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 :)

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?

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/

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.

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!

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.

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?

Economic Crisis and Global Recession in 2009

The aftermath of the sub-prime mortgage meltdown has its ups and downs. Some has positive lights while majorities are affected by it. Peoples and citizens of the world are affected from different ways. For instances:


1. from chinese factory workers who lost their jobs before Spring festivals

2. factory owners closing down in Guangdong province in China

3. to the bankrupt Lehman Brothers in US

4. the management guys from Lehman Brothers who are selling their multimillion dollar vacation houses in the States (details here)

5. to the big 3 automobiles company in US, namely, Chrysler GM and Ford who are looking from federal government assistance to avoid bankruptcy

6. to the Greek bonds which is now rated as junk

7. the Italian government who has a Euro200 billion debt

8. Sandy Weill, the former chairman of Citigroup still having the benefits even Citigroup lay off 60,000 employees (sources here)

8. etc etc etc and bla bla bla (much more to be continued here)


Of course, the other end of the spectrum would be those who make billions betting (or shorting) against the sub prime mortgages before the economic meltdown. People such as John Paulsen and George Soros, who rakes in billions due to this economic bubble burst. (read more here)

What makes me more interested in reading the article, was when i read one of the comment:

Harry Papastavrou

The main problem of the euro is the lack of central debt management and a stronger political union. When the above will be realized in a reasonable degree, the dollar dominance as a world reserve currency will be History.

The fundamentals of Euro are far healthier than those of the dollar and holding dollar can be a very risky investment. USA owes the use of the dollar as leading reserve currency to its political and military global dominance, without this dominance the dollar would be nothing more than a week currency.

This global dominance allows the USA to use most of the world savings to finance its economy and the extravagant military spending, by issuing in fact papers (treasury bills) and taking the global hard earned savings, promising to repay them back, let hope this will happen (actually the Americans trust in God that will not be a global sell off of the dollar in which case we will have the first in History bankruptcy of a superpower).

The pound is in a deplorable stage and the downhill of the British economy really scares me, which has robbed the people a huge portion of their hard earned life savings, on top of that this severe devaluation does not bring any good to the UK economy.

For the time being I think is a good psychological therapy to project your woes to the euro currency/area.


Reading this makes sense to me. Now, i am wondering, what is the value of the results we do everyday? Does it make sense for us for us to do what we are doing everyday? Given the fact that life and money has something in common, fragility.

The only differences i see, is the value we set upon both life and money. What is the value you set upon yourself and your money? How do you judge the value of your character, your life and your money?

I'll let you to be the person who answer for yourself and be the judge.

10 things you HATE in Shanghai

Updated: Added 2 more items that you hate in Shanghai on no.11 and no.12! Gawd! Unbelievable!

Ok ok. Enough with all the bloggers and everyone writes about what to do in Shanghai, although not that i complained though as i learned a lot from their experiences, thus wisdom for me. I am going to write DE TOP TEN THINGS i hate in Shanghai, inclusive of cities around, such as Wuxi, Suzhou, Zhangjiagang and Nanjing.

The reason is simple. You cannot and will never will understand why they do that. It is pure unbelievably stupid and no-brain symptom? Sometimes you get so fed-up, that you wish to go and take a piece of wood and knock the shit out of their head. No explaination needed. Just pure stupidity!

We start at here:

1. Stopping at the end of an escalator

This syndrome is called planning for the day. Imagine this. You are simply walking around in the mega shopping malls in Shanghai. Its packed like sardines with everyone is rushing to dunno do what shit thing. Perhaps rushing to get that toilet roll or rushing to finish before you. Then you are packed and pushed into a walkway down the escalator going up or going down. Its packed and its a lot of people. Then, out of no where, the FAMILY in front of you simply stop when the escalator reaches the end. THEY STOP and have a discussion in front of the escalator! WTF?!?!?!?!?!? YES! They stop and discuss which way to go while scratching their butt and their head.

Simply unbelievable!

2. They spits!

They act is called clearing the throat kung fu. It takes your chi and your breath, all in 1 act. Ptuiiiiiiii ................................. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then the fucker turns his head and make the furthest spit, and if you are walking around these "spitting kungfu master", you need both of your ears and all your senses to avoid that lump of spit! YuckS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes! Sometimes you need to jump away if necessary!

