Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Life Isn't Fair

I was browsing in my inbox clearing my mails. Spam mails and a lots of them. One particularly mail interests me. Its about life isn't fair. It strucked me.

What is fair?

Do you think this word makes any profounding statement? That this word runs through our mind and in the back of the mind tirelessly almost every moment we felt "bullied" into any situation. Then this word comes out, fairness, to justify our existence and smooths our bruised emotions.

Life's not fair...., that is my point.

Some men are borned with higher IQ while some are lacked of intelligence and social skills. Some men are borned with great looks like superstars and actors, while some are borned with"different" look, being looked down everytime he/she walks down the street.

Some people are borned without limbs, while some are borned with perfect limbs with an excuse, "oh! i can't do that!". Some people are borned white while some are dark skin, being discriminated, just becaused they are dark.

Some are borned into war zones like North Korea and there are nothing they can do about it. While some of us are lucky enough to be born with perfect-ness in the developed country with a good society.

Then how come in general, humans still perceived, fair, is a word that should be in our society?

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Let us grasp the truth for a moment here and implant this freaking word into the back of our mind. Our world is not FAIR. There is nothing in the world is FAIR.

Our society, our humanity and civilization in general, IMHO, are molded the exact same way the law of the jungle. The rule is, the strongest survived. This rule has been there for thousands of years.

(IMHO, humanity in general are even worst than animal. Humans kill for fun. Animals don't.)

Tell me, that life is fair.

Then, how come there are still people who perceived that life is fair or should be?

I believe the word fair comes embedded into our mindset from our early age. In the form of morality, civic-mind and religion education. Governments, religions leaders and so-called society leaders wants citizens to be morally binded and fairness is among the word programmed into our sub-conscious mind.

When you are morally binded, you tend to restrict yourself within this roadblocks and invisible boundaries. You tend to think its fair for someone to be punished when he is wrong. You reward someone when they are right. Therefore, its fair.

It is fair for the king to rule the country and imposed taxes on society as long as he is a good king. It is fair to let these so-called government leaders to make "fair" rules to each member of society as long as its "fair" for me.

How wrong you are!

Let me break it down to you:

1. Mental: People are generally weak. People like to fall back to a familiar territory, namely comfort zone. The friends they met, the things that they are used to do and etc. Its very comforting to be "who you are" and be comfortable to do the things like they are used to.

That is why, when a situation forced one to feel that they are being treated unfairly, people like to fall back to the situation and says "its unfair". It gives them the illusion of power and the illusion that someone listen to them.

It makes you feel better rather than guilt that you are indeed weak. No one wants to be in a situation that they are not in control of. Being treated unfairly makes them feel like they are not in control of their own destiny. Pros and cons, i believed.

When one chooses to embraced that, indeed, they are being treated unfairly and feels shit about it, they gain the control of power to change. Instead of blaming on someone else and uses the word fair to make you feels better, why not think about it seriously and make a change and adapt to the new circumstances?

2. Society: Those who are strong, adaptable and of course, smarter beings, will take note of the changes and feelings. When they know they are being treaten with "unfair-ness", they adapt and make logical steps. They know where they stand and where their position is. They take advantage of it and make use of it for their benefits or overall greater good or worst.

Those who are ahead of the rest of us, knows that there are no fair-ness. They understands this. For instance, a dictator in Africa are not willing to let go of their power and status despite of the conditions of the country, society and people. A wealthy man during the old days, will have slaves and peasants to carry out the work for them and opposed any form of education for a peasant.

Why do you think that would happen? Fairness? How about control?

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So how do we proceed from here? Do we still think that there are actually fairness in any given situation, in general?

(Thats why i said earlier that, man are indeed worst than animal, in this sense. They are willing to kill each other for fun and control.)

Since the rise of industrial age and information age, the rules of the game is changed. There are opportunities for change now. We are only bound in papers to our birth place, ie. citizenship rather than our level of status, ie peasant or slave. We have an opportunity and choice to even change the citizenship if we choose to. Of course, there are some places still, that color of race dictates your destiny.

Ultimately, IMHO, i believe that our choices are dictated from within. The stuff between your ears. Your solid matter to think and understand. Your brain and mindset.

If you understand and believes that "fair" is indeed just a word that does not make sense it this world, why hang on to it? Why not make it work for you.

