I’m currently reading a book titled Currency Wars 货币战争 by 宋鸿兵 Song Hongbing. A bit of history into how our current financial system came about sent me some chills. It’s a totally messed up system, and normal people like you and me are those that are AFFECTED MOST by this system.
I’ve just finished chapter 1. I can’t read Chinese fast, so can’t blame me for the turtle speed of my progress. LOL!
Will talk about it more as I read the book.
Archive for July, 2009
31
Jul
09
Currency War
29
Jul
09
I.am.inadequate
I can’t help but feel that bad mouthing another person is… a deep sense of inadequacy and a symptom of inferiority complex.
I’ve been talking bad about a high school student I used to teach recently. There has been no progress on his part for months on end. I couldn’t figure out what is preventing him from progressing. So I often attribute it to him being 心不在课室里 (the heart was not in the class).
But it’s not entirely his fault. A bad student is a the result of a bad teacher. The Chinese 三字经 has a famous saying: 养不教、父之过，教不严、师之惰. Loosely translated as: raising a child without proper guidance is the parents’ fault; teaching without discipline and producing results, is due to the teacher being lazy.
Now that I’m ‘fired’, I’m not sure I should be happy or disappointed. Disappointed that I’ve not done a good job teaching, but happy that I don’t have to endure the frustration of teaching someone with a skull infused with adamantium (you’d get this satire if you are a fan of X-Men/Wolverine). <— See, here I go bad-mouthing him again. =P
I think it's time for me to leave, since now that I'm practically a super useless accessory here. Who's interested in learning the Maori war chant in NZ with me, aye?
theTUtor
Note: it’s still under construction and refinement. I will furnish it with more links, references & videos… when I have to luxury to bypass the Great Firewall. =)
This strength training programme is adapted from Westside for Skinny Bastards-part 3 (W4SB) by Joe DeFranco. I’ve made some adjustments for futsal players. If you feel gratitious to me, please buy me lunch. X^D
I met this dude in Lowyat.net forum, and he was asking for help to train for his futsal competition, which was already on going at that time. A bit too late to train for strength and stamina. But still, he would be able to see some improvements by the end of the league (which is 6 weeks).
Oh, no one has tried it yet. So whoever who does it will be the first guinea pig. Please post your results here.
I was at the gym when I ‘saw’ the show. Each episode, 2 kungfu schools are invited, typically with different kungfu styles. Then the show put the fighters into respective weight class and let them slog it out.
I wasn’t impressed at all.
I probably watched too much of Hong Kong kungfu/fighting movies. I was expecting something more polished and smooth, and gritty… something like Fight Quest when they learned Sanda.
Instead, what I saw was the typical kungfu pose before the engagement. Then when they engage in a fight, it looked like a hybrid of judo plus boxing plus kicking. Sure, there are a few signature moves once in a while. But nothing interesting.
Each bout was quick. Within 3-4 moves, one fella is down and point is given. The fighter then would have to stand up and reset the fight. This probably indicate the effectiveness of kungfu. If you’re good, you can take down an enemy within 3-4 moves.
My point is, I couldn’t feel any ‘kick’ from watching. In fact, it was boring as hell. And the fights weren’t fought in close distance. The fighters were standing far away. I wonder if it would be effective in a train or roadside where space is small. Close quarter fighting is totally different. And I wonder if kungfu would work when dealing with street fighting and self-defence.
If you want to learn how to defend yourself on the streets, I guess the best bet would be Kajukenbo of US, Krav Maga of Israel, and bodybuilding (no one ever dares to mess with a big guy). I would like to pick up kajukenbo (savate and taichi too), it’s ghetto and gritty. And they literally do street fights. This is as underground and ghetto as it gets.
18
Jul
09
Dead in MACC
Teoh Beng Hock. Murdered. The government did it. The BN government did it.
This would fit nicely in a crime/detective novel, or in season 5 of Prison Break, or it could even be made into Die Hard 5.0: The MACC Conspiracy. The producer can even claim it as a reality show.
