Sybreon Ones Nought

As the video below illustrates, Google Chrome is literally: faster than a speeding bullet. Even faster than lightning!

I was at a church last weekend, during both Saturday and Sunday services, to help out with some volunteer work. In addition to my normal gang of volunteers, the church provided us with a number of their own volunteers. So, we had to explain and guide them on how to do the task.

At one point, I told everyone that they had to copy in the address details exactly as shown on the card, no ifs no buts. After that, I noticed that everyone had failed to copy the details exactly. I had to strongly remind people to copy the details exactly. I had already come to expect that, since I understand human nature pretty well and our inability to comprehend and follow simple instructions.

Selangor Darul Ehsan is not the same as Selangor and 19, Jalan SS is not the same as No 19, Jalan SS at all.

I even had to remind them to copy the gender exactly as it says on the card and not to assume that someone is male or female just based on appearance.

I read this random article entitle, “Perkasa demands ‘blue ocean strategy’ for Malays”. After giving it a read, I decided that although I should not be giving a dumb and racist organisation like PERKASA any space on this blog, I had to say something about how dumb they really are. According to the article, PERKASA is asking the government to help out the Malays when it comes to business, in order to even out the economic disparity between them and the other races.

Queue laughter.

The problem is Malays are entering existing markets with little or no support from the government. Existing markets which are dominated by the Chinese are part of a red ocean strategy.

This statement alone speaks volumes on the kind of idiots that are running the organisation. If you want to be an entrepreneur in Malaysia, you have to look beyond our shores. Otherwise, you are just being a jaguh kampung (village champion) and that is not what our dearest PM has called for in his vision for a New Malaysia. We want global champions – Malaysian companies that can compete globally.

Now, once you stick your nose out the window you will see that existing markets are most definitely not dominated by the Chinese. Even the Chinese companies are struggling to fight for their corner of the market. The funny thing about the global marketplace is that it is great at filtering out bullshit like PERKASA. The market is king and whomever makes a good product will win in the end.

I will give PERKASA the same advice that I give any budding entrepreneur who is willing to listen. Go for the niches. When you are small, you cannot afford to play with the big boys. So, go and service the market niches that the big boys have ignored because it is not worth their time to do so. After you build a strong foundation at the niche, you can then broaden your base and intrude upon the market space of others but not a minute before.

In fact, this advice applies just as well to us as a nation and not just for individual entrepreneurs. Malaysians should all come together and carve our niche in this world. We cannot afford to compete with the big countries in the world market. We cannot compete against our neighbours for low-cost labour and we cannot compete against the advanced countries in skills-based labour. Before we disappear into nothingness, lets just focus on trying to attack a niche.

India has cornered the business-process outsourcing niche in IT. China has cornered the low-cost manufacturies. Our government is trying to position Malaysia as a global Islamic finance hub and regional educational hub. Now, there is nothing special about Malaysia that will ensure that these niches stay ours forever so we need to actively work on developing and defending these niches. So, instead of asking our government to help them out, PERKASA should be actively identifying and targeting niche markets where Malaysians can all work together and go into.

There is no reason to fear the Chinese because the world is too big a place for the Chinese to conquer (as much as they would like to do so).

A random thought went through my head today and I asked myself if I found religion or if religion found me. Some people are born into it, some are converted into it while some find it themselves. Since I was not born a Buddhist, I can reject the first possibility, which left the other two possibilities.

After some mulling, I came to the conclusion that I found Buddhism, even if I was first introduced to it as a child by my parents. The reason that I came to this conclusion is because of my character. I was born the way that I am. My kind of personality can never accept any sort of faith-based religion. I was born as a man of science, which explains why I took to this subject so easily as a child. Any friend of mine can tell you that I am a man of logic and rationale.

Therefore, I would have to say that my religion is actually science. However, of the many major religions in the world, the only one that comes close to the logic and rationality of science is Buddhism – it does not ask you to believe anything but actively encourages you to constantly question accepted dogma and to strive towards finding the truth.

