What is Right, and What is Wrong?

This video that I chose is the 2nd in a 8 part lecture series by Dr. Albert A. Bartlett's lecture on "Arithmetic, Population, and Energy".

The first video talked about the power of exponential growth. It raises an interesting question about whether we are aware what it means when we say 6% or 5% growth.

The second one raises an important question on population issue and how to solve it. If you choose law and order, be prepared for the world to be over-populated. Choose war if you want to balance population growth. Are you willing to do that?

I guess my point is that in choosing to promote something, whether in politics or even your own career, we often fail to consider the full consequences of our choices. For example, while minimum wage is a noble idea, has anyone fully considered the impact of such measure on long-term inflation and subsequent increase in personal debt, and how that ultimately leads to a bubble, and...well, you get my point.

Think hard, think smart.

Education First

Have you guys heard of Education First (EF)? It's a Swedish company that's dominating the world in private education. It has over 25000 teachers and 15 million students all over the world.

They're focused on providing language education in a unique way that emphasizes conversational skills rather than rote learning. Being Swedish, their training centers are also a lesson in design integration as part of the training process.

The global language training industry is estimated to be around Euro 54 billion a year.

Another below the radar business opportunity that a lot of people don't even know about.

(Discovered them while reading Monocle, a huge magazine that takes longer to go through than most novels. It's a different type of magazine than most are used to, but it's got some left-field coverage...A bit like Off The Edge meets The Edge Weekly)

How about this as an idea - a prep school that focuses on career advice,communication skills,and entrepreneurial knowledge for 3 categories - pre-SPM, post-SPM, post-Degree?

Just When Things Are Good...

I don't listen to radio that much these days. The new car's full media integration with USB drive AND SD Card (in addition to a 6-disc changer, but who uses CD now anyway) makes radio a truly alternative choice, especially with the endless advertisements, staid selections AND idiotic deejays.

If I was to tune in to anything, it would normally be either XFM (103.0) or BFM (89.9). Most often I would just let XFM play me the best that local music could offer. I like XFM because (1) not much advertising (2) minimal deejay interruption (3) great songs.

I think Malaysian music is undergoing a sort of renaissance. Its cyclical in nature. We used to be ahead of the Indonesians, then we sort of lost our way with the focus on mono-syllabic named bands like Spin, Spoon, Scoin. Then everybody was into hip-hop, but it never really fit in with the older set, which kinda explains how Siti Nurhaliza (which came out at around the same time as Poetic Ammon & Too Phat) could dominate for so long. Yes, kids love hip-hop, but only parents had the money to buy an album.


Now, we finally have a mature, creative era of great songs sung by relevant artistes that transcends age, culture and language. Kids and their parents can dig Faizal Tahir, Yuna & Aizat. Our hip-hop has gone beyond the lame cliche of old and now contains sublime rhymes carried out by people like Malique, Altimet and Joe. We've even basically thrown away soapy jiwang karat rock away with a whole new bunch of "indie" bands making it big on the mainstream.

Tell me you didn't bob your head when you hear Bunkface and I'll tell you you've lost your groove. We've got young and upcoming vocalists who no longer subscribe to Siti's scream it if you mean it mantra like Ana Raffali, Zee Avi & Liyana Fizi.

It's all great news for the fans. I think the quality's up to the par of anything I can pick out from the Indonesians these days. Unfortunately, I think it's too late.

Just when our music standard has been raised to a level where everyone could be proud of, our artistes will no longer be financially rewarded for their work. Long gone are the days where a popular Juara Lagu winner will sell more than a million album (Raihan did that), have sold-out stadium concerts (Search, Wings used to, and still is, packing in the fans), or basically become a freaking rock star.

With parents also now in tune to digital downloads, and kids being kids wanting things for free, it is almost impossible to find anyone actually purchasing an album, even from foreign artist. Without album sales, it's almost impossible for record companies to think about organizing a concert.

No corporate sponsors want to sponsor a concert of an artist who couldn't sell records, without realizing that in today's day and age, the lack of record sales doesn't automatically make an artist unpopular.

It's sad that it has come down to this, but the future is even bleaker. Unless of course there is a significant change in the way record companies and artistes approach the problem. But let's just hope for now, despite not making as much money as Slam ever did, our new crop of singers, songwriters, producers and musicians continue doing it for the sake of us music lovers. If you do, trust us, we'll promise to download your song.

