Malaysian Oil Palm Industry fighting EU sanctions

Solar Panel installation of the Plantation Industry – planting/energy coexisting

Rightly or wrongly, the oil palm plantation of South East Asia has been accused of flagrant violation of the environment in their quest of opening up the forest to plant oil palm. Especially of noted concern is the EU where most of the land had been open up decades ago for the planting of oil crop and ever facing with competition from the palm oil. And then there is the US lobby that has to handle the cries from its soya oil producers. But truth be told – palm oil is the most efficient form of food production. As the competition becomes ugly, dirty sanctions were mooted by the losers just to be able to survive from the palm oil onslaught but would they succeed? Not if the oil palm industry were to try a new tactic – that is to install solar panels on its land to create green energy.

When we refer to the plantation industry, we would normally visualize a large stretch of land planted with cash crops relevant to the particular region, thus it would be normal to visualize the bountiful harvest that we can produce from it. Looking from a different perspective, what would then be the view if we were to also plant long vertical post among the plants? It would be ugly to say the lest – however it would not only be the long vertical post but a post that have a cascading series of solar panels mounted on it as well! That in short is what we meant by ‘solar panel installation of the plantation industry’. It is not like you raze down the crops and plant it with solar panels! Although it is known that the vegetation industry have used lowly mounted solar panels over their food crops as a food/energy integrated system (agrivoltaic), there is no example of a highly mounted solar array onto plantations, especially the taller food crops like the oil palm. But let us figure out the benefits of solar panel installation on the plantations – why would we not incorporate energy generation together with the harvesting of oil crops and not having the crops being cut down? There is indeed a new industry – that of totally using the land for the benefit of the human race. Plantation together with energy production is the game in town – it will become a game changer no doubt. We are also aware that there is a risk in planting any crop, as the price for the produce fluctuates greatly according to the weather and demand. Wars and changing of regimes also will affect the price. Then there are floods and drought which will cause the price to increase.

Ultimately, we will need to find a way to address these problems. One of the best solutions is to solarize it by putting up solar panels to generate electricity provided we do not also cut down the crops. The agriculture sector is beginning to toil with agrivoltaic where solar panels are put up to partially cover the vegetable crops. The results so far are encouraging but more will be needed to be done – rearing of cows, goats, sheep and chicken among the space can help boost the income of the farmers while also harvesting energy at the same time. Indeed what we can do with agrivoltaic is truly encouraging but we need to do more. Farmers are really worried that their patch of land will be surrendered to the commercial sectors to solar energy generation. Fears of their crops being cut down are real so much so that farmers are organizing street protests to help preserve their way of living. But there is a win solution for the farmers and the commercial sectors that are championing green energy production. Installing solar panels of food cropping is the way – through this way, the food crops does not need to be cut down. Food crop coexisting with solar panels will be the best solution for everyone – but why did experts not thought about it? However for the idea to work, a specially designed mounting structure will need to be provided – this to mount the solar panels at the top of the tall tree. There will be investment of funds involved and it is not going to be cheap but as we scaled it up, it will become viable. And not only viable, we have to do it before large swath of food crop land disappears from this earth for the sake of cutting down our carbon footprint! The United Nations will need to take note of this endeavor.

This time we should tackle the problems of tall tree crops like oil palm and rubber. In particular we have the problem with tall trees as it is very difficult to harvest when the food or fruits are lying at a great height. Apples and oranges does not pose much of the problem as there are harvesting machines that does a great job but oil palm pose a very serious problem made worse because no one want to work in this back breaking job of cutting the fruit bunch from a great height. Installing solar panels on the plantation will now be described with the following drawings which depict the oil palm plantation in South East Asia but may also apply to other food crops.

Main reasons for the investment

1. Cost of solar panels is getting cheaper all the time

2. Cost of infrastructure is low

3. Maintenance fee is low

4. Newer models of solar energy is at the forefront – increase efficiency

5. To make oil palm industry really sustainable

Installing solar panels on plantations is a multi-faceted endeavor.

1. It helps to generate electricity.

2. It also helps to promote easier harvesting

3. It initiates the path towards automation.

4. It generates energy for own use thus starting new industry on site.

5. It will assist the oil palm industry to wean away from foreign curtailment.

6. The oil palm industry will experience a sense of resurgence.

7. Oil palm industry will begin to toil with green hydrogen generation.

8. Oil palm industry will reduce the migration to cities to get jobs.

9. Palm oil industry being the mainstay of Malaysian industry.

10. Countries go to war to obtain energy but Malaysia stay put to generate enough energy without the need to go to war (over the south china sea for example), and may even be able to export energy to her neighbors – in short, energy producers.

11. If there is such a thing like a Reverse IR 4.0, then the oil palm industry will be in the position as the main driver.

