Khmer Fence Paintings

Photo by Khmer Kampuchea.

World's richest woman wants people to work for her $2 a day

Gina Rinehart is not averse to controversial statements. As recently as last week, she hit the headlines when she told Australians to ‘spend less time drinking or smoking and socialising, and more time working’.

Her comments on Wednesday drew immediate criticism from Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

‘It's not the Australian way to toss people $2, to toss them a gold coin, and then ask them to work for a day.

‘We support proper Australian wages and decent working conditions.’

Ms Rinehart also attacked the Australian government, accusing them of not being competitive enough on the international markets, and added: ‘If we competed at the Olympic Games as sluggishly as we compete economically there would be an outcry.’

Her outburst came a day after iron ore giant Fortescue announced it would defer planned developments.

Last month BHP Billiton shelved its multi-billion dollar expansion of the Olympic Dam copper and uranium mine.

Australian mining projects have faced headwinds from depressed conditions in Europe and the United States, softening growth in China and increased competition from other producers as well as falling commodity prices.

The price of iron ore, a crucial ingredient in steelmaking, has fallen dramatically in the past two months as the Chinese economy slows, while the price of coal, another major Australian export, has also dropped sharply.

Prime Minister Gillard insisted that Australia would continue to be competitive in mining.

'We're going to compete on our great mineral deposits, our application of technology and high skills to the task. We mine differently than in other countries,' she said.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2198868/Gina-Rinehart-Worlds-richest-woman-calls-Australian-workers-paid-2-day.html

Lots of Gold Fish

"55 Interesting Facts About The Human Mind"