3. Bad Breath!

I do not understand why. They dislike drinking a lot of water. It makes them fat! Sometimes, when they talk to you, you can feel it. Smelling that foul smell from the mouth 1 foot away from you that you have to hold on to your breath and look away to catch a breather!

They do not believe in the thing call mouth spray nor sweets. Its sweet and its fattening. Never mind the breath! *faint*

4. Food and service staff attitude

You feel like choking them alive. Just imagine 4 counters during lunch time. Pack of people going to buy McDonalds right? They open only 1 counter. >_<

Have you ever tried to ask for 1 more slice of lemon for your ice lemon tea or requests for 1 more slice of cheest for your burger? I tell you. You will VOMIT blood! They will tell you its not for sell nor they will give it to you. Its not company policy! FUCK!

5. NOT lining UP!

This is ONE OF THE FUCKING thing that i hate the most! No body lines UP in China. I think everyone who visits to China, will somehow be amuse at the crowd when they buy tickets in bus station, McDonalds ordering food, hospital lining up for payment and etc. You feel like popping their head in that instant. I mean, its a common understanding that everyone waits for their turn.

Well, its China!

6. Cars making u-turn in the highway trunk road

Imagine this. 6 lane trunk road. Its huge, but without dividers. That fucking car simply making that u-turn without looking at the side mirrors or give a damn glancing to the back. Those cars behind simply have to be more aware and step on the emergency brake and horn no fucking stop while screwing that car in front.

Buses, taxis and bicycles are the most dangerous automobiles in China. You cannot imagine how dangerous it is until you have been to China.

7. Food wastage

In China, a dinner is considered as a treat. It is all about face value you are talking about at the end. Thus, everyone orders or serve with food they will never ever able to finish. Imagine a typical Chinese wedding dinner, where an average of 20 dishes will be served to a table of 10. Simultaneously and served together. Therefore, your table WILL be STACKED of food! Drinks, cigarette and etc will be served as well. Its customary.

Its unbelievable. Once you are here in China, you will understand why the word of food wastage does not applies in China. It is simply inpolite to finish your dishes when your hosts pay for your food!

8. Food prices

OMFG! Food prices in Shanghai are like one of the highest. Its like simply outrageous. Of course, it also depends on which area or restaurant that you go to. If you are to go to that small little stall by the road side, then of course, a few renminbi will suffice. But, just imagine a little higher such as famous BiFengTang, the cantonese food franchise. An average meal costs you RMB40 for one? And its like RMB40, one plate of fried noodle and a glass of ice nai cha?

Freaking expensive. Dun even bother to ask me the price of a glass of German wheat beer in Paulaner. You will stop and wonder. How the hell are the common Shanghainese going to survive with few thousand salary a month?

9. Pollution

The pollution are seriously serious! No joke. And Malaysians are complaining that haze cause by our neighbours in Indonesia. Come to China and experience what we called as common. Its like so freaking hazy that the air you breath in is smokey in smell. Not mentioning that during the summer, the heat is like 38 centigrads + the humid + the haze smell!

OMG! You feel like staying in the home and shut all your windows. Even my fart smells nicer!

10. Got conned

Everyone thinks that you are easily con-able. Its like you are not speaking Shanghainese dialect and from your appearance shows that you are a "lao wai", therefore, you should be easy to scammed. I admittedly tell you, i did. I was conned before when i was like new in China. After that, and QiPu shopping + buying silk in Suzhou GuanQian Jie. I was like OK. Now i know.

Everyone bargains in China. Or you simply walks away. Simple. No need to hassle of that item for 10 minutes. Just name your price and wait for acceptance. Never answer and tell them your price. Just keep your mouth shut and let the seller do the work. Normally it works wonder.

For example, you wish to buy that t-shirt at that bazaar. You approach the seller and ask "dou shao qian?" (how much?). Normally they will see your appearance 1st. If you are indeed a laowai, they will tell you RMB100 instead of RMB25 if you are Shanghainese.

Therefore, you have to keep in your mind that the item should be selling at RMB30 at the most. You say, "tai gui le" (too expensive), continued by "20 kuai" (20 bucks). You leave 10 bucks for negotiation purpose. The seller will automatically tells you, no way! then what you need to do is wait! The seller will normally says 50 kuai! (50 bucks) and you say, "ni yi pan wo yi pan" (you half i half), and continued by saying 30 kuai! (30 bucks).

