Long before money (silver and gold coins) was invented, the barter system was used by traders to exchange goods. Since the first gold coin was forged from its cast, money has been appreciated by many, for it is light and easy to carry. As time passed by, appreciation towards the invention of money has been clouded by greed and this eventually leads to Credit Crunch.

However, as I was surfing the internet the other day, I stumbled onto a very inspiring and eye-opening video, the “One Red Paper Clip” video on YouTube.

This is a story of a young man who bartered all the way from a tiny red paper clip to a house.

Needless to say, if an average Joe can trade all the way from one small paper clip to a house, I am pretty sure there are  millions of people who are struggling financially in this rough financial thunderstorm can barter their way out of debt as well.

On top of the video, I have also discovered that Robert Kiyosaki, a financial guru had organized a 3-day-course called “Art of a Deal” a week ago where participants did nothing but traded goods with each another without money.

This had me wondering if it is possible to survive or even achieve financial success during this financial meltdown through bartering?

It is quite certain that barter system will not replace the money system we have now considering how deep the mess we are in. But is it possible that bartering is the new way of achieving financial freedom? Has the buying and selling behaviour reverted and does it still take money to make money?

You tell me.

“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.

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.

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.

Surf the net or visit your nearest bookstores, I’m very certain there are mountains of articles debating this issue, all to no avail. Anyways, I am not here to put an end to that discussion either. These are merely my thoughts in reply to Men’s Gossips Concerning Women’s Makeup.

Men and Their Egos

I’m quite sure upon reading the first sentence, the womenfolks reading it must have at least smirked or giggled a little. After all, is there any other element that can be so closely associated with the male species? Since cavemen times, men have always been competing, from the biggest hunt to biggest houses to prettiest wives. They protect and defend so much so that more than few thousand years later, the characteristics have yet to be selected out.

Definition of “ego”:

• A person’s sense of self-esteem or self-importance.
• Psychoanalysis the part of the mind that mediates between the conscious and the unconscious and is responsible for reality testing and a sense of personal identity.
• An overly high opinion of oneself: some major players with really big egos.

That would be the long winded definition of ego by the Oxford Pocket Dictionary. But I much prefer the one by Urban Dictionary;

That thing inside my head. You know, the thing that makes me cooler than all of you.

Many times I think cases of chauvinism stems from uncontrolled male ego. Men think that because they are men that they should be out working in the world, making money, and providing the bread and butter of the house. Women, on the other hand, should just stay at home because that’s all they’re good for; food, children and the likes. Their ego dictates that just because their great-grandfathers, grandfathers and fathers have been practicing autonomy, so should they. I only speak for myself when I say that I do not mind men wielding their hard-earned egos. After all, who wouldn’t like it if someone else shoulders all the burdens and cares of the house?

Yet, this is if and only if they are able to live up to the expectations. Unfortunately, this is where the bane of ego comes into the equation. So he insists that I stay at home to take care of the kids? I would not mind, if he would stop complaining how the monthly expenditure is bursting at its seams. So he insists that I should prep myself up and stay as pretty as how I looked when he married me? I would, once he stops blocking the mirror with his potbelly.

Before I go on a tangent about double standards or compromising, let me just state my opinion that I think ego is what make up is to women. Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t they use it to enhance what is already there and to cover up whatever that may be lacking? However unlike make up, ego affects other people as well. In an unlikely event where a certain female hurts another female to attain a certain blusher or something from the same rack, make up does not hurt anyone else. Ego, on the other hand, could involve people other than the perpetrator.

Imagine a husband who insists that he is right and refuses to listen to the pleas of a wife to send their child to the hospital; or a boss who stresses that the company sticks to an investment because he cannot admit that he made a wrong choice in picking which stock to purchase, or even a group leader who cannot acknowledge his mistakes, refusing to relinquish or delegate authority to his group mates… all because ego said so. Maybe the child would have survived, maybe the company would not have gone bankrupt and maybe the group would have achieved better results in their group assessment. Is it not like blind mice telling his comrades “Come, follow me!”?

Unlike in previous post where James gives suggestions on how girls could use make up to their advantage, I sincerely doubt I should go down the route of advising men to use their egos for the greater good.

The question here is,

Is Ego by Itself Is Justified?

To be honest, I don’t know.

