I've been playing the virtual investment game Bursa Pursuit for a little over a month, and while it does teach me a lot about the stock market, it also revealed what a lousy investor I am! At this precise moment my gross profit and loss (more loss than profit, actually) is -RM10,903. Sure, I could blame the recent downturns but it does reveal my trading weaknesses.
First, I don't do any research. I already spend 10% of my workweek on non-work stuff (damn you RSS feeds!) and I can't be spending even more reading through market reports and stock tips.
Speaking of which, so-called stock tips are not anymore accurate than me randomly picking the top trader each day. It's really frustrating following all those "Buy" and "Sell" calls, which I really wonder if their researchers follow themselves.
And lastly, my own personal failure in cutting my losses is a factor as well. I followed a random stock tip in the daily news reports and it didn't take long for it to go southwards. But I held on to it, naively optimistic that it will reverse directions. 6 weeks later, I'm RM1878 poorer (and still holding until market conditions improve! hopefully!). I guess I wouldn't be so careless with real money, but human nature is pretty hard to beat.
Whether I'll actually invest real money after this game ends... perhaps. The lure of high returns is like a siren to my ship.
I just hope I don't crash into the sharp cliffs.
05 November 2007
19 October 2007
The Great Idea That Was
It was announced today that stolen mobile phones can be disabled to prevent its use and resell. I think that's a great idea but I don't think it'll work well, especially after learning that there will be a fee imposed on the service.
Think about it - you've just lost your RM500+ phone plus all your invaluable contacts. And to add salt to the wound, you have to pay a small fee to disable the phone. Why should you pay more to punish the criminal? I thought our tax money already goes into justice and law enforcement. The cost should be borne by the authorities.
And I'm very dubious about the technology. It works by blocking the phone's unique IMEI code, but what's stopping thieves from changing them? People once thought MAC address filtering constitutes good access control, until simple software downloads allow you to spoof your MAC.
The best way to implement this is to incorporate the cost of disabling the phone into the phone's purchase price. This can be regarded as a one time "insurance premium". It raises phone's prices by a little, but by charging consumers from the get-go, it reduces cost of operations and brings the cost of disabling a phone closer and closer to RM0, similar to SMSes nowadays.
And if a phone is disabled, one only needs to make a call to their telco, verify their identity, and the locking operation is carried out. As for hackers changing the IMEI, well, that's the way life goes. Why? You have a better idea?
Think about it - you've just lost your RM500+ phone plus all your invaluable contacts. And to add salt to the wound, you have to pay a small fee to disable the phone. Why should you pay more to punish the criminal? I thought our tax money already goes into justice and law enforcement. The cost should be borne by the authorities.
And I'm very dubious about the technology. It works by blocking the phone's unique IMEI code, but what's stopping thieves from changing them? People once thought MAC address filtering constitutes good access control, until simple software downloads allow you to spoof your MAC.
The best way to implement this is to incorporate the cost of disabling the phone into the phone's purchase price. This can be regarded as a one time "insurance premium". It raises phone's prices by a little, but by charging consumers from the get-go, it reduces cost of operations and brings the cost of disabling a phone closer and closer to RM0, similar to SMSes nowadays.
And if a phone is disabled, one only needs to make a call to their telco, verify their identity, and the locking operation is carried out. As for hackers changing the IMEI, well, that's the way life goes. Why? You have a better idea?
04 October 2007
Too Convenient
In today's news, police reported that 80% of crimes are committed by locals, and only 20% by foreigners. This seems to me like an over-convenient application of the 80/20 rule, with no hard numbers quoted in the news item at all.
So I decided to put on my armchair economist hat and do some simple calculations to determine if we actually have more to fear from locals.
The number of crimes reported to the police (consisting of violent crime and property crime) (2004): 156,315
80% of that would be... 125,052, while
20% would be... 31,263
The number of legal foreign workers (2003): 1.1m
The number of illegal foreign workers (2005): 1.2m
So the estimated number of foreigners in the country is about 2.3 million.
The number of locals over 18 (2005): 15.7m
So... 125,052 crimes are committed by locals (15.7m) while 31,263 crimes are committed by foreigners (2.3m). If we assume that a crime is only committed by one person and the criminal only does it once, that would mean:
0.796% of locals are criminals, and
1.359% of foreigners are criminals (almost double!)
In other words, though the percentage is small, a foreigner is twice as likely to be criminally-inclined compared to a local. That's worrisome enough!
So in fact we *still* have more to fear from foreigners than locals, but not as much as I initially thought. There are a LOT of caveats to the numbers I used, so don't go quoting my page in any research paper you're doing.
So I decided to put on my armchair economist hat and do some simple calculations to determine if we actually have more to fear from locals.
The number of crimes reported to the police (consisting of violent crime and property crime) (2004): 156,315
80% of that would be... 125,052, while
20% would be... 31,263
The number of legal foreign workers (2003): 1.1m
The number of illegal foreign workers (2005): 1.2m
So the estimated number of foreigners in the country is about 2.3 million.
The number of locals over 18 (2005): 15.7m
So... 125,052 crimes are committed by locals (15.7m) while 31,263 crimes are committed by foreigners (2.3m). If we assume that a crime is only committed by one person and the criminal only does it once, that would mean:
0.796% of locals are criminals, and
1.359% of foreigners are criminals (almost double!)
In other words, