4 Levels of Competitive Survival: A fresh look at organisational existence and the urgent need for transformation

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change, according to Charles Darwin.

The rate of change in today's world is unbelievably fast and is getting faster. Like it or not, we are in the second industrial revolution * or the 3rd age of computing ** (1. Mainframes & minis -> 2. Microsoft -> 3. Google) . Many organisations today find themselves suddenly stuck in a foreign environment, some don't even realise the environment had changed. Those in denial pretend it's still the same. Eddie Obeng from Ted calls it the world after midnight.

The reason organisations get trapped, is due to collective intellectual inertia and a natural human trait to resist change. This collectively leads to evolutionary inertia of the organisation itself. The result of that, may not be pretty. 

Look at what happened to Kodak, Borders and Classifieds. They all thought that their competitors were operating in a different "suburb" but not recognizing in reality, that their competitors were operating inside their own backyard. Naturally, the "old" paradigm organisations get consumed by extinction events, in a way, of their own making. To rub salt to the decay, they had the best financials, brains, brand equity and reach.

In essence, the real customers are not the customers; the real customers are thecustomers' needs!


The true survivors are thriving because their minds are open, and they are either following closely or leading as trail blazers / front runners. They are remaking the status quo, re-shaping reality. This new force is real, huge and it is here; and is not to be underestimated.

To frame this in simple terms, there are 4 distinct levels that a organisation can be in, and this is an over simplification, just to illustrate the point.

Level 0 (Denial): Analogy - The house is in a mess, it's chaotic, some even claim that it's random, but no, it's just chaotic. The occupants don't care what's happening outside, whether a big storm is coming . . doesn't even know if the house can withstand it or electricity will be cut off. Because everything worked fine and is assumed to continue to work fine, because if it aint broke, don't fix it (haven't we heard of that before).
Chaos is relative. It's relative to the current status quo. So using the analogy, a seemingly well kept house, can considered chaotic if standards have changed, benchmarks morphed and paradigms shifted.
However, some cases are outright simple. Examples of level zero attributes are (and not limited it), tired / protected monopolies, office politics dominating over teamwork and collaboration / job at hand, the person who shouts the loudest wins, sales and marketing resting on their laurels (unaware of changes in consumer behaviors or competitors), dis-energised teams, buddy vendor relationships with no SLA (let alone good SLA), favoritism & nepotism, work process flows that depends on who's in charge and the weather (instead of focusing on customer value chains), documentation for documentation sake, organisational knowledge which is present but cannot be easily found, silos, warlords & factions, tired / non leadership, tall organisations.

Level 1(Knowledge): Analogy - Spring cleaning has just completed, we know where things are, now what? The house occupants start to, "come out", find out what's happening in the neighborhood, checks the weather forecast.
Basics are done right. The organisation kind of knows there could be a need for change. Starts to find out about what's happening. Major learning and fact finding happens. Understanding the real current status quo and learning profusely, reading trajectories. The quality of reading of trajectory will depend on the quality of leadership at hand.
This is the preparation stage to level 2.

Level 2 (Action): Analogy - key members of the family come back, sits down on the dinner table, "hey everyone, there's something going on, and we need to do something", discusses plans for the future.
Marketing & sales adapts to current reality outside and is leading the pack in the immediate competition pool / paradigm.
New levels of cooperation / melding, between profit centers and cost centers / support - the new model for survival is IT literate business folk (the hunters) work closely with business literate IT folks (their wives, just an analogy .. please don't pin me on this)
Internally, organisation are adopting Waterfall-Agile hybrid situation-based project management, starts to mine Big Data (passive mining, active analysis), a significant chunk or IT function potentially outsourced (of course best performing workers negotiated to transition), Lean & Kanban, service performance / vendor management comes to the fore, strategic teams re-evaluate Porter's value chain & strategy concepts and understands what Philip Evans is trying to say in his recent BCG speech and Jeremy Rifkin from BigThink, embrace new information channels like gigaom/99U/Ted, etc
This leads to preparations for level 3, if there is drive and will for it. Depends on the achievement hunger index (AHI) in the corporation. Just coined AHI out of thin air.

Level 3 (Trail blazing): Analogy - there is no strict analogy for this because this is a new area, it is the exciting unknown (e.g. probably build a new house based on exoskeleton concept (instead of the reverse which is today's mindset, skeleton on the inside) and replace bricks with 3-d woven carbon fiber reinforced polypropylene?)
Conquerors - awaken the giant / barbarian within. Paradigm busters, people who create new markets, disrupters, the ones that took calculated risks and come home with gold and riches.
Why refine existing processes if technology is available for us to change the rules? Competitors who get it (the Social Mobile Analytics Cloud - SMAC stack rules) may just take measured risks, change the rules and fire a BEEM (Business Extinction Event Missile) on your business strategy!
Explore new uses for basic 21st century enabling technologies and it's ensuing paradigm, employing satellites (it's cheaper than we think) for preventative fire fighting (also, pre-crime surveying for fire bugs), new RFID + sensor-transducer applications (infinite possibilities, limited by our team's creativity) for livestock management, crop and fertilizer management, supply chain, robo-infantry applications, domestic applications, robosourcing (the new outsourcing) - automation of service delivery, proactive big data strategies - info bots to actively mine for information (active analytics), market realisation and application of new materials (aerogels, graphene), market realisation of new energy harvesting and storage technology (perovskite solar cell printing, zero inertia horizontal micro-wind turbines in every home (hidden like barnacles when there is no air movement but pops up when the slightest breeze is detected), lithium air batteries seconded by magnesium zinc & vanadium redox units), true competition between renewables and role reduction of fossil fuels into limited backup / standby, engineered foods revolution (e.g. vegetarian food engineered to be more nutritious than meats and more tasty than meat), tidal water turbine revolution, dogecoin embrace, etc.