Diminish the word "fair" from your mind and force another word into your brain, "advantageous". Whenever when you felt treaten on your territory involving the word fair, try to think of the next step to be in an advantageous position. Do not blame and says its not fair, instead, say i will change and adapt to be better, stronger and advantageous.

Don't think that there should be fairness and anything should be fair to you. That you should indeed have your pay-rise and promotion. We know that there are no such thing.

Instead, try to think that you can make some choices now to change your future to be better, stronger and advantageous for you. Smart people make use of their relationship, emotional, mindset, physical and power to gain an advantage of any given circumstances.

You think cheating to win is a bad thing? Thats how a human survived anyway. Its how those who has an open mind, not bound to any restriction, have this ability to adapt and change, and most importantly survived. Its not your neighbour nor anyone else, to tell you that cheating is bad. Its your own feelings, your beliefs and your mindset that governs you. Perhaps its your religion too.

The world is a chaos place and human nature itself is a chaos. Do not believe that fairness will comes and happens upon you.

Afterall, we are only humans :)

Friday, July 31, 2009

Raining Weekend

We were planning for a couple of days. In the back of the mind, was this little so-called weekend getaway plan to Shanghai. To relax, enjoy and savour the moment in the weekend in Shanghai.


Alas, it boils down to mother nature, i guess. Arghhh.....! Need to cancel the plan now!


Maybe chill in sleepy town? Going to Night Jasmine for a couple of glass of Dunkel? Or perhaps going for a soothing deep oil aromatherapy massage at Sawadika? Maybe hit the gym and get-the-ass-moving-cardio over the weekend? Should i get a nice lil' tattoo that i wanted to get?


Gooosh!


*Very undecided now*

Monday, July 20, 2009

Shanghai: Cha's Restaurant

When i 1st read the review and the description of this place, i was like ok. I must try and explore this. The prices is right, the food is right, the place is right and everything else seems secondary. The name is Cha's.

I got to know this cafe from SmartShanghai's radar. Cha is located right behing H&M store in Huaihai Lu. The full address is 30 Sinan Lu by Huaihai Lu. It is opened from 11am to 2am. Perfect time for tea during the weekend or supper after clubbing time in Fuxing Park.

Head there during the daylight mast shopping in Huaihai Lu for a butter toast, head there knowingly that there is a decent joint to "lepak" at. Some might prefer ice Lemon Coke though! I prefer Ice Coffee x2 with a Dunhill Lights between my fingers for a chill cool puff under the aircon! Freaking fantastic.




Not Char Siew Pao. But rather Cha Chan Teng's that is famous in Hong Kong. Everyone that speaks cantonese would like to hangout here i think. Its decor is classic with a twist. Its waiter/waitress are dressed like one that serves you drinks in Hong Kong as well. The tiles on the floors resembles one from there too. Even the menu board is a LCD TV disguises as a black board with wood frame. How cool!



Well. The food is reasonably cheap in the current Shanghai standard. Where can you find a set meal with a ice cool coffee/tea, with a slice of butter toast, scrambled eggs with ham/bacon and either a nissin/macaroni with ham for a measley RMB30 kuai. Its like a long lost heaven appear out of nowhere to save our soul from Bi Feng Tang and Xin Wang.



I personally think its cool and classic. Its a superb place for hippies-ala-cantonese speaking crowd in Shanghai to hang out here. Its called yum cha, btw. In Guangzhou, they yum cham with dim sum with chinese tea. In Kuala Lumpur, they drink at mamak stall that serve teh tarik and roti prata or known as India Fly Pie here.



How do they served something in between? Cha Chan Teng in a Hong Kong style mode! We have such restaurants in Kuala Lumpur during the booming days. You can see Kim Gary and a few others that have same Hong Kong style cafes mushrooming all around town. Only then, came the Old Town coffee hyperbole later.

Back to the this restaurant, go on and try it. A very reasonable affair with nice touch from the owners of this Cha's. Everything is new here. Aircon is cold. Smoke is in the air. Nissin is served on the bowl. You know you have a satisfied customer when they clear up the table in 10. Not even left over a single strand of noodle!



Check out this link for Cha's further info. They even have a good decent review done less than 1 month open. Personally, I rate this place A MUST Return! Gawd! Should i head there again soon? I know i need and i will.

For Cha's, keep up the good work and improve further!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Technosexuality, Gadgets and New Age Man

Technosexuality: a dandy narcissist in love with not only himself, but also his urban lifestyle and gadgets; a straight man who is in touch with his feminine side but has fondness for electronics such as cell phones, PDA’s, computers, software, and the web.

