Friday, April 28, 2006

Séjour in Amsterdam 2

Just a few more photos from Amsterdam. The bridge you see behind is called the Erasmus bridge, after a famous guy called
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus. (don't know him also...zzz). The building you see with an "U" is an office of Unilever, a famous Dutch company. The flowers and all were taken in Keukenhof.











-gAvIn-


Séjour in Amsterdam

From 18 to 21 April, I visited Amsterdam along with Eijas, Amir, Syafiq and Zarf. We took a flight from Bâle using SwissAir which costed us like 63€? Quite cheap. Anyway we stayed in Tourist Inn Budget Hotal and traveled to the fabled red light district on the same day. It wasn't really on purpose since we wanted to take a stroll but what strikes me is that the red light district is actually nearer to the main train station compared to the other attractions in Amsterdam. Well, whats in there? Prostitutes of all kind can be found displayed in front a display window trying to attract their client. With fees ranging from 30€, 50€ to 70€...you can do what you want to do la...(ask adrian how he knew the price :) )

The next day, we took a cruise along the many canals of amsterdam. We were told that in the ancien times, the canals were divided into uses for tradding, transportation and military purposes. In the afternoon, we spend 4 hours in Keukenhof, the world's largest flower garden. It is situated in Lisse, which is around an hour's drive from Amsterdam. We saw lots and lots of tulips and we didn't realize how lucky we were because mid-april is the best time to see those blooming tulips. Believe me, they were awesome...

Rotterdam , located in the province of South Holland, is the second largest municipality in the Netherlands (after Amsterdam). The city has the largest port in Europe and was until recently the largest port on earth; it is found on the banks of the river the Nieuwe Maas, one of the streams in the delta formed by the Rhine and Meuse rivers. The name "Rotterdam" is derived from a dam in a small river, the Rotte, which joins the Nieuwe Maas at the heart of the city. Generally, it is more of a commercial-financial city than a cultural one. There are high rise offices and sprawling malls everywhere. They have some nice bridges too...we wanted to visite the port but we guess its abit far and we prefered to cover the city first.

In Keukenhof...















In the cruise along the canals of Amsterdam















In keukenholf















In the cruise along the canals of Amsterdam















-gAvIn-

Thursday, April 27, 2006

exam time!!!

got this from a friend... just thought u guys might like to take this test... tell us ur scores if u like...

www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/2005/11/15/entrepreneur-personality-quiz_cx_bn_1116quiz.html


-aDRiANo-
Chernobyl
since yesterday marked the sad twentieth anniversary of the tragic Chernobyl accident, i find it prudent to blog a little on the matter (as i am no expert)...
so Chernobyl... what exactly happened? all of us know for sure that the Chernobyl disaster worst nuclear accident that has ever happened in the history of mankind... until today, and for the hundreds of years to come, a 30 km radius surrounding the accident site has been set up as forbidden territory... that is the magnitude of the Chernobyl disaster!!!
so what were the causes of this tragic accident???
1) a seriously flawed design of the reactor
2) the power plant operators
3) and bad bad decision making by the higher authorities...
u c, the accident that occured at 1,23 a.m. on the 26th April 1986 was actually a result of a failed test...
" The test was to check whether, in the event of a shutdown enough electrical power to operate the emergency equipment and core cooling pumps until the diesel power supply came online
As the reactor shutdown proceeded, the reactor operated at approximately half power when the electric load dispatcher refused to allow further shutdown. As part of the test the emergency core cooling system was switched off and the reactor carried on at half power. At about 23:00hrs on 25th April the grid controller agreed to a further reduction in power.

For the test the reactor was to be stabilised at 1,000MW prior to shutdown, however, due to operational error the power fell to about 30MW where the positive void coefficient became a problem. The operators tried to raise the power by freeing all the control rods manually and at 01:00hr on 26 April the reactor stabilised at 200MW.

Shortly afterwards an increase in coolant flow and a drop in steam pressure occurred requiring the operators to withdraw nearly all the rods. The reactor then became very unstable and the operators had to make adjustments every few seconds to maintain a constant power.

At this time the operators reduced the flow of feedwater to maintain the steam pressure. Also pumps that were powered by the slowing turbine provided less and less cooling to the reactor. This created additional steam in the cooling channels (positive void coefficient) and the operators could not control a power surge estimated to 100 time the nominal power.