12. The oil palm industry will be Oil Palm Industrial Revolution 2.0

13. Oil Palm Industrial Revolution 2.0 – means food and energy security.

14. It will spur new industries like advance batteries, fuel cells and electrolysis.

15. Will help spur the hydrogen economy.

16. Will help spur fruit and fish/vegetable industry (aquaponics).

17. It will also open to the deployment of wind turbines.

18. It will also open new ways to plant oil palm – with automation in mind.

19. It will lead the way to plant forever height oil palm tree.

20. It will open up entry of more advance agrivoltaics (integrated vegetable and animal farming)

21. Most of all it will lead to the land worth ten times more.

The future

Let us all expect a better future for the oil palm industry by looking at ways to improve the marketability in view of the many sanctions by the western entities due to stiff competitions at their home grown oil crops. Let us all here also look at oil palm industry from a different perspective so that we can sense the other opportunities offered by the golden oil that was brought to our country many decades ago. Perhaps we should belief that the goose that laid the golden egg never dies but stay to bring it to another golden level. The future is Oil Palm Industry – we may have to look at full automation which in the eyes of the learned a fully achievable agenda.

One of the methods of installing solar panels on Oil Palm Estate

Another method of installing solar in Oil Palm Estate

How much power generated per tower?

One single tower will produce 2k W/day

140 towers from one hectare will produce 280 kW per day (8 hours of sunshine)

10 hectares will produce 280 kW per day which can operate a small factory.

It is stipulated that a system of storage battery be used (cheap refurbished lead acid car battery) to store power. There is also another aspect where solar panels have increased efficiency or made from new material.

This proposal is strategized and created by PatentAgentip for the plantation industry. Patent right applied for the framework and methodology.

Contact : terry@patentagentip.com © patentagentip 2024

How to age gracefully!

Just 5 minutes a day - how to age gracefully!

You are what you eat - and what you eat matters!

To be young is healthy and to be old unhealthy – but we can’t be young forever. As the saying goes “you are what you eat” it would not be too far off to say that we normally eat all we can to become unhealthy. Yes, if you want to stay healthy you must control what you eat - normally we have to cut down on carbohydrates, fats and to some extend proteins. It is not practical to drastically cut down on that food but it would be reasonable to reduce it by at least fifty percent, more so for carbohydrates. Prevention is better than cure and so we have to start when we were young – so that we stay healthy when we have aged. Treating diseases is a costly affair and all governments know that so we have to start eating the right food as early as possible so as to prevent us becoming a statistic of the unhealthy when we age. What matters is not only what we eat but we have to exercise our body so that its components (muscles) don’t become useless.

Yes, you just need to buckle up for 5 minutes to stay away from illnesses. When you wake up in the morning, cleans yourself and go for your morning workout. You can also do it in your house if need be. Just 5 minutes getting your blood flow again is all you need.

How to stay fit at 70?

You just need to walk (with arm actions) for ten minutes - thats all. And while walking, raise both your hands up and tuck in your stomach while taking a deep breathe. But be careful as doing this will unbalance you, so take your time to do it slowly just to steady yourself before you quickened your pace. Breathing in will greatly release the tension that you have in your stomach region. Raising your hands up and taking in a deep breathe will help ease the flow of 'CHI' in your gut region. Doing it in the morning will give you jest for the rest of the day! And don't believe that you need to do an hour of exercise, just do ten minutes of walking and breathing in will do the trick. Of course you will need to be careful with your eating for if you take in too much garbage you will find yourself retaining most of the toxic elements in your body - and on a long term basis, will get you sick. Always eat enough to give yourself energy and warmth and stay away from oil fried foods that your stomach will not be able to digest.

Now build up your muscles before you do strenuous walking And you need protein to do that.Protein is a nutrient for building the human body, and vital for maintaining and repairing tissues, as well as making enzymes, hormones. It forms an integral part of the bones, muscles, cartilage, skin, and blood. Also, the body does not store protein, which is why it is essential to consume it regularly in your diet. However there are good protein and bad protein! Good proteins are rich in essential amino acids and are easily digested and absorbed in the body - lean meats, poultry, fish, dairy, nuts and legumes. Good proteins which are low in saturated fats will help prevent conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. Now what about bad proteins? Bad proteins are highly processed or high in saturated fat, which can prove harmful to your health, increasing the risk of heart disease, kidney problems, and other health issues – examples are sausages, bacon, and deep-fried snacks. Elderlies should eat more protein to prevent their muscles from shrinking. Wasted muscles will prevent you from being mobile.