In fact, many a time, new creative thinking doesn't even need new technology, for example the mega bus concept which is being mooted to solve public transportation challenges in China. When creativity is concerned, I think it is only limited by our minds...

In short . . .

Level 0 organisations are at highest risk for extinction or sudden death ("extinction event" as Malcolm Frank's team from Cognizant calls it). People will be "shocked" and go home to break the news "honey, i don't know where next month's mortgage payment is going to come from, I'm sorry". Sorry is not an option.

Level 1 organisation, if they are not careful may fall into level 0. If there is new blood or realisation of where the world is heading, prepares the organisation for Level 2, rallies the people, harnesses entropy into usable energy for forward motion.

Level 2 organisations starts to feel the energy of life, they either try to maintain pace or choose to be the trail blazers in Level 3, depending on the DNA or their leadership team . . and their capability to motivate the internals and push the external envelope.

As for Level 3, Alan Kay sums it up well "The best way to predict the future is to invent it". In today's world, those who innovate to change the rules, can devour those who innovate just to compete on status quo. This is an era where true innovators will rule, and it is wise to heed Michelangelo's advice as well that the greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.
So there goes my blog, and thinking about this new world we are in, which woke me at at bloody 6am and had blood gushing in my tired brains that prevented me from sleeping, so that I can write this blog. It's now 8.26am and I will be late for work if I don't stop.

Blog by KK Ong
Make the future or be overtaken by it
The present is already past the moment you think about it

Find me at http://au.linkedin.com/in/okkaddress

* ‘The Second Machine Age,’ by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee
** http://www.skrenta.com/2007/01/winnertakeall_google_and_the_t.html

Consolidatory reading, powerful speeches by Prof Eddie Obeng:

Over a million views on Ted.com
http://www.ted.com/talks/eddie_obeng_smart_failure_for_a_fast_changing_world

Eddie at Zeitgeist Europe 2013
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9DkuR7NpYI

Beyond the edible garden: Bio-defence capabilities for every backyard

We work hard to have and own the place we live in, and defend it from all kinds of threats as we value our homes, way of life, our little piece of paradise we created and call it our own. The same goes to health and wellbeing, as it is a foundation to everything else in our lives. We are ultimately responsible our own health and also in a broader context, our family and even the local community we live in.

As the world gets more crowded and humankind's unfettered growth goes on a collision course with mother nature, we are caught in an endless rat race, impervious to what is happening. And only when we slow down and start to look within, we realise that things are no longer status quo, we could be drifting dangerously towards destruction. The higher degrees of stresses in our lives are giving rise to illnesses which usually the body is able to overcome with ease. People are talking less, rushing more and there's a lower degree of tolerant and understanding behavior as people live closer to each other. Forces are unleashed and are at place, which are pre-programmed by nature to return our total human population into equilibrium levels. 

...only when we slow down and start to look within, we realise that things are no longer status quo..

I think that this is inevitable as long as the development of external hard knowledge does not move at the same speed as the development of the human’s mental and cultural capability to live in harmony with nature. Humankind, somehow, seems to be behaving like many diseases causing pathogens, devouring all resources of its host without regard for the future, and like many pathogens, when the host (planet) is destroyed, it will run out of food and will in turn, die off.

There are many ways for earth's eco design to regulate the human population . . wars and disease being just two. As we go about multiplying without regard for sustainable consumption of resources, we are creating a small but sure increase in temperatures world wide. This re-awakens diseases which were previously dormant, and also creates a dangerous environment in which existing diseases mutates easily and become more virulent.

The wise amongst us had already predicted what is coming. The news on the rise of the super bugs is nothing new. Yet, everyone is hoping that it is someone else’s problem. It will happen to someone else first. And we all know where that will eventually lead to.

No nuclear missile can stop this threat. Not the strongest amour or even the most sophisticated cyber defense  In fact, it is predicted (Four Corner’s program on Australian TV), if current research into antibiotics does not significantly catch up, the very pillar of which western medicine is standing on, will be shaken, perhaps catastrophically in the imminent and very near future.

Couple that, with the rising cost of health .. many are already going back to basics in ways that they know, because they know inside their gut that whilst mother nature destroys, she also provides. For every danger that she presents, she has a way we can stay safe from it. For every bad bacteria, there is a good one that can fight it or there are compounds in plants or non plants that can balance it. I believe that is why nature always exists in equilibrium overall.