From Tadashi Yanai

Tadashi Yanai is the Chairman/CEO of Fast Retailing (owners of Uniqlo).

"The worst people in the world are those that neither succeed nor fail. These people don't do anything and accomplish nothing.

The second worst type are those that continuously fail. They never learn from their mistake and never succeed."
Sent via BlackBerry from Maxis

Between Raya and today...(Me,Myself & I...)

I checked my last post. It was before Raya. And all the things I said about Raya was true. But I didn't have time to update this blog, my dear readers, because I just got my second son (so matter of fact and casual). And just like my first son, he is the most handsome, brightest, charming human being I've ever seen. Until the next one comes along.

But just more than a week before that, I took delivery of my materialistic baby - a new car. It's new, shiny, and thus far, the best I've ever driven. Not because it's new and shiny mind you. I plumped myself into another new and shiny car my mom got for herself. And I wouldn't put it even in the top 3 cars I've driven. No, the reason my new car is the best is simply because it is - pace, power, refinement and looks. Man, it's lame, but when I park this new set of wheels, I still stare at it a bit when I walk off.

The only bad thing about getting a new car is getting your friends' reaction. I've had this problem ever since I drove my first car. "Why didn't you buy this?", "Why did you get this color?","Rugi beli brand-new..."...the idiotic kind of comments coming from people who have never even come close to having the choices I have. Maybe it's about living vicariously. Dude, my best mate just got himself a dull as clorox Toyota, and I still pretended to be excited over it all. Nah, no worries. I'm not angry or bitter. Just peeved. Don't blame them though, most people do this.

Anyway, with a new car and a new baby, I needed a new wife. Wrong sentence. I needed a new hobby.

I've picked up walking, of all things. I only enjoy exercise if it's fun. And it's only fun when someone keeps score. So I can play futsal forever, but I wouldn't last a few weeks if I picked up jogging. Too lonely. And I have weak knees. People say it's because of...well, I wouldn't know about that;)

Unfortunately, futsal's usually played late at night. I need to be with the two boys. So I found something I could probably do continuously, but it's not really exercising as I know it, so I wouldn't feel pressured to perform. So walking it is. That's why I call it a hobby.

Because when I walk, I don't think about walking, I think about everything else. I'm an observer, if you've observed. Some of the interesting things I've discovered while walking around my area in Shah Alam (I usually brisk walk/explore for about 1 hour to 1.5 hours) are:

1. Not everyone who stays in a bungalow drive nice cars
2. Not everyone who drives a normal car stays in a small house
3. The fact that I've seen a few purple/police blue houses just goes to show how weird and irrational human beings are
4. Even though Shah Alam is a predominantly Malay area, a lot of the nice houses here belong to Chinese
5. The roads in Shah Alam, even in a VIP-dominated area, are pretty badly maintained (apparently, since PR took over)

I've also discovered that the police on patrol love to "rest" in their car on top of the hill where my house is located. While this is good news for me, I wonder if my neighbors are happy about it.

Other than this new hobby, I've intensified my existing hobby of reading. I read a lot. Maybe not as much as some of you, but definitely more than most. I buy an average of 3-5 books a month. Not only that, my subscription to Time, Fortune and Bloomberg BusinessWeek ensures that every week I'd have something new to read. I also pick up a lot of magazines off the shelf like Fast Company (GREAT MAGAZINE), Entrepreneur (not so great,but some nice ideas), INC. (soon to be GREAT MAGAZINE) and my regular fix of Top Gear Malaysia and Autocar Malaysia. So in a month I'd cover 3 books, 10 subscription magazines, 5 off-the-shelf magazines...and Off The Edge every week.

(I wouldn't even bother quantifying the newspaper, news website, blogs, sports reports that I read on a daily basis)

It has led me to wonder whether I'm suffering from information overload. It's so bad that sometimes I can't remember the title of the book I was reading (no worries, now reading The Game by Neil Strauss. Not for information, but to compare notes...hahahahaha).

The best thing about reading is that it opens up your mind to new possibilities. Which leads me to another NEW thing - a new business venture. I can't say what, I can't say who, I can't say when, I can't say how. I just want to make money. Now that is NOT new.

....

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Bila Raya...

