Traversing the Abyss

A Simply Way to Make a Good First Impression - Smile

noreply@blogger.com (Bert) — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 10:20:00 +0000

Whenever you go out-of-doors, draw the chin in, carry the crown of the head high, and fill the lungs to the utmost; drink in the sunshine; greet your friends with a smile, and put soul into every handclasp. Do not fear being misunderstood and do not waste a minute thinking about your enemies. Try to fix firmly in your mind what you would like to do; and then, without veering off direction, you will move straight to the goal. Keep your mind on the great and splendid things you would like to do, and then, as the days go gliding away, you will find yourself unconsciously seizing upon the opportunities that are required for the fulfillment of your desire, just as the coral insect takes from the running tide the element it needs. Picture in your mind the able, earnest, useful person you desire to be, and the thought you hold is hourly transforming you into that particular individual... Thought is supreme. Preserve a right mental attitude - the attitude of courage, frankness, and good cheer. To think rightly is to create. All things come through desire and every sincere prayer is answered. We become like that on which our hearts are fixed. Carry your chin in and the crown of your head high. We are gods in the chrysalis.

Dating another woman

noreply@blogger.com (Bert) — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 08:58:00 +0000

和另一女人約會？結婚了廿一年後，我發現了一種別出心裁的方法，可以讓愛的火花永保新鮮。不久以前，我和另一位女士約會，其實那還是我妻子的主意，有一天她說：「我知道你很愛她。」

我很驚訝，立刻爭辯說：「但我愛的是妳呀！」「我知道，但你也愛她呀！」

我妻子要我去看的女士是我的母親。她已經寡居了十九年，然而我忙碌的工作和身為二個孩子父親的責任，令我分身乏術，以致很少有時間和她相聚。那晚，我打電話給她，邀約她第二天和我一起吃晚餐和看電影。

「怎麼了，你還好嗎？」她問道。母親是那種會認為晚上那麼晚打電話，又突然邀約她，一定不會有什麼好事的人。

「我想如果有機會和妳單獨約會，一定很有意思。」我回答。

她想了一會兒，然後說：「我非常樂意。」

那個星期五下班以後，我開車去接她時，心裡有一點緊張，因為從未嚐試過這樣的約會。當我到達她家時，我看她對這樣的約會，似乎也有一點緊張。她在門內等著，身上穿著大衣，裡面那件禮服還是最後一次慶祝結婚紀念日所穿的呢！她的頭髮還特意捲了一下，臉上的微笑像天使一般。

上了車後，她得意洋洋地說：「我告訴我的朋友，我要和我的兒子外出約會，他們都好羨慕，迫不及待要聽聽我們約會的情形。」
我們去一家雖不豪華，但十分雅致，溫暖舒適的餐廳。我母親挽住我的臂彎，好像第一夫人一般。入座以後，我必須幫她看菜單點菜，因為她的眼睛現在只有大的字才看得見。用餐一半時，我抬起頭來，看到母親正在凝視我，嘴角帶著懷舊的笑容說：「記得當你小時候，總是我為你看菜單的。」「那現在妳正好可以休息，輪到我來為妳服務了。」我回答。

一面享用晚餐，我們一面聊天，聊得很愉快，談了許多最近幾年來，各自生命中的一些事。我們聊得太久了，所以趕不上電影。當我送她回到家門口，她說「我要再和你一起外出，但下次讓我作東好嗎？」我答應了。

回家後，妻子問我：「你的晚餐約會如何？」
「非常有意思，比我想像的好多了！」~我回答。

幾天以後，母親因心臟病猝發而去世。這事發生得太突然了，讓我完全措手不及。

不久以後，我收到一封信，裡面是上次我和母親約會的那家餐館的一張收據，上面有一張字條寫著：「我已先付了賬，因為我確定自己不可能再有機會去了，但我還是付了兩人份的賬──你和你的妻子。你絕對想不到那一晚的約會對我有多大的意義，我愛你。」

從那一刻起，我深深體會，一定要及時說：「我愛你」，並且要常常撥出時間給我們所愛的人。世上沒有任何事比自然如來因緣和你的家庭更重要，多花時間和他們在一起，因為這事絕不能拖延到「以後有時間時?」。

「樹欲靜而風不止，子欲養而親不待」是人生一大憾事。

聖經不是也告訴我們嗎？「凡事都不可虧欠人，惟有愛，要常以為虧欠，因為愛人的，就完全了律法。」

Decide to be Happy

noreply@blogger.com (Bert) — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 19:03:00 +0000

Another excerpt from Raymond Charles Barker's The Power of Decision: No one is happy twenty-four hours a day. But, too many are happy too few hours a day. The happier you are, the greater the basic patterns of satisfaction are being built in your subconscious. Once you have a real satisfaction pattern, you will live more easily and certainly more prosperously. Not that you will not have problems, but the problems will not get as much of your emotional attention and thus they will be more easily solved. Your mental attention stays on the level of solutions, not on the level of problems. Worry is reduced to a minimum, and faith in the goodness of mankind is expanded. You have moved from the level of fight, pressure and argument to the level of directed attention on positives followed by intelligent right action. This is the way life was meant to be lived.

I am Consciousness

noreply@blogger.com (Bert) — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 17:19:00 +0000

An excerpt from Raymond Charles Barker's The Power of Decision:

I know hundreds of people who have proven this larger I am consciousness concept to be the turning point in their lives. It reversed their whole basis of making decisions. They ceased their worship of the past. They ceased their fear of the future. They cancelled out all fear of death. They decided to be cause to their world because they now realized that they were their world. They were no longer people experiencing life. They were Life experiencing itself. They were their own saviors and their own saints. They needed no messiahs. Knowing themselves in God, as God, they placed no lesser gods before themselves.

Not so the materialist. He needs his other gods. He needs another to show him the way, to promise him salvation. He needs a heaven and a hell to frighten him into behaving with sense. He needs to believe that Someone else is greater than he is. He needs another person's model, pattern and plan.

