Illumination
Is Required
To be
Extinguished
In Your Rooms
After Nightfall
Is Required
To be
Extinguished
In Your Rooms
After Nightfall
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Authorization (Yes/No)
Azer represents a traditionalist while Mantessa represents an independent extremist.
Azer: Human beings naturally seek to submit to authority and always desire someone to lead over them. Therefore anarchism is unworkable because of this fact.
Mantessa: What IS human nature? I would believe human nature to be the traits, feelings, actions, thoughts, behaviour, etc. that define us. They are our fundamental and defining characteristics. Such aspects of human nature would include, by the definition I have provided, introspection and abstract reasoning.
Azer: Fine, so we’ve defined what human nature is. Then how do we ascertain what traits are part of human nature or not?
Mantessa: If one uses empirical and logical evidence, then it would be straightforward to determine and certify what human nature actually entails. Using this methodology, one can recognise that human beings generally possess an aversion to pain, or that human beings naturally seek happiness. Regarding the former, people in general attempt to avoid situations that would inflict pain. People in general don’t like pain, since it is unpleasant, by definition. Pain exists as a physiological means of telling you that a part of your body is injured or experiencing a physiological abnormality. Injury or physiological abnormality impairs our ability to function physically and can be to the detriment of other areas in our lives. I’m no biologist, but I would deduce that such an aversion to pain is an evolutionary response and an evolutionary advantage. Regarding the latter point, it can be deduced that humans cannot function physically or emotionally whilst experiencing excessive pain. Because of this, we look for happiness, since it permits optimum human function.
Azer: So, can the aforementioned methodology be used to examine whether humans are prone to submit to authority?
Mantessa: Well at present, practically all humans live under the control of a government. It has been proven that people would even kill others if they experienced enough coercion. However, the conclusions of this study cannot wholly be attributed to human nature. Government has only existed for the past several millennia. If humans have only lived under the spectre of governments for a small period of our history, then how is submitting to governmental authority part of human nature?
Azer: If one looks at social species in the animal world, then there is little evident need to submit to authority.
Mantessa: Granted, animals aren’t sapient in general. If one examines chimpanzees, then yes, their social groups are led by an alpha-male. Still, this organisational structure arises from need, more so than a desire to be ruled over. As chimpanzees evolved, those groups with a strong male who controlled society would have prospered. Such groupings would have been more secure, had access to better food and be able to adapt to new situations and difficulties.
Azer: Therefore, is it rational to force people to submit to authority, if such an attribute is truly intrinsic.
Mantessa: Humans aren’t generally forced to eat food, since eating is part of our nature. Humans aren’t forced to seek social interaction, since associating with others is an inherent distinction. Nature is clearly distinct from force, in this instance.
Azer: As a child, you must be obedient to your parents. In a family, you must submit to authority.
Mantessa: Being obedient does not mean whatsoever being submission. In most cases, children are being compelled. Children are compelled to adhere to their parents’ wishes due to the evident disparity of power between parent and child. It is often the case that the parent’s values may be false, illogical or irrational in nature. As a consequence of this, children may accept authority since they lack the means to be wholly independent of their parents.
Azer: People must accept the state ruled by the government.
Mantessa: Many people also accept the state due to government brainwashing and coercive state education. Government schools don’t tell nor teach our children how to think, or reason, or properly make sense of the world around them. Schoolchildren are taught to value government and are never taught to question the status quo. Evidently, education is a social construct and isn’t a part of nature or material reality. Therefore, a widespread acceptance of the state cannot be attributed to human nature.
Azer: Having a government means we are more organized.
Mantessa: Using empirical means, we can see that some human societies don’t possess an organised government or a “monopoly on the legitimate exercise of force.” In many hunter-gatherer communities, decisions are often collectively made without the need for a centralised bureaucracy.
Azer: Human beings naturally seek to submit to authority and always desire someone to lead over them. Therefore anarchism is unworkable because of this fact.
Mantessa: What IS human nature? I would believe human nature to be the traits, feelings, actions, thoughts, behaviour, etc. that define us. They are our fundamental and defining characteristics. Such aspects of human nature would include, by the definition I have provided, introspection and abstract reasoning.
Azer: Fine, so we’ve defined what human nature is. Then how do we ascertain what traits are part of human nature or not?
Mantessa: If one uses empirical and logical evidence, then it would be straightforward to determine and certify what human nature actually entails. Using this methodology, one can recognise that human beings generally possess an aversion to pain, or that human beings naturally seek happiness. Regarding the former, people in general attempt to avoid situations that would inflict pain. People in general don’t like pain, since it is unpleasant, by definition. Pain exists as a physiological means of telling you that a part of your body is injured or experiencing a physiological abnormality. Injury or physiological abnormality impairs our ability to function physically and can be to the detriment of other areas in our lives. I’m no biologist, but I would deduce that such an aversion to pain is an evolutionary response and an evolutionary advantage. Regarding the latter point, it can be deduced that humans cannot function physically or emotionally whilst experiencing excessive pain. Because of this, we look for happiness, since it permits optimum human function.
Azer: So, can the aforementioned methodology be used to examine whether humans are prone to submit to authority?
Mantessa: Well at present, practically all humans live under the control of a government. It has been proven that people would even kill others if they experienced enough coercion. However, the conclusions of this study cannot wholly be attributed to human nature. Government has only existed for the past several millennia. If humans have only lived under the spectre of governments for a small period of our history, then how is submitting to governmental authority part of human nature?
Azer: If one looks at social species in the animal world, then there is little evident need to submit to authority.
Mantessa: Granted, animals aren’t sapient in general. If one examines chimpanzees, then yes, their social groups are led by an alpha-male. Still, this organisational structure arises from need, more so than a desire to be ruled over. As chimpanzees evolved, those groups with a strong male who controlled society would have prospered. Such groupings would have been more secure, had access to better food and be able to adapt to new situations and difficulties.
Azer: Therefore, is it rational to force people to submit to authority, if such an attribute is truly intrinsic.
Mantessa: Humans aren’t generally forced to eat food, since eating is part of our nature. Humans aren’t forced to seek social interaction, since associating with others is an inherent distinction. Nature is clearly distinct from force, in this instance.
Azer: As a child, you must be obedient to your parents. In a family, you must submit to authority.
Mantessa: Being obedient does not mean whatsoever being submission. In most cases, children are being compelled. Children are compelled to adhere to their parents’ wishes due to the evident disparity of power between parent and child. It is often the case that the parent’s values may be false, illogical or irrational in nature. As a consequence of this, children may accept authority since they lack the means to be wholly independent of their parents.
Azer: People must accept the state ruled by the government.
Mantessa: Many people also accept the state due to government brainwashing and coercive state education. Government schools don’t tell nor teach our children how to think, or reason, or properly make sense of the world around them. Schoolchildren are taught to value government and are never taught to question the status quo. Evidently, education is a social construct and isn’t a part of nature or material reality. Therefore, a widespread acceptance of the state cannot be attributed to human nature.
Azer: Having a government means we are more organized.
Mantessa: Using empirical means, we can see that some human societies don’t possess an organised government or a “monopoly on the legitimate exercise of force.” In many hunter-gatherer communities, decisions are often collectively made without the need for a centralised bureaucracy.
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Mathematics Is Music
Warning: If you do find that the sound generated by the program is too satanic, please abort immediately.
The idea is simple. It is to prove that if you love mathematics, you don’t need the musical talent to compose a song.
The algorithm:
Binary melody;
Sound tone
Integer digit;
Data array key c, c#, d, d#, e, f, g, g#, a, a#, b, b#, C, C# …;
Input step, base, start, modulo, mode, note, scale, hold, instrument, speed, volume;
Do while not stop
Melody = binary(start) base;
Digit = sum of numbers in melody;
Tone = key(digit);
start = start step modulo;
Loop while
Demo:
This is the sound generated under step = 1, base = 5, mode = all, note = d’, scale = major, hold = normal, instrument = grand piano, speed = 1/1:
www.geocities.com/jerijador/demo1.mid
This is the sound generated under step = 1, base = 5, mode = all, note = c’, scale = penta, hold = pedal, instrument = harpsichord, speed = 1/1:
www.geocities.com/jerijador/demo2.mid
The combination of both sound:
www.geocities.com/jerijador/demo3.mid
This song is generated under step = 16, base = 2, start = 47, mode = rising, note = g#, scale = major, hold = normal.
The output was quite amusing because I discovered chords that I have never seen/heard before and they are A#m69 and D#m69 and lotsa add9 and sus6 chords. I’ve checked the program again and again and I did not find any syntax and logical errors. I also called up my cousin who is well-versed in music asking are these chords existed and he told me that they do. The sound too is quite rhythmic that I rearranged it with more instruments. I decided to name this song: Malam Untuk Posisi 69 or A Night For Position 69 … hehehehe
****************************************************************
www.geocities.com/jerijador/Malam_Untuk_Posisi_69_by_azer64.mid
****************************************************************
The idea is simple. It is to prove that if you love mathematics, you don’t need the musical talent to compose a song.
The algorithm:
Binary melody;
Sound tone
Integer digit;
Data array key c, c#, d, d#, e, f, g, g#, a, a#, b, b#, C, C# …;
Input step, base, start, modulo, mode, note, scale, hold, instrument, speed, volume;
Do while not stop
Melody = binary(start) base;
Digit = sum of numbers in melody;
Tone = key(digit);
start = start step modulo;
Loop while
Demo:
This is the sound generated under step = 1, base = 5, mode = all, note = d’, scale = major, hold = normal, instrument = grand piano, speed = 1/1:
www.geocities.com/jerijador/demo1.mid
This is the sound generated under step = 1, base = 5, mode = all, note = c’, scale = penta, hold = pedal, instrument = harpsichord, speed = 1/1:
www.geocities.com/jerijador/demo2.mid
The combination of both sound:
www.geocities.com/jerijador/demo3.mid
This song is generated under step = 16, base = 2, start = 47, mode = rising, note = g#, scale = major, hold = normal.
The output was quite amusing because I discovered chords that I have never seen/heard before and they are A#m69 and D#m69 and lotsa add9 and sus6 chords. I’ve checked the program again and again and I did not find any syntax and logical errors. I also called up my cousin who is well-versed in music asking are these chords existed and he told me that they do. The sound too is quite rhythmic that I rearranged it with more instruments. I decided to name this song: Malam Untuk Posisi 69 or A Night For Position 69 … hehehehe
****************************************************************
www.geocities.com/jerijador/Malam_Untuk_Posisi_69_by_azer64.mid
****************************************************************
There! Mathematics is Music :-)
All songs generated by the program will be posted on my other blog Halusi Matematika – halusi.blogspot.com
All songs generated by the program will be posted on my other blog Halusi Matematika – halusi.blogspot.com
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
The Naga In The Swamp
We fear the Naga in the swamp
It grows in mud and slime and damp
It breathes out foul polluted air
It spreads the black corruption there
It drinks our blood, it sucks our breath
It makes our life a living death
We cannot work or live in peace
Our foil and sorrow still increase
We cannot rest by night or day
The Naga eats our life away.
Saturday, November 18, 2006
My Sifu: Liza
It was somewhere in May I said ‘hi’ to a fellow chatter Liza. After some few lines of knowing each other, she introduced me her blog:
http://www.randomrarebits2.blogspot.com/2006/05/return-to-nest.html
Soon I found that blogging has become quite the mainstream. As I blog-hopped from one blog to another blog, I realized bloggers blog for many reasons. No matter what their reasons are, I found out that there are many news, descriptions, narrations, process-analysis, definitions, classifications, comparisons and contrasts, causes and effects, argumentations, jokes, advises and thesis which are so worthwhile reading.
