Just read an unbelievable news, about giant spaceships are gonna attack earth in 2012.
http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Asia/Story/A1Story20101227-254977.html
Let me guess, it'll be 12/12/2012, as according to the Mayan calender. Is that right? Based on the Mayan calender, it's not an indication of doomsday, but merely the end of the cycle of it's calender, just like our yearly calender. Also, how does the scientists know that the object detected are spaceships, and not some large meteorites or supernova's fragment trajectories? After all, an optical visual is only possible from Earth if it's at least close to Mars (and it's currently beyond Plato). Finally, how is one to know the intent of the extraterrestrial (assuming they do exist)?
Putting aside the facts. Assuming it will happen. Assuming it's not aliens, but large size meteorite striking earth. Scientifically speaking, any exceedingly large meteorite striking our surface is sufficient to bring an end to earth's population. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_event)
Hmm...
Having someone special by your side before death seemed like a great idea, but i don't think everyone can afford the same luxury... I suppose I'll make do with a few carton of Royce's Nana Chocolate.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
On Investment - Forex
I was just surfing at random, suddenly thought about forex, after watching Wall Streets: Money Never Sleeps. And the thought of forex reminded me of 2 events: A recent conversation between my vocal teacher and a clubmate about learning Forex. And also, a financial course I've attended before on stock trading.
I was told before that there's no one in this world that made his/her fortune out of Forex alone, unlike entrepreneurs, stocks investors, etc. Just checked my facts on the net and it seemed true. Even the only one person who succeeded it (George Soros), only becomes bloody rich cos of just one extremely successful speculation, rather than it being a continuous process.
I actually felt that I should advise my clubmate about the risks involved (even though my understanding of Forex is only very mediocre), especially for someone who probably is new to the investment world. I actually noticed a further pattern in people who are obsessed with speculative investing: They tend to apply leverage more careless than they ought to. It's a gamble, even with sophisticated trading options like trailing stops, price targeting, etc.
The currency differences are usually either positive or negative. The fundamentals involved that influences the currencies are complex and not always a determinant. For example, how will you speculate the rise or fall of a currency when there are numerous financial news that points to both the rise and fall of the currency concurrently? For all we know, Euro dollar likely to take a hike, due to the EU decided to bail Ireland out of it's financial ravage. And it wasn't too long ago within this year that Greece needed a bailout from the EU as well. The situation could have been interpreted as:
1. This signifies potential financial problems with member countries of the EU. Euro dollar could continue to depreciate for the time being. Best to dispose existing investments against Euro dollars.
2. The EU and IMF will always bail out its members, therefore investors are always safe. Should acquire more Euro dollar while it's cheap.
At the least, it seemed to me that the EU is unlikely to allow the Euro currency be destroyed anytime soon. Curiously, Germany seemed to be against the bailout in both incident. What could this spell?
I guess stocks are somewhat safer. The fundamentals are on the company's balance sheet. Yes, the stock price does not always go along with the intrinsic value of the company, but at least a fundamentally strong firm, or one with strong competitive advantage doesn't die that easily. Besides, technical analysis could also be applied to speculate the market, when there's no particularly news on the market. The two could be combined together, so that even if risks need to be taken, it's taken reasonably. And of course, personal finance management is also a key part to risk management. Only invest what you can afford to lose. And of course, with the aid of trading tools as like I've mentioned for Forex earlier on, it further helps to monitor and enter/leave the market as quickly (unless there's a sudden price gap that exceed the target price boundary).
I was told before that there's no one in this world that made his/her fortune out of Forex alone, unlike entrepreneurs, stocks investors, etc. Just checked my facts on the net and it seemed true. Even the only one person who succeeded it (George Soros), only becomes bloody rich cos of just one extremely successful speculation, rather than it being a continuous process.
I actually felt that I should advise my clubmate about the risks involved (even though my understanding of Forex is only very mediocre), especially for someone who probably is new to the investment world. I actually noticed a further pattern in people who are obsessed with speculative investing: They tend to apply leverage more careless than they ought to. It's a gamble, even with sophisticated trading options like trailing stops, price targeting, etc.
The currency differences are usually either positive or negative. The fundamentals involved that influences the currencies are complex and not always a determinant. For example, how will you speculate the rise or fall of a currency when there are numerous financial news that points to both the rise and fall of the currency concurrently? For all we know, Euro dollar likely to take a hike, due to the EU decided to bail Ireland out of it's financial ravage. And it wasn't too long ago within this year that Greece needed a bailout from the EU as well. The situation could have been interpreted as:
1. This signifies potential financial problems with member countries of the EU. Euro dollar could continue to depreciate for the time being. Best to dispose existing investments against Euro dollars.
2. The EU and IMF will always bail out its members, therefore investors are always safe. Should acquire more Euro dollar while it's cheap.