I am consciousness frees you from all this. It causes you to emerge into the larger consciousness wherein you are the All, and the All is what you are. You are willing to be your own heaven and your own hell. You know you are your only redeemer out of the old into the new. You seek not heaven by another man's route. You are the heaven you seek and you awaken unto it, realizing your eternal experience in it. It has never left you, but you have closed your eyes to it. Now your eyes of perception are open, and that which you never left is seen. At night when you sleep, you dream the dream. In the morning, you awaken to the bed and the bedroom you never left. The dream may have been pleasant or horrendous, but you never left the bedroom nor the bed.

One Day Reversal (Jesse Livermore)

noreply@blogger.com (Bert) — Sun, 27 May 2012 13:38:00 +0000

A One Day Reversal occurs where the high of the day is higher than the high of the previous day, but the close of the day is below the close of the previous day, and the volume of the current day is higher than the volume of the previous day (at least 50% more than average).

How Instant Wealth is Created

noreply@blogger.com (Bert) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 16:35:00 +0000

To understand how this is done, it is necessary to think in terms of two different capital markets. The first capital market is the market for physical investment. In this market, firms and individuals make real investments in plants and equipment. The second capital market is the financial market where individuals buy financial instruments (ownership rights) without directly managing real plant and equipment. Stocks, bonds, and real estate trusts are examples of the latter; factories, stamping presses, and lathes are examples of the former.

Instant wealth arises in the process of capitalization. Consider a real investment in plant and equipment of $10 million that earns $3 million per year. Suppose that the market rate of interest or the discount rate is 10 percent. With a 10 percent discount rate, a $3 million annual income flow is worth $30 million ($3 million/.10) in the financial market. If the discount rate were 5 percent, the same investment would be worth $60 million. This is true regardless of how much it cost to make the initial investment. But in the example, the initial investor has now increased his wealth instantly from the initial $10 million to $30 million when the investment was sold. The purchaser who buys the stock for $30 million, however, has an investment that only earns the market rate of interest (10 percent). If the real investment opportunity were something that could be duplicated by the initial investor, his $10 million investment might be worth even more because of the future profits that similar investment could bring.

It is this process of capitalizing above-average returns that generates rapid fortunes. Patient savings and reinvestment have little or nothing to do with such fortunes. To become very rich one must generate or select a situation where an above-average rate of return is about to be capitalized.

If real capital markets reached equilibrium quickly, large fortunes could not be made in this process of capitalization. Once a new physical investment opportunity was discovered, real investment funds would quickly flow into the area and bring the real rates of return down to the market's average rate of return. Above-average profits would not be expected to last very long, and there would be no possibility of obtaining a monopoly on future above-average physical investment opportunities. Other people would move into the area and future physical investments would only earn the market rate of return. In this case, physical investments are only worth what they cost to build and cannot cause sudden additions to wealth.

Data on real capital markets indicate little if any tendency for the real capital markets to approach equilibrium. Substantial, persistent differences in real rates of return exist. The reasons for this fundamental disequilibrium are many and varied, but most of them spring from a basic characteristic of real investment markets. Investment resources simply do not flow quickly across firms and industries thereby equalizing real rates of return.

While the process of capitalizing disequilibrium rates of return explains instantaneous wealth, there is still the problem of how these fortunes are allocated to individuals. This brings us to what is called the random walk. Since no one can predict where these opportunities for capitalizing real disequilibrium out of existence will appear, the winners are, as in any lottery, lucky rather than smart or meritocratic.

The random walk is a process that will generate a highly skewed distribution of wealth. You cannot lose more than you have, but you can make many times what you have. Because most holders of wealth eventually diversify their portfolios, great fortunes remain even if the underlying disequilibrium in the real capital market eventually disappears. It should be emphasized that there is no equalizing principle in the random walk. Those who have had good luck are no more apt than the random individual to be subject to bad luck.

What is evidence for the random walk hypothesis? First, an examination of large financial firms (such as mutual funds) indicates that none of them is able to outperform the market averages over the long term. Professional financial managers able to make large investments in obtaining market information are not able to outperform the market average or a random drawing of stocks. Second, no one has been able to design a set of decision rules (when to buy and sell) that yields a greater than average rate of return. Third, tests indicate that stock prices quickly adjust to changes in information (announcement of stock splits, dividend increases, and so forth). Fourth, there is no serial correlation among stock prices over time. The price at any moment in time or its history cannot be used to predict future prices. When put together, all of these findings form an impressive body of evidence as to the existence of the random walk.

While many of the great fortunes represent a combination of entrepreneurial and financial investments, the same random walk process probably holds. Ability is necessary, but within a group of individuals with equal entrepreneurial talents a nonnormal random lottery occurs. There is an expected rate of return for the group as a whole, but there exists a wide dispersion in individual results around this average. Entrepreneurial talent is a necessary condition for entering the lottery, but it is not a sufficient condition for making instantaneous wealth. The entrepreneurial random walk is, however, much less subject to proof than the purely financial variant. The unsuccessful entrepreneur does not remain visible for study in the same manner as the unsuccessful stockholder.

The net result is a process that generates a highly skewed distribution of wealth. Great wealth is created in relatively short periods of time. Personal savings behaviour and one's ability to postpone future gratification have little or nothing to do with the process. Once created, large fortunes maintain themselves either because the underlying disequilibrium in real returns remains or because investments are diversified and earn the market rate of return.

If you read the Fortune biographies that accompany their lists of the most wealthy, the winners will be described as brighter than bright, smarter than smart, quicker than quick. But look beyond the description to see if they were simply lucky or possess some unique abilities. Remember that the unsuccessful entrepreneur of equal ability will not be featured in Fortune. To what extent were they like many other people but in the right place at the right time? The real test of unique abilities is to ask how many have repeated their performance. How many have made a great fortune on one activity or investment and then managed to go on to earn another great fortune on another activity or investment? If the Fortune list is examined, it is impossible to identify anyone whose personal fortune was subject to two or more upward leaps. The typical pattern is for a man to make a great fortune and then settle down and earn the market rate of return on his existing portfolio.