Blogging then is a Mandatory
My other two business partners and I are running a business where we only appreciate abstract thinking. Given today’s prices of the commodities, given constraints on what constitute a product, then make the cheapest product. These are everyday industry questions. We are not into systems which are already there in the market. We only provide new solutions and this is the reason why we are hired and always be needed.
We have no choice but to be good. We do survey on the design techniques. We develop new solutions for any problem that may arise. We provide formal proof methods.
Our people are expected to read any material that is relevant to their modules. This will facilitate more productive discussions. So we really don’t mind if they want to explain the material over and over again out loud to themselves, to each other, and even to their teddy bears. While going along with their day, it is okay that they day dream as their works are not all linear thinking. They must try to allow the essence of the materials to seep into their subconscious. They are expected to pursue ideas that percolate up and flashes of inspiration that appear. They are expected to be creative and to ask questions especially on why it is done this way not that way.
Blogging thus is the way to balance both hemispheres of my brain. Upon knowing blogspot, I started to blog.
I have this very important rule too. As internet privacy is dead, I’ll make sure that I won’t get online via my company’s server. The last thing I need is to make it much easier for people to detect my company’s name, address, telephone number etc.
Finally, I came with the reasons:
1. To share my prospective on issues – basically on life.
2. To share on what I am passionate about – poetry, mathematics, programming, music and songs, graphical arts, illustrations and abstracts.
3. To teach my kids on religious matters.
4. Last but definitely not least, to be creative for own satisfaction.
http://www.randomrarebits2.blogspot.com/2006/05/return-to-nest.html
Soon I found that blogging has become quite the mainstream. As I blog-hopped from one blog to another blog, I realized bloggers blog for many reasons. No matter what their reasons are, I found out that there are many news, descriptions, narrations, process-analysis, definitions, classifications, comparisons and contrasts, causes and effects, argumentations, jokes, advises and thesis which are so worthwhile reading.
Blogging then is a Mandatory
My other two business partners and I are running a business where we only appreciate abstract thinking. Given today’s prices of the commodities, given constraints on what constitute a product, then make the cheapest product. These are everyday industry questions. We are not into systems which are already there in the market. We only provide new solutions and this is the reason why we are hired and always be needed.
We have no choice but to be good. We do survey on the design techniques. We develop new solutions for any problem that may arise. We provide formal proof methods.
Our people are expected to read any material that is relevant to their modules. This will facilitate more productive discussions. So we really don’t mind if they want to explain the material over and over again out loud to themselves, to each other, and even to their teddy bears. While going along with their day, it is okay that they day dream as their works are not all linear thinking. They must try to allow the essence of the materials to seep into their subconscious. They are expected to pursue ideas that percolate up and flashes of inspiration that appear. They are expected to be creative and to ask questions especially on why it is done this way not that way.
Blogging thus is the way to balance both hemispheres of my brain. Upon knowing blogspot, I started to blog.
I have this very important rule too. As internet privacy is dead, I’ll make sure that I won’t get online via my company’s server. The last thing I need is to make it much easier for people to detect my company’s name, address, telephone number etc.
Finally, I came with the reasons:
1. To share my prospective on issues – basically on life.
2. To share on what I am passionate about – poetry, mathematics, programming, music and songs, graphical arts, illustrations and abstracts.
3. To teach my kids on religious matters.
4. Last but definitely not least, to be creative for own satisfaction.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
The Non-Fitters
Notes taken from a seminar by Donald N. Sull.
1. Track Record - Success can be in a narrow technical or functional area that later blinds a person to the broader context. Track record and be misleading: Other people or event may have had more to do with the success than the executive.
2. Brilliance - Brilliance in and of itself can be intimidating to others, but brilliant people sometimes dismiss people they believe are less brilliant than themselves or devalue other people's ideasand contributions.
3. Commitment - Overcommitment may lead to defining their whole lives in term of work and expecting others to do the same; being willing to do almost anything, including engaging in questionable activities for the sake of the business; or treating people as means to an end.
4. Charm - Charm can be used selectively to manipulate other people.
5. Ambition - Ambition darkens when people do whatever is necessary to achieve personal success, even at the expense of others or the organization.
6. Team Player - Not a risk taker, indecisive and lacks independent judgment.
7. Customer aka Listener-Focus - Can't create breakthroughs, can't control cost, unrealisticsand becoming too conservative.
8. Biased toward Actions - They are basically reckless and very dictatorial.
9. Analytical Thinker - They are becoming analysis paralysis, afraid to act and inclined to create large staffs.
10. Integrity - This is a holy-look type and bugs people by imposing personal standards on others.
11. Innovative - Tend to be very unrealistic, impractical and ending up wasting time and money.
12. Has Global Vision - Misses local markets, over-extended and unfocused.
13. Good with People - They are basically soft (not softie type) and can't make tough decisions because simply they are being too easy on people.
1. Track Record - Success can be in a narrow technical or functional area that later blinds a person to the broader context. Track record and be misleading: Other people or event may have had more to do with the success than the executive.
2. Brilliance - Brilliance in and of itself can be intimidating to others, but brilliant people sometimes dismiss people they believe are less brilliant than themselves or devalue other people's ideasand contributions.
3. Commitment - Overcommitment may lead to defining their whole lives in term of work and expecting others to do the same; being willing to do almost anything, including engaging in questionable activities for the sake of the business; or treating people as means to an end.
4. Charm - Charm can be used selectively to manipulate other people.
5. Ambition - Ambition darkens when people do whatever is necessary to achieve personal success, even at the expense of others or the organization.
6. Team Player - Not a risk taker, indecisive and lacks independent judgment.
7. Customer aka Listener-Focus - Can't create breakthroughs, can't control cost, unrealisticsand becoming too conservative.
8. Biased toward Actions - They are basically reckless and very dictatorial.
9. Analytical Thinker - They are becoming analysis paralysis, afraid to act and inclined to create large staffs.
10. Integrity - This is a holy-look type and bugs people by imposing personal standards on others.
11. Innovative - Tend to be very unrealistic, impractical and ending up wasting time and money.
12. Has Global Vision - Misses local markets, over-extended and unfocused.
13. Good with People - They are basically soft (not softie type) and can't make tough decisions because simply they are being too easy on people.
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Wisdom of Kung Fu Tze
There are three methods to gaining wisdom:
The first is reflection, which is the highest.
The second is Imitation, which is the easiest.
The third is experience, which is the bitterest.
The second is Imitation, which is the easiest.
The third is experience, which is the bitterest.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Phobialogy
My phobias are in blue:
acrophobia.. fear of high places
aerophobia.. fear of air or drafts
agoraphobia.. fear of open spaces
ailurophobia... fear of cats
algophobia.. fear of pain
androphobia.. fear of men
anthrophobia.. fear of human beings
aquaphobia.. fear of water
astraphobia... fear of stars
autophobia.. fear of automobiles
bibliophobia.. fear of books
canophobia... fear of laws, rules, dogmas
claustrophobia.. fear of closed spaces
coitophobia.. fear of sexual intercourse
ergophobia.. fear of work
frigophobia... fear of cold
gamophobia.. fear of marriage
genophobia.. fear of sex
gymnotophobia.. fear of nudity
gynophobia.. fear of women
hadephobia.. fear of hell
hamartiophobia.. fear of sin
haphephobia.. fear of being touched
hematophobia.. fear of blood
hierophobia.. fear of sacred things
homophobia.. fear of homosexual
shydrophobia.. fear of water
hypegiaphobia.. fear of responsibility
hypnophobia.. fear of sleep
logophobia.. fear of words
maieusophobia.. fear of pregnancy
misophobia.. fear of contamination
monophobia.. fear of being alone
nyctophobia... fear of darkness or night
ornithophobia.. fear of birds
ouranophobia.. fear of heaven
pantophobia.. fear of everything
peccatophobia.. fear of sinning
pediphobia.. fear of children
peniaphobia.. fear of poverty
phasmophobia.. fear of ghosts
phobophobia... fear of fears
photophobia.. fear of light
phronemophobia.. fear of thinking
pogonophobia.. fear of beards
poinephobia.. fear of punishment
pyrophobia.. fear of fire
satanophobia.. fear of Satan
sciophobia.. fear of shadow
staphophobia... fear of being buried alive, graves
theophobia.. fear of God
thermophobia.. fear of heat
tocophobia.. fear of childbirth
triskaidikaphobia... fear of the # 13
trypanophobia.. fear of injections
xenophobia.. fear of strangers
zelophobia.. fear of jealousy
zoophobia.. fear of animals
acrophobia.. fear of high places
aerophobia.. fear of air or drafts
agoraphobia.. fear of open spaces
ailurophobia... fear of cats
algophobia.. fear of pain
androphobia.. fear of men
anthrophobia.. fear of human beings
aquaphobia.. fear of water
astraphobia... fear of stars
autophobia.. fear of automobiles
bibliophobia.. fear of books
canophobia... fear of laws, rules, dogmas
claustrophobia.. fear of closed spaces
coitophobia.. fear of sexual intercourse
ergophobia.. fear of work
frigophobia... fear of cold
gamophobia.. fear of marriage
genophobia.. fear of sex
gymnotophobia.. fear of nudity
gynophobia.. fear of women
hadephobia.. fear of hell
hamartiophobia.. fear of sin
haphephobia.. fear of being touched
hematophobia.. fear of blood
hierophobia.. fear of sacred things
homophobia.. fear of homosexual
shydrophobia.. fear of water
hypegiaphobia.. fear of responsibility
hypnophobia.. fear of sleep
logophobia.. fear of words
maieusophobia.. fear of pregnancy
misophobia.. fear of contamination
monophobia.. fear of being alone
nyctophobia... fear of darkness or night
ornithophobia.. fear of birds
ouranophobia.. fear of heaven
pantophobia.. fear of everything
peccatophobia.. fear of sinning
pediphobia.. fear of children
peniaphobia.. fear of poverty
phasmophobia.. fear of ghosts
phobophobia... fear of fears
photophobia.. fear of light
phronemophobia.. fear of thinking
pogonophobia.. fear of beards
poinephobia.. fear of punishment
pyrophobia.. fear of fire
satanophobia.. fear of Satan
sciophobia.. fear of shadow
staphophobia... fear of being buried alive, graves
theophobia.. fear of God
thermophobia.. fear of heat
tocophobia.. fear of childbirth
triskaidikaphobia... fear of the # 13
trypanophobia.. fear of injections
xenophobia.. fear of strangers
zelophobia.. fear of jealousy
zoophobia.. fear of animals
Friday, September 29, 2006
My Mistake: Smoking
I started smoking at the age of 14. Nobody had any influence on my addiction to cigarettes when I started. It was that one night, I had a dream of smoking Benson & Hedges. It was a very nice feeling. The next day, I illegally jumped out of the school fence and bought myself a small pack of Benson and a box of matches. I smoked a stick and it was the same feeling as in my dream. I then became addicted.
The night on the same day, I was about to have my cigarette in the school toilet. To my surprise, I found some of my closest friends smoked too. They were very shocked in the beginning and then were very happy that I too smoke. It was a very memorial night.
For 28 years, I had nothing against smoking. In fact, I thought it was a moral obligation. It was the physical embodiment for my individual spirit. Smoking was the main reason why I had been very productive. Never had I questioned anything regarding deteriorating health or anything on the economical factors. To make it even worse, I used to point out that smokers are important to the nation’s economy as we pay ‘tax’. Non-smokers should even thank us for this. For some reason, friends just cannot argue with me.