The sudden increase in temperature caused part of the fuel to rupture, fuel particles then reacted with the water creating a steam explosion which destroyed the reactor core. A second explosion added to the destruction two minutes later."
i somehow find this explanation very 'friendly' as from what i know, the reduction of the power from 1000MW to below its safety level was deliberately done, and not an operational error!!! but then again, i am no expert...
-aDRiANo-

Saturday, April 22, 2006

What happens to us after living 9 months in France...

Thanks to our friend Amir for his wonderful work, visit his blog at http://chuckee.blogs.friendster.com/chuckee/...could not believe that he kept all our photos...
Well, its evident that most, if not all of us have became *cough* fatter. Actually, its not our fault, its winter and we need to keep warm. :)
Voilà some pictures of us:

This is Kamil, he looks plumb-er ...




This is me...as usual...



This is Eijas, he hasn't changed much...



This is Adrian, he looks so 70-ish (classical, ok, not out of fashion, haha) in the first picture.



This is Zarf, fatter also :)



This is Zaid, same hairstyle...lol



This is Luk...sorryla, but memang dah gemuk sikit :)



This is Syafiq, fatter also :)



This is Ali the terminater, since he is already plumb last year, he did not gain much weight...



That leaves us Amir...well, since he was the one doing the photos, you have to pester him if you want his before and after comparision.

-gAvIn-
Penny and the rising price of metals...

We all know that the metalic value of any coin must be lower than the face value of the coin itself, lest people starts melting coins for profit. In recent years, rising price of raw materials has lead to concern that it might really be profitable for people to melt their coins.

For example:

This week the cost of the metals in a penny rose above 0.8 cents, more than twice the value of last fall. Because the government spends at least another six-tenths of a cent — above and beyond the cost of the metal — to make each penny, it will lose nearly half a cent on each new one it mints.

Appearances aside, pennies no longer contain much copper. In the middle of 1982, after copper prices rose to record levels, the mint starting making pennies that consist mostly of zinc, with just a thin copper coating.

But these days, zinc is newly popular. Rising industrial demand and speculation have sent the price rocketing. Since the end of 2003, zinc prices have tripled.

(The New York Times - April 22)

I guess I'll start hoarding all those annoying 1, 2, 5 cents coins that I cannot normally use.

Just came back from Amsterdam...will blog about the trip later :)

-gAvIn-

Monday, April 17, 2006

On The Economics of National Culture-Becker

In his blog, prof Becker discussed about the factors the influenced our behavior and beliefs, such as education, rising income technology and so on...

excerpts from his post:

Ireland is an excellent example since not long ago Irish family patterns were the object of study by demographers only because they were so different. These patterns involved late ages at marriage, high birth rates, no divorce, and married women who spent their time mainly caring for children and their husbands. Enshrined in the Irish Constitution of the 1930's is the hope that married women would not work but instead they would be home taking care of their families.

All aspects of Irish family behavior changed radically during the past two decades: the typical family now has only about two children, divorce was legalized and is growing rapidly despite the Catholic Church's opposition, and the labor force participation of married women is becoming like that in other parts of Western Europe. The rapid economic growth Ireland experienced during the past couple of decades had a revolutionary impact on the incentives of parents to have many children, on attitudes about whether married women should work, and on whether married couples were obligated to remain together throughout their lives. What is fascinating about the Irish example is that these and other changes in family patterns of behavior occurred while Ireland remained a highly devout nation, with the highest rates of church attendance and other measures of religious belief in the Western world.

I like this reply by one of his readers:

What is the history of taxation in Ireland? Aren't taxes low right now in Ireland? People worship making dollars in Ireland because it is so attractive from a taxation standpoint.

People drink a lot of alcohol in Ireland. IN the past, when women can not divorce a guy for religious reasons, this fosters and accomodates guys who drink a lot. Under the old religious regime, a guy know the wife can not leave him no matter how much the guy drinks (and the concomitant problems from substance abuse).

Under the new regime, a guy knows he had better manage his drinking and not descend into a morass of abuse and unproductive behavior or else his wife will leavel him. This has to make the guys in Ireland more productive. Couple this with taxation and bam = economic growth!


-
gAvIn-

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Intel continued to lose market share...
good or bad news? it's for u to decide... intel which will be releasing its quarterly report on the 19th of April expects another drop in profits...