Now what happens when you walk? There is a good reason for people to exercise and to stretch their muscles – the more the better because muscles will shrink if they are not activated and certainly it will wilt with age. As we age, and because of muscle atrophy, the muscles will become thinner and in most cases will decrease in muscle mass which will result in difficulty in mobility – thus will require human assistance or equipment designed to help the body to be mobile. Furthermore, our society has been addicted to sedentary way of life, which inevitably will result in severe muscle loss. Thus the habit of choosing to be sited most of the time will really encourage the body to be lazy which will also result in us gaining weight. Walking is the best form of exercise that can prevent cardiovascular diseases among inactive individuals. Moderately paced walks stimulate the release of a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF, that is key to the survival of existing brain neurons and the generation of new ones.

Walk backwards? You might think walking backward is crazy but a study by Janet Dufek, an expert in biomechanics at the University of Nevada in the US, has been researching backwards locomotion for more than 20 years. She and her colleagues have found walking backwards for just 10-15 minutes per day over a four-week period increased the hamstring flexibility of 10 heathy female students. Additionally, doing it will strengthen the muscles in the back responsible for spine stability and flexibility. Dufek also concurred that backward walking has some benefits relative to lower back pain simply because you're stretching the hamstrings. Often one of the pieces that's tied to lower back pain is tight hamstrings. As well as athletes, retro-walking has been found to benefit the elderly, young, obese individuals, sufferers of osteoarthritis, and post-stroke patients with walking impairments. Now that is plenty to think about.

Perhaps the most exciting finding is that aerobic forms of exercise (including brisk walking) likely help facilitate the growth of new neurons,” says Patrick Smith, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Walking increases the flow of oxygen and nutrients to the brain, which can open the gates to enhanced creativity and thus increased memory – also a decrease ofcognitive decline. This is important for an aged society. Walking will induce the brain to release more endorphins which will help in pain relief as well as to give a euphoric feeling. In Malaysia, in a national wide survey conducted in 2019, it showed of a rising trend in obesity, increaseg from 15.1% in 2011 to 17.7% in 2015 and thence to 19.9% in 2019. It would be wise then to promote people taking up exercises in their daily lives or at least during their rest days. They will owed it to themselves to keep a healthy lifestyle if not for their own pocket or for the sake of the country not wasting money curing of their diseases – diabetes, high blood pressure, kidney dysfunction, stroke and other non-infectious diseases.

above photo --- author (aged 70+) jogging. _________________________________________________________ You may even do it at home if you are not able to go out walking! That's important because not everyone will have the opportunity to exercise outside their home. In fact you must at least have a suitable environment at home to exercise - you can strecth your muscles and help them grow. More importantly, you must have a regime that moves all your muscles - so when you strecth your leg muscles you must not forget to also strecth your hand muscles and your neck muscles! But in order to do it whitin ten minutes, you will need to be inmaginative about it. Maybe watching youtubes may give you the right idea. The luxury of having to climb up the stairs People normally find climbing up the stairs a strenous exercise and chose to take the lift if possible. But actually stairs is a gift from god - anyway it is not a gift if you are burdened by a weak muscle. For the ake of your health, do take the stairs instead of taking the lift because by way of climbing up the stairs, you will gain in terms of a stronger heart and a more capable leg muscle. Think about your health when you are facing a lift as you will be better off if you will take the stairs. It would even be better if you have stairs at home for you will have the opportunity of exercising your leg muscles by frequently climbing up the stairs. Same as you are going down the stairs for you will be exercisisng the opposite set of muscles - please treat it as a free exercising outfit. Besides getting a stronger leg muscle, you will also be able to strengthen your heart muscles but before you climb up the stairs, go tuck in your stomach and take a deep breathe - this to increase your blood oxygen level.

When is the best time for you to perform? What is the best time for you to paying attention, learning, making complex decision and solving problems? According to experts who used models to research on the best time for doing anything, it was found that there were 3 types of people, one called larks, another called owls. The larks are the morning people who perform best in the morning. An owl works best in the late of night. Yet another group belongs to neither the larks nor the owls and they generally perform according to whether they woke up in the early morning or late morning. All these happen due to their Circadian Rhythm which is another term for their internal time keeper. So, according to the experts, you should be aware of whether you are the larks or the owls and you should try to perform best during the best time of your rhythm – and it does make all the difference!

Healthy Aging How do you stay fit even when you have aged? Recently, a group of scientist got a breakthrough as to how to stay able body through the eighties and beyond. They found a unique group of cells that contributes to the aging process in particular some spinal cord cells that becomes toxic through the ages. So they fed it with vitamin C and they found the toxicity was lowered the result is that the aged are able to use their muscles to perform in the usual way. hus if you want your body to perform in peak condition, you will need to maintain a certain amount of vitamin C in your body - in fact you will be better off if your body have a certain aoumt of vitamin C for twenty four hours! There is no need to take a large amount of vitamin C (like 1000 mg) as it is easily discharge out through the urine - it will not remain in the body for long. And yes, vitamin C does not drive away the cold but rather they acts more like an antioxidant which prevents your body cell to be non toxic. Well, now you have a remedy for staying body capable - the research shows that as your spinal cord cell becomes toxic, it will affect the way you move your muscles. Old age can be beautiful if only you know how!