10. Semua terkejut jalan sesak, sedangkan dari aku celik mata, balik raya memang jarang-jarang perjalanan lancar. Malah, aku rasa, sesak-sesak di jalan raya dan terutamanya perhentian R & R adalah sebahagian daripada keseronokan beraya. Malangnya, keseronokan ini tidak lama sekiranya aku nak ke tandas tetapi terpaksa menahan setelah melihat kejijikan yang dibuat manusia tidak berakal.

9. Kereta besar-besar mula menyinggah ke kawasan kampung. Dulu waktu rajin balik ke kawasan kampung Bukit Mertajam, berduyun-duyun Mercedez dan BMW di jalan. Peliknya, benda sama tidak pula berlaku di kampung aku yang bukan kampung sangat yakni Gelugor, Penang. Adakah ini bermakna hanya "migrant" dari kawasan kampung yang lebih berjaya bila pindah ke bandar?

8. Semua surat lambat sampai, terutamanya majalah-majalah. Pelik, sebab aku rasa dulu lagi banyak surat orang hantar. Mungkin penjimatan masa daripada pengurangan orang menghantar kad raya tiada kesan apabila produktiviti setiap pekerja POS generasi baru semakin merudum (berbanding pekerja-pekerja dulu). Maklumlah, ramai sekarang tiada motivasi dan lebih sibuk mencari awek untuk membatalkan puasa (bukan pekerja POS sahaja, tetapi Melayu generasi baru secara am-nya).

Surat dah digantikan....dengan Facebook! E-Mel pun tak sempat nak jadi medium yang popular. Buat apa penat-penat masukkan alamat e-mel semua kawan dan kenalan apabila anda boleh "tag" saja gambar kad raya di Facebook? Yang naik menyampah adalah komen-komen memanjang selepas itu. Kalau komen beramai-ramai, aku boleh terima. Kadang-kadang hanya 2 orang saja komen, tapi jadi macam "chatting". Memang tak boleh belah.

Mula lah orang hantar mesej-mesej Hari Raya menerusi SMS. Aku terima sahaja, tapi tolonglah...sangat klise mesej-mesej berbentuk keinsafan. Aku selalu tertanya-tanya apakah motif mesej panjang-panjang ini. Adakah SMS sebegini akan mengubah pendirian individu yang tak tergerak walaupun disogok khutbah Jumaat, tazkirah terawikh, rancangan agama dan mesej-mesej keagamaan di media massa?

Tetapi aku suka mesej Hari Raya yang kelakar-kelakar. Aku hendak mengucapkan terima kasih bagi mereka yang rajin merangka mesej SMS Raya yang unik dan kelakar. Aku pun cuba jugak, cuma sindiran aku kadang-kadang buat orang terasa. Sebagai contoh: "Isap rokok batal hukumnya, Wajib x buat terawikh beria, Kalau macam ni waktu berpuasa, Baik xyah sambut hari raya...".

7. Pengedar mercun dan bunga api popular. Aku sendiri belanja RM500 tahun ini membeli "perkakas hiburan". Mercun sekarang dah tak macam dulu. Budak-budak sekarang pun dah tak macam dulu. Dalam zaman permainan komputer seperti Halo, setakat bunga api cap kucing memang budak-budak tak layan. Sekarang minimum Thunder Clap. Malah, aku tengok katalog "dealer", macam-macam jenis baru diperkenalkan. Ada nama "Osama" - amat sesuai untuk pasukan ekstremis yang semakin menjadi-jadi di Malaysia (asyik bersyarah dan mengata orang lain aja kerja).

Aku rasa lebih baik mercun dan bunga api dijadikan barang kawalan daripada diharamkan. Bila diharamkan tetapi tidak begitu diharamkan, apa bezanya? Baik dibenarkan tetapi harus berdaftar dan mengikut spesifikasi tertentu. Dapat pula cukai tambahan. Ada QC bunga api. Hehehehe...idea bodoh tatkala nak raya.



6. Orang Islam jadi teramat malas. Aku ingat lagi di USJ, Subang, ada kedai kegemaran masakan Kelantan. Dia cuti sebulan sebelum Raya, dan sebulan SELEPAS Raya! Dua bulan bercuti. Contoh macam ini banyak aku nampak dalam perniagaan orang Melayu. Sudahlah kita kebelakang, kemudian kita harus mengejar masa sebab tanggungjawab agama banyak (seperti solat Jumaat yang menghilangkan 2 jam dari produktiviti pekerja. Masalahnya, adakah kita ganti 2 jam ini dengan balik pukul 7? Tidak jugak!), lepas tuh nak jadi pemalas pula. Kononnya sibuk beraya. Jangan tipu. Duduk kampung sekarang goyang kaki, makan banyak.