From there, either you walk away if the seller refuse or smiling walking happily after purchase that t-shirt for RMB30!

11. Smoking everywhere

Its true and i don't want to even lie to you about this. Everyone smokes in everywhere even i have seen it in gym changing room, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, KFC, hospital, everywhere and anywhere imaginable.

Smoking in Shanghai or anywhere else in China is sort of a mentality and ego kinda cultural thingy for them. Just imagine you are being judge on your status by the type of cigarette that you puff into your lungs.

There are varieties of brands here, from every province, ranging from prices and quality and brand. The most common famous expensive brand in China would be Zhonghua, that costs around RMB40 to RMB80 per pack. Again, depending on the quality of the tobacco. The more expensive it is, the better your ego will be. Seriously.

12. Beggars, little beggars and kids beggars

This is also another rampant issue and problem that China is facing right now. Coastal cities such as Shanghai, Shenzhen, Beijing, Suzhou and anywhere else on the east side of China next to the sea and river will have a bigger chance out of proverty. Its true.

Foreigners, expats and everything just pour everything to these places. This started a chain reaction and affects everything. These cities produces more millionaires due to opportunities, employments and growing economies.

There comes another problem. Those Chinese citizens from the west, such as Xinjiang province, that is a desert and no economic growth becomes isolated. They are poor and they are not educated. In short, they are at least 50 years behind in mentality.

There is a saying in China. If you see a child beggar begging for your money in Shanghai, most probably you will say that they are from Xinjiang. It might be true you know. These beggars will flock on the street more especially during pre-chinese new year. They will beg for money under cold winter conditions. They are child merely 5 years of age. They are poor and extremely poor.

What i hate more, is when the parents, grandparents and the elders would even scold the kids for not able to get money from us! The kids beggar will cry and cry. Such a humiliation. These child beggars are sometimes also pickpockets. Beware!


What do you think? The top 10 things you hate in Shanghai? Fits the picture?

Hahahahaha.

ps: I still like to go and hit the clubs in Shanghai! Not forgotten, the Xinwang Roasted Pork Rice! :)

God! I am hungry now!

Ciao~

Astrology 2009 for me

Ya ya ya. I know what they all say about listening and reading all those horoscope and astrology stuff. Makes people anxious and thinks too much perhaps. Whether that our life are still at the control within our palms and within our grasp.

Gawd! Lifes unfair. I am feeling kinda down coz its accurate, somehow one way or another. I remember i did compare this reading twice from 2 different sources and somehow it is almost the same and accurate.

I hate it. Or perhaps i am feeling and being emo now. Thinks too much syndrome in my blood that runs in my family. Hate it.

You see. I am born in the year of Monkey and my element in the astrology is water. Accurate #1. From the lucky elements, i agree and feel very comfy with the points mention also. I hate summer and love winter. I like and i love green plants, which makes me more comfy. I like dark colors in my room and the black ambience feeling. Not that i hate white, but i felt uneasy with all white ambience. I love to wear black and dark colored shirt. I have more than 20 pieces of black t-shirt. Gawd!

I hate it when i see the accuracy of the good things that is going to happen this year and loath at the bad things that might happen. Like my luck is not smooth or vice versa. Touche~

Luckily for me, i am rather a constructive and a positive person. I seldom think too much and too ahead. I tend to focus on now and prepare for tomorrow. Future is what we see and what we vision it to be. WE SHOULD MAKE IT and do something about it. Not sitting there and dream about it.

I do hope that my luck and life will really improves after 2010. I really do. Gawd! Bless me~

Bernie Madoff: Scammer and Ponzi Schemer!

Gawd! After reading more about this Bernie Madoff creep low class ass human and his stupid little classless act Ponzi scheme. I might just wanna roll over and die. Pity those who make the decision to invest with him. GREED it seems has a huge fucking influence on everyday little people. It makes you go wild flushes with adrenaline. Makes you pathetic poor little investors felt better right?!?!?

Wrong!!!!!!!! The world are driven by people like him. Greed, fear and i might add ego. Invest in some instruments that is SO unbelievable solid with nice returns and i will tell you, its all fake. All of those are just instruments and tools to manipulate you to make you feel better and feel more confident. At least, they uses this to convince you to invest, for you to make that decisions. To lose your hard earned penny. To invest with them.