1. The mind is typically defined as the organized totality or system of all mental processes or psychic activities of an individual.^c
2. Many philosophers hold that the brain is a detector of the mind and that the mind is an inner, subjective state of consciousness.^h
3. Philosophers have used a variety of metaphors to describe the mind, including a blank sheet, a hydraulic device with different forces operating in it, or a television switchboard.^h
4. Attempts to understand the mind go back at least to the ancient Greeks. Plato, for example, believed that the mind acquired knowledge through virtue, independently of sense experience. Descartes and Leibniz also believed the mind gained knowledge through thinking and reasoning—or, in other words, rationalism.^c
5. In contrast to rationalists, empiricists, such as Aristotle, John Locke, and David Hume, believe that the mind gains knowledge from experience.^c
6. Combining both rationalism and empiricism, Kant argued that human knowledge depends on both sense experience and innate capacities of the mind.^c
7. Scientists are unsure if other types of animals have a mind or if some man-made machines could ever possess a mind.^h
8. Historically, there have been three major schools of thought that describe the relationship of the brain and the mind: 1) dualism, which holds that the mind exists independently from the brain; 2) materialism, which argues that the mind is identical to the physical processes of the brain; and 3) idealism, which posits that only mental phenomena exist.ⁱ
9. Scientists propose that the human mind evolved largely through the sexual choices our ancestors made, similar to the way a peacock’s tail evolved through sexual selection.^h
Brand names have a strong influence on the mind
10. In one study, a group of experimenters were given unlabeled samples of both Pepsi and Coke. Not a single tester could tell the difference between the two. The test was repeated with the correct labels attached. Three out of the four testers chose Coke. In fact, the Coke label activated parts of the brain associated with the mind (memory, self-image, and culture) that the Pepsi label didn’t.ⁱ
11. Most scientists argue that there is no evidence that playing classical music to babies increases the power of their mind. However, children who learn to play a musical instrument can develop their mental skills further than those who don’t learn a musical instrument.ⁱ
12. Early-life stress negatively affects the mind. Abuse, neglect, and harsh or inconsistent discipline in early life increases the risk of depression and anxiety as well as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease.ⁱ
13. The term “mind” is from the Old English gemynd, or “memory,” and the Proto-Indo-European verbal root *men-, meaning “to think, remember.” The use of “mind” to refer to all mental faculties, thought, feelings, memory, and volition developed gradually over the 14th and 15th centuries.ⁱ
14. The NSF estimates that a human brain produces as many as 12,000 to 50,000 thoughts per day, depending on how deep a thinker a person is. Most of the so-called random daily thoughts are about our social environment and ourselves.^j
15. Buddha described the mind as being filled with drunken monkeys who jumped, screeched, and chatted endlessly. Fear, according to Buddha, was an especially loud monkey. Buddha taught meditation as a way to tame the “drunken monkeys” in the mind.^e
16. A group of scientists from Cal Tech and UCLA have developed a way for epilepsy patients who have had electrodes implanted inside their brains to control a computer mouse with their minds.^l
17. The Stanford Prison Experiment is an infamous experiment that took average people and randomly assigned them to be either guards or prisoners. After a few days, the prisoners and guards became grossly absorbed in their roles. The experiment revealed how readily the human mind accepts authority and institutional ideologies.^b
18. A single descriptive word can manipulate how the mind remembers an event. For example, in a 1974 experiment, 45 people watched the film of a car accident. Different groups of people were asked how fast the cars were going using different trigger words, such as “hit,” “smashed,” “collided,” bumped,” and “contacted.” The group whose question included the word “smashed” estimated the cars were going 10 mph faster than the group whose word was “contacted.” A week later, when participants were asked about broken glass, those who were asked more forceful trigger words reported that there was broken glass even though there was none.ⁱ
19. Studies show that people are able to group items in short-term memory into roughly seven units that allow them to hold more individual items. Interestingly, many human belief systems have considered the number 7 to be a sacred number.ⁱ
20. In 1938, Orson Wells broadcasted an adaption of H.G. Wells’ War of the World on the radio. The broadcast caused mass panic in nearly 3 million of the 6 million listeners. Psychologists note that even highly educated people believed it because it was on the radio and thus “authoritative.” They also note that media manipulation of our minds is a regular art form.ⁱ
The mind of a suicidal person perceives time differently
21. Psychologists have noted that in the mind of suicidal people, time seemed to move significantly slower. The suicidal mind also had a more difficult time thinking about the future. Researchers suggest this helped the person withdraw from thinking about past failures and what was perceived as a hopeless future.^a
22. The mind of a suicidal person tends to focus increasingly on concrete thought, which is often conveyed in suicide notes. For example, suicide notes tend to be more banal and specific, such as “Don’t forget to feed the cat.” Fake suicide notes, however, tend to include more contemplative language, such as “Always be happy.” Psychologists note the suicidal mind is trying to slip into idle mental labor to avoid unpleasant emotions.^a
23. Some scientists believe that there may be universal features of the human mind that make it easier for people to believe in a higher power. In fact, brain scans of Franciscan nuns, Tibetan Buddhists, and Pentecostal Christians showed similar activity in their brains during prayer and meditation. Interestingly, both believers and atheists point to brain scans as proof of their positions.^h
24. The conscious mind includes sensations, perceptions, memories, feelings, and fantasies inside of our current awareness. The preconscious mind includes those thoughts that we are thinking at the moment but can easily draw into our conscious mind. The subconscious mind is the psychic activity that operates below the level of awareness.^h
25. Studies show that people clean up more if there is a faint smell of cleaning liquid in the air, they become more competitive if they see a briefcase, and they become more cooperative if they glimpse words like “dependable”—all without being aware of the change or what triggered it. Scientists note that this shows how everyday sights, smells, and sounds, can activate the subconscious mind.^d
26. Mind control is the unethical use of manipulative techniques to persuade others to conform to the wishes of the manipulator. It was first recorded during the Korean War.ⁱ
27. During the famous Milgram Experiment (1961), 65% of volunteers gave what they thought was a fatal dose of electric shock to someone when told to do so, even though less than 1% said they would in a pre-experiment survey. The study showed that the human mind does not necessarily operate based on personality but rather on the roles we are asked to play to make society move smoothly.^b
Project MKUltra was an illegal program that led to Senate hearings in 1977
28. The CIA reportedly created a project called Project MK-ULTRA to experiment with mind control using LSD. They even tried to use the drug as a way to completely wipe the memories of retiring CIA agents.ⁱ
29. One of the crueler mind experiments was conducted by psychologist Harry Harlow who studied severe maternal deprivation. He separated a baby monkey from its mother and raised it in a cage with two substitute mothers. One mother was made from wire and had a bottle. The other mother was made from cloth, but didn’t have a bottle. As soon the infant finished nursing, it would cling to the cloth monkey. When the experimenters introduced frightening stimulus into the cage, the monkeys ran to the cloth monkey for protection. The monkeys grew up with severe emotional and behavioral problems.^b
30. Scientists believe that the mind forgets in order to avoid information overload, to think more quickly, assimilate new information easier, and to avoid emotional hangovers.ⁱ
31. Solomon Shereshevsky was a Russian journalist who couldn’t forget. He suffered from synesthesia, a phenomenon in which one sense (for example, vision) stimulates another sense (such as hearing). Solomon’s extreme synesthesia led him to taste, smell, and see vivid images in conjunction with numbers and sounds. Because a single word could trigger a flood of memories and associations, he had a difficult time reading a book or having a simple conversation.ⁱ
32. The human mind has a difficult time differentiating the innate from the environmental. In other words, if the mind is used to interpreting the world a certain way, it expects that the world is that way naturally and unalterably. For example, for many people, the color pink is naturally feminine and blue is naturally male. However, in the 1920s, parents dressed boys in pink because it was a watered down version of red, which was seen as masculine and fierce. Girls were dressed in pale blue because it was associated with the Virgin Mary.ⁱ
33. In 1965, a botched circumcision burned away David Reimer’s entire penis. Doctors decided to raise him as a girl, and removed his testicles and fashioned female genitalia. His parents changed his name to Brenda. He finally learned at age 14 that he was a boy, and later committed suicide at age 38. He reported that what they did to his body was not as bad as what they did to his mind.ⁱ
Both nature and nurture influence the human mind
34. More than 100 studies show that about half of crime is largely under genetic control. Environmental factors such as parenting, poverty, and discrimination account for the other half. In other words, nature and nurture are both important in developing the mind.^g
35. When the mind recalls a memory, it’s not the original memory. In fact, the act of remembering is an act of creative reimagination. The put-together memory doesn’t just have a few holes; it also has some entirely new bits pasted in.ⁱ
36. Research has proven how easy it is to create false memories through the force of suggestion. Psychologists found that if they repeated questions (e.g. hugging Bugs Bunny at Disney World—an impossibility) and invited the mind to imagine sensory detail (do you remember stroking Bugs Bunny’s velvety ears), a person would begin to believe it was an actual event.ⁱ
37. The mind can practice new tasks, such as learning a new piece of music during REM sleep. REM sleep also appears to boost performance with tasks involving procedural memory, or the subconscious “how-to” knowledge that a person uses when walking, riding a bike, or performing most physical tasks.ⁱ
38. Most people assume that our conscious mind continues until the end of day and then picks up after we wake up. Scientists argue, however, that dreaming is a phenomenon that’s just as visceral and immediate as consciousness is and that since we spend roughly 20 years asleep, dreams should be considered an alternate reality.ⁱ
39. Advertisers use mind illusions to make their products more appealing. For example, they produce condiment bottles with long necks because the mind is better at judging size than volume. Bottles of maple syrup are narrow at the base but bulge in the middle because that is where a person is most likely to look.ⁱ
40. The moon appears to be much larger than usual when it’s low in the sky because the mind interprets the size of the moon in relation to distant objects and the horizon. But when the moon is high in the sky, the mind has no such frame of reference, and so the moon appears smaller.ⁱ
41. Scientists note that the mind is a giant pattern-making machine. It invents shapes and identifiable things to explain odd patterns in arrangements. The mind can also block out things it wants to ignore, such as the tactile sensation of clothes rubbing on a person’s skin or a person’s own body odor.ⁱ
42. The mind’s power of expectation can blind people to facts and lure them into unwitting conjecture in virtually every way they perceive the world. For example, testers in a study responded differently to an odor that they sniffed out of a test tube depending on whether they were told that it was fancy cheese or human waste.ⁱ
43. The mind stores memories in different ways, although the boundaries are not always clear cut: short-term memory (working memory), long-term memory (declarative memory), and procedural memory (“how-to” memory associated with physical skills such as shoe tying). Procedural memory is remarkably durable and is even able to survive the ravages of diseases like Alzheimer’s.ⁱ
Scientists are unsure why we forget
44. Scientists are unsure how things are forgotten; in other words, they are unsure what makes a person unable to remember even long-term memories. New research shows that people don’t necessarily forget, they simply lose the ability to retrieve older, rarely visited memories.ⁱ
45. Short-term memory is linked to current electrical activity taking place in a person’s neurons, or the pattern of signal transmission that goes through the brain. Long-term memory, however, depends on permanent physical changes in the brain.ⁱ
46. A human’s eye is able to see fine detail in only a small sliver of its visual field. However, the mind uses saccades (quick, automatic eye movements) to compensate for this weakness. The eye performs two or three saccades each second to give the mind a single, seamless whole. When a person is severely drunk, the saccades slow down, and the mind begins to see the world as the eye perceives it, a patch of sharpness surrounded by a blurry field.ⁱ
47. The placebo (Latin for “I will please”) effect occurs when the mind believes that a certain medication will help them when the medicine in fact has no proven therapeutic effects for a particular condition.ⁱ
48. Studies show that 50-70% of doctor visits can be traced to psychological reasons.ⁱ
49. A study of nearly 1 million students in New York showed that those who ate lunches without preservatives, dyes, and other additives performed 14% better on IQ tests.ⁱ
50. Memories that are triggered by scent have some of the strongest emotional connections and appear more intense than other memory triggers.ⁱ
51. The mind wanders about 30% of the time and sometimes as much as 70%, say, for example, when someone is driving down an uncrowded freeway.ⁱ
52. Researchers found that distorting body image can change the mind’s perception of pain. Subjects who viewed their wounded hands through the wrong end of binoculars, which made their hand look smaller, experienced decreased pain and decreased swelling. However, those who looked at the wounded hand through the right side of the binoculars, which made the hand look larger, experienced increased pain.ⁱ
53. Some researchers argue that the Internet is changing the structure of our brains, which changes the mind’s ability to think and to learn. Specifically, the Internet overstimulates the part of the brain involved in temporary memory so that deep thinking and creativity become increasingly difficult.^f
54. Researchers note that like a mathematical formula, which is a statement about a number represented by a number, the mind trying to understand the nature of the mind introduces a certain paradoxical “loopiness.” Scientists use the famous Escher print of a right hand drawing a left hand that in turn is drawing a right hand as a visual example of this paradox.^k
55. The mind imagines objects slightly from above and tilted. For example, researchers asked people around the world to draw a coffee cup. Almost everyone drew a coffee cup from a perspective slightly above the cup looking down and offset a little to the right or left. No one drew it looking straight down from above. This uniformity in perspective has been dubbed the “canonical perspective.”ⁱ