In other words, a cool geek.


Hey! Thats Ian Lagac and your humbly, me. Muahahahahaha!

Seriously, back to the point. I believe the emergence of this class of individual is not too surprising given then any ubersexual or metrosexual will eventually matures and evolve. Males and alpha males living in the metropolis, both straights and otherwise, working or not, making their dreams come true or just laying around chilling out, must equipped with the latest gadget. You name it and they got it.




Smartphones like Blackberry, Iphone, Palm Pre. Mobile mp3 like Ipod Nano, Ipod Touch, Sony Walkman. Camera such as DSLR, Sony, Canon Ixus and Leica M8. Netbooks and Macbooks are the words these days. These are here to stay.

As Charles Darwin once quoted,"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change."

Look around you, that if its you are reading this now at Starbucks with a wireless netbook sipping that latte, and see for yourself. Ask yourself this,"Is that guy gay? Is the guy sitting next to me straight?" You could not have seen more examples of these in any metropolis, anywhere between Tokyo to Shanghai from Manila to Singapore. Techno-males are here and they are everywhere.



Goodbye beard. Adios to rugged-ol-fitting-torn jeans. Sayonara to messy oily hair srinkled with dandruff. Au revoir to camping hiking boots in Starbucks. Welcome smartphones and Iphones. Huanyin to Ipods and Itouch 16G. Selamat datang to Macbook Air and Netbooks 10".

Gadgets are here to stay. Imagine your journey in a tube 10 feet underground travelling at 30 miles an hour. Look around you. How many instances that you are able to see individuals with wires hooked to their Ipod. How many of these young males staring at their PSP? Aplenty, that is.



Look at your friends with the latest smartphones (btw, PDA is a cliche and so-old-school gadget by now, which generation are you from, you say?) Everyone wants a Wii, gotten a PS2 and having that kick-ass 42" LCD TV in their living room. All of us wanted that new stylish DSLR or M8 Leica camera. Of course, some of us wants a simpler Sony slim pinkish camera in color to match with their bags.

The emergence of these category of people is here. They are no lie and they are equipped with latest news and information. They blog and they Facebook. They upload their latest photos online and they share like no tomorrow.


Catch up, ol' man or end up like the PDA, ol' skool.


Welcome to the new world.

Update 1: Read this too. Girl Like Gadgets More Than Boys?

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Smartphone: Palm Pre

OMG! This article makes my day. It further reinforce my decision to dump dumb-dumb freaking phone forever and uses something smart, something sleeky, something cool but yet not like a nerd.

Any idea?

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Palm Pre!

I love this piece of plastic. Are they available on GSM yet?


I need this!

How can you not like it? Its a business phone without boundaries. Loaded with features such as push email and IM messaging, layered calender and linked contacts, multi-tasking at its bests by opening several application simultaneously, Wi-Fi GPS and 3G, Palm services and etc.



Its a smart phone at its bests.

Look at the breakthrough design and the pictures! Lovely, ain' it?


I am so gonna get 1! When GSM version is available? Check here for their kick-ass phone.

Pictures courtesy of Palm.com

Friday, June 5, 2009

Cute Kids = Fashionista!

Long time never post nor blog anything. But came today, when i was browsing online, saw this album full of collection of pictures of a fashionista cute adorable boys age at 4-7, i think.

I think he/they are japanese/chinese boy who models for some clothing lines. If not, how do you explain the fashion and the dressings?!?!?!

Check it out!


1. This looks like a cute kid with a neck scarf and a blue shirt. He looks cute in this picture.


2. This looks like a junior lifeguard with a damn cool sunglasses with a yellow strap bag, white sleeveless shirt and a yellow floral bermuda pants to match his bag. Damn cool!


3. This picture is a happy picture. A happy smiling boy with a red winter vest, a red cap and a stripe shirt. Makes everyone hearts melt!


4. This picture portraits an active kids with a nice dark/black denim with crisp white shirt.


5. This is damn cool la. Nice faded old school denim with a blue overhead sweater, a red beanie and a cute pouted lips expression.


6. This is so korean style. White crisp shining shoe, dark denim, white shirt, beige beanie with a matching beige scarf. Nice!


7. I like this the mosts. His dressings, his fashions and his expression gives a notch above the word COOLNESS. Its above coolness! Intellectual black rim glasses, white pants, colored stripe shirt, purple scarf to make him standout in the fashion crowd and a white NY hat. Super cool!


