The Diving Bell and The Butterfly

This is a book written by a French journalist - Jean-Dominique Bauby - about his own life true story.

It describes what his life is like after suffering a massive stroke at the age of 43 that left him with a condition called Lock-in Syndrome (mentally aware, physically paralyzed with the exception of some movement in his head and left eye).

It also details what his life was before the stroke. The book also records everyday events after the suffering.

The entire book was written by Bauby blinking his left eyelid to record the word he wish to write. The book took about 200,000 blinks to write and an average word took about 2 minutes.

The French edition of the book was published in Mar 1997. It sold 150,000 copies in the first week. The sad story is the author, Bauby died of pneumonia ten days after the book was published.

The film of the same was produced in 2007. You may be able to view the film in DVD.

Share Market Analysis

We have done a simple analysis on Asia Pacific region share market's index movement from the peak.

Singapore 3906.16 (10 Oct 07) - 2751.75 (20 Aug 08) down by 29.55%
Malaysia 1524.69 (14 Jan 08) - 1073.21 (20 Aug 08) down by 29.61%
Hong Kong 31958.41 (30 Oct 07) - 20931.26 (20 Aug 08) down by 34.50%
Australia 6873.20 (01 Nov 07) - 4997.50 (20 Aug 08) down by 27.29%

Based on the price on the date of peak, we selected major banking shares to do a comparison of their relationship to the respective indexes.

Singapore
DBS 22.30(10 Oct 07) - 17.96(20 Aug 08) down by 19.46%
UOB 22.90(10 Oct 07) - 19.20(20 Aug 08) down by 16.16%
OCBC 9.40(10 Oct 07) - 8.18(20 Aug 08) down by 12.98%

The banking's shares are performing better than the index.

Malaysia
MayBank 13.00(14 Jan 08) - 7.25(20 Aug 08) down by 44.23%
Public Bank 11.30 (14 Jan 08) - 9.95(20 Aug 08) down by 11.95%

The price difference of Maybank is affected by the recent rejection of takeover Indonesia bank by the government authority.

Hong Kong
HSBC 152.10(30 Oct 07) - 120.90(20 Aug 08) down by 20.51%
Hang Seng Bk 158.70(30 Oct 07) - 149.70(20 Aug 08) down by 5.67%

Similar as Singapore, They are doing well.

Australia
NAB 43.81(01 Nov 07) - 24.10(20 Aug 08) down by 44.99%
CBA 62.10(01 Nov 07) - 41.10(20 Aug 08) down by 33.82%
ANZ 30.54(01Nov 07) - 16.03(20 Aug 08) down by 47.51%
WBC 31.32(01 Nov 07) - 22.37(20 Aug 08) down by 28.58%

The index is performing better than banking shares which is difference from other Asia's indexes.

Our grand-daughter's swimming lesson

We have taken some photo on swimming lesson of our grand-daughter and her other activities.

The Giving Tree

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein


The story of this book is simple. It is about a relationship between a boy and a tree. The tree always provides the boy with what he wants. The tree loves the boy very much and gives him anything he asks for. Many years later, the boy, an old man, returns and the tree says,"I have nothing left to give you". The old man replies that all he needs is a quiet place to sit and rest. The tree happily obliges.

This story has generated controversy and opposing opinion for its interpreted messages. On whether the tree is selfless or merely self-sacrificing and whether the boy is selfish or reasonable in his demands of the tree.

There is even some have chosen to interpret the story in terms of the relationship between the human race and the planet. We have taken a lot of resources from the earth and not given anything in return.

We have two questions for the reader to consider:

• What is your view or your interpretation of the story?
• Would you consider to recommend this book to your children to read?

A Book for Mother

READING MAGIC: Why Reading ALOUD to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever

Bestselling author and literacy expert Mem Fox reveals the incredible emotional and intellectual impact reading aloud to children has on their ability to learn to read.

She says, young children should be given every opportunity to hear stories read aloud, so that they can follow along with their eyes and see the words appear on each page without having to slow down and struggle to figure out each and every syllable on their own.

The author cites the three secrets of reading as the magic of print, the magic of language and the magic of general knowledge.

The author tells us that reading aloud at least three stories to your children every day, from infancy on, without fail, will give them an abiding love for books that will help them to tackle reading on their own.

The above are abstract of the book from various reviewers. We recommend the book to parents who are interested to help their children in learning to read.

You may wish to visit her website regarding the books she has written.

http://www.memfox.net/mem-reads-aloud/

Technical Analysis-Coppock Indicator

Coppock Indicator is seldom used in daily technical analysis. It was designed to help long term investors in deciding when to step into the share market.

You may log into www.incrediblecharts.com/technical/coppock_indicator.php
to understand the wisdom of this indicator.

It has a solid reputation and has withstood the challenge of back testing data up to 100 years into history.

A buy signal is generated when the indicator falls below zero and subsequently starts trending upwards again.

Lately the indicator has turned negative last month for the first time since 2002, not only for the indices in US but also in Japan, UK and Australia. But we should not be excited because it may take 5 months to 12 months to reflect in the market after the indicator fall below zero.

Personally, we should monitor the global economic growth, fundamental analysis together with this indicator and wait until all the worst of the worst news have been priced into equity markets. Then the markets will start trending upward again.