“If I have a million dollars, I will …” is a sentence that everybody can complete. However, only 10% of the population’s can actually achieve it and less than a handful goes beyond the millions.

I still remember exactly 6 years ago, one of my respective teachers talked about his dream of getting a million dollars. He was about 40 years old and he said, “If I have a million dollars now, I will retire, put the million into my bank’s savings account and siphon the yearly interest until I die”. He said the interest from the million is more than enough for him to live a simple life.

What he said made perfect sense to me while I was still a kid and it probably makes sense to some of you in the present too.

Nevertheless, if my teacher were to get his one million dollars 6 years ago, the million would worth significantly less (even with the interest) than 1 million due to inflation. Not to mention he still has government tax to pay, monthly expenditures, holiday trips, children’s education and random doodads to spend on.

The value of the million will decline over the years  and I’m not entirely convinced that he could buy his own coffin with the million he owned.

Look, I’m not here to mock my teacher’s financial knowledge and I’m definitely not here to teach you how to spend your million dollars. I wrote this article to raise the awareness of the constant decrease in buying power with our currency.

You may have noticed that price of goods have been increasing steadily over the years and packaging of goods have shrank while the price remains unchanged. Our salary on the other hand had not moved a bit. All these are signs of our currency declining in value.

So why would the currency decline in value?

It would take pages to explain why, but to keep this article simple and easy to understand, it is because the governments are printing money out of thin air. That is how our million shrank in value if it is kept static in the bank.

But banks offer high interest rates!

Well that’s spot on! But you’re not told the next few points. Your savings account’s interest rates are never higher than the inflation rate and that the interest on your capital is also taxed like a normal employee.

You see, bad advice comes almost from every corner of our society, even from your education institute. Here is another, “You won’t lose a penny if you save your money in the bank”. Of course you wouldn’t lose a penny, the 1 million you saved in the bank 6 years ago will always remain 1 million (or more), and it is the behind-the-scene stuff like inflation that is seeping the value of the 1 million away.

However, with proper education and planning, you can turn a million dollars into a few millions or even billions if you’re that lucky.

So, if I have a million dollars, I will definitely not save it in the bank. This does not mean that I should go on a spending spree too.

With the growing trend of internet socializing, it is no doubt that Facebook is one of the “must-haves” for people of all ages to keep in touch with friends and families who are miles apart. However, as futile applications start to blossom within Facebook, paired with some of the attention seeking nature of human being, socializing in Facebook has become not as fun as before.

1. When you add people you don’t know, introduce yourself

Have you sometimes got some unknown people you have not seen before in your entire life replying to your threads? And sometimes, that person just wouldn’t leave you alone? Isn’t it irritating?

So, when you add somebody you think they have not met you before, introduce yourself and let them know you want to be friends.

2. Don’t message people in Facebook, get IM contact and do it there.

Even though Facebook is meant to be a socializing platform, but chatting in Facebook is really a pain in the ass. Get the person’s Instant Messenger and do your talking there!

3. Do less quiz, because nobody gives a shit

Honestly, all these quiz in Facebook, they are all b.s. and are regarded as spam to me sometimes. You want to know how many partners would you sleep with and which sex position would you use? By all means, do it quiz but don’t publish it, because nobody gives a damn.

4. 10101 does not predict your future

Wow, you are 100% lucky today. Well prove it, go out, stand in the middle of the freeway for 30 minutes and come back alive. Machines do not predict our future.

5. Stop sending the same app/game/group/event invites

Ok you have just sent like 20 game invitations to 20 of your friends today. Don’t do the same thing tomorrow, chances is that we will click the magic link “Ignore all”, because Facebook won’t tell you we ignored you.

6. Virus affected friends

They just contaminate the news feed with unnecessary information and links.

7. Quit Whining on Your Status Update

I am totally fine with people seeking attentions and shouting out of joy in Facebook, I would even join in and share their happiness as well. What annoys me most are status updates like…

“Im sick of you”
“My life sucks”
“Bad mood today”

Or anything of those sort. Seriously, that is not really a wise thing to do if you ask me. It is not effective and the 500 friends in your Facebook list couldn’t care less what happen to you. In fact, for every 10 people you tell about your problems, 7 will be happy that you have a problem, 2 will listen half heartedly and only 1 would listen.