So that low-class act f____rs like him will be able to live a life that is fake and comtemporary. USD50 billion worth of funds are actually worthless. Yes! Of course, unless someone in US will be able to recover some of these funds. Which of course, will be given to corporate account 1st such as HSBC, which seems to be one of the biggest loser as according to here.

OMG OMG OMG! How can anyone be so stupid?!?!?!?!?!? (see the lists below copied from clusterstock) Don't they do checks and balances? Banks wor! I can smell it better than those add together 100 years of experience bankers. Perhaps, Madoff promise returns are too tempting. GREED.


HSBC "has emerged as one the largest victims of Bernard Madoff’s alleged fraud with potential exposure of about $1bn...HSBC’s exposure stemmed from loans it provided to institutional clients, mainly hedge funds of funds, that wanted to invest with Mr Madoff. HSBC’s direct exposure is believed to be about $1bn in loans provided to clients who invested some $500m of their own funds in Mr Madoff’s venture. Under the typical terms of these deals, if the US authorities recover any funds from Mr Madoff, HSBC will be paid first, with its clients suffering the first tranche of losses."

Access International. $1.4 billion

Fortis Bank. $1.4 billion

Man Group’s RMF division has about $350m invested in funds which outsourced their management to Madoff securities, although this is a tiny fraction of the division’s $25bn of assets.

Tremont Capital. Fund of funds. $3.3 billion invested.

Pioneer Investments, an arm of Italy’s UniCredit, had “substantially all” of $835m invested with Madoff.

Union Bancaire Privet: $1.1 billion

Benbasset & Cie: $935 million

BBVA: $404 million

Maxam Capital Management LLC. Combined loss of $280 million. "I'm wiped out," said Sandra Manzke, Maxam's founder and chairman. The Darien, Conn., fund of hedge funds will have to close as a result of the losses, she said.

Fairfield Greenwich Group. Bloomberg: The biggest loser may be Walter Noel’s Fairfield Greenwich Group, whose $7.3 billion Fairfield Sentry Ltd. invested with Madoff’s eponymous firm, three people familiar with the matter said... Fairfield Sentry has a record of more than 15 years with an annual return of 4 to 6 percentage points above benchmark interest rates, according to a marketing document dated this month that was prepared by Zurich-based NPB New Private Bank Ltd. On an absolute basis, returns exceeded 10 percent every year from 1991 through 2000. Since then, they ranged from 6.4 percent to 9.8 percent...The strategy is a “split-strike conversion,” where the investment manager buys shares of large U.S. companies and enters into options contracts to limit the risk, the document says.

Fix Asset Management. Bloomberg: Fix Asset Management, which had an account worth at least $400 million with Madoff Investments. The firm said it’s checking with lawyers about the holdings. “We are very shocked,” John Fix, the son of founder Charles Fix, said by phone from Greece. “We put in redemptions in the past few months and got our money back no problem. We are just so surprised about all this.”

Kingate Management Ltd. Bloomberg says $2.8 billion Kingate Global Fund Ltd. invested with Madoff.

Santander. WSJ: The eurozone's largest bank by market value, said its clients had an exposure of €2.33 billion ($3.1 billion) to Madoff's investment funds, mainly through its Optimal Strategic US Equity fund. More than €2 billion belongs to institutional investors and international clients of its private-banking business, which provides services to wealthy individuals, it said. The remaining €320 million belongs to private-banking customers in Spain, where Santander is based.

Thyssen Family. Source sends the following: Thybo Investments grew out of a family office for Thyssen. They have been in fund of funds it seems since 1989. Thybo International is a "proper" fund of fund but it's newer share class G invests only in one manager - and i'm 99% sure it's Madoff as the returns are almost the same. Some more info. The fund started in Jan 2007. Ernst & Young. Luxembourg are the auditors. UBS Luxembourg is the administrator. Thybo states on their webpage: "Our track record incorporates audited financial statements at both a composite firm-wide and individual portfolios level."

Ira Roth's family. WSJ: Ira Roth, a New Jersey resident, who says his family has about $1 million invested through Mr. Madoff's firm, is "in a state of panic." He said his 86-year-old mother-in-law has been living on the investments' returns, and he has been using the funds to pay college tuition.

