The Most Beautiful Woman in the World
Aishwarya Rai, the most beautiful woman in the world. Yes, she is.
(CBS) Who is the most beautiful woman in the world? Half a century ago, Hollywood would have presented her to us. Grace Kelly, Ingrid Bergman or perhaps Elizabeth Taylor.
But today? Correspondent Bob Simon reports the woman who currently holds the title, at least according to thousands of Web sites, Internet polls and even Julia Roberts, is someone you've probably never heard of.
Her name is Aishwarya Rai, and she is an actress living and working in Bombay, India. The reigning queen of Indian cinema, and also a classically trained dancer, Rai has starred in 24 films over the last seven years. [read more from CBS 60 Minutes]
NZ/USD dropped after two subsequent news
NZD/USD rate dropped subsequently in 12 hours by 0.013 from 0.6890 to 0.6760 after two significant information on NZ economic review from Reserve Bank Governor, Mr. Bollard and Finance Minister, Mr. Cullen.
No change to cash rate
26.01.06 9.00am
The Official Cash Rate (OCR) will remain unchanged at 7.25 per cent.
"The economy has continued to slow in recent months, broadly in line with the outlook contained in our December Monetary Policy Statement", Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard said today. [link]
Cullen fails simple maths test
27.01.06
By Ainsley Thomson
Finance Minister Michael Cullen told hundreds of thousands of radio listeners that the unemployment queue would grow by an alarming 20,000 people by the end of the year.
A few hours later the normally unerring Dr Cullen said he had made a mistake, but admitted that an extra 8000 people would be unemployed by March next year. [link]
Say that I'm a speculator who sells @ 0.689 and buys back @ 0.676 a million NZD with USD. In twelve hours I can earn 1,000,000 x 0.013 = 13,000 USD.Anyway, looking back my old posting, I should have been rich by now.
Fonterra, Nestle, Campina Arla, Danone, Dean Foods and DFA
When it comes to claiming of having the biggest global dairy company, most New Zealanders would always convince that they have one, which is Fonterra. How about other countries?
The Anglo-Swiss people would claim they have one too, Nestle, which in fact is the largest one in the world at the moment.
Whilst the Dutch and the Scandinavians would surely say they have the new one, Campina Arla, which actually is the second largest one after Nestle.
The French people also claim that their Groupe Danone is the biggest one in the world.
The Americans notably have Dean Foods and Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) as the biggest one in America, and of course in the world as they say.
Okay, just say all these companies are just about the same in size and turnover, considering the game theory and level playing field in global market (ha ha!). The question now is who own these companies actually?
Nestle (NESN: SWX), Danone (DANO:Euronext) and Dean Foods (DF:NYSE) are publicly traded companies, therefore anyone on earth can buy the shares and have the ownership. Meanwhile, Fonterra, DFA and Campina Arla are still in the form of co-operative groups, that only the farmers of the manufacturing countries own such company. Nestle, Danone and Dean Foods create "capitalists" whilst Fonterra, DFA and Campina Arla create "barrons". Both are just about the same, aren't they?
But I think in the future, a publicly traded company should be the ideal form for a dairy company. Domestic farmers, in my opinion, do not want to be leveraged by foreign debts or sales turnovers. In case of domestic currency appreciation, it will cost too much.
Moreover, a co-operative group of national farmers of the manufacturing countries may lead to a kind of product-nationalism that can burden global marketing. Just say the French do not like the Dutch, they may say, “Why should be bothered buying milk and cheese from the Dutch?”
I still remember not long ago there is a statement like this in my old posting:
Fonterra’s strategies ensured it would be "big in the world" in 2020, said Ferrier. "There is no doubt in my mind about that. The question is, do we do it with you, or without you?" Ferrier, however, did manage to offer a bit of sunshine. Demand for high quality, low-cost dairy products would grow markedly by 2020, he said. Fonterra farmers had to unite, and manage milk growth, despite challenges such as water shortages and farming costs, Ferrier said. (link)Apart from that, there are many choices of dairy industry working class in the world. Go with Fonterra if you are in Downunder, go with Dean Foods or DFA if you are in America, and go with Nestle, Campina Arla or Danone if you are in Europe.
Finally, if you are the customers, just choose which smell do you like. Every milk, cheese or butter has different smell.
East Timor a Forgotten Country
One of NZ blogs is suddenly discussing the Dili massacre and still asking to put Suharto on trial re this case. The overall crime can be considered as genocide.
This posting takes into account the news report from The Australian (UN Verdict on East Timor.
It documents a litany of massacres, thousands of summary executions of civilians and the torture of 8500 East Timorese - with horrific details of public beheadings, the mutilation of genitalia, the burying and burning alive of victims, use of cigarettes to burn victims, and ears and genitals being lopped off to display to families.In my view that most people may have already forgotten, that in the 70s, East Timor was controlled by a considerably Marxist power in South East Asia (and from now on). Therefore, neither Indonesia nor Australia liked that some kind of power in the neighbourhood.
But suddenly in the late 90s, the East Timor's gas and oil reserve convinced Westerners that they can take the East Timor from Indonesia territorry, and change East Timor become a new democratic country. How come? Once East Timor is a Marxist country, it will be forever. Neither used to be before the Indonesia era, nor now.
Dell benefits from the bird flu outbreak
I don't think it's entirely true, however it's still logical. If there is such an outbreak outside my house, I may not think to buy a laptop or computer. I would think how my family will survive from the outbreak.
Moreover, if I am the CEO of Dell, I would spontaineously help donating some money for research and development to prevent and overcome the outbreak.
Computer manufacturer Dell's direct-to-customer sales could allow it to turn a bird-flu outbreak into a revenue booster by letting buyers avoid shopping in public, the company's chief executive said today.
"We deliver to homes," said Dell CEO Kevin Rollins. "People don't have to come to stores."
During the Sars epidemic, "our business in China boomed," he said, because people were either quarantined or sequestered themselves at home in order to avoid coming in contact with the deadly virus.
[link]
This page is valid CSS and XHTML
Finally, this webpage is valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional and CSS. However, it still needs some works for the other webpages (keziana.com, photoblog, gallery, keziawatch and links). I've just learned it, it will take time. Besides, I started from the Blogger's template about a year ago, yeah, by cheating on it. I found some tricky things in XHTML. Why is web designing more fun than financial modelling? Cos, it's not really a serious thing.
