can see why it is important to find the real cause for your
aching back. The treatment for some causes can be totally the wrong form of
therapy for some of the other causes. You can see the danger of “self
diagnosis” here. Beware!
So what do you do when you get a painful back? Rest and paracetamol is a
safe way to begin. If it settles quickly, then just be a little careful with
lifting and twisting for a couple of weeks and get on with your life as
normal. If, however, you are still in trouble after a couple of days rest,
then it is time to see your doctor and get that definitive diagnosis. You
have been warned! Ask to see the best orthopedic chap too.
 Heart to Heart with Hillary
Dear Hillary,
There is a shopping center very close to my office and they have the usual small
boutique stands along the mall. There is a very pretty young girl in one of them
and she always gives me a big smile. Lately she has been giving me a shy little
wave as well. I would like to know a bit more about her, but how do I do it,
Hillary? Some advice please.
Ron
Dear Ron,
Does RON stand for Run Over Now, or what? Ron, you are not going to be able to
find out anything about your boutique girl from outside sources. There is no Hot
Line for this kind of problem. The girl is doing one of two things - either she
is interested in you, OR she wants to get you over to sell you some of her
merchandise. How do you find out? It is easy, my Petal. Next time she waves,
walk over to her little stand and say “Hi, How long have you been in this
shopping center?” or something equally as easy as an ice-breaker. You will soon
see if she is interested in you, or what you’ve got in your pants - not that!
Your wallet! Even though I am not a gambling person, my money would be on the
wallet option, I’m afraid. But you should pluck up courage and make the contact.
It will be good practice for next time.
Dear Hillary,
I have a nice relationship with my Thai girlfriend, even though I only get to
see her for about two times four weeks every year. We set up a condo together
(it’s in my name) and she seems happy enough there, though I am a little worried
by the amount she tells me she spends every month. She has a good job and should
be able to live on what she earns, but every month she needs about another
40-50,000 baht to keep going. The money she tells me is for maintenance of the
condo, then her mother who looks after her two kids up jungle needs money, then
the phone bills seem astronomical, and on and on and on. I enjoy my times over
there, but I am starting to think that maybe I’m getting ripped off somewhere
down the line. Do you think I am?
Marty
Dear Marty,
It is well nigh impossible for me to say yes or no, my Petal, but 50,000 baht on
top of her wages in a rent-free condo does seem rather excessive. Have you
considered saying “No” to the requests? What would she do then? There is the
other fact, that just because she has rent-free accommodation, does not mean in
her mind that she owes you her life. You are prepared to be there for her for
two months a year, and that is all. This does not appear to be a life-long
commitment, does it? The condo is not in her name, and actually you could kick
her out at any time. Agreed? She has no security, from a guy she sees twice a
year, and who sends money. Where does that put the relationship? There seems to
be a misguided impression out there that by throwing some money in a Thai girl’s
lap this means you have some gorgeous girl now yours, and faithful forever.
Commitment comes with that magic ingredient called “love” and best with a
capital L. Thai girls are just as emotionally needy and looking for a committed
partner as girls in your home country, but smile more readily. Two months in 12
is not a relationship with any depth, Petal.
Dear Hillary,
I have heard about golfing widows, but at least golf is played in the daytime,
so the golfing husbands are home in the evenings. My problem is that I am
turning into a football widow. Football matches seem to be played at any time of
the day (or night) and he is always off to some pub or other to watch the game.
I am not interested in football, or else I’d go with him, but I am getting
lonely left at home. What should I do? Tell him it is football or me? (I’m
afraid he might go for the football.)
Six Nations Cup Widow
Dear Six Nations Cup Widow,
If you make life difficult for your football mad mate, then he will go for the
football and it will be an ‘away’ game every night. Men will always take the
easy way out when pushed into a corner. They have no real goals in life, you
see. Before you get right cross and relegated to Left Right Out, I would ask
around to see if any of his football watching mate’s wives would like to come
over for a hen session. Even if you are not interested, a night out at the pub
might also be fun. Let him watch while you gossip with the other women there.
