|
Family Money: Trading on Logic - or Instinct?
By Leslie
Wright,
Managing director of Westminster Portfolio Services (Thailand) Ltd.
Most investors tell themselves that their investment
decisions are based on sound logic and experience. According to
psychological profile testing, however, the reality is rather different.
For instance, imagine somebody gives you ฃ1,000
combined with the following bet: a 50/50 chance of getting a further
ฃ1,000 (option A) or the option to reject the gamble and be
guaranteed a further ฃ500 (option B).
Most people choose B - the guaranteed ฃ1,500.
But something odd happens when the same people are
offered a variant of the original. This time you’re given ฃ2,000.
However, you must choose between a 50/50 bet that takes away ฃ1,000
if you guess wrong but that leaves you with the ฃ2,000 if you guess
right (option C); or (D) a certain forfeit of ฃ500, leaving you with
ฃ1,500.
This time most people choose C, the 50/50 bet.
In all cases, the probable outcomes are the same as the
guaranteed outcomes: the average person will end up with ฃ1,500, no
matter what he or she chooses. But when the choice is between a certain
versus a possible gain we tend to avoid risks, and then when the choice is
between a certain versus a possible loss, we switch to seeking risks.
To understand this reaction, imagine you have a simple
attitude towards money: more is better. If someone gives you ฃ100,
you’re ฃ100 happier. If they give you ฃ200, you’re twice
as happy.
Except that real people aren’t like that. How they
react to the offer depends on how they perceive the default. In the first
example, the default thinking seems to be that you are lucky to have
ฃ1,000 and a guaranteed ฃ500 on top of that is no bad thing.
You are averse to risking more for a further gain.
In the second example, you have already mentally
pocketed the ฃ2,000 and must take on risk in order to avoid a loss.
Researchers into financial behaviour think this
explains why so many people sell their winning stocks and keep hold of
their losers even though share prices move up and down randomly. Investors
are happy to take on risk to avoid realising losses, but less keen to hold
on to shares that have risen, because that jeopardises gains already
mentally banked.
The outcome is that they sell their winners and keep
their losers. But if share prices are unpredictable, then a greater
tendency to hold on to shares that have fallen while selling those that
have risen is arithmetically certain to lose you money in the long term.
Early humans had little to gain and plenty to lose from
taking risks, unless their backs were truly against the wall. Even in
today’s world, those two proverbial birds in the bush are only worth
more than one in the hand if the risk-adjusted returns are higher. For
early men and women, who relied on that single bird to nourish them until
the next unknown meal, taking needless risks would have been pure folly.
Our different attitudes to the prospect of further
losses, relative to further gains, ties in with a recurring theme of
evolutionary psychology. We are born bench-markers.
Try this simple test example: Is the percentage of the
Texas population that is of Latino origin higher or lower than 15%? Make a
note of your estimate. Now switch your demographic intuitions to
California. Is the percentage Latino population higher or lower than 40%?
Again make a note of your estimate.
Researchers have found that we sometimes use arbitrary
marks in the sand to get our bearings. Benchmarking would have made huge
sense for people foraging around landscapes and trying to find their way
back to base camp. But it’s no way to navigate modern stock markets.
Let’s return to our Latinos in Texas and California.
Did you make different estimates? The correct answer for both states is
32% (according to the 2000 US census.)
If you gave a lower estimate for Texas than California,
you might have been swayed by the 15% and 40% benchmarks. But I just made
them up.
Psychologists have tested this theory more rigorously
by asking different groups of people identical questions such as, what
proportion of the United Nations countries are African? When different
groups are first asked to compare their answer with different benchmarks
(50% or more? 30% or more?) their average answer also varies.
People assume that the benchmark contains useful
information or they are biased by first impressions. They then anchor
their replies to that implicit guidance.
Public relations firms know this all too well. That’s
why they encourage companies to report ‘headline earnings’ or
‘pre-exceptional’ profits, because these page 1 figures nudge the
brain to view more favourably the real figures hidden away in the depths
of the report.