-- Posted July 24, 2012

Source: http://facts.randomhistory.com/human-mind-facts.html

"Get Rich Slowly"

345

Gisa says:

10 June 2012 at 4:12 am

Although, most people equate money with power these days, it is because they have been led to believe it is true by people who have the money. The rich use their money like magic to con the masses into thinking they are wizards of everyone’s fate. You know what, As long as you let them, they actually are the masters of your fate! As long as they make you fearful of their power and envious of their lifestyle, you will always be opressed. As long as they convince you that nothing worthwhile in life can be done without money you, my friend, are screwed! (not as much by them but, by yourself)

If the poor really were sick of it, instead of just hiding their envy of the rich in rebellious talk and bravado, they would simply say “no” to the rich by not giving them their money and labor so easily, stop wanting things the rich wizards peddle to them. If the poor would tend to themselves by cutting their own grass and fixing their own clogged drains instead of the rich’s things might change. That will almost certainly never be done though because the envy most poor have for the rich’s wealth, power and lifestyle will always trump their need for true freedom from opression no matter how much they whine otherwise. This is because they fear losing more of the things the rich tell them they have to have. i.e.- the longest, most comfortable life possible while living in physical security provided by a “bully” class goverment that serves only the rich. Ironically, that “bully” class can be rich or poor because all it takes is someone thinking they know better than you or someone that will enforce another’s will for their own gain. 

The middle class (police, non-elected officials, teachers, and private management) are usually (while mostly oblivious) used by the rich as enforcers of their policies by dangling the carrot of upward mobility in front of them while reminding them that they can just as easily end up poor if they fail to please their master. 

The fact is, true freedom brings great responsibility. Just as much as you may be free to responsibly live well, you can carelessly die free just as quick.

People who say they want true freedom yet would be the first to dial the police when someone tries to break into their home or wait for the city ran fire department to arrive when their kids “easy bake” oven catches fire instead of putting it out themselves are just plain phonies to the whole idea of true freedom, economic or otherwise. They want the benifits but not the responsibilities of being free of tyranical economic and social systems. They cry “freedom from economic and social opression” while ratting you out to the building inspector for not having a hot water heater properly vented in your home or call someone to take away your kid when you don’t parent the way they would. GIVE ME A BREAK!

As long as the poor keep being envious of the rich, there will always be rich people eager to rub it in their faces. 

As long as the poor want power not just for their own lives but, also power to “get even” with the rich and “bully class” they aren’t any better than their opressors. 

As long as the poor keep watching other poor be bullied around by the “bully class”, and do nothing about it because they fear risking anything, they will always live in fear of bullies that follow the policy of the rich or powerful.

That’s just they way it is folks.

----------------------------------------------------------------

316

victor says:

03 November 2011 at 6:20 pm

I was a brick layer for 20 years. When I left home I had a 15 Year old car and one box of clothes. I work 70 hours a week laying brick making 7 dollars an hour and was never paid overtime. I lived on half and saved the other half to invest in real estate. I started by
buyer homes and lived in them while I fixed them up then I either rented them out or sold them depending on what was best. I got married at 22 and am still married to the same great lady. We now own 40 rentals and have started an auction company, a real estate company and just 4 months ago partnered in a Furniture store.