.. with the rising cost of health .. many are already going back to basics, because they know that whilst mother nature destroys, she also provides.

In the end, the ignorant will receive their due consequences whist the initiated will strive to learn, to pick up where the old wise guard had left off, form alliances and same interest groups to use mother nature’s army to survive this otherwise formidable onslaught. This biological menace of many forms, is largely invisible. They are collectively called super bugs.

Many are going back to basics and restarting from there. Sometimes it's the age old tried and tested that withstands the challenges of time.

The alternative answers are in abundance. Traditional Chinese herbs have been proven time and again for thousands of years, as their system focuses less on handling the symptoms but looking at root causes in a different perspective. The Indians also have a wealth of knowledge on the power of plants. The traditional West is also not short of answers. 

The understanding of god’s army comprising of plants, sound understanding of the forces of nature, soil biology and the efficient cultivation of a backyard bio defense system is now an imperative. The edible backyard movement has tremendous opportunity to ready itself for its next rung up the ladder of survival, and that is to create a networked ecosystem of bio defense capability, planting herbs and plants of medicinal distinction to supplement or even take the place of the contemporary medicine, if and when it fails. Every Australian backyard should be a beacon of hope in alternative bio defense, in the tumultuous times coming ahead. 

I hope that I am wrong.

Godspeed,

KK Ong

Watsonia, Victoria

Jan 2013

Arrogance on thin ice - The ignorant led by the blind

Many of us live in a busy, self centered world, struggling to make ends meet, often oblivious about the big picture, because it doesn't seem to matter or concern us. We each try to thrive, subconsciously one-upping the Joneses, many a times in terms of unbalanced material possessions (compared to knowledge & wisdom) although our largely preconditioned minds may not realize the extent that we have traveled off course, mind wise.

As the world becomes more competitive, resources more scarce, to thrive means to specialise to a large extent, sometimes at the expense of losing sight of the bigger picture. You see, every benefit, when taken to the extreme, becomes a dis-benefit. That results in the inevitable creation of folks in power who thrive in their silos, influenced by even more powerful silos called Special Interest Lobbying Organisations (SILOs), choosing easy solutions (in the name of economics, growth and jobs) based upon popularity & knowledge of a single jigsaw, cumulatively, to our species's slow but sure detriment. As we specialise further, being human, many inevitably lose sight of the bigger picture.

There is a growing portion of people who have totally no idea where the food they eat and the oxygen they breathe come from. Some don't even have the time to care about the quality of the food (it's too hard for them) and what it takes to produce good food. And yet, many of similar vein are the people in power, who decide to increase the population by 20% for increased tax revenues that disappears into a system of inefficiencies, increase the city’s boundaries without corresponding increase in sustainable services, save jobs in polluting industries instead of the harder route of redesigning them, ally with climate change skeptics and listens to those 10% being represented as 50% by mainstream sensationalist media (where 90% of scientists present urgent irrefutable facts). Other short term thinking examples are "leaders" calling for cancellation of desalination plants because we had 3 months of continuous rain, because the opinion polls say so. Can we rely on those leaders and lobbyist groups to make sound longer term and big picture decisions to take our people forward? Should we blame them or blame ourselves for being ignorant or not having the guts to stand up and take action?

Despite the “achievements” that we make; airborne transportation, wireless communications, ability to solve “complex” mathematics, our "advances" pale in comparison to the majesty and complexity of mother nature. Whenever a natural weather change happens, Melbourne’s rail infrastructure grinds to a halt. Mother Nature bestows us with water after 20 years of drought and not only do we not see it coming in Queensland, we had no way to conserve them. At a single flick of her finger, proud humanity is sent reeling, reminding us of how fragile we really are and how ignorant and unprepared we are for mother nature’s wrath.

Much of humanity all over the so called developed world seems to focus on one key element; quantity and growth. Quantity over quality, growth in numbers versus quality of life for every individual. How do we stop being a numbers game that poor leaders play? Or maybe we are not in a developed world anymore. This could be time for a new category: "Declining" nations (in that basket is largely Europe, US and perhaps Australia?, looking at how things are regressing in multiple areas and the quality of our leadership)

In our blind race to one-up each other in terms of size of nations, outgrowing other countries with poorly conceived measure of success, we rape and pillage the environment which we claim to understand, often not understanding the longer term ramifications and deeper issues. Feeding growth hormones to cattle to generate more beef and milk. Mass producing eggs with antibiotics and hormonal injections, not understanding it's actually cost to human health. Proliferating aluminium foils with industry sponsored and biased scientific evidences to allow the “industry” to continue. Letting profits, shareholders, lobbies, personal interests and politics precede basic human regard & respect for science, quality of goods and preservation of the environment that gives us life. All this, and more, often veiled with the feign of job creation and short sighted stability.