Now ask yourself what real information there is in a
firm’s historical share price. Chartist superstitions apart, the
evidence is that the five-year high and low of a share can tell you
nothing about its likely course. Previous share price highs are arbitrary
benchmarks that will mislead unwary investors.
The next question is to think about personal wealth and
ask yourself: How much is enough?
It’s another ill-posed question which eludes a simple
answer. The most common approach defines “enough” as whatever other
people will settle for (plus a little bit more). The effect of this
attitude will be to ratchet up our material well-being and motivate us to
defend what we’ve got.
Keeping an eye on other people not only resolves
ill-posed problems, it also solves practical ones like “How do you do
that”?
Imitation and a concern not to be left behind can spark
off competitions that boost productivity and innovation for everyone. Yet
they can easily trigger irrational booms (and busts). You watch your
neighbour growing richer and your judgment about how much is enough begins
to change. The only way to keep up with the Joneses is to imitate them,
even if that means running the risks they run. The catch is that someone
else is using you as a benchmark, and the bubble begins to inflate.
Successful investors separate these two biases of
benchmarking from others and learn by imitation. But learning from others
is a double-edged sword: other people’s behaviour is often a good model
to follow, but occasionally disastrous.
One way to eliminate the risk of going over a cliff
with the Joneses is to decide for yourself how much is enough, and stop
there.
Snap Shot: Lights, Camera, Action - the great pioneer
by Harry Flashman
Action photography is a specialized business, with
today’s action photographers bringing back graphic images of ski jumpers
caught in mid air, motorcyclists scraping the tarmac, and even speeding
bullets. This requires split second timing and shutter speeds measured in
thousandths of a second. Shutter speeds of this degree of extreme speed
are fairly recent developments, so it may come as a surprise that the
‘father’ of action photography was a Frenchman who was born in 1894,
who when 11 years old was taking action shots. And these were not taken
with split second shutter camera, but rather the old black cloth over the
head and focus on the ground glass screen jobs!
Jacques-Henri Lartigue is his name, but he has long
departed to visit the Great Darkroom in the Sky. This guy was a child
prodigy. When other six-year-old children were bouncing their balls in
Paris, J-H Lartigue was experimenting with photography.
Now there were others around the early 1900’s who
were taking photographs as well, but J-H Lartigue’s special gift was
“action” photography. He was a great individualist taking photographs
of “everything which pleases me, everything I am keen on, which delights
or amazes me. The rest I let pass.”
Fortunately for us, he took plenty of photographs, but
the enormity of his collection was not discovered till 1963, by which
stage he had over 200,000 photographs catalogued in albums! On his 90th
birthday he was still snapping away and had a major exhibition in London.
What a wonderful tribute to the man, to have an exhibition when 90 years
old. Does photography extend one’s life? For my sake, I hope so!
But back to J-H Lartigue. He had the uncanny ability to
anticipate the exact fraction of a second which would “freeze” a
moment in time, for ever. That moment was probably only 1/300th of a
second, but he would capture the subject, mid-frame, as if posed in mid
air waiting for the shutter to click.
These days, even compact cameras have shutter speeds
faster than poor old J-H’s first cameras, and the top of the line
SLR’s have shutter speeds as fast as 1/4000th of a second combined with
motor drives exposing multiple frames per second. This makes action
photography today much easier than at the turn of the century. However,
there is still the need for “anticipation”, and that was Lartigue’s
great gift.
So let’s have a crack at some “action pix” this
week. The secret is to pick a subject where the shot shows that action is
truly occurring. This means you are going to record something that does
not happen when things are at a standstill. Now while this sounds obvious,
if you take a shot of a car going round a corner it will just look as if
the car is stopped in the middle of the road - no difference. But take a
motorcycle - it leans into the corner and you can see that it was in
motion. Or even better, riding through a puddle, with the spray coming up
from the wheels. People jumping convey movement too, or skipping rope,
water skiing, running or other physical activities.
