I have read many articles which criticize people for sticking to their habits every day without deviation. Yesterday I read one such article. It talked about a diamond shop which tried to promote its merchandise by sending letters to its old customers, with sample of real diamonds inside. Unfortunately all its old customers saw the letters as junk mail so they got tossed into the bin without even being opened. The conclusion was that sticking to habit causes us to miss many valuable things in life.
However, let's look at the flip side of things. What if after hearing of this story, everyone became determined not to miss anything in life due to habit? The first step would be to open and read every piece of junk mail. This would certainly take up a lot of time that could be used for work or relaxation.
Not only that, everyone would have to open and read all the junk emails just in case one of them was actually a good promotion. Never mind the viruses and the Nigerian emails, there might be an opportunity there!
Obviously this is not viable. Too much time would be wasted in total to be worth it even if a diamond comes in the mail once in twenty years, which I doubt.
We follow our habits in daily life because they save us time. Time is money. Spending time every day on a very low-percentage possibility is simply not sensible. Say we would need 20 minutes every day to check through junk mails and junk emails. That would come up to 7300 minutes a year, or 121 hours, or 15 work-days. Clearly spending so much time on something so unlikely is ridiculous.
I'm not going to buy lottery tickets because the percentages are not worth it. Same with other things.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Why Malaysians dislike reading
There was some newspaper article which stated that Malaysians had a pretty low reading rate compared to citizens of other countries. I have not done any survey on this, but when I look at profiles on Facebook, I do tend to see the "books I like" field either blank or bearing the words "I hate books".
So why do we, as a people, dislike books so?
When I was a kid, my dad was bringing me around. I brought a storybook with me to entertain myself. Upon seeing that I was (shock and horror!) reading, one of my dad's friends remarked to him "Wow your son is really hardworking!". So that might be a reason why we dislike reading; we associate it with schoolwork and study and exams and low marks and parents shouting at us for the low marks.
But then, I'm sure kids in countries like Japan and Korea get pushed hard in their studies too, probably harder than us. Yet they read more. Japan was shown to have one of the highest rates of reading in the world, and their authors are paid like rock stars.
Perhaps then a reason why we read less is because we have to learn multiple languages. A local Chinese has to learn at the very least Malay and English, and quite likely Mandarin too, and maybe some dialects such as Cantonese and Hokkien. Learning too many languages might mean that we master none, therefore have little deep interest in any. Hence our disinterest in literature.
So in the end, I'm not sure whether our vaunted capacity to converse in many languages is truly a blessing or not, as many of us never reach mastery in any of them.
So why do we, as a people, dislike books so?
When I was a kid, my dad was bringing me around. I brought a storybook with me to entertain myself. Upon seeing that I was (shock and horror!) reading, one of my dad's friends remarked to him "Wow your son is really hardworking!". So that might be a reason why we dislike reading; we associate it with schoolwork and study and exams and low marks and parents shouting at us for the low marks.
But then, I'm sure kids in countries like Japan and Korea get pushed hard in their studies too, probably harder than us. Yet they read more. Japan was shown to have one of the highest rates of reading in the world, and their authors are paid like rock stars.
Perhaps then a reason why we read less is because we have to learn multiple languages. A local Chinese has to learn at the very least Malay and English, and quite likely Mandarin too, and maybe some dialects such as Cantonese and Hokkien. Learning too many languages might mean that we master none, therefore have little deep interest in any. Hence our disinterest in literature.
So in the end, I'm not sure whether our vaunted capacity to converse in many languages is truly a blessing or not, as many of us never reach mastery in any of them.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
What's the best degree?
The best degree is in something that you love to do, be it quantum physics or Middle Eastern dance or plain old business administration. Having said that, if you like a few things but can't decide what to do, or you don't really feel strongly towards anything, then we need to objectively study which degree is "the best".
When I chose my degree, I chose Finance. This was because I was not sure what I wanted to do. I felt a Finance degree could help me get my foot in the door for a decently wide variety of jobs, or serve me if I were to set up business on my own or invest. Also because I was lazy and a science degree seemed like a ton of work.
Among the business degrees, I actually think an Accounting degree is best. This is based on what I call the "Theory of replaceability". That is, an Accounting grad can get any other business-type job, but Marketing/Management etc cannot get Accounting jobs. Finance is somewhat weaker than Accounting in this respect, however it somewhat makes up for it by sounding cool in an investment-bankish way.
Based on this theory, an Engineering/Computer Science degree would be even better, as they can do science jobs and most business jobs too, except hard-core accounting.
The trouble with those degrees is a ton of people get pushed towards them for prestige and career reasons, even people who are really not interested or not cut out for them. These people then end up having low CGPA's and find it hard to get a good job. The thing is, although I do feel a 2.5 in engineering is equal to a 3 or more in business in terms of equivalent difficulty, HR people do not see it that way (probably because very few of them have science degrees).
In short, my feeling towards each degree is like this:
Pure Sciences (Chem/Physics/Bio/Math) - Don't expect to get a job in your field in Malaysia and you will be okay.
Engineering/Computer Science - Wonderful, but if you hate it don't force yourself.
Business - Okay, try to take something more quantitative such as Accounting/Finance/Economics.
Lawyer/Doctor - If you are willing to have not much life you will earn a ton.
Arts - If you do it do it because you love it not because you think it's an easy degree.
Anyway, we can't judge a person's future from what major they take. Remember, Kate Middleton took Art History, and look where she is now!
When I chose my degree, I chose Finance. This was because I was not sure what I wanted to do. I felt a Finance degree could help me get my foot in the door for a decently wide variety of jobs, or serve me if I were to set up business on my own or invest. Also because I was lazy and a science degree seemed like a ton of work.
Among the business degrees, I actually think an Accounting degree is best. This is based on what I call the "Theory of replaceability". That is, an Accounting grad can get any other business-type job, but Marketing/Management etc cannot get Accounting jobs. Finance is somewhat weaker than Accounting in this respect, however it somewhat makes up for it by sounding cool in an investment-bankish way.
Based on this theory, an Engineering/Computer Science degree would be even better, as they can do science jobs and most business jobs too, except hard-core accounting.
The trouble with those degrees is a ton of people get pushed towards them for prestige and career reasons, even people who are really not interested or not cut out for them. These people then end up having low CGPA's and find it hard to get a good job. The thing is, although I do feel a 2.5 in engineering is equal to a 3 or more in business in terms of equivalent difficulty, HR people do not see it that way (probably because very few of them have science degrees).
In short, my feeling towards each degree is like this:
Pure Sciences (Chem/Physics/Bio/Math) - Don't expect to get a job in your field in Malaysia and you will be okay.
Engineering/Computer Science - Wonderful, but if you hate it don't force yourself.
Business - Okay, try to take something more quantitative such as Accounting/Finance/Economics.
Lawyer/Doctor - If you are willing to have not much life you will earn a ton.
Arts - If you do it do it because you love it not because you think it's an easy degree.
Anyway, we can't judge a person's future from what major they take. Remember, Kate Middleton took Art History, and look where she is now!
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Shallowness
I have often heard girls claiming that guys are shallower in choosing a mate. "You all just want the hot girls" they say.
I do agree that physical attractiveness does play a significant role when guys look for a partner. However I think the same applies for girls. I've seen many girls go "oh I care about heart not about looks" in public, then quietly tell me that they want a cute/hot guy when I offer to introduce guys to them. The smart thing girls do is that when they choose based on looks, they say it's based on "feel", while when guys choose based on looks they just say it's based on looks. So girls have better PR skills, which doesn't surprise me somehow.
But for argument's sake lets admit that guys care more about looks than girls.
Is this necessarily more shallow?
Let's analyze the situation. If girls attach less weight to the "looks" factor, they will necessarily attach more weight to other factors, such as personality, career, intelligence, etc. What are the implications of these factors?
Personality - girls want a guy with a strong character so he can protect her/their children better.
- girls want a guy with a caring character so he can care for her/their children better.
Career - more money can provide for her/their children better.
Intelligence - smarter = better career (generally speaking), see above point.
So we can see that these factors all ultimately benefit the girl and her immediate children.
On the other hand, how about looks? Statistics show that good looks benefit one in terms of likability, income, success, political career and even the ability to escape conviction in front of a jury. So if you look at it this way, one who wants an attractive mate is considering the long-term welfare of his or her children. More than that, it serves to bolster the long-term genetic potential of all his or her future descendants.
So if we look at this way, hotness is actually a less shallow criteria than personality or career as it confers the most benefits in the long run, measured over generations.