We are creating jobs while people are getting laid off and we rent out over half of our rentals to older people on fixed incomes for alot lower rent then other people because we can. We now have a Net worth over a million dollars and there was no help or easy road. It is not easy to live on 10000 a year with 3 kids, but we were committed. We both came from poor familys and wanted something different.

If you read the book which I did a long time ago and open your mind you will find that many things he says are basic and do work,
If you live on half of your income and save your money then when an oppertunity comes along your will have the means to grab it while those who do not live below their means can only cry about the rich get richer.

Our parents never wanted to set up a budget or cut back on their expenses even though they made a lot more then us now they say that we should give them money to help them pay their bill, but of course they only want our money not our help to live with in their means. We know that someday we will have to take care of them and we will but until they are willing to let us help with their budget they will not get any money from us.


Now that we have are where we are no one remembers the 70 hour work weeks or the back breaking work I did for 20 year. We still do not own expensive cars or homes, but I do not have to work if I do not want to. Now I can spend time with my kids (13, 10, 8. I worked very very very hard to be able to get the time with my kids.
I had no desire to be (RICH), Just wanted to created an income that would continue if I broke my arm or back. I have created many different streams of income, and We now have (ENOUGH). My idea of rich is enough income that will pay my few bills with out having to work if I chose not to.

The True millionare next door does not look like the idea that lower and middle class people think they look like.

A true millionare will look like normal middle class people.
No one knows we are worth a million, because we look and act like middle class people and drive ford and chev. I have no desire to look and act like the fake rich who drive BMW (BIG MONEY WASTE)cars and million dollar homes. We buy our clothes at garage sales and good will stores we buy used cars and still live on 15000 a year.
If you would just open your mind and try to learn instead of feeling sorry for your self and live on half of what you make you might become LUCKY.

If you continue to live to impress the JONESES you will always be in debt and always be poor crying about how unfair it is.

We get (LUCK) because We now have the means and the ablitiy to see a oppertunity and to Act on it instead of watching from the sidelines buried in debt. We also have other people bringing oppertunities to us because they see and know that we can swing them

The media is very good at spinning things to fit their needs. Right now to get the most votes they need to make the 98% feel sorry for themselves so they will vote the way they want. Lets face it alot of people will not live with in their means and the goverment is a reflection of the people. They have alot and we have none that is not fair, take from them and give it to us because we do not know how to manage our money and we need more to blow so we can still be broke.

If the 98% won the lottery they would still be poor, because they would spend it and then it would be gone, but they would complain about the taxes that they had to pay. The (RICH) would invest it so that they would have a continues income for the rest of their life without touching the priciple.

If the goverment cared about the poor people it would be teaching personnel finance in Jr high and high school. The goverment does not want you to learn, because no one would need their programs. Then alot of them would lose their (JOBS)and then taxes for everone could go down.

Please before you slam the book read it. It just might change your life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Source: http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2011/11/01/what-are-the-differences-between-the-rich-and-the-poor/comment-page-3/#comments

Mizo girls performing bamboo dance

What made me happy as a boy.

Catching fighting fish

Catching dragon fly

Catching butterfly

Catching frog

Fishing

Making & flying kite

Making & throwing paper airplane

Making gun out of condense milk can, bamboo and rubber band

Fill plastic bag with water and throw it up the roof and tell other people it’s raining

Look after chicken and ducks, and the little chick and duckling were so much fun

Riding bike

Playing with bullet, take out the tip, gunpowder, use a pair of bamboo, nail and rubber band to make a projectile bomb

Playing hop scotch

Skipping rope

Playing marble with other children to win more marbles by rolling your marble closer to the target, whoever closer win

Throwing a rubber thong shoe into a pile of rubber bands, whatever comes out of the circle, you keep, and you play with other people

Playing snake and ladder

As a child I had born into a very poor and neglectful parents. I was most timid and afraid to ask them for anything. I attended school when I was about 6 year old. I sharpen my pencil with a knife for nearly a year and it wasn’t easy as sometimes I cut my finger. Then one day dad came home with a pencil sharpener, I was trembling with joy.

Making and creating paper origami 

"100 Things That Make Me Happy"

Happiness is a choice and we all deserve to be happy. At any moment in our lives, we can change our mindset and choose to be happy.

One way that we can use to be happy is by creating a list of things that make us happy. This is a great motivational tool that we can use when we are feeling down. Just pick something from your list when you need to feel happy or just need a pick-me-up.

Of course, what makes me happy will not be the same as what makes you happy. Only you can answer the question of ‘What Makes You Happy?”

I thought that I would share with you my own personal list (in no particular order).

Here are 100 Things That Make Me Happy.