A better choice will be to find that 1 person that would listen and whine to that particular person.

8. Quit begging people to buy you in Friends for Sale

Another irritating status updates are those who are begging people to buy them in the application called “Friends for Sale”. If people want to buy you (as if they would) they will buy you without having you to beg them like a dog.

9. Don’t emo in your Facebook

Even though this is sort of like what I explained at 7, but I purposely have this part separated because I once had a friend who literally took a picture of his emo self and posted it all over Facebook. I don’t see why anybody should remain in an emo state for such a long time.

The lack of attention maybe…

Fortunately, Facebook has created a function called “Hide”, where we can hide any applications and they will never appear again in your news feed.

Nonetheless, there is this application that utilizes your photo and that is…

10. Stop playing applications like “FanCheck”

The last and the least favourite things, the FanCheck application. Whenever a picture is posted in your profile by FanCheck and 20 of your friends has been tagged, a human kid died. Whenever somebody commented on the application, a kitten died. Whenever that thread of comment is replied, the Earth becomes hotter by a certain degree. So, for the sake of all the things God had created for us, stop playing FanCheck!

Any articles categorized/tagged in “Indifferent Thoughts” are the author’s perspective on the world. Statements are neither wrong nor right. It is up to us individuals to decide whether to believe or to turn a blind eye on the matter. However, discussions are always welcomed.

I have been with ServerFreak for a year now and had recently just upgraded my web hosting package. I will do my utmost best to review ServerFreak  in a very detailed manner based on my experience so that those who are still struggling to find a “proper” web host can profit from this article.

Uptime and Reliability

One of the most sought after element of a good web host. ServerFreak certainly had this under control, as I have yet to experience any downtime since the first day I used their hosting service.

I did not rate 10 because I feel that I have not stayed with ServerFreak long enough to rate it 10.

Technical Support

There is only one word I would use to describe ServerFreak’s technical support service, it is “faultless”. For every ticket you have sent, there is always a reply and most of the time it is settled in a day. No time is wasted.

When I first registered with ServerFreak, this website is hosted in Malaysia. Well, most Malaysians would agree that foreign traffic into Malaysia is extremely slow. I was living in Australia and I was suffering from the slow internet connection.

I emailed ServerFreak instead of sending a ticket. To my surprise, I was provided with Sam’s MSN 30 minutes later. Then I asked Sam for advice regarding my situation and in less than an hour, my problem was settled and my web host had been transferred to a server located in the US.

Customer Service

The technical side of the company is superb, but not everybody can escape from being imperfect, of course ServerFreak is not excluded as well.

Problem with the customer service is that sometimes I am asked to send a ticket when I am desperately need things done. I completely understand that sending a ticket allows the support team to pin point which user actually requires help and securities issues.

But it is still “not so alright” to ask the customer to send a ticket when all they think is getting things sorted out through instant messenger. Instead, I would propose ServerFreak to revise a system that relate the instant messenger users with their customer database.

Other than that, the customer service is awesome.

Package Prices

With so many competitors out there, I am very sure that ServerFreak does not have a competitive price (low, cost effective) to compete.

However, I can’t agree more with ServerFreak’s motto “You get what you pay for”. It is obvious that ServerFreak do not oversell and by paying more you get extraordinary support.

These invaluable element will compensate for the less attractive price.

Flexibility

Another thing I love about ServerFreak is how flexible they are.

I just changed my shared hosting plan a month ago and before I change, I talked with them regarding the extra space I would not use. I proposed to convert all the excess space into bandwidth at a certain ratio.

Immediately, they agreed and offered a conversion ratio of 50MB space /1GB bandwidth. Sounds like a reasonable offer to me. I took it and is extremely satisfied by the change.

To end this article, I think it is fair to say that ServerFreak is a fantastic web hosting service but they still have a few places to improve. Highly recommended.

Once again, a drastic move by Najib, Malaysia’s Prime Minister, he successfully placed a Malaysian team in Formula 1, the most expensive sport in the world. The team is named 1Malaysia and I have a feeling that they are up to no good.

What is 1Malaysia?