8. This is a couple photo with a matching jacket, brown jacket that looks like a leather. A faded denim, a checkered shirt and a brown shoes to match his overall appearance!


9. This looks like a future fashionable Harvard student with a blue beanie, a black rim glasses, a blue shirt layered over a white tee, a brown pants and a black sneakers! Even his watch is a blue digital that matches with his blue tee!


10. Dark cap, dark denim, green jacket and a cute look! What else you need?

11. Army pants, brown sweater, sling bag, red cap and a bad boy long cute looking hairstyle!


12. This is an adorable shot. A cowboy hat, a Abercrombie blue shirt, a wrist band and a silver chain necklace.

13. Faded denim, checkered shirt, white long sleeve tee, white hat and a black rim glasses with a cool cute look and a backpack. This photo reminds me of a Korean university student.

14. Adorable shot with big red apple on the chest with a matching red cap and a army bermuda. Damn adorable!

15. This is extremely fashionable with good layering sense. Checkered neck scarf matching with striped black and white tee. Blue tee wore over it. Accompanied with a smile and you have a million bucks photo! Great!


16. This is cool look. Faded denim, brown sneakers, checkered shirt, bow tie, black rim glasses, blue cap matching the blue watch, a cool pose lean against the wall with a kick ass superly cool expression! Damn! He's good!


These collection is great! Which picture do you like best?

I personally likes photo number 7 the most. A cool look with white NY hat, glasses and purple scarf. Extremely cool!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Doctors Advise

I love this Doctor

Q: Doctor, I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life; is this true? !
A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that's it... don't waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that's like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live longer? Take a nap.

Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables?
A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products.

Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake?
A: No, not at all. Wine is made from fruit. Brandy is distilled wine, that means they take the water out of the fruity bit so you get even more of the goodness that way. Beer is also made out of grain. Bottoms up!

Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?
A: Well, if you have a body and you have fat, your ratio is one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio is two to one, etc.

Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program?
A: Can't think of a single one, sorry. My philosophy is: No Pain...Good!

Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you?
A: YOU'RE NOT LISTENING!!! .... Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil. In fact, they're permeated in it. How could getting more vegetables be bad for you? !

Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle?
A: Definitely not! When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You should only be doing sit-ups if you want a bigger stomach.

Q: Is chocolate bad for me?
A: Are you crazy? HELLO Cocoa beans! Another vegetable!!! It's the best! feel-good food around!

Q: Is swimming good for your figure?
A: If swimming is good for your figure, explain whales to me.

Q: Is getting in-shape important for my lifestyle?
A: Hey! ! 'Round' is a shape!

Well, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets.

And remember: 'Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming 'WOO HOO, What a Ride'

AND.....For those of you who watch what you eat, here's the final word on nutrition and health.

It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting nutritional studies.

1. The Japanese eat very little fatand suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fatand suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

4. The Italians drink a lot of red wineand suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

5. The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

CONCLUSION

Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you.

Wahahahahahaha! LoL. I think i have to speak more mandarin or french from now onwards!!! LMAO!

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Recession, Bailout and the American Economy

This is not capitalism. Todays' American government bailout of the whole recession is socialism - for the rich and powerful.

In many ways, it is worse than Marxism or communism, because at least those systems has the illusion of being for the people. Those systems at least preached the redistribution of money from the rich to the poor, even if they didn't practice it. Sort of story of Robin Hood The Prince of Thieves.

American bailouts takes the money from the poor and the middle class in the form of taxes. These people have to work harder and harder to earn the currency that is worth less and less.

Businesses in America like General Motors that grew too fat and lazy during the good times to compete in the bad times are saved from bankruptcy. Bank executives who are firing thousands of employees, both blue and white collars, are given millions of cash bonuses, being justified as retention bonuses.

These executives are entrusted with protecting and growing, instead the company's share price drops to bottom and investors both the public and general Americans lost millions of USD in the form of 501K.

Optimist will always says that no worries, the economy will bounced back again. Obama, the government, the Fed and etc will do their best to ensure that our economy to bounce back again.

Pessimist will say that the recession is not yet at the bottom. Look at the economy. Does the foreclosure and the employment shows any sign yet? Does the bank and other financial institution started to mass hiring again like what they have done during the bull run?

What do you think?