1. Chocolate. I am a woman, after all

2. Having a sense of purpose in life.

3. Having a family that loves me no matter what and knowing that they will be there for me when I need them.

4. Knowing that my Mom is being taken care of.

5. Knowing that I can afford to support myself and be independent.

6. Having friends who put up with me, even though I drive them crazy sometimes

7. Being able to write articles that touch other people.

8. Buying any book that I want, whenever I want to.

9. Taking the time to read my favourite books over and over and over again with no interruptions.

10. Taking up writing again and publishing articles on my own site.

11. Publishing an article that I worked really hard writing.

12. Learning something new.

13. Helping someone solve a problem in their life, especially if it’s something that has been an issue for a long time.

14. Being given a compliment, particularly when I’m feeling down.

15. Having someone say Yes to me when I was sure that they would say No.

16. Being debt-free and not owing any money to anyone.

17. Going to see a movie with my best friend.

18. Being asked for advice because someone respects my opinion.

19. Sleeping in on a Saturday morning and not having any firm plans for the day.

20. It makes me happy knowing that I’ve travelled to some places in the world that others haven’t.

21. Going for a walk with no destination in mind.

22. Knowing that I have invested in my future and my retirement funds are growing daily.

23. Watching HDTV on my big screen LCD TV.

24. Receiving money in the mail or my Paypal account unexpectedly.

25. Watching The Mummy and The Mummy Returns back-to-back. They are two of my favourite movies.

26. Getting an email from a reader telling me how something I’ve written has helped them.

27. An unexpected hug from a family member.

28. Smelling freshly-mown grass and feeling it under my bare feet.

29. Being pleasantly surprised by someone special.

30. Doing what I want, when I want to.

31. Travelling to Las Vegas every year makes me happy and it gives me something to look forward to.

32. Going out to dinner with friends.

33. Receiving flowers, particularly my favourites – tulips.

34. Getting an unexpected bonus at work.

35. Working on my site and knowing that I’m making a difference.

36. Receiving a phone call from a friend out of the blue and talking to them for hours.

37. Looking out my balcony and just enjoying the street scene below.

38. Knowing that I graduated university and that no one can take my credentials away from me since I accomplished them.

39. Going on a picnic on a nice warm summer day.

40. Being responsible for my own happiness. It’s kind of circular, I know. But, it’s also true.

41. Knowing that I am not just sitting around, but am actively working on creating a better future.

42. Going outside and enjoying nature.

43. Calling someone who I’ve been thinking of and making their day.

44. Listening to some jazz music on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

45. Being asked to guest-post on other sites. It makes me happy to be asked.

46. Attending a concert of one of my favourite singers.

47. Going swimming and feeling the water all around me.

48. Attending birthday parties and celebrating with friends and family.

49. Being appreciated at work and feeling that what I do makes a difference.

50. Having supportive friends who give me great advice when I particularly need it.

51. Having clean, crisp sheets on my bed.

52. Being inside when there’s a thunderstorm outside. Being able to watch thunder and lightning and seeing the majesty of mother nature.

53. Recognizing some Spanish phrases from my two Spanish night-courses and being able to speak it a little bit.

54. Getting a letter in the mail from a friend.

55. Having a guest-post published on my site and it receiving a great response.

56. Being appreciated for who I am and not what I can give.

57. Going on a long bike ride.

58. Knowing that I can book a plane ride back to Toronto and stay with friends any time I want to.

59. Looking at the posters that I brought back from Rome, Paris, and Boston hanging on my walls.

60. Reliving some of the moments I spent travelling with my friends.

61. Going on a road trip with my friends.

62. Decorating my home the way that I want it decorated and painted.

63. Being with my friends, just enjoying each other’s company.

64. Making dinner for people that I love.

65. Going camping for a long weekend.

66. Going to my favourite sushi place for lunch.

67. Three and four-day long weekends.

68. Having all my bills paid.

69. Having money in my chequing, savings, and investment accounts.

70. Eating ice cream, particularly Haagen Dazs.

71. Having a clean apartment.

72. Attending night school and learning something that I’ve always been interested in.

73. Realizing that what I thought was so hard years ago, didn’t turn out to be so hard after all.

74. Having the courage to move cities and jobs and not be stuck or settle.

75. Knowing that no matter what, I will figure things out.

76. Being able to give things to my family.

77. My new MacBook Pro computer and knowing that it’s paid for.

78. Going through my digital pictures and remembering all the great memories associated with the pictures.

79. Laughing with my friends and just being silly.

80. Seeing fireworks live, rather than on TV.

81. Writing on my next ebook and knowing that it can help so many more people.

82. Having a fully-funded emergency fund and being prepared, just in case.

83. Doing something that I thought I would never get the courage to do.

84. My online friends and the support they give me.

85. Dressing up and making an effort on my appearance makes me feel confident, which makes me feel happy.

86. Working out and feeling my sore muscles the next day. Knowing that I’m doing something for my health makes me happy.

87. Looking at my vision board and knowing that I’ve already accomplished some things that are on there.

88. Going to the grocery store and buying my favourite foods, and not caring what they cost.

89. Coming up with the perfect word when I’m struggling with my writing.

90. Getting great feedback from the readers of my site.

91. Seeing people share my articles with others.

92. Watching my favourite cartoons, especially episodes that I haven’t seen before.

93. Reading a new book and being wonderfully surprised at good it was and then sharing it with my friends.

94. Walking to work through the grounds of the Legislature Building with the water fountain, green grass, and beautiful statues every weekday.

95. Learning from my past mistakes and growing as a person.

96. Giving what I can to other people who are less fortunate than I am.

97. A good night’s sleep.

98. Being creative and making something crafty with my hands.

99. Getting out my paints, brushes and easel and just starting to paint.

100. It makes me happy knowing that I don’t have any major health concerns, unlike so many others.

Source: http://www.ameaningfulexistence.com/2010/07/12/100-things-that-make-me-happy/

"Bruce Lee Physical Feats as a Real Fighter "

Despite his back injury that remained for rest of his life,

Lee's striking speed from three feet with his hands down by his side reached five hundredths of a second.

Lee could take in one arm a 75 lb barbell from a standing position with the barbell held flush against his chest and slowly stick his arms out locking them, holding the barbell there for 20 seconds.

Lee's combat movements were at times too fast to be captured on film for clear slow motion replay using the traditional 24 frames per second of that era, so many scenes were shot in 32 frames per second for better clarity.

In a speed demonstration, Lee could snatch a dime off a person's open palm before they could close it, and leave a penny behind.

Lee would hold an elevated v-sit position for 30 minutes or longer.

Lee could throw grains of rice up into the air and then catch them in mid-flight using chopsticks. - Witnessed by many such as Joe Hyams

Lee could thrust his fingers through unopened cans of Coca-Cola. (This was when soft drinks cans were made of steel much thicker than today's aluminum cans).

Lee performed one-hand push-ups using only the thumb and index finger.

Lee performed 50 reps of one-arm chin-ups.

Lee could break wooden boards 6 inches (15 cm) thick.

Lee could cause a 300-lb (136 kg) bag to fly towards and thump the ceiling with a sidekick. ( According to Bob Wall, he has the video tape of him kicking 300lb bag towards the ceiling.)

Lee performed a sidekick while training with James Coburn and broke a 150 lb (68 kg) punching bag.

