Is WFP Redundant?

I attended the World Food Programme (WFP) talk last week to understand more about its mission and vision. WFP is one of the largest NGO that provides food aid to people all around the world, particularly Africa. Despite its high profile, it is ironic to find that many countries are not willing to support its cause. One of the main reasons, I am guessing, is that WFP’s mission is analogous to giving fishes to poor and able people rather than teaching them how to fish. In other words, its mission does not make its targeted population self-sufficient/ self-sustainable in the long run. Worse, it may make turn them into a bunch of lazy people who are heavily reliant on external help for survival.

I personally share the views of these countries. And I think we should be contented to find that there’s another UN agency, Food and Agriculture Organization that looks into teaching these people to be self-supporting. However, does this mean that there’s no longer any role for WFP in this world? Well, not really.

We have to understand that it takes time for the measures put in place by Food and Agriculture Organization to yield some results. During the period between implementation and outcome, we still need to provide food to these people and no other agencies can do the job better than WFP.

In addition, we have to consider situations such as natural disasters, wars, etc where the only viable option is to provide direct food aid to the victims.

A Quote on Balance

"There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year's course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word 'happy' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness." - Carl Jung

Carl Jung was an influential thinker and the founder of analytical psychology called Jungian psychology. As shown by the above quote, he liked to emphasize the importance of balance and harmony.

Wagamama and Green Teas

I had lunch with a friend at Wagamama last Saturday. We were amused to find that Wagamama charges for water but gives green tea for free. Given that one just need to turn the tap to obtain drinking water but need to add green tea powder to hot water to obtain green tea, we believe that Wagamama should do the exact opposite (i.e. charges for green tea but gives water for free). We tried to come up with several theories to explain the reason behind Wagamama’s practices. Here’s 2 of them:

1)The demand for water is way much higher than that for green tea in London. It thus makes perfect sense to charge for something that has high demand and provide something with low demand for free.

2)All Wagamama staffs probably drink green tea to quench their thirst while working. Since Wagamama has to provide green tea to its staff, it might as well extend it to the customers for free. Afterall, what is the problem of producing slightly more green tea?

If any of you have more plausible reasons, do share them here.

China's Role in Fighting Piracy

Due to its business model, piracy is like an infectious disease that can never be eradicated. Whenever companies implement new mechanisms to prevent piracy, it will not be long before someone comes up with a way to overcome them. Governments from around the world have also been doing their part in fighting piracy but to no avail. Does this mean we have no other options but to give up our fight?

Well, not really. Although the pirates are always able to stay one step ahead of us, this does not that the fight is over. There are still many things that we can explore to reduce if not stop piracy. And when it comes to government action, I believe no government can have a greater impact on the pirates than the Chinese government.

There are several reasons for me to make this statement. Firstly, the sheer size of China’s population means that the firm actions taken by the Chinese government on piracy can effectively starve the pirates of 1.2 billion customers. Skeptics may say that a large percentage of China’s population is still living below the poverty line and therefore should not be considered as potential customers. I don’t agree with this argument because here, we are talking about goods whose prices are so cheap that it is affordable even to the poorest segment of the Chinese society.

Secondly, piracy in China has evolved to such an extent that it gives the downloader of music/movies the impression that what he/she is doing is perfectly legal. By this, I mean that you can easily find and download music/movies from well-known websites. The excellent interface even allows one to sample the music first before downloading, to look for lyrics and even create a playlist of their favorite songs. Frankly speaking, I do not think there are many legal music/movies providers with such impressive and user-friendly interface.

Thirdly, China’s rising political and economic clout means that the number of people learning Chinese language is increasing rapidly. Consequently, the number of people that are capable of finding and accessing those pirated contents will also rise.

It is ironic and probably beyond the dreams of many artists, actors, actresses and directors that they have to depend on the Chinese for their very survival one day.

My Take on Obama's Copenhagen Trip

There has been a big hoo-ha on Obama’s trip to Copenhagen to do his bit for Chicago. Personally, I think that he should not have made the trip because of 2 main reasons:

1) It is a well-known fact that the Games have never been staged in South America and since Brazil is one of the participating countries for the 2016 Games bid, it is highly likely that Brazil would win the bid. Since that’s the case, the President’s trip to Copenhagen would not only be futile but would also waste taxpayers’ money (not to mention the contribution of the flight to the carbon output which he has been fighting to reduce all these while.)

2) There are many things in Washington that needs his attention. The healthcare issue is obviously one of them. Going to Copenhagen at such a crucial time would only give his opponents more ammunition to be used against him. As expected, many of them have started to say that this is indeed the behaviour of a President who doesn’t know how to prioritize.

Decisive Actions According to André Gide

"The most decisive actions of our life ... are most often unconsidered actions." - André Gide.

André Gide was a French Author who won a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1947.