I do agree that physical attractiveness does play a significant role when guys look for a partner. However I think the same applies for girls. I've seen many girls go "oh I care about heart not about looks" in public, then quietly tell me that they want a cute/hot guy when I offer to introduce guys to them. The smart thing girls do is that when they choose based on looks, they say it's based on "feel", while when guys choose based on looks they just say it's based on looks. So girls have better PR skills, which doesn't surprise me somehow.
But for argument's sake lets admit that guys care more about looks than girls.
Is this necessarily more shallow?
Let's analyze the situation. If girls attach less weight to the "looks" factor, they will necessarily attach more weight to other factors, such as personality, career, intelligence, etc. What are the implications of these factors?
Personality - girls want a guy with a strong character so he can protect her/their children better.
- girls want a guy with a caring character so he can care for her/their children better.
Career - more money can provide for her/their children better.
Intelligence - smarter = better career (generally speaking), see above point.
So we can see that these factors all ultimately benefit the girl and her immediate children.
On the other hand, how about looks? Statistics show that good looks benefit one in terms of likability, income, success, political career and even the ability to escape conviction in front of a jury. So if you look at it this way, one who wants an attractive mate is considering the long-term welfare of his or her children. More than that, it serves to bolster the long-term genetic potential of all his or her future descendants.
So if we look at this way, hotness is actually a less shallow criteria than personality or career as it confers the most benefits in the long run, measured over generations.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Primitivity
I once went on a class trip to visit a native village near the city I stay in. After we had gave a few gifts to the village elders and finished exchanging pleasantries, a friend and I started chatting with a native teenage boy.
My friend asked him: "So what do you do in your free time?" He answered "Playstation 2". After all of us had finished laughing, we began chatting about the games we played.
I bet some people would be disappointed at hearing that; they would probably hope that he would say his favorite pastime was kicking a rattan ball or hunting wild animals with a blowpipe. "More authentic" they say. We can observe this tendency to feel that it's better to keep the old ways from the laments we see in comments to magazine articles which feature native tribes in Africa or South America which are modernizing.
Now, if you asked those people who didn't like this trend of modernization to live without electricity or catch their own dinner, I bet they wouldn't be too fond of it. So why should we expect natives to like it too? Just because they are used to it? I am used to being stuck in traffic too, but if someone were to offer me a way to avoid the jam and get to work, I'd jump at the chance.
Same thing with natives and modern amenities. Why would you want to do things the hard way?
My friend asked him: "So what do you do in your free time?" He answered "Playstation 2". After all of us had finished laughing, we began chatting about the games we played.
I bet some people would be disappointed at hearing that; they would probably hope that he would say his favorite pastime was kicking a rattan ball or hunting wild animals with a blowpipe. "More authentic" they say. We can observe this tendency to feel that it's better to keep the old ways from the laments we see in comments to magazine articles which feature native tribes in Africa or South America which are modernizing.
Now, if you asked those people who didn't like this trend of modernization to live without electricity or catch their own dinner, I bet they wouldn't be too fond of it. So why should we expect natives to like it too? Just because they are used to it? I am used to being stuck in traffic too, but if someone were to offer me a way to avoid the jam and get to work, I'd jump at the chance.
Same thing with natives and modern amenities. Why would you want to do things the hard way?
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
What if Facebook started charging money
I always see these stupid spam letters on Facebook about how Facebook is about to start charging money and if 50 million people stand up against it Mark Zuckerberg will back down. Barring the sheer stupidity of such spam letters, I wonder what would happen if Mark really did start charging some cold hard cash for the privilege of poking our friends, talking about ourselves 24-7 and stalking hot members of the opposite sex.
How much could he charge? RM100 a month? No way, I would switch back to Friendster. RM 1? Yes I would pay Rm 1 a month to use it. RM 10? That's a good question.
Mark would have to find the best price to maximize revenue obtained. Trouble is a large section of people using Facebook nowadays are kids, and the hassle of getting a credit card to pay for it online might stop them. They would switch to Friendster maybe. This would not be good for business.
Maybe what he could do is to sell a voucher containing a certain amount of value. The value might get you an hour on Facebook, or maybe a certain number of actions such as a thousand words for comments/messages. I'm not sure how that would translate into Facebook games though.
If he does it, I sure hope he charges by word. Then I would have to endure much less updates such as "I'm waiting for the bus now" on my wall.
How much could he charge? RM100 a month? No way, I would switch back to Friendster. RM 1? Yes I would pay Rm 1 a month to use it. RM 10? That's a good question.
Mark would have to find the best price to maximize revenue obtained. Trouble is a large section of people using Facebook nowadays are kids, and the hassle of getting a credit card to pay for it online might stop them. They would switch to Friendster maybe. This would not be good for business.
Maybe what he could do is to sell a voucher containing a certain amount of value. The value might get you an hour on Facebook, or maybe a certain number of actions such as a thousand words for comments/messages. I'm not sure how that would translate into Facebook games though.
If he does it, I sure hope he charges by word. Then I would have to endure much less updates such as "I'm waiting for the bus now" on my wall.
Friday, November 11, 2011
The trouble with modern economies (1)
Say you have a family. Everyone pitches in to do housework. Mom cooks and does dishes, Dad does the heavy work, and the two kids clean the house up. Maybe everyone spends a couple hours a day on doing housework.
As the family finances improve, they buy more and more machines to help them do the work. Mixers and dishwashers help Mom to finish her work fast, a lawnmower helps Dad, while an automatic vacuum cleaner helps the kids. So everyone cuts their work down to one hour a day. Sounds good right?
Unfortunately in the real world when machines increase productivity, we don't get a reduction in work hours. What happens is some people get laid off. The remaining people have to work just as hard. Either that, or they get shifted to do new things.
I used to do consulting work for a large beer company. The factory itself was really empty; there were only a few workers walking around checking instruments and operating the machines, which were mostly automated anyway. There were far more people in the office upstairs doing various kinds of paperwork, such as increasingly fine analysis of accounts and operations, as well as increased marketing efforts.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if we didn't have to increase all this paperwork? I really don't see what benefit it brings our society. Yet it wouldn't be a good idea for a company to go "screw it, we don't need to get our people to do this elaborate marketing campaigns", as they might lose market share to companies that did get people to do elaborate marketing campaigns. The sad truth of competition is preventing all of us from reducing our work hours to 6 hours a day due to modern technology.
As the family finances improve, they buy more and more machines to help them do the work. Mixers and dishwashers help Mom to finish her work fast, a lawnmower helps Dad, while an automatic vacuum cleaner helps the kids. So everyone cuts their work down to one hour a day. Sounds good right?
Unfortunately in the real world when machines increase productivity, we don't get a reduction in work hours. What happens is some people get laid off. The remaining people have to work just as hard. Either that, or they get shifted to do new things.
I used to do consulting work for a large beer company. The factory itself was really empty; there were only a few workers walking around checking instruments and operating the machines, which were mostly automated anyway. There were far more people in the office upstairs doing various kinds of paperwork, such as increasingly fine analysis of accounts and operations, as well as increased marketing efforts.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if we didn't have to increase all this paperwork? I really don't see what benefit it brings our society. Yet it wouldn't be a good idea for a company to go "screw it, we don't need to get our people to do this elaborate marketing campaigns", as they might lose market share to companies that did get people to do elaborate marketing campaigns. The sad truth of competition is preventing all of us from reducing our work hours to 6 hours a day due to modern technology.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
The mechanics of sneezing
Last night as I was lying on my bed about to sleep, a violent urge to sneeze seized me, and I was forced to yield to it by letting loose an extremely powerful sneeze. The force of the sneeze threw me up into a sitting position.
This got me thinking: why do we throw our upper body forward when we sneeze? Obviously the sneeze is gas + liquid expelled forward, so by the laws of motion our body should be thrown backward by the reaction instead of forward. When a rocket expels hot gas in one way it flies the other, so our body should behave the same way as well.
Why is that not so?
This got me thinking: why do we throw our upper body forward when we sneeze? Obviously the sneeze is gas + liquid expelled forward, so by the laws of motion our body should be thrown backward by the reaction instead of forward. When a rocket expels hot gas in one way it flies the other, so our body should behave the same way as well.
Why is that not so?
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
English
Every time I see people discuss in the newspaper or other mediums on the "teach math and science in English" thing, I facepalm.
Of course math and science should be taught in English, when we go to college that's what its taught in anyway, the international language. In fact, all this discussion is missing the point:
THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF MALAYSIA SHOULD BE ENGLISH ANYWAY.
This would accomplish many things:
1. Our nation would be more competitive: Multinationals would be more keen on hiring people here.
2. Students would do better academically with one main language all the way from nursery to university.
3. I don't need to hear this stupid debate over teaching what in what.
Now many people are going to come and tell me that Malay is our national language and we should take pride in it and tradition and bla bla bla. To this I have one reply:
LOOK AT SINGAPORE PLEASE.