That is much better for everyone, rather than sitting fuming at home, while
plotting how to give your man a red card. See, it’s easy when you apply a little
Edward de Bono lateral thinking.
Learn to Live to Learn: with Andrew Watson
The recruitment cycle
At last a chance for repose; it feels like my head is spinning,
possibly at the same rate as the globe around which I have been
racing. I have severe reservations, I must say, about globe
trotting for the espoused purpose; recruitment. Thousands of air
miles it might bring me, but in the age of global
communications, I have reflected long and hard on why we don’t
make more use of them. Inviting people from around the world for
the chance of a punt at a position, at a remote location and at
their own expense is, it appears to me, an extraordinarily
inadequate way of managing the business.
There’s a strong ethical dimension to it as well, which, like
those possessing Masters degrees from Oxford and Cambridge,
seems to be one of education’s best kept secrets. It’s a
throwback to yesteryear (about 5 years ago, actually, in the
following case) when for example, in the world of medicine,
junior doctors worked such long hours that their net hourly pay
was less than someone working in a McDonald’s restaurant. They
worked like this, managing life and death situations, because
“it had always been done that way”.
I happened to know about the Master’s thing at Cambridge before
I got there, but here’s the truth if you didn’t know it already
(it’s ridiculous - I feel I’m betraying the brotherhood!): At
the end of a successful undergraduate experience at Oxford and
Cambridge, where incidentally, terms are two weeks shorter than
at other British Universities, you receive your first degree, a
BA. A year later, you receive a letter politely asking whether
you would like to take up the offer of an MA. It used to cost 5
pounds and a signature. Nothing more. I think the price has gone
up now, it may have reached 20 quid. Still good value, when you
consider that a “taught” MA (they do “do” them as well) is a
minimum of six thousand pounds.
But I digressed. Now back to the matter in hand; the ethics of
travelling at the school’s expense to Europe and elsewhere for
the dubious pleasure of interviewing for positions that
sometimes we don’t even know exist. Here’s another truth; a few
years ago I was asked to apply for a leading position at one of
the major international schools in Thailand and submitted an
application accordingly. I had a pleasant initial conversation
with the Principal who then invited me to interview. But the
interview, I was informed, must happen in London and I could not
expect any financial assistance in getting there. “But the
school is in Bangkok!” I responded with some indignation.
“Sorry, it’s how we’ve always done it.” I was informed. So off I
went, at a cost of a thousand pounds or so all in and met people
from up the road in Bangkok at a faceless London hotel, where I
didn’t get the job anyway.
Nowadays, I hesitate to invite people to interview when it
involves serious expense on anybody’s behalf, but being on the
receiving end of such grotesque financial imposition served to
install a sense of iniquity. What is wrong with Skype? A simple
and effective video conference must surely be the way forward?
That’s what I’ve been using for a few years now and it seems to
work just fine. I just cannot justify spending up to five weeks
in European hotels (at least 120 euros a night) plus the cost of
the flights (and incidentals of course) when the money could be
better spent resourcing students’ opportunities to learn and
teachers’ capacities to teach. And you know what? Often, there
are so few applications for a position that you just can’t
justify anything other than a telephone or Skype conversation!
If I was to insist on travelling somewhere, I’d keep it local.
So that if someone from Brunei for instance, was interested in
coming to Thailand, we might meet in Singapore. Something like
that.
The first interview I ever had for an international school was
in Russell Square in central London. It was conducted with two
middle aged gentlemen on a bed in their room; a bizarre
experience indeed. Another was conducted in a coffee bar in an
airport, whilst at the end of another (a telephone interview) I
was informed that a job offer had already been sent to me on the
basis of my qualifications and experience, begging the question,
why had we bothered with the interview?