Volunteer for the Sake of It

I attended the volunteering fair organized by my school 2 days ago. I have to say the large number of students who are eager to provide their service to all these organizations amazed me. However, I felt a tinge of sadness as I strolled pass each stand. Questions such as how many months do I have to volunteer and can I end my voluntary work early were repeatedly asked by these students.

Clearly, the students had been drawn to this fair because of the prospect of improving their CVs and were not really keen to render their service because if they were, they would not have asked such thoughtless and insensitive questions. For a moment, I felt like telling these people off but I also know that it is human nature to be selfish.

For all readers, I just would like to say that volunteering is a lifelong activity and requires commitment. If you are unable to do so and are interested in only short-term goals, please refrain from volunteering yourself. Failure to do so will only end up hurting the beneficiaries of your work.

The Right Proposal on Prison Terms

In a recent article posted in BBC, I read about a certain group that is proposing that the relevant authorities scrap short prison terms such as 1 year and replace them with community punishments because they have no effect in reforming the criminals. The group further justifies their proposal by saying that it will reduce the overcapacity that many prisons are facing.

I am very worried of this proposal because it is simply wrong to allow criminals to go back to the community where they committed their crime without them bearing any significant consequences of their actions. It is akin to allowing one’s child to continue playing even after he obtains poor grades for his study.

I am surprised that such proposal is deemed to be worth mentioning. If short prison terms don’t work, increase them, not scrap them. If there’s insufficient capacity, increase them, not free prisoners earlier.

Insightful Statement by George Bernard Shaw

"Do not do unto others as you would that they would do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same."

George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright who had written more than 60 plays. Until now, he is the only person who has been awarded a Nobel Prize and an Oscar.

The tale of Working Hours and Shadow Economy

It is interesting to note that one of the policies ever considered to reduce the size of the shadow economy was reduction of working hours. At that time, policy-makers thought that the main reason people didn’t want to work in the official economy was the long working hours. By reducing the working hours, they believed they would be able to encourage people to move from the shadow economy to the official economy.

What they didn’t realize was that by reducing the working hours, it caused more people to seek additional jobs and most often, they found those jobs in the shadow economy, resulting in its further expansion. It was only a while later that somebody proposed the implementation of flexible working hours, something which we now thought as common sense but apparently, was not so in the past.

Benefit and Cost of Hotels Using White Bed Sheets

Have you ever wondered why hotels use the same white bed sheets as hospitals? Well, I have. I always find it strange that despite the big difference in the nature of their businesses, they have similar taste for bed sheets. For a hospital, it’s fine to say that they are using the same type of bed sheets as this/that hotel. As a matter of fact, it may even boost their popularity because people always want the best for their sick family members. But for a hotel, it definitely can’t say that it is using the same bed sheets as this/that hospital because hospital has a certain negative connotation when used.

It appears that the objective for using white bed sheets is to show customers that the hotel/ hospital is very confident of its level of cleanliness because one can easily spot a speck of dirt on white sheets. As to why hotels do not use other colours that are more aesthetically-pleasing and at the same time, avoid being compared to hospitals, I believe many hotels tried to do that before. However, the benefits of using white bed sheets far outweigh the cost of using them.

In addition, they are other methods to make a bed looks more pleasing other than the color of its bed sheet. An example is to use a bed cover with a different color. Nowadays, some hotels also put long cloth with nicely embroidered design on top of beds that can be removed when one wants to make practical use of the bed.

Interesting Comment by an Anonymous Individual

I saw this on an introductory statistics textbook and was amused by it:

"If you bet on a horse, that's gambling. If you bet you can make three spades, that's entertainment. If you bet cotton will go up three points, that's business. See the difference?"

Meaningful Quote by Artemus Ward

"It ain't so much the things we don't know that get us in trouble. It's the things we know that ain't so."

Can China Accept the Effects of Increasing Usage of RMB Globally?

I read an article in the Economist today which says that the Chinese government has a desire to increase use of its currency for international trade and finance. I must say I am really amazed by this desire because it simply means that the government must loosen its monetary policies, particularly those with regard to foreign exchange. For a long, long time, the government has kept a tight control on its monetary policies to promote export and for fear that foreign agents might manipulate the value of RMB. It isn’t easy to bring a large amount of RMB out of China and until a few years ago, it wasn’t even possible to exchange RMB to another currency freely in China.

With the about turn, it seems that the Chinese government has changed its mindset because increasing usage of a currency globally will without doubt mean that the particular currency must be revalued (something that the Chinese government has been dragging all the while because of its negative impact on export) and will be more susceptible to external manipulation (essentially losing absolute control of its currency). The Chinese government must be very confident that its huge reserves will be able to counteract any ill intent towards the RMB.

The Need for Trade-Off: What I Like About Policy Formulation

“If our contribution to health care reform exceeds $80 billion, you reach a point where you risk sacrificing someone’s job for someone else’s health insurance,” Mr. Ken Johnson, SVP of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America said about the Nelson amendment to the Health care bill.