See how they are performing and how we are performing?
Besides, I think that if we all spoke English, the country would be much more united. No matter what race you are, we would all automatically speak English to each other without question; we would share the same jokes and slang. I know the government wants us to do that with Malay but sorry, it's not happening. To be fair, I would say the same if Chinese were the majority and people wanted to use Chinese as the official language. Thanks but no thanks.
Of course math and science should be taught in English, when we go to college that's what its taught in anyway, the international language. In fact, all this discussion is missing the point:
THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF MALAYSIA SHOULD BE ENGLISH ANYWAY.
This would accomplish many things:
1. Our nation would be more competitive: Multinationals would be more keen on hiring people here.
2. Students would do better academically with one main language all the way from nursery to university.
3. I don't need to hear this stupid debate over teaching what in what.
Now many people are going to come and tell me that Malay is our national language and we should take pride in it and tradition and bla bla bla. To this I have one reply:
LOOK AT SINGAPORE PLEASE.
See how they are performing and how we are performing?
Besides, I think that if we all spoke English, the country would be much more united. No matter what race you are, we would all automatically speak English to each other without question; we would share the same jokes and slang. I know the government wants us to do that with Malay but sorry, it's not happening. To be fair, I would say the same if Chinese were the majority and people wanted to use Chinese as the official language. Thanks but no thanks.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Public transport
I car pool with my colleague every day. It gives me great satisfaction to know that I am helping to save the world in a tiny little way. However, I know that I could save the world to a slightly greater degree if I took public transport. The reason I do not do so is that the only train station near my place is a KTM, and as we all know, KTM is synonymous with turtle.
Other forms of trains are more acceptable, as they move much faster and are more comfortable. The only trouble is they tend to become very jammed at times. Buses are out for me because I usually have to stand for a long time in the jam and my laptop is very heavy. I wish there was a better mode of sharing transport.
What I really really wish was that say every car could put up a sign on their roof saying which way they were going. Then I could hop in and pay them a bit of money and go the same way. They wouldn't need to charge me as much as a taxi because they are going that way anyway, so the marginal cost is very low for them. In fact, the more I think of this the more it seems a good idea. So many cars going in the same way with only one person inside really makes the tree-hugger inside me weep silently. Of course, this might not be feasible in our society due to everyone being scared of getting robbed, but in a more safe and cohesive society it might work. Maybe Japan... but their trains are too damn good.
I have thought about this issue for a long time. In my opinion, there is only one way to handle the safety issue: make a new application on Facebook called "Carpool". So once you get on somebody's car, you have to check in to his car, then everyone knows who and who are together. If anyone robs anyone, we know who did it! People could also discuss average reasonable prices for different distances and routes on this application.
Now you may ask me what happens if someone doesn't have the application. The answer is then he or she can't carpool in this manner.
I really think this is a wonderful idea. Mark Zuckerburg should call me to discuss this proposition. After all, it can't be worse than that application which was supposed to notify you when someone in your friend list broke up, right?
Other forms of trains are more acceptable, as they move much faster and are more comfortable. The only trouble is they tend to become very jammed at times. Buses are out for me because I usually have to stand for a long time in the jam and my laptop is very heavy. I wish there was a better mode of sharing transport.
What I really really wish was that say every car could put up a sign on their roof saying which way they were going. Then I could hop in and pay them a bit of money and go the same way. They wouldn't need to charge me as much as a taxi because they are going that way anyway, so the marginal cost is very low for them. In fact, the more I think of this the more it seems a good idea. So many cars going in the same way with only one person inside really makes the tree-hugger inside me weep silently. Of course, this might not be feasible in our society due to everyone being scared of getting robbed, but in a more safe and cohesive society it might work. Maybe Japan... but their trains are too damn good.
I have thought about this issue for a long time. In my opinion, there is only one way to handle the safety issue: make a new application on Facebook called "Carpool". So once you get on somebody's car, you have to check in to his car, then everyone knows who and who are together. If anyone robs anyone, we know who did it! People could also discuss average reasonable prices for different distances and routes on this application.
Now you may ask me what happens if someone doesn't have the application. The answer is then he or she can't carpool in this manner.
I really think this is a wonderful idea. Mark Zuckerburg should call me to discuss this proposition. After all, it can't be worse than that application which was supposed to notify you when someone in your friend list broke up, right?
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Everyday life
I happen to be a sci-fi/fantasy fan, so sometimes real life does strike me as rather mundane. No monsters or aliens to fight, no dragons to ride, can't travel across the galaxy, etc etc. The biggest danger I face every day is crossing the street, which I try to do as little as possible. And instead of a laser gun I have a laptop. A bit sien.
On the other hand, I don't have to worry about been eaten by anything. And given my propensity to walk into things, I'm sure glad there aren't any death traps around.
On the other hand, I don't have to worry about been eaten by anything. And given my propensity to walk into things, I'm sure glad there aren't any death traps around.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Attack of the Clones
Hi everyone. Give you all a challenge:
Look at this picture for awhile.
Now look at this one.
Can you identify which girl in the first pic corresponds to the second? (they are the same bunch) I certainly can't.
That's why I don't like K-pop; they all look exactly the same. Like Clone Troopers:
If it were just that, I could let it go. I listen to songs for the pleasure of my ears not my eyes anyway. Trouble is their songs all sound alike too, and many are terribly annoying. When I hear "Nobody but you" I feel like shoving someone off a cliff. The trouble is they keep repeating a few English words throughout the entire song. Their "word repetition rate" may be higher than any other genre of music I have ever heard except the songs "Happy Birthday" and "Satisfaction", both of which I can tolerate as for the first I focus on the birthday cake, for the second I focus on my alcohol.
I hold the firm belief that many of them can't actually sing much, they just rely on dancing. Somewhat like the Pussycat dolls. Now I have nothing against the Pussycat dolls, but an entire nation full of them is slightly scary.
Sometimes I feel that Korea is secretly producing these singers in an underground cloning center to use to take over the world one day by disrupting our neurological functions with their singing and dancing. The only reason I'm holding back from nuking Korea to save the world is I want to continue watching Starcraft matches...
Look at this picture for awhile.
Now look at this one.
Can you identify which girl in the first pic corresponds to the second? (they are the same bunch) I certainly can't.
That's why I don't like K-pop; they all look exactly the same. Like Clone Troopers:
If it were just that, I could let it go. I listen to songs for the pleasure of my ears not my eyes anyway. Trouble is their songs all sound alike too, and many are terribly annoying. When I hear "Nobody but you" I feel like shoving someone off a cliff. The trouble is they keep repeating a few English words throughout the entire song. Their "word repetition rate" may be higher than any other genre of music I have ever heard except the songs "Happy Birthday" and "Satisfaction", both of which I can tolerate as for the first I focus on the birthday cake, for the second I focus on my alcohol.
I hold the firm belief that many of them can't actually sing much, they just rely on dancing. Somewhat like the Pussycat dolls. Now I have nothing against the Pussycat dolls, but an entire nation full of them is slightly scary.
Sometimes I feel that Korea is secretly producing these singers in an underground cloning center to use to take over the world one day by disrupting our neurological functions with their singing and dancing. The only reason I'm holding back from nuking Korea to save the world is I want to continue watching Starcraft matches...
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
So a tough girl doesn't need a boyfriend?
From time to time I hear people expressing statements like "oh if girls were tough and independent, what would they need a boyfriend for" and "that girl is so successful in work, she doesn't need a boyfriend" and other assorted remarks of the like.
I think it's rubbish.
Have you ever heard someone say "oh that guy is so gentle and good in housework, he doesn't need a girlfriend"? No right? Because we realize that girls are not only good for cooking, cleaning and being gentle. They are people who provide companionship, advice, humor, support and most importantly, love.
So, boyfriends are not just for providing a shoulder to cry on or a defense against cockroaches invading the kitchen or to give financial support. They are people who provide companionship, advice, humor, support and most importantly, love.
Why would a girl who is tough, independent, smart and able of giving out a ass-kicking not need love? Toughness does not equal cold-heartedness.
Next time people say "tough girls don't need boyfriends" to me, I'm gonna tell them "so tough kids don't need parents?".
I think it's rubbish.
Have you ever heard someone say "oh that guy is so gentle and good in housework, he doesn't need a girlfriend"? No right? Because we realize that girls are not only good for cooking, cleaning and being gentle. They are people who provide companionship, advice, humor, support and most importantly, love.
So, boyfriends are not just for providing a shoulder to cry on or a defense against cockroaches invading the kitchen or to give financial support. They are people who provide companionship, advice, humor, support and most importantly, love.