Three months ago, something did happen when I was presenting a seminar where a gallant participant embarrassed me of my smoking addiction. Since then I started to rethink on this addiction. Finally I quit.
The truth about smoking, in my own words now:
Think of the money I could save.
Very difficult to give up - not looking forward to withdrawal symptoms.
Bad for health, too expensive, very hard drug to give up.
I wish I had never started.
It doesn’t do me any harm but it doesn’t do me any good.
Horrible really when it boils down to it - just say you can’t taste things properly and it is right when you stop smoking things taste a lot better.
Filthy habit.
Years ago they were cheaper - it is getting too expensive now.
Will kill me in the end if I don’t stop.
Anybody who starts today knows of the down side. When I started nothing was said about health side.
It’s all pointless really.
My children keep telling me to give up.
My chest is probably black!! I would be healthier.
No plus points - stained teeth, blackened lungs, bad arteries, etc.
The harm a cigarette can do, I realise that I am throwing away my money to kill myself!!!
Effect on my wife and children.
It is an idiotic thing to start to do.
For the small amount of pleasure it gives me, it’s not worth the hassle I get.
I would be richer.
Offensive habit.
It’s a killer.
Because it comes to control your life - I have a physical craving which stops me doing other things.
Don’t like smell on clothes.
Feel I’m addicted to a drug.
The night on the same day, I was about to have my cigarette in the school toilet. To my surprise, I found some of my closest friends smoked too. They were very shocked in the beginning and then were very happy that I too smoke. It was a very memorial night.
For 28 years, I had nothing against smoking. In fact, I thought it was a moral obligation. It was the physical embodiment for my individual spirit. Smoking was the main reason why I had been very productive. Never had I questioned anything regarding deteriorating health or anything on the economical factors. To make it even worse, I used to point out that smokers are important to the nation’s economy as we pay ‘tax’. Non-smokers should even thank us for this. For some reason, friends just cannot argue with me.
Three months ago, something did happen when I was presenting a seminar where a gallant participant embarrassed me of my smoking addiction. Since then I started to rethink on this addiction. Finally I quit.
The truth about smoking, in my own words now:
Think of the money I could save.
Very difficult to give up - not looking forward to withdrawal symptoms.
Bad for health, too expensive, very hard drug to give up.
I wish I had never started.
It doesn’t do me any harm but it doesn’t do me any good.
Horrible really when it boils down to it - just say you can’t taste things properly and it is right when you stop smoking things taste a lot better.
Filthy habit.
Years ago they were cheaper - it is getting too expensive now.
Will kill me in the end if I don’t stop.
Anybody who starts today knows of the down side. When I started nothing was said about health side.
It’s all pointless really.
My children keep telling me to give up.
My chest is probably black!! I would be healthier.
No plus points - stained teeth, blackened lungs, bad arteries, etc.
The harm a cigarette can do, I realise that I am throwing away my money to kill myself!!!
Effect on my wife and children.
It is an idiotic thing to start to do.
For the small amount of pleasure it gives me, it’s not worth the hassle I get.
I would be richer.
Offensive habit.
It’s a killer.
Because it comes to control your life - I have a physical craving which stops me doing other things.
Don’t like smell on clothes.
Feel I’m addicted to a drug.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Outta Surfin Stuffs
Find seven hearts from this picture.
Your sleuthing gear includes a micro listening device for those not-to-be-missed conversations between bosses. You also get two discreet mirrors which can be used singularly or can be built into a simple periscope—essential for snooping over cubicle walls. And don’t forget the two-in-one invisible ink pen and decoder that lets you record classified information without being discovered. In short order, you’ll be the CEO—that’s Chief Espionage Organizer-and hot on the trail of the latest office coup!
Thursday, September 21, 2006
My Mistake: Neglecting Solat
Back in Montreal, September 1983:
Brother: Are you a muslim?
Azer Mantessa: Yes, I am a muslim.
Brother: Do you pray five times a day?
Azer Mantessa: *scratch head* Errr aaaa errr aaaa errr
In 1977, I was accepted in a fully boarding school in Kedah. I was then 13 years old. It was the first time of my life being away from home, away from family and relatives and certainly away from my parents constant monitoring.
This sudden change had changed my life in many ways. I met many new friends who are intellectually competitive, stayed in an environment which demanded a lot of my independence and learned many new things. It took me only two weeks where I started to neglect solat. I was not so sure on how it happened but for sure, nobody ever reminded me to pray when it was the time to do so.
The school made it compulsory for us to perform maghrib at the mosque. In mid 1978, I started to even ‘ponteng’ solat maghrib when me and some of my friends thought it was so cool to play hideout from the prefects. Those days, that we get ourselves caught by the prefects was considered as a cool thing. We will consider it funny and something to be proud of when our names were announced as those who were caught. Having these kinds of attitudes, I took solat duty lightly.
In September 1982, I was sent to Welland, Ontario, Canada to further my studies. There were 20 of us Malaysian students who were in the same high school for our grade 13th. We had to obtain a high school diploma before we can apply to further our studies in the universities. I stayed with a dutch Canadian family who were very secular. They never really bother about any religious matter and things started to be getting worse; I did not perform solat for the whole 12 months there.
Luckily, when I came to Montreal (I got accepted as an undergraduate student in one of the university there), a Pakistani Muslim brother took responsibility in guidance us Malaysian students towards Islamic practices.
Neglecting solat is one of the biggest mistakes I’ve ever made. Something which I could not explain but below are the criteria of me in those years of taking this duty lightly:
* I was not a focus student – Education was not my priority.
* My intelligence was below those who do perform solat regularly.
* I was a very nervous person.
* No time management whatsoever.
* I started smoking (Luckily I never take drug and alcohol throughout my life).
* I used very inconvenient words like fuck, butuh, pukimak hang, kepala hotak hang etc in my daily conversation.
* An average and many times below average student.
* Neglected Quran totally.
* Only proud as a ‘muslim’.
* No objective in life.
* Lack of humility.
* Always in a rush.
* Quite impatience.
* Required to be the center of attention with my nonsense talking.
* Too much on TV and movies.
* Non-hygienic.
* Forgetful.
* Lack of leadership.
* Lack of thinking.
* Lack of creativity.
* Lack of intuition.
* Slow in computing.
* Selfish.
* Lazy.
* Loved pornography.
* Spent money unnecessarily.
* Narrow minded.
* Lack of good lucks.
* Blamed other people for being unlucky.
* Totally disorganized.
Brother: Are you a muslim?
Azer Mantessa: Yes, I am a muslim.
Brother: Do you pray five times a day?
Azer Mantessa: *scratch head* Errr aaaa errr aaaa errr
In 1977, I was accepted in a fully boarding school in Kedah. I was then 13 years old. It was the first time of my life being away from home, away from family and relatives and certainly away from my parents constant monitoring.
This sudden change had changed my life in many ways. I met many new friends who are intellectually competitive, stayed in an environment which demanded a lot of my independence and learned many new things. It took me only two weeks where I started to neglect solat. I was not so sure on how it happened but for sure, nobody ever reminded me to pray when it was the time to do so.
The school made it compulsory for us to perform maghrib at the mosque. In mid 1978, I started to even ‘ponteng’ solat maghrib when me and some of my friends thought it was so cool to play hideout from the prefects. Those days, that we get ourselves caught by the prefects was considered as a cool thing. We will consider it funny and something to be proud of when our names were announced as those who were caught. Having these kinds of attitudes, I took solat duty lightly.
In September 1982, I was sent to Welland, Ontario, Canada to further my studies. There were 20 of us Malaysian students who were in the same high school for our grade 13th. We had to obtain a high school diploma before we can apply to further our studies in the universities. I stayed with a dutch Canadian family who were very secular. They never really bother about any religious matter and things started to be getting worse; I did not perform solat for the whole 12 months there.
Luckily, when I came to Montreal (I got accepted as an undergraduate student in one of the university there), a Pakistani Muslim brother took responsibility in guidance us Malaysian students towards Islamic practices.
Neglecting solat is one of the biggest mistakes I’ve ever made. Something which I could not explain but below are the criteria of me in those years of taking this duty lightly:
* I was not a focus student – Education was not my priority.
* My intelligence was below those who do perform solat regularly.
* I was a very nervous person.
* No time management whatsoever.
* I started smoking (Luckily I never take drug and alcohol throughout my life).
* I used very inconvenient words like fuck, butuh, pukimak hang, kepala hotak hang etc in my daily conversation.
* An average and many times below average student.
* Neglected Quran totally.
* Only proud as a ‘muslim’.
* No objective in life.
* Lack of humility.
* Always in a rush.
* Quite impatience.
* Required to be the center of attention with my nonsense talking.
* Too much on TV and movies.
* Non-hygienic.
* Forgetful.
* Lack of leadership.
* Lack of thinking.
* Lack of creativity.
* Lack of intuition.
* Slow in computing.
* Selfish.
* Lazy.
* Loved pornography.
* Spent money unnecessarily.
* Narrow minded.
* Lack of good lucks.
* Blamed other people for being unlucky.
* Totally disorganized.
Saturday, September 16, 2006
My Mistake - Misunderstanding
Like an old house that need a lot of improvements...
I’m a 42-year old guy who makes many mistakes, too many that only God knows the real counts. One of the greatest mistakes is being misunderstood or failing to understand. I consider misunderstanding as one of the greatest mistakes I’ve been making because of two main reasons: Lack of communication skills thus lead me to keep doing it.
Communicating is not just about talking or writing or sending messages or commenting or analyzing etc but it is about two parties sharing thoughts or ideas or data or anything which requires both sides to listen and to talk.
My computer and the internet are demonstrating a very good definition of communicating. This is where my modem sends a signal to a server somewhere in the world, the server then receives the signal, and the server does the processing and sends back another signal to my modem which is then processed by my computer.
Given the analogy, talking is then sending a signal and listening is then receiving and processing the signal. Talking is then an action while listening is then of two actions. When people say listening is very hard to do, I do agree. I do hear but do I listen?
There many reasons why listening is very difficult. Among are: different backgrounds (gender, race, religion, language, status, origin, culture, position etc), knowledge, experiences and histories. These different factors, lead the way how I view and interpret subjects and objects that may cause totally different from other people.
Many times in my life, when I misunderstood certain issues, it leads to clashes. There are times, out of these clashes; I say what I choose instead of choosing what I say. Clashes happened throughout all stages of my life: during earlier childhood, kindergarten, primary school, secondary school, university, marriage, and working. It occurred between me and my parents, siblings, relatives, wife, kids, my kampong people, friends, superiors, colleagues, subordinates, clients, suppliers, the government officers, even strangers and even chatters and probably bloggers too (I started blogging since July this year).
Fortunately, 14 years ago, the company I used to work with sent me to a seminar for effective communicating. I came to learn that the first step toward eliminating misunderstanding is to realize that the other party and I are all both different and the same. Because of the different backgrounds, there are different points of view. Yet, we are the same in that we have a need to be understood and appreciated. Knowledge of these simple facts is necessary to end misunderstanding.
I was taught that the next time I feel myself disagreeing with someone; I must stop and ask myself how their world view differs from mine. I must try to put myself in their place. I must try to understand their background. This is how I can learn not to rush to judgment and not to jump to conclusions.I also learned that should opinions still differ, both parties should be respected for the differences.