The blind arrogant focus on quantity rather than quality, combined with the SILOs and poor unbalanced education machinery, results in the creation of mentally defective leaders and followers alike. Isn't this the blind leading the blind, in its ultimate form?  

It’s high time, to go back to basics. 

Get reminded of where our dinner tonight comes from. How did we clean the air we breathed today? Have we thought beyond the surface of what we ate? Should our leaders today stay in their position in power if they are more concerned about politics than doing a great job? If nothing is done, we are surely going on a slow motion course for destruction, just like the cute little ignorant frog in cold water being put to the boil slowly. The earth and other organisms will still be there, but not us, in the near future.

And as of all great things and charity, it starts at home, right in our very own backyard. Challenge ourselves to be able to supplement part of our diet with rich, wholesome, flavorsome organic vegetables, herbs and fruits, which can be plucked fresh from the garden. The garden is our fresh food market and also the pharmacy, if we know how.

It is not merely planting a seed, giving it water and sun then collecting the harvest.

Firstly, if the foundations are not right for instance the soil type, the seed would not grow. If the method of growth is not understood, it will die due to lack or excess of sun. If natural predators are not understood, seedlings will be gone by the next morning.

This may daunting at first sight, but every difficulty teaches us something that we have lost that we shouldn’t.

For example, the appreciation of the skills and risks involved in growing food teaches us appreciation of the food we eat, and appreciation is the first step in attaining contentment. The continuous trying and learning to get the plants to healthy maturity teaches us to be resilient individuals, to not give up upon first failure. The eating of ripened tomatoes by possums and birds teaches us that even success has its threats and need to be continuously managed (and "enemies" understood). The inter relationships between companion plants, the plants and soil, temperature, light and water enables us to have a big picture thinking and view the garden as a live and continuously interacting system. As you can see, the very simple decision to grow part of our own food presents us with benefits beyond what we can fathom. And that is just, the beginning . .

The grandest tree in the forest has leaves reaching hundreds of feet up into the air, scraping the frontiers of higher knowledge. But all this happens because it has strong roots. As we advance in science and technology, we must never forget and always be humbled by the fact that we are indeed a very vulnerable species in the biggest scheme of things. When we stuff up on the fundamentals, eventually, earth will still be there with its other living creatives, but we may not be.

Contact, web album links, key issues we are facing in the the current "civilized" world we live in

                                         Our first home backyard in Watsonia, Victoria



Email: send2kk@gmail.com, kk.ong@cfa.vic.gov.au
Secondary email: emailkk@yahoo.com.au

Facebook: search KK Ong, send2kk@gmail.com

Web albums, eat-out Melbourne & sustainability systems galleries: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kkjanice/sets

Skype: janice1505 (I use my wife's Skype address at home)

Recently discovered Prof Michio Kaku, inspiring visionary for human civilization's next-wave: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=219YybX66MY

My climate change guide, David Suzuki. Another awe inspiring leader for our times.

His movie trailer: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/what-you-can-do/force-of-nature-the-david-suzuki-movie/
Radio interview in Canada, with El Gore: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrJzaD12CDk&feature=related
Inspirational podcast with 3CR's Zero Emissions Team (page bottom, about 31 mins): http://festival.slf.org.au/

Green Gold - Understand the bigger picture. The parts affect the whole and the whole affects the parts. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YBLZmwlPa8A

Professor Joseph Eugene Stiglitz gives clear insight to the global financial crisis and how it's not over yet, I follow him, an Econs nobel laureate from Columbia Uni; listen to a ear-opening interview with him at http://fora.tv/2010/02/22/Joseph_Stiglitz_Freefall 

His views on how we are globall focussing too much on quantity and neglect quality (he got Bhutan's spelling wrong though :-))http://www.cio.com.au/article/356592/gdp_economic_measure_misleading_stiglitz_

His summaries on what's happening in Australia viz a viz our economic future http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/stiglitz128/English


For thought leadership: See http://www.ted.com/  I like David McCandless's work on the beauty of data visualization.

Mother Nature's Army

Two stories, one goal; to save our civilization from ourselves.

An Inconvenient Truth, the documentary that won an Academy Award for the Best Documentary Feature, demonstrating that global warming is real, potentially catastrophic and is human caused, from an engineer’s angle.

And another style of story telling by writing about the future, Avatar, an epic fiction film featuring the destructiveness of our civilisation when we combine our primitive intelligence with our ignorant and plundering nature.

As our population grows and the need to specialize in narrow focussed tasks to survive, and more efficient use of technology for leverage increases, mistakes we make is multiplied tremendously. In pursuit of material gain, our minds and the system that supports its enlightenment has not been capable of catching up with the technological leverage built up over generations.

The combination of extreme technological leverage with the shortcomings of ignorant minds (learning from scratch upon every life cycle) can spell disaster, in capital letters, for our species. Awesome technology X primitive minds = destruction. That’s one of nature’s amazing control methods, for the prime species of “animal” living on mother earth.