Now what sort of shutter speed do you need to freeze
this type of action? Actually, not all that fast at all. Anything from
1/60th or better is fine. In fact I’d choose 1/125th if you’ve got a
choice of shutter speeds.
Select your subject and activity and start clicking.
The secret you’ll find when you review the results was not the shutter
speed, but anticipating the peak of the action! Finding the exact time to
push the shutter button takes practice because there is always a slight
delay between your eye seeing the moment, your finger pushing the button
and the camera doing its internal tricks to expose the film.
There’s only one way to find this out. Practice! Plus perhaps some
help from Jacques-Henri Lartigue!
Modern Medicine: SARS - are you at risk?
by Dr Iain Corness, Consultant
A current topic of conversation is the world-wide SARS
epidemic. SARS stands for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, and they had
to put the word “severe” in front of the title, or we would have ended
up with a most unsatisfactory acronym.
Are you likely to die from this new virus? Simple
answer is an emphatic no! At the time of writing this, there were just
over 2,000 cases reported throughout the world and the death rate was
around 3%. This does not mean that out of the next 100 people who walk
past you, three of them are going to die from SARS. It means that of the
next 100 diagnosed cases of a Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, three are
likely to succumb (if we haven’t managed to get an efficient treatment
by then). Put another way, 97% will recover.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about
10% of SARS patients go into a decline, usually around day 7, and need
mechanical assistance to breathe. The care of these people is often
complicated by the presence of other diseases. In this group, mortality is
high. This would include patients with other chronic diseases such as
diabetes, kidney problems, poor lungs (smokers!) or even AIDS.
Right now, one of the complicating factors is that we
do not have a 100% accurate diagnostic test for SARS. One reason for this
is that we have not (at the time of my writing this article at least)
positively identified the virus, but it appears to be a corona-virus.
So how do we diagnose this problem? The answer is a
combination of symptoms and circumstances. Firstly the patient has a high
fever, greater than 38 degrees Celsius, and has one or more respiratory
symptoms including cough, shortness of breath and difficulty in breathing.
Now I fully realise that is fairly typical of many respiratory conditions,
but don’t think you’ve got it yet! The diagnosis also requires close
contact, within 10 days of the onset of symptoms, with another person who
has been diagnosed with SARS and/or a history of travel, within 10 days of
the onset of symptoms, to an area in which there are a significant number
of SARS patients. By the way, by “close contact” means having cared
for, having lived with, or having had direct contact with respiratory
secretions and body fluids of a person infected with SARS.
So what can you do to make sure you don’t get it?
Well, unless it is absolutely necessary, take the WHO’s advice and
postpone travel to Hong Kong and Guangdong and other SARS affected areas -
Shanxi, Taiwan, Hanoi and Toronto.
There are also some simple precautions that you can
take, if you think you could be at risk. These minimise your exposure to
potentially infected persons and require personal hygiene measures and
personal protective measures. Obviously, avoid being close to people who
are already sick, and stand well clear of people that are coughing.
Surgical masks may make you feel “safe” but it is a false sense of
security without taking additional precautions. Basic hygiene is essential
in reducing the risk of virus transmission. Washing hands before eating is
essential and avoid rubbing your eyes. Smokers should wash their hands
before smoking as contaminants on the hands are easily transferred to the
mouth whilst smoking. Do not touch disposed tissues or handkerchiefs as
these may carry secretions with infected material. All fairly basic stuff.
However, right now, you should rest easy in your beds.
As I said at the beginning, your chances of getting SARS are not high and
your chances of dying from it even less.
 Heart to Heart with Hillary
Dear Hillary,
Hello Hillary, whoever you are. This is a sketch for a
painting I am doing of my imaginary you!