Unfortunately, though I have learned the ‘effective communication’ skills, still I keep doing this kind of mistakes. Perhaps I fail to empty my mind of biases, preconceptions, arrogance, narrow-mindedness, and stereotyping. Perhaps I fail to dispense some kindness. Perhaps the other parties are too sensitive. Because of these continuous mistakes, I name this blog as Subjected to Subjectivity for I am a 42-year old guy who are lacking knowledge and skills.
Until my next kind of mistake …
I’m a 42-year old guy who makes many mistakes, too many that only God knows the real counts. One of the greatest mistakes is being misunderstood or failing to understand. I consider misunderstanding as one of the greatest mistakes I’ve been making because of two main reasons: Lack of communication skills thus lead me to keep doing it.
Communicating is not just about talking or writing or sending messages or commenting or analyzing etc but it is about two parties sharing thoughts or ideas or data or anything which requires both sides to listen and to talk.
My computer and the internet are demonstrating a very good definition of communicating. This is where my modem sends a signal to a server somewhere in the world, the server then receives the signal, and the server does the processing and sends back another signal to my modem which is then processed by my computer.
Given the analogy, talking is then sending a signal and listening is then receiving and processing the signal. Talking is then an action while listening is then of two actions. When people say listening is very hard to do, I do agree. I do hear but do I listen?
There many reasons why listening is very difficult. Among are: different backgrounds (gender, race, religion, language, status, origin, culture, position etc), knowledge, experiences and histories. These different factors, lead the way how I view and interpret subjects and objects that may cause totally different from other people.
Many times in my life, when I misunderstood certain issues, it leads to clashes. There are times, out of these clashes; I say what I choose instead of choosing what I say. Clashes happened throughout all stages of my life: during earlier childhood, kindergarten, primary school, secondary school, university, marriage, and working. It occurred between me and my parents, siblings, relatives, wife, kids, my kampong people, friends, superiors, colleagues, subordinates, clients, suppliers, the government officers, even strangers and even chatters and probably bloggers too (I started blogging since July this year).
Fortunately, 14 years ago, the company I used to work with sent me to a seminar for effective communicating. I came to learn that the first step toward eliminating misunderstanding is to realize that the other party and I are all both different and the same. Because of the different backgrounds, there are different points of view. Yet, we are the same in that we have a need to be understood and appreciated. Knowledge of these simple facts is necessary to end misunderstanding.
I was taught that the next time I feel myself disagreeing with someone; I must stop and ask myself how their world view differs from mine. I must try to put myself in their place. I must try to understand their background. This is how I can learn not to rush to judgment and not to jump to conclusions.I also learned that should opinions still differ, both parties should be respected for the differences.
Unfortunately, though I have learned the ‘effective communication’ skills, still I keep doing this kind of mistakes. Perhaps I fail to empty my mind of biases, preconceptions, arrogance, narrow-mindedness, and stereotyping. Perhaps I fail to dispense some kindness. Perhaps the other parties are too sensitive. Because of these continuous mistakes, I name this blog as Subjected to Subjectivity for I am a 42-year old guy who are lacking knowledge and skills.
Until my next kind of mistake …
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Sleep Now
Sleep now, another day in your young lives is done,
go to sleep now; tomorrow brave new worlds will surely come,
go to sleep; you're such a wonder,
such a mystery to me.
Somewhere your future friends are lying as you are
and your lovers right now are only crying babes in arms
the world turns under our feet, our lives are passing by in our sleep.
Sleep now, one day I'll tell you how my life has been.
So strange to think your eyes will fall on things that mine have never seen,
these eyes that gently flickerin some lost childhood dream.
Sleep now, safe and warm in the haven of your bed,
go to sleep now.... although you won't remember what I've said,
your father loves you.
Liverpool … we'll never sleep alone.
Sleep now, one day I'll tell you how my life has been.
So strange to think your eyes will fall on things that mine have never seen,
these eyes that gently flickerin some lost childhood dream.
Sleep now, safe and warm in the haven of your bed,
go to sleep now.... although you won't remember what I've said,
your father loves you.
Liverpool … we'll never sleep alone.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
The Cat
On Homo Sapien:
With torn-wars, street violence, chemical greed, adultery, corporate corruption, political disorders, pornography, child abuse, white collar crimes, intoxicants, air pollution, racism, interest rates, …
You dare calling yourself ‘The Intelligent Species’?
With torn-wars, street violence, chemical greed, adultery, corporate corruption, political disorders, pornography, child abuse, white collar crimes, intoxicants, air pollution, racism, interest rates, …
You dare calling yourself ‘The Intelligent Species’?
Monday, September 04, 2006
Dumb Bosses
“I used to love watching him working so hard days and nights. But, since he hired these people, I’m so stressed out. Mostly everyday, all Mr. Azer does is play his computer games, surf the net and watch something on Astro. I hate his dumb smiling faces when he chats on Yahoo.”
- I tapped my secretary over the phone.
What my chatters say about their bosses (the dumb ones):
Sometimes we sit around and wonder: How did they get there.
My friends start not to recognize me. I think it has something to do with me working with a dumb boss.
She always seems trying to impress the management by cutting the costs.
Once, I was scolded for sending a memo regarding the attendance of a GM. It clearly showed that it was her signature on the dotted line. That’s our HR Manager.
One day, my boss passed by and said, “You’re playing a game!.” Obviously she doesn’t know the difference between auto-cad and a computer game.
I know my boss is dumb. The first day I worked here, he told me to make him look good.
Really, he was just lucky, in the right place at the right time. He was a lot luckier than he was smart.
You cannot run a world-class company with dumb bosses who don’t like employees.
It is still worth learning something even though my boss is dumb.
When my boss keep denying that he is dumb, he looks dumber.
Their careers are always in danger.
All corporate CEOs are dumb. Ask them to run their own companies, they will pee.
His grammar is problematical.
I love telling lies to my boss. He really doesn’t know linux programming.
She doesn’t understand bar charts.
No wonder that the company is not doing well. Big boss only ask their opinions.
He will say something like, “I’m result-oriented”. No wonder he never bothers on how jobs supposed to be executed because he is ‘result-oriented’.
Yes they are dumb. You can tell. They have dumb-faces.
My boss is so dumb that I must keep thinking, reading, writing and talking. Everyday, I am needed.
One thing for sure, our boss gets dumber when we get smarter.
If you keep waiting for his paperwork, you will keep waiting forever.
They are dumb. That’s why they keep hiring consultants.
- I tapped my secretary over the phone.
What my chatters say about their bosses (the dumb ones):
Sometimes we sit around and wonder: How did they get there.
My friends start not to recognize me. I think it has something to do with me working with a dumb boss.
She always seems trying to impress the management by cutting the costs.
Once, I was scolded for sending a memo regarding the attendance of a GM. It clearly showed that it was her signature on the dotted line. That’s our HR Manager.
One day, my boss passed by and said, “You’re playing a game!.” Obviously she doesn’t know the difference between auto-cad and a computer game.
I know my boss is dumb. The first day I worked here, he told me to make him look good.
Really, he was just lucky, in the right place at the right time. He was a lot luckier than he was smart.
You cannot run a world-class company with dumb bosses who don’t like employees.
It is still worth learning something even though my boss is dumb.
When my boss keep denying that he is dumb, he looks dumber.
Their careers are always in danger.
All corporate CEOs are dumb. Ask them to run their own companies, they will pee.
His grammar is problematical.
I love telling lies to my boss. He really doesn’t know linux programming.
She doesn’t understand bar charts.
No wonder that the company is not doing well. Big boss only ask their opinions.
He will say something like, “I’m result-oriented”. No wonder he never bothers on how jobs supposed to be executed because he is ‘result-oriented’.
Yes they are dumb. You can tell. They have dumb-faces.
My boss is so dumb that I must keep thinking, reading, writing and talking. Everyday, I am needed.
One thing for sure, our boss gets dumber when we get smarter.
If you keep waiting for his paperwork, you will keep waiting forever.
They are dumb. That’s why they keep hiring consultants.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Killers
I dedicate this to the managerial people who love to back-stabbing each other all the way the corporate ladder. And don’t you people forget, you oppress your subordinates along the way too…
So you live in the bottom of the sea,
So you live in the bottom of the sea,
and you kill all that come near you ....
but you are very lonely,
because all the other fish fear you .....
because all the other fish fear you .....
And you crave companionship and someone to call your own;
because for the whole of your life you've been living alone.
On a black day in black month at the black bottom of the sea,
Your mother gave birth to you and died immediately ....
Because you can't have two killers living in the same pad
and when your mother knew that her time had come she was really rather glad.
Death in the sea
somebody please come and help me
Fish can't fly,
neither can I ....
Monday, August 21, 2006
Two Worlds
There is a planet. The inhabitants are divided into two: THE ELITE and THE MASS.
There is no difference between you and me as we both are humans. Upon this, all should be benefited by what the whole world has to offer. Certainly this is not happening. The eliteworld is isolated where the masspeople are not welcomed. In your eliteworld, our massworld does not exist. Problems as inadequate food, housing or schooling that can easily be solved only exist in the massworld.
Half the world talks
With half a mind on what they say
Half the world walks
With half a mind to run away
You provide us jobs in order to serve you so you can live comfortably and at the same time making more money. Since leaders are the minority of the elitepeople, certainly, they can’t solve the problems faced by us, the masspeople. Elitepeople are incapable to solve the big problems that devastate the massworld. Hunger, shanty towns, avoidable illnesses, child labor, inferior position of women, wars, terrorism, abominable human rights, etc are not present in the eliteworld but continue to wreck the life of masspeople.
Half the world hates
What half the world does every day
Half the world waits
While half gets on with it anyway
You donate to the political parties which you believe to form the government and in return, you expect more businesses. You call that donation? We call that spending money in order to make more money.
Half the world lies
Half the world learns
Half the world flies
As half the world turns
Through your ‘donation’, you get more businesses than us the masspeople. To make it even worse, you persuaded the leaders to come up with privatization under the name of better services and keep yelling that the government is not efficient. No doubt that you elitepeople are smarter. You control the utilities, the highways, rice, education, transportation, hospitals etc which is the necessity commodities and requirements.
Half the world lives
Half the world makes
Half the world gives
While the other half takes
Privatization is the means for you elitepeople to get reserved places in your eliteworld. You keep on building excellent hospitals which benefit only you elitepeople not the masspeople who can’t pay. We blame these privatization schemes that open up more possibilities for the elitepeople to avoid the controls. It is always the common citizen that is targeted. The elite have sanctuaries where they can live their prosperous, safe and uncontrolled life.
Half the world cares
While half the world is wasting the day
Half the world shares
While half the world is stealing away
You elites cut down the red tapes so that all sales and purchases do not have to go into quotations or tender committees. Efficiency creates cronism and nepotism. It benefits you the elite people.
Half the world is
Half the world was
Half the world thinks
While the other half does
Some masspeople are allowed to enter the eliteworld as servants, as a lesser kind of humans that makes the life of elitepeople more comfortable. These masspeople are not considered to be real people. Elitepeople do not have a human conversation with the butler and the rest of the personnels are even more invisible. There is no way that you elitepeople will allow us the masspeople to enter into your eliteworld, literally speaking.
Half the world cries
Half the world laughs
Half the world tries
To be the other half
In this world many people find that elitepeople have the right on apart places. No! It is the elitepeople who gave the idea to the masspeople and this is the main problem.