Sebab itu, dulu waktu aku kerja makan gaji, aku tak suka cuti panjang untuk Raya. Bukan sebab aku ni terlebih rajin. Sebab aku perasan, kerja memang langsung tidak ada sekitar musim perayaan. Masuklah ke pejabat, duduk bukak komputer, keluar makan lama-lama, pergi membeli belah (waktu aku di Maxis) dan balik awal. Aku rasa orang yang tidak balik kampung, dan hanya nak duduk rumah sahaja, lebih baik simpan cuti tu. Pergi je pejabat. Macam cuti juga!

5. Jualan murah berlambak. Tetapi aku macam ada syak wasangka harga barang-barang telah dinaikkan untuk musim perayaan kemudian diberi diskaun. Walau apapun, waktu inilah orang semua keluar membeli baju melayu, samping, tempah baju kurung, dan beli songkok. Mesti ramai yang tak tahu bahawa sebelum Raya adalah masa paling lumayan bagi penjual kereta sebab ramai orang kita nak bawak kereta baru untuk Raya. Bukan itu sahaja, perabot baru, karpet baru, malah sekarang ni mungkin muka baru, semuanya menjadi pilihan!

Semua gedung beli-belah memainkan lagu-lagu Raya dan tema Raya. Eih, bukan gedung beli-belah sahaja - pusat hiburan KTV, kelab malam, pusat urut pun pandai buat mood raya (aku dengar cerita laaa...). Inilah baru dinamakan 1Malaysia. Cuma peliknya, aku rasa diorang lebih beria-ria sambut Krismas dan Gong Xi Fa Cai dari Hari Raya. Kalau 2 perayaan itu, kadang-kadang lebih sebulan sebelum dah mula main lagu Krismas. Mungkinkah sebab 2 perayaan itu, terutamanya Krismas, lebih santai dan meriah?

4. Mungkin juga, sebab dalam nak dekat-dekat Raya ni banyak la pulak stesen radio mainkan lagu Raya. Lagu Raya memang klasik tapi tahulah, sedih semacam kebanyakannya. Bukan aku tak suka, tapi sampai ke hari ini asyik-asyik 3-4 set lagu sahaja yang boleh diterima pakai umum. Cubaan terbaru banyak kecundang, walaupun letak 2-3 orang sekali nyanyi satu lagu (perlukah Radio DJ pun nak jadi penyanyi?).

Mungkin juga lagu Raya ini kena ikut formula tertentu - beat sama ada perlahan atau rancak tetapi tidak boleh ada elemen teknologi (kalau rancak kena ikut rentak kompang/gendang), lirik ceria nak mampus atau lirik nak mampus (tidak boleh di antara), dan kena ada sedikit seruling/tabla/ghazal. Bunkface mungkin boleh cuba buat lagu raya, tetapi aku rasa Nassier Wahab pasti lebih berjaya.

3. Bukan lagu Raya sahaja ada formula. Cerita Raya lagilah klise. Setiap tahun stesen TV menjanjikan rancangan menarik untuk seisi keluarga. Wajib kena ada katalog cerita Melayu 2-3 tahun lapuk. Aku lagi suka kalau dia campur dengan cerita klasik macam Mira Edora (oh Julia Rais). Tetapi aku tahu stesen TV dah ada formula kena tunjuk cerita David Teoh satu, cerita Senario satu. Malah tahun ini, aku tengok Astro promosi "marathon" Senario. Yang tengah "hot" sekarang juga cerita rempit motor dan kereta. Baguslah, beri pendedahan awal kepada budak-budak Melayu tentang masa depan mereka. Aku suka.

Juga wajib dalam pelan siaran adalah cerita Bollywood. Ini adalah satu fakta menarik tentang orang Melayu. Mereka gemar menonton filem Bollywood, sehinggakan di Hari Raya, mereka lebih sanggup membuat perancangan beraya sekitar cerita Bollywood. Lebih banyak menari dan menyanyi, lebih banyak hero mati hidup kembali, lebih beria orang Melayu nak tengok cerita Bollywood. Pelik juga, sebab makcik-makcik ini jugalah yang beria-ria anti-India bila cerita tentang hak Melayu.