What has been generated in this process is realized and unrealized gains. Realized capital gains are taxed at less than half of normal rates, and unrealized capital gains are not taxed at all. Those multibillionaires in the Fortune undoubtedly paid little or no taxes. Nor should one imagine that it is impossible to consume unrealized capital gains without paying taxes. Simply go to your friendly banker (if one is a multibillionaire, there are many friendly bankers), take out a loan using your appreciated stock as collateral, and buy whatever you like. The interest payments on the loan are even tax deductible. You can consume whatever you like and pay no taxes. At death, the principal can be repaid out of that same appreciated stock.

4 Pernicious Phases that Kill a Relationship

noreply@blogger.com (Bert) — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 10:17:00 +0000

The following is an excerpt from Awaken the Giant Within : How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny!Chapter 21.

In her book How to Make Love All the Time, my friend Dr. Barbara DeAngelis identifies four pernicious phases that can kill a relationship. By identifying them, we can immediately intervene and eliminate problems before they baloon into destructive patterns that threaten the relationship itself.

Stage One, Resistance: The first phase of challenges in a relationship is when you begin to feel resistance. Virtually anyone who's ever been in a relationship has had times when they felt resistance toward something their partner said or did. Resistance occurs when you take exception or feel annoyed or a bit separate from this person. Maybe at a party they tell a joke that bothers you and you wish they hadn't. The challenge, of course, is that most people don't communicate when they're feeling a sense of resistance, and as a result, this emotion continues to grow until it becomes...

Stage Two, Resentment: If resistance is not handled, it grows into resentment. Now you're not just annoyed; you're angry with your partner. You begin to separate yourself from them and erect an emotional barrier. Resentment destroys the emotion of intimacy, and this is a destructive pattern within a relationship that, if unchecked, will only gain speed. If it is not transformed or communicated, it turns into...

Stage Three, Rejection: This is the point when you have so much resentment built up that you find yourself looking for ways to make your partner wrong, to verbally or non-verbally attack them. In this phase, you begin to see everything they do as irritating or annoying. It's here that not only emotional separation occurs, but also physical separation as well. If rejection is allowed to continue, to lessen our pain, we move to...

Stage Four, Repression: When you are tired of coping with the anger that comes with rejection phase, you try to reduce your pain by creating emotional numbness. You avoid feeling any pain, but you also avoid passion and excitement. This is the most dangerous phase of a relationship because this is the point at which lovers become roommates - no one else knows the couple has any problems because they never fight, but there's no relationship left.

What's the key to preventing these "Four R's"? The answer is simple: communicate clearly up front. Make sure your rules are known and can be met. To avoid blowing things out of proportion, use Transformational Vocabulary. Talk in terms of preferences: instead of saying, "I can't stand it when you do that!" say, "I'd prefer it if you did this instead." Develop pattern interrupts to prevent the type of argument where you can't even remember what it's about anymore, only that you've got to win.

Gone Forever

noreply@blogger.com (Bert) — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 09:24:00 +0000

It was sad to abandon my personal blog and Aperture Photography blog for a few months due to busy schedule. It is even more heartbreaking to come back now just to tell about something tragic.

My car, which has served me faithfully for more than 5 years, was stolen on Thursday.

I was bewildered when I found out my car was not in the parking lot. I could remember where I parked it in the morning, and the parking lot was mostly empty at the time I came back from office. The moment I stepped into the parking lot and couldn't spot it from a distance, I had a bad hunch. A few more rounds of checking confirmed it - My car is gone.

Alone on Penang Bridge

noreply@blogger.com (Bert) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:09:00 +0000

Months after I made my solo descend from Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary, I found myself alone, again, on an endless stretch of road.

This time, I was not in the wilderness with an adjacent graveyard. I was on one of the biggest megastructure in Malaysia - Penang Bridge that spans 13 kilometers.

Penang Bridge Internation Marathon, held once per year, is the only time you will find the bridge closed for traffic.

There was no single soul in my line of sight. As I sat there on the cold rough road, I was finally at ease. No man is an island, but for that brief moment, I had a complete sense of solitude. A calm feeling that was in stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of a metropolitan life.

Unlike Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary trip where I ended up in cold sweat and goosebumps, I was happy I started the 10km walk.

Leonid Meteor Shower

noreply@blogger.com (Bert) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:31:00 +0000

More than 10 years ago during my secondary school years, I moved the couch outdoor to the porch in the middle of the night. Coupled with some blankets to keep myself warm and the mosquitoes away, I sat there and waited. Seconds passed. Then minutes. And hours. Not a single meteor appeared. Definitely no meteor shower. I was duped! (or maybe I fell asleep ;p)

That was Leonid Meteor Shower too. I can remember because, well, I'm Leo, the lion.

Today, Leonid Meteor Shower is posed for a comeback. And a grand one it is. Astronomers are predicting as many as 500 meteors per hour. Although the number is nothing compared to the ultimate Leonid Meteor Shower in 1833 with hundred thousands of meteors that literally lighted up the night sky, the number is still relatively a lot more compared to the last couple of years.

This year, the best place to observe Leonid Meteor Shower is Asia. The full Leonid peak will occur at predawn hours.

Let me see, Asia. Yes, I'm in Asia. Check.

Predawn hours. No problem, I have an alarm clock. Check.

Camera to capture the show. Check.

Camera battery fully charged. Check.

Empty memory card to record the whole sequence. Check.

Knowledge to operate the camera. Check.

Clear night sky...

Damn, it has been raining whole night. The past few nights as well. I have everything readied, except this one thing that is out of my control.

Where've you been, clear sky?