1Malaysia is actually a government made concept to unite Malaysians of different ethnicities and religions to achieve a better future. But from my little research on the 1Malaysia website, it seems that 1Malaysia is actually a marketing tool to market Malaysia and Najib himself. There is little about uniting Malaysians in that website.

Is 1Malaysia F1 Team Necessary?

No, I don’t think it is necessary. As you can see, Malaysia’s enrollment in Formula 1 is not merely for the sport, other aims such as the marketing of Proton, Naza and Air Asia is also included as well. These few aims have less than nothing to do with the actual concept of 1Malaysia.

The following is the reason why I feel that 1Malaysia F1 team is not needed.

Failed Marketing Strategy for Proton and Naza

I searched on the internet and found the famous and honest condemnation of Jeremy Clarkson on Malaysian cars…

What I don’t like about these Malaysian cars is you get a sense they were designed not by one man who wanted to make a great car, but by a corporation who simply like to make money – Jeremy Clarkson

To curb the marketability of Proton and Naza after such statement (for a sane person) would be to improve the value of every cent spent on their cars. However, as history repeats itself, Malaysian Government spent more money on marketing piles of rubbish.

Jeremy Clarkson’s influence to the motor industry is superior. If Najib thinks that throwing a Malaysian team into Formula 1 would help Proton and Naza increase their sales despite Jeremy’s statement, I reckon he should do more research before deciding on a wrong decision … again.

At the present, selling Proton and Naza cars around the world is like trading sand with gold.

The Government’s Hoax

We all know these governments’ ploy. For every cent spent, there’s a dollar passed under the table. Nuff said.

Malaysia is not ready for a Formula 1 team

Malaysia does not have the man power to run a team, even with the technology Lotus can offer. In current circumstances, I think Malaysia will end up being only financially involved in the team while all the technology is owned by some other corporation.

“The team will be using Cosworth engines with gearboxes provided by Xtrac and aerodynamics developed by FondTech.” – F1.gpupdate.net

If you look quite carefully, 1Malaysia is a F1 team running on other people’s engines, aerodynamics and gearboxes, and marketing a different car brand called Proton and Naza. It’s like selling homemade burgers at McDonalds.

The Bluffs

My view upon the establishment of a Malaysian Formula 1 team did not improve at all with these quotes I read about the team.

“This is the Malaysian team. The car was designed at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC), manufactured at the SIC, tested at the SIC and the car is Malaysian-made. Even the pit-stop team consists of Malaysians” – Najib (The Star)

This is what Malaysia’s respected PM, Najib said. Read the next quote…

“1Malaysia F1 Team, based at the factory of RTN in Norfolk, England” – F1.gpupdate.net

Compared and see how contradicting they are. First he said the F1 car will be Malaysian-made in SIC, GPupdate’s claimed that the team is based at a factory in England.

If I’m the shareholder of the team I would not want my car to be manufactured in England then send all the way to Malaysia to be tested. Somebody must have bullcrapped here.

Lies, lies and more lies…

Asked on the budget and the total investment by the Government, Najib said: “The Malaysian government’s investment is through Proton.” – The Star

Right, so now Proton has enough money to fund an F1 team after losing market shares to Perodua? Governments are literally begging Malaysian citizens to buy Proton cars, how would they have the money to fund the team? More like tax payers’ money is poured into some political farce again.

In a Nutshell

There is no doubt that the participants in the 1Malaysia F1 team will benefit technologically and financially from the sport, Malaysia will of course benefit as a whole as well.

However this does not change the fact that Malaysia do not need to participate in Formula 1. There are better and cheaper ways to improve Proton and Naza’s marketability. Let passionate people build Proton’s car. Do that and Proton and Naza would both prosper, with or without the Formula 1 team.

Any articles categorized in “Indifferent Thoughts” are the author’s perspective on the world. Statements are neither wrong nor right. It is up to us individuals to decide whether to believe or to turn a blind eye on the matter. However, discussions are always welcomed.

Out of a dozen Inspiron 6400s I am pretty sure eleven of them suffers from wobbling screens. Of course, mine wasn’t excluded from this “disease” as well. So today I decided to fix this problem and at the same time create a different post on how to disassemble the bezel and replacing the LCD panel.

