Funicular railway

A funicular, also known as a funicular railway, incline, inclined railway, inclined plane, or cliff railway, is a type of self-contained cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a very steep slope, the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalancing each other.

The word is from the Latin funiculus, a diminutive of funis, "rope".

Risk Assessment & Horizon Scanning (RAHS)

I thought this was some high-tech independent omnipotent computer system that detects threats before they happen. Think Minority Report.

Turns out our system is a bit more boring lah. Essentially, what it does is it allows data researchers and analysts to do their work better & more effectively by trawling Internet media sources for information. Here, factors like bias, credibility & motive are considered to confirm or refute a working hypothesis related to an issue - for example, why Iran is seeking nuclear power.

The analysts can explore different motivations to see if they affect the link between certain factors. For example, they could explore if Iran's leadership is a factor in the desire for nuclear power, or whether the lack of oil or hatred toward Israel is a more conclusive factor. The greater the effect a change in a factor causes, the greater the correlation. Hence a cause-and-effect relationship is established. Iran's oil supply and its government's statements toward Israel can then be monitored more closely to predict of Iran is developing more nuclear capabilities.

You can find a video demonstrating its capabilities here.

Dead Sea mud

Was walking in Raffles City when I got stopped with the familiar eczema question. "Here we go again," I thought. Happened to be this non-Asian guy, and we were waiting for Angela to choose jelly bean flavours, so why not?

Turned out he was selling mud from the Dead Sea, supposedly packed with minerals. I tried it on my wrist and must say I could feel the sulphur opening up my pores and everything, and perhaps absorbing the toxins and whatnot.

I was very impressed with his (he was a Jew named Ziv) unimposing attitude. We Singaporeans have much to learn. As he put it, when he tried to sell something, some Singaporeans tried to sell him something too!

Anyhow, it's a discounted $60 for 750ml of it. Expensive for mud, surely, but I was close to giving it a shot. But on Ziv's advice, I'm gonna do some research first. =]

You can find out more, like I did, at http://www.cleopatraschoice.com/dead-sea-mud-benefits.php