There is no difference between you and me as we both are humans. Upon this, all should be benefited by what the whole world has to offer. Certainly this is not happening. The eliteworld is isolated where the masspeople are not welcomed. In your eliteworld, our massworld does not exist. Problems as inadequate food, housing or schooling that can easily be solved only exist in the massworld.
Half the world talks
With half a mind on what they say
Half the world walks
With half a mind to run away
You provide us jobs in order to serve you so you can live comfortably and at the same time making more money. Since leaders are the minority of the elitepeople, certainly, they can’t solve the problems faced by us, the masspeople. Elitepeople are incapable to solve the big problems that devastate the massworld. Hunger, shanty towns, avoidable illnesses, child labor, inferior position of women, wars, terrorism, abominable human rights, etc are not present in the eliteworld but continue to wreck the life of masspeople.
Half the world hates
What half the world does every day
Half the world waits
While half gets on with it anyway
You donate to the political parties which you believe to form the government and in return, you expect more businesses. You call that donation? We call that spending money in order to make more money.
Half the world lies
Half the world learns
Half the world flies
As half the world turns
Through your ‘donation’, you get more businesses than us the masspeople. To make it even worse, you persuaded the leaders to come up with privatization under the name of better services and keep yelling that the government is not efficient. No doubt that you elitepeople are smarter. You control the utilities, the highways, rice, education, transportation, hospitals etc which is the necessity commodities and requirements.
Half the world lives
Half the world makes
Half the world gives
While the other half takes
Privatization is the means for you elitepeople to get reserved places in your eliteworld. You keep on building excellent hospitals which benefit only you elitepeople not the masspeople who can’t pay. We blame these privatization schemes that open up more possibilities for the elitepeople to avoid the controls. It is always the common citizen that is targeted. The elite have sanctuaries where they can live their prosperous, safe and uncontrolled life.
Half the world cares
While half the world is wasting the day
Half the world shares
While half the world is stealing away
You elites cut down the red tapes so that all sales and purchases do not have to go into quotations or tender committees. Efficiency creates cronism and nepotism. It benefits you the elite people.
Half the world is
Half the world was
Half the world thinks
While the other half does
Some masspeople are allowed to enter the eliteworld as servants, as a lesser kind of humans that makes the life of elitepeople more comfortable. These masspeople are not considered to be real people. Elitepeople do not have a human conversation with the butler and the rest of the personnels are even more invisible. There is no way that you elitepeople will allow us the masspeople to enter into your eliteworld, literally speaking.
Half the world cries
Half the world laughs
Half the world tries
To be the other half
In this world many people find that elitepeople have the right on apart places. No! It is the elitepeople who gave the idea to the masspeople and this is the main problem.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
The Mouths
Four Rules of Communication:
1... Is it true?
2... Is it necessary?
3... Is the motive pure?
4... Is it beneficial?
If we can't say 'yes' to all of them, better zip our mouths :-)
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Life is Difficult!
The reality is that life has been created difficult, it has many tests and trials for us. We know that but we forget it. The following Qurânic ayât show that pretty much everything about this life is a trial. Family, wealth, relationships, good and bad things.. everything are means of testing us.
Sûrah al Baqarâh 2.155'And most certainly shall We try you be means of danger and hunger and loss of worldly goods, of lives of (labor's) fruits. But give glad tidings unto those who are patient in adversity.'
Sûrah al Imrân 3.186'You shall most certainly be tried in your possessions and in your persons...'
Sûrah al An'am 6.53'For it is in this way that We try men through one another...'
Sûrah al Anfâl 8.28'And know that your worldly goods and your children are but a trial and a temptation...'
Sûrah al Kâhf 18.7'Behold, We have willed that all beauty on earth be a means by which We put men to a test, (showing) which of them are best in conduct.'
Sûrah al Anbiyâ 21.35'Every human being is bound to taste death and We test you through the bad and the good, by way of trial; and unto Us you all must return.'
Sûrah al Ankabût 29.2'Do men think that on their saying, 'We have attained to faith' they will be left to themselves, and will not be put to a test?'
Sûrah al Balad 90.4'Verily, We have created man into pain, toil and trial.'
What are these tests for and can they benefit us?So lets use an analogy to understand what tests do. In school we have to take tests to show our strength or weakness in each subject... based on the result we pass or fail. So a test is designed to bring out our potential... to show us areas that we excel in as well as areas that we need to work on.
Life's tests are pretty much in every area of life.. be it health, wealth, family or whatever. Life's tests bring out our strength or weakness for us in the same way that school tests did. Dealing with tests is a matter of creating a mind-set that is focused on overcoming the difficulties instead of letting them overwhelm us. If we look at the difficulties that we face in our life and think of them as opportunities to build our strengths our attitude toward them will change. We will feel stronger instead of weak and helpless. When we feel helpless we are less tolerant and more impatient.
Reliance on God helps. Knowing that these tests are from Him, to help us grow and become better human beings… not only in relation to ourselves, but others as well as in our relationship to God.
Sûrah al Baqarâh 2.155'And most certainly shall We try you be means of danger and hunger and loss of worldly goods, of lives of (labor's) fruits. But give glad tidings unto those who are patient in adversity.'
Sûrah al Imrân 3.186'You shall most certainly be tried in your possessions and in your persons...'
Sûrah al An'am 6.53'For it is in this way that We try men through one another...'
Sûrah al Anfâl 8.28'And know that your worldly goods and your children are but a trial and a temptation...'
Sûrah al Kâhf 18.7'Behold, We have willed that all beauty on earth be a means by which We put men to a test, (showing) which of them are best in conduct.'
Sûrah al Anbiyâ 21.35'Every human being is bound to taste death and We test you through the bad and the good, by way of trial; and unto Us you all must return.'
Sûrah al Ankabût 29.2'Do men think that on their saying, 'We have attained to faith' they will be left to themselves, and will not be put to a test?'
Sûrah al Balad 90.4'Verily, We have created man into pain, toil and trial.'
What are these tests for and can they benefit us?So lets use an analogy to understand what tests do. In school we have to take tests to show our strength or weakness in each subject... based on the result we pass or fail. So a test is designed to bring out our potential... to show us areas that we excel in as well as areas that we need to work on.
Life's tests are pretty much in every area of life.. be it health, wealth, family or whatever. Life's tests bring out our strength or weakness for us in the same way that school tests did. Dealing with tests is a matter of creating a mind-set that is focused on overcoming the difficulties instead of letting them overwhelm us. If we look at the difficulties that we face in our life and think of them as opportunities to build our strengths our attitude toward them will change. We will feel stronger instead of weak and helpless. When we feel helpless we are less tolerant and more impatient.
Reliance on God helps. Knowing that these tests are from Him, to help us grow and become better human beings… not only in relation to ourselves, but others as well as in our relationship to God.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
LIVERPOOL FC
They have Mahathir, Mokhzani, Mirzan, Mukhriz, ...
I have Benitez, Gerrard, Alonso, Riise, ...
GO LIVERPOOL FC !
:-)
Friday, August 04, 2006
Selected Picture: The Lung
Dear General Nicotine,
Thanks for being a great companion for all these 28 years. My lung probably looks like the picture above now. Sorry to say, it will not be death do us part.
So I bid you …
FAREWELL
SO LONG
GOODBYE
Thanks for being a great companion for all these 28 years. My lung probably looks like the picture above now. Sorry to say, it will not be death do us part.
So I bid you …
FAREWELL
SO LONG
GOODBYE
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Azer VS Mantessa - Racism
Azer: How does racism originated?
Mantessa: It goes back to the beginning of mankind's creation. This new creation of God was created from clay and named Adam. After his creation, God ordered the Angels and those with them to prostrate to Adam. They all prostrated except Iblis. Iblis believes he is better than Adam as he is made of fire while Adam of clay. Without question, the Devil was consequently the world's first racist!
Azer: So it has something to do with the physical makeup.
Mantessa: Yes. Pride and arrogance leads to people thinking that they are better than others, simply because of their physical makeup. This pride and arrogance is truly a Devilish trait which humans have learnt from Iblis.
Azer: Is not racism a human nature?
Mantessa: No. Humans fall for the age-old trick of Satan and start playing the silly inferiority/superiority game. Some stereotype others and tolerate prejudice against other human beings, despite the fact that all human beings are equal, from the same man and woman.
Azer: So what is our nature?
Mantessa: Our individual characters but not color, tribal or economic status of a person.
Azer: There are lotsa ethnic jokes everywhere.
Mantessa: Ethnic jokes are not innocent humor. They carry the virus of bigotry most of the time.
Azer: Should we challenge the offensive, names, jokes and comments?
Mantessa: We should feel comfortable in pointing out unfairness. We should stand up against injustice, discourage the evil and don't call people with bad nicknames.
Azer: People tend to generalize.
Mantessa: If you observe something wrong in some persons' behavior, don't generalize it to their ethnic group. Attribute it to those persons not their group.
Azer: Is nationalism a form of racism?
Mantessa: In many ways, yes, but this is another big issue so let’s drop it.
Azer: What about Bahasa Malaysia as the National Language? Is not this nationalism and racism?
Mantessa: We should speak everyone's language. There is a need to use a common language understandable to all. This is one way racism can be curbed.
Azer: Aren’t we suppose to practice multi-language?
Mantessa: We should. We should read about people to gain positive insights into other cultures. Read what they have written about themselves.
Azer: What will you do if you find yourself a target of racism?
Mantessa: I will defend myself. First seek refuge in God from Satan and follow good advices. If I get angry, I should remain silent, sit down, move away or make wudu.
If I feel my security is being threatened, I will seek any help available. If I am attacked, I will defend myself out of my capability. I will document and pursue the case with local police, the department of human resources and anti-hate groups.
Mantessa: It goes back to the beginning of mankind's creation. This new creation of God was created from clay and named Adam. After his creation, God ordered the Angels and those with them to prostrate to Adam. They all prostrated except Iblis. Iblis believes he is better than Adam as he is made of fire while Adam of clay. Without question, the Devil was consequently the world's first racist!
Azer: So it has something to do with the physical makeup.
Mantessa: Yes. Pride and arrogance leads to people thinking that they are better than others, simply because of their physical makeup. This pride and arrogance is truly a Devilish trait which humans have learnt from Iblis.
Azer: Is not racism a human nature?
Mantessa: No. Humans fall for the age-old trick of Satan and start playing the silly inferiority/superiority game. Some stereotype others and tolerate prejudice against other human beings, despite the fact that all human beings are equal, from the same man and woman.
Azer: So what is our nature?
Mantessa: Our individual characters but not color, tribal or economic status of a person.
Azer: There are lotsa ethnic jokes everywhere.
Mantessa: Ethnic jokes are not innocent humor. They carry the virus of bigotry most of the time.
Azer: Should we challenge the offensive, names, jokes and comments?
Mantessa: We should feel comfortable in pointing out unfairness. We should stand up against injustice, discourage the evil and don't call people with bad nicknames.
Azer: People tend to generalize.
Mantessa: If you observe something wrong in some persons' behavior, don't generalize it to their ethnic group. Attribute it to those persons not their group.
Azer: Is nationalism a form of racism?
Mantessa: In many ways, yes, but this is another big issue so let’s drop it.
Azer: What about Bahasa Malaysia as the National Language? Is not this nationalism and racism?
Mantessa: We should speak everyone's language. There is a need to use a common language understandable to all. This is one way racism can be curbed.
Azer: Aren’t we suppose to practice multi-language?
Mantessa: We should. We should read about people to gain positive insights into other cultures. Read what they have written about themselves.
Azer: What will you do if you find yourself a target of racism?