Are you always forgetful? Well there is a cure, in the form of practicing Tai Chi Qian (a form of Chinese slow exercise) during the morning hours. Twice a week will do the trick but if you do it every morning, then you will also be able to keep your balance and prevents a fall. No joking, this is one of the tricks that researchers have found to actually work – and you don’t have to take any medicine! According to Dr. Elizabeth Eckstrom, “you’ve basically given yourself 3 extra years of staving off cognitive decline” if you do Tai Chi every morning. A person with cognitive decline can expect to lose on average 2 years of life before you touch that point where you virtually don’t remember what you did five minutes before. Tai Chi Qian is both an exercise and a meditative journey where you enable the flow of Chi from the stomach to your brain – which will improve your sense of balance and enhance the health of your body. You will not fall easily and that is a lot of good if you are in the aged category, again without the need to take in harmful medicines!

It's important that you eat the right kind of food too!

Why is gut health important? Digestive system problems such as heartburn, gas, nausea, bloating and constipation reflect what’s happening throughout your body, especially in your gut. “As we age, the natural cycles slow down and don’t work as well,” says Johns Hopkins gastroenterologist Gerard Mullin, M.D. The main changes in your gut are stomach acid (level), gut immunity and gastrointestinal flora—the complex ecosystem of bacteria in your digestive system termed gut microbiome. Scientist has acknowledged that the gut microbiome is the second brain and there is a form of communication between the gut and the brain so you will need to take care of your gut – by giving it suitable food as the microorganisms there also need food.

Alzheimer’s disease can cause by what you eat! According to research using gut microbiota transplants, it has been shown that memory impairments in human with Alzheimer’s can be passed on to the young (healthy rats). The research further implied that specific bacteria in the gut are directly linked to cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s patient. It would thus imply that both Alzheimer and other forms of dementia are directly related to the health of gut microbiome. But how does the health of gut microbiome be affected by what you eat? Understanding the role of gut microbiome during the early stages of dementia will bring about a right therapy for intervention to the onset of mind disease. In the research, rats that have microbiome transplanted from Alzheimer patient showed impaired memory behaviors. It is therefore important to know what goes on in our gut – in relation to what we eat.

Are you impacted by poor mood? Well, there is hope. Try eating dark choloate, the kind that contains little sugar! Nutritional psychiatrist Dr. Uma Naidoo recently spoke with CBS News about the things you should be eating to boost your health and you may be affected by the things she suggested. Dr. Naidoo recommended eating more fiber as it is important for maintaining proper gut functioning. Then, eat dark chocolate (with little sugar content)as it als contain fiber and serotonin. Serotonin combat depression which is a bane for most elderlies but do refrain from eating too much.But not just any dark chocolate, only natural dark chocolate which might not easily available. However, the experts warn that eating too much of dark chocolate may increase your accumulation of toxic metals like cadmium and lead!

Would you love to add years to your life? Here are 3 doable things that can add to your life – that is if you are fit enough to enjoy life! Healthy Heart As the heart is the pump to the system, we must do our best to keep it in good condition. Researchers have found that better heart condition will lead to slower aging. Here are 8 important points that can lead to a healthy heart. 1. Eat as much as you can whole plant based food – stay away from highly processed food. 2. At least one hour of exercise – mix strength training with cardio. 3. Keep a low body fat as excess fat can increase risk of chronic decease. 4. Avoid excessive LDL (bad cholesterol). 5. Eat just enough protein and fiber to balance bold sugar. 6. Enough sleep (will depend on individual) of 6 hours. 7. Stay away from nicotine and alcohol (no excess). 8. Stay away from high blood pressure (with medication). Remember though, healthy life is not a given – it is not like eating all you can.

What food to take to enhance the health of the gut microbiome? It has been determined from research (Graze University of Technology, Austria) that consuming fruits and vegetables can contribute positively to the bacterial diversity of the gut microbiome – a large range of different bacteria can add to the health of the gut system. In furtherance to that, it was found that a good agricultural practice can ensure plenty of useful bacteria – plant associated bacteria will thrive in a positive environmental microbiome. So eat more fruits and vegetables and less of meat to gain on body health.

