Don't miss sex more than a month

"My research shows that if you don't have sex for a month you probably won't have it for a year," said Kunio Kitamura, director of the Japan Family Planning Association, in conjunction to concerns over Japan's declining birthrate. (an identical article from Guardian titled "no sex please, we're Japanese".)

The Japanese work so hard, that they prefer sleep that have sex. 34.6% married couple had not had sex for more than a month. The wives, as a consequence, look for solutions: sex volunteers.

Even a 2005 poll by Durex finds that the Japanese have sex an average of just 45 times a year compared with a global average of 103 times. That's about once a week for the Japanese and twice a week on global average. (If we look at the data a bit closer though, the bottom 8 are Asian countries: Japan, Singapore, India, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan.)

I found it a bit strange as I thought Japanese to have a higher-than-average level of kinkiness. You know, with all the cartoons, the sex industry, games and stuff. Combining these with hard-working attitude is the comment below:

"The men love their companies; they live for work," Mr Kim said. "Men don't even think it is a problem if they don't have sex with their wives. They have pornography and the sex industry to take care of their needs, but their wives have nowhere to go. They just suffer in silence."

In the other part of the world, ironically, it is difficult to control birthrate. A couple in Pakistan sold their newborn baby to pay the hospital bill (for delivery). This couple already has six children. (detik.com)

Back to what I had in mind when I started -- well, I will just leave Mr. Kitamura's comment as our food for thought...

------

A bit about the Durex poll results:

• People in India are the oldest to lose their virginity (19.8) followed by the Vietnamese (19.6), Indonesians (19.1) and Malaysians (19).
• Men have sex on average 104 times a year, while women do it 101 times a year.
• The Turks have the highest number of sexual partners and the most extra-marital affairs. Indians have had the fewest sexual partners (3). Indonesians have 5.1, while Malaysians have 5.8.
• The Turks, again, top the charts when it comes to having had an extra marital affair (58%). Indonesians and Malaysians are 16% and 14%
• 35-44 year-olds have the most sex, and the most sex is being had in Greece.
• The most popular "sexual enhancer" is pornography.

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Eligible MBA institutions in HSMP

Thanks to Joseph for leaving a link to the list of 50 MBA institutions eligible for U.K.'s HSMP (Highly Skilled Migrant Programme) last week. The schools are:

* Harvard Business School (USA)
* Columbia Business School (USA)
* University of Pennsylvania: Wharton (USA)
* IMD (SWI)
* University of Chicago (USA)
* Dartmouth College: Tuck (USA)
* Stanford University (USA)
* Insead (FR/Sing)
* University of Oxford: Said (UK)
* MIT: Sloan (USA)
* Ashridge (UK)
* Northwestern: Kellogg (USA)
* London Business School (UK)
* New York University: Stern (US)
* University of Strathclyde (UK)
* IESE Business School (SP)
* Yale School of Management (USA)
* Warwick Business School (UK)
* City University: Cass (UK)
* Rotterdam School of Management (Neth)
* UC Berkeley: Haas (USA)
* University of Cambridge: Judge (UK)
* Georgetown University: McDonough (USA)
* Instituto de Empresa (SP)
* Cornell University: Johnson (USA)
* University of Michigan (USA)
* Duke University: Fuqua (USA)
* University of Virginia: Darden (USA)
* Carnegie Mellon University (USA)
* SDA Bocconi (IT)
* Emory University: Goizueta (USA)
* UCLA: Anderson (USA)
* Manchester Business School (UK)
* Cranfield School of Management (UK)
* University of Toronto: Rotman (CAN)
* University College Dublin: Smurfit (IRE)
* University of Southern California: Marshall (USA)
* University of Rochester: Simon (USA)
* Vanderbilt University: Owen (USA)
* Rice University: Jones (USA)
* University of North Carolina: Kenan-Flagler (USA)
* Babson College: Olin (USA)
* Melbourne Business School (AUS)
* Ceibs (CHN)
* Australian Graduate School of Management (AUS)
* Universiteit Nyenrode (NTH)
* University of Western Ontario: Ivey (CAN)
* Boston University School of Management (USA)
* University of Maryland: Smith (USA)
* Bradford School of Management/Nimbas (UK/NTH/GER)

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March madness

Perhaps it was too soon for me to say I didn't get killed. Didn't get shot is probably more correct. The fact is, in the past two weeks I haven't had time to write anything other than over the weekends.

Since March Madness has just started, I just want to post the bracket. The way I see it, this is one way to legalize organized gambling at workplace in the U.S. During this time in the year, many people would bet on the games. At the end, the house always wins.



Question: why are gambling markets organized so differently from financial markets? The answer might be here. :)

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On poor customer service

Since last Thursday, we've been trying to open a new account for the kids. All documents were complete. On Thursday, it was an hour waiting to be attended (and no, it didn't get to our turn after an hour). On Friday, it was another 45 minutes, with the banker (customer service representative?) disappeared most of the time, until they said they had a problem.