Dickens 44
Dear Dickens 44,
Hillary is so touched that I have managed to stimulate
someone out there to a higher plane, though I am a trifle worried about the
tassel on the beret and the hanging balls, my Petal. I must also mention that
it seems a fairly small bottle of Moet et Chandon, and whilst it is a nice
drop, which I have enjoyed many times, it should have been Veuve Cliquot
(vintage) to be more correct. I also prefer champagne flutes, rather than the
old fashioned champagne saucer. Petal, I do presume that is me on the left, not
the strange creature on the right that has a more than passing resemblance to
my friend Kevin. Whatever, I am very thrilled and humbled by your sketch. Thank
you so much.
Dear Hillary,
I came to Thailand intending to stay three months, but now I
want to go home to Ireland as soon as possible. I am a little shy to mention my
age, but I was born between the wars. Dare I say it, I’m blessed with
exceedingly good looks, rather modest in an old-fashioned way, great sense of
humour, intelligent, highly educated, kind hearted and a snappy dresser. On my
first night out I was very lucky to meet an attractive girl on her first night
in the city. She came from Udon Thani and her name was Noi. She fell for my
looks and charm. She kept blowing wind in my face and said many times, “I lub
you too much.” She bowled me over and within days we finished up in her Moo
Bahn in Udon, where the whole village came to ogle me. She then told me she
wanted to marry me and I told her I might consider it if she would agree to a
few of my suggestions. I dearly wanted her to stop picking her nose in public
and asked her if she would do the same in private. I then suggested we go
shopping. She blew on my cheeks, hugged me and said I had “jai dee too
much.” The shopping trip began with “Sister me boy friend hab Isuzu
pick-up” and I stood in amazement as the whole village and her 20 sisters had
parked themselves on the truck, while some of the children had lashed
themselves to the bull bars. I said, “Where do I sit?” Noi said that I
should follow on “motorcy Papa.” I began to think that this shopping safari
could cause a slight hiccup with my bank manager. Just then it happened. The
truck hit a pot-hole and with all that weight on board the result was the left
axle broke into many little bits. Shopping was put on hold and I could imagine
my bank manager giving me a wry smile. After a few days I began to get a little
disappointed with the whole affair and being woken in the middle of the night
with the cockle-doodle-do’s cockling, dogs barking, motorbikes revving up,
sticky rice and somtum daily, loud music, no hot water, creepie-crawlies and
Noi’s mobile phone constantly ringing. When I asked her who was calling, day
and night, she said it was her sister who worked in a bank in Bangkok. (I still
wonder why she always walked away somewhere quiet and only spoke in English.) I
then decided to call the whole thing off and went to Pattaya. Noi said no
matter what she still lubbed me too much and she would follow me in a day or
two. As I hadn’t heard from her after a week and I still cared for her I
decided to call her mobile. She said that her Mama was “Mai sabai” and it
may be a few more days before she would come. It was just then that I got the
shock of my life when this big Harley Davidson whizzed by with my darling Noi
astride the pillion with her arms tightly clutched around the long haired
driver. Needless to say, I was devastated and hurt and for a while suffered
from mild depression. To this day I don’t know why she would associate with
the looks of a man like that and give up a man of my looks, charm and
generosity. Over to you.
Caring Chris
Dear Caring Chris,
As you can see, I did have to shorten your ten page
letter and I hope you have it in your “Jai dee” to forgive me. I have read
your letter many times, trying to find the turning point in this relationship,
and keep coming back to the nose picking. You may not have noticed, while
spending so much time looking at yourself in the mirror to ensure you are
snappily dressed, that nose picking is considered something of an art form in
Thailand. Many males will even keep one long fingernail for that express
purpose. I also note that you have not totally believed in your Noi, and it is
this mistrust that caused your relationship to fail. Simple phone calls in
English just showed that her sister was practising her English too. Probably
all for your benefit so she could chat to you as well. Finally, the Harley
rider - are you sure the long haired person was a man? It was probably Noi’s
sister and they were on their way to pick up Mama’s medicine. You must learn
to trust people.