Taurine to slow down aging Researchers at Columbia University have shown that having taurine in supplements slow down the effects of aging in test on mice, worms and monkeys. Now that is what you should be taking if you want to add a few years to your life. Taurine is an essential amino acid that plays a role in the body’s digestive , cardiovascular, skeletal, muscular and the nervous system – so you can see how important to have enough of it in your system. Taurine is found in small quantities in fish, meat and eggs and is also available from your pharmacist as a supplement. Take it and age gracefully but if you can’t find it then just take two eggs a day – that’s all! When you age, you accumulate damage DNA which can lead to mutations and also an increased risk of getting cancer. Taurine protects your DNA and have the capability to scavenge harmful free radicals. 1. Taurine helps in tissue repair and tissue regeneration 2. It helps blood pressure regulation, reducing heart problems

What about your drinking water - does it matter? To stay healthy, you will need to drink at last 3 big cups of it a day to stay healthy. Your body weight is at least 65% coming from water and you need to be able to furnish your body with water but not any water. Water from the pipe is supposed to be safe but in truth, they are not safe because they contain a lot of unwanted chemicals that can give you illness. A long term ingestions of these harmful chemicals can cause cancer. So in order to be safe and be able to live long you should only drink filtered water - do not trust pipe water even if the authorities deem it safe. Safe water are those that you have filtered and boiled - and try to avoid taking coffee or tea from the roadside stall as they are seldom treated.

New therapy for prolonging life? A new gene therapy could fix failing hearts - was developed by a team of researchers in Italy and the United Kingdom. The team of researchers said the therapy could reduce the heart's age by ten years. In January 20203, researchers from the University of Bristol and MultiMedica Group in Italy discovered a new anti-aging gene that has proven to reduce the age of heart cells by at least a decade. “Researchers have long suspected that people who live beyond 100 years old must have a unique genetic code that protects them from the ravages of old age,” wrote The Telegraph’s Science Editor Sarah Knapton. “Previous research showed that carriers of a variant of the BP1FB4 gene enjoy long lifespans and fewer heart problems,” Knapton added. The researchers found that by inject the BP1FB4 gene into the hearts of aging mice using a virus as the delivery method; it was found that BP1FB4 rewound the heart’s biological clock by the human equivalent of 10 years! The treatment also triggered regeneration of heart tissue when the new genes were introduced into damaged cells in the laboratory, it was noted to help return lost function through the building of new blood vessels. However, clinical trials will continue to ascertain whether BP1FB4 will indeed work.

Here’s how you could reduce your risk of depression Society is getting evermore complex and the stress of daily life is taking its toll on nearly everyone’s mental health. Depression rates are rising and things are really looking grim. Now what can you do to pep up your mood?

Nuts and more nuts will do the trick! Researchers have discovered that eating a handful of nuts a day can drastically reduce your risk of developing depression. Just how much risk can you reduce by eating nuts? A 18% lower risk of depression - or a 18% up your mood! It turns out that you can lower your risk of developing depression by a whopping 17% if you’re eating just a handful of nuts a day, which is a doable thing and not forgetting that there are other benefits to nut eating like you get more fiber, more protein and more minerals.

Scientist have found why we aged

What is the cause of aging? Repetitive regions at the very ends of chromosomes are called telomeres, and they're found in a wide range of eukaryotic species, from human beings to unicellular organisms. Telomeres act as caps that protect the end regions of the chromosomes, and they're worn down a small amount in each round of DNA replication - they get shorter and shorter and finally become useless. This shortening has been found to be associated with aging! So scientists are working out to prevent this shortening effect for they believe that doing so will help arrest aging - and they have found a solution! So wait for this miracle cure - no need to take drugs.

You are what you eat!

Well, not everyone believes in what they will become after eating a certain thing, right?

Indeed, food scientist have found that there is a great amount of truth in the saying. But you will not believe it because you would want to eat anything of your fancy. However, if you were to look at society, especially the more advance society, you will find that there are more obese people than thin people strolling round the streets. That is because people just do not want to stop eating their favourite food - most of their favourite food can be caterised as junk food. Scientist have found that you will get a healthier life if you stop eating junk food and instead eat more vegetables - right, eat more vegetabes as they will make your gut healthier which will mean your brain will get a healthier message. But to break into this routine is hard to do for the average guy. Do not wait until your body feels sick as there is very little time left to resuscitate your body to the health condition while you were much younger. It is also scaring to know that the younger generation is experiencing more cadiovascular diseases - the much fear of getting heart attack and its ensuing consecquences. But think of it, eating more vegetables is not a very hard thing to do.

Overweight? No problem - just take Ozempic or Wegovy!

It is been predicted by the experts that at least 90% of the US population will be overweight by 2030. So are we concerned? No, there is this easy way to weightloss - taking Ozempic or Wegovy. Just like that but indeed we are all very worried because people like to chose the easy way out - eat all we want and if conditions become bad, we just go for that medicine that is so easily available, albeit with a doctor's recomendation. Could the conditions get worse for the rest of the world? Yes, it is because of inflation and everyone gets a little bit less money to spend, the result is that everyone tries to stay home sitting in front of movies that have resulted in them getting sickness all over their bodies! However, it is not always doom as people can still do little exercises that can spurt their bloodflows and their Chi which will give them a healthy body. Yes, take care to doo the relevant exercises and also not to forget to cut down on your eating. Eating less and eating smart is the way to trim your body of fats - makes your gut feel healthy which will also make your mind healthy. So you don't have to go the Ozempic way - saves you a lot of money.