It would perhaps be wrong to talk of the international
recruitment cycle without mentioning the tremendous work of
Search Associates, run by the magnificent Harry and Margaret
Deelman, out of Chiang Mai. They earnestly and successfully
strive to ease the passage of recruiters and candidates alike in
a remarkable operation spanning the globe. As a recruiter, you
receive a detailed dossier on possible candidates for positions
at your school and as a candidate, you are provided with a daily
updated list of positions for which you are suited, from around
the world. They run a number of annual “Search Fairs” at
locations in every continent and whilst you do have to make your
own way to these fairs, you are assured of multiple interview
opportunities. The subsequent success rate for both recruiters
and candidates is remarkably high. At a risk of contradicting
myself, the financial risk is just about acceptable. There’s a
fee of course for being a member of the “Search Community” but
if you want the best possible chance of finding a match between
school and candidate, without wading through reams of relatively
irrelevant applications, then Search is the place to go. It’s a
very personalised service.
In the end, of course, there has to be accountability. I have to
be held accountable by the board for all these costs incurred
and for the appointments that are made and I have to be sure
that the people I have invited to reinvent their lives in what
is likely to be an unfamiliar environment, possess the necessary
qualities to enrich the lives of the students. They have to be
“givers” rather than “takers”.
Next week: Sharing Humanity
DOC ENGLISH Teaching your kids how to learn English:
Gettin Good At Spelin :)
This week we will learn how to use a
method of teaching new words called ‘Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check’
(L.S.C.W.C.). It’s a great way for children of all ages to learn new
vocabulary.
L.S.C.W.C. is a methodical way to learn new words in lists. It
reinforces the ‘visual aspect of spelling’ and gets students taking
notice of the flow and combinations of letters. It’s particularly useful
for children learning ‘tricky’ words, or words that don’t follow the
normal ‘phonics rules’.
To carry out L.S.C.W.C., first create a little book (or spreadsheet)
with pages that look like this. Young kids may manage 5 words (rows),
but you can include up to 10 columns or more for older kids.
Once you’ve done that, sit comfortably and prepare to carry out the
following instructions together:
1. Write a list of words you want your child to learn in the ‘Look’
column. Words should bear some relation to each other. For example, the
words could contain similar sounds, such as ‘run, bun, fun’, etc.
Alternatively, the words could follow a similar theme, topic or
situation, such as ‘kitchen, bathroom, bedroom’, etc. Try to include
some words that your child might have heard or read and may recognise.
It will better for their self-esteem if they get a few words right. Try
also to include some new words that perhaps you are sure they won’t have
come across before.
2. Encourage your child to Look at the first word, say the letters and
remember the shape of the word, length and initial, middle and end
sounds.
3. Discuss the meaning of the new word together, translating the word
into your child’s first language if possible. Say the word together and
think of a word that sounds the same or means the same thing.
4. Then ask your child to Cover the word by folding the Look column,
over to the Cover column. Your child should try to remember and write
the word down in the ‘Write’ column. If they are struggling, give them
the initial consonant sound, or the middle or end sound.
5. Afterwards, encourage your child to self-correct and Check which
letters were correct, by looking at the original word and writing them
in the Check column and leaving gaps for the letters they missed.
6. Encourage your child to add in the letters that were missing, perhaps
using a different colour pen.
7. Repeat steps 1 - 6 for the next word, until the list is complete.
Focus on one word at a time. If your child really struggles with a
particular word, save it for later and use it again another time.
The final result of your efforts may look something like the chart
above.
Success should be reward enough; however, if you want to provide a more
tangible reward, perhaps you could go book shopping together.
Try this activity once a week and your child will soon build up a good
working vocabulary. Remember to increase the difficulty and try to
include words that your child may be studying in school or using at home
on a regular basis. Native English speakers can also try using this
technique to learn Thai at home; it’s very effective.
OK, that’s all for this week. Remember, you can email me at
docenglishpattaya @gmail.com should you have any specific enquiries
about learning English at home.