Dear Diary

noreply@blogger.com (Bert) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:27:00 +0000

I'm sorry. I know I have missed the quota last month, and it was entirely my own wrongdoing. It all started with an innocent "I will do it later", then it swiveled out of control and I was soon lazing on the couch, stargazing, wandering in parks and before I knew it, I went for walk in the country where they built wall that stretches thousand of kilometers.

I know, I know, I procrastinate again. You don't have to yell at me. It does't help..

Anyway, I checked with editor-in-chief, and he has given me the approval to make it up the missed quota last month by writing more this month. No penalty or salary cut whatsoever, he's a nice guy, that editor-in-chief.

Confronting My Greatest Fear

noreply@blogger.com (Bert) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:13:00 +0000

All of a sudden, darkness enveloped me. I looked at my surroundings, but there wasn't a faintest ray of light reflected off any surface. A moment ago, I looked back to the gate, just in time to catch the last glimpse of light faded away into the distance as I made a right turn. Beyond that point, light ceased to exist. I was shrouded in total darkness. As I stood there, in the middle of a palm oil plantation, a bizarre fear built up in me.

I didn't want to continue the descend.

This wasn't what I expected to encounter when I visited Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary. I have come to the sanctuary a day before Kathina Day to avoid the buzzing crowd, to soak myself in nature wonders and to frame the spectacular views into digital files. But at 8 p.m., after a two-hour stay in the sanctuary, I was starving and tired. I longed for a hot meal and wanted to leave Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary as fast as possible.

I walked to the rendezvous point where I could ride a jeep down. To my dismay, the jeep would only depart after another 30 minutes. I couldn't wait. And I didn't want to wait. The hike down by foot would take 20 minutes. If I quickened my pace, I could probably make it in 15 minutes. I contemplated the options I had. Was it wise to foray into the darkness alone? Could there be muggers hiding behind bushes waiting to ambush me? Or maybe there were things even more sinister out there in the wild?

I was scared, but I started the descend.

The air was still. I breathed heavily. Raising my hand while activating the illumination, I looked at my watch. It was 8.15 p.m., merely 5 minutes into the descend. I knew I wasn't that far from the gate of Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary. Should I turn back? But that would mean conceding defeat. Besides, if I pushed forward, there was just another 10-minute walk ahead. It wouldn't take long, I reassured myself.

I was still scared, yet I continued the descend.

Fortunately, the concrete pavement made easy my descend. I didn't have to worry stumbling over tree roots or rocks. Without a way to illuminate my path, I took out my cell phone and pressed the cancel button repeatedly to get the small screen lighted all the time. With that dim light, I kept a steady pace.

The night was eerily quiet. An intense fear crept up my spine as flashes of horror scenes from movies flickered through my mind. To make matter worse, a Chinese graveyard was just a stone throw away. I couldn't help it but think of the inhabitants there. My mind had played a trick on itself and I was cut out of the loop. I wasn't in control. All I could do was to chatter prayers.

Soon, steep slope became flat land and the concrete pavement ended abruptly. In front of me lied a narrow path cutting through a palm oil plantation. The fear in me did not subside. Raising my feet higher to avoid kicking rocks on the uneven earth, I broke into a small run.

I had no idea how long I ran. I only slowed down when I heard the distance sound of the roar of a car engine. The head lights came nearer and nearer until the jeep halted beside me. The driver looked expectantly at me and smiled.

"Why don't you get into the car?"

I must have looked like hell. Without uttering a word, I climbed onto the back of the jeep.

As I sat there in the jeep, I realized that my skin resembled a goosebump farm. The night wasn't hot but I was soaked wet. It was cold sweat.

I didn't wait for the jeep, but I ended in one.

The Origin of Apexture Photography

noreply@blogger.com (Bert) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:54:00 +0000

A few friends had asked me the meaning of "apexture". How did Ghee Sin and I come out with that word? Was it something random that we stumbled upon?

Fact is, there is no such English word as "apexture". We created it. Ghee Sin and I and another friend. More on that person later.

We first thought of using our own names, as that would add a personal touch to our photography blog and clients would easily associate it to us. Let me see.. [putting on my thinking cap]

Ah Beng Photography. All Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia know Ah Beng. It is a household name. Everyone will be able to connect with that name. Without doubt it will be a hit. But as usual, good things don't lay around for long. The name is taken. Claimed by a bunch of young males who dress like monkeys and cruise in town with bat cars.

Ghee Sin Photography. Sounds alright. Problem is the name bearer doesn't want his name to be in public's eyes. I suspect it is a ciphertext that leads to endless wealth and the name bearer wants to keep it to himself while he himself decrypts it.

Beng and Sin Photography. The result of combining both our names. More appropriate I would say as the website will host both our works. But when we shorten it, it becomes BS. Yes, BS. Most of us BS everyday but I don't think you want BS as your title.

Sadly, our own names didn't work. I had to blame that on our parents for not giving us better names (:

So, we had to think of something generic instead. We cooked up all kind of names. My memory eluded me here and I can't remember any of them. Needless to say, they weren't good enough.

Finally, Ghee Sin suggested "aperture". Now, that was a good one. Photo is created when light is reflected off different surfaces, and falls onto a CMOS sensor. Aperture is the opening in front of the sensor that ultimately controls the amount of light that reaches the sensor. When we talk photography, we can't neglect aperture. Apple even named their image editing software as Aperture.

You should have guessed it. Aperture Photography was taken. Ghee Sin and I had to think of something else.

While searching for new ideas, I happened to message a friend of mine in MSN. I told her the situation and ask if she could come out with some good idea. She did. She changed the "r" to "x" and tadaa, we had Apexture. Apexture carries the definition of the highest point of something. In our context that something is photography (: Thank you so much, Yin Leng.

With that, Apexture Photography is born.

New Photography Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Bert) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:02:00 +0000

I'm pleased to announce my new photography blog is officially up and running. It is a joint venture between me and my friend, Ghee Sin. With the launch of the blog, our new photography adventure has begun.