At the least, it seemed to me that the EU is unlikely to allow the Euro currency be destroyed anytime soon. Curiously, Germany seemed to be against the bailout in both incident. What could this spell?
I guess stocks are somewhat safer. The fundamentals are on the company's balance sheet. Yes, the stock price does not always go along with the intrinsic value of the company, but at least a fundamentally strong firm, or one with strong competitive advantage doesn't die that easily. Besides, technical analysis could also be applied to speculate the market, when there's no particularly news on the market. The two could be combined together, so that even if risks need to be taken, it's taken reasonably. And of course, personal finance management is also a key part to risk management. Only invest what you can afford to lose. And of course, with the aid of trading tools as like I've mentioned for Forex earlier on, it further helps to monitor and enter/leave the market as quickly (unless there's a sudden price gap that exceed the target price boundary).
Friday, November 19, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
Altruism
I was debating with a friend on facebook earlier on. We talked about alot of things, but mostly about what we shouldn't... such as religion. We talked about morality as well. One of his view on humanity thoroughly shocked me...
In summary of what he claimed: "Altruism is simply heuristic thinking. Heuristic thinking need not be rationalised prior to event. It can also be genetic."
According to him, people perform socially desirable acts as a result to weighing ones benefits and costs. Indeed, that is true, but it doesn't applies across the board for all scenarios and people. But to claim that failure to weigh such self-serving benefits and costs is simply as a result of heuristic thinking... I've this feeling that he overapplied the concept of "heuristic thinking".
From what I've learnt in Buddhism, we were taught that the general guideline of morality, is to do what benefits yourself and others. Therefore, immorality is to harm yourself and others. How do we benefit others? We empathize, put ourselves in others' shoes, to find out how can we help others. But these are only in deeds. True cultivation of the heart is also to discipline ourselves by also not allowing ourselves to feel proud of the good deeds we've done, or desire for any rewards. This, in my opinion, is truly altruism.
In summary of what he claimed: "Altruism is simply heuristic thinking. Heuristic thinking need not be rationalised prior to event. It can also be genetic."
According to him, people perform socially desirable acts as a result to weighing ones benefits and costs. Indeed, that is true, but it doesn't applies across the board for all scenarios and people. But to claim that failure to weigh such self-serving benefits and costs is simply as a result of heuristic thinking... I've this feeling that he overapplied the concept of "heuristic thinking".
From what I've learnt in Buddhism, we were taught that the general guideline of morality, is to do what benefits yourself and others. Therefore, immorality is to harm yourself and others. How do we benefit others? We empathize, put ourselves in others' shoes, to find out how can we help others. But these are only in deeds. True cultivation of the heart is also to discipline ourselves by also not allowing ourselves to feel proud of the good deeds we've done, or desire for any rewards. This, in my opinion, is truly altruism.
诸恶莫作。众善奉行。自净其意。
Sunday, September 19, 2010
同感
最近因为认识了一些人, 发现了一些事, 便有了一些感触.
往往觉得自己唯一一个人存在在这世界。
总觉得其他人都是盲目的, 被锁在这世界, 似乎在无谓的最求名利与单纯的美色, 或是无疑问地迷惑于宗教的信念。
但在茫茫人海中, 却偶然发现, 其实也有人有和我一样的感觉, 甚至一样的无奈。
突然间觉得自己不再是一个人在挣扎, 终于在这荒野的沙漠里, 看到了真的人影。
本来应该感到高兴, 但觉得更加无奈。
要如何开口呢? "你好! 我也和你一样, 感到无奈。"? 或许只能以无名的身份, 在他/她的blog上留些鼓励。。。 或许这是他们永远都不知道的事，我也不甘心。。。但这世界还有几个人能和他躺开胸怀？
成长的岁月，包括了那么多的猜疑与背叛。。。 有时真希望大家从来就不需要长大。。。 明明大家的心情都是一样的，偏偏隔了那么多门与锁头，这是何苦？大家要向前看。。。 前面真的每次都那么好看吗？
往往觉得自己唯一一个人存在在这世界。
总觉得其他人都是盲目的, 被锁在这世界, 似乎在无谓的最求名利与单纯的美色, 或是无疑问地迷惑于宗教的信念。
但在茫茫人海中, 却偶然发现, 其实也有人有和我一样的感觉, 甚至一样的无奈。
突然间觉得自己不再是一个人在挣扎, 终于在这荒野的沙漠里, 看到了真的人影。
本来应该感到高兴, 但觉得更加无奈。
要如何开口呢? "你好! 我也和你一样, 感到无奈。"? 或许只能以无名的身份, 在他/她的blog上留些鼓励。。。 或许这是他们永远都不知道的事，我也不甘心。。。但这世界还有几个人能和他躺开胸怀？
成长的岁月，包括了那么多的猜疑与背叛。。。 有时真希望大家从来就不需要长大。。。 明明大家的心情都是一样的，偏偏隔了那么多门与锁头，这是何苦？大家要向前看。。。 前面真的每次都那么好看吗？
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Musical Euphoria
For a long while, my life has been having like crazy currents running under seemingly still water. I always have an interest for music in general, but it was about a year ago that the interest leads me into something deeper: Singing. It's a mean to vent my frustrations. Even so, it seemed that it's beginning to lose it's effect... until I just reached another level.