Sterling Equities. Fund controlled by Fred Wilpon, co-owner of the NY Mets, confirms it had money with Madoff.

Stephen Abbott, a San Francisco lawyer. WSJ: [Abbott] and two siblings had several hundred thousand dollars invested with Mr. Madoff. They inherited the trust from their father, who had befriended Mr. Madoff years ago. Performance remained steady through the current bear market, he said. "People were floored," he says. "We were making money in this lousy market." He says he is concerned about recovering the money but "you have to get philosophical about this stuff. It could be worse; we still have our health."

Palm Beach Country Club. Source: CNBC's David Faber

Lawrence Velvel, "69, dean of the Massachusetts School of Law, said he and a friend may have lost millions of dollars between them (AP). "This is a major disaster for a lot of people," Velvel said in a telephone interview from his Andover, Mass., office. "You work all your life, you finally manage to save up something, and somebody who's entrusted with it, it turns out suddenly he's a crook. Lots of people are getting fully or partially wiped out." Velvel said he wants to know where government regulators, as well as accountants and others at Madoff's company, were when the money was being lost."

Loeb Family. Source: CNBC's David Faber

J. Ezra Merkin. GMAC LLC Chairman. WSJ: Mr. Merkin, the chairman of former General Motors Corp. financing arm GMAC, is also a money manager at Ascot Partners LLC in New York. Ascot, which had $1.8 billion under management as of Sept. 30, had substantially all of its assets invested with Mr. Madoff, according to a letter to Mr. Merkin sent to clients Thursday night. Mr. Merkin said as one of the largest investors in Ascot, he believed he had personally "suffered major losses from this catastrophe."

Norman Braman. Former Philadelphia Eagles owner

Leonard Feinstein, co-founder of retailer Bed Bath & Beyond.

Mort Zuckerman. Mr. Zuckerman, the chairman of real-estate firm Boston Properties and owner of the New York Daily News and U.S. News & World Report, had significant exposure through a fund that invested substantially all of its assets with Mr. Madoff

Richard Spring. WSJ: A Boca Raton resident and former securities analyst, says he had about $11 million -- or 95% of his net worth -- invested with Mr. Madoff. "That's how much I believed in him," Mr. Spring said.

Elie Wiesel's Foundation For Humanity. Lost $37 million.

Members of half-a-dozen country clubs: WSJ: "Mr. Madoff tapped social networks in Dallas, Chicago, Boston and Minneapolis. In Minnesota, he attracted investors from Hillcrest Golf Club of St. Paul and Oak Ridge Country Club in Hopkins, investors say. One of them estimated that investors from the two clubs may have invested more than $100 million combined. One of the largest clusters of Madoff investors was in Florida, where losses could be substantial. Mr. Madoff relied on a network of friends, family and business colleagues to attract investors. According to investors and agents, some of these agents were paid commissions for harvesting investors. Others had separate, lucrative business relationships with Mr. Madoff. "If you were eating lunch at the club or golfing, everyone was always talking about how Madoff was making them all this money," one investor says. "Everyone wanted to sign up." Jeff Fischer, a top divorce attorney in Palm Beach, says many of his clients were also Mr. Madoff's clients. "Every big divorce that came through my office had portfolio positions with Madoff," he says. Two of his investors said that among his clients, Mr. Madoff was considered a money-management legend; they would joke that if Mr. Madoff was a fraud, he'd take down half the world with him."

Bramdean Alternatives in the U.K. 9% of portfolio.

Banque Benedict Hentsch, Geneva-based private bank, $47.5 million.

Nomura and Neue Privat Bank. "Marketed access to Fairfield Sentry Ltd., a fund overseen by Mr. Madoff and sold through Fairfield Greenwich. The shares offered by Neue Privat and Nomura were leveraged three times -- meaning $3 of borrowed money was added to every $1 of capital invested in order to magnify returns, greatly increasing the potential losses for those investors."