Why would a girl who is tough, independent, smart and able of giving out a ass-kicking not need love? Toughness does not equal cold-heartedness.
Next time people say "tough girls don't need boyfriends" to me, I'm gonna tell them "so tough kids don't need parents?".
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Strange tribal customs
In the deepest jungles of South America, there lives a primitive ethnic group. Its tribes regard juggling coconuts as a great art, and the best coconut jugglers are highly regarded; everyone supplies them food so they don't have to hunt.
So if you go visit these tribes, you can see kids practicing coconut juggling for hours and hours each day. Many kids really don't like coconut juggling, but the parents force them to practice. "For the sake of their future", one tribal parent told me as she was smacking her daughter for refusing to practice juggling coconuts.
Sounds ridiculous right? But our society is doing the exact same thing. It's just that this custom goes by a different name, that of "piano".
Tons of parents keep forcing their kids to practice piano when there is no interest whatsoever. I was one of the unlucky ones when I was young. Needless to say, nothing good came out of it whatsoever.
Points that parents use to justify their pressure on their kids (who dislike piano) to master the piano are as follows:
1. Learning music is good for the kid, it gives him a sense of art and beauty!
2. Other people will respect him for playing the piano well.
3. We force our kids to learn maths and reading, why not piano?
4. If one wants to be great in piano, one has to train from young or there is no chance of making it to Carnegie Hall.
5. After you force at the start, he may grow to love it.
My answers to these points are as follows:
1. Tons of other things give a sense of beauty too, like painting or sculpture or dance. Why not go for those? Besides if the kid hates it, the more you force the less beauty he will see in it.
2. In my adult life I have never heard someone ask another person "so you play piano? wowwwww". What parents actually want is when they invite guests over they can get their kids to play on the piano then the guest will go "ooh your kid is so cultured", then the parents can beam proudly.
3. Basic maths, reading and writing are necessary in our society. Piano is not.
4. If the kid loves piano then yea. If he doesn't then either a: he will never be great, or b: he will be great but hate the lifestyle.
5. Have you ever seen someone start to love something after being forced to do it a lot?
So, in a nutshell, forcing a kid who doesn't like piano to practice for hours on end is a STUPID TRIBAL CUSTOM.
Yes you can say that "the parents are doing this with good intentions". But,
STUPIDITY AND GOOD INTENTIONS ARE NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE.
So if you go visit these tribes, you can see kids practicing coconut juggling for hours and hours each day. Many kids really don't like coconut juggling, but the parents force them to practice. "For the sake of their future", one tribal parent told me as she was smacking her daughter for refusing to practice juggling coconuts.
Sounds ridiculous right? But our society is doing the exact same thing. It's just that this custom goes by a different name, that of "piano".
Tons of parents keep forcing their kids to practice piano when there is no interest whatsoever. I was one of the unlucky ones when I was young. Needless to say, nothing good came out of it whatsoever.
Points that parents use to justify their pressure on their kids (who dislike piano) to master the piano are as follows:
1. Learning music is good for the kid, it gives him a sense of art and beauty!
2. Other people will respect him for playing the piano well.
3. We force our kids to learn maths and reading, why not piano?
4. If one wants to be great in piano, one has to train from young or there is no chance of making it to Carnegie Hall.
5. After you force at the start, he may grow to love it.
My answers to these points are as follows:
1. Tons of other things give a sense of beauty too, like painting or sculpture or dance. Why not go for those? Besides if the kid hates it, the more you force the less beauty he will see in it.
2. In my adult life I have never heard someone ask another person "so you play piano? wowwwww". What parents actually want is when they invite guests over they can get their kids to play on the piano then the guest will go "ooh your kid is so cultured", then the parents can beam proudly.
3. Basic maths, reading and writing are necessary in our society. Piano is not.
4. If the kid loves piano then yea. If he doesn't then either a: he will never be great, or b: he will be great but hate the lifestyle.
5. Have you ever seen someone start to love something after being forced to do it a lot?
So, in a nutshell, forcing a kid who doesn't like piano to practice for hours on end is a STUPID TRIBAL CUSTOM.
Yes you can say that "the parents are doing this with good intentions". But,
STUPIDITY AND GOOD INTENTIONS ARE NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Life is priceless
We hear the phrase "Life is priceless" bandied around all the time. Yet, is it true?
Life is precious no doubt, especially our own. Yet my life is not priceless. If the sacrifice of my life could save all humanity, I would not hesitate to make that sacrifice. Now, I admit that it is not likely that I will be called upon to save the world from Armageddon. So let's put the bar slightly lower; I would be willing to give my life to save my whole family.
Now you are going to criticize me and say: "You are sacrificing your life to save another, so life is still priceless". All right. Let me toss away all lofty talk.
To be frank, every day we choose convenience over life. Millions of people die in car accidents every year, yet we still continue to drive. Obviously, this convenience outweighs the lives cost in the eyes of society. You might argue that it is not a certainty that anyone will die, and it can be prevented with care. To this I respond that it IS a certainty that SOMEONE will die in car accidents somewhere in the world, no matter how careful we are.
Many other human activities carry a necessary loss of life, yet we continue to do them because the loss of a few lives is worth it to maintain our modern lifestyle. Mining, shipping, military activities, spaceflight, the list goes on.
So don't tell me life is priceless. It's precious no doubt, but not priceless.
Life is precious no doubt, especially our own. Yet my life is not priceless. If the sacrifice of my life could save all humanity, I would not hesitate to make that sacrifice. Now, I admit that it is not likely that I will be called upon to save the world from Armageddon. So let's put the bar slightly lower; I would be willing to give my life to save my whole family.
Now you are going to criticize me and say: "You are sacrificing your life to save another, so life is still priceless". All right. Let me toss away all lofty talk.
To be frank, every day we choose convenience over life. Millions of people die in car accidents every year, yet we still continue to drive. Obviously, this convenience outweighs the lives cost in the eyes of society. You might argue that it is not a certainty that anyone will die, and it can be prevented with care. To this I respond that it IS a certainty that SOMEONE will die in car accidents somewhere in the world, no matter how careful we are.
Many other human activities carry a necessary loss of life, yet we continue to do them because the loss of a few lives is worth it to maintain our modern lifestyle. Mining, shipping, military activities, spaceflight, the list goes on.
So don't tell me life is priceless. It's precious no doubt, but not priceless.
Monday, September 12, 2011
MidAutumn
It's MidAutumn festival and everyone is holding lanterns and eating mooncakes. We always associate this festival with warm family gatherings, but there is a deeper, more martial meaning to it.
Hundreds of years ago, China was ruled by the mighty Mongols. The people were oppressed and yearned to throw off their chains, but there was no chance to formulate plans as group gatherings were banned. One day, a wise man hid messages in thousands of mooncakes during Midautumn, telling the people to rise up, and rise up they did.
So now when I look at little kids holding lanterns I keep wondering whether there are grenades hidden inside or not...
Hundreds of years ago, China was ruled by the mighty Mongols. The people were oppressed and yearned to throw off their chains, but there was no chance to formulate plans as group gatherings were banned. One day, a wise man hid messages in thousands of mooncakes during Midautumn, telling the people to rise up, and rise up they did.
So now when I look at little kids holding lanterns I keep wondering whether there are grenades hidden inside or not...
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Kids nowadays
People always say "this generation is useless". This statement has been repeated throughout history. I have read that they found an ancient Roman stone carving with the words "The next generation is lazy and dissolute and will surely cause the downfall of the world as we know it".
We always hear older people say "kids nowadays don't know how it's like to have a tough life", which, in my opinion, is a very good thing. It's precisely because our economy and society is advancing that kids get softer. I'm sure this phrase was repeated through history.
Parents today: "You kids have aircon and Internet, you don't know how lucky you are!"
One generation back: "You kids get to eat and go to school, we were chased by Japanese soldiers!"
Three generations back "You get to travel on a car, we had to ride horses!"
Ten generations back: "We had to hold a sword, you get guns!"
One hundred generations back: "Kids nowadays are so lazy, they have to make shapes on paper to remember things, we had to carve on stone!"
Five hundred generations back: "Kids nowadays use this round thing to roll stuff around, we had to carry stuff!"
One thousand generations back: "You kids think you had it tough with that fire of yours? We had to eat raw meat!"
So yes, I hope my kids are softer than I am.
We always hear older people say "kids nowadays don't know how it's like to have a tough life", which, in my opinion, is a very good thing. It's precisely because our economy and society is advancing that kids get softer. I'm sure this phrase was repeated through history.
Parents today: "You kids have aircon and Internet, you don't know how lucky you are!"
One generation back: "You kids get to eat and go to school, we were chased by Japanese soldiers!"
Three generations back "You get to travel on a car, we had to ride horses!"