Recently fell in love with a song by Jay Zhou's 说了再见. Been hunting around for any traces of music that resonates with what's going on inside me, but for most of the time, it's hard to find an exact match. Earlier on, I managed to find the piano solo version of that song on youtube. That's when I realised what I've forgotten all these while. In a song, there are the lyrics, the melody and the vocal/s. The former tells the story of the song. The latter expresses/interprets the story of the song by using vocal techniques to enhance the story-telling process. If we take out the former and the latter, it leaves us with the melody, for us to plug our own meaning... and even lyrics into the song, to make it "our song". Back to the example I've given, 说了再见 is a song interpreted by Jay Zhou. It's his story, his song. But after listening to quite sometime, I get this feeling that I would like to have my own version of the story too, even though the story might not be completely relevant to the original lyrics or interpreted in the same way as the original artis/producer wants it to be.
Quote another example. Canon in D by Pachelbel. It was commonly used as a wedding theme. But in an old advertisement by Pantene, the very same music was used as the underlying theme... to tell the story of a young deaf gal who went through to much hardships and faced discrimination to participate and win a classic recital competition. The music was thus interpreted as akin to narrating the butterfly slowly breaking free from it's cocoon, away from its previously unassuming form.
Guess I'll be loading my ipod with the instrumental pieces soon enough.
Recently fell in love with a song by Jay Zhou's 说了再见. Been hunting around for any traces of music that resonates with what's going on inside me, but for most of the time, it's hard to find an exact match. Earlier on, I managed to find the piano solo version of that song on youtube. That's when I realised what I've forgotten all these while. In a song, there are the lyrics, the melody and the vocal/s. The former tells the story of the song. The latter expresses/interprets the story of the song by using vocal techniques to enhance the story-telling process. If we take out the former and the latter, it leaves us with the melody, for us to plug our own meaning... and even lyrics into the song, to make it "our song". Back to the example I've given, 说了再见 is a song interpreted by Jay Zhou. It's his story, his song. But after listening to quite sometime, I get this feeling that I would like to have my own version of the story too, even though the story might not be completely relevant to the original lyrics or interpreted in the same way as the original artis/producer wants it to be.
Quote another example. Canon in D by Pachelbel. It was commonly used as a wedding theme. But in an old advertisement by Pantene, the very same music was used as the underlying theme... to tell the story of a young deaf gal who went through to much hardships and faced discrimination to participate and win a classic recital competition. The music was thus interpreted as akin to narrating the butterfly slowly breaking free from it's cocoon, away from its previously unassuming form.
Guess I'll be loading my ipod with the instrumental pieces soon enough.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Crappy Sentosa Management II
Such fine weather. Looks like its gonna rain again. No, I'm not being sarcastic. I really love rainy days. It's cooling. Perfect for a good afternoon nap, or to generate inspiration for song-writing.
Anyway, it's back again with more updates on craps from work.
What's the rationale for a customer to tip a service staff? It is a compliment and reward for their good service. It is as far as it is like sales commission which should go directly to the sales personnel who sealed the deal. But strangely, things doesn't work that way over at my end. I'm not exactly sure if that's how it goes in other parts of FnB outlets in Singapore too. At least over at my side, part-timers are not entitled to tips even if given to them by the customers. To make the matter worse, the upper management passed down the instruction that only full-timers are entitled to it. Furthermore, it seems like the management had an idea that they only wanted the full-timers to act in supervisory position, rather than actually assisting in the real groundwork.
Consequences? Firstly, it drives a wedge between the regulars and part-timers. Part-timers ain't happy that the upper management expects so much from the part-timers, doing the manual job, serving the guests personally, only to be rewarded with criticism, distrust, and unfairness due to the tips issue. It increases likelihood of delinquency in part-timers, which in turn might result in substandard service and non-cooperation with the full-timers. The backlash of this can result in customers' complaints and increasing distrust by the full-timers on the part-timers. I've worked at yet another part of Sentosa where the manager and supervisor personally get their hands dirty to help the servicing staffs. Those are whom I actually held respect for. The manager of the casino himself actually passed down some magic words... Humble, Trust, Respect. In the latter case, I really saw a humble attitude in the management. If things are important or difficult, at least help out, rather that lashing out harsh words and crossing arms, watching things happening at one end of the floor, especially when there's shortage of manpower. They really earned my respect. There's hardly much trust in the case of the former...