• Constant adjustment to the screen
• Opening and closing the screens in an extremely fast manner
• Aggressive/fast screen movements

We all know how irritating wobbling screen can be sometimes, especially when you know there is something lose inside but you have no idea how to fix it. Thus, this article is written to solve the wobbling screen problem.

First I must confess that my wobbling issue was not severe, therefore I can easily solve it with my method. For those who have serious wobbling cases, you can try this method but I am not sure that it will 100% help you fix your problem.

Fixing Wobbling LCD Screen

1. Remove the LCD Screen.
2. Remove the Display Bezel.
3. As the display bezel is removed, you can see four screws (2 screws every hinge)
4. If your Dell Inspiron 6400 suffers from wobbling screen, most probably screws near the hinges are lose.
5. Tighten all the four screws on the both the hinges.
   

And you are done, wobbling screen fixed. Enjoy using your Dell Inspiron 6400 without being irritated by wobbling screen.

More laptop disassembly guides at the Laptop Disassembly Archive.

Due to popular search demands on removing the display bezel and the last day of using my camera, I decided to try and disassemble the display bezel. It was a success that’s why this article can be written to cater for those who want to replace their Dell Inspiron 6400’s LCD panel.

Removing the Display Bezel

1. Remove the Battery (available here).
2. Remove the Hinge Cover (available here).
3. Remove the LCD Screen (available here).
4. Note that in every round display bumpers, there is a M2.5 x 4.2-mm screw.
5. Unstick all the display bumpers. Please take note that some display bumpers comes out in 2 pieces. So you might need to pry it out with a small screwdriver before you get to unscrew it.
   
6. Unscrew all the six screws in the display bumpers.
7. Here is the hard part, it is extremely hard to unclip all the protruding edges shown below. On each side, there are at least three edges you will need to unclip.
   You will need to apply some strength to force the edges out, so don’t be sissy with the edges.
   

Replacing the LCD Panel

1. After the bezel is removed, you can fix the wobbling screen or replace the LCD panel.
2. To change a LCD panel, simply remove eight M2 x 3-mm screws (four on each sides of the panel).
   
3. Disconnect two connectors. One with the blue tag, another one by clipping it in and pull it out.
   
4. Connect those two connectors to the new LCD panel.
5. Fix it into the display back cover.

There you go, removing the display bezel and replacing the LCD panel of a Dell Inspiron 6400. I hope it helped you guys solve some of your problems.

More laptop disassembly guides at the Laptop Disassembly Archive.

Have you ever wondered how much dust could be stuck inside your laptop? Dusts collect and grow, and can be damaging when it completely blocked your laptop’s air ventilation. Dust is laptop cooling system’s worst enemy, but how would you know how much dust has been collected and when should you clean your laptop?

What can dust do?

First, let’s talk about how heat is dissipated from laptops. An effective heat dissipation system would be a fan blowing on a lot of copper plates called “Heat Sink”. If you increase the number of copper plates, you have a better cooling system.

However, there is a pitfall if you introduce too many copper plates. If a clump of dust is bigger than the ventilation hole (the distance between copper plates), then dust will stuck and accumulate. It is just a matter of time before a sponge of dust emerges and blocks the ventilation holes.

Dusts have clogged the air vents

When that happens, air blown out from the fan can never reach the heatsink. And your laptop overheats, as the temperature reaches its maximum threshold, your computer will shut itself down to avoid damaging the electronic components.

Dust collecting around the fan would also damage the fan, resulting in an extremely loud and inefficient laptop fan.

Symptoms of a Dirty Laptop

Laptop gets very hot earlier than expected

If last year your laptop wasn’t hot at all when you are using word processing software and now you can feel the heat while doing the same thing, there could be dust accumulating inside your laptop.

No Air coming out from the heatsink

Occasionally feel for released air coming out from the heatsink (usually located at the back) of your laptop. The air could be very little, but enough for your hands to feel it.

If you can’t feel anything coming out, chances are the air ventilation is blocked.

Testing Method

A very good method to check for dust is to test your laptop with your favourite 3D game that sucks up a lot of resources from the laptop. Then compare it with the performance when your laptop was still new.