Ten generations back: "We had to hold a sword, you get guns!"
One hundred generations back: "Kids nowadays are so lazy, they have to make shapes on paper to remember things, we had to carve on stone!"
Five hundred generations back: "Kids nowadays use this round thing to roll stuff around, we had to carry stuff!"
One thousand generations back: "You kids think you had it tough with that fire of yours? We had to eat raw meat!"
So yes, I hope my kids are softer than I am.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Merdeka
Today is the day to celebrate our country's independence.
Frankly speaking, it isn't a particularly exciting day for me. The reason I say this is that achieving independence wasn't anything hard for us. We didn't have to fight for it through blood and fire, as many other countries did. At the time we became independent, Britain was already in the process of disengaging from all her colonies, so we would definitely have got our freedom whether delegations were sent or not.
If we had never been ruled by Britain, I think we would have been worse off. First off, there probably wouldn't be a Malaysia, but instead Kedah, Melaka, Johor, etc would all be individual nations. Secondly, the British did guide the development of rubber plantations, mines and other sources of income for Malaysia. Thirdly, they left us a good set of laws and a democratic political system. So when Mahathir was railing against the West, I have no idea what he was making all the fuss about.
What we should remember is that the British have left us to mold our own destiny, and we should do it well. Malaysia has done better than many other young countries, but clearly, it could do better. In the spirit of Merdeka, I would like to ask that my tax money not be spent on ridiculous things like tall buildings anymore. Please do something useful like promoting tourism better or installing more solar panels.
Frankly speaking, it isn't a particularly exciting day for me. The reason I say this is that achieving independence wasn't anything hard for us. We didn't have to fight for it through blood and fire, as many other countries did. At the time we became independent, Britain was already in the process of disengaging from all her colonies, so we would definitely have got our freedom whether delegations were sent or not.
If we had never been ruled by Britain, I think we would have been worse off. First off, there probably wouldn't be a Malaysia, but instead Kedah, Melaka, Johor, etc would all be individual nations. Secondly, the British did guide the development of rubber plantations, mines and other sources of income for Malaysia. Thirdly, they left us a good set of laws and a democratic political system. So when Mahathir was railing against the West, I have no idea what he was making all the fuss about.
What we should remember is that the British have left us to mold our own destiny, and we should do it well. Malaysia has done better than many other young countries, but clearly, it could do better. In the spirit of Merdeka, I would like to ask that my tax money not be spent on ridiculous things like tall buildings anymore. Please do something useful like promoting tourism better or installing more solar panels.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Cowboys and Aliens
Actually I haven't watched the movie yet.
The thing is, I'm really not fond of Daniel Craig. Not saying that he's not a good actor, but he really doesn't strike me as a JAMES BOND. After watching Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan, Daniel really doesn't seem handsome enough for a Bond. He is decent looking compared to an average uncle, but a Bond should be held to a higher standard. It's like, Bumblebee is okay-sized for an average Transformer, but he has to take some EnfaGrow if he wants to be a Prime. Different criteria for different positions.
Coming to the movie itself, first up, I would like to say that all the movies about humans bravely fighting off alien invaders are garbage. If aliens really came and wanted to take over the planet, that would be it. Humans might be able to fight a guerrilla war to make things troublesome, but in a straight up fight, human technology against aliens that can cross light-years to reach us would be like spears and arrows going against machine guns and tanks.
However, given that from the trailer, Daniel has a weird-looking device on his arm that can shoot energy pulses, my guess to the storyline is as thus:
1. Humans have already been subjugated by aliens in the future.
2. Somehow they got hold of some alien technology (Daniel's arm device)
3. Somehow they sent him back in time to defeat the aliens when they first arrived.
Let's see whether my guess is right or not!
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Zen Story
Have you heard this story?
A young man went to learn Zen from an old monk. The old monk invited him to come into the temple and served a pot of tea. The young man started telling the monk all that he understood about Zen. As he went on and on, the monk resumed pouring tea into the young man's cup, which was already full, causing it to overflow.
"Stop stop! It's already full, master!" the young man exclaimed.
"You are also full like this teacup. If you do not empty yourself, how am I going to teach you?" the monk said.
Ah.
The story stops here.
Yet, there is a deeper level of meaning to this.
How does the monk know that the young man is not going to say something profound? Before the young man has finished explaining his understanding, the chance that he might say something enlightening to the monk, however small, is still there.
So the monk has judged his own knowledge as superior to that of the young man before giving a full hearing. Is this not, in it's own way, a sign of a "full teacup"?
That's why before I comment on the lack of open-mindedness in others, I reflect on myself first (or at least I would if I were less proud of myself).
NOTE:
Guin's explanation to this story is even more amazing and Zen-like:
"monk like to waste tea"
A young man went to learn Zen from an old monk. The old monk invited him to come into the temple and served a pot of tea. The young man started telling the monk all that he understood about Zen. As he went on and on, the monk resumed pouring tea into the young man's cup, which was already full, causing it to overflow.
"Stop stop! It's already full, master!" the young man exclaimed.
"You are also full like this teacup. If you do not empty yourself, how am I going to teach you?" the monk said.
Ah.
The story stops here.
Yet, there is a deeper level of meaning to this.
How does the monk know that the young man is not going to say something profound? Before the young man has finished explaining his understanding, the chance that he might say something enlightening to the monk, however small, is still there.
So the monk has judged his own knowledge as superior to that of the young man before giving a full hearing. Is this not, in it's own way, a sign of a "full teacup"?
That's why before I comment on the lack of open-mindedness in others, I reflect on myself first (or at least I would if I were less proud of myself).
NOTE:
Guin's explanation to this story is even more amazing and Zen-like:
"monk like to waste tea"
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Work hard, play hard
Every day when I walk to work I see these laptop advertisements with the caption "Work hard, Play hard" on them. To think of it, I see this phrase everywhere, with people taking great pride in living up to it. I also heard that many prestigious firms like employees who have this spirit.
What's wrong with people who, after working hard, like to go back and sleep, may I ask?
Let's look at the meaning of "work hard, play hard". I suppose a person who embodies this phrase would be one who works very long hours, then goes to have parties and have tons of fun after that. Sounds not bad, but let me ask one question.
Where's the time to rest and sleep?
On the face of it, it seems strange that employers would like people who do this. Shouldn't they like those who go back and rest well so they can work well the next day too? That would save them medical costs as well.
However after giving careful thought, I think the reason why they like people like that is as follows:
A. (person like me) Works 14 hours at the office, spends a couple hours on transport and eating, sleeps the remaining 8 hours.
B. (workhardplayhard) Works 14 hours at the office, spends a couple hours on transport and eating, parties another 4 hours, sleeps 4 hours only.
Say the time comes when there is a crazy project and we need to work EVEN HARDER. Person A will naturally feel very sleepy once he/she is forced to sleep less. Person B, on the other hand, can convert his/her partying time into working time with less sleepiness resulting.
So the simple truth of it is that Work hard, Play hard can be converted easier into Work like Crazy, while Work hard, Sleep well is harder to convert into Work like Crazy.
That's the underlying truth behind that nice-sounding phrase.
What's wrong with people who, after working hard, like to go back and sleep, may I ask?
Let's look at the meaning of "work hard, play hard". I suppose a person who embodies this phrase would be one who works very long hours, then goes to have parties and have tons of fun after that. Sounds not bad, but let me ask one question.
Where's the time to rest and sleep?
On the face of it, it seems strange that employers would like people who do this. Shouldn't they like those who go back and rest well so they can work well the next day too? That would save them medical costs as well.
However after giving careful thought, I think the reason why they like people like that is as follows:
A. (person like me) Works 14 hours at the office, spends a couple hours on transport and eating, sleeps the remaining 8 hours.
B. (workhardplayhard) Works 14 hours at the office, spends a couple hours on transport and eating, parties another 4 hours, sleeps 4 hours only.
Say the time comes when there is a crazy project and we need to work EVEN HARDER. Person A will naturally feel very sleepy once he/she is forced to sleep less. Person B, on the other hand, can convert his/her partying time into working time with less sleepiness resulting.
So the simple truth of it is that Work hard, Play hard can be converted easier into Work like Crazy, while Work hard, Sleep well is harder to convert into Work like Crazy.
That's the underlying truth behind that nice-sounding phrase.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Why is Barack Obama called black?
Seriously, I have no idea why people call Obama black.
He is HALF BLACK AND HALF WHITE, DAMMIT. Half/half doesn't qualify a person one way or another; you don't call a person who is half boy and half girl a boy or a girl, (s)he's a hermaphrodite. Same applies for race.
