When will it really expire?

Who determines the appropriate expiry date (or "expiration date" in American English) of a product (particularly a food item)? Have you ever wondered if your can of Coke will remain bubbly for another year as indicated on the expiry date? Well, I have. And I tried to dig up some info on this topic:

Nothing Simple about Food Dating, Expiration Dates or 'Use-By' Dates

The Truth Behind "Sell-By" Dates On Foods

Do Food Expiration Dates Really Matter?

Having researched these resources, it seems to me that the expiry dates tend to be on the conservative side. Are manufacturers erring on the side of caution or is that a legal requirement? Is there some kind of magic formula or is it just guesswork for different product types?

Digging further, I found this information on food product dating from the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service. Obviously, the part about federal law may not apply in your region. The information may also have expired - it was last modified back in 2007.

Related stuff:
The End of Moldy Strawberries? New iPhone App Tracks Food Freshness

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Competitive (dis)advantage

Three contractors were visiting a tourist attraction on the same day. One was from the U.S., another from China, and the third from Singapore.

At the end of the tour, the guard asked them what they did for a living. When they all replied that they were contractors, the guard said, "Hey, we need one of the rear fences redone. Why don't you guys take a look at it and give me a bid?" So, to the back fence they all went to check it out.

First to step up was the Singaporean contractor. He took out his tape measure and pencil, did some measuring and said, "Well I figure the job will run about $900. $400 for materials. $400 for my crew, and $100 profit for me."

Next was the Chinese contractor. He also took out his tape measure and pencil, did some quick figuring and said, "Looks like I can do this job for $700. $300 for materials, $300 for my crew, and $100 profit for me."

Without so much as moving, the American contractor said, "$2,700."

The guard, incredulous, looked at him and said, "You didn't even measure like the other guys! How did you come up with such a high figure?"

"Easy," he said. "$1,000 for me, $1,000 for you and we hire the guy from China."

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Show(er) me the money

The concept of the sing-along passed the craze status years ago, and is now an accepted fixture in public entertainment. But check out how the fithy rich in the Gulf are reinventing the karaoke phenomenon. Could this survive the flash-fire popularity of short-lived fads?



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Lazy & ineffective ad design

This half-page ad by Lane Crawford suffers from poor execution with amateurish use of font and font effects (oh wait, maybe they did it deliberately), and no USP mentioned. A waste of ad budget, made worse by the fact that it has been published a couple of times.

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God's Total Quality Management questionnaire

God would like to thank you for your belief and patronage. In order to better serve your needs, He asks that you take a few moments to answer the following questions. Please keep in mind that your responses will be kept completely confidential, and that you need not disclose your name or address unless you prefer a direct response to comments or suggestions.





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A short, 140-character message from the Creator
What's your belief?
God, by computer

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A mark of poor design

Saw this Mido ad in today's The Standard (and it's on the front page). Instead of "A mark of true design", it appears more like "A mark of poor design" because the two photos do not relate to each other unless you strain your eyes to read the copy below the headline.

To make matters worse, the font used for the text (especially the whole bunch at the bottom) is too small, which makes it difficult to read against a black background. So visually, the ad is unimpressive while the copy fails to inform, hindered by poor design execution.

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Biting the hands that feed them

I usually reserve a fair bit of sympathy for unions threatening industrial actions to force employers to come to the negotiation table, but not when they show complete disregard to customers, as in the case of the work-to-rule action to be enforced by the Cathay Pacific Airways Flight Attendants’ Union.

Under the work-to-rule guidelines:

"All oversized or overweight handcarried luggage will be offloaded for check-in."
This is tantamount to passing the buck to the ground staff, who may not be part of the bargain. Is it right to drag everyone else through the mud, just to get what you want?

"After takeoff, in-flight service should be discontinued when the seat belt sign is turned on."
I would really like to see how this will be enforced, or as the guidelines said, "Everybody must carry out the work-to-rule together and must not try to discourage anyone." Will all flight attendants turn a blind eye to passengers who are in real need of assistance (or service) when the seat belt sign is on?

If the Flight Attendants’ Union wants to garner more support and generate a stronger perception of unfairness (including grievances based on distributive injustice), it would have to do better than biting the hands that feed them.

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Inaugueation?

Not the kind of "inauguration" you'd want, especially for a new political party.


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Got milk? No thanks!

If you want to avoid breast cancer, give up dairy products. That's according to professor Jane Plant, author of Your Life in Your Hands, who battled the so-called "middle-class disease" and won. Professor Plant (quite an apt surname for someone who advocates a non-dairy diet) believes that the link between dairy produce and breast cancer is similar to the link between smoking and lung cancer. (The tobacco industry would likely argue that the smoking link is inconclusive.)

Follow this link - Prof. Jane Plant: Cure Breast Cancer by Avoiding All Milk Products - to read an extract from her book, in which she highlights that "only one in 10,000 women in China will die from it [breast cancer], compared to that terrible figure of one in 12 in Britain and the even grimmer average of one in 10 across most Western countries". Can I count myself fortunate that I'm among 70% of the world's population who are lactose intolerant?

If you are curious, read also The China Study.

On a separate note, Chinese women may not get breast cancer, but they'll probably get something else eating the stuff that's available in China. And that, of course, includes milk.

Related stuff:
Holy cow!
Got melamine?

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Almost lost my wallet today

Had lunch at a nearby Sabah restaurant today and my wallet slipped out of my pocket while putting on my winter coat to leave (that's the problem with thick clothings). Fortunately, I backtracked and managed to retrieve it. Note to Apple: I don't need a Find My iPhone app; I need a Find My Wallet app.

So what do you do if your wallet goes missing? First, panic. Once you're done with that, try to remember your last few locations and see if you can trace your lost item in any of those locations. If all else fails (including not being able to remember your previous whereabouts), here is a checklist of things you should do:

* File a police report (useful if you are going to make claims later or to settle disputes)
* Notify the relevant government departments about the lost ID and get one replaced asap
* Notify banks about lost ATM cards and credit cards
* Change ATM pin numbers to prevent unauthorised withdrawals
* Change your signature to prevent forgery (drastic)
* Change your facial features to prevent impersonation (ok, last resort)

Did I miss out anything?

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Real life Happy Feet

Movies are sometimes based on reality, but occasionally real life mirrors reel life. Check out the dancing penguin in the video below. Does it remind you of a particular character and scene in an animation?



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Unhappy feet

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Do you know where Cow-loon is?

It's just north of Hong Kong, in case you're wondering. Photos taken at 1881 Heritage.


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Disney tragic

Have you watched recent episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse? It's too bloody feel good and politically correct compared to earlier Mickey Mouse cartoons. There are no evildoers, and even the bad guys are pretty lame.

Whatever happened to the old Mickey which, according to The New York Times, was something like "the Bart Simpson of his time" during his Steamboat Willie days, circa 1928?

Related stuff:
Kids TV - Don't brainwash my children
Politically incorrect bedtime stories
Don't let your kids watch too much Barney

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