Unicredit. The Italian firm had unspecified amount with Madoff via its Dublin-based Pioneer alt-asset group.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg. Unspecified

Robert Lappin Foundation in Massachusetts closed its doors today and is citing relationship to Maddoff fund. $8MM foundation plus personal holdings. Foundation supported Jewish organizations throughout North Shore of Massachusetts. (source: Jewish Journal)

Wunderkinder Foundation, a Steven Spielberg charity. In the past the foundation "appears to have invested a significant portion of its assets with Mr. Madoff, based on regulatory filings. In 2006, the Madoff firm accounted for roughly 70% of the foundation's interest and dividend income, according to regulatory filings. A representative of Mr. Spielberg confirmed that the foundation has suffered losses on its investments with the Madoff firm. He said he didn't know the size of the losses and couldn't comment further, including on whether Mr. Spielberg had any of his own money invested with the Madoff firm."

BNP Paribas. "BNP Paribas's exposure, the extent of which is not clear, may stem from BNP's lending relationship with a fund of funds that was a big Madoff client, said people familiar with the matter. A BNP spokeswoman declined to comment." WSJ: BNP, France's largest bank by market value, said it could lose as much as 350 million euros as a result of the alleged fraud. The bank said it has no investment of its own in the hedge funds managed by Bernard Madoff Investment Services. BNP Paribas, however, said it is exposed to these funds through its trading business and lending to hedge funds that had invested in Madoff's funds.

Ira Rennert. Vicky Ward of Vanity Fair, said on CNBC."Heavily, heavily invested."

Englebardt family of Los Angeles. (Reader)

Swiss private bank Reichmuth & Co. "said its clients had an exposure of some 385 million Swiss francs to Madoff funds. The bank said Reichmuth Matterhorn, a fund that invests in other hedge funds, faced a potential loss of about 8.6% on its exposure to Madoff. That amount represented about 3.5% of the 11 billion Swiss Francs Reichmuth & Co. has under management, the bank said."

Union Bancaire Privee. UBP spokesman said the bank's clients have "limited" losses related to Madoff, but wouldn't be more specific or comment further.

EIM Group, the European investment manager with about $11 billion in assets, had a number of non-U.S. investors into funds overseen by Mr. Madoff, according to people familiar with the matter. Overall, EIM assets at risk are less than 2% of what it manages, which means losses could top $200 million.

UBS: ""Very limited" direct exposure to the Madoff funds...But the Zurich-based bank's wealth-management arm helped clients in Europe and possibly elsewhere invest with Mr. Madoff, according to investment professionals in Europe who spoke with some of these clients. UBS is currently reviewing its clients' exposure to Mr. Madoff's funds, according to the person familiar with the matter. The person said the funds weren't on UBS's list of "recommended" investments for its U.S. clients, but that they may have been among the firm's suggested investments for overseas clients."

Stephen A. Fine, president of Biltrite Corp.

Avram and Carol Goldberg, former owners of the Stop & Shop supermarket chain

Helfman family of Miami.

Saul Katz, co-owner of the New York Mets.

Irwin Kellner, of Port Washington.

Carl and Ruth Shapiro, donors to Brandeis University, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The Boston Globe reported on Saturday that the Shapiro family foundation lost almost half its money, or about $145 million.

Fairfield County, Connecticut. Bloomberg: First Selectman Ken Flatto and other elected officials in Fairfield, Connecticut, thought the 58,000- person town’s pension fund was holding up well amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The 18 percent decline in total assets since the end of June looked smart compared with the 31 percent plunge in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, and total assets of $286 million left a cushion over the $270 million of estimated liabilities. Flatto’s mood darkened yesterday when he heard Bernard Madoff, a Wall Street executive who oversaw $42 million of the assets, had been arrested and charged with fraud. “We classified this on our portfolio as one of the more conservative investments,” Flatto said in an interview. “You rely on your experts and your managers to be honest.”

Royal Bank of Scotland: $330 million

Nomura: $302 million

Aozora Bank: $137 million

Various Boston families: The Boston Globe.

Jeff Katzenberg. Dreamworks CEO has "millions" in Madoff losses.

Gerald Breslauer. Jeff Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg's financial advisor. WSJ: According to people familiar with the matter, Mr. Breslauer himself has likely sustained heavy losses in the Madoff affair. He customarily invests alongside his clients, say these people, and has sometimes been a larger investor than the people he represented. People familiar with the matter said Mr. Breslauer was known to be a Madoff investor.

Yeshiva University lost $100 million to $110 million.

Jewish Federation of Greater Washington said it had $10 million invested with Mr. Madoff, about 8 percent of its endowment as of Nov. 30. The organization said it would work to recover the money.