There are already many in amongst our society, whose lives are in an alternate reality right from birth, not linked to a sustainable environment, not aware of how the food they eat end up on their table, ignorant of the big picture, perhaps not having the opportunity to learn about it. These individuals would grow to make decisions, some small but some large, which can irreversibly damage to the environment that they are holding temporarily, before they pass it to future generations. There are lots of reasons they give, in the name of survival, winning the competition and even job creation!

On the other hand, a silent but growing group of people with the wisdom, the makers of An Inconvenient Truth and Avatar, the green movements, the permaculture folks, in my mind, are the colonel and generals of Mother Nature’s army.

It is a time to get together to educate the masses, turn back the toxic tide.

Mother Nature's, weapons, its tool and laws of existence are in amongst us, some invisible (down to cellular organisms that generate nutrition in the soil or in our guts!) and some permeating all of life (like the rules and laws of nature), waiting to be harnessed. It’s the typical good versus evil, but this evil is invisible, it exists in amongst us in varying degrees.

As a captain, an avid gardener who seeks the wisdom of how Mother Nature works knows that there are millions of dormant army right in their own backyard, waiting to be mobilized. The right combination of sunlight, water and plants put those humble soldiers to work immediately, producing organic fruits and herbs more nutritious than mass produced ones. The “returns” from embarking from this activity, for those with the wisdom, is more predictable than the stock market and mutual funds, which is akin to gambling and is rigged and manipulated by anyway. In the process of raising a healthy backyard, the person learns life’s little precious values such as persistence, hard work, smart work, time consciousness, reflection and most importantly, understanding nature, the very place that we live in, in it’s purest form

  

The more we understand and gain wisdom, the more we can reverse the effects of our environmental declines, starting from our own backyard. It’s the backyard revolution, of sorts. There is a higher calling and wisdom to be learnt, but the backyard is just a small way to start to tweak the mind to look at things differently, to re-examine our paradigm on life, or what's left of it.

Only when the majority of our civilization are reaching or attained sustainable green nirvana, then can we pause and rest. In my mind, there are 4 categories of people in our civilization, in different stages of the development of that wisdom, starting from the lowest scums of the supremely selfish (destroyers), followed by ignorants, followed by green wannabees and then the true sustainable greens.

On one side of the divide, we have people who abuse themselves & others, enjoy at other people’s expense, focussing one up-ping each other in material largesse and specialists who are ignorant of the big picture. On the other hand, there are people who love the planet they live in, attempt to understand its natural laws and rules, uses knowledge to make life more sustainable & harmonious with mother earth, teaches and bring others on the journey of learning, takes interest in the field of new knowledge and discovery but not at the expense of our environment.

Let us take some time to think about our world, gain more wisdom, practice it and preach it far and wide. Take part in this epic battle, to fight for our own survival, against ourselves.

KK Ong

The declining state of the world, veiled in a largesse of unsustainable growth (2008 article / adaptation imported from KK's old website at Windows Live)

We are not living in the world we used to know. Advances in technology and transportation enabled unprecedented leverage and mobility. The common uneducated mindset of materialism and growth is outpacing the natural resources that we are able to harness. People live in closer proximity, millions crowding into mega cities; tax hungry governments sacrifice quality of life to attract bigger numbers, to create the "size and scale, to survive" so they say.

If we stopped and reflect upon the big picture, we could find that our human race, is headed for a collision course with it's own existence.

Today, we see the growth of a materialistic society, from the time we wake up and feel hungry, we eat based on the short time we have, what is convenient, fulfilling our hunger and taste, rather than the value it gives us nutritionally, where it came from and how to eat optimal amount and how the different food groups complement each other to support our health.

Our days are packed with activities that we must do, in order to sustain a higher income in the work that we don't enjoy, to sustain an expensive mortgage in a house that shouldn't cost that much.

We want to own a nice car because the public transportation is pure crap and our neighbours own a nice car. Another  financial burden is added. We build up the land we have with concrete and steel, creating a carbon footprint rather than erasing it, because we are blind to the benefits of a sustainable garden, the natural beauty that mother earth can provide, and are just plain dumb in the most basic of life skills, to truly live harmoniously with nature rather than destroy it.

And in this mad rush, which costs about 43 years of our life (age 7 to 50), we become stupid along the way, focussing on the things that don't really matter and as a consequence, the values that we once had, get eroded, slowly but surely. Along the way, more and  more people start to manage stress with cigarettes and excessive consumption of alchohol. Instead of distinguishing themselves in terms of attaining great wisdom, ground breaking research, positive scientific exploration, being forward thinking and taking positives risks, society evolves negatively in trying to deal with the stresses of their own making, piercing them selves to distinguish and look different on the surface, turning to crime for an easy way out, doing / enjoying activities that "make them feel good" only on the surface, often at the expense of others.