A Slice of Thai History: The Thai invasion and occupation of the Shan States, 1942-1945 - Part
2
by Duncan Stearn
When Pibulsongkram visited the occupied region in
February 1943 he was alarmed at the parlous state of his army and sent
orders for money, supplies and medical equipment to be sent from Bangkok
to Kengtung. On the 2nd of that month American fighter planes had
destroyed seven Thai planes on the ground at Kengtung. A month later
another raid saw one Thai plane destroyed on the ground.
By this time he had become disillusioned with the
Japanese alliance, and on this visit he made his first secret move to
contact the Allies by sending representatives of the Thai forces occupying
the Shan States to begin negotiations with the Kuomintang (Nationalist)
Chinese in Yunnan.
The Japanese, for their part, recognised the fact that
as Germany was slowly being beaten in the West, their own military
position was also being eroded under Allied counter-attacks and they would
have to honour their undertakings and grant as much of the territory
Thailand sought as possible.
To this end, the conquest of the Shan States was
enshrined by a treaty signed in August 1943. Thailand was granted the two
easternmost Shan States, re-naming the territory the United Thai State and
General Pin Choonhavan was appointed governor. Although this did not
please the Burmese, who were also about to receive a form of independence
under the Japanese umbrella, the Japanese argued that the British had
administered the Shan States separately from Burma and the Shans were
ethnically closer to the Thais than the Burmese.
At the same time, although Thailand desired the return
of certain territory in Laos and Cambodia, the Japanese alliance with the
Vichy French meant this could not be fulfilled. Japan instead returned
control of the four Malay states of Kelantan, Kedah, Perlis and Terengganu
(ceded to the British in 1909) to Thailand.
In reality, with the British going onto the offensive
in western Burma and the Americans moving steadily across the Pacific,
Japanese hegemony was crumbling with every new day. Leading Thai
politicians realised, as did the prime minister, they had allied
themselves with the wrong side and in July 1944 Pibulsongkram was forced
to resign. The new regime, aware that the Allies - and the British in
particular - were keen to punish Thailand severely for its alliance with
Japan, made it clear that they would renounce all claims to the Shan and
the Malay states once hostilities ceased.
Nevertheless, the Thai occupation of the Shan States
continued until the end of the war in August 1945. Although the vast
majority of Thai troops returned home after the war, a few remained to
marry with the locals, settling down in the Shan States.
Personal Directions: Positive feedback impacts our lives personally and professionally
by Christina Dodd
Managing director of Westminster Portfolio Services (Thailand) Ltd.
I asked an audience recently, “When a speaker or
presenter (anyone in front of an audience large or small) has done his or
her job well, why do we applaud?” They thought it was a rather basic
question that was very easy to answer (and guess what - it is!). They
offered answers like, to show appreciation, to give thanks, to give
encouragement, to give warmth, to show acceptance, to show respect and so
on. All of these are good positive feelings and emotions.
I then asked them another question, “If we want to
give all of these positive feelings, why then do some of us clap our hands
lightly and sometimes so lightly there is no sound; why do we look
disinterested and have dull expressions on our faces; why do we appear
negative and exhibit negative behavior if we wish to give a positive
message with all these positive emotions to the speaker?” They
couldn’t come up with any answers right away.
Why do you think this is so? I have seen this happen
with audiences in all sorts of situations and in all sorts of places and
countries. And having spoken to many people to try to find out why we
behave this way, I have found that a lot of people in giving
“feedback” to others, which is what applause essentially is, don’t
realize just how important it is to give “positive feedback”.
There are some of us who think that our half-hearted
efforts are good enough, but we probably wouldn’t feel very good being
on the receiving end of them would we? To my mind, in everything we do, we
should do it with one hundred percent effort or not do it at all. If a
speaker has presented well, then give them due regard and appreciation.
None of this finger tapping on the side of your glass, none of the
glancing at your watch and checking your next appointment, none of this
carrying on a conversation with the person next to you - get up there and
use both hands and make a noise with them! Spare a moment to give all
those positive messages - give them positive feedback.