When the idea of having our own photography blog was first born, Ghee Sin and I were very excited. The feeling was like when we were kids, our parents told us they were taking us overseas for holidays. We looked forward to the day our blog would go live and thereafter become a platform for us to post our photos.

As GS wasn't too familiar with web designing and coding, I was put in charge of building the blog. Wait a minute. I am no expert in coding either! Although I had prior experience in internet marketing, all the hard coding part was done by my CEO cum technical director. My job was to oversee the aesthetic of the websites. What should I do?

Building a blog from scratch is certainly out of question because I don't have the technical knowledge to accomplish it. Besides, it is silly. There are different blogging platforms out there which are free and customizable. All I have to do is decide on one, then choose a theme that I like. Simple right? Not exactly.

I chose Atahualpa theme for its easy customization and powerful features. It was the second theme after a failed attempt on the first. In order to get the look that I desired, I had to meddle and alter a lot of codes in the first theme. And that was when I came to a deadlock. I am a coding idiot remember? I then switched to Atahualpa and after getting a few advices from my technical director and some hard work, I managed to get everything done.

The blog was built from ground up in two months. Now that it is fully operational, please help me to share the joy and love. Share it with your loved ones, bookmark it, and best of all, link to it. Let me think of something to reward those who link to the blog ;p

I hope you have a great time reading it.

Thank you so much!

手是要这样子用的

noreply@blogger.com (Bert) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:45:00 +0000

Answer for the Previous Riddle

noreply@blogger.com (Bert) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 10:00:00 +0000

WARNING: Just in case you stumble upon the answer here first, please read the previous post before continuing.

Full answer after the jump.

The answer is that there is no such thing as a missing dime in this riddle. The reader is misled by the presumptive nature of the question. There is no reason why the amount paid by the three men, $2.70, should add up to $3.00 if you add it to the 20 cents the waiter put in his pocket. That 20 cents came out of the $2.70 they paid. So the correct calculation is that the bill of $2.50 plus the 20 cents taken by the waiter should add up to the $2.70 (3 x $0.90) that the men paid. Nothing is missing.

An Old Riddle

noreply@blogger.com (Bert) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 09:56:00 +0000

Three good friends frequent their favorite restaurant and get a check that comes to a total of $2.50. Each man hands the waiter a dollar bill. On his way back with their change of 50 cents, the enterprising waiter decides that it would be needlessly difficult for the three patrons to divide up the 50 cents, so he pockets 20 cents and hands each man a dime. Now, each man paid a dollar and received back 10 cents in change. So each man really paid 90 cents. From all three, the total was $2.70. The waiter of course has 20 cents in his pocket for a total of $2.90. The riddle is that since they started with $3.00 but we have accounted only for $2.90, where is the missing dime?

I will publish the answer tomorrow at 6pm.

Rant about Amanah Saham 1Malaysia, again

noreply@blogger.com (Bert) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 08:00:00 +0000

One month ago, I published a post regarding the dividend of Amanah Saham 1Malaysia. I explained that the return of Amanah Saham 1Malaysia is not 3.7% - 4% as everyone and every single articles in all newspapers claimed. Indeed, Amanah Saham 1Malaysia is benchmarked to 5-year MGS yield which is around 3.7% to 4%. But what does that mean anyway?

The purpose of benchmarking the fund is so that PNB as the fund manager has a yardstick to measure its performance upon. Normally, a fund manager's objective is to to beat the benchmark and realize a return higher than the benchmark. 3.7% - 4% is the return for 5-year Malaysian Government Securities (MGS), it is not the return for Amanah Saham 1Malaysia.

There was another article about this silly mistake on TheStar Online. I quote:

"UOB KayHian research head Vincent Khoo said 10 billion units was a difficult target to meet given the low return for such an equity income fund.

As stated in AS 1Malaysia’s prospectus, it is noted that the fund’s returns will be benchmarked against the five-year Malaysian Government Securities (MGS). The current yield of five-year MGS is about 3.7%.

Khoo said the return was slightly higher than bank interest rates but it was not as attractive as previous Amanah Saham funds."

Again, Amanah Saham 1Malaysia's lacklustre response is attributed to the fund's low return. Fact is, this occurs because the experts and professional have been trumpeting the "low return" in all major publications. Our fellow citizens buy it and hence the low subscriptions. Nevertheless, my friend thought of another brilliant factor - our countrymen dislike the man who launched Amanah Saham 1Malaysia and thus refuse to invest in the fund. To that, I have no comment. ;)

If we have done a little more research, we would have known that Amanah Saham Malaysia (ASM) and Amanah Saham Wawasan 2020 (ASW 2020) (which consistently return an average of 6%-7%) are benchmarked to 3-month Kuala Lumpur Interbank Offered Rates (3- month KLIBOR). Guess what, KLIBOR has been hovering between 2.5% to 4% for the past few years.

Another thing that intrigued me is all these fixed-price funds by PNB (AS 1Malaysia, ASM and ASW) have up to 90% of their total portfolio invested in local equities. They are mainly equities funds. Why are they benchmarked to MGS and KLIBOR, instead of KLCI?