"Profits could be down as much as 35%, as Intel continued to lose market share to arch rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).
The technology industry’s bellwether has suffered several quarters of disappointing profit and sales. Based in Santa Clara, California, Intel is set for earnings of 22 cents a share for the first quarter, according to the average analyst estimate on Reuters Estimates. That compares with 34 cents a share a year earlier.
AMD shares have risen 85% over the past year, compared with a fall of 15% for Intel whose shares closed on Friday at $19.5, close to their 2006 low of $19.1."
so technically share prices will drop to an 'all time low'... so purchasing intel shares might (as gavin said in his earlier post) be a really good idea, especially when;
"Analysts say Intel’s prospects should brighten in the second half of the year, when its redesigned chips – optimised to use less energy and run at higher speeds – hit the microprocessor’s market. Intel Malaysia is working on the next-generation microprocessors at its Penang design centre."
so, like i said, good news, bad news, it's up to u to decide and act upon... for me, i'll be purchasing loads of intel stocks for sure... if i had the cash!!!
-aDRiANo-
P/S; we'll be leavin for a week-long partyin trip to amsterdam so we won't be able to update anytime soon...

Friday, April 14, 2006

kinda in a mourning period...
wow... its been a long while since i wrote in here and here's why... recently, two of my four goldfishes just died (both of them black moors), so have been kinda in a mourning period... didn't know that it would be quite difficult keeping goldfishes and after purchasin them only did i do some research into goldfish care and lo and behold, i made one of the biggest mistakes in goldfish keeping/rearing (i like the word keeping better)... which is to keep them in a freakin fishbowl, a fact that the idiot pet shop owner said was alright!!!
u see, unlike other fishes, goldfish need more 'space' as they produce more waste than other fishes, pushing up the ammonia level which is a huge no-no!!! i read somewhere that even the slightest ammonia level could kill fishes... and whats more, i kept four fishes in a fishbowl meant for two!!! (didn't noe it then) as for how many gallons of water per-fish is needed, different web sites provided me diferent readings... some said 10 while others reached 30 (depending on the size bien sur)... suffice to say, they need a lot!!!
also, aside from providing limited space, the fishbowl also has less surface area (compared to a tank) which means less oxygen for my little (surviving) fishies; Kiasu and Kiasi... because of this, it is encouraged to fill the bowl only half full and not all the way to the top... also, it is not safe using water right out of the tap even though u use an anti-chlorine thingy and it is advised that one uses bottled MINERAL WATER instead...
for more information on goldfish care, visit the sites below;
and of course there are loads more...
-aDRiANo-

Sunday, April 09, 2006

France Telecom Has a Nice Ring To It

A robust mobile business -- and hefty dividend -- prompt S&P to raise its opinion on the France Telecom stock to buy
Investors may wish to dial up shares of France Telecom (FTE). On Apr. 6, Standard & Poor's Equity Research Services analyst Cristina Perea upgraded her investment recommendation on the stock to 4 STARS (buy) from 3 STARS (hold).

France Telecom provides consumers, businesses, and other telecommunications operators with a wide range of services including fixed line and mobile telecommunications, data transmission, Internet, and other services. Its well known brand names include Wanadoo and Orange. The company reported more than 130.7 million customers at Sept. 30, 2005 (after giving effect to acquisitions), in 220 countries and territories.

One reason for the company's allure, in S&P's view: Based on its estimates, France Telecom offers investors a high dividend yield for the next three years (estimated at 6.2% in 2006 and 7.2% in 2008). Perea thinks the shares are attractive from a valuation standpoint, recently trading at a 5% discount to its market-based sum-of-the-parts (SOTP) valuation (a method of determing a company's worth by assessing each of its operating units).

INTERNET PRESSURE? Longer term, in S&P's view, the French mobile market remains among the most attractive in Western Europe, with only three network operators and a benign, price-based reseller regime. S&P's discounted cash-flow driven, sum-of-the-parts valuation yields an intrinsic value of €20.3, 10% ahead of the Apr. 5 market closing price.

The main risks to S&P's investment thesis come from stepped up M&A activity by the company and from an unforeseen strong impact of voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), as consumer adoption of Internet-based telephony may accelerate in coming years.


from BusinessWeek April 7

with 6.2% of divident this year...i won't be selling my shares for a while :)

-gAvIn-
Of Trading, Options and Investing 3

I bought 35 shares of France Telecom (FTE) at 18.50€ for 665.28€. Not much but thats what I can afford as a student. :D And as of today, they are still down due to the fact that the gain from its mobile (Orange) and broadband (Wanadoo) division did not offset loss of fixed phone line subscribers. I however have faith that in the span of 2-5 years, their gains from their operations in emerging market will lift the stock price. (hopefully la ;) ) If I have like 5000€, I would happily put them in Intel (INTC) or Microsoft (MSFT) which are trading currently in deep discount with regard to their usual price.
-gAvIn-
what are mutual funds?

