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Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Can't Take This Sh*t No More!!? (A Remedy For Diarrhoea)

Recently I just received another forwarded email about some kind of magical remedy for some kind of ailment. This time, it is for diarrhoea.

This caught my attention straight away because for most of my life, I've been having a very sensitive bowel. Having diarrhoea can sometimes be a daily event for me. Not only that, after becoming a parent, it's sometimes quite scary when your little ones have severe diarrhoea, not to mention the horror of cleaning them up after that, especially if you're using cloth nappy LOL! Of course, after we know for sure that something is not right, we will let them wear disposable for the rest of the day, but still, the smell is almost unbearable.

According to the email, the very simple, and more importantly, perfectly safe remedy, is rice water. My wife and I heard of it before but we didn't really take it seriously. Anyway I will copy and paste the whole email below. I will also include an article from Rehydration Project that was mentioned in the email. Hope you find these information useful.


"> > Subject: Fw: Diarrhoea

Drinking sugar dilute in
water also makes a simple and quick remedy!

With recent case on the Geylang Serai food poisoning out
break.. would like to share the info received from a friend pls read on it may be of help...

When someone gets diarrhoea, sometimes the solution is so
easy, we wonder why anyone has to suffer.

The secret is in rice water.


This is already known in this region. Ask your maids -- Sri Lankan, Indonesian, Filipina and they would know about it.

(My mother) knew about it. When Dr Albert Winsemius came to
Singapore or a farewell and thank you dinner in his honour, he brought along his wife Aly and his granddaughter, Jolijn. Both women came down with very bad gastroenteritis. They saw the doctor who gave them medication. It was slow to work.

Mother boiled some rice in lots of water and went to their hotel with two 1.5L bottles of rice water.

I cringed in shame at the offer of this folk remedy, which seemed so primitive to me. Never heard of this cure before. To my surprise, it worked, and they were even able to go out for dinner the next day. Both were exclaiming how the rice water did the trick of making them well again. Well, lucky it worked, I thought to myself.

I was discussing this some years back with Kim Ng, the ex-matron of KK Hospital. She said, yes, that is what Professor Wong Hock Boon, the notable paediatrician teaches.. I was shocked and made some comment how could he? It was common knowledge so what had he to do with it?

Many months later, I regretted laughing at it. Dr Christina Shanta Emmanuel, who is the CEO of...uh, which group I have forgotten. Either National Health Group, or Polyclinics, or whatever.. regarded me seriously when I brought up the topic like it was good fun. She said that Prof Wong Hock Boon had presented a paper on it. At some conference. After he had done clinical trials.

Then his results were published in the Lancet, the Medical Journal all doctors read. In fact, said Shanta, he was credited for saving the lives of 2 million African babies by this method.

Ah, so! I am impressed.

It is rice water and not rice, that does the trick. I have
found it effective again and again. You take a handful of rice and boil it in a large saucepan with lots of water. Like three or four large glasses. Then you cool that and drink the water. If you are in a hurry to relieve the ailing person, take the saucepan off the fire and dunk it in a frying pan or basin of cool water with ice cubes if necessary.

This gives the patient a chance to drink the rice watersooner and cure himself or herself sooner.

When drinking the rice water, make sure there is lots of it. You have to tell the patient that enough water must go in to line your guts from throat to other end, all 10 to 12 metres of it. If you take rice, it stays in the stomach. If you take broth, some of it may go into the small intestine.

But if
you take rice water, it will carry rice grains to every inch of your small and large intestine to the end where the problem is.

How does it work? Even Prof Wong Hock Boon doesn't know. Read the attached file. Or go to
*http://rehydrate.org/dd/dd06.htm#page2*

It is good to pass on the news to everyone you know because the complaint is so common and people suffer unnecessarily. You would be doing your friends a great favour to relieve them of their misery when the occasion arises."

You can visit the link above to read the article, or you can just read it here :P

"Rice water and diarrhoea

The advantage of using rice water is that rice is cooked daily in South East Asia.
WHO photograph by Dr Gramiccia

In South East Asia, rice is prepared in two ways - to produce either dry, cooked rice or, with extra water, rice porridge. This leaves a fluid (rice water) on top of the cooked rice grains.