Tidak lupa juga kepada rancangan muzikal yang memang jadi teramat meloyakan. Dulu waktu aku kecik-kecik, memang satu family di Gelugor akan menonton rancangan muzikal pada malam Raya dan juga konsert-konsert selepas Raya. Itu sebab aku ni banyak katalog lagu Melayu. Tetapi aku perasan generasi baru macam adik aku memang tak layan muzikal-muzikal macam ini. Aku pun dah naik bosan. Aku rasa kalau amik 10 tahun lepas M. Nasir nyanyi lagu "Satu Hari di Hari Raya", mainkan tahun ini, tiada sesiapa pun akan kisah. Sekarang ni senang. Campak je budak-budak rancangan realiti TV atas pentas buat lawak dan menyanyi. Masalahnya, orang tak kenal pun...(tidak sempat jadi terkenal).

Akhir sekali, dan ini "favourite" aku, drama Raya. Konsep drama Raya tidak pernah berubah. Terbahagi kepada dua - Keinsafan atau Komedi. Malam Raya biasanya mesti ada cerita keinsafan. Pengarah popular untuk benda-benda sesak nafas sebegini adalah Rashid Sibir. Hah, yang terkenal dengan shot 5 minit mak tengah menangis di dapur, tapi konon artistik sebab ambil dari angle bawah dagu. Pelakon paling popular sudah tentulah Fauziah Nawi. Sama ada anak dia mati, suami dia mati, atau dia sendiri mati - yang penting mesti ada orang mati dalam drama keinsafan.

2. Dan yang paling wajib tatkala musim Raya sudah tentulah iklan Raya. Dulu, memang berbaloi syarikat gergasi berbelanja besar mengeluarkan wang menghasilkan mini-filem mengenai Hari Raya. Tetapi semenjak dua menjak, aku perasan banyak juga iklan yang dikitar semula. Adakah semenjak pemergian Yasmin Ahmad, sudah tiada lagi semangat menghasilkan iklan raya? Atau adakah sebab ramai dari kalangan "target demographics" dah menghabiskan masa melayan NCIS atau E!News sampai tiada penonton iklan raya?

Tahun ini iklan raya paling hot dan viral adalah iklan raya TV3. Aku rasa syarikat aku pun tak lama lagi nak buat iklan kontroversi macam TV3. Orang yang tak layan iklan Raya pun tengok. Orang bukan Islam pun lebih banyak menonton iklan ini dari orang Islam, aku rasalah. Ini menaikkan profil TV3. Mungkin 2 tahun lagi, syarikat aku nak buat iklan Raya tapi dilakonkan oleh pelakon Mak Salleh. Woooo...bayangkan muka cam Megan Fox kacau dodol, atau Scarlett Johansson ikat ketupat. Mesti famous.

Hah? Korang tak tahu pasal iklan TV3 penuh kontroversi itu? Alah, cari je rakan baik korang. Namanya Google. Cuba tanya. Pendapat aku senang - manusia akan nampak apa yang minda dia ingin nampak. Sebagai contoh, setiap hari aku tengok cermin aku nampak George Clooney.

1. Setiap Raya tidak lengkap tanpa...duit raya! Dengan duit raya, baju raya, kuih raya, kereta raya...tahun ini aku memang kena seluk ke dalam poket sedalam yang mungkin. Sekarang ni status sebagai boss membuatkan anak-anak buah aku (atau lebih tepat lagi, ibu bapa mereka) mengharapkan aku menyumbang duit raya macam Bill Gates. Aku pun suka kasi duit raya sebenarnya. Lagi banyak aku boleh kasi, maksudnya lagi bagus perniagaan aku kan? Tapi takut nanti bila aku takde duit, harapan duit raya sama macam zaman aku ada duit. Hmmm...ini motivasi untuk sentiasa banyak duit!

Aku nak tahu sama ada sesuai atau tidak duit raya melalui Maybank2u? Kenapa tidak sesuai? Tahun lepas aku kasi duit raya kat mak aku pakai Maybank2u, banyak pulak tuh, tapi dia merajuk cakap nak duit raya dalam sampul.

Apa-apapun aku nak ingatkan semua supaya berhati-hati bila berbelanja dan memandu di jalan raya. Selamat menyambut Hari Raya Aidilfitri.