In a move that has been dubbed "Dragon Flag", Lee could perform leg lifts with only his shoulder blades resting on the edge of a bench and suspend his legs and torso horizontal midair.

Bruce lee was able to jump 8 feet from a stand still (this was shown in pictures and his films such as the one where he kicked the lightbulb out).

"There are no limits." - Bruce Lee

 

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXP6trDByRQ

"Do US own the world?"

"Do US own the world?"Not yet. But it is going there fast. The choice presented today for the West is either total control of the world or collapse of their economic system. West cannot compete with the real economy run by all 3rd world countries plus China, Russia, Brazil, etc.The salary in West is 10 times higher then its profitability. The rest of 9 parts of 10 of these salaries are coming from the other countries that are dominated financially by the West. So West is collapsing fast and it needs a game changing event. That is the next big war about.As it stands right now, West has 70[[]%]-80[[]%] of world conventional advanced weaponry. It also developed a lot of expertise in the past 10-15 years on urban warfare. So it will be very hard for the West to loose the next conflagration. For that to happen, they will have to make a lot of mistakes, which is almost impossible to think that in this age of fast communication they will do.In the end its all about money.

The West did not loose their grip on the world. On the contrary, the only thing they change is going into fast gear mode on the new strategy: - destruction of old regimes followed by re-construction with puppet governments.What we see today in Libya, Afghanistan, Irak, even Egypt and now Syria is a new strategy involving deconstructing society to the core (involving al-Qaeda elements, etc.) and then re-building it in West image. Remember, the new strategy is only 12 years old (the strategy is called: American Century).That is the only way West can "survive" economically with others.

Source: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/05/01/301248/us-wants-russia-to-back-down-on-syria/

iphone as a spy device

Your iPhone can be used as remote microphone recorder from anywhere in the world when trigger on/off remotely by someone without you knowing about it. Even when you turn it off, it still has enough power to record information. The only safe way is to remove the battery and guess what...to remove the battery you have to go through 18 steps and it could take you over one hour. iPhone is built not to allow you to remove its battery, to make it short, you can't take the battery out of an iPhone.

"Wikileaks: The Government Is Spying On You Through Your iPhone"

Your iPhone could be spying on you, according to the latest trove of documents from Wikileaks, which looks like it could be the biggest scandal yet.

Called the Spyfiles, it’s a trove of documents about the “mass interception industry” — the massive post-9/11 surveillance community that electronically snoops on entire populations.

The industry is selling software to government agencies — some of it delivered by Trojans — that can take over your iPhone. It can track its every use, follow your movements (even in standby), recognize your voice, record conversations, and even capture video and audio from the room it is in.

It’s not just limited to iPhones, of course. There are various spyware packages that run on PCs, Android and Blackberry. The uses are mind-boggling. The CIA, for example, is using phone-tracking software to target drone strikes in the Middle East and Central Asia. It recognizes the subject by their voice print, but the actual targeting isn’t terribly accurate.

One of the most sophisticated spying packages — The FinFisher program, produced by the British company, Gamma International — is delivered via a phony iTunes update. The Wall Street Journal has more details on the FinFisher spyware, which is sold to police and government agencies. (Der Speigel has a fascinating article about how it is marketed).

Apple just patched the vulnerability in iTunes update 10.5.1. (The vulnerability appears to be Windows only, but it’s not clear. It’s claimed Apple knew about the problem for three years).

FinFisher says the spyware is legal and the company doesn’t know of abuses. But there’s evidence spyware was used to monitor political activists in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya during the Arab Spring, according to a big story about the latest Wikileaks leak in The Washington Post:

“We are seeing a growing number of repressive regimes get hold of the latest, greatest Western technologies and use them to spy on their own citizens for the purpose of quashing peaceful political dissent or even information that would allow citizens to know what is happening in their communities,” Michael Posner, assistant secretary of state for human rights, said in a speech last month in California. “We are monitoring this issue very closely.”

The Post mostly covers the sale of this technology by U.S. companies to repressive regimes, which are using it to spy on citizens and squish political dissent. But Wikileaks claims mass surveillance systems could be widely deployed in western countries:

Surveillance companies like SS8 in the U.S., Hacking Team in Italy and Vupen in France manufacture viruses (Trojans) that hijack individual computers and phones (including iPhones, Blackberries and Androids), take over the device, record its every use, movement, and even the sights and sounds of the room it is in. Other companies like Phoenexia in the Czech Republic collaborate with the military to create speech analysis tools. They identify individuals by gender, age and stress levels and track them based on ‘voiceprints’. Blue Coat in the U.S. and Ipoque in Germany sell tools to governments in countries like China and Iran to prevent dissidents from organizing online.

Source: http://www.cultofmac.com/132782/if-you-thought-carrier-iq-scandal-was-bad-wait-till-you-see-latest-wikileaks/#3ZitQM5V1h2CLD30.99

Veal Veng - CPP stronghold

 CPP stronghold, as you can see there were lots of 4wd cars. I was inside the base to be able to take photo, and to reach here from Phnom Penh a 4wd drive car is essential.

  Food and items donation day at Veal Veng if you promise to vote me.

 Life goes on, if your power is greater than your responsibility then you are rich. If your responsibility is greater than your power then you are poor. If your responsibility and power is more or less the same then you are neither rich nor poor.

Photo by Khmer Kampuchea.

Veal Veng - last khmer rogue stronghold, was a hidden fortress full of jungle, border with thailand

  Symbol of Veal Veng, a small elephant status on an unpaved road.

  Poor, remote and cut off from Cambodia because of difficult roads. You'll need 4wd drive car to come here.

  This place used to be a big jungle, a hidden fortress for the Khmer Rouge. Illegal logging changed all that.

  A checkpoint belongs to forest rangers who protect forest in Veal Veng. They are soldiers and carry guns, especially at night time.

  A jungle of forest is turning into a barren land, still the people who live there don't have a machine facility to to make any wood to build a proper house.

Photo by Khmer Kampuchea.