Now. let's think why they keep calling him black. Let me give an example: say an Indian-Chinese mixed blood became the president of India. Everyone would go "Wow a Chinese became the president of India!!!". On the other hand, if the same dude became the president of China, everyone would say "Wow an Indian became the president of China!!!"
From this we can derive what I call Billy's first law of sociophysics:
"A mixed blood person in a society is always identified with the minority race in his/her composition."
Now, you may say to me there are exceptions. Mahathir, who was once our prime minister, was half Indian but people don't think of him as Indian. Right?
True, but there are several factors that make him the exception.
One. He looks Malay.
Two. He has a Malay-sounding name and identifies himself with the Malay culture. If he called himself Muthu Arisamy or something like that I bet he wouldn't make it to the Prime Minister post.
Three. Other politicians at the time still took potshots at him because of his Indian heritage.
So although Mahathir has bent my first law a tad bit, I think it still holds in general.
Iron Throne
Look carefully at the photo below:
It's basically a chair made of swords. If you want to know its origins, go watch "Game of Thrones" on HBO, or better yet, read the series.
This chair was built by a king for him and his descendants to sit on. "A king should never get too comfy on a throne," he declared, and I quite agree. Only that applies to others as well. Like bosses. Bosses should sit on chairs like that, so they don't get too comfortable there giving orders and asking for this and that. Clients too. Especially clients. They should sit there when thinking of more requirements for other people to do, maybe that would make them think "is this really necessary?"
Otherwise when one gets too comfortable, one keeps thinking of what to get other people to do, which is not a good thing for the "other people".
Now to think of it, government officials should sit there, especially members of parliament. Then maybe they would have more things to worry about than 'Batu Gajah MP tiap tiap bulan bocor" and other assorted worthless statements. On the other hand, due to the discomfort of resting on their asses, they might be more fond of standing up and waving kris (what's the plural of kris? krises?) in the air, which would not be a great thing for the country overall.
It would also make people exercise more if they had to sit in it, because oversized butts might get cut. The only drawback of this seat, as I see it, is that it wouldn't be very good as a toilet seat. Otherwise nobody could relax on it, and people would never get their business done.
It's basically a chair made of swords. If you want to know its origins, go watch "Game of Thrones" on HBO, or better yet, read the series.
This chair was built by a king for him and his descendants to sit on. "A king should never get too comfy on a throne," he declared, and I quite agree. Only that applies to others as well. Like bosses. Bosses should sit on chairs like that, so they don't get too comfortable there giving orders and asking for this and that. Clients too. Especially clients. They should sit there when thinking of more requirements for other people to do, maybe that would make them think "is this really necessary?"
Otherwise when one gets too comfortable, one keeps thinking of what to get other people to do, which is not a good thing for the "other people".
Now to think of it, government officials should sit there, especially members of parliament. Then maybe they would have more things to worry about than 'Batu Gajah MP tiap tiap bulan bocor" and other assorted worthless statements. On the other hand, due to the discomfort of resting on their asses, they might be more fond of standing up and waving kris (what's the plural of kris? krises?) in the air, which would not be a great thing for the country overall.
It would also make people exercise more if they had to sit in it, because oversized butts might get cut. The only drawback of this seat, as I see it, is that it wouldn't be very good as a toilet seat. Otherwise nobody could relax on it, and people would never get their business done.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
End of an Era
I just heard that the program under which I came into my company has not opened for this year. It's an elite program, and I'm wondering why they canceled it. It could be that my group did so badly that they don't want any more people like us anymore...
JUST KIDDING
I'm sure it's because we are so great that the management realize that they could never find any more fresh graduates that could be mentioned in the same breath as us, thus they gave up this futile search, content to have us light the path of our company into eternity.
I feel like the Last Samurai now. Time for some sake.
JUST KIDDING
I'm sure it's because we are so great that the management realize that they could never find any more fresh graduates that could be mentioned in the same breath as us, thus they gave up this futile search, content to have us light the path of our company into eternity.
I feel like the Last Samurai now. Time for some sake.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Business Cards
Many people give me business cards. What I do with them is I put them into this little box which was formerly a chocolate container and now resides in my drawer.
So when do I look at these cards? Say I need a service. If your service is unique, say you sell prosthetic legs, I would call you in case my leg gets blown off by a landmine. If you specialize in shaving body hair, well, you get the picture.
The tough ones are the common ones. I have, at first estimation, over 10 cards from people selling insurance, and around the same number of people selling car parts. So in the case that I would require one of these services, I would be hard pressed to decide who to call. Most likely I would take out all the cards, put them facedown on the table and draw one.
So, if you are passing out business cards, how are you gonna make me or someone like me think of your card when he needs something?
One way would be to put the picture of a sexy girl on the back of your card. Then I would keep it with me and stare at it quietly when meetings get too boring.
This would be a suitable example...
The more I look the more gay i feel...
So you would need two stacks of cards, one stack with a photo of a hot girl on the back and another stack with a photo of a hot guy on the back.
The conversation would then go like this:
"Hi"
"Hi"
"What's your sexual orientation?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Oh, I want to give you a business card"
Clearly, this method is not all that efficient.
So maybe you could put something else on the back of your card. Something useful, like a map of all the train stations in KL. Or maybe something interesting like a haiku:
A piece of paper
Business card
Call me
Fortunately(?), my company has not printed any business cards for me yet, so I do not need to worry how to get people to look at them. When I get them though, I plan to put a picture of a lovely sunset on the back. I'm sure everyone would love to look at that.
So when do I look at these cards? Say I need a service. If your service is unique, say you sell prosthetic legs, I would call you in case my leg gets blown off by a landmine. If you specialize in shaving body hair, well, you get the picture.
The tough ones are the common ones. I have, at first estimation, over 10 cards from people selling insurance, and around the same number of people selling car parts. So in the case that I would require one of these services, I would be hard pressed to decide who to call. Most likely I would take out all the cards, put them facedown on the table and draw one.
I'm sure many other people behave as I do.
So, if you are passing out business cards, how are you gonna make me or someone like me think of your card when he needs something?
One way would be to put the picture of a sexy girl on the back of your card. Then I would keep it with me and stare at it quietly when meetings get too boring.
This would be a suitable example...However, if you do this, how about if you give the card to a girl? You would need to put a macho guy on the back. If you put both pictures, I wouldn't be very keen on looking at the back of your card because the gayness of looking at a half-naked guy would cancel out the enjoyment of looking at a half-naked girl.
The more I look the more gay i feel...Besides, nowadays you can't afford to make the assumption that a guy wants to look at sexy girls or a girl wants to stare at sexy guys. They might be gay or lesbian. Gotta be politically correct nowadays.
So you would need two stacks of cards, one stack with a photo of a hot girl on the back and another stack with a photo of a hot guy on the back.
The conversation would then go like this:
"Hi"
"Hi"
"What's your sexual orientation?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Oh, I want to give you a business card"
Clearly, this method is not all that efficient.
So maybe you could put something else on the back of your card. Something useful, like a map of all the train stations in KL. Or maybe something interesting like a haiku:
A piece of paper
Business card
Call me
Fortunately(?), my company has not printed any business cards for me yet, so I do not need to worry how to get people to look at them. When I get them though, I plan to put a picture of a lovely sunset on the back. I'm sure everyone would love to look at that.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Tradition and Fortune Telling
Tradition. The word makes one think of happy things: lion dances, stories told by grandma and little red packets of money.
Yet tradition has its darker side as well. Binding the feet of women to the point of deformity was once a hallowed Chinese tradition as well. Sacrificing human victims to make the sun rise was a sacred ritual of the Aztecs, while arranged marriages were the tradition in most parts of the world in the past, and even today in some places.
Are these traditions good? I doubt any one of us would nod.
Even today, traditions cause us trouble. One tradition I particularly dislike is that of fortune telling. If fortune tellers confine themselves to innocuous statements like "Pisces will find love this month" or "You will grow up to be a great person", I could overlook it. Yet some fortune tellers insist on invoking my ire. At least two of my friends have been told by fortune tellers "You may have problems with this partner of yours". Then they come to me worrying about their compatibility with their boyfriends and imagining problems from nowhere.
Now tell me, if they broke up because of this worry, because they magnify small faults due to this "prophecy", would that signify the prescience of the fortune teller? Or would it be his fault for inducing fear where none existed?
I tend to lean towards the latter interpretation.
Because of this, I highly dislike fortune tellers who make such statements. And there is no use in covering it up with the cloak of "tradition", as that cloak has shielded enough ugliness in the past.
Conning people with some mumbo-jumbo is easy. Just say things like "You are often a friendly and outgoing person, but you have times when you prefer solitude." Or "This month there will be opportunities for you, but also challenges. You will meet new people who may charm you." Vague, vague statements.