So I got an earful of complaints from my wife on Friday night. The only mistake, I think, was that she went to a wrong bank, Maybank.

Maybank is the biggest bank and financial group in Malaysia. It is also, however, famous for poor customer service. Unfortunately, I have to bank with Maybank. The company I work at, for the sake of simplicity, only transfers to Maybank. While on one hand it hurts, on the other hand it makes sense as Maybank has the largest network.

I did a search for complaints on Maybank on an online consumer community portal, consumer.com.my. There is quite a few. Some of them, unsurprisingly, I've experienced myself. Like unanswered phone calls. Consistently non-working ATM. Nice (well, sometimes rude) but incompetent employees.

And part of the problem is that they don't focus on customers. They're stuck with the rules. Rules that don't put customers as priority. Many complaints on ATM/card replacement, like this one from the community portal:

Once again... Maybank! Haiz... What the this banking company policy thinking. I had say this company is a d**n lauzy customer services. The story are... Last two week i was get ppl stolen my wallet. Inside all the document and bank card are lost. No choose and i have do the report at nearly polis station, after i went replace all the document and bank card. IC, lisen, OCBC, public bank, RHB, AM ATM card all can be replace after i show them my polis report paper and im tempory IC and internatioal passport. But only the d**n Maybank, i show all the document also my saving book but they say cant! but have orginal IC just will replace the ATM card for me. What? this kind of services also will happening? What the hell they thinking? and i waste about 2 hours and getting this kind answer.

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Laptop battery goes bananas

My Dell laptop battery is going bananas. I'm not sure what's really happened, but in the past three or four weeks, the battery life has gone from nearly two hours to only 45 minutes, right after being fully charged.

The laptop is about 18 months old. Since about five months ago, I started using a docking station at work. It pretty much charges my laptop every time I station it there - there's no option to unplug the power while using the dock. Before that, I always tried to "empty" the battery before I put the plug in.

The previous laptop, a Vaio, was even worse. Within two years the battery had pretty much gone; couldn't use it without plugging in the power. In this case, I also always tried to empty the battery before charging it.

Somehow I think using up the battery before charging it will keep the battery lifetime long. Like what people say about cell phone's battery. But does it?

Here' what Battery University says about lithium-based batteries. I'm too ignorant to check what kind of batteries there are for laptops and cell phones, but I assume most, if not all, of them are lithium-based.

Battery University? Yes. "Battery University is an on-line resource that provides practical battery knowledge for engineers, educators, students and battery users alike. The papers address battery chemistries, best battery choices and ways to make your battery last longer."

The battery prefers a partial rather than a full discharge. Ah, totally the opposite of what I thought. It further says "A lithium-ion battery provides 300-500 discharge/charge cycles. The battery prefers a partial rather than a full discharge. Frequent full discharges should be avoided when possible. Instead, charge the battery more often or use a larger battery. There is no concern of memory when applying unscheduled charges".

A lithium-ion battery in use typically lasts between 2-3 years. So we should expect to replace either the device or the battery (which is also expensive) after a couple of years.

The speed by which lithium-ion ages is governed by temperature and state-of-charge, as shown in the table below. (got to click to see, it's too small!)


The voltage level to which the battery is charged is also important, but it seems to be out of users' control.

The university further provides simple guidelines to prolong the life of lithium-based batteries:

• Avoid frequent full discharges because this puts additional strain on the battery. Several partial discharges with frequent recharges are better for lithium-ion than one deep one. Recharging a partially charged lithium-ion does not cause harm because there is no memory. (In this respect, lithium-ion differs from nickel-based batteries.) Short battery life in a laptop is mainly cause by heat rather than charge / discharge patterns.

• Batteries with fuel gauge (laptops) should be calibrated by applying a deliberate full discharge once every 30 charges. Running the pack down in the equipment does this. If ignored, the fuel gauge will become increasingly less accurate and in some cases cut off the device prematurely.

• Keep the lithium-ion battery cool. Avoid a hot car. For prolonged storage, keep the battery at a 40% charge level.

• Consider removing the battery from a laptop when running on fixed power. (Some laptop manufacturers are concerned about dust and moisture accumulating inside the battery casing.)

• Avoid purchasing spare lithium-ion batteries for later use. Observe manufacturing dates. Do not buy old stock, even if sold at clearance prices.

• If you have a spare lithium-ion battery, use one to the fullest and keep the other cool by placing it in the refrigerator. Do not freeze the battery. For best results, store the battery at 40% state-of-charge.

Source: Battery University

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Kill the messenger!

No one wants to deliver bad news. Particularly to the management. The urban legend is, they will kill the messenger.