"Reader's Comments", Rich People

What is money? Money is a symbol (printed paper, minted coins, a number on a bank's ledger) that represents an ability to obtain goods or services. It has this power because a government says it does. As long as people believe in that government, money distributed by it retains its value. Being rich is the state of having much more money (or access to money) than is necessary for survival. Why does being rich make some happy, and not others? Because money gives people a sense of security. Money represents, in an abstract sense, a freedom from the fear of not having what you need or want. When a person only needs or wants food, shelter, entertainment, and other material things, being rich makes them happy. When their lives are missing the things that money can't buy, like self-respect, friendship, love, and other non-material things, being rich does not make them happy. Their money does not release them from the fear of being alone, or of disliking who they are, or of being unloved. 

Here's another thought on the nature of money: Start with the idea that money represents an ability to obtain goods and services. It is distributed by a government, to government employees and through central banks. The banks redistribute the money through other banks, eventually to companies and citizens in the form of loans. Money therefore becomes not only a symbol of the power to obtain services and material goods, but also a symbol of a responsibility to provide goods and services. When this power and responsibility are balanced, one is neither rich nor poor. If power is greater than responsibility, one is rich. And if one has more responsibility than power, they are poor. The simplest example of this is a bank account. If you have some savings, say three months worth, and no loans, then you are free to decide what to do with your time and energy for the next three months. If on the other hand you have no savings, and a mortgage on your home, then you have a responsibility to work until the loan is paid off. 

Can money represent something more concrete than power and responsibility? I believe that it can. Borrowing some concepts from Thermodynamics, money represents mass and energy. Mass is the physical material that the goods are made of (usually a small portion of their monetary value), and energy is the amount of human labor required to produce the goods, or the amount of labor required in service. If a product is machine-made, then the energy required to build and run the machine is counted. This view of economics is very similar to ideas put forth by both Adam Smith in "Wealth of Nations" and Karl Marx in "Das Kapital." What is missing, however, is the acknowledgment of the Thermodynamic Law which states that mass and energy cannot be created or destroyed. What this means is that money, besides representing the ability to obtain goods and services for the person who holds it, also represents a lack of the same ability for everyone else in the world. When money is concentrated in one part of the world, the lack of that money is felt throughout the rest of the world. 

Of course one can argue that since money is nothing but a symbol, and a government can simply produce more whenever it is necessary, the conservation law should not apply. But because people must believe that their money has real value and represents mass and energy (although they probably wouldn't state it that way) in order for it to have any meaning, the conservation law is enforced. When more money is produced, instead of mass and energy being created, what we see is inflation, or devaluation of the money. The same amount of wealth is still present, there are just more pieces with less value per piece. Of course, Earth is not a closed system. We are bombarded by solar energy, and a small amount of matter and energy reach us from elsewhere in the galaxy. We also radiate and reflect heat, thereby returning some to the rest of the universe. But accumulation due to this transfer is small, and production of money outpaces it. 

So if accumulation of wealth indirectly deprives others of it, in some cases to the point of extreme poverty, is there a more fair way to distribute it? I'm glad you asked! You can send it to me. Just kidding. Socialism tried to tackle this problem, but it is not any more fair and in practice does not really work. Capitalism hopes to let things balance naturally, but interference from government and greed among some people can tilt the balance so far that it can be impossible to return it. So what choice do we have? Given the long history of well-meaning government being unable to fairly manage an economy, I believe that the best solution is to simply ask people with more than enough wealth to voluntarily give some back. I don't mean giving up everything but the bare necessities. I just mean that a person with several multi-million dollar houses should seriously consider whether they should keep all of them, knowing that each one represents a drain on the world's economy. Or maybe the owner of a large company could pay his employees a little better than what he thinks they deserve, because all of his profit represents energy spent by a worker somewhere that wasn't fairly compensated. Maybe if everyone thought about it that way, there wouldn't be any happy rich people.

If you liked this essay and think it makes sense, send it to a rich person you know (or don't know).

-- James T, July 20, 2004

Source: http://philip.greenspun.com/shared/community-member?user_id=261307

"Reader's Comments" on Rich People

Money is a resource which allows you to move energy in your direction Its not the ultimate resource (sex is closer) but it is pretty good at moving peoples asses. It should be used as a tool to extend progress.

-- dan ed, July 31, 1999

I was at a party a few weeks ago. There was a man there who said money caused happiness. I liked him because he was expressing an unpopular opinion and he did it well. The whole rest of the room was against him, maybe 16 people. They were all clamouring for the chance to tell him how wrong he was. He stuck by his guns. 

I stayed silent the whole time. As I often do, I listened and remembered but didn't speak. I like to remember how people are at different times, how the mood of crowds changes from year to year, decade to decade. 

There was something all wrong about that scene. 16 people claiming money doesn't bring happiness and just one person claiming that it does. Is this representitive of America? Did I stumble by accident into a nest of socialists, or enlightened spiritualists? A whole cabal of them, and just one man of ignorance? My own feeling is that most people in America love money, crave it, and do, in their hearts, believe that it brings happiness. But no one is allowed to say out loud what they really feel. That is why I liked the guy so much. I felt he was saying what everyone else felt, and they fought against him only because it was true. Mind you, he never said money SHOULD cause happiness, he simply said that, for most people, it did. 

I do not, of course, remember everything he said, not word for word. However, I remember many of the things he said and I think I can recreate it. It went something like this: 

"Money makes people happy. That's why people want it. People want sex because it feels good and they want money because it makes them feel good. Christ. Why can't we be honest about it? The only sad rich people are the ones who got abused as kids. Near as I see it. They're the only ones. I grew up rich. I know what I'm talking about. I knew a girl who tried to commit suicide. Turned out she'd been abused. Another guy became a heroin addict. Turned out he'd been abused. But in general? The rich people I knew were happy. Happier than the average person. By a long shot. Spiritual awakening? I'm not against spiritualists. I don't doubt they're happy. But the rest of us are materialists. How many of us lead really spiritual lives? I mean, really? How realistic is that? Most of us get our happiness from money, not the spirit. Most of us aren't evolved enough to get it from spirit, and never will be. I can't stand all these people who say they don't care about money, when everything they do communicates a concern about money.