If a fortune teller could give me a lottery number that won I would be impressed. However so far I have never heard of that. Praying to your ancestors would be more effective I gather.
And if one more person makes an "end of the world" prediction, I will do my best to resist the temptation of looking for them and throwing them off a cliff.
Yet tradition has its darker side as well. Binding the feet of women to the point of deformity was once a hallowed Chinese tradition as well. Sacrificing human victims to make the sun rise was a sacred ritual of the Aztecs, while arranged marriages were the tradition in most parts of the world in the past, and even today in some places.
Are these traditions good? I doubt any one of us would nod.
Even today, traditions cause us trouble. One tradition I particularly dislike is that of fortune telling. If fortune tellers confine themselves to innocuous statements like "Pisces will find love this month" or "You will grow up to be a great person", I could overlook it. Yet some fortune tellers insist on invoking my ire. At least two of my friends have been told by fortune tellers "You may have problems with this partner of yours". Then they come to me worrying about their compatibility with their boyfriends and imagining problems from nowhere.
Now tell me, if they broke up because of this worry, because they magnify small faults due to this "prophecy", would that signify the prescience of the fortune teller? Or would it be his fault for inducing fear where none existed?
I tend to lean towards the latter interpretation.
Because of this, I highly dislike fortune tellers who make such statements. And there is no use in covering it up with the cloak of "tradition", as that cloak has shielded enough ugliness in the past.
Conning people with some mumbo-jumbo is easy. Just say things like "You are often a friendly and outgoing person, but you have times when you prefer solitude." Or "This month there will be opportunities for you, but also challenges. You will meet new people who may charm you." Vague, vague statements.
If a fortune teller could give me a lottery number that won I would be impressed. However so far I have never heard of that. Praying to your ancestors would be more effective I gather.
And if one more person makes an "end of the world" prediction, I will do my best to resist the temptation of looking for them and throwing them off a cliff.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Don't do good stuff all at once
My friend was telling me about certain relatives. One of them had bought a house for his parents; his brother gave the parents a sum of money every month. Though the money spent by the first was far more, my friend felt that the second was better, as he contributed to his parents constantly and steadily.
This reminds me of a famous quote:
"Severities should be dealt out all at once, so that their suddenness may give less offense; benefits ought to be handed out drop by drop, so that they may be relished the more."
- Niccolo Machiavelli
What he means is that if you want to do bad things, do them all in one go, but if you want to do good things, spread them out.
So remember, if you want to do people favors, ten small favors are better than one big one. Ten small presents are better than one big one, even if they cost less money.
And buying many small inexpensive presents for your bf/gf is better than buying one big one.
This reminds me of a famous quote:
"Severities should be dealt out all at once, so that their suddenness may give less offense; benefits ought to be handed out drop by drop, so that they may be relished the more."
- Niccolo Machiavelli
What he means is that if you want to do bad things, do them all in one go, but if you want to do good things, spread them out.
So remember, if you want to do people favors, ten small favors are better than one big one. Ten small presents are better than one big one, even if they cost less money.
And buying many small inexpensive presents for your bf/gf is better than buying one big one.
Friday, July 8, 2011
BERSIH
I suppose tomorrow a lot of people are going to be shouting in a stadium somewhere, and a few people are going to have a tea party with the Sultan. Doesn't sound way out of the ordinary right? Yea it shouldn't be. To be honest, the goal of "fair and honest elections" seem to be so natural that they hardly seem a goal at all. It's like saying "eat three meals a day" is a goal.
The fact that we have to state this as a goal doesn't reflect wonderfully on our society, does it?
Actually I think the government is not handling this as well as they could have. The way to stop a movement is not to suppress it forcefully, but to gently smother it to death.
By shouting up and down about the wrongness of this rally, the government is clearly saying that "yes we have done fishy stuff in the election". It's like you want to check my bag for your lost Ipod and I keep saying "this is improper!"
What the govt should do is to throw their arms open and say that they are in complete agreement with these aims and will do their best to support it and check on elections. They should also provide an area for the Bersih rally with free drinks, etc. Then a high-profile "anti-election fraud committee" should be named and give talks in the newspapers and television channels etc. The Bersih rally leaders should also be given a (televised) banquet by the Sultan and commended publicly. Of course all this will cost a bit of tax money, but you can't have an omelet without breaking a couple of eggs, right?
If anyone from BN is reading this and wants to hire me as a strategic consultant, please email me. Remuneration is negotiable.
The fact that we have to state this as a goal doesn't reflect wonderfully on our society, does it?
Actually I think the government is not handling this as well as they could have. The way to stop a movement is not to suppress it forcefully, but to gently smother it to death.
By shouting up and down about the wrongness of this rally, the government is clearly saying that "yes we have done fishy stuff in the election". It's like you want to check my bag for your lost Ipod and I keep saying "this is improper!"
What the govt should do is to throw their arms open and say that they are in complete agreement with these aims and will do their best to support it and check on elections. They should also provide an area for the Bersih rally with free drinks, etc. Then a high-profile "anti-election fraud committee" should be named and give talks in the newspapers and television channels etc. The Bersih rally leaders should also be given a (televised) banquet by the Sultan and commended publicly. Of course all this will cost a bit of tax money, but you can't have an omelet without breaking a couple of eggs, right?
If anyone from BN is reading this and wants to hire me as a strategic consultant, please email me. Remuneration is negotiable.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Table
Today my boss said to me "Do you know how to put a table in a table?" I was about to say "No, but I know how to put a dream in a dream," then I realized she was talking about Microsoft Word. No fun already.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Debit and Credit
A few months ago on another project, after my team leader had gave us a long explanation, my colleague turned to me and quietly asked me a question.
"What's debit and credit?"
On my current project, another colleague asked me again:
"What's debit and credit?"
I must admit I was slightly shocked. How can anyone get through high school and college without knowing what is debit and credit? Granted, one of them was a computer science graduate and the other was a statistics graduate, so it's normal that they don't know it, but I think knowing it would help them a huge amount. Basically if you are doing a business-related job and you don't know what is debit and credit it's similar to driving a car without knowing where the clutch is. Of course, I am not blaming them, they are smart girls. I'm blaming the education system.
Now you are going to shout at me "Neither do you know what are Fourier series/endocrine glands/quadrotrionic transformations," but let me remind you, there are tons of science students going for business jobs and hardly any business students going for science jobs.
So, I think that people in university taking a science major should take an accounting class too. Maybe another business class at that. I think the time spent would be very worth it. To think of it, business students should take a couple of useful science classes as well. Some basic computer skills like HTML or networks would be very useful for a lot of jobs, or even for starting your own business. It certainly would be better than a ton of management or marketing classes which we now have to sit through. Tell me, who manages people right after graduating? You get to manage people quite a while later, and by that time it's from experience, not the fat textbook. Marketing classes are even worse in my opinion. Who cares about why Starbucks opens one store on each side of the street in America, they don't do that here. Maybe if there was a marketing class that actually taught things like how to get people to come eat at your mamak store which is located in a dark corner or how to promote your blog which sells cheap ornaments then I would actually not sleep in class. But I digress.
So what I want to say is, university studies should diversify a little because according to my observation, the majority of people don't do what they originally studied to do anyway. In fact if you ask me, dividing students into Arts and Science doesn't make sense as well because who the hell knows what they want to do at the age of fifteen? Even Taylor Swift can see that logic.
Note: Debit/Credit explanation
My dear girl, if you forget what is it you can just open my blog anytime. You know who you are.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
An Analysis of Relative Market Value
Many girls complain that the value of the fair sex on the dating market declines rapidly with age after 30 or so. This is one reason why if you ask a woman her age you may find yourself in the intensive care unit not long afterward.
I admit that it is, generally speaking, true that the market value of females go down faster than males as age advances. However, there is a flip side to this that we do not often pay attention to.
Because of this, women have much higher dating value than men early on. Why is this so? Due to the law of supply and demand.
Think of it this way:
A woman's peak period on the dating market is, let's say, 20 to 30. A man's may be from, let's say, 20 to 40.
If we analyze this situation carefully, we will find that due to this disparity in lengths of peak periods, there will be twice the number of men than women on the peak dating market. By the law of supply and demand, the dating value for women during this period will be twice as high as men on average.
Of course, this analysis is oversimplified. Marriage takes both sides out of the dating market as time goes on. However, men tend to marry a few years later than women on average.
So let us make a simple model.
Say there are 100 men and 100 women in society from the age of 20-30, and another 100 men and 100 women from the age of 30-40.
If no one is married, there will be 200 guys chasing after 100 women, as the 100 women over 30 are out. (In real life this is of course not the case, but this is a simplified model.)