Mantessa: I will defend myself. First seek refuge in God from Satan and follow good advices. If I get angry, I should remain silent, sit down, move away or make wudu.
If I feel my security is being threatened, I will seek any help available. If I am attacked, I will defend myself out of my capability. I will document and pursue the case with local police, the department of human resources and anti-hate groups.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Azer VS Mantessa - The Illusion Standard of Living
Azer: This is the third time he called me asking my help regarding his debt.
Mantessa: Credit card thing again?
Azer: Yeah.
Mantessa: Avoid him then. He’s a typical guy who’s been heavily hacked.
Azer: Hacked?
Mantessa: Yep. He’s been hacked by the banking system that has been hacking people all over the world since the dawn of time. So avoid him. He is full of diseases with many kinds of viruses, worms, prontox, trojans, spyware whatever, you name it.
Azer: I don’t get it. What do you mean by being hacked?
Mantessa: He is a typical guy who just has no protection upon himself and the banking system knew it. He is without dignity, understanding and emotional control. He never practices safe thinking. Avoid him totally. I won’t blame him though. In fact, the whole nation is hacked.
Azer: Hey man, I still don’t get you.
Mantessa: This is what happens when people start buying what the government is campaigning for. The government wants all of us to keep spending in order to keep the economy rolling. Malaysia’s economy is a purchasing economy. Purchasing economy needs the purchasing power. In order to provide us the purchasing power, the government provides us, you know who … the banks.
Azer: What’s wrong with purchasing? Don’t we all need to eat, to shelter, to wear clothes, to move around, to have fun among so many other things?
Mantessa: Exactly.
Azer: So?
Mantessa: What do you need in order to eat, to shelter, to wear clothes, to move around, to have fun among so many other things?
Azer: Money of course.
Mantessa: Where do you get the money?
Azer: From my salary and don’t you dare telling me that it is wrong for me to receive my salary. The company is working hard for the profits you know.
Mantessa: Exactly. The profits come from sales minus expenses minus tax. Sales come from the current assets being sold which are assets. Assets, well, the company’s assets probably the biggest chunk of origin which come from liabilities. Liabilities are the loans. Loans are from the banks. You are lucky that the salary is from profits. It could be from another liability.
Azer: So what’s wrong with spending? Is it wrong to keep the economy rolling?
Mantessa: Depends on how you spend. If you are not hacked, then it is okay. Trust me, you are hacked too :-)
Azer: I’m hacked?!!
Mantessa: Aren’t we all :-) In many ways, we are all hacked as I told you that the whole nation is hacked. The difference is the level of us being hacked.
Azer: I just don’t get you. Now you really have to explain.
Mantessa: Okay. Sit down and listen. Have pop-corn too.
Azer: Am listening.
Mantessa: When the government decided to go with the Purchasing Economy, they risk us all into this horrifying concept where purchasing power gained by debt creation is always equaled by purchasing power lost by debt liquidation. Same thing, Economic expansion gained by debt creation is always equaled by economic contraction caused by debt liquidation. Thus the purchasing economy is a borrowed economy.
Azer: A Borrowed Economy?
Mantessa: Purchasing power is temporarily borrowed from the future by debt. Your trouble friend should understand this simple reality.
Azer: How does the borrowed economy started?
Mantessa: The minute our nation gained independent of course. Since then, the politicians keep on promising people that they will provide developments. So we start as a developing country. How do we start? They setup Bank Negara which the main function is to borrow money from outside. To make it even worse, they started issuing bonds which is something like . . . look here, I will tender you this much money in the future if you give me this much money now. The minute we borrowed and issued bonds, that is the minute the nation is hacked. Another function is of course to setup other banks for the public.
Azer: That thing about bonds scares me a bit.
Mantessa: Scare you? You should be at least double scared!
Azer: Double scared?
Mantessa: When Bank Negara issued bonds to the outsiders, somebody from the inside have to issue Bank Negara bonds in order to get the money. They are the bankers of course.
Azer: Okay, but double scared?
Mantessa: Let me simplify it to you. Immediately after issue the bond creator and seller has gained: 1) One hundred thousand ringgit units in legal tender currency. 2) The current purchasing power of one hundred ringgit dollar units. Bank Negara pays one hundred thousand ringgit in currency for the bond from a banker. Bank Negara still has the purchasing power of one hundred thousand ringgit units, as long as the bond is liquid and stable in value. Immediately after purchase, Bank Negara neither gained nor lost dollar units or purchasing power. The bond seller or the banker has gained the current purchasing power of one hundred thousand ringgit units. This is called double double expansion.
Azer: I don’t think you really simplify it.
Mantessa: Haiya. Say in the beginning, Bank Negara received RM 100,000 by issuing bonds to the outsiders right?
Azer: Okay.
Mantessa: The nation then has an asset of RM 100,000 in cash and a liability of RM 100,000. I will come to you about the liability later. The nation then is having RM 100,000 to spend.
Azer: Okay.
Mantessa: When a banker issued a bond to Bank Negara to get the money, the banker then has an asset of RM 100,000 in cash and a liability of RM 100,000 to Bank Negara. The bank then is having RM 100,000 to spend. When Bank Negara bought the banker’s bond, the cash asset then is transformed into another kind of asset which is the bond. In other words, bank Negara still having RM 100,000 to spend. Therefore, from RM 100,000 of purchasing power, the nation now has RM 200,000 of purchasing power. This is the Double Double Expansion.
Azer: That’s great!
Mantessa: Oh you forgot. The nation has RM 200,000 of purchasing power but at the same time RM 200,000 of liabilities :-)
Azer: Oh!
Mantessa: Yeah … and what do the bankers do? They started to provide loans to the people. What does Bank Negara do? It provides loans to the government. From here onwards, The Multiple Expansion starts. Note, with both purchasing power and liabilities :-)
Azer: So that’s purchasing economy.
Mantessa: It’s the banker's illusion. The economic prosperity of a debt expansion is illusionary. That economic prosperity is based on the banking illusion that two or more people can each totally own and spend on demand, the very SAME ringgits and the very SAME purchasing power at the very SAME time. Some of the ringgits that you have available to spend in your bank account; another bank customer also has those SAME ringgits ready to spend because of a bank consumer loan. By the accounting illusionary trickery of our banking system; you can both simultaneously spend the SAME ringgits and your collective purchasing power is essentially doubled, but only temporarily. The general economy functions with a highly elevated false prosperity and a highly elevated false standard of living, as if the illusion is reality.
Azer: Errr … Regarding that we are hacked?
Mantessa: In due course, society reaches a point of collective debt saturation - the compound interest of ever increasing debt creates a widespread inability to pay; and, the banker's illusion collapses in a massive debt liquidation and its corresponding massive collapse in purchasing power and an extreme collapse in the general standard of living. Thus, debt liquidation, no matter how it is accomplished, always destroys the purchasing power gained by the original debt creation.
Azer: Again, that we are hacked?
Mantessa: It is the great paradox of our time, while our culture worships the practice of debt as a religion; the concepts and the understanding of the practices of debtism, is perhaps the most obscene taboo in our culture. The debtism that we so devoutly worship and practice to such an extreme, is paradoxically such an obscene intellectual taboo that even the word "debtism" is banished from our dictionaries, our libraries, our classrooms and hence our minds and our thought processes.
Azer: Let me get back to you. Debt liquidation destroys the purchasing power?
Mantessa: Told you! Calculate well and you’ll find out that the interest compound effect is horrible. The bankers or in fact the whole financial community just know the way to fool us with their word jargons. One of the quaint perversities in the use of the language is the practice of calling something the exact opposite of its true meaning. For example, 'sickness insurance' becomes 'health insurance'. 'Death insurance' becomes 'life insurance'; and, 'debtism' becomes 'capitalism', and a 'liability' becomes an 'asset'; and debt becomes a 'credit (card) account'. All the more easy to sell you and me things that are most unpleasant, when they are wrapped in words and concepts most pleasing to the mind. Once our minds are please, our hacked levels increase. The idea is to make us all to spend, spend, spend, spend …
Azer: I don’t really spend on these financial products.
Mantessa: You bought your house on cash? Your car on cash?
Azer: Err
Mantessa: Both the bankers and the government really know how to make us spend. Our kids enter colledges on loans of at least RM 15,000. The government can always change the text books even into another language and they will give us all kinds of reasons. The never-ending road maintenance. Awards via sms like Akademi Fantasia. Build another bridge. Many ways. It is a common that you will hear 'Well, I am going to go to the bank and get some capital and start my own business'. WRONG! You do not get business capital from a bank. You get business debt from a bank. The only business people who get business capital from a bank are embezzlers and bank robbers.
Azer: I spend on necessities.
Mantessa: Right. You spend on your expensive so-called quality polished white rice rather beras kampong which is good for your health. You spend on Starbucks rather making your own coffee, coke rather on plain water and so on. They will make you spend. The menu is young girls, nice vacation, sex, ciggerettes, air-conditioners, perfumes, movies, pubs, bla bla bla bla bla … and if you don’t spend enough, they will offer you the credit cards :-)
Azer: So what should we do?
Mantessa: Start with, if you can't pay cash, don’t try to afford it! There is ONLY ONE exception whereby debt was permissible. One could use debt in order to purchase a home residence. No other exceptions! If you can’t afford a car, take the bus!
Azer: Anything else?
Mantessa: Plenty you can do but have something involving investment on where you should live, what business you should run, what kind of assets you should posses but I am not a financial advisor so I can’t talk to you about it. The government requires the license for many kind of financial advises. Oh yes, nearly forgot. Have a low key life style. Protect your dignity at all times. Avoid euphoria, greed and investment traps. Advise yourself carefully.
Azer: So what is going to happen in the future?
Mantessa: The 1997 Asian Financial Crisis is the beginning. The worst is yet to come. While we all are rolling the economy, actually we are rolling a wheel and the wheel is getting bigger and bigger. Once the wheel is big enough to crush us down, the result is devastating.
Azer: What is happening now as the nation is hacked?
Mantessa: Well … The creditors have all the say. For sure, they can always tell … Malaysia! Sit down and shut the f*ck up!
Mantessa: Credit card thing again?
Azer: Yeah.
Mantessa: Avoid him then. He’s a typical guy who’s been heavily hacked.
Azer: Hacked?
Mantessa: Yep. He’s been hacked by the banking system that has been hacking people all over the world since the dawn of time. So avoid him. He is full of diseases with many kinds of viruses, worms, prontox, trojans, spyware whatever, you name it.
Azer: I don’t get it. What do you mean by being hacked?
Mantessa: He is a typical guy who just has no protection upon himself and the banking system knew it. He is without dignity, understanding and emotional control. He never practices safe thinking. Avoid him totally. I won’t blame him though. In fact, the whole nation is hacked.
Azer: Hey man, I still don’t get you.
Mantessa: This is what happens when people start buying what the government is campaigning for. The government wants all of us to keep spending in order to keep the economy rolling. Malaysia’s economy is a purchasing economy. Purchasing economy needs the purchasing power. In order to provide us the purchasing power, the government provides us, you know who … the banks.
Azer: What’s wrong with purchasing? Don’t we all need to eat, to shelter, to wear clothes, to move around, to have fun among so many other things?
Mantessa: Exactly.
Azer: So?
Mantessa: What do you need in order to eat, to shelter, to wear clothes, to move around, to have fun among so many other things?
Azer: Money of course.
Mantessa: Where do you get the money?
Azer: From my salary and don’t you dare telling me that it is wrong for me to receive my salary. The company is working hard for the profits you know.