Relooking climbing stairs

Using the stairs is both a bane and boon! How is it? Well, for those who have to use the stairs, it should be a boon because it is daily dose of flexing your muscles, in particular the glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, calves, and core muscles. Furthermore, if you climb the stairs everyday (for those who are fortunate enough), you will invariably benefit by improving cardiovascular health and burning calories to building endurance and strength, which will get rid of those puffing and groining when you try very hard to go up the stairs. And what about if you have to take the lift to go to your office – well, don’t be lazy and take the stairs instead. You will not have to fear of catching the flu when you take the stairs – just imagine you don’t have to share the foul air in the lift with the other occupants!

However it would be a different case if you are aged as your muscles are not that flexible to take care of the stairs. Still, if you are used to it then there won’t be any problem but you will have to climb the stairs at a slower pace because you can’t afford to miss the step or else you will injure yourself or worst still, break your legs. But there is often a rule as far as climbing the stairs is concerned. It should be every pace counts and not hurrying to get to your destination. There should be something like conscious breathing, pace yourself every step – it would be the same when you climb down the stairs as well. However, architects should redesign the stairs to incorporate safety measures because no body, whether you are young or old to misstep the stairs and injure yourself. Things like a safety harness that automatically straps you on a cage like contraption might be useful. Come to think of it if you can afford to climb the stairs five times a day (for a double story house), you will stay healthy until your nineties!

Computing Work

It is now common for the elderlies to use computers – either to do work or read or play videos. Doctors also advise to take a break as often as possible because sitting for long doing computing work will prevent from proper blood flow – it is also bad for the Chi which does not flow properly. We all know that bad blood flow can cause certain fats to build up in our arteries thereby causing cardiovascular problems - slowing down blood flow can triggered fat deposit on the vascular walls. It goes to make it a habit to take breaks after a fifteen minutes work so that we can remain healthy. You will also don’t have to feel pains on your body as your muscles remain flexible. Doing five minutes workout can often keep you alert especially when you have taken a heavy meal. It is also a good advice for those who play table games like mahjong and card games to take a break after each game so that blood flows remain normal – it is a good habit that is often forgotten.

Children make my day

It is often found that elderlies stay alone or with their spouse in their house as most of the children have gone to work in out of town. Being lonely is the norm but has it to be like this – bear in mind that most of the developed world is facing having an elderly society. Children, because of their playfulness can have a positive mood for the lonely. Society should make it a point to get children to mix with the old so that it can bring a sense of usefulness to the olds. Interacting with children, especially for those that are between 2 and 8 years old can bring about a happy society; moreover, it can bring forth a sense of usefulness because there is this implicit duty of teaching the young. Holding the hands of the young can triggered off a sense of relationship to society and being able to carry the young tots can give a sense of responsibility that often enough the elders will miss. Especially designed playgrounds should be mandated because having it can give opportunity to the elderlies to have a meaningful life.

Zoom with friends

Well, when you grow old you will probably have fewer friends to interact with. Regardless, you can still make the better of it if you can’t seem to be able to go out there and meet up for you can now meet your friends through Zoom Meet. Right, of course you have to learn how to use the computer or else turn to your mobile phone to meet with your friends. Not only you can meet your friends or recent acquire pals, you can also do other things while conversing with your pals – right, you can even have a beer drinking session or a whisky bout. Zoom allows you to connect with your pals through the internet, right in your bedroom if you want. You can even have a nudist session if it favors you but seriously speaking, you would most likely want to meet your pals to chat about everyday happenings (things that you consider good gossips). However, zooming is not the normal thing that old folks do – you do need to have someone to suggest it. Still, if all things taken into consideration then Zooming is the most affordable course to participate – just imagine how much it will cost you to drive (or ride share) to the other side of town!

How to test whether you are as fit as you were when young? A simple diagnostication is to see whether you are out of breadth when you reach the top of the stairs! Most will pant when they reach the top but some will seem to have more energy to go on. So if you belong to the former, fret not as there will be a way to redress your inner strength. Simply treat your going up the stairs as a way to keep fit; the more you use the stairs the better it is to keep fit. Climbing up the stairs does make use of your leg muscles and the more you climb the more your muscles retain its capability. You will realise now that it is of utmost importance to be able to walk and able to walk up the stairs at that. But if you find yourself at the bottom of the rung as far as doing walking exercise is concerned, and you are not alone, you will need to pay attention to exercise your leg muscles. As an important motive, there should be machines that will train your muscles to climb the stairs. Not only that there should be exercises that train your back steps on your way to climb up the stairs – if there is anything it would bring back your youth.