Nevertheless, what I do know is that there is an enormous difference between what one calls confidence and ego, but unfortunately the line that separates the two is but a thread. The gray areas are so insignificant that it is no wonder how some men end up threading over into the dark side unconsciously. Women are attracted to confidence, not to ego. Men, look out for telltale signs such as when she starts avoiding you rather than draw closer even if you may be climbing higher up in the social hierarchy. Notice when she excuses herself or you run out of topics to talk about after only a short while of conversing? Rewind and see if the topic of conversation had been about your opinions, your achievements, your plans, your great plans for world peace. Common denominator – you.

It is difficult for one to want to cure ego because it is not like a fever that dissipates as soon as you pop a pill. Like everything else in life, ego involves work. You built it up, so you have to break it down too. Realize that the world does not revolve around you and stop dragging people into what you think is right, or what you think is for everyone’s sake. Involve others and try to place yourself in someone else’s shoes for once.

We no longer live in caves where merely starting a fire takes up about half the day and twice the frustration. Today the term, equality carries more weight than it ever did. To be fair, I have to admit that ego is not something generalized only to men. It would be stupid to say that only men have ego. Women have them too, especially in the corporate rat races at present. Still, for unknown reasons, a man’s ego always seems to be superior when compared to women relatively. Thus they get picked on quite often when it comes to men-women quid pro quos. Maybe we should look back at Mr. Caveman for some hard sought answers.

Thankfully, just as how women have evolved over the years, so have men. Most of them who face women bosses or those of their equal statuses are now able to swallow their pumped up pride and tolerate each other healthily. Of course, occasionally we still get the normal Chauvinist Pigs and their botox-ed self esteem, but you can’t have everything now, can you?

Ego, do not serve well in relationships. I cannot fathom why some men would use their ego as a springboard to attract girls or merely to boost their statuses. Don’t they realize that they would soon run out of air and like a hot air balloon, fall to the ground both shamefully and painfully?

Like James said, it is your personality that plays a bigger role after the first impression. If you were too full of yourself, there would not be any more space left for others and how would you be able to let her in then?

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. Nevertheless, discussions are always welcomed.

Since ancient times, makeup has been a number one tool that women use to preserve, or should I say to enhance their natural beauty.  At the present, makeup is the bread and butter for women to look stunning and confident. In fact, some girls can’t even meet people without the magical powder applied on their faces.

The Truth

The truth is that we guys give a damn about your makeup.  Like any man, we love pretty ladies but like any human being, we hate being cheated by beauty. The cosmetic technology is so advanced that excessive makeup not only enhances beauty, it literally transforms beauty!

To elaborate further, women with excessive makeup are like the event of ordering a pizza. You think it will look as plentiful and as mouth watering as shown in the menu. But as the pizza reaches your table, you did not complain, instead you quietly finish it as you imagine yourself overturning the table because the pizza is not what the menu promised it to be.

The only difference is that in the menu, the words “Pictures are for illustration purposes only” are always written at the bottom. The same phrase however is not written on a woman’s face. So basically, excessive makeup clouds men from seeing the truth.

What Do Men Gossip About?

I often observe and have countless gossips discussions with my peers whenever a girl worth mentioning about passes by and these are the usual thing we talked about.

“Her face is brighter than her neck!”

The worst thing a girl can do to her face is to “ghostify” it by selecting the wrong colour tone of foundation. This is the most important one as I had seen many girls ruined their beauty with the wrong foundation.

Fairness is not the only issue when it comes to making up. So, stick to the basics and save the white powder for Japanese Geishas or the clowns.

“Man, those eyes are freaking huge”

Eye liners are meant to highlight and accentuate your eyes. A thin line around your eyes makes your eyes look brighter. A thick line on the other hand, gives you the eyes of a panda, which you had tried to conceal it with the under-eye concealers awhile ago.

“Those are the eyes of a Devil!”

Most Asian men like it all in black, your hair and especially your eye colour. We don’t give a dingdong how many colours your eyes can change with the help of contact lenses, we expect it to be black. As a matter of fact, coloured eye is such a distraction it is unexplainable how irritating they can be.

Don’t be surprised to have men talking to your boobs because your eyes are just too distracting to look into.

This is entirely different for white people though.

“The Eyebrows are fake mate”

More often than sometimes, I saw girls with a fake eyebrows. Fake eyebrows? How do you know? Fake eyebrows can be easily determined by eyebrows without furs. Meaning, a girl shaved her eyebrows away and draw a fake one with the coloured pencils they have in the makeup bag.

If you have ugly eyebrows, trim it, don’t shave it. Like I said earlier, guys like to see the truth.

“Why do they waste our time making up for minor events?”

Know when to look good, seriously.
On important events like a ball, annual dinners, prom, by all means girls, artistically paint yourself to look your best, take as much time as you want.