That was the mission last Monday - for my boss and me. I was pretty close to having some all nighters. I got sick; probably hoping there would be some empathies to a sick-looking messenger. I broke several promises to the kids. The whole week was just unproductive.

We didn't get killed. In fact, I would consider it a good day as we managed to catch the flight in Singapore despite getting off the presentation just 45 minutes before the departure time. The cab driver was comparable to Queen Latifah in Taxi. I was the last getting into the plane. My boss ran faster than I did. I guess it's time to hit the treadmill.

Penang

So I decided to take the Friday off to Penang with the whole family. Despite the long, four-hour drive, we had a good time. Good food, good fun, and good rest. My third time to Penang, and I'm still amazed that an island of 293 square-kilometers has a 65-storey building. As a comparison, Jakarta's area is 661 square-kilometers and Wisma BNI 46 is 48-stories.

I was probably the only United fan in the hotel bar. I'm pretty sure I was the only one jumping when O'Shea scored the goal, and also the only one left watching the post-game analysis. Whatever, it was a good game - for United.

Fire incident

Got a call from our neighbor on Sunday morning - bitching that we were still sleeping in Penang. One of the units on the ground floor of our condo building was on fire. Everyone was evacuated through the stairs, at 2 AM. Except my Iranian neighbor who decided to keep on sleeping (probably there were some others).

The fire was extinguished without any fire trucks entering the complex. Apparently, everyone found out last night, the building entrance is too small for the fire trucks.

Additional checklist the next time we move: is the building entrance big enough for fire trucks?

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Indexes drop and computer power

Major market indexes were down quite significantly, it seems, on Tuesday. Dow Jones closed 3.3% lower, while S&P500 and Nasdaq dropped 3.5% and 3.9% respectively.

For Dow Jones, particularly, a computer problem contributed to the speed of the drop.

It started with huge trading volume -- computer calculation lagged -- switched to backup system -- correction (~an hour of trading reported in seconds) -- market panicked.

Ouch.

The malfunction in the oldest, most established benchmark for U.S. stock prices shows how a technical fault can worsen a market decline.

"I don't think it would have been as bad had there not been some technology issues,'' said Kenneth Polcari, a managing director at ICAP Plc's equities unit who has traded at the New York Stock Exchange for more than 25 years. "The technology issues created some anxiety, which exacerbated the market's move.'' (Bloomberg)

I wonder if someone will soon sue for the loss...

The story from LA Times:

Dow Jones' troubles started about 2 p.m. Eastern time when computer systems were apparently overwhelmed by trading volume, causing the calculation of the widely watched industrial average and other Dow Jones indexes to lag behind trading, spokeswoman Sybille Reitz said.

Once Dow Jones realized that the indexes were lagging — that is, not properly reporting the extent of the market's decline in real time — executives notified the exchanges by phone.

About 3 p.m., Reitz said, Dow Jones switched from its primary server to a backup system, which rapidly caught up with the trading. The result was that an extended period of trading, perhaps the better part of an hour, was reported to the market in a matter of seconds, she said, making it appear as though the Dow Jones industrial average had lost nearly 200 points almost instantaneously. At one moment, the Dow seemed to be down about 280 points; when traders glanced back at their screens, it was down more than 450 points.

That seemingly unprecedented swoon apparently sparked some panic selling that in turn caused a logjam at the NYSE and other markets amid a high volume of trades.

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Main root of capitalism?

A valuable lesson, I guess. But on the other hand, and at the same time, it could turn the religious people into capitalist... or turn capitalism into a religion. Someone has summarized the story below: "pennies are a message from heaven... pick it up!"

.......

A man and his wife were invited to spend the weekend at his employer's home. She was nervous about the weekend. The boss was very wealthy, with a fine home on the water-way, and cars costing more than her house. The first day and evening went well, and she was delighted to have this rare glimpse into how the wealthy live.

The husband's employer was quite generous as a host, and took them to the finest restaurants. The wife knew she would never have the opportunity to indulge in this kind of extravagance again, so was enjoying herself immensely. As the three of them were about to enter an exclusive restaurant that evening, the boss was walking slightly ahead of his guests.

He stopped suddenly, looking down on the pavement for a long, silent moment. She wondered if she was supposed to pass him. There was nothing on the ground except a single darkened penny along with a few cigarette butts. Still silent, the man reached down and picked up the penny. He held it up and smiled, them put it in his pocket as if he had found a great treasure.

How absurd! What need did this man have for a single penny? Why would he even take the time to stop and pick it up? Throughout dinner, the entire scene nagged at her finally, she could stand it no longer. She casually mentioned that her daughter once had a coin collection, and asked if the penny he had found had been of some value.

A smile crept across the man's face as he reached into his pocket for the penny and held it out for her to see. She had seen many pennies before! What was the point of this?

"Look at it," he said. "Read what is says."

She read the words, "United State of America."