Taking a periscope view of Biotechnology

Touted as a savior to mankind, Biotechnology was ushered in as the next big wave. The year was 1988 and with the help of emerging digital technology, biological sciences were about to be redeveloped into something that mankind would never have imagined twenty years ago. Just reading the headlines would have put us in cloud nine. “Bio-technology-the new frontier to save mankind from famine, disease and old age” reads most news headlines. It was a time when computers were making the world smaller and communication technology was the great promise to waiting obsolescence.

Twenty years later and after touching double digit growth on a yearly basis, biotechnology seems to have promised more than it can deliver. Undoubtedly, biotechnology has progressed immensely. With the help of super computers, man has managed to identify all the human genes. The future looks promising. The time has come for man to design drugs that can cure stubborn diseases. We should be near the stage where human parts can be grown in labs and food to be churned out from laboratories. Food supply would no more be concern, whatever the weather takes. And we would have no more fears for those super bacteria and viruses that seem to be able to mutate.

But alas, with the world under the spell of recession, where money is in short supply, concerns are mounting due to the cut back in venture funds affecting biotechnology startups. With funds shrinking, research and development in the bio-sciences has been shoved to the back seat. Adding to the problem is the mounting backlogs of patents waiting for examination. To be sure, millions of dollars are being wasted due to slow down of commercialization of university researches. With it, thousand of jobs cannot be realized. Still, hope is set on biotechnology with its many possibilities. No other sectors can even come near it. Just think about it; health, food and fuel will drive mankind to do anything to secure them. We will even go to war if any one of these criteria affects our future.

Bear with us

It is your concern. It is also our concern. Well, it is time to reveal what goes on at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). We are talking about the speed at which the department approves new seed; new seed here means biologically modified seed. They used to approve about five new seeds in a year, but of late, especially with the new Obama Administration, things are going slow. They now only approved three. And this has the big three firms going out making noises. Just imagine, we get five new seeds in a year. In a decade, we will get about fifty new ones. It took Mother Nature millions of years to give us those few cash crops like corn, rice and maize. So we are hastening the progress of mankind, or perhaps driving us faster into our graves!

The biotechnology crop advancement was started by Monsanto with its modified and fortified soy bean that can withstand herbicides . Since then, the biologically modified sector has mushroomed into a ten billion dollar industry, and probably will shoot even higher with world weather going into tail spin. The question that has all been put forward is how safe are these seeds? Are we inadvertently eating ourselves to destruction? To be certain, there have been no adverse ill effects, or at least no discernible ill effects. But we can never be sure. Just look at those super-bugs and the mutating flu virus. Things always have a certain trigger point, and we do not have the benefit of a longer term exposure of these modified seeds to know for sure that nothing bad happens.

But who really knows what happens behind those labs? Certainly, the big three, namely, Monsanto, Dupont and Syngenta won’t be telling. Too much is at stake. And the Agriculture Department? Well, it is much easier to play ball as well, rather then to go reverse pace. Indeed, the world’s survival will depend on biologically modified seed to overcome food shortage in the very near future. We just might have to take the risk. With climatic changes taking place in ever more countries, planting food crops might just be that riskier and big economies from the third world might not be able to survive a sudden change of weather. So is the supply of water becoming uncertain, which will immediately impact on the food chain. Unlike oil, we cannot store enough of it to mitigate hunger.

And the debate will go on. Will the third world countries take the risk of embracing modified seed for their crop industries? Time is of course running out fast. For one thing, the agriculture department will have to speed up their approval time for these new seeds, never mind whether who ultimately owns the intellectual property of these new seed. However, with the debate on the viability of granting patents for genes, which will somehow impact on the future of these modified seeds, we will have to embrace ourselves for some sudden shake up of how things come to the marketplace. If we are weary of these new seeds, perhaps we should allow ourselves the opportunity to put planting first and then storing up these seeds for the time when natural seed can no longer exist, due to one reason or another. When we are faced with hunger, then bad things don’t count!

The China Asean AFTA: will there be turmoil?

January 2010 was a milestone of sorts. After years of negotiations, the China Asean free trade agreement (FTA) came into force. It was a grand plan of sorts. For a start, the whole market has a population of almost two billion people. For another, tariff barriers on 90% of the goods between the two regions were slashed down dramatically. The repercussion is that Chinese goods will have very little barrier in getting into Asean. And Asean goods will get easier entry into China. Well and good on the surface but when put into practice, the picture is full of discords.

When we look into the nature of goods from the two parties, we will be able to see what is going to happen. Take the example of consumer goods like rubber shoes (more appropriately called plastic shoes since the rubber parts have been mostly replaced by plastics), we have countries like Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines producing quite a large amount mostly for domestic consumptions. Now, with reduced entry barrier of Chinese made shoes into Asean, these manufacturers in Asean will not be able to compete with the imports. The result; they would probably have to close shop, just like those in Malaysia.