All these, in itself, results in more strain into society's infrastructure. The transportation road system trying to cope with excessive cars where public infrastructre can be used. The hospital system being stretched to the limit because of non integrated population increase (selfish governance), obese patience, druggies needing therapy, increase in single mums, additional support which is not needed if the right education is given at early stages. The judiciary needs to be reals back to earth and take publich transports in the evenings themselves. The police infrastructure get's stretched because schools either are not doing their job or cannot copewith educating the minds of the young punks. Official teaching load get's transferred to parents who are alrady struggling to cope. The disposable economy and all it's waste is generating poor minds and other side effects. Political games being played in the highest offices in the largest nations generates inflation, which makes us poorer slowly but surely, every generation needs to spend more to buy that first house or even have a baby. The list goes on.

Indiscriminate expansion of population, materialistic thinking and lack of control & standardization of values, as you can see, feeds upon itself and generates a vicious cycle, putting unnecessary strain to our life / infrastructure. Vicious enough to wipe us all out if high leverage mistakes are done in this "fertile" environment. Either that is it's evolving the society we live in into an all round unpleasant place.

All the signs are here, staring straight into our eyes. Ignore it and our future generation will ask, which generation lived in this "slash and burn" world, inconsiderate, unkind, poorly educated . . how could they have turned a blind eye. . . Are there still righteous people in power, with the wisdom, who are able to make a change?

Which way do we want to die? The quick way or the slow decline?

We live in the world which is so densely populated in so many areas, with such efficient warfare technology to kill each other, and with such efficient communication speed (Internet), that whatever little mistakes or wrongdoings, can spread at the speed of light, and is amplified a million fold. 

But the facts are clear, we are already moving along the wrong highway, slowly but surely to our extinction. A good start would be the global overhaul of the education system, if we can't fix it and are so darn useless, at least give ours kids a chance.  4 new subjects are needed / to be emphasized in schools (the old ones still STAY). 1. Geography and Religion (understand other people's believes & diversity, for goodness sake). 2. Moral standards, communications, critical thinking (self explanatory). 3. Financial fundamentals (Kids come into contact with and spend money they moment they go to school, what makes us think we do not need to start educating them about the basic principles? or do we know it ourselves?) 4. Time & resource management (time is more precious than money, so why is it absent from the education system?). 

We need a few good wise men & women, to stand up against the gigantic mental bankrupts . .  the time has come again for heroes. Where art thou?

KK Ong

Friendly bacteria, god's invisible army (2007 article / adaptation imported from KK's old website at Windows Live)

Adapted from US National Diary Council's website

Probiotics: Considerations for Human Health

Over the past decade, there has been considerable progress in identifying potentially beneficial roles for probiotics in human health. Probiotics are defined as “live microorganisms administered in adequate amounts that confer a health effect on the host”. Interest in the role of probiotics for human health dates back to the beginning of the 20th century (1908) when the Nobel Prize winning Russian scientist, Elie Metchnikoff, linked the long, healthy life of Bulgarian peasants to their high intake of fermented milk products containing lactic acid producing microorganisms. He theorized that the lactic acid bacteria in fermented milk displace undesirable bacteria normally present in the intestine, resulting in a healthier life. In recent years, there has been a plethora of published scientific studies examining the health attributes of probiotics, especially those related to gastrointestinal health and immune system modulation.

Although interest in probiotics (health-promoting bacteria) dates back to the beginning of the 20th century, only in recent years has considerable progress been made in identifying their potentially beneficial roles in human health.

The human gastrointestinal tract contains an extremely complex and diverse microbial population of more than 400 different species of bacteria. While the majority of these bacteria are non-pathogenic, some may potentially cause disease. In healthy individuals, there is a balance of bacteria. Disrupting this balance in the gastrointestinal tract (e.g., by stress, infection, antibiotic therapy) can lead to proliferation of undesirable or pathogenic microbes and increased risk of clinical disorders such as inflammatory diseases, infectious illnesses, and others. Increasing scientific evidence indicates that consumption of probiotics can help maintain a healthy microbial population, resulting in several therapeutic benefits.

For a microorganism to achieve probiotic status, it must have a demonstrable benefit for the host, be alive when administered, and be non-pathogenic. The majority of probiotics are strains of different species of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. In the U.S., food products containing probiotic bacteria are almost exclusively dairy products, such as yogurt, Sweet Acidophilus ® milk, kefir, and some cottage cheeses. Yogurt is the most popular dairy product containing probiotics. In addition to the yogurt starter bacteria, Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus , probiotics such as Lactobacillus acidophilus and bifidobacteria, are frequently added to yogurt to confer unique characteristics. Dairy foods containing probiotics are a major and growing segment of the world’s market for functional foods (i.e., foods fortified with ingredients capable of producing health benefits).

Probiotics should not be confused with prebiotics or synbiotics. Prebiotics are non-living, non-digestible food ingredients such as oligosaccharides (e.g., inulin) that stimulate the growth or activity of health-promoting lactobacilli and bifidobacteria. A synbiotic is a combination of prebiotics and probiotics. This combination can have an additive or synergistically beneficial effect on the host by improving the survival and/or persistance of the probiotic in the intestinal tract.