Read more from http://www.conspiracyoftherich.com/

Friday, April 17, 2009

Everyones Goal

Seeing everyone having a material goals and dreams makes me drool. I wish i can plan for these right now. I hope that i can own 1 as well. Dreams makes one feels alive and filled with positive energy, recharged and full of hope. Its a good way to live. Alive!

But, i don't think getting a car as a dream for me now is a good idea since that i am in China working. I do not even know when my month will be. Maybe i will be in Shanghai for the weekend splash. Maybe i will stay at this ZJG, cycling to gym and pump that muscle. Maybe we shall go to Suzhou for a quick trip. Perhaps perhaps. Thats what happen, when you work overseas. No certainty. Not much of a planning.

The only thing i think i can plan, is how much $$$ we should save. Something measurable. XX amount of $$$ by December 2009. As for material goal, i think i want to get myself a new mobile phone from Sony Ericsson and a new MP3 player. Something that i uses everyday. As for the rest, perhaps, getting a couple more tattoos and fitter would be an ideal goal.

Financially, i would want to get 1 more properties by this year. Invested to kickstart my own personal passive income. No point talking and planning if there is no action. Mel, please highlight and look around for properties. I want to buy.

As for the rest, what i wanted are a smooth journey this year, hopefully, something better in career-wise and monetary wise in 2010. Note that i will have a new job to report to in the next month. A new project, a new challenge, a new experience for me. More trainings and more wisdoms. This will propel me to a better greater future. I know i am a winner.

Vanity, perhaps, is not too bad after all.

Hairdresser vs Robber

Gawd! This piece of news is damn hilarious! Could not have imagine this happens in the real world.

Read on.

A young hairdresser in Kaluga, Central Russia, locked a robber who tried to steal her money in the basement of the beauty salon. After that, she has brutally raped her hostage for three days. A court in Kaluga has filed criminal charges against both of them, the Russian website Newsru.com reports.

The robber, who has not been named, burst into the salon armed with shotgun at about 17.00 on March 14. He demanded money. There were two hairdressers and one client in the salon at the time. One of hairdressers, who was studying judo and taekwondo, disabled the robber with a smashing body blow. Then she carried the unlucky robber to the basement and bound him with a hairdryer cord.

The hairdresser told her scared colleague and the client that she would call the police. But she did not. After work, instead of calling the police, she made her hostage undress. The perverted hairdresser forced the hostage to take several Viagra tablets. She chained the unfortunate robber with pink furry wristbands and painfully raped him for the next three days.
After his release, the exhausted robber filed charges against the perverted woman. The frenulum of his penis was torn as a consequence of rape session.


“That’s ridiculous. We had sex just a couple times. I brought him brand new jeans. I fed him every day and gave him one thousand rubles ($25) before his release,” the hairdresser said.

In response, she filed charges against the robber.

The robber admitted that the hairdresser really did feed him royally.

“I actually don’t know what will happen to them. But it’s a pity that they could not meet in the cell. They would be a great couple,” one of the police officers said.

I thought this only happens in fake porn movies?!?!?!?!?

What happen to this world? Perhaps the robber looks like Brad Pitt or David Beckham, thats why.

LoL!

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Busy

It has been a super super.............................................. long long time since i have open my blogspot and write something in it. Been busy and superly busy. Work, family, gym time, stress, work and everything else falls into my 24/7 category.

I will write again....

Until then, i say au revoir!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Joneses, Sleepyheads and Killers

I am busy lately.

With chores of works and responsibility here and there.

But this does not stop me from reading at times.

I like this article. It reminds me on how things work differently. It reminds me that the rich and the successful have a different wavelength from the rest of us. The joneses that makes 99.9% are just the sleepyheads and the zombies. What the 0.1% people are? They are the killers. The are different and they think differently. They are the special ones.

Try to imagine this. Due to this freaking recession globally, everyone across the board, the old and young ones, the commoner and the dreamer, the employees and workers around the globe, will be cursing and swearing about the lost of their job, the increase in price and the inflation, the lack of bonus, the money they have to save and etc blah blah blah.

But but, those killers. You know what they do? They are different. They will not be penalized.... You think huge organizations and business owners will kill these killers? At most they will be let off with a huge compensation but will be re-hired at another organization. They are the killers. They make things work and they have guts. They are not afraid of the norm nor killing the weak ones. They make right decisions at unpleasant times. They can watch you bleed while they are having their steak.