Let’s go to the movies:
by Mark Gernpy
Now playing in Pattaya
Shutter: US Horror – Hollywood tries its hand at a remake
of the wildly successful Thai chiller which starred heartthrob Ananda
Everingham – the top Thai film in 2004. After a horrible accident, a
pair of newlyweds sees evidence of a supernatural presence in the
pictures they take.
The Spiderwick Chronicles: US Adventure/Fantasy – I enjoyed this
fantasy and its richly detailed world, and I recommend it, if you like
fantasies. Freddie Highmore plays rebellious Jared, who discovers the
chronicles, and also his twin Simon. Freddie, or Alfred Highmore, born
in 1992, is a favorite actor of mine, with a great capacity for bringing
real heart to any film he is in, as he did in Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory and Finding Neverland. Here, as Jared, he brings heart-wrenching
emotion to the loss of his father, as he perceives it. I always look
forward to seeing any film he is in, and I’m disappointed that he does
not wish to continue acting as an adult.
This is an excellent family film, but it has some truly horrific
moments, like the old Disney classics, so if you’re under 8 or 9 years
old, don’t say you weren’t warned. Generally favorable reviews.
John Rambo: US Action/Drama – The movie starts with some truly
ghastly images of the warfare engaged in by the Burmese junta against
their own peoples, including gas attacks. These are news images, and
they set a violent political framework to the movie that can’t be
ignored. This is stuff that is happening now, and in our own backyard.
But this is an action Rambo movie and will lead inexorably to that same
sort of violence against the bad guys, by our hero Rambo and his
cohorts. The pleasure that we’re supposed to feel when the bad guys are
destroyed – and we do – is a guilty pleasure, and here the emphasis is
decidedly on the “guilt.” Rated R in the US for strong graphic bloody
violence, sexual assaults, grisly images, and language. Mixed or average
reviews.
Step Up 2 the Streets: US Drama/Dance-Musical – You’ll see
several vibrant dance sequences and some hilariously bad acting. You’ll
also have to suppress your dislike of racial stereotypes, as this movie
plays them all like a marching band. But if you enjoy watching the art
of break dancing for several hours, and are conversant with the
subtleties of its movements and the infinite variety of its styles, then
this movie is for you.
It’s probably the single most racist movie you will see for years, full
of ominous blackness coveting white virtue, and of white youngsters
appropriating black dance culture, sanitizing it, and then doing it
better than the black folk ever did, to such a point that the black
folks’ jaws drop in amazement and admiration, as they are won over by
the soul expressed by the white folk, and in appreciation at how the
white folk have taken black dancing to a new and transcendent level.
Full of the most offensive stereotypes, what we basically have here is a
race war played out as a dance movie, with one gang ruled by a pair of
“elite”-school-attending Caucasians while the other is governed by an
angry, uneducated, and ultimately violent black man depicted as if he
has sexual designs on the white female lead. Mixed or average reviews.
“We need blood . . .”
Mist: US Horror – I loved this film, even with one of the most
chilling endings to a film I’ve ever seen. In fact, that movie’s ending
is so uncompromising that I assume director Frank Darabont had “final
cut” authority, so the studio couldn’t interfere, as I am sure they
wanted to. It’s a very un-Hollywood ending. (And not the same as that of
Stephen King’s novella.)
Mutant insects and religious zealots are the chief villains of this
film, and it’s hard to say who’s uglier. But it’s hard to beat Mrs.
Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden), a religious extremist who whips up the
crowd with fire-and-brimstone denunciations and shrieks “Now do you
believe?” after every fresh catastrophe, and calling out for blood
sacrifices to appease a wrathful God. Conclusively proves Stephen King’s
favorite point that people are basically no good. Rated R in the US for
violence, terror, and gore. Mixed or average reviews.
10,000 B.C.: US Adventure/Drama – Marvelously photographed and
with excellent special effects, this is basically an old-fashioned
sweeping (and mindless) action and spectacle piece. The visuals are
stunning. Generally negative reviews.