In your workplace, do apply some makeup so that you look energized. You don’t want your boss asking the reason behind your tired-looking face.

However, during informal friend gatherings, please, there is no need to spend hours to look like a supermodel when we are eating at a normal hawker center. Unnecessary things are not appreciated by the guys.

“The dress does not suit the face!”

Girls, if you want to beautify your face, select an outfit that suits the face will you? The makeup applied should go along with the image you wish to present to others. Don’t go out looking like a supermodel but dressed up like a nerd.

If you are going to a formal dinner and you have the perfect dress, but you don’t know how to makeup, get a friend or your mom to help out. It is not as bad as the example mentioned above but having some makeup would probably be a great confidence booster.

You Don’t Need To Be a Makeup Artist to Look Pretty

So you’re not as talented as your friends when it comes to makeup? Don’t fret, because a wise man once told me “Simplicity is Genius”.

Your appearance can only serve as an advantage to you as far as meeting new people is concerned. Your personality plays a bigger role after that.

Remember girls, guys adore you being pretty, just not to the extent of an entirely different you (which excessive or bad makeup can cause). Thus, men really appreciate that tiny little cosmetic magic that glamorizes your beauty.

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.

I will start this article with a story…

During the age where Kings and Monarchy existed, educated people were all concentrated in the palace. Not much of knowledge was passed to the rest of the population. The King decided that his people should either stay dumb, or serve the king with their knowledge. This was to protect the king from being overrun by his own people. That was the olden days.

So, in order to keep the citizens “in line”, our rulers figured that tackling our education system would be the easiest way to cripple our knowledge and teamwork. This leads to the foundation of the General Education Board (or The Ministry of Education), where all government schools are to use the same education system outlined by the Education Board.

The phrase below sums up everything about the General Education Board.

“The General Education Board is created to influence the direction of our education. The objective was to use the classroom to teach attitudes that encourage people to be submissive and passive to their rulers.”

Quote from The Creature from Jekyll Island

Now, do I have proof to back the statements I have said earlier? Yes I do.

1. Our Schools Do Not Encourage Teamwork
Our education system does not encourage teamwork. A classic example would be examinations and tests, if you work together in an exam you will fail. They call it cheating in the name of testing our knowledge.

Our rulers realized that unimaginable things can be created when a group of people put their minds together for something. That is why they want us to be separated and alone, by brainwashing us into believing that to succeed in life we have to be competitive, be alone and abandoned by family.

The fact is, when you succeed in life, more people would gather around you and your family’s status does not change.

2. We Are Told Not To Make Mistakes
At school, we get scolded and punished for making mistakes. Our intelligence is also judged based on whatever mistakes we made at school. Then we are told not to make mistakes again in the future. But how is that possible? We are humans, we are bound to make mistakes as we learn new things!

This only brings out the inaction within us that paralyzes our natural desire to take action when opportunities arise. I think what our educators should tell us is, “learn from your mistakes as you grow”.

3. The Knowledge of Money is Not Taught at Schools
Rulers know deep in their hearts that money can be used to buy power (that is what they are doing around the world). So to keep us from becoming “money literate” and attaining power, courses like money engineering do not exist. Instead, they instill in us ambitions like doctor, engineer and lawyer.

This makes us “modern slaves” of our rulers until the day we die! Look at how much we are taxed, both through tax and inflation.

4. Nothing is too Complicated
Talk baby language to a baby, the baby would speak baby language forever. Talk mathematics to a baby, the baby would be a math whiz.

Nothing is too complicated for our brain to solve. It is made complicated through our education system. Have you ever heard of your teachers saying “it is supposed to confuse you” before?

“Never make things simple when you can make them complicated”

Quoted from one of the members of the Morgan Family – Grunch of Giants

5. The Obvious Truth
Here is the solid proof of the intervention of our rulers with our education for the worse. The never ending change of language used to teach Mathematics and Science in Malaysia, article.

I cannot see how this is not an act of corruption on our education system.

In a Nutshell

Unfortunately, I must admit that this is one of the ugliest facts that we have to swallow regardless of the places we live in, be it the Japan, Arab, Australia, UK or USA, we are all still “slaves” of our “king”.

Is there a way to counter this problem?
Probably, and the first step to curb the problem would be the realization of this corrupted education system of ours.

Next? We must join power and be the “troublesome” citizens. But we would not rebel, we will play according to the rules of the government and win the game they play!

This is all for this article. Please give this matter a thought.

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.