Potential Health Benefits of Probiotics

Research indicates that probiotics confer a variety of health benefits. However, when drawing conclusions regarding this research, it is important to recognize that different strains, species, and genera of bacteria may have unique effects. In vitro , experimental animal, and human studies of probiotics have used different bacterial strains and combinations of strains at different doses. Because human health issues are very difficult to study directly, different end points (e.g., blood cholesterol as an indicator of heart disease risk) are employed. Also, the mechanisms by which probiotics exert their effects are largely unknown. For the above reasons, generalizations about the health effects of probiotics can be misleading. Nevertheless, some promising health benefits (e.g., alleviation of lactose intolerance symptoms, anti-diarrheal effects, and immune stimulation) are attributed to specific strains of probiotics consumed at adequate levels.

Alleviation of Lactose Intolerance Symptoms. Individuals with low levels of the intestinal enzyme lactase (i.e., lactose maldigesters) have a limited ability to digest lactose (milk sugar), which can result in gastrointestinal symptoms or lactose intolerance. Studies demonstrate that intake of yogurt and some probiotics can improve lactose digestion and alleviate symptoms of intolerance.

Lactose maldigesters generally tolerate lactose from yogurt with live, active cultures better than from milk mainly due to the digestion of lactose in the gut lumen by lactase contained in yogurt starter cultures and released in the small bowel where these bacteria are lysed by bile acids. This benefit is substantially reduced if yogurt is heated after inoculation, which inactivates bacteria and its lactase enzyme. Compared to milk, yogurt delays gastric emptying and slows intestinal transit which prolongs the action of lactase in the small intestine and decreases the osmotic load of the lactose. Yogurt and probiotics may also improve tolerance to lactose by their positive effects on intestinal function and colonic microflora and/or by reducing individuals’ sensitivity to symptoms.

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Consuming yogurt, particularly with live, active cultures, allows many lactose maldigesters to comfortably include dairy products and their accompanying nutrients in their diet.

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A variety of probiotic bacteria such as L. acidophilus and bifidobacteria improve digestion of lactose in lactose maldigesters, although the effects are less consistent than those achieved for yogurt with live, active cultures. The finding that some fermented dairy products formulated exclusively with probiotic bacteria, such as Sweet Acidophilus® milk, are ineffective in improving tolerance to lactose may be explained by the low level of probiotics in the product.

Anti-diarrheal Effects. An extensive body of research supports a beneficial role for probiotics in the prevention and treatment of a variety of diarrheal illnesses, such as acute diarrhea caused by rotavirus infections, antibiotic-associated diarrhea, and travelers’ diarrhea. Specific strains of lactobacilli, such as Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and a combination of Lactobacillus rhamnosus 190702 and Lactobacillus reuteri DSM 12246, as well as fermented dairy foods such as yogurt, have been shown to reduce the severity and duration of acute diarrhea caused by rotavirus infections in infants and young children. According to a meta-analysis of randomized controlled studies, therapy using lactobacilli offers a safe and effective means to treat acute infectious diarrheal diseases in children.

A common side-effect of antibiotic therapy is diarrhea, usually caused by the growth of pathogenic bacteria, specifically Clostridium difficile. Several placebo-controlled clinical trials have demonstrated that L. rhamnosus GG, L. acidophilus LA1, and Saccharomyces boulardi , as well as yogurt, reduce the incidence of or lessen the severity of antibiotic-associated diarrhea. Two meta-analyses of placebo-controlled clinical trials support a strong benefit of probiotics in reducing the risk of antibiotic-associated diarrhea. Probiotics such as L. rhamnosus GG or specific mixtures of probiotics (e.g., L. acidophilus, L. bulgaricus, B. bifidum, and S. thermophilus ) have been used to reduce the incidence of travelers’ diarrhea among adults. However, the role of probiotics in the prevention of travelers’ diarrhea varies with the probiotic strain used and the travel destination.

Protection Against Infections. Probiotics may help prevent or treat infections such as postoperative infections, respiratory infections, and the growth of Helicobacter pylori , a bacterial pathogen responsible for type B gastritis, peptic ulcers, and perhaps stomach cancer. A 7-month randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled study of more than 570 healthy children aged 1 to 6 years in day care centers found that intake of a probiotic milk containing L. rhamnosus GG reduced the number and severity of respiratory infections and the need for antibiotics. Regular intake of probiotics (i.e., a fermented milk drink containing a mixture of L. rhamnosus GG, Bifidobacterium, L. acidophilus, and S. thermophilus ) has been demonstrated to reduce potentially pathogenic bacteria in the upper respiratory tract of humans.
Some in vitro , experimental animal, and limited human studies indicate that probiotics, especially lactic acid bacteria, may inhibit the growth of H. pylori. Probiotics such as Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota , bifidobacteria, and Lactobacillus salivarius have been shown to inhibit the growth and/or colonization of H. pylori in in vitro and experimental animal studies. According to an in vitro study, yogurt containing Bifidobacterium lactis Bb12 reduced the growth of H. pylori , whereas L. acidophilus La5 did not. When 59 adults with H. pylori infection consumed a mixture of these two probiotics in yogurt twice daily after a meal for 6 weeks, H. pylori was suppressed, but only when the probiotic yogurt was consumed regularly, whereas H. pylori continued to increase in the subjects consuming a placebo. Other human studies show that intake of fermented milks containing Lactobacillus johnsonii with or without antibiotics suppresses H. pylori infection or diminishes the severity and activity of gastric inflammation caused by H. pylori . Although these preliminary findings in humans indicate that some specific probiotic strains may help control H. pylori infection, there is no evidence that they can kill this pathogen in vivo.