"No, not that; read further."

"One cent?"

"No, keep reading."

"In God we Trust?"

"Yes!"

"And?"

"And if I trust in God, the name of God is holy, even on a coin. Whenever I find a coin I see that inscription. It is written on every single United States coin, but we never seem to notice it! God drops a message right in front of me telling me to trust him. Who am I to pass it by? When I see a coin, I pray, I stop to see if my trust IS in God at that moment. I pick the coin up as a response to God; that I do trust in Him. For a short time, at least, I cherish it as if it were gold. I think it is God's way of starting a conversation with me. Lucky for me, God is patient and pennies are plentiful!

.......

Here's the official history of "In God we Trust" in the U.S. coins from the Department of Treasury...

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Mile-high scandal: increase the risk of air accident?

Another air incident, another sea accident in Indonesia.

We all might have heard that the probability of airplane accident, or crash, is much lower than the probability of (fatal) car accident. Steven Johnson's the Risk summarizes a study on this topic:

"...it would seem to be reasonable for those in charge of our safety to inform the public about how many airliners would have to crash before flying becomes as dangerous as driving the same distance in an automobile. It turns out that someone has made that calculation: University of Michigan transportation researchers Michael Sivak and Michael Flannagan, in an article last year in American Scientist, wrote that they determined there would have to be one set of September 11 crashes a month for the risks to balance out. More generally, they calculate that an American’s chance of being killed in one nonstop airline flight is about one in 13 million (even taking the September 11 crashes into account). To reach that same level of risk when driving on America’s safest roads — rural interstate highways — one would have to travel a mere 11.2 miles."

What if one drives in China? It might take only a short 2 miles to equal the risk! What if one flies one of the old aircrafts in Indonesia?

Regardless, is it really that low - one in 13 million? Statistically, perhaps. But for future forecast one must put the intelligence into it.

For example, if we will do some promotions three months from now, we gotta put in our best estimate of sales on that month, and not let statistical history figures forecast the sales. Especially if there hasn't been any regular promotion in that particular month in the past.

Through a friend who was visiting from Jakarta, I met these two Indonesian pilots of MAS and Lion Air (they were in the same company, Adam Air, if I'm not mistaken, before they parted their own way). It was around September 2006. Since these pilots haven't met each other for some time, they shared stories.

Apart from how the airlines industry has changed so much, their conversation was pretty much about flight attendants. Who slept with who. Who got this girl first. Who filmed who in what occasion. One even could persuade a flight attendant to sleep with him despite an approach from an Indonesian celebrity. And so on...

I've heard about this. But I've never heard directly from the one who did it. It was kinda fun at the beginning, but more of sick toward the end. With all my respect - what is wrong with the world?

A more recent one: "British actor caught in sky-high sex scandal." It was Ralph Fiennes in a flight on January 24, with a Qantas flight attendant who said:

"While conversing with Mr Fiennes during my break, I expressed a need to go to the toilet. I went to the nearby toilet and entered it, he followed me and entered the same toilet. I explained to him that this was inappropriate and asked him to leave. Mr Fiennes became amorous towards me and, after a short period of time, I convinced him to leave the toilet, which he did."

We can go into more detail... but I'd stop right here :)

It seems that when we fly, we are surrounded by more people who do adultery: some of the cabin crew and our fellow passengers, for relatively longer time.

Back to the intelligent forecasting. If we assume adultery is sinful and God will punish those who practice it, then won't it increase the chance of an airplane gets punished? If one can quantify the probability of getting punished because of sins, or being in the same place when the punishment happens, perhaps the one-in-13-million figure should be calibrated...

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Smacking and best/worst place for children

The irony of a recent UNICEF report is that the two, arguably, most pursued places for work are the two worst places for children to live - among wealthy nations. They're the U.S. and Britain, at 20 and 21 out of 21 nations.

The British government, of course, said that the data used by UNICEF was outdated. Duh!

The study was done in six main areas: (1) relationships, especially with their peers, (2) risky behaviour such as sex, drink and drugs, (3) children's own assessment of their happiness, (4) poverty and inequality, (5) education over the long-term, and (6) health and safety.

Overall rankings of the study is:
1. Netherlands
2. Sweden
3. Denmark
...
19. Hungary
20. United States
21. United Kingdom

When I first met our Iranian neighbor, I wondered why their parents migrated to and now live in Sweden. Now, perhaps this study answers my question.

Almost a third of British youngsters aged 11, 13 and 15 reported being drunk on two or more occasions, against just an average of under 15 percent in the majority of OECD countries.

But I guess this is not a surprise. Nor when the United States ranked 21 for health and safety...

Another article, however, disputes the results as some of these nations, and most notably the Netherlands being on top, have not banned smacking. I don't really have strong opinion on either way - ban or not ban. Because parents have more problems with smack down on TV...

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