North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System: $5.7 million exposure to Madoff Securities in the form of a gift from a donor who insisted that it be invested that way. “The donor who contributed the funds has graciously agreed to reimburse the health system for any financial loss,” the organization said in a statement.

Ramaz School lost some $6 million invested with Mr. Madoff, according to a letter sent to board members and two parents whose children attend the school.

SAR Academy, a Jewish school in the Bronx, had roughly a third of its $3.7 million in assets invested with Mr. Madoff, according to an e-mail message it sent to donors and parents.

Chais Family Foundation in Encino, Calif., announced over the weekend that its losses had forced it to stop operating, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. The foundation had $178 million in assets in May 2007, according to its tax form.

JEHT Foundation. May have lost hundreds of millions. Will cease operations.

Arpad Busson. Uma Thurman's billionaire fiance runs hedge fund, EIM, which was reportedly exposed to roughly $270 million of products sold by Madoff

Accountants Scott Sosnik & Larry Bell. Accountants who worked for many of Madoff victims claim that they too lost money.

Swiss insurer Baloise. $13 million. (Reuters)

Swiss Re: Less than $3 million (Reuters)

Burt Ross. Former Ft. Lee, NJ mayor lost $5 million.

Maimonides School. Boston school lost $3 million. (Boston.com)

Charles & Cindi Nadler Foundation. $10 million.

Tufts University $20 million (Boston.com)

Alexandra Penney. Artist and author lost bulk of her life savings. (Daily Beast)

Robert Chew. Colorado-based investor. (TIME)

Fair Food Foundation. Detroit-based urban farming group. (NYMag)

Pasha S. Anwar and Julia Anwar. Investors first to sue Fairfield Greenwich. (DealBook)

Pedro Almodovar. Famed Spanish film director has $240,000 "at risk" (Bloomberg)

More as we get them...


Can you imagine these lists of people are going to get longer?!?!?!?!?! WTF WTF?!?!?!? Banks, financial institutions, hedge funds, foundations, charitable funds, trusts funds and etc etc did not due their due diligence. In rechecking and rechecking all your money.

OoooOOOoopssss! I forgot. Its not their MONEY! Worst case scenario, they still fight for their year end bonus. FUCK! Maggots.

Read this too. He too lost a fortune and lost hopes in these international investments.

At the end, i believe this. Simplicity has its virtue. Forget the numbers and all those fancy fancy paperworks and numbers. It boils down to the bottomline and the most simplest things of all. The most important thing, "If it is too good to be true, most probably it is!"

Last but not least, i heed this advice from which i hold on to (which is in my heart guiding me all along, in regardless of the world turmoil, the world's multi-religion and beliefs) CHARACTER OVER CONTEMPORARY STUFFS.

The world need more charismatic individuals like Muhammad Yunus or Steve Jobs, to change the world to a better place. Fuck the rest. People like Madoff, in spite of his fame, fortune, ego and reputation, which IMHO, all contemporary stuffs, fucking around the world and with peoples sweat and money.

Gawd! I hate people like them. What about you?

I ponder: Chaos and Riots

This is a short post.

I am reading this post online about law blogs relating to China market. Please check them out here. This blog is fantastic and very very informational comparing to what we get in Malaysia.

When i read this post about the effects of the global economy slowdown and its effect relating to doing business in China, i came across this:

"I'm just glad we are no longer in Thailand"

It chokes me and instantly makes me laugh! It is true, you know. All the sudden. Thinking back about a government and its people rioting all the time looking for something so intangible such as justice and fairness. Overthrowing the government. How many prime minister has Thailand change since last 2 years? I forgotten the numbers la, but i am pretty sure its more than 2 to 3.

Its political instability is very much of a concern. Thinking back as a normal person who wants to travel to Thailand for holiday, i might want to change my mind to other destinations.

Its true. Chaos, riots and wars in the world.

How do one really survive and live peacefully at this tormented times? Perhaps we need more positivity and people that really cares about the world.

What do you think?

2008 and 2009 Objectives

Looking back *serious tone* at 2008. 365 days has passed us again and what had happen? Its like superly fast when you are busy and having fun. Just feels like yesterday imagining and thinking back last year Xmas and New Year! And here we are, having winter again awaiting for snow this time around.