"Cover backside". To cover yourself from responsibility. Well... If you had to work independently, I guess it's important to limit your responsibility. But if the work involved requires teamwork, the members needs to be team players, and the management requires more delicate hands to manage the members... and definitely not one with priority to lookout for someone to be blamed. A corrective action is necessary, but not necessarily one that is always disciplinary in nature. Sometimes, procedures can be changed to allow staffs to function more effectively. At other times, some things are best not to micromanage, to provide for some level of sensibility and flexibility as the situation requires.
On a sidenote, I've noticed an interesting example while at work. They seemed to have manager (or management executive) who would ask guests for feedback after they finished gaming. In western culture where gambling tends to be more of a hobby to kill a little time after dinner, winning and losing seemed to have much lesser impact on their mood... or at least most of the average people. But for the Asian counterparts... Gambling is pervasive. Many are likely to spend hours, if not days in a casino, gambling their life away. And most of the time, guests aren't happy to have lost alot. The manager... approached a lady who left a gambling table, looking displeased. When the manager asked for feedback, she replied that she's not happy she lost alot. The manager in turned tried to console her and said he's sorry for her lost... I'm exactly sure how sorry he is, but I'm pretty sure he asked the guest at the worst timing possible... if not being insensitive. He's trying to do his job, but he wouldn't be able to get his job done properly for his responsibility. 事倍功半。
Conclusion: Life is never fair.
After all, it seemed like there are plenty of people out there who just got nowhere to throw their money, easily gambling away over 1 year of our salary in a single stake. Doesn't that make sense how the GDP still increases per year and yet there's so much people who just don't earn enough?
Anyway, it's back again with more updates on craps from work.
What's the rationale for a customer to tip a service staff? It is a compliment and reward for their good service. It is as far as it is like sales commission which should go directly to the sales personnel who sealed the deal. But strangely, things doesn't work that way over at my end. I'm not exactly sure if that's how it goes in other parts of FnB outlets in Singapore too. At least over at my side, part-timers are not entitled to tips even if given to them by the customers. To make the matter worse, the upper management passed down the instruction that only full-timers are entitled to it. Furthermore, it seems like the management had an idea that they only wanted the full-timers to act in supervisory position, rather than actually assisting in the real groundwork.
Consequences? Firstly, it drives a wedge between the regulars and part-timers. Part-timers ain't happy that the upper management expects so much from the part-timers, doing the manual job, serving the guests personally, only to be rewarded with criticism, distrust, and unfairness due to the tips issue. It increases likelihood of delinquency in part-timers, which in turn might result in substandard service and non-cooperation with the full-timers. The backlash of this can result in customers' complaints and increasing distrust by the full-timers on the part-timers. I've worked at yet another part of Sentosa where the manager and supervisor personally get their hands dirty to help the servicing staffs. Those are whom I actually held respect for. The manager of the casino himself actually passed down some magic words... Humble, Trust, Respect. In the latter case, I really saw a humble attitude in the management. If things are important or difficult, at least help out, rather that lashing out harsh words and crossing arms, watching things happening at one end of the floor, especially when there's shortage of manpower. They really earned my respect. There's hardly much trust in the case of the former...
"Cover backside". To cover yourself from responsibility. Well... If you had to work independently, I guess it's important to limit your responsibility. But if the work involved requires teamwork, the members needs to be team players, and the management requires more delicate hands to manage the members... and definitely not one with priority to lookout for someone to be blamed. A corrective action is necessary, but not necessarily one that is always disciplinary in nature. Sometimes, procedures can be changed to allow staffs to function more effectively. At other times, some things are best not to micromanage, to provide for some level of sensibility and flexibility as the situation requires.
On a sidenote, I've noticed an interesting example while at work. They seemed to have manager (or management executive) who would ask guests for feedback after they finished gaming. In western culture where gambling tends to be more of a hobby to kill a little time after dinner, winning and losing seemed to have much lesser impact on their mood... or at least most of the average people. But for the Asian counterparts... Gambling is pervasive. Many are likely to spend hours, if not days in a casino, gambling their life away. And most of the time, guests aren't happy to have lost alot. The manager... approached a lady who left a gambling table, looking displeased. When the manager asked for feedback, she replied that she's not happy she lost alot. The manager in turned tried to console her and said he's sorry for her lost... I'm exactly sure how sorry he is, but I'm pretty sure he asked the guest at the worst timing possible... if not being insensitive. He's trying to do his job, but he wouldn't be able to get his job done properly for his responsibility. 事倍功半。
Conclusion: Life is never fair.
After all, it seemed like there are plenty of people out there who just got nowhere to throw their money, easily gambling away over 1 year of our salary in a single stake. Doesn't that make sense how the GDP still increases per year and yet there's so much people who just don't earn enough?
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