Professor Wong Hock Boon, a paediatrician working in Singapore, has been using rice water to rehydrate babies for several years. If the babies are bottle-fed rice water is given exclusively for the first 24 hours of treatment - breastfeeding can continue as normal (1). Professor Wong and his colleagues have found that many babies who have not responded to other rehydration solutions respond well to rice water. If diarrhoea starts again with the re-introduction of milk, extra rice water is given with additional rice porridge. Older babies are sometimes given rice porridge alone.

The advantage of using rice water is that rice is cooked daily in South East Asia.


The means by which rice water helps to stop diarrhoea are still being researched. One explanation could be that starch-like sugars tend to draw less fluid out of the body and into the gut compared with a similar amount of simple sugar such as glucose. Some babies with diarrhoea can digest starch more easily than simple sugars. The International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR, B) is carrying out studies on the inclusion of locally available starches (such as rice starch) as the carbohydrate in oral rehydration solution.

As Professor Wong stresses, the advantage of using rice water is that rice is cooked daily in South East Asia. The rice water is boiled and does not have to be made up and kept in large quantities as is frequently the case with sugar-salt rehydration solutions.

If you would like more information about the use of rice water for rehydration, write to: Professor Wong Hock Boon, National University of Singapore, University Department of Paediatrics, Singapore General Hospital, Outram Road, Singapore.

For information on ICDDR, B's work on locally available starches, write to: Library and Publication Unit, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, G.P.O. Box 128, Dacca-2, Bangladesh.

(1) Wong H B 1981 Rice water in treatment of infantile gastroenteritis. The Lancet vol 2: 102-103."

Please Share: For those who have tried this method, or have heard of stories and testimonies, please do not hesitate to share with us.



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Tuesday, April 14, 2009

My Very Own iPhone 3G!! - [Random Ramblings]

Yay!! Finally got my very own iPhone 3G!!

What you see when you open the box.

I know I'm a little slow, most people already bought their iPhone 3G a long long time ago. I wanted it a long time ago but unfortunately iPhone 3G (and the older generation) was not "officially" brought into Malaysia until about 1 or 2 months ago, and the "non-official" set was insanely expensive! I asked around before the official launch of iPhone 3G in Malaysia, and some are selling the iPhone 3G at RM4,000+ (about USD1,100). Since I heard so much about it's limitations, which I'll go into it in a bit, and with that crazy pricing, I immediately threw the idea of owning an iPhone 3G out of my mind. In fact, even when it was officially launched in Malaysia, I wasn't keen because all the limitations are still there.

The back of the iPhone 3G.

I was actually eyeing the HTC Touch Pro2 that was rumoured to be avaibable in the Asian region during summer (sometime in June) 2009. One of my friend was trying to talk some sense into me, saying the HTC Touch Pro2 will most likely going to cost about RM3,000 (about USD800) in Malaysia, I should consider getting an iPhone 3G, with contract, and will only cost about half that price. He also added that with the Version 3.0 OS, most of the limitations in the current version will be addressed and improved upon. I was a little skeptical so I did a little research on my own.

Clear iPhone 3G, blur box.

Blur iPhone 3G, clear box. But why did I put the box upside down?? Sigh.

The biggest problem doing research was the more I looked at the iPhone 3G, the more I wanted to get it! And when I looked at some of the things the OS 3.0 can do, it's very hard not to get excited. Cut the long story short, it didn't take very long for me to purchase my very first Apple product (next in line will be the Macbook Pro, LOL! Dream on!).

Some of the limitations of the current iPhone 3G that originally puts me off were:-

1. Can't forward SMS. Can be a major pain in the @$$ during festive seasons LOL! (Will be fixed with OS 3.0)

2. No MMS. (Will be fixed with OS 3.0)

3. Can't do video call since it doesn't have a front mounted camera.

4. The QWERTY keyboard is painstakingly small making it really hard to SMS and chat (Thank God for Auto-correction!). It does get better after some practice. You can however use the landscape QWERTY keyboard when surfing the net with the Safari browser. (Will be fixed with OS 3.0)

5. Can't change the battery yourself and can't buy extra batteries. Which brings me to the next problem that really bugs me,

6. Very short battery life. With moderate mix usage, the battery can probably last for around 5 hours.

7. Bluetooth can only connect to handsfree headset. You can't listen to music through wireless stereo headphones (no A2DP), can't transfer files and can't transfer contacts. (Will be fixed with OS 3.0)

8. Camera is not the best, only 2MP and cannot record video.

9. Can't copy and paste. (Will be fixed with OS 3.0)

That's about all I can think off at the moment. Most of these limitations will no longer be an issue once the OS 3.0 is launched. It's rumoured to be launch sometime in the beginning or middle of June 2009 so it won't be long. In fact after using it for a few days, most of these limitations are actually quite bearable.