So often we forget that as humans we crave emotional
charges which help us to feel fulfilled and to live our lives with meaning
and purpose.
We can give positive feedback in so many ways to the
people around us. Applauding with sincere effort is just one of numerous
ways to show all those positive feelings that really mean a lot to the
person on the receiving end. A firm handshake, a glowing smile, an
enthusiastic wave, words of encouragement, a phone call, a simple wink or
nod of the head, sending a note, saying you love someone, taking the time
to listen. There are so many ways that we can give - and receive -
positive feedback or positive feelings.
The opposite of giving positive feedback is discounting
and of course there are severe forms of discounting like screaming and
yelling at somebody, and subtle ways such as being sarcastic, ignoring
someone, not giving your full attention to someone, laughing at people,
being negative and always putting someone down, having no time for anyone.
And the list goes on and on.
Think to yourself for a moment - how often do you give
positive feedback to those around you? How about your colleagues in the
office for starters? Do they receive your positive or negative feedback?
What about the boss or the tea lady? What about your friends who have
probably given you support over the years and have always been there to
get you through the hard times, the bad days when maybe you didn’t have
a job or you were struggling to make ends meet?
What about your family? All those people who gather
around you and live with you day in and day out. Mothers and fathers,
husbands and wives, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, grandparents
and children! People who care about you and what happens to you. People
who have given so much to you so that you can be where you are today
because of their efforts. What about them? Do you give them positive
feedback or do you discount? What impact do you have on them and their
lives?
In one of our programs on self-awareness and personal
development, there are many such questions to think upon and to answer -
to oneself. In a weekend program I conducted recently, the participants
found it a great help in understanding more about themselves when they had
to reflect upon who they were and the way they either gave positive
feedback or discounted the people around them. Not a light-hearted
activity at all, but one that if given full attention and effort, will
bring a sense of relief and personal fulfillment. For many this is quite
an emotional ordeal but once gone through, the rewards are worth every
moment of personal examination.
There are some professionals in the field of human
resources who believe - as I do - that the development of people (staff)
can only be effectively achieved through a combination of personal as well
as professional growth of those people. Development means moving ahead as
a person and a professional.
It is not enough these days to just improve upon
job-related skills to improve performance. The only truly good performance
is one that gives joy and self-fulfillment to the performer. Salary alone
won’t do it.
My belief with regard to “staff development” is, in
a nutshell, this:
Happy, satisfied, challenged and motivated staff will
stay with the company, provide their best efforts in support of delivering
results and inspire others to do the same!
It is in the best interests of companies to take on
this approach in order to move ahead and to achieve their planned
objectives in this changing world.
Should you wish to obtain more information about our
programs in personal growth and development, and to how they can be
adapted to suit your specific staff development needs, please contact me
at [email protected] and visit our website at www.asia
trainingassociates.com
Have a wonderful week!
Social Commentary by Khai Khem
The ‘devil’ is in the details
There’s an idea being kicked around to designate an
area in Pattaya City where entertainment establishments serving alcohol
and dishing up adult entertainment can stay open 24 hours a day. This
zone, according to some of the brainstorming that’s been going on would
be strictly for foreigners and Thai ‘service’ girls. Foreigners would
be required to carry passports and service girls would be registered with
authorities as precautionary measures for not only tourists but their
‘escorts’. Okay, not bad so far.
There is merit in this scheme since it might contain
Fun City’s rowdier nightlife. Business establishments and their workers
that cater to this sort of thing could make money and tourists who come
here to let their hair down would be less constricted.
This is not exactly a new idea. Some cities have very
successful ‘red-light’ districts because they are meticulously and
strictly administrated.
The plan is only in the discussion stage at present,
but would restrict all Thais from participating in the fun. Oooops. Not
all Thais, since Thai service girls, (and perhaps Thai service boys) would
be allowed into the red-hot 24-hour party zone. Ordinary Thais, even Thai
tourists from other regions might be barred from the fun, and
establishments that serve them could be fined and closed down.