(NOTE: OF COURSE PEOPLE STILL WANT TO MARRY WOMEN OVER 30 DAMMIT, I JUST MEAN MORE MEN FOCUS ON THOSE YOUNGER GIRLS. I AM LAZY TO USE RELATIVE WEIGHTAGE MODELLING TECHNIQUES ON SOMETHING THAT WILL NOT MAKE ME MONEY.)
At this point, the value of a woman on the dating market is exactly twice that of a man.
Let us factor in the effect of marriage now.
Since women get married earlier then men on average, let us assume that 40 percent of the women between 20-30 are married, while 20 percent of the men between 20-30 are married.
This leaves us 60 women and 80 men between 20-30.
For the men between 30-40, a higher proportion will be married, say 50 percent. This leaves 50 men in that age group.
So, there will be 60 women to 80+50 = 130 men on the dating market. If we divide 130 by 60, it gives an average woman 2.16 times the dating value of an average man.
See! It's not all that bad for ladies right?
I admit that it is, generally speaking, true that the market value of females go down faster than males as age advances. However, there is a flip side to this that we do not often pay attention to.
Because of this, women have much higher dating value than men early on. Why is this so? Due to the law of supply and demand.
Think of it this way:
A woman's peak period on the dating market is, let's say, 20 to 30. A man's may be from, let's say, 20 to 40.
If we analyze this situation carefully, we will find that due to this disparity in lengths of peak periods, there will be twice the number of men than women on the peak dating market. By the law of supply and demand, the dating value for women during this period will be twice as high as men on average.
Of course, this analysis is oversimplified. Marriage takes both sides out of the dating market as time goes on. However, men tend to marry a few years later than women on average.
So let us make a simple model.
Say there are 100 men and 100 women in society from the age of 20-30, and another 100 men and 100 women from the age of 30-40.
If no one is married, there will be 200 guys chasing after 100 women, as the 100 women over 30 are out. (In real life this is of course not the case, but this is a simplified model.)
(NOTE: OF COURSE PEOPLE STILL WANT TO MARRY WOMEN OVER 30 DAMMIT, I JUST MEAN MORE MEN FOCUS ON THOSE YOUNGER GIRLS. I AM LAZY TO USE RELATIVE WEIGHTAGE MODELLING TECHNIQUES ON SOMETHING THAT WILL NOT MAKE ME MONEY.)
At this point, the value of a woman on the dating market is exactly twice that of a man.
Let us factor in the effect of marriage now.
Since women get married earlier then men on average, let us assume that 40 percent of the women between 20-30 are married, while 20 percent of the men between 20-30 are married.
This leaves us 60 women and 80 men between 20-30.
For the men between 30-40, a higher proportion will be married, say 50 percent. This leaves 50 men in that age group.
So, there will be 60 women to 80+50 = 130 men on the dating market. If we divide 130 by 60, it gives an average woman 2.16 times the dating value of an average man.
See! It's not all that bad for ladies right?
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Don't do something you love
I work long hours, yes. This weekend I was working. Fortunately, I get paid fairly well for my age. Of course, there are people who earn far more than me (yada yada insert humble statements), but compared to the average curve in Malaysia, I think I'm doing fine.
However there are people who work longer hours than me for far less. My sister used to intern in an advertising company, and she rarely came back before midnight. Sometimes she would come back at 3 or 4 am, and rush off to work at 8 in the morning the next day. Her colleagues did this too, and their pay was pretty low according to what she heard.
My friend does animation artwork in a studio, and she works just as much as me if not more. She says the pay is bad and the bosses are unreasonable.
Another of my friend is a radio DJ and has even appeared on TV programs and what not. She is paid less than RM 2K a month. And we thought people in the entertainment line made tons of money.
So, what do these things (advertising, art, entertainment) have in common?
People do them because they have a passion for the field. That's why bosses can pay them poorly and demand long hours, because if they leave, other applicants rush in despite the rather substandard treatment. A far cry from the typical money-minded investment bankers and consultants, who fly to wherever pays the best. Typical mercenary mindset, like me.
I AM A GREEDY LITTLE BASTARD.
Which is why I don't do what I love.
However there are people who work longer hours than me for far less. My sister used to intern in an advertising company, and she rarely came back before midnight. Sometimes she would come back at 3 or 4 am, and rush off to work at 8 in the morning the next day. Her colleagues did this too, and their pay was pretty low according to what she heard.
My friend does animation artwork in a studio, and she works just as much as me if not more. She says the pay is bad and the bosses are unreasonable.
Another of my friend is a radio DJ and has even appeared on TV programs and what not. She is paid less than RM 2K a month. And we thought people in the entertainment line made tons of money.
So, what do these things (advertising, art, entertainment) have in common?
People do them because they have a passion for the field. That's why bosses can pay them poorly and demand long hours, because if they leave, other applicants rush in despite the rather substandard treatment. A far cry from the typical money-minded investment bankers and consultants, who fly to wherever pays the best. Typical mercenary mindset, like me.
I AM A GREEDY LITTLE BASTARD.
Which is why I don't do what I love.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Pink nipples
I was surfing a forum lately when I stumbled across an interesting thread. Basically, a guy dumped his gf for a very peculiar reason:
Her nipples were not pink.
Instead of being a scrumptious pink color like a boiled egg, they had the audacity to be a dull brown in color. For this crime, he dumped her immediately.
HAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAA!
Despite my pity for the poor girl, I find the situation very hilarious. My guess is that the guy watched too much porn, making him unable to accept any lesser color.
So, is it a must to have in your partner the colors you see in movies?
I sure hope my gf doesn't watch Avatar then.
This reminds me of another story I read about.
There was this dude in Thailand who met a nice pretty girl there. They got together, but the girl just refused to have sex with him, claiming she was a virgin and wanted to save herself for marriage. He was curious as to how such a pretty and wild girl would have remained a virgin for so long, so he hired this private investigator to check up on her past.
When the private investigator inquired a bit, he found that the girl was in fact, a guy. That was why she/he never wanted to take her pants off.
I guess the lesson from this is, if your nipples are not pink, wear nipple stickers when you do it.
Her nipples were not pink.
Instead of being a scrumptious pink color like a boiled egg, they had the audacity to be a dull brown in color. For this crime, he dumped her immediately.
HAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAA!
Despite my pity for the poor girl, I find the situation very hilarious. My guess is that the guy watched too much porn, making him unable to accept any lesser color.
So, is it a must to have in your partner the colors you see in movies?
I sure hope my gf doesn't watch Avatar then.This reminds me of another story I read about.
There was this dude in Thailand who met a nice pretty girl there. They got together, but the girl just refused to have sex with him, claiming she was a virgin and wanted to save herself for marriage. He was curious as to how such a pretty and wild girl would have remained a virgin for so long, so he hired this private investigator to check up on her past.
When the private investigator inquired a bit, he found that the girl was in fact, a guy. That was why she/he never wanted to take her pants off.
I guess the lesson from this is, if your nipples are not pink, wear nipple stickers when you do it.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
My principles
For a long time I wanted to write a blog. Today I have finally overcome my laziness and put finger to keyboard, so let me start off by saying what I am not going to blog about (at least not 90 percent of the time).
1. Sexy photos.
Due to not being a pretty girl, or a girl at all, I cannot take webcam photos of myself in various alluring poses and post them here. I am also rather lazy to scour the Internet for photos of various celebrities or models. Sorry about that.
If I pose like this all of you will vomit immediately.
2. Food
I do like to talk about food, but due to the huge numbers of bloggers posting their breakfast, lunch and dinner on the Internet, I won't talk about it unless I have something out of the ordinary to say.
I won't post pictures like this. If there is a cockroach inside then I will post.
3. Song Lyrics
I never quite understood why people like to post song lyrics on their blog. If the song is not well known then I can understand, but why post a popular song? It's not like there is no Google.
This applies especially if the song posted is from Justine Bieber.
I promise to uphold conditions 1, 2 and 3 most of the time.
Thank you!
1. Sexy photos.
Due to not being a pretty girl, or a girl at all, I cannot take webcam photos of myself in various alluring poses and post them here. I am also rather lazy to scour the Internet for photos of various celebrities or models. Sorry about that.
If I pose like this all of you will vomit immediately.2. Food
I do like to talk about food, but due to the huge numbers of bloggers posting their breakfast, lunch and dinner on the Internet, I won't talk about it unless I have something out of the ordinary to say.
I won't post pictures like this. If there is a cockroach inside then I will post.
3. Song Lyrics
I never quite understood why people like to post song lyrics on their blog. If the song is not well known then I can understand, but why post a popular song? It's not like there is no Google.
This applies especially if the song posted is from Justine Bieber.
I promise to uphold conditions 1, 2 and 3 most of the time.
Thank you!
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