To think about it, it makes perfect sense. You think these predators will give any damn to you and about you, if you are to lose your job and complains about your lack of bonus? Dream on my friend. Dream on. Compassion is best left away from the world outside. They will eat you alive.

Now, do you want to be the joneses, sleepyheads or the killers?

Updated: To further demonstrate the differences between where this will happens, we takes 2 examples of 2 different countries, America and China.

You see, in America, you will be paid millions of dollars in bonus and compensation for experiences, results and wisdoms. In short you will be paid millions of dollars for your intelligence as compensation for your results to transform your employer to perform in Wall Street.

In China, i believe it is slightly different. You are mentally programmed since young to do it for the sake of country and the honor of your country. You are hired for your experience and intelligence. But you will not be compensated hugely in multimillions but your name will honored and remembered for your contribution to the country. You are supposed to do it for the sake of your country. Just look at the medals for athletes in China during Olympics in 2008. They fight for their country.

In America, you fight for your individual success, medals and money.

This is just a piece of my humble opinion.

In Malaysia, no 1 fights for anything anymore, for the exception of their birth rights, bumiputra or non-bumi. Or maybe they fight for their deserved salary or lands behind their house in their kampung, perhaps. Hahaha.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Managerial Incompetence

What is managerial incompetence?

Doing the right things or doing things right? How about doing wrong things right and doing wrong things wrong?

WTF??!?!?!?

I was reading this post. It makes me think. Check it out here.

It is a commonplace assumption, for instance, that they were undone by overly generous union contracts. But, when dependency ratios start getting up into the 3-to-1 to 7-to-1 range, the issue is not so much what you are paying each dependent as how many dependents you are paying. “There is this notion that there is a Cadillac being provided to all these retirees,” Ron Bloom, a senior official at the United Steelworkers, says. “It’s not true. The truth is seventy-five-year-old widows living on less than three hundred dollars to four hundred dollars a month. It’s just that there’s a lot of them.”

A second common assumption is that fading industrial giants like G.M. and Bethlehem are victims of their own managerial incompetence. In various ways, they undoubtedly are. But, with respect to the staggering burden of benefit obligations, what got them in trouble isn’t what they did wrong; it is what they did right. They got in trouble in the nineteen-nineties because they were around in the nineteen-fifties—and survived to pay for the retirement of the workers they hired forty years ago. They got in trouble because they innovated, and became more efficient in their use of labor.

So tell me again. I was pretty shocked. Is innovation and improvements good? Is paying for retirees bad? How do they solve this problems? History of problems. Have the past management really screw up? Or perhaps they did not think into the future at all? Or perhaps they wanted to guard against their own interests?

And continued here about the problems faced by the current scenarios, current situation by the current batch of CEOs.

Here, surely, is the absurdity of a system in which individual employers are responsible for providing their own employee benefits. It penalizes companies for doing what they ought to do. General Motors, by American standards, has an old workforce: its average worker is much older than, say, the average worker at Google. That has an immediate effect: health-care costs are a linear function of age. The average cost of health insurance for an employee between the ages of thirty-five and thirty-nine is $3,759 a year, and for someone between the ages of sixty and sixty-four it is $7,622. This goes a long way toward explaining why G.M. has an estimated sixty-two billion dollars in health-care liabilities. The current arrangement discourages employers from hiring or retaining older workers. But don’t we want companies to retain older workers—to hire on the basis of ability and not age? In fact, a system in which companies shoulder their own benefits is ultimately a system that penalizes companies for offering any benefits at all. Many employers have simply decided to let their workers fend for themselves. Given what has so publicly and disastrously happened to companies like General Motors, can you blame them?

Or consider the continuous round of discounts and rebates that General Motors—a company that lost $8.6 billion last year—has been offering to customers. If you bought a Chevy Tahoe this summer, G.M. would give you zero-per-cent financing, or six thousand dollars cash back. Surely, if you are losing money on every car you sell, as G.M. is, cutting car prices still further in order to boost sales doesn’t make any sense. It’s like the old Borsht-belt joke about the haberdasher who lost money on every hat he made but figured he’d make up the difference on volume. The economically rational thing for G.M. to do would be to restructure, and sell fewer cars at a higher profit margin—and that’s what G.M. tried to do this summer, announcing plans to shutter plants and buy out the contracts of thirty-five thousand workers. But buyouts, which turn active workers into pensioners, only worsen the company’s dependency ratio. Last year, G.M. covered the costs of its four hundred and fifty-three thousand retirees and their dependents with the revenue from 4.5 million cars and trucks. How is G.M. better off covering the costs of four hundred and eighty-eighty thousand dependents with the revenue from, say, 4.2 million cars and trucks? This is the impossible predicament facing the company’s C.E.O., Rick Wagoner. Demographic logic requires him to sell more cars and hire more workers; financial logic requires him to sell fewer cars and hire fewer workers.