I'm sure by now you should realise that the pictures doesn't really have much to do with the article I'm writing, except, of course, that they are pictures of iPhone 3G.

Some of the features I really like are :-

1. The touch screen is just a bliss to use. Responsive and intuitive.

2. The 3G is quite fast, and wifi connectivity just gives us more options.

3. Some really great a useful 3rd party applications which I will cover in a while.

4. Beautiful and vibrant display.

5. Superb video and audio quality. Not surprising since it's an iPod.

6. Maps, Stocks, and Weather applications can be very useful.

Other accessories that came with the box.

Some 3rd party applications that one shoud have are :-

1. Facebook (Free) - this is useful if you use facebook to msg and keep in touch. If you want the access the full facebook and it's applications, you have to use the web browser.

2. Fring (Free) - A messenger type app allowing you to access your contacts from various sources such as MSN, Yahoo, Skype, ICQ, Google Talk etc. You can access them all with just one application. Very useful

3. Skype (Free) - You can also use Fring. Basically if you have Wifi, you can call your friends who have Skype on their phone or computer for free.

4. SnatchTest (Free) / Snatch (Pay) - Converts your iPhone into a mouse pad which allows you to control your laptop/computer's cursor by using your iPhone. It uses Wifi to connect and you can also use IP address to connect. Very useful for those who do a lot of presentations.

5. Dictionary.com (Free) - Pretty much self explainatory. Good thing is you don't even need to be connected to the internet.

These are only but a few useful applications. There are plenty more you can get from iTunes.

Well, that's about all I have to say about my iPhone 3G for now. I'll say more once I used the OS 3.0. All in all, I'm quite happy with the experience and have no regrets getting this little baby despite of all it's limitations.

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Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Jelly-licious, yum!

My son 6th birthday just passed. For his birthday, we decided to celebrate twice with him. For both of these celebration, we decided to buy Jelly cake from Q Jelly Bakery Shop.

The first time was with his school friends at his kindergarten. It was a very short celebration because it was held during their 15 minutes snack break. I had to bring paper bowls, cutleries, serviettes, gifts for the 21 kids (excluding my son), kit kats, vitagens, and of course, the 3kg jelly cake in the shape of a train as seen below. Good thing was I didn't have to do anything, just took some photos, stood there looking pretty, and socialising a little with my son's friends. Kids nowadays are much more sociable. I remember when I was his age, when an adult spoke to me, I either nod my head, shake my head, or stare blankly back at him/her LOL! It is indeed a good thing to start confidence building at a young age :P

3kg Jelly Cake

The next celebration is to have it at home with daddy, mommy, cute little brother, grandfather, grandmother, and a few uncles (my brother in-laws). This time, I bought a smaller 2kg jelly cake in the shape of a house.
2kg Jelly Cake

The thickness is twice the 3kg cake.

The good things about jelly cakes are that not only do they taste good, they look REALLY nice. And according to them, it's quite safe as the cakes are absolutely preservative free and they used only US FDA approved colouring. To find out more, go and read the FAQ found on the website.

Before I go on, I must add that this website is not affiliated with Q Jelly Bakery Shop Sdn. Bhd. in any way.

If you're in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and want to go to the shop instead of shopping online, the address is :-

Q Jelly Bakery Shop Sdn. Bhd.
No. 15, Jalan Kenari, 18B, Bandar Puchong Jaya,
47170 Puchong, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
Tel: 03-80761159 / 1179
Tue - Sun (10am to 9pm). Monday closed

Ikano Branch
LG03, Ikano Power Centre
Tel: 03-77221159 / 1179
Mon - Sun (10am to 9pm)

1 Utama Branch
LG311D, 1 Utama Shopping Centre
Mon - Sun (10am - 10pm)

While the jelly cake tastes really good, I don't think I can eat it all the time LOL! But if you want to go for the WOW! factor and something that tastes as good as it looks, why not give it a try? :P

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Monday, April 6, 2009

Lack Of Updates? Sorry Lor!!

Very sorry for the lack of updates. Everybody's sick la.

My youngest son is sick.

My eldest son is sick.

I'm sick.

Updates will happen very soon. Very soon indeed.
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