What have i done and what i have accomplished? Looking back at the objectives i have set for myself this year in 2008, I believe i have made some improvements and accomplishments.


1. No procrastination
2. Be physically fit
3. Be bad debt free
4. Buy 1 more property with + cashflow


Thinking about this.

What is my goal for my new 2009? My most important turning point in my life so far. The year before 30. I did thought of these goals for a while. I will write 5 goals that i want to achieve in 2009 (so far i have 3 to 4)

Worst Prediction Quotes in 2008

LMAO!

I really did when i read the following quotes.

1. "A very powerful and durable rally is in the works. But it may need another couple of days to lift off. Hold the fort and keep the faith!" -- Richard Band, editor, Profitable Investing Letter, Mar. 27, 2008

At the time of the prediction, the Dow Jones industrial average was at 12,300. By late December it was at 8,500.

2. AIG "could have huge gains in the second quarter." -- Bijan Moazami, analyst, Friedman, Billings, Ramsey, May 9, 2008

AIG wound up losing $5 billion in that quarter and $25 billion in the next. It was taken over in September by the US government, which will spend or lend $150 billion to keep it afloat.

3. "I think this is a case where Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are fundamentally sound. They're not in danger of going under I think they are in good shape going forward." -- Barney Frank House Financial Services Committee chairman, July 14, 2008

Two months later, the government forced the mortgage giants into conservatorships and pledged to invest up to $100 billion in each.

4. "The market is in the process of correcting itself." - President George W. Bush, in a Mar. 14, 2008 speech

For the rest of the year, the market kept correcting and correcting and correcting.

5. "No! No! No! Bear Stearns is not in trouble." - Jim Cramer, CNBC commentator, Mar. 11, 2008

Five days later, JPMorgan Chase took over Bear Stearns with government help, nearly wiping out shareholders.

6. "Existing-Home Sales to Trend Up in 2008" - Headline of a National Association of Realtors press release, Dec. 9, 2007

On Dec. 23, 2008, the group said November sales were running at an annual rate of 4.5 million -- down 11% from a year earlier - in the worst housing slump since the Depression.

7. "I think you'll see (oil prices at) $150 a barrel by the end of the year" -- T. Boone Pickens, June 20, 2008

Oil was then around $135 a barrel. By late December it was below $40.

8. "I expect there will be some failures. I don't anticipate any serious problems of that sort among the large internationally active banks that make up a very substantial part of our banking system." -- Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve chairman, Feb. 28, 2008

In September, Washington Mutual became the largest financial institution in US history to fail. Citigroup needed an even bigger rescue in November.

9. "In today's regulatory environment, it's virtually impossible to violate rules." -- Bernard Madoff, money manager, Oct. 20, 2007

About a year later, Madoff -- who once headed the Nasdaq Stock Market -- told investigators he had cost his investors $50 billion in an alleged Ponzi scheme.

10. A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win, the title of a book by conservative commentator Shelby Steele, published on Dec. 4, 2007.

Mr. Steele, meet President-elect Barack Obama.

What do you think?!?!?!?!? Funny but true, right?

I made myself a point last time several years to not to listen to any of these bullshit told by these so-called consultant and analyst. They are mediocre at best. If what they say is true, why aren't they invest or put their life in it?

Ooooh, of course, its not their money. Not their risk. What worst could happen?

All these prediction. Nonsense and crap.

I believe the basics. Trust yourself with some information and knowledge or how things works. Go back to the fundamental. The world works that way. It is always about greed and joneses. Its how this things work.

I remembered this story to remind myself. My mom likes to save money in FD for that 4% p.a. and you know what happen the other day? I withdraw cash from ICBC account in China (same bank, different branch at different district) and i got charge 1% for just money withdrawal at ATM at the same bank. FUCK!

Just 1% for withdrawing $$$ at same bank? And my mom keep the $$$ to earn that 4% p.a. for a whole year?

Dun even mention about putting your funds and moneys into trust funds, mutual funds and unit trusts (of course, not all banks and financial institutions have these mess) but, do your broker or financial representative that invest your $$$ invest themselves too? Can they explain to you if they lost your precious money that you work so hard for???????

Just look at the Madoff mess in Wall Street. USD50 billion losts in a ponzi scheme. In Wall Street. Can you imagine the mess?

This really makes my last day of 2008 a hell lot better. How about you?