well, the last we left off, we were talking about stocks/shares/equites... so now, lets take a quick look at mutual funds instead...

so what are mutual funds? basically, when u buy a mutual fund, u are actually pooling ur money together (with millions of others in that company offering the mutual fund option) to have the capacity to buy a broader range of stocks/shares/equities, something u might not be able to do with ur capital in itself... the money that is pooled together is then managed by a fund manager who will then decide in which companies he wants to invest in... and because u are buying a broader range of stocks/shares/equities, the risk level of going 'kaput' (die/mati/sei) is lowered, and as such, so are the chances of gain...

there are certain mutual funds which allows u to make an initial payment and follow suit with monthly payments... though this might be a good idea for those with minimal capital, there are its downsides... for example, if ur mutual fund is doing well (which u want of course) that means the stock prices of the companies ur invested in is goin up... and as such, with ur fixed monthly payments, ur actually paying more money for one particular stock than u would have the month before... in other terms, ur paying equal the amount of money in the month of March as of February for less stocks in March than u would have gotten for that same price in February...

and voila, stocks and mutual funds explained...
-aDRiANo-

what are stocks in the first place?


the last i left off, we were discussing stocks, mutual funds, bonds etc... the latter of which i will not go into detail as it does not interest me much and as such, i have acquired little if not no information at all...


so what are stocks in the first place? simply put, stocks/shares/equities are ownership of the company... when a company sells it shares or 'goes public' it is actually selling an ownership of that company... this is a way of raising money... so, if u buy stocks in a company, u can very well call urself an owner of that company...


how are shareholders paid then? well, as usual, shareholders are entitled to the company's profits, that is, whatever is left after paying the employees of the company, and the creditors (as the name suggests, creditors provide a company with credit capital, and examples are banks and suppliers)... shareholders are then paid in dividends (sometimes as is not always the case, as most of the time, only a small part of the profit are paid out in dividends and the rest is re-invested)...


usually, young companies don't pay out dividends...


so there it is... the basics of stocks/shares/equities... to go into further detail, why don't u visit http://www.morningstar.com/Cover/Workshop.html?pgid=hetablearn

-aDRiANo-
From the oscar nominated film, Joyeux Noël


I’m dreaming of home / L’hymne des fraternisés
Gary Lewis / Lori Barth

I hear the mountain birds
The sound of rivers singing
A song I’ve often heard
It flows through me now
So clear and so loud
I stand where I am
And forever I’m dreaming of home
I feel so alone, I’m dreaming of home

It’s carried in the air
The breeze of early morning
I see the land so fair
My heart opens wide
There’s sadness inside
I stand where I am
And forever I’m dreaming of home
I feel so alone, I’m dreaming of home

This is no foreign sky
I see no foreign light
But far away am I
From some peaceful land
I’m longing to stand
A hand in my hand
...forever I’m dreaming of home
I feel so alone, I’m dreaming of home

enjoy the song...

-gAvIn-


invest, invest, invest!!!


so, like gavin said, "if there is a place where u can earn lots of money and consistently, it is the stock market"... and how true a statement it is... so invest, invest, invest!!!

no matter how much i hate to agree with Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, there is a bit of truth in which he says, to be financially 'fit/stable' (or what his exact words were im no longer sure) we need to aquire assets and dis-acquire (if such a word exists) liabilities... what are assets, and what are liabilities?

simple said, assets are stuff that puts money into ur pockets and liabilities take money out... examples of assets can be stocks, mutual funds, bonds etc, whereas liabilities are like houses, cars etc which u have to pay mortgages, rentals and stuff like road tax which true enough takes money out of ur pockets... in a students life, liabilities can be in the form of pets where u have to feed it, which... takes money out of ur pockets again!!!

so then, in order to be financially fit, one needs to identify one's liabilitites, and one needs to acquire assets, in short, learn to invest... and to learn to invest u need to first know the basics of stocks, mutual funds, bonds etc... (which will be in the next post as i am too tired to type and think right now... hahaha... au revoir)
-aDRiANo-
Of Trading, Options and investing 2


After knowing how to buy a stock, I needed a target, i.e. what stock to buy? Searching around, I read an article publised by Morningstar about 5 5-stars stocks in the telecommunications sector. As usual, most of them are listed in the NYSE and the DowJones, except for one: France Telecom. My first reaction is downright hostile: People living in France knows that France Telecom had been through tough time because the fixed line/mobile telephone service and broadband service in France, hitherto protected from competition is being liberated. Competitors like neuf telecom, bouygues telecom, SFR are having a field day. Their appaling customer service does not help either.