Is this a glitch in the plan? What kind of message
would this send to Thai citizens? Foreign tourists and prostitutes can
avail themselves of what could be a special dispensation of national Thai
law, but ordinary Thais will be shut out of this loophole and may even be
prosecuted. That could raise some objections.
The same kinds of restriction have been suggested if
Thailand finally changes its laws and allows legal gambling casinos in the
kingdom. Foreign tourists can gamble and bring sex workers along as
company, but Thai citizens might be barred from entering the premises.
These restrictive proposals are supposedly intended to “save Thais from
themselves” and encourage them to be upstanding citizens and not be
lured into vice or be exposed to corruptive influences. But the exceptions
to the laws would cater to the incorrigible elements in Thai society which
are already irredeemable, and the decedent preferences of foreign tourist
who come to Thailand to do what they are forbidden to do in their own
countries.
This idea could work, nonetheless. There are plenty of
other things to do in Thailand for those not interested a 24-hour binge in
South Pattaya and perhaps there should be some adjustment in laws which
will accommodate our night crawlers. Compromise can be a productive force.
All of Pattaya’s zoning should come into the 21st century not just the
entertainment districts. So, can the authorities plan, execute and
administrate the zone with efficiency and honesty if it goes through?
The concept needs some serious refinement. How bitter
will the complaints be from business operators who are not located in the
special zone? How long before each little enclave of ramshackle bars,
eateries and karaoke venues will declare it unfair they must bow to the
Minister of Interior’s strict closing hours, but a few businesses in
some parts of Pattaya get special treatment?
Entrance restrictions on law-abiding Thais could also
provoke ire. They may feel as citizens they are entitled to participate
freely in the same kind of vice that tourists and hookers are enjoying,
and rightly so. Why should a Bangkokian or Chiangmai businessman, for
example, who comes for a break to his second home or condo in Pattaya be
shut out of nightclubs (or casinos, for that matter) while drunken
foreigners, Thai streetwalkers and male hookers are welcomed with open
arms?
If we re-zone Pattaya for 24-hour entertainment, should
we introduce two zones, which will effectively be ghettos - one for Thais
and a separate one for foreigners? What about the sex-workers? How will
they be classified - beauty, skin, age, residency? If a Thai man takes a
Thai hooker out for a good time, will he be refused service? Will the
Ministry of Interior really want to get tangled up in this Gordian Knot
just to make Pattaya happy?
Perhaps sex workers should be brought into a national
registration and carry ‘smart cards’ specifically designed for this
profession. That way they can be legalized and even forced to pay taxes as
in some countries where prostitution has been legalized and comes under
very stringent laws. There are lots of double standards at work here and
it will be interesting to see how this is finagled. The complexities will
be enormous.
Legalized casinos, depending on who owns and runs them
might think about setting up a membership concept which would be effective
upon entry. Customers could fill out a simple form, pay a flat fee and be
issued a card. The fee could be set to effectively screen low-income Thais
who would otherwise gamble themselves into penury. If they can afford the
annual fee, so be it. If not, they at least have the option of refusal
just as they do in a shop if the price of the item is beyond their budget.
Tourists who pay membership fees could have their fees
refunded in some way, much as they are refunded the VAT tax they pay when
leaving the country.
A 24-hour party zone in Pattaya is not an impossible
idea if it is implemented with precision and forward planning. But as with
everything else in Fun City, there is “many a slip between the cup and
the lip”. Let’s take a few issues like the Bali Hai pier, the
motorcycle helmet law, the parking scheme on Beach Road, the campaign for
order at Jomtien Beach Road, the 10-year contract on waste management
which could never be enforced, tap water distribution, road surfacing and
traffic management. The ideas are good. But the devil’s in the details.
Working out the ‘bugs’ in this plan is going to be a devil of a
headache.