Reduced Risk of Colon Cancer. Some evidence, primarily from in vitro and experimental animal studies, indicates that probiotics may have the potential to reduce colon cancer risk. In experimental animals, intake of yogurt and specific probiotic cultures has been shown to reduce the development of precancerous lesions (aberrant crypts) and chemically-induced tumors, although the findings appear to be both species- and strain-dependent . Epidemiological studies in humans link intake of yogurt or other fermented milk products to decreased cancer risk, however, the findings are inconsistent. Although human intervention studies demonstrate the ability of specific probiotics to inhibit biomarkers of colon cancer risk, such as bacterial enzyme activities, there is no direct evidence that probiotics reduce colon cancer incidence in humans. Based on a recent review of the evidence, researchers conclude that the protective role of milks fermented with probiotic cultures in colon cancer risk reduction is promising, but as yet inconclusive.

Immune Enhancement. Findings from experimental animal and mostly short term human studies indicate that yogurt and probiotics such as lactobacilli and bifidobacteria stimulate certain cellular and antibody functions of the immune system, which in turn may increase resistance to immune-related diseases (e.g., infections, gastrointestinal disorders, cancer, allergies). Secretory immunoglobulin A, which helps to protect against microbial antigens at the intestinal mucosal surface, has been shown to be increased in mice fed L. acidophilus, L. casei or yogurt, and in humans consuming fermented milk containing L. acidophilus. In mice fed fermented milk with L. casei, L. acidophilus , or both, macrophages (i.e., one of the first lines of nonspecific defense against bacterial invasion) increased. Consumption of yogurt or lactic acid bacteria (e.g., L. casei, L. rhamnosus GG, and other strains) also modulates the production of several cytokines, which have diverse roles in regulating immune functions.

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Emerging scientific evidence indicates that specific probiotics may reduce the risk of certain diarrheal diseases, infections, and colon cancer; enhance immune function; and alleviate symptoms of inflammatory disorders, among other benefits.

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Studies in older adults have shown that consumption of milk supplemented with a relatively low dose of the probiotic B. lactis HNO19 for 3 or 6 weeks enhances some aspects of cellular immunity, including total, helper, and activated T-cells, leukocyte phagocytosis, and tumor-killing cells. The greatest improvements in B. lactis -mediated immunoenhancement occurred in individuals with poorly functioning immune systems.

Many probiotic effects are mediated by balancing pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines. According to a recent study in 10 healthy adults, cellular immune response to intestinal microorganisms was enhanced following intake of L. rhamnosus GG for 5 weeks. This probiotic increased the response of peripheral T-lymphocytes to intestinal bacteria and enhanced an anti-inflammatory response by increasing the secretion of suppressive cytokines and decreasing the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Genetically engineering probiotic bacteria with desired functions such as the production of anti-inflammatory cytokines is an active area of research.

Anti-inflammatory Effects. Because probiotics can influence the intestinal flora, they may have beneficial effects for patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which includes ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, and pouchitis. Several animal studies and a few clinical trials in humans suggest that specific probiotic bacteria may alleviate or reduce symptoms of IBD . Intake of fermented milk for one year helped patients with ulcerative colitis maintain remission and had possible preventive effects, according to a randomized clinical trial in Japan. Other studies indicate that a combined probiotic preparation reduces relapses in patients with IBD. Intake of a combination of eight probiotic strains was effective in maintaining remission in patients with pouchitis.

Reduced Symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Probiotics may reduce symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) . A randomized controlled clinical trial in 25 patients with diarrhea-predominant IBS showed that intake of a probiotic formula twice daily for 8 weeks reduced abdominal bloating.
Prevention of Allergic Reactions. Probiotics may help prevent allergic reactions in individuals at high risk of allergies, such as food allergies. Results of a randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled study demonstrated that administration of L. rhamnosus GG to pregnant mothers 2 to 4 weeks prior to delivery and to their newborn babies through 6 months of age led to a 50% decrease in the infants’ incidence of recurring atopic eczema (i.e., an indicator of food allergy later in childhood). A follow-up study found that this preventive effect of L. rhamnosus GG extended until 4 years of age.

Other Potential Health Benefits. Some experimental animal and human investigations suggest that probiotics may reduce the risk of heart disease by their beneficial effects on blood lipid levels and blood pressure. Different strains of lactobacilli and fermented milk products containing probiotic bacteria may help prevent and treat urinary tract infections, bacterial vaginosis, and yeast vaginitis in women. Probiotics may also help relieve constipation, reduce colic in infants, alleviate kidney stones, decrease inflammation associated with arthritis, and protect against dental caries.