After digging deeper, I found out that most of the problems plaguing them are represented already in their relatively cheap stock price: They are trading at around 18€ against 30€ for a 52 week high. French current finance minister Thierry Breton was formally chairman and chief executive of France Telecom, it was he who started the painful reforms and restructurings in France Telecom before being called to serve in the cabinet. His successor seems competent enough to carry on his reforms and a series of layoffs in France Telecom. France Telecom has also assets in Central and Eastern European countries like Poland and Slovakia, and which is precisely where I believe strong growth will happen in the next 5 to 10 years.

to be continued...

-gAvIn-
people visiting the Sacre Coeur, beware!!!

okok... just to verify gavin's post titled; re:Where do you see yourself in ten years time?, here is a picture of the stupid bracelet i got...


and like gavin said, thanks to my superb *blerk* negotiation skills... i ended paying only 1,30 € instead of a minimum 5€... so people visiting the Sacre Coeur, beware!!! oooh and yeah, though i managed to talk my way out of this situation, i got into another situation a little while later at the metro, which cost me...




that was for trying to sneak into the metro without paying... not that i din have tickets, just wanted to be 'smart' la u noe... in fact i had many tickets with me at the time (see pic below)... just to prove that im no cheap skate... hehehe;





and so, the moral of the story... don trust people even though they tell u they work for the church (which is what the guy said to me and dumbly i trusted him) unless he/she is wearing the priests' or sisters' robes... even so...
and please i beg u, if ever u visit Paris, dun try to cheat on the metro... hahaha... unless u want to end up paying 45€ for a 1,40€ ticket...
thats all folks...

-aDRiANo-
re:Where do you see yourself in ten years time?

Talking about ambitions and future goal, I think it will be a good thing to share with you guys a few lessons learnt by our friend Adrian recently in Paris. One day before the closing ceremony we went to the Sacre Coeur, Anvers. (The Sacre-Coeur Catholic was built at the end of the 19th century at the top of Montmarte hill in Paris. Its famous white architecture dominates the city, and offers a wonderful view. The nearby streets of Montmarte are full of artists and restaurants. paris-tourist-information.com)



At the base of Sacre Coeur, there are a group of Africans who aggressively sells their merchandise, their modus operandi: offering to loop your finger around a harmless bracelet (while telling you that you should not worry)...with some massage thingy going on and surprise, the bracelet is stuck at your hand at the end. You would have no choise but to pay them 5 euros for that. Heeding my seniors' advice, I tried my best to ignore them but this Adrian somehow accepted their offer. I give him credit for the intense negociation he made which resulted in him paying only 1.20 euro.

Moral of the story? Never agree to do something you don't like even if other people tell you that everything's ok coz at the end of the day, its you who will be responsible.


-gAvIn-
Where do you see yourself in ten years time?

I recently attended a seminar held by PETRONAS in Paris where i learnt a lot of things about myself which i would like to share with u guys...

One of the more interesting bits was a question that was directed at us (students of PETRONAS and TELEKOM MALAYSIA) that went;

Where do you see yourself in ten years time?
Are you on your way there?
If not, what should you do to get there?
What are the barriers you face in getting there?

It really got me thinking... about my ambitions... my long term goals in life... though i have thought of it before, this time they (the trainers), asked us to visualize it and draw out what we imagine ourselves to be in the future... and i think that just thinking about it is not enough, putting it in visual gave me a stronger motivation and self belief and honestly made me feel better about myself...

So readers, ask yourselves the four questions and draw out what you see yourselves as in ten years time... keep it... paste it in your room... it will be a strong motivator...
-aDRiANo-
A night out at Paris

From 19th to 26th of February, 20 of us students from all over France went to Paris for some camp...while travelling in the Paris Métro, I cannot help but admire how much we have learnt since 8 months in France. From reading the map to ordering foodstuff, I think we done that with relative ease. I can still remember the first day we all were in Paris, it was like a total confusion for us...and without Kimi and Fadhil guiding us, we would probably die :)

We visited the Champs Elysées with all its luxurious shops that we do not dare to enter. Maybe one day with a lot more money, as said by Ali, we would enjoy it better. We also visited Concorde, crossed the Seine (the river flowing through Paris), passed the Assemblée Nationale (the french parliament) and visited Opéra, where we can find the famous Café de la paix. Why is it famous? The Opéra area was once the hub of café society in Paris, and while the "hub'' is no longer, the elegance of that time remains.