Real sad lah, the poor lad. He was supposed to be married the next day. Now he’s dead. And a horrible death at that. What has become of Malaysia? I thought the Malays were supposed to be peace loving people as they claim to be. I guess the peace loving side has been replaced by the devil. These people are not Malay. They are not humans to begin with.
I can only hope that Teoh’s family will learn to cope with his death as time passes. And that they can find some comfort that many Malaysians mourn his death.
Click these 2 links and read the report and commentary. The conspiracy has just ceased to become a conspiracy.
17
Jul
09
Zhang Ziyi was stalking me!
After a nice gym session and a happy dinner alone in one fine evening… I cycled back to my bachelor pad, looking forward to a nice cool shower. As I opened the door, I felt something was not quite right in my apartment.
The room was dark. The air was stale. The red obstacle lights on top of the opposite apartment pulsing like the heartbeat of a dying Ultraman. The dim moonlight was shining it’s ethereal lights through the long and heavy curtains, creating weird silhouettes across the room.
My pupils dilated as my eyes adjusted to the darkness. I entered the room. And my hand instinctively felt around the wall to look for the switch.
Suddenly, I felt a chill. As if someone was watching. I turned right and tried to look into the darkness. My heartbeat raced and I could feel a surge of adrenaline rushing through my veins.
And there amongst the shadows and moonlight, is a face. Or something that resembles a face. It wasn’t clear, but I could recognise the eyes, staring straight at me. Eyes that I will remember for a long long time.
Eyes that I had remembered.
10
Jul
09
My D70s kena jampi by n00bs!
think my Nikon D70s SLR camera has a curse/spell/jampi. Probably one of those special built-in features that Nikon doesn’t tell its consumers. Like how certain old Nintendo games have this Konami code (up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, enter; konamicodesites.com), so famous was the code amongst geeks & nerds that even Google Reader has it. LOLz!
Back to topic,
Lets just call it the built-in jampi in my camera. Or maybe so many n00bie hands have touch this magical light box, that it instilled a special power to the camera… No, wait. I mean:
…so many n00bie hands have touched this magical light box, thus automatically placing a super-duper-terrijible-horrijible-vegetable curse on the next n00b that dares puts his/her n00bie finger on this powder-coated-black shutter release button.
So what’s this curse all about?
Every n00b (well, almost every) that I have lent my D70s to, have shot a photo of their feet/toes. Not just a shot, sometimes even mulitple-machine-gun-like shots have been taken too. *slaps forehead*
Don’t believe me? Here are a few samples.
theCAmera-man
06
Jul
09
Hooters is CLOSED!
I was walking to the police station to register for my Alien Employment Permit (外国人就业证). Now I have a little brown book saying that I’m a frigging alien. Anyway, as I was saying… I was walking to the police station when I saw a notice on a glass window. Being curious, I took a glimpse. In some broken English, it said something to this effect:
Hooters Restaurant in HZ is closed for the time being… due to the heavy subway construction in front of it.
Aiseh, do they really have to close it down?! I thought I could drop by one day and enjoy some mountain and valley scenery. Not to mention seeing them waiter dancing YMCA on the tables. X^D
Young man, there’s a place you can go. I said, young man, when you’re short on your dough. You can stay there, and I’m sure you will find Many ways to have a good time. It’s fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A. It’s fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A. They have everything for you men to enjoy, You can hang out with all the boys … It’s fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A. It’s fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A.
Speaking of which, did you know that the YMCA Song is a gay song? Eee yerrr…!! To quote from Wikipedia:
Taking the song at face value, its lyrics extol the virtues of the Young Men’s Christian Association. In the gay culture from which the group sprang, the song was understood as celebrating the YMCA’s reputation as a popular cruising and hookup spot, particularly for the younger gay men to whom it was addressed.[1] The song has continued to remain popular due to its status as a disco classic and gay anthem […]
I ain’t dancing no YMCA song no more, yo!
theYOungMan
P.S. *hums the YMCA song subconciously…*
Victim of a Cereal Killer 