In that sense – it appeals to the scientific man in me. I do not need to reconcile what I know versus what I believe in – they are both in-line with the other.

The world is a beautiful place.

Got myself a new toy today – the Acer Aspire Timeline 1810TZ! I decided to buy it from a local Harvey Norman for just two reasons – they accept credit card payments without any surcharge (that is very difficult to find in Malaysian computer stores); and they gave me seven free gifts that include a lock, mouse, USB hub, ear phones, cleaning kit, keyboard protector and fan – basically a whole load of cheap stuff. All this cost me only RM1849 at the end.

I think that it is the best deal that I can get around.

Since the new Kubuntu will only be out tomorrow, I will be spending the weekend installing and setting up the new machine. Then, I will probably put it through the works for about a week before I bring it out with me. I fully intend to push the batteries to the limit to see how long they can really last. It is a Timeline series and that means that it should last about 8-hours on normal use. Just in case, I will turn down the power settings to see if I can push it to 12-hours.

For now, it is just sitting there idle on my old laptop. It has a very glossy finish which means that smudges are everywhere. I will probably need to do something about that at some point, such as getting one of those new fangled laptop skins and sticking it on the cover. Although it comes with a sleeve, I doubt that it will last very long. So, I will be getting a new messenger bag to keep it in. I wonder if they sell them in 11.6″ sizes.

Looking forward to stressing it out!

Well, after turning down the previous invite, I got invited again for breakfast with the CEO. I guess that the so-called random selection of people is not so random after all. Instead of having them bug me again, I decided to just go and sit at the back to listen quietly (and near to the food obviously).

Turns out that our CEO is quite an eloquent and charismatic speaker. This is important for a leader. He painted the big picture of where we were, where we are, and where we will be in the future. Listening to him speak, I have to totally agree that he has got the picture right and that it is the correct vision that our nation should be heading towards and that it is also very practical indeed.

However, the problem within our country has never been a lack of vision – but a lack of proper execution.

I was glad that I got to raise a couple of important issues and that I would not had another opportunity to raise. So, I said a few words and let the CEO explain the situation away. At the end of the talk, I honestly felt that it was a positive thing to have attended the talk and had my opportunity to air my piece. Regardless of what happens after this, I will know that I had at least had the opportunity to raise my voice.

I just read it this morning that KTM Komuter, has begun to operate women only coaches on their trains.

WHAT THE FRACK?!

This is a friggin’ slippery slope. I don’t get why there are even people who are supportive of this decision. I had to whack it into the heads of my colleagues that it is a friggin’ slippery slope and remind them that they do not see the big picture. If they did, they would be worried because they would all lose their jobs. My colleagues said that it is just a small thing and I gently reminded them that everything starts as a small thing. Take away an inch at a time and before you know it, your rights have all been taken away, which is the problem with the people in this country.

WHAT THE FRACK HAS KTM BEEN SMOKING?!

I really wonder what problem are they trying to solve and if they think that they would be able to solve it by segregating women from men. This is the lazy man solution. There is nothing that they can do to enforce that policy. If a man chooses to sit in the women’s coach and then refused to budge, that man can delay the entire train unless they either give in to him or forcibly remove him. If they gave in to him, their policy is ruined. If they forcibly removed him, he would have a legal case against KTM because they do not have the legal authority to enforce such a rule.

WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH THE WOMEN IN THIS COUNTRY?!

Some women actually think that having a separate coach is a good idea. That’s just plain and dumb short-sighted thinking. These people are idiots to think that segregating coaches is a good idea. If we start segregating the genders on trains, we can continue to segregate them everywhere – think banks, schools, roads and even jobs. I don’t think that the women would be particularly happy if we kept them all out of consulting positions to protect them from the stares of men and told them all to stay at home and take care of the babies.

People need to learn how to deal with the problems in the real-world. If some idiotic guy gropes you on the train, kick him in the balls. If someone stares at your beautiful body, stare them down.