We headed towards the 13ème arrondissement next, where we descended at Porte d'Ivry...or better known as Chinatown... hmm...as it was abit late, we didn't really see many things there, save some chinese restaurants and shops. We even managed to find a Malaysian/Vietnamise/Indonesion restaurant, with dishes like Kelapa Ikan Masak Merah and Sambal Udang. How I missed Malaysian food, I won't be going home this year though...its time to visit Europe...


-gAvIn-

Saturday, April 08, 2006

Rich Dad Poor Dad is total baloney!!! (final)
continuation from previous post of the same title...
Ok, it can’t be all that bad right... so here are some stuff in the book that i think are pretty important (which, once again i have to say is generally known);

1) The school system today sucks. It doesn’t prepare us enough to think, to get rich and to manage our finances.
2) Lessen your expenditure and spend on building your ‘asset column’, which means spend less and invest more... ok, i don’t know how to explain it that well, but heck you’ll get it...
3) There is a difference between asset and liability but people sometimes mix them up... an asset is something that earns money for you, whereas a liability does the exact opposite...
4) Learn more about marketing and selling... i think it’s one of the most important subjects to study...

And hmmm... well i guess thats it... sorry for drifting off many times and my writing here is a little messy at times, but come on... i’ve been off the typing for quite a while now...

Also, i admit to not conducting any prior study into this guy aside from reading this crap of a book and i understand that many others have written about this subject (which surely will be more hurtfull and definitely more factual)... so check them out...

Over and out...
-aDRiANo-
P/S; this was taken from my friendster blog dated 1 january 2005... (adriano87aakk@yahoo.com)

Friday, April 07, 2006

life is a journey of self discovery...

Life… what is life? We walk through life knowing that there is a reason for our being and yet, no matter how far we look or how deep we search, some of us may never find that true purpose, or worse some might end up uncovering more questions than they initially set out with...

And if we are going to eventually die, why are we here in the first place? Why do we spend most of our life studying and learning and the other half labouring away to the bone only to spend the final years of life as a frail old man/woman... and just when we begin to really enjoy our lives and that’s when we die!!! Sad truth...

So here it is... what i think life is... life is a journey of self discovery... we go through each day learning more about ourselves and our strengths and weaknesses... and eventually, hopefully, uncover our purpose in life... why are we here? If you can’t find a better meaning of life... i invite you to share mine;

We are here to make the world a better place to live in, to help others lead a better life... to leave a mark, a good one... a mark on a person, a society or a country... to give back what we’ve received... that should be our motto of life... (if u don’t have one already)

giving back what we receive...
energy received,
energy returned,
inspiring people everywhere...
-a quote from PETRONAS-
and this energy that PETRONAS is talking about does not only encompass the oil and gas industry that their name has become so synonymous with... it is more about the energy that is us...
-aDRiANo
(this is the post that i was talkin about when i mentioned that i posted an article entitled 'life is a journey of self discovery' under the previous blog post here entitled The Purpose Driven Life)
Rich Dad Poor Dad is total baloney!!! (part 3)
continuation from previous post of the same title...
And also, he uses what i think he thinks are wise terms like ‘Be an Indian giver’ and goes on to explain how when the first white settlers arrived in America and when they got cold, the Indians would give them a blanket and mistaking it for a gift, the settlers would be offended when the Indians asked for it back, and in turn the Indians would be offended when the white settlers would not want to return it... and then he tries to tie it up with some financial situation (i think it was how to get something for nothing) to simulate the ‘Indian giver’ and honestly, i read that part twice and i see no connection... maybe i’m stupid, but hey, isn’t reading this book suppose to make me see things clearly or make the reader feel dumb...

God!!! How did it become a best seller??? And so even Kiyosaki himself points out that he is indeed a best selling-author, not a best-writing author...
to be continued... check in tommorow for the final post on Rich Dad Poor Dad is total baloney!!!
-aDRiANo-
P/S; this was taken from my friendster blog dated 1 january 2005... (adriano87aakk@yahoo.com)

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Of Trading, Options and investing

History shows that if there is a place you can earn lots of money and consistantly, it is the stockmarket. For example, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has over the past century, generated returns of an average of 11 %. (something like that la), which means that if you invested 1000€ in 1900, you'll have 30.6 million € by 1999. Impressive? Frankly, no. What if you add 100€ to your investment every month (not that hard right?), by 1999, you will have 402million €. Of course, other factor like tax rate, inflation rate, and broker fee will come in, but at the end of the day, there will be nothing like the stock market.