母親，我怎麼讓你等了那麼久?

noreply@blogger.com (Bert) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:13:00 +0000

树欲静而风不止，子欲养而亲不在。朋友们，多点回家吧。。 [转载自佳佳的部落格]

母親真的老了，變得孩子般纏人，每次打電話來，總是滿懷熱誠地問：「你什麼時候回家？」

且不說相隔一千多里路，要轉三次車，光是工作、孩子已經讓我分身無術，哪裡還抽得出時間回家。母親的耳朵不好，我解釋了半天，她仍舊熱切地問：「你什麼時候能回來？」

幾次三番，我終於沒有了耐心，在電話裏衝母親大聲嚷嚷，她終於聽明白，默默掛了電話。隔幾天，母親又問同樣的問題，只是那語調怯怯地，沒有了底氣。像個不甘心的孩子，明知問了也是白問，可就是忍不住。我心一軟，沉吟了一下。母親見我沒有煩，立刻開心起來。她欣喜地向我描述：「後院的石榴都開花了，西瓜快熟了，你回來吧。」

我為難地說：「那麼忙，怎麼能請得上假呢！」她急急地說：「你就說媽媽得了癌，只有半年的活頭了！」我立刻責怪她胡說，她呵呵地笑了。小時候，每逢颳風下雨，我不想去上學，便裝肚子疼，被母親識破，挨了一頓好罵。現在老了，她反而教著女兒說謊了，我又好氣又好笑。這樣的問答不停地重複著，我終於不忍心，告訴她下個月一定回去，母親竟高興得哽咽起來。可不知怎麼了，永遠都有忙不完的事，每件事都比回家重要，最後，到底沒能回去。電話那頭的母親，仿佛沒有力氣再說一個字，我滿懷內疚：「媽，生氣了吧？」母親這一回聽真了，她連忙說：「孩子，我沒有生你的氣，我知道你忙。」

可是沒幾天，母親的電話催得越發緊了。她說，葡萄熟了，梨熟了，快回來吃吧。我說，有什麼稀罕，這裏滿大街都是，花個十元八元就能吃個夠。母親不高興了，我又耐下性子來哄她：「不過，那些東西都是化肥和農藥餵大的，哪有你種的好呢。」母親得意地笑起來。

星期六那天，氣溫特別高，我不敢出門，開了空調在家裏呆著。孩子嚷嚷雪糕沒了，我只好下樓去超市買。在暑氣蒸騰的街頭，我忽然就看見了母親的背影。看樣子她剛下車，胳膊上挎著個籃子，背上背著沉甸甸的袋子，她彎著腰，左躲右閃著，怕別人碰了她的東西。在擁擠的人流裏，母親每走一步都很吃力。我大聲地叫她，她急急抬起滿是熱汗的臉，四處尋找，看見我走過來，竟驚喜地說不出話來。

一回到家，母親就喜滋滋地往外捧那些東西。她的手青筋暴露，十指上都纏著膠布，手背上有結了痂的血口子。母親笑著對我說：「吃呀，你快吃呀，這全是我挑出來的。」

我這沒有出過遠門的母親，只為著我的一句話，便千里迢迢地趕了來。她坐的是最便宜、沒有空調的客車，車上又熱又擠，但那些水靈靈的葡萄和梨子都完好無損。我想像不出，她一路上是如何過來的，我只知道，在這世上，凡有母親的地方就有奇蹟。

母親只住了三天，她說我太辛苦，起早貪黑地上班，還要照顧孩子，她乾著急卻幫不上忙。城裏的廚房設施，她一樣也不敢碰，生怕弄壞了。她自己悄悄去訂了票，又悄悄地一個人走。才回去一星期，母親又說想我了，不住地催我回家。我苦笑：「媽，你再耐心一些吧！」第二天，我接到姨媽的電話：「你媽媽病了，你快回來吧。」我急得眼前發黑，淚眼婆娑地奔到車站，趕上了最後一趟車。

一路上，我心裏不住地祈禱。我希望這是母親騙我的，我希望她好好的。我願意聽她的嘮叨，願意吃光她給我做的所有飯菜，願意經常抽空來看她。此時，我才知道，人活到八十歲也是需要母親的。

車子終於到了村口，母親小跑著過來，滿臉的笑。我抱住她，又想哭又想笑，嗔怪道：「你說什麼不好，說自己有病，虧你想得出！」受了責備的母親，仍然無限地歡喜，她只是想看到我。

母親樂呵呵地忙進忙出，擺了一桌子好吃的東西，等著我的誇獎。我毫不留情地批評：「紅豆粥煮糊了；水煎包子的皮太厚；滷肉味道太鹹。」母親的笑容頓時變得尷尬，她無奈地搔著頭。我心裏暗笑，我知道，一旦我說什麼東西好吃，母親非得逼我吃一大堆，走的時候還要帶上，就這樣，我被她餵得肥肥白白，怎麼都瘦不下去。而且，不貶低她，我怎麼有機會佔領灶台呢？

我給母親做飯，跟她聊天，母親長時間地凝視著我，眼裏滿是疼愛。無論我說什麼，她都虔誠地半張著嘴，側著耳朵凝神地聽，就連午睡，她也坐在床邊，笑咪咪地看著我。我說：「既然這麼疼我，為什麼不跟著我住呢？」她說住不慣城裏的高樓。沒呆幾天，我就急著要回去，母親苦苦央求我再住一天。她說，今早已託人到城裏買菜了，一會兒準能回來，她一定要好好給我做頓飯。縣城離這兒九十多里路，母親要把所有她認為好吃的東西都弄回來，讓我吃下去，她才能心安。從姨媽家回來的時候，母親精心準備的菜餚，終於端上了桌，我不禁驚詫──魚鱗沒有刮盡、雞塊上是細密的雞毛、香油金針菇裏居然有頭髮絲。無論是葷的還是素的，都讓人無法下箸。母親年輕時那麼愛乾淨，如今老了竟邋遢得這樣。母親見我挑來挑去就是不吃，她心疼地妥協了，送我去坐夜班車。

天很黑，母親挽著我的胳膊。她說，你走不慣鄉下的路。她陪我上了車，不住地囑咐東囑咐西，車子都開了，才急著下去，衣角卻被車門夾住，險些摔倒。我哽咽著，趴在車窗上大叫：「媽，媽，你小心些！」她沒聽清楚，邊追著車跑邊喊：「孩子，我沒有生你的氣，我知道你忙！」

這一回，母親仿佛滿足了，她竟沒有再催過我回家，只是不斷地對我說些開心的事：「家裏又添了隻很乖的小牛犢；明年開春，她要在院子裏種好多好多的花。」聽著聽著，我心裏一片溫暖。