Play the game for 30 minutes, if the game lags and your laptop gets extremely hot, it is time to clean your laptop. This is how I determine when to clean my laptop

Clean your laptop once a year

A rule of thumb I often use before was to clean my laptop once a year. I’m not talking about wiping the screen and keyboards. I am talking about disassembling the laptop and cleaning it from the inside.

Would Cooler Pads Help?

This is one of the most popular questions asked by anybody before disassembling their own laptop. Since disassembling your laptop comes with a little risk, seeking an alternative way could be a solution for some people.

The answer for the question is of course yes, it helps. It’s just that the downside is if your laptop rely on cooler pads to cooldown, it has lost its portability.

So here’s a suggestion, if you are afraid of risking your laptop due to the disassemble operations, get a cooler pad. Otherwise, disassemble the laptop yourself.

I have compiled some laptop disassembling guides at the Laptop Disassembly page. I am doing my best to expand the guide, so if you live in Sydney, don’t want to buy a cooler pad and want somebody to disassemble your laptop, I can volunteer to help.

I am sure a lot of you out there have heard countless complaints on Nuffnang not paying their publishers. I myself have even seen a screenshot of 15 thousand Malaysian Ringgits still lingering in the publisher’s account not being paid. How true are those? Does Nuffnang pay their publishers?

My Experience with Nuffnang Australia

On 20th of April, a mail was sent to my inbox congratulating me of my first Nuffnang Advertising Campaign by ANZ bank. It was a six weeks campaign and it ended at 30th of May. While I was checking out, the customer service was quite helpful, it sorted out my payment issues (long story) but it took some time.

After that I had successfully cashed out the money from my Nuffnang account. The status was pending and I did not expect to be paid anytime during May. And of course, it did not happen.

On June, I gave up checking on the pending status until a week ago (26th August) where I noticed the pending status was changed to “sent”. I immediately sent a support ticket half expecting a reply from Nuffnang.

Living to Nuffnang’s reputation for being slow, I did not get any replies for a week until 31st of August. David replied this time and explained that the cheque has been sent on 20th June, I did not receive any mails though. So after 3 emails with David, he cancelled the cheque and confirmed that he had sent the money to me through bank transfer.

My Point of View on Nuffnang Australia

As you can see from my experience above, Nuffnang do pay their publishers, just extremely a bit late. Still, better late than never, at least now I am paid and my hosting and domain expenses are covered by my own website’s revenue.

Also, for Australians dealing with Nuffnang Aus, also make sure you are dealing with the correct person. I have actually sent countless messages before to a different person (not David) but most of the time, there were no results. David on the other hand produces results. Look how long does it take for David to sort out my payment, 2 days.

On top of that, the same person, David also settled my featured blogger of the month in Nuffnang Australia.

How can Nuffnang Australia Improve?

Obviously, there is a lot of room for improvement for Nuffnang Australia. Here are a few suggestions to start with.

• Constant Feedback
  Customers want constant feedback from the company, a week of ignorance (especially on payment) is a big no.
• Train Incompetent Employees
  David is a good example of a competent employee, the previous person (which I will not mention the name) needs some serious training.
• Pay Publishers on Time
  Nobody likes being paid late and publishers are like the employee of Nuffnang. The last thing a successful company wants is the inability to pay their employees at the end of the month.
• Reply Support Tickets at Least Once Twice Day
  I check my email at least 10 times a day, my webhost (serverfreak) replies my email in less than 2 hours most of the time, my friends replies my email at least once a day. I don’t see any reason why a company like Nuffnang could not check and reply support tickets at least twice a day.

Of course, Nuffnang cannot change overnight and my suggestions would not necessary help at all. But one thing is for certain, it is faster to be a globally recognized advertising company if publishers are treated well.

So … Rumours? Is Nuffnang Trustable?

So what about the complaints on the internet regarding Nuffnang not paying publishers? Like I said earlier, I am in no position to deny that statement as other people have different experiences with Nuffnang.

However, do bear in mind that there might be a possibility that I was paid because my payment was small. While payments like the 15 thousand in the first paragraph are not paid at all.

Or perhaps it is some rumours other companies made to defame Nuffnang? You make the call.