I dated a girl, she said she hated money, and she did, but anything we wanted to do, go to a restaurant, go to a movie, anything, it tore her up inside because to do those things we'd have to spend money. She thought about money every time she did anything. She hated it but she thought about it a lot more than I do. And I think about it a lot. The worst of them, the "I don't care about money" crowd, the very worst of them are the dotcom'ers. God I hate them. Oh, sure, so long as you're being paid twice the market average and you've got 5 million in stock then you don't give a damn about money. I'd like to take away just a tenth of these guy's wealth, then we'd see how much they don't care about money. Hell, if they don't care so much, why don't they give it away? They want it alright. Everybody wants it. And why do they want it? Would they want it so much if it didn't bring happiness?" 

Now imagine this guy shouting this stuff while 16 other people are trying to shout him down, make him shut up, trying to make him recant his heresy, and you get a picture of the party I went to. It was a damn fine party. I probably enjoyed it more than any other I've been to this year. 

--Lawrence Krubner
"We spend our youth attaining wealth. And we spend our wealth attaining youth."

Source: http://philip.greenspun.com/shared/community-member?user_id=6066

"Six Steps Toward World-Class Service" Part 1/2

Today's business environment is increasingly complex and competitive because of globalization, new technology, product proliferation, brand erosion, market segmentation, consumer skepticism, and time poverty. These developments have rendered traditional business plans obsolete. For nearly every product or service, there are an overwhelming number of choices, leaving consumers confused. To stand out from your competitors, you must become known as the jewelry store in your market that provides world-class service.

World-class service is the talk of many but the reality of few. When a company provides a client with superlative service, the experience often takes on the aura of legend as the client recounts it to others. It's the kind of publicity that can't be bought.

What companies come to mind when you think of world-class service? What establishments do you patronize because their service regularly exceeds your expectations? Typically, these are not the places with the lowest prices. They create value by elevating the customer experience to the point where paying a premium is not an issue.

It's instructive to recall the difference between product and process. Your product is the jewelry your store sells and the services it offers. Your process is the method by which you deliver those products and services. Pike Place Fish Market, in Seattle, has become world famous for this differentiation. Their product is fish, but they gained fame by the process they use to deliver it: They throw it. A doctor's product is clinical expertise, but the process by which he or she delivers it—bedside manner—may be just as important. Since real estate agents do not have exclusives on the homes (product) they show and sell, their sole value is the service they provide (process). Here's the point: Your store's reputation may depend more on the customer experience you deliver than the jewelry you sell.

From the customer's perspective, six simple actions determine your level of customer service. If you objectively assess each, devise strategies and systems to improve your processes, and conduct appropriate training, you may see immediate and transformational changes in your business.

Source: http://www.jckonline.com/article/280445-Six_Steps_Toward_World_Class_Service.php

"Six Steps Toward World-Class Service" Part 2/2

1. How well you listen. Do you and your sales associates clearly understand the needs of your customers? As Mark Twain once said, “We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.” You don't have to start by offering all the answers; begin by asking all the right questions and listening. Is the customer looking for a gift or shopping for herself? Is she celebrating a big promotion or does she need a piece for a special occasion? Does he need a gift for his daughter's college graduation or for their wife for his silver wedding anniversary? Find out what your customers really want so you can better serve them.
   
   
2. What you say. How well do you answer questions and provide information, guidance, or direction? You and your associates should know all about the designers you carry and be able to explain and discuss gemstone treatments, pearl quality, the “four Cs” of diamonds, the features of the timepieces you carry, and more. Helping your customers understand the range of offerings available and what best fits their unique needs will build loyalty. Helping them all along the way and being available for service after the sale will build customers for life.
   
   
3. How you say it. Evaluate your own nonverbal communication—including body language, tone, and inflection—and that of your staff. In his book Silent Messages, Dr. Albert Mehrabian found that communication is 55 per-cent nonverbal (body language, eye contact, a warm smile, and open gestures), 38 percent voice quality (volume, tone, and inflection), and only 7 percent the words you say. Yet most people tend to focus their time, energy, and training on the words. If you're carrying a new designer or just received a new line of watches, don't just tick off the features as if you're reading from a book. Let the customer see, hear, and feel your enthusiasm.
   
   
4. What you do. The only thing worse than doing nothing is saying you'll do something and not doing it. If a good customer needed a diamond anniversary ring in time for his 25th anniversary, you'd do anything to make sure he had it in time. Treat every customer that way, and you'll have a lot more good customers.
   
   
5. How you do it. You and your staff are there to please, not appease. Lead by example, and don't tolerate sales associates who merely go through the motions. Every employee must take pride in the store and care about the well-being of their customers. Congratulate that customer who's buying a gift for his college-graduate daughter or celebrating 25 years of marriage. Applaud the woman who just got a promotion and wish her success. Making customers feel special and appreciated creates an emotional bond that is not easily broken.
   
   
6. When you do it. Immediate response times that exceed expectations create a positive perception, while long response times create frustration. In a drive-through world of cell phones and instant messaging, people expect instantaneous communication and response. If a customer makes a major purchase, don't wait till tomorrow to send a thank-you note—send it today. As soon as a watch or jewelry repair is ready, call the customer—call her at home and call her at work. She'll appreciate the opportunity to stop by and pick up the item on her way home. And she'll hear your message on her home answering machine as you describe how beautiful the piece turned out and inform her that it was also cleaned and polished. These may seem like small gestures, but such actions make the difference between ho-hum service and world-class service.

Ultimately, first-rate service comes down to people. When asked why everyone working at Disney seemed so happy, former chief executive officer Michael Eisner replied: “We don't hire grumpy people.” Robert Spector, author of The Nordstrom Way, described Bruce Nordstrom's hiring philosophy: “Hire the smile and train the skill.” Nordstrom said he could teach anyone to sell shoes, but he couldn't teach everyone to smile. If you look at the organizations that provide world-class service, you'll usually find that they hire the best people and then provide a supportive culture where those employees can flourish.

Source: http://www.jckonline.com/article/280445-Six_Steps_Toward_World_Class_Service.php