WTF?!?!?!?

Is there anyway out of this hole?

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Successful and Advice

Continued from the previous post.

I believe these advise will help too.

1. Focus Focus Focus. Keep on focus on the main objective. The target and the goal that you have set. Persevere, grit determination or simply "wouldn't let go of what you want" while remain focus on the goals that you have set, sets you apart from other joneses. Its not what we think, its not what we do, its what you have done (or the results) that counts.

A lot of people have tried and failed. A lot of people have thought about it. But only a selected few ever succeeded. Why do you think that happens? Accident, coincidence or simply never give up.

Remain focus to at your target and never let go despite of negativity, problems and everything that comes in the way. Never lose your sight of the target!

2. Think 3T. 1st T = Think Big. Everyone from anywhere around the globe will tell you these. If you want to succeed, in regardless of corporate ladder, entrepreneurship or business-wise, one of the main criteria is to think big. Small sailor on a small boat will never make it through the wild sea.

Be big! Think big and live large, said by Donald Trump. Its just a matter of perception and thinking between 100 dollars and 1000000 dollars. If you want to succeed in corporate world and climb the ladder, think big.

3. 2nd T = Think long term. Its very simple to think in front of you. Anyone with a pair of eyes can do that. But, by thinking long term and planning for the future that defines a visionary and successful person.

Think long term and plan for it, but focus on your everyday task and the things that you need to do to achieve it. Thats why we have short term goal, medium term goals and your long term goals.

4. 3rd T = Think positive. The world, the media everyday portraits the world full of negativity. How do you achieve positivity by reading more news? There is a saying, no news is good news! Hahaha. I agree to that.

Successful people stay positive at all times. Its like a super large you. Negative news just sort of zap at you, to makes you stay on the right path. Negative news should not be in your mind. It should not influence your thinking. Positivity should.

To stay positive, you need to start by changing you thinking a little bit each day. Start by telling yourself, especially when you feel down and felt negative, "ZAP IT!". Slap yourself. Cut the thinking. Your brain is sabotaging yourself. ZAP IT! Stay positive. Think positive. Think the happy times. Stay constructive. Tell yourself that you can. Even Mr Lee, your next door neighbour can make it, why not me?

These are some advise bits and parts that i carry with me within all the time. Its a learning experience and wisdom that i gathered. From my failures, from my readings, from my listenings, from my observations and from everything that i learned.

Why not take 5 minutes of your time to really think about what i have said and decide whether i make any sense?

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Insecurity, Emotions and Fear

This post is personal. Its from within. Its actually the result of the Law of Newton, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. And this post is the opposite reaction for mel's post, complicated emotion.

1st-ly, i wanted to dissect the whole subject logically. Where did she get the feelings from? Why did she felt that way? What happen that makes her feels this way? Thousands of questions. Millions of answers. Billions of probabilities. One single truth. Insecurity + Fear.


I think that almost all females have these. It is built-in and within their genes. The un-defined chromosome that makes them feel insecure and needed re-assurance + guarantee to make them feel better. It is something that exists in woman, and of course, in some boys too. Its how woman do and react, have their 6th sense and their motherly instinct. It their survival skill.


That is where the part male species comes in. Males species homosapien has the lack of the understanding of how these things works. It is sort of empathy + sympathy. The feeling and the care that a man shows to provide care and understanding to woman. To make them feel better. Reassured. Makes them feels secure. To give them what they need, the feeling of re-assurance and security. Its in their genes.


Back to the story. Why does that Mel feels so emotionally challenged? I believe it comes from lack of directions and the constant changes evolves around her life and daily routine. Its the chaos and the stress level that comes from work and everyday life.

Generally, i believe when it comes to this scenario, where deep down inside your heart, when you feel insecured and lack of something to hold on to, you mis-react. They wanted to be busy. They believes that, if only, that they have more work and busier, things will be better. They believes that they have some-sort-of-karma-and-control that things will be eventually better. It is also dues to that when you feel you are busy with new challenges and new works, naturally you will feel "better" due to that you overcome new challenges and getting the praise that you deserved! You believe it works that way.