Mantessa: Exactly. The profits come from sales minus expenses minus tax. Sales come from the current assets being sold which are assets. Assets, well, the company’s assets probably the biggest chunk of origin which come from liabilities. Liabilities are the loans. Loans are from the banks. You are lucky that the salary is from profits. It could be from another liability.
Azer: So what’s wrong with spending? Is it wrong to keep the economy rolling?
Mantessa: Depends on how you spend. If you are not hacked, then it is okay. Trust me, you are hacked too :-)
Azer: I’m hacked?!!
Mantessa: Aren’t we all :-) In many ways, we are all hacked as I told you that the whole nation is hacked. The difference is the level of us being hacked.
Azer: I just don’t get you. Now you really have to explain.
Mantessa: Okay. Sit down and listen. Have pop-corn too.
Azer: Am listening.
Mantessa: When the government decided to go with the Purchasing Economy, they risk us all into this horrifying concept where purchasing power gained by debt creation is always equaled by purchasing power lost by debt liquidation. Same thing, Economic expansion gained by debt creation is always equaled by economic contraction caused by debt liquidation. Thus the purchasing economy is a borrowed economy.
Azer: A Borrowed Economy?
Mantessa: Purchasing power is temporarily borrowed from the future by debt. Your trouble friend should understand this simple reality.
Azer: How does the borrowed economy started?
Mantessa: The minute our nation gained independent of course. Since then, the politicians keep on promising people that they will provide developments. So we start as a developing country. How do we start? They setup Bank Negara which the main function is to borrow money from outside. To make it even worse, they started issuing bonds which is something like . . . look here, I will tender you this much money in the future if you give me this much money now. The minute we borrowed and issued bonds, that is the minute the nation is hacked. Another function is of course to setup other banks for the public.
Azer: That thing about bonds scares me a bit.
Mantessa: Scare you? You should be at least double scared!
Azer: Double scared?
Mantessa: When Bank Negara issued bonds to the outsiders, somebody from the inside have to issue Bank Negara bonds in order to get the money. They are the bankers of course.
Azer: Okay, but double scared?
Mantessa: Let me simplify it to you. Immediately after issue the bond creator and seller has gained: 1) One hundred thousand ringgit units in legal tender currency. 2) The current purchasing power of one hundred ringgit dollar units. Bank Negara pays one hundred thousand ringgit in currency for the bond from a banker. Bank Negara still has the purchasing power of one hundred thousand ringgit units, as long as the bond is liquid and stable in value. Immediately after purchase, Bank Negara neither gained nor lost dollar units or purchasing power. The bond seller or the banker has gained the current purchasing power of one hundred thousand ringgit units. This is called double double expansion.
Azer: I don’t think you really simplify it.
Mantessa: Haiya. Say in the beginning, Bank Negara received RM 100,000 by issuing bonds to the outsiders right?
Azer: Okay.
Mantessa: The nation then has an asset of RM 100,000 in cash and a liability of RM 100,000. I will come to you about the liability later. The nation then is having RM 100,000 to spend.
Azer: Okay.
Mantessa: When a banker issued a bond to Bank Negara to get the money, the banker then has an asset of RM 100,000 in cash and a liability of RM 100,000 to Bank Negara. The bank then is having RM 100,000 to spend. When Bank Negara bought the banker’s bond, the cash asset then is transformed into another kind of asset which is the bond. In other words, bank Negara still having RM 100,000 to spend. Therefore, from RM 100,000 of purchasing power, the nation now has RM 200,000 of purchasing power. This is the Double Double Expansion.
Azer: That’s great!
Mantessa: Oh you forgot. The nation has RM 200,000 of purchasing power but at the same time RM 200,000 of liabilities :-)
Azer: Oh!
Mantessa: Yeah … and what do the bankers do? They started to provide loans to the people. What does Bank Negara do? It provides loans to the government. From here onwards, The Multiple Expansion starts. Note, with both purchasing power and liabilities :-)
Azer: So that’s purchasing economy.
Mantessa: It’s the banker's illusion. The economic prosperity of a debt expansion is illusionary. That economic prosperity is based on the banking illusion that two or more people can each totally own and spend on demand, the very SAME ringgits and the very SAME purchasing power at the very SAME time. Some of the ringgits that you have available to spend in your bank account; another bank customer also has those SAME ringgits ready to spend because of a bank consumer loan. By the accounting illusionary trickery of our banking system; you can both simultaneously spend the SAME ringgits and your collective purchasing power is essentially doubled, but only temporarily. The general economy functions with a highly elevated false prosperity and a highly elevated false standard of living, as if the illusion is reality.
Azer: Errr … Regarding that we are hacked?
Mantessa: In due course, society reaches a point of collective debt saturation - the compound interest of ever increasing debt creates a widespread inability to pay; and, the banker's illusion collapses in a massive debt liquidation and its corresponding massive collapse in purchasing power and an extreme collapse in the general standard of living. Thus, debt liquidation, no matter how it is accomplished, always destroys the purchasing power gained by the original debt creation.
Azer: Again, that we are hacked?
Mantessa: It is the great paradox of our time, while our culture worships the practice of debt as a religion; the concepts and the understanding of the practices of debtism, is perhaps the most obscene taboo in our culture. The debtism that we so devoutly worship and practice to such an extreme, is paradoxically such an obscene intellectual taboo that even the word "debtism" is banished from our dictionaries, our libraries, our classrooms and hence our minds and our thought processes.
Azer: Let me get back to you. Debt liquidation destroys the purchasing power?
Mantessa: Told you! Calculate well and you’ll find out that the interest compound effect is horrible. The bankers or in fact the whole financial community just know the way to fool us with their word jargons. One of the quaint perversities in the use of the language is the practice of calling something the exact opposite of its true meaning. For example, 'sickness insurance' becomes 'health insurance'. 'Death insurance' becomes 'life insurance'; and, 'debtism' becomes 'capitalism', and a 'liability' becomes an 'asset'; and debt becomes a 'credit (card) account'. All the more easy to sell you and me things that are most unpleasant, when they are wrapped in words and concepts most pleasing to the mind. Once our minds are please, our hacked levels increase. The idea is to make us all to spend, spend, spend, spend …
Azer: I don’t really spend on these financial products.
Mantessa: You bought your house on cash? Your car on cash?
Azer: Err
Mantessa: Both the bankers and the government really know how to make us spend. Our kids enter colledges on loans of at least RM 15,000. The government can always change the text books even into another language and they will give us all kinds of reasons. The never-ending road maintenance. Awards via sms like Akademi Fantasia. Build another bridge. Many ways. It is a common that you will hear 'Well, I am going to go to the bank and get some capital and start my own business'. WRONG! You do not get business capital from a bank. You get business debt from a bank. The only business people who get business capital from a bank are embezzlers and bank robbers.
Azer: I spend on necessities.
Mantessa: Right. You spend on your expensive so-called quality polished white rice rather beras kampong which is good for your health. You spend on Starbucks rather making your own coffee, coke rather on plain water and so on. They will make you spend. The menu is young girls, nice vacation, sex, ciggerettes, air-conditioners, perfumes, movies, pubs, bla bla bla bla bla … and if you don’t spend enough, they will offer you the credit cards :-)
Azer: So what should we do?
Mantessa: Start with, if you can't pay cash, don’t try to afford it! There is ONLY ONE exception whereby debt was permissible. One could use debt in order to purchase a home residence. No other exceptions! If you can’t afford a car, take the bus!
Azer: Anything else?
Mantessa: Plenty you can do but have something involving investment on where you should live, what business you should run, what kind of assets you should posses but I am not a financial advisor so I can’t talk to you about it. The government requires the license for many kind of financial advises. Oh yes, nearly forgot. Have a low key life style. Protect your dignity at all times. Avoid euphoria, greed and investment traps. Advise yourself carefully.
Azer: So what is going to happen in the future?
Mantessa: The 1997 Asian Financial Crisis is the beginning. The worst is yet to come. While we all are rolling the economy, actually we are rolling a wheel and the wheel is getting bigger and bigger. Once the wheel is big enough to crush us down, the result is devastating.
Azer: What is happening now as the nation is hacked?
Mantessa: Well … The creditors have all the say. For sure, they can always tell … Malaysia! Sit down and shut the f*ck up!
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Selected Picture: A Helping Hand
Azer:
If you see a helping hand
TAKE IT!
As emptiness can eat you up …
If you see a helping hand
TAKE IT!
As emptiness can eat you up …
Mantessa:
If you see a helping hand
BEWARE OF IT!
Though emptiness can eat you up …
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Azer VS Mantessa – The Chicken Crossed the Road
Yesterday, I made the effort to buy a pack of cigs on the other side of the road. Before crossing the road, wham bam bam! There, a chicken hit by a car… flat dead.
Azer: Why the chicken crossed the road?
Mantessa: The chicken is destined to cross the road.
Azer: You mean the chicken is predestined to cross the road?
Mantessa: Yes, the chicken is predestined to cross the road.
Azer: Then what about the rule of determinism and freewill? Don’t you think it is the determinism and freewill that made the chicken crossed the road?
Mantessa: In many cases, the chicken found itself things do shape and reshape which are beyond its control. Certainly the chicken can’t control the weather and least the speed of the car.
Azer: But despite all odds, the chicken had marvellous achievements and it is difficult to believe that the chicken is a mere puppet in the mighty hand of Nature.
Mantessa: The chicken is neither completely the master of its fate nor is it bound to the blind law of predestination. It is the sovereignty of The Greatest Designer's Will. It is all pervading and nothing falls outside its orbit. It is His Will that prevails everywhere. The chicken, therefore, completely subordinate to the overruling power of God, it cannot do anything unless God wills so.
Azer: So you are telling me we are mere puppets of Nature and God?
Mantessa: No but The Almighty, Who has created everything and has determined its nature and course, has in His infinite wisdom and mercy conferred upon man a limited autonomy according to which a man is free to do or not to do a certain thing. It is because of this autonomy enjoyed by man that he is hold accountable for his deeds.
Azer: So it’s predestined but we are given the freewill of autonomy and we must hold accountable for our deeds.
Mantessa: Man shall have nothing but that what he strives for.
Azer: So what’s the idea of everything is predestined in the first place anyway?
Mantessa: The idea is to prove that the creation of this universe is not accidental but something preplanned and pre-conceived and it was shaped according to the Grand Design of the Greatest Designer. There is no element of chance in the creation of this Universe. Everything is well-set and well-planned.
Azer: And what’s the idea of freewill autonomy?
Mantessa: The idea that God has a foreknowledge of everything that He created and the events unfold themselves exactly according to it, does not imply that human beings have been completely deprived of the freedom of action. The foreknowledge of God is an acknowledged fact, but it should not be interpreter in the sense of predestination, for if we do so we shall have to conceive of eternity as a storehouse of ready-made events, from which they drop one by one like particles of sand in a glass hour. If we take the foreknowledge to be a reflecting mirror we shall have to deprive the Creator and the Controller of the Universe of His Creative Activity.
Azer: So let me get this straight. The future certainly pre-exists in the organic whole of God's creative life, but it pre-exists as an open possibility, not as a fixed order of events with definite outlines.
Mantessa: Yes. The idea of put, present and future is something relative and is conceived by the inite wind of man. It is however, a great now in the eye of the All-Seeing God. The whole expanse of eternity lies before Him in the shape of now. Knowledge is, therefore, an act of creative activity and not the mere reflection of it. When He decrees a thing it happens and He knows it before it happens. He is a free Creator.