Personally, I first learnt seriously about it when I was 16 years old...at that time, it only seems like a distant reality, something that I could do nothing about. Now that I am in France, now that I actually receive my monthly allowance, I can finally start investing. I started scouting for a cheap online broker and spent lots of time comparing all their rates. After 1 week of comparing, I come to realize that I don't need a seperate online broker, my account with BNP Paribas will do. The next thing that comes into consideration was what stock I should buy: I ruled out all stock outside of France because the broker fees are too high for me to earn anything. i.e. 15€ from the side of BNP Paribas and another 15€ from the foreign broker, add in some taxes here and there and it will be around 65€ to buy and sell.

to be continued...

-gAvIn-

Rich Dad Poor Dad is total baloney!!! (part 2)
continuation from previous post of the same title...

Also, if i’m not mistaken, at the begining of the book, it’s dedicated to parents to teach their children or sumthin like that, (im not gonna verify that by pickin up the book and finding the exact sentence, not only because im lazy, but more importantly its because i’ll rather shoot myself before picking up another book by this Kiyosaki guy)... anyway, it says sumthin like that and so, in a way, its like for parents to read and then teach their kids following the book if the kid him/herself is too friekin lazy to pick the book up him/herself (which is a very good choice now that i’ve read it)... and in this book, this Kiyosaki guy teaches readers how to avoid taxes by searching for legal loopholes, buy and sell stocks based on what he claims to be ‘legal’ inside information and more importantly and outrageously how he made his millions by taking advantage of others’ ignorance!!! Are those lessons to teach to your kids? For them to become rich yes, but morally it’s wrong... taking advantage of people...

Fucking sleezeball!!! I understand that it is sometimes like that in the business world... but it’s just wrong (to me, it’s up to you to decide)...
to be continued...
-aDRiANo-
P/S; this was taken from my friendster blog dated 1 january 2005... (adriano87aakk@yahoo.com)

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Bull's eye

I ran across a 2 liner by Scott Adams in Dilbert.

Dilbert: Its true, nature compensate for weakness. For example, blind people have better hearing.
Dogbert: I guess that also explains why dumb people have big mouths.

Bull's eye.

-gAvIn-
From the Economist, priceless pranks

Mr de Jong

The finest prank in history was perpetrated towards the end of the second world war, against a background of gloom and horror that made it all the more brilliant. German and allied airforces were launching bombing raids on each other's factories with ferocious regularity. The Germans hatched a plan to deceive allied intelligence by building mock wooden factories painted in industrial colours, the hope being that the enemy would waste much of its precious ordinance on them. Soon enough the British figured out what the other side was up to, and sent a lone Avro Lancaster to an industrial area near Duisburg. The plane's mission: to drop a wooden bomb on one of the fake factories.

Imagine the looks on the faces of the German army officials, staring at a harmless "bomb" made from wood, and looking up at the sky, where a crew had earlier put their lives in jeopardy for the sake of a jape. Even they must have been touched by the humour of it.

The road-digging prank

The classic version, pulled by students on numerous occasions, goes as follows. A group of mischievous types procures hard hats, pneumatic drills and other construction-related items. They then cordon off a city-centre section of street and start tearing up the tarmac. One of the group calls the city police to report that students dressed as construction workers are ripping up the road-come quickly! A little while later, he calls the state police, explaining that he and his colleagues, a group of road workers only trying to do their job, are being harassed by a bunch of pranksters dressed as policemen. Before long, the city police arrive to arrest the students, and the state police come to arrest the city police. Chaos ensues.

-gAvIn-

how the french curse
well as it says under the blog title... 'a little french culture from me to you...' and to keep to that promise, lets start off today with some really important culture... lets see how the french curse shall we...?
well, first and foremost, one of the most famous words used in the art of cursing here in France, is of course a part of our blog title;
MERDE (which as i have explained earlier, means shit)
another word used almost as reguliarly (if not more) as MERDE, is the word PUTAIN which i think means whore... it is used more or less, like how we use the word fu*k... like the other day when i was playing badminton, and the players shouted PUTAIN MERDE!!! whenever they missed or sumthin like that, u get the drift...
moving on, there are words such as CONNARD which is kinda used when u wanna call a person a fu*k*n asshole... then there is SALOPE which again means bitch/whore, and the masculin form, SALAUD...
then to finish off, we have lighter words like DEBILE, which basically means, moron or idiot... and to say, what bullshit is this?!?, one would say QU'ELLE CONNERIE?!?
and there it is... enough culture for one day?
-aDRiANo-
~i apologise for certain sensitive elements mentioned in the above post... yeah right~

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Rich Dad Poor Dad is total baloney!!!