I think all of these are only fractionally true. It is not that i mean that you should laid back like an asshole doing nothing. It is also not that i mean you should not work like a horse to achieve what you wanted.

It is just that i believe that if you feel insecure and have a sort of fear, you have to look inside. Stop running. Stop thinking and believing that if you are to be in control more of any situation, things will get better. They don't!


The more you are trying to control. The more LIFE screw you up. The more you are trying to control things around you. The more YOU will screw things up. The more you are trying to control the people around you. The more HE/SHE will riot and screw up.

Then, not only you will micro-managed it, you are also expecting the results to be exact of what you wanted. You will wish to control 1001 things in your mind, things around you and people you love and care. You wanted to "believe" that by getting busy, be in control and by doing things fast and everything will makes things better. It won't. You will only make it worst.

Have you seen those scenario and real life cases before? I bet you would. Mothers who expects their children to perform up to their expectation, micro-managing it to the things they do and how they expect their child to behave. What happens next?

We created a monster or a poor soul. Either this monster will grow up to be a heartless person who do bad and nasty things to others or this little soul will have no courage and full of fear to meet the world and society outside. And all of these happens, is because the parents is fearful and insecure about their children's life.

Life sucks. Get over it. People die everyday. Be grateful that you still have this breath right now. Theres nothing you can do to make it better. The world is complex nor it is fair. Don't make it even more complicated that it has been.

What you need right now is:

1. Cool down. Try to cool down and slow down once a while. Do nothing in fact and read a book. Go to gym or do some exercise. Make your brain slow down. You will only then start to feel that you have a life. Feel your life. Afterall, you only live once. Why the hell you wanted to be so busy until you forgotten about your own life?

2. Look within thyself. Stop and do nothing. Think of nothing. City life is like that. Metropolitan lifestyle is faster than bullet train. Look within yourself and ask yourself. Is this what makes me feel this way? Am i who i am? Is this what i wanted? And the only you can ask yourself that, is when you cool down and be in peace with yourself.

3. Go yoga or go workout. I think by doing yoga and working out has its way to de-stress you. I have done that and i can feel it. Blast some techno and rock songs. Pump that muscle. Stretch your fatigued muscles after. Go to yoga. Try out the pilates. I tell you. The more you do, the more you will get addicted to the pain feeling of your muscles aching. Its like you muscles are telling you, that you are looking better, getting healthier and most importantly, you are INDEED ALIVE.

4. Have a broader understanding and a wider perspective of the world. That not EVERYTHING is within your control. That sometimes LIFE do workout to be different from what you expect it to be. That sometimes LIFE really sucks. That the fucker in front of you just cut your lane when you have the worst jam in your entire life. That the fucker just took your car park space when you are rushing for your urgent meeting. Bla bla bla.


Hey! Didn't i told you, LIFE sucks? But, be of no sad nor down. Sometimes it work out to be better. Just ask those fellas who went to work late in the New York Twin Tower during 9/11. Just ask those fella who are late to board the 4 flights in States on 9/11. Just ask those fellas who has life experiences encountering the worst, life taking experiences. This i can guarantee you, nothing else matters anymore.

Quote from Steve Jobs at here:

".. almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."


You can say that i am a eternally optimist or just vain. But hey, thats me! And it work out pretty fine. At least, i am feeling happier than most of those out there. At least i have made my achievements that i am pretty proud of. At least, i still optimist of the future in front of me. At least, i have done something proud in my life.

Last but not least, i am still happy, excited, proud, optimistic and feeling full of life! To capped this, i say Stay Hungry Stay Foolish!

Friday, February 20, 2009

Victoria Beckham Hairstyles

I am not making any suggestions. I just think the evolutionary of hair is really fantastic. Victoria Beckham hairstyle, IMHO, has been sort of an inspiration and guidelines for some modern edge cool sexy looking female.

I saw this hair and instantly, makes me wanna go and blog about it. From long curly hair to the current short style hair. I think it looks good on her. Hahaha. I think i will be labeled as "he-feminism", but what the heck? I just wanted to say that her hair looks great with her style. What do you think?

Her latest hairstyle at the opening ceremony of Armani Store in States



And some of her other hairstyles in the past, which IMHO, looks modern and stylish as well!