Jumper: US Adventure/Sci-Fi – If you enjoy wild action movies.
Generally negative reviews.
Scheduled to open Thu. Mar. 27
The Water Horse: US/UK Adventure/Fantasy/Family – A fine
family film about the birth of the mythical “water horse” of Scottish
legend. Has heart and inventive special effects. Generally favorable
reviews.
Doomsday: UK Action/Sci-Fi – Authorities brutally quarantine a
country as it succumbs to fear and chaos when a virus strikes. Mixed or
average reviews.
POP is good. IMAP is better.
POP Vs. IMAP
Many business users already know what POP is and use
it at their offices. For others who don’t, POP is a method that let
users download emails on the server to their computer. In practical
understanding, it allows you to download those emails on your Yahoo or
Gmail account, or your own domain name emails, into your email
applications like Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird, on your
computer.
And why would you want to do that? Because you can read them while you
are not connected to the internet. Getting the picture? This will also
allow you store the emails “locally” on your computer which is a nice
way to keep a backup of your precious emails.
So that’s POP. But what if you are a Super Multiple-Gadget user? You
probably have a PC at home, another at the office, a laptop while you
travel and a trendy mobile phone with you all the time. And you love
checking mails, so, you check them all day on all devices.
POP will not help you much in this case. The downside of POP is that it
is a one-way communication. With POP you only download emails from the
server and that’s it. The server is not told if you have read the
emails, replied to them, or even sent a new email. When you shift from
your first gadget to the second your emails get downloaded again, and
since the server doesn’t know about your previous actions, it will show
nothing but new “unread” emails to you. Even more, your replied message
is not available since you sent it from your first device.
How to get it all organized? How to make every action you do with your
emails be common in all your devices? Here’s where IMAP comes in.
IMAP is an alternative method to “access” your emails from the mail
server. Instead of downloading emails, you synchronize them. When you
read an email, it tells the server that this mail has been read. And
when you send an email, the same email gets “uploaded” and stored in the
server as well.
Now when you use any other device, if you check emails using IMAP, you
get the emails with their read or unread status. Your sent emails will
be downloaded to your local “Outbox”. Even better, if you have organized
your emails into folders, all folders will be automatically created and
updated in all your devices. Way to go, IMAP!
However, all that glitters is not gold. IMAP does have a small downside.
The storage space for your emails depends on your mailbox size allowed
by the service provider. If you are a heavy email user with a mailbox
limited to 100MB size, then you will have to delete emails every few
weeks or so. This, therefore, will not let you keep an archive of your
emails on the server.
Now, all the POP fans out there may wonder, “Should I make the shift?”
Well, it’s really your personal preference. If you are a single-computer
user then you may want to stick to POP as it already suits the purpose.
But if you are the Super Multiple-Gadget user, then this suggests you
switch right away. It will help you get organized in a very big way.
Note that when you move to IMAP, do so on all computers and devices and
stop using POP. Using both will get it all muddled up.
Have questions? Email them in!
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Q&A
Q: Mario has a question
about FlashGet download manager article featured earlier: How do
you change the language to English if the FlashGet interface was
installed with Thai language by default?
A: FlashGet supports multiple languages but it becomes a
trouble when the program sets the local language automatically.
However, there are two ways to fix this. The usual way is to go
to the View menu which is next to the File and Edit menu, but of
course it’s all in Thai! Well, if you want to give it a try,
blindly click on the third menu and you will see “Language”
(luckily, this is in English), and select “English” under this
menu.
The second way to work around this may seem a little technical,
but it’s easy actually. Go to C:\Program
Files\FlashGet\Language and you will see a list of FlashGet
language files. Delete all of them except for the one named
“JCENG”. Restart your
FlashGet and it won’t look “french” to you again! |
Answer and Win!
Have the answers? Hurry! Send them to
[email protected].
Earliest two entries win a stylish Apacer 1GB USB Flash Drive each!
Till then… Tata ;-)
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