到年底，我又接到姨媽的電話。她說：「你媽媽病了，快回來吧。」我哪裡相信，我們前天才通的話，母親說自己很好，叫我不要掛念。

姨媽只是不住地催我，半信半疑的我還是回去了，並且買了一大袋母親愛吃的油糕。

車到村頭的時候，我伸長脖子張望著，母親沒來接我，我心裏忽地就有了種不祥的預感。

姨媽告訴我，給我打電話的時候，母親就已經不在了，她走得很安詳。半年前，母親就被診斷出了癌症，只是她沒有告訴任何人，仍和平常一樣樂呵呵地忙裏忙外，並且把自己的後事都安排妥當了。姨媽還告訴我，母親老早就患了眼疾，看東西很費勁。

我緊緊地把那袋油糕抱在胸前，一顆心仿佛被人挖走。原來，母親知道自己剩下的日子不多了，才不住地打電話叫我回家，她想再多看我幾眼，再和我多說幾句話。原來，我挑剔著不肯下箸的飯菜，是她在視力模糊的情況下做的，我是多麼的粗心！我走的那個晚上，她一個人是如何摸索到家，她跌倒了沒有，我永遠都無從知道了。
母親，在生命最後的時光裏，還快樂地告訴我，牽牛花爬滿了舊煙囪，扁豆花開得像我小時候穿的紫衣裳。你留下所有的愛，所有的溫暖，然後安靜地離開。

我知道，你是這世上唯一不會生我氣的人，唯一肯永遠等著我的人，也就是仗著這份寵愛，我才敢讓你等了那麼久。

可是，我真的有那麼忙嗎？

An Experiment about Perception

noreply@blogger.com (Bert) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 04:13:00 +0000

I got this in my mailbox a couple of weeks ago.

Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning. A man with a violin plays six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx. 2 thousand people passed through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle-aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later:
The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes:
A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.

45 minutes:
The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin valued at $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the price of seats averaged $100.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities. The questions raised: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made... what else are we missing?

Revelation from an Oversized Feline

noreply@blogger.com (Bert) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 16:34:00 +0000

Come to think about it, sometimes we spend so much time planning we get nothing done in the end. Why? Because we spend too much energy laying out a grand plan but we don't take actions to make it a reality. There simply isn't any follow-up action.

It's not the plan that is important, it's the planning.
- Graeme Edwards

As important as it seems, planning is just the beginning. If we don't take action, we are not going to accomplish anything.

Now, who said Garfield is all fat and no substance?

Amanah Saham 1Malaysia - Dividend NOT 3.7%-4%

noreply@blogger.com (Bert) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 07:35:00 +0000

In the past few days, several middle-aged women have approached and told me that they are not going to invest in the newly launched Amanah Saham 1Malaysia because its return is only about 3.7% to 4%, much lower than the usual 6%-7% return consistently achieved by Amanah Saham Malaysia (ASM) and Amanah Saham Wawasan 2020 (ASW 2020).

I was dumbfounded. How did they know about its return when 70%-90% of the fund's total portfolio is going to be invested in equities and the rest in fixed incomes? Amanah Saham 1Malaysia, like the ASM and ASW 2020, is mainly an equity fund. And equities, as we know, had gone through a roller coaster ride in the past one year. Shanghai Composite Index, for example, after reaching a high of nearly 6000 at the end of 2007, had plunged to low of 1700 before staging a tremendous recovery to 3400 lately.

To find the answer, I checked the website of Amanah Saham Nasional Berhad and downloaded the prospectus for Amanah Saham 1Malaysia.

From page 12 of the prospectus:

5.3 PERFORMANCE BENCHMARK

The performance of the Fund is benchmarked against the performance of other instruments that have similar features with that of the Fund. Being a fixed price fund, the return to unitholders of the Fund will mainly be in the form of the Fund’s income distribution yield. The return will be benchmarked against the average of 5-year MGS yield which can be obtained at Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) website and Bloomberg.

Well, the current average of 5-year Malaysia Government Securities (MGS) yield is about 3.7% - 4%. They must have misinterpreted what they read in the newspaper, I thought. So I spent some time explaining to them, that Amanah Saham 1Malaysia is benchmarked to 5-year MGS yield which is around 3.7% to 4%, and that is not the return of Amanah Saham 1Malaysia. We will not know the return of Amanah Saham 1Malaysia, as it is largely depended on the performance of its portfolios.

Then, this morning I read the following excerpt from Nanyang Siang Pau:

理财界人士指出，一个大马基金的年利率介于3.7%至4%之间，不比之前推介的利息至少6%高，因此都掀不起太大购兴。

I nearly fell from my chair.

Clearly, the public has been misguided. I can understand when the typical person can't fully apprehend the prospectus as they don't study finance, but the people who say this are professionals, they are the experts. What are they doing?!

From the master prospectus that I downloaded:

ASB, ASW 2020, ASM and ASD
Being fixed-price Funds, the performance of these Funds are expressed in terms of the respective Fund’s Annual Income Distribution Yield, benchmarked against the 3-month Kuala Lumpur Interbank Offered Rates (3- month KLIBOR), which is obtainable at any commercial bank.

You can obtain the 3-month KLIBOR here.

Do I need to say more?

There you go, 4 posts per month

noreply@blogger.com (Bert) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:50:00 +0000

WARNING: CRAPS ahead!

When I started writing for this blog many months ago, I set myself a clear goal. A goal to have around 100 posts posted by the end of the first year, which would mean an average of 2 posts per week, or 8 posts per month, or 24 posts per quarter. At a time when everyone was talking about Project 365 and Mars landing, this couldn't seem easier.

Well, I'm glad to announce here that there is no longer a need to track and analyze my performance anymore, as it is shown blatantly at the blog archive that - I have failed miserably. Hmm, maybe not.

Weeks into writing boring and unfathomable posts, I decided to tweak my goal. Yes, even writing two posts per week proved to be too much of a hassle for a pathetic procrastinator like me.