What about the impact on China? Well, China says since they have the economies of scale, let them make the shoes and to make the equation look good, China says it will buy more of the raw products from Asean. So Asean has to restructure its economy to that of going back to selling raw materials like palm oil, timber and maybe some rubber (for making tires, not shoes). Like wise for other consumer products, there is no future for its manufacturing in Asean. For Asean, the future is going to be raw and semi-raw materials and maybe some high tech products that China might be willing to buy, not necessary to fill its needs (they do produce high tech products don’t they) but to make the FTA viable.

Out of all those important aspects of the FTA, one thing seems to be glaringly absent. That is intellectual property protections. Due to the low level of observance of intellectual property rights in both Asean and China and the lack of solid intellectual property laws and the diverse range of maturity among the group, no agreement has been reached on IPR and it might as well be. Perhaps there is no need for intellectual property protection here! China knows that it has the muscle to produce at the cheapest cost. If any member of Asean thinks that they can make cheap counterfeits of Chinese goods and sell it in Asean, then let them do it. Which obviously they can’t. On the other hand, China is not worried about buying counterfeit raw materials because the buying method is different from consumer products. They know that their money buys the real thing, so there is no need to observe intellectual property rights.

So what about the future? OK, it will probably take a decade to overhaul the marketplace. Asean industries that don’t have economies of scale will just have to wilt. In the meantime, China will have time to ride out the world economic recession. Never mind if the US buyers are not ordering; Asean will take up the slag. Ten years down the line, Asean would have revamped its economy to complement those of China. And there would be no reverse back. China in its part might dish out some investments in Asean on high tech products that have western intellectual contents. It would not be able to attract American investments on high technologies on its shore because it can’t guarantee western IPs in China.

As a result, some members of Asean will have high tech industries with American IPs and Chinese money and they would be termed politically correct. And America would be happy for staying out of the China circle with their IPs and still makes a sale to China via Asean. So will the Japanese, the Koreans and the Europeans stay happy following the example of the Americans? OK, it looks like the best of both worlds and trade war averted. What about India? Well, they of course will gain on receiving outsourcing jobs from the industrialized countries. What more do they want? As for Brazil, Russia and Mexico, probably small investments from the west to keep them in the picture and not allow them to rock the boat!

Is ACTA in contravention of basic human rights?

As far as Europeans are concerned, they have it enacted in the laws that says everyone have a right to be heard in a court of law before they can be deem to be convicted of any crime, and that they are entitled to a fair and public hearing. Not only that, they must be given a reasonable time to be heard by an impartial body dully sanctioned by the state.

According to news going around the blocks, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) that is being championed by the US and gaining momentum with many nations agreeing on changing their copy right laws in support of copyright holders, specifically music and video producers, is being challenged by law groups who said it contravenes basic human rights if it were to be adopted.

With the adoption of ACTA, service providers will be given the onus to cut off the lines of customers who are suspected to have illegally downloaded copy righted files from the internet. This power if enacted will however clash with the basic human right law enacted by many states earlier. If the American First Amendment Law were to be taken at face value, then ACTA will surely be deemed as illegal and unenforceable in the US Courts.

Who is wining the music download game?

It used to be in the news everyday: the music recording industry searching every where to find file infringers and bringing them to court. That was 2008. Then, it was the illegal music down-loaders that were targeted. Most of them caught were students who found the university’s servers to be convenient places to do peer to peer down loads. The university servers did offered the students an anonymous internet protocol (IP) address to illegally download music and movie files. It was a laborious method to track down people. But still, a few thousand down loaders were identified, including innocent housewives who don’t do any internet activities! There was a big hue and cry then when the music owners dragged the illegal file sharers to court. Incidentally, most of them were college students and the affected university authorities were caught unprepared. For the plaintiffs, it was an embarrassment as parents were yelling at their greed for money.

Now fast forward to 2010. There is a change in policy. Instead of tracking down the file sharers, the Record Industry of America is quietly making arrangements with university boards to install a music service program where for a small fee, students can legally download as much of the music as they like. They called it the ‘Choruss’ program. It is being tested in some universities and when it is accepted and proved workable, it would then be introduced on a wider scale. And why not? Instead of being termed illegal file down loaders, the students can now get as much music as they want for a small price, and without the worry of being labeled infringers. Surely the parents would have approved of it. Well, if you can’t beat them, join them! That is the way to make money, not using the big stick to drag people to court. In a similar fashion, the same scheme should be extended to the man in the street as well. Thanks to Apple’s pioneering of less than a dollar piece of legal music, the rest of us will hear less of people being dragged to court.