Azer: So the whole idea does not in any way mean helpless abandonment of oneself to otherwise unwelcome fate.
Mantessa: No. It means rather co-operation with God, studying His will and bringing oneself into unison with His Planning Will. Thus, by no stretch of imagination, fatal to the freedom of conduct and unfoldment of one's inherent possibilities; it is a source of inspiration and encouragement and opens up vast fields of human activity. It is not a message of despondency and despair, but a source of solace, comfort and inspiration and a powerful means of evoking a sense of piety and humility and self-surrender to the Will of God. It does not inculcate in mind frustration and pessimism, making his life dark and dreary, devoid of hope and promise for the future, but it teaches him to put his heart and soul in the sublime work as assigned to him by his Master.
Azer: How about the span of life and livelihood. Do these not increase or decrease beyond what is laid down?
Mantessa: God would not do anything earlier before its due time, or He would not delay anything beyond its due time. The death of the chicken is according to the due time. Everything is fixed.
Azer: So what should I do?
Mantessa: Well, before the due time, the best thing to do is to perform good deeds and to ask God about your safety from the torment of Hell-Fire and from the torment of the grave.
Azer: Anything else?
Mantessa: Try to pertain to strength, shedding off weakness, seek help from God and trust in the measures set by God.
Azer: …
Mantessa: …
Azer: Pity the chicken that crossed the road.
Mantessa: Yeah … chicken can’t fly and neither can I!
Azer: Why the chicken crossed the road?
Mantessa: The chicken is destined to cross the road.
Azer: You mean the chicken is predestined to cross the road?
Mantessa: Yes, the chicken is predestined to cross the road.
Azer: Then what about the rule of determinism and freewill? Don’t you think it is the determinism and freewill that made the chicken crossed the road?
Mantessa: In many cases, the chicken found itself things do shape and reshape which are beyond its control. Certainly the chicken can’t control the weather and least the speed of the car.
Azer: But despite all odds, the chicken had marvellous achievements and it is difficult to believe that the chicken is a mere puppet in the mighty hand of Nature.
Mantessa: The chicken is neither completely the master of its fate nor is it bound to the blind law of predestination. It is the sovereignty of The Greatest Designer's Will. It is all pervading and nothing falls outside its orbit. It is His Will that prevails everywhere. The chicken, therefore, completely subordinate to the overruling power of God, it cannot do anything unless God wills so.
Azer: So you are telling me we are mere puppets of Nature and God?
Mantessa: No but The Almighty, Who has created everything and has determined its nature and course, has in His infinite wisdom and mercy conferred upon man a limited autonomy according to which a man is free to do or not to do a certain thing. It is because of this autonomy enjoyed by man that he is hold accountable for his deeds.
Azer: So it’s predestined but we are given the freewill of autonomy and we must hold accountable for our deeds.
Mantessa: Man shall have nothing but that what he strives for.
Azer: So what’s the idea of everything is predestined in the first place anyway?
Mantessa: The idea is to prove that the creation of this universe is not accidental but something preplanned and pre-conceived and it was shaped according to the Grand Design of the Greatest Designer. There is no element of chance in the creation of this Universe. Everything is well-set and well-planned.
Azer: And what’s the idea of freewill autonomy?
Mantessa: The idea that God has a foreknowledge of everything that He created and the events unfold themselves exactly according to it, does not imply that human beings have been completely deprived of the freedom of action. The foreknowledge of God is an acknowledged fact, but it should not be interpreter in the sense of predestination, for if we do so we shall have to conceive of eternity as a storehouse of ready-made events, from which they drop one by one like particles of sand in a glass hour. If we take the foreknowledge to be a reflecting mirror we shall have to deprive the Creator and the Controller of the Universe of His Creative Activity.
Azer: So let me get this straight. The future certainly pre-exists in the organic whole of God's creative life, but it pre-exists as an open possibility, not as a fixed order of events with definite outlines.
Mantessa: Yes. The idea of put, present and future is something relative and is conceived by the inite wind of man. It is however, a great now in the eye of the All-Seeing God. The whole expanse of eternity lies before Him in the shape of now. Knowledge is, therefore, an act of creative activity and not the mere reflection of it. When He decrees a thing it happens and He knows it before it happens. He is a free Creator.
Azer: So the whole idea does not in any way mean helpless abandonment of oneself to otherwise unwelcome fate.
Mantessa: No. It means rather co-operation with God, studying His will and bringing oneself into unison with His Planning Will. Thus, by no stretch of imagination, fatal to the freedom of conduct and unfoldment of one's inherent possibilities; it is a source of inspiration and encouragement and opens up vast fields of human activity. It is not a message of despondency and despair, but a source of solace, comfort and inspiration and a powerful means of evoking a sense of piety and humility and self-surrender to the Will of God. It does not inculcate in mind frustration and pessimism, making his life dark and dreary, devoid of hope and promise for the future, but it teaches him to put his heart and soul in the sublime work as assigned to him by his Master.
Azer: How about the span of life and livelihood. Do these not increase or decrease beyond what is laid down?
Mantessa: God would not do anything earlier before its due time, or He would not delay anything beyond its due time. The death of the chicken is according to the due time. Everything is fixed.
Azer: So what should I do?
Mantessa: Well, before the due time, the best thing to do is to perform good deeds and to ask God about your safety from the torment of Hell-Fire and from the torment of the grave.
Azer: Anything else?
Mantessa: Try to pertain to strength, shedding off weakness, seek help from God and trust in the measures set by God.
Azer: …
Mantessa: …
Azer: Pity the chicken that crossed the road.
Mantessa: Yeah … chicken can’t fly and neither can I!
Friday, July 14, 2006
Azer VS Mantessa - Money Evil?
As crude oil hit > USD 75/barrel today…
Azer: So what is happening?
Mantessa: Just EXACTLY what it deserves.
Azer: Oh, how cruel! Don’t you believe in the operation of the moral law?
Mantessa: I do but you know money is the root of all evil and people like you are typical product of money.
Azer: Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can’t exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value.
Mantessa: Money is the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force.
Azer: When you accept money as payment for our effort, you do so only on the conviction that you will exchange it for the product of the effort of others.
Mantessa: It is the moochers or the looters who give value to money. The value of money is measured through those pieces of paper not gold. The Arabs are selling their oils to the Americans via these pieces of paper. Why not gold as the ultimate currency? Burn your RM 10.00 now and will you still consider the ashes as RM 10.00?
Azer: Those pieces of paper — your claim upon the energy of the men who produce. Your wallet is your statement of hope that somewhere in the world around you there are men who will not default on that moral principle which is the root of money. Is this what you consider evil?
Mantessa: Money is made by the strong at the expense of the weak, by the intelligent at the expense of the fools, by the able at the expense of the incompetent and by the ambitious at the expense of the lazy.
Azer: To trade by means of money is the code of the men of good will. Money rests on the axiom that every man is the owner of his mind and his effort.
Mantessa: Money will not purchase happiness. Money will not give a man a code of values. Money will not buy intelligence for the fool, or admiration for the coward, or respect for the incompetent.
Azer: Only the man who does not need it, is fit to inherit wealth — the man who would make his own fortune no matter where he started. If an heir is equal to his money, it serves him; if not, it destroys him. But you look on and you cry that money corrupted him. Did it? Or did he corrupt his money? Do not envy a worthless heir: his wealth is not yours and you would have done no better with it. Do not think that it should have been distributed among you; loading the world with fifty parasites instead of one, would not bring back the dead virtue which was the fortune. Money is a living power that dies without its root. Money will not serve the mind that cannot match it. Is this the reason why you call it evil?
Mantessa: I feel so sorry that money is your means of survival. The verdict you pronounce upon the source of your livelihood is the verdict you pronounce upon your life. If the source is corrupt, you have damned your own existence.
Azer: Money will always remain an effect and refuse to replace you as the cause. Money is the product of virtue, but it will not give you virtue and it will not redeem your vices. Money will not give you the unearned, neither in matter nor in spirit. Is this the root of your hatred of money?
Mantessa: Are you telling me the man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it? I don’t agree with you but I can’t answer you. I don’t have any answers, my mind doesn’t work that way, but I don’t feel that you’re right, so I know that you’re wrong.
Azer: How do you know it?
Mantessa: I feel it. I don’t go by my head, but by my heart. You might be good at logic, but you’re heartless. Now you must excuse me!
Azer: So what is happening?
Mantessa: Just EXACTLY what it deserves.
Azer: Oh, how cruel! Don’t you believe in the operation of the moral law?
Mantessa: I do but you know money is the root of all evil and people like you are typical product of money.
Azer: Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can’t exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value.
Mantessa: Money is the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force.
Azer: When you accept money as payment for our effort, you do so only on the conviction that you will exchange it for the product of the effort of others.
Mantessa: It is the moochers or the looters who give value to money. The value of money is measured through those pieces of paper not gold. The Arabs are selling their oils to the Americans via these pieces of paper. Why not gold as the ultimate currency? Burn your RM 10.00 now and will you still consider the ashes as RM 10.00?
Azer: Those pieces of paper — your claim upon the energy of the men who produce. Your wallet is your statement of hope that somewhere in the world around you there are men who will not default on that moral principle which is the root of money. Is this what you consider evil?
Mantessa: Money is made by the strong at the expense of the weak, by the intelligent at the expense of the fools, by the able at the expense of the incompetent and by the ambitious at the expense of the lazy.
Azer: To trade by means of money is the code of the men of good will. Money rests on the axiom that every man is the owner of his mind and his effort.
Mantessa: Money will not purchase happiness. Money will not give a man a code of values. Money will not buy intelligence for the fool, or admiration for the coward, or respect for the incompetent.
Azer: Only the man who does not need it, is fit to inherit wealth — the man who would make his own fortune no matter where he started. If an heir is equal to his money, it serves him; if not, it destroys him. But you look on and you cry that money corrupted him. Did it? Or did he corrupt his money? Do not envy a worthless heir: his wealth is not yours and you would have done no better with it. Do not think that it should have been distributed among you; loading the world with fifty parasites instead of one, would not bring back the dead virtue which was the fortune. Money is a living power that dies without its root. Money will not serve the mind that cannot match it. Is this the reason why you call it evil?
Mantessa: I feel so sorry that money is your means of survival. The verdict you pronounce upon the source of your livelihood is the verdict you pronounce upon your life. If the source is corrupt, you have damned your own existence.
Azer: Money will always remain an effect and refuse to replace you as the cause. Money is the product of virtue, but it will not give you virtue and it will not redeem your vices. Money will not give you the unearned, neither in matter nor in spirit. Is this the root of your hatred of money?
Mantessa: Are you telling me the man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it? I don’t agree with you but I can’t answer you. I don’t have any answers, my mind doesn’t work that way, but I don’t feel that you’re right, so I know that you’re wrong.
Azer: How do you know it?
Mantessa: I feel it. I don’t go by my head, but by my heart. You might be good at logic, but you’re heartless. Now you must excuse me!
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
You Are Beautiful
Wrote this song not so long ago for a friend who just broke up with his girl. What motivated me was his YM status saying "I saw your face in a crowded place and I don't really know what to do". Told him what a creative status there but he replied as it was from a song by James Blunt.
He then requested me for a song based on that line so here it is:
www.geocities.com/ena_lovena/youarebeautiful.html
Picture above is "Charlie's Angels" Farrah Fawcett, Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith - 1976 ABC. Jaclyn Smith is responsibled for my puberty :-)
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