To end this article, I have mentioned earlier that this article have two aims. The second aim would be to shed light to Australian bloggers that at least Nuffnang Australia still pays their publishers even though it might take a while to do so.

I can only comment on the effectiveness of Nuffnang Australia because I have personally dealt with them. For other countries such as Malaysia, Singapore or The Phillipines, I pray good luck to all of you.

We humans spend a third of our lives idling in the world of internal darkness. Experts call that sleeping and we all know perfectly well that we are sleeping to rejuvenate our body and mind. Some people say sleeping is a waste of time, I disagree. I say a night of sleep without dreams is a waste of time.

This leaves me to only one option, which is to “watch movies” while asleep.

Sleeping Is a Waste of Time Until You Start Dreaming

The only reason that motivates me to sleep every night is the God gifted inaction called “Dreaming”. Nothing is more entertaining than experiencing various intense feelings and watching yourself in a movie while regenerating for the next day.

The Knowledge

Some hypothesis reveals that all sorts of ideas are generated through random thought mutation as we dream. We naturally disregarded some of them, but I would not be surprised if some superb ideas in this world are popped up in dreams, as parallel with the saying “The light bulb moment”.

At times, a dream could also make decisions for your life, decisions like which girl/guy should you pick. Obviously, it is the one that has been invading your dreams for the past three days! I suppose this must be the best way for girls to decide which guy is the best for themselves, since girls are always indecisive upon which guy to fall in love with.

The Experience

At the cinema, I am pretty sure you can endure 2 hours of horror movie and not even the slightest whimper could escape your mouth! However, in just 20 minutes of a frightening dream, you could wake the whole neighborhood up.

Have you experienced familiarity with new events before? It is called Déjà vu and many times, Déjà vu occurs in your dream. I do not have an explanation for this but somehow I feel on-top-of-things during a Déjà vu moment.

On top of the whole mambo jumbo, you also get to experience sexual intercourse while you sleep! It is termed as wet dream. Sex is supposed to be a tiring exercise but a dream enables you do it as you sleep!

A Dream Brightens Up Your Day

Have you ever waked up after a really sweet dream and felt like the dream had already made your day even though you just woke up? I am a big fan of this, it feels like your day had already started even before you wake up and the best thing is you will feel 100% throughout the day.

Dreams Are Addictive

Have you ever got disturbed by the shrieking alarm clock in the middle of a sweet dream at 8 AM before? Then you would stop the alarm clock and stumble back into your bed hoping that the sweet dream would return. Most of the time, it never came back but instead, you end up reaching school/office 30 minutes later.

Then the next day, you would spend the whole day sleeping, trying to recall the episode of “Love in a dream” your inner cinema played a day ago. I tried before, it didn’t work. If there is anything you can learn from this article, learn this. Don’t bother trying to continue any of your dreams, chances are you are wasting your time.

In a Nutshell

Look how boring and how many things you are losing out if you don’t dream at night. You go to bed and the next thing you know, you have 8 hours short to live in this wonderful world.

Some of you might argue that a dream lasts for only 20 minutes longest. Well I would say that 20 minutes of dream is definitely worth those 8 hours of sleep. It is quite disappointing though, that human beings can’t control the need to dream. If scientists build a machine that guarantees me sweet dreams every night, I would be the first to buy it.

However, I must confess that as addictive as dreams may be, we shouldn’t live a dream forever.

This week I will take a break from writing articles regarding indifferent thoughts because I have a friend called Adam, who had lost all his MSN contacts when his account got hacked. He lost all his six hundred contacts which consist of mainly pretty babes.

To Save Contacts

Step 1: Go to Contacts > Save instant messaging contacts

Step 2: Give it a name and save

Step3: Put the .ctt file into your backup folder

To Import Contacts

Step 1: Go to Contacts > Import instant messaging contacts

Step 2: Search for your .ctt file in your backup folder

Step 3: Press Open

Step 4: Confirm it by pressing Yes

There you go, a “How To” guide to save your Window Live Messenger (MSN) Contacts. I am using the version 2009 Window Live Messenger. If you don’t have the contact save function I think it is probably time to update your MSN.

Let’s hope nobody loses their contacts anymore.