Women’s World: You are what you eat
Part 4
by Lesley Warner
In my pursuit of natural vitamins I found myself in one
of the more embarrassing situations in my life last night. I went to a
great Thai restaurant just past the junction of Pattaya Klang on 3rd Road.
Eat all you want for 79 baht and have the fun of cooking it yourself. The
reason I like it is because they have a great selection of fresh fish,
meat, vegetables and my favourite pigs liver in tiny strips. After an hour
of eating and relaxing listening to the live music, I asked for the bill
and looked in my purse - I only had 100 baht! I was the only farang in the
place and felt that all eyes were on me. I calmly stood up and went to see
the boss and left my mobile phone with him while I went to the ATM. I
wouldn’t have felt so bad if the bill had not been a total of only 253
baht. The moral of the story is always check what’s in your purse before
you eat.
To continue with the B vitamins:
Pyridoxine (B6)
This B vitamin is constantly promoted as a cure for PMS
(premenstrual syndrome) and some ladies take high doses. But surprisingly
research does not support this. Also worth bearing in mind is the fact
that mega-doses of pyridoxine can cause nerve damage.
Pyridoxine, also known as pyridoxal phosphate and
pyridoxamine, is needed (like some of the other B vitamins) for the
breakdown of carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Pyridoxine is also used in
the production of red blood cells as well as in the biochemical reactions
involved in the metabolism of amino acids. Due to the abundance of
pyridoxine in many foods, a deficiency is rare except in alcoholics. A
pyridoxine deficiency causes skin disorders, neuropathy (abnormal nervous
system), confusion, poor coordination and insomnia. Oral signs of
pyridoxine deficiency include inflammation of the edges of the lips,
tongue and the rest of the mouth.
Pyridoxine is found in many foods, including liver,
organ meats, brown rice, fish, butter, wheat germ, whole grain cereals,
soybeans and many others.
Cyanocobalamin (B12)
Vitamin B12 is necessary for processing carbohydrates,
proteins and fats and to help make all of the blood cells in our bodies.
Vitamin B12 is also required for maintenance of our nerve sheaths. Vitamin
B12 acts as a coenzyme in the synthesis and repair of DNA.
Vitamin B12 cannot be absorbed or used by the body
until it is combined with a mucoprotein made in the stomach and called
intrinsic factor. Once the B12 becomes bound to the intrinsic factor, it
is able to pass into the small intestine to be absorbed and used by the
body. Vitamin B12 deficiency is sometimes seen in strict vegetarians who
do not take vitamin supplements, and those who have an inability to absorb
the vitamin (usually from a failure to produce intrinsic factor). Although
enough B12 is stored in the liver to sustain a person for many years, a
deficiency will cause a disorder known as pernicious anemia. Pernicious
anemia causes weakness, numbness of the extremities, pallor, fever and
other symptoms. Mouth irritation and brain damage are also common
consequences of B12 deficiency. However, these very serious effects can be
reversed by vitamin B12 injections. Injections are needed because the
deficiency is often caused by an inability to absorb the vitamin when
taken orally. As we age, our stomachs have an increasingly difficult time
producing intrinsic factor. Many doctors recommend that people over 60
have their vitamin B12 levels checked, to see if a B12 shot is needed.
Vitamin B12 is not found in any plant food sources and
is produced almost solely by bacteria, such as streptomyces griseus. Rich
sources of B12 include liver, meat, egg yolk, poultry and milk.
Folic acid (B9)
Folic acid, also known as folacin and pteroylglutamic
acid, is one of the B-complex vitamins that interact with vitamin B12 for
the synthesis of DNA, which is important for all cells in the body. Folic
acid, in combination with vitamin B12 and vitamin C, is necessary for the
breakdown of proteins and the formation of hemoglobin, a compound in red
blood cells that transports oxygen and carbon dioxide. Folic acid is also
essential to virtually all biochemical reactions that use a one-carbon
transfer and is produced by bacteria in the stomach and intestines.
|