"This is bullshit!" My mind yelled at me. "I can't possibly handle two posts per week, it's too much work!"

"OK, OK." I said. "I'm gonna reduce that by half, one post per week, alright?"

This was good news. Now I only need to do 50 percent of what I'm initially expected to do. Great.

July came. July went. And I'm stuck with 3 posts.

So here I am, writing this piece of crap, in order to fulfill the quota of 4 posts per month. Please don't hate me. I have to do this, seriously, so that my contract won't be terminated by, well, myself.

OK, there you go. End of the crap. Hope you are not choking by now ;p

How to Deal with Naysayers, Complainers and Pessimists

noreply@blogger.com (Bert) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:23:00 +0000

If you read my previous post, you will know that naysayers, complainers, whiners and pessimists turn me off. Most of the time, I would try my best to draw the line, but what if they are someone close to me? I can't possibly distance myself from family members, relatives or best buddies when they are naysayers and chronic complainers, can I?

The following newsletter from Learning Strategies on dealing with naysayers, pessimists and complainers hits the bull's eye:

Do negative people rub you the wrong way? A negative, pessimistic, and complaining person can wear on your nerves and deplete your energy faster than you realize.

And trying to change their attitude wastes even more of your energy. Your effort has no chance of success when they do not want to cooperate.

When you believe that positive thinking is desirable and negative thinking is undesirable, then you are empowering people to irritate you when they think and talk in negative ways.

Dr. Al Siebert, author of The Survivor Personality and our Resiliency personal learning course, calls that kind of thinking "The Theme Song of the Human Race."

This belief, "If only other people would change, things would be much better for me," may indeed be correct, he says, but it also makes it possible for negative people to control you. When others are negative they can upset you, cause you to spend time and energy trying to cope with their negativism, and frustrate your positive efforts.

The solution to regaining control is not to change them but to change how you respond to them.

Start by giving the negative person permission to be here on Earth the way they are.

"When you feel frustrated or feel an energy drain, treat the difficulty as a test in the school of life," Al says. "Look at it as an opportunity to learn about your blind spots. Appreciate opportunities to learn better ways of handling people who knock you off balance emotionally."

Next, replace the thought "If only they would change, my life would be much better" with questions.

Ask, "How might I respond differently so that I am less vulnerable? What could I do to regain control? How can I handle negativity in positive ways?"

When someone says something negative, try one of the following:

* Say, "You may be right," then change the subject.

* Pretend you didn't hear them. Attention is a big payoff for people with pessimistic attitudes, so stop reacting to their negative statements. Withdraw attention. Be selectively impolite.

* Be playful. Say, "It's much worse than you know." Describe more things to be upset about, and then be quiet or leave.

* Say, "Now that you've identified the problem, what is your plan for dealing with it?"

* See the benefit of their negative thinking. Develop an appreciation for the ability of chronically pessimistic people to see potential risks and problems that others overlook.

* Make the negative person a useful resource. Ask them to help you anticipate difficulties. If you thank them for their critical thinking, your relationship will probably improve.

Rehearse what you might say the next time you are around a negative person. Notice how much more in control you feel when you develop a positive plan of action.

The key to making your life better is to stop blaming others for triggering reactions in you that you don't like and to focus instead on discovering better ways to respond. When you change how you react, your emotional strain is reduced.

Overcoming Procrastination

noreply@blogger.com (Bert) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:25:00 +0000

I have a secret.

I procrastinate.

Many of us have a penchant for procrastination. Almost everyone occasionally procrastinates. However, to say that I procrastinate is an understatement. I would put off doing certain tasks for days, even weeks. I told my friend I would write a post about banks creating money out of nothing when I visited her, but I didn't start writing until two weeks later. My habit of procrastinating has spiraled into a disruptive problem in my personal life. I am a chronic procrastinator.

The seed of procrastination was first planted during my college days. I would put off completing assignments until the last possible minute. I would always print out all the lecture notes and tutorials at the start of a semester, and placed them on a shelf. Then, 24 hours before the exams, I dusted off the notes and buried myself in a frenzied revision. By the time all the exams were over, usually two or three days later, I was like a zombie, an animated corpse starved of sleep. Of course, my penchant for procrastination took its toll. Mediocre results, stress, anxiety, guilt and resentment ensued. Yet, I procrastinated, again and again, without fail. Then, I lacked the will to change.

There are many causes to procrastination. Laziness, stress, lack of discipline and poor time management are some of them. Those symptoms attack me from time to time. Yet, I now realize that there is one particular behavior pattern rooted deep within me that is triggering my procratination habit - the strive for perfection.

I always want to deliver the best. Because of that, I am afraid of making mistakes. "If I make mistakes, the outcome will not be perfect." I would convince myself. The fear of making mistakes and eventually succumbing to imperfection gives me a reason to put off a task that would be better accomplished ASAP. I will give myself excuses to avoid the task until I can find a better way to do it. And this usually means indefinite delay until the last possible minute. Now, there isn't enough time for me to complete the task perfectly. Poor results follow. But I can still let myself off the hook by telling myself that I could have done it better if I had more time. I guess in some ways I act instinctively to protect my fragile ego, that I am a imperfect human, that I can't get the best results all the time.

Procrastination is self perpetuating. The act of procrastinating can become automatic and ingrained. That's what I'm experiencing. Procrastination has become part of me.

People told me it is hard to change one's habit or nature. I do not believe that. It is a question of whether one can find the will to change. Breaking a habit is not an easy task, but it certainly can be done.

The simplest way to beat procrastination is to just get started. I have to allow myself to be human and admit that I cannot get everything done perfectly. Start small. As long as I get started, I can always revise the way I do it later. Miraculously, the task always turned out to be less daunting when I started early :)

Life is short. If we procrastinate and dally one hour per day, we would have wasted 15 days after one year. 15 days! We can accomplish so much more if we don't procrastinate. Act with a sense of urgency. Work on yourself. Then, you will find out that the world is an awesome place after all ;)