Rich Dad Poor Dad is total baloney!!! I was stuck at the airport for like twelve hours the other day on my trip back to Basel-Moulhouse from Rome and i had the ‘pleasure’ to dig into this so called ‘best seller’ that i have heard many people talkin about.

So i read on... even against the advice of my friend Gavin who warned me that Robert Kiyosaki is full of crap... and so on i read with the illusion set deep down in my unrealistic mind that after finishing this book i will become a financial genius... and so through the first few chapters i ploughed on only to find that after about the fifth chapter, this guy was crapping the whole time. I mean, there is some truth to what he says, but most of these stuff are information that are generally known... like the school system today sucks and doesn’t prepare students to face the real world... i mean, who doesn’t know that?

Ok ok... and what about repetition? I understand the power of repetition, i mean it’s important to drive in a point and keep reminding the reader of an essentiel point and thus, ‘repetition’... but imagine reading a recurring sentence like ‘most parents will tell their kids to “study hard, and get good grades and you will find a high paying job with great benefits”(which is stupid of course)’ for more than ten times and you’ll understand how i felt reading this crap, when he does that for other stuff too, not just this particular sentence... ok ok, maybe not ten times but you get it right. And thats how this book managed to reach its 255 pages, by repeating insignificant bullshit...
to be continued...
-aDRiANo-
P/S; this was taken from my friendster blog dated 1 january 2005... (adriano87aakk@yahoo.com)
DAY 1

IT ALL STARTS WITH GOD...

It's not about you.

The purpose of life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness... it's far greater than you family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions... If u want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must first begin with God... You were born by his purpose and for hiw purpose...
There it is... day 1... i personally like the first sentence, the intro... "it's not about you"... can u imagine how i felt when i first read it? i bought this book to tell me, what my purpose in life is and it starts off saying it ain't about me... very inspiring... enouraging... (i'm tryin to be a little sarcastic here if u din notice...)
-aDRiANo-

Sunday, April 02, 2006

the Purpose Driven Life

well lately, in another blog, i posted an article entitled 'life is a journey of self discovery' and went on to explain how most of us keep on searching but end up never finding our purpose in life... a friend of mine who read that article replied in a comment advising me to get a book called the Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren; the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California...

being the lazy bum that i am, i bought the simplified version (i think, the small one, the pocket version)...

well, this book actually is more like a reference, a guide to a 40-day spiritual journey that will enable you to discover the answer to life's most important question: What on earth am i here for?

little did i know that this book is closely tied to the bible... and i am not tryin to preach or spread christianity here... heck, i myself am no christian!!! but i guess it would be pretty useful to share with you the contents of this book as it might help some of you find your way in life... this book is written and preplaned in a way that it takes you exactly fourty days to read it, one chapter a day so you will have time to think about the implications for your life...

why fourty days? answer; the Bible is clear that God considers 40 days a spiritually significant time period;

*Noah's life was transformed by 40 days of rain
*Moses was transformed by 40 days on Mount Sinai
*David was transformed by Goliath's 40-day challenge
and so on and so forth... if i continue quoting the entire book here, i might be sued for plagiarism... so i'll stop right here... and so we'll start our journey together... of course like i said, i can't quote the entire book, so i'll post some of it's contents for u to get a gist of what the book is all about...
-aDRiANo-

Saturday, April 01, 2006

merde it is...

well i guess u guys will be scratchin ur heads thinkin what merde actually is... don worry, thats what i am here for... to explain, to guide and more than anythin else, to talk crap... a whole load of crap...

but lets stick to the basics for now alright...

merde in french literally means shit... so does the word caca, which little french children use instead of the former, more 'elegant' form... the french use the term merde basically to curse as we might with the word shit!!! and so they go; ah merde!!!, as we might with oh shit!!!...

but i guess some of u guys might already be familiar with this word; merde, as it is the title of such good books (published quite recently... not that recently though...) comme, A Year in the Merde (2004) and Merde Actually (2005)... the latter being the 'sequel' of the former... duhhh... (a synopsis of the two books will be provided in later posts)...

so there it is... but before i leave, a little food-for-thought; if caca (which is pronounced kaka) means shit, what do u think the french think of, of the brazillian boy wonder footballer KAKA??? and more importantly, what do u think KAKA thinks of after knowing that he's been spotting the word, closely signifying shit (at least in pronunciation) above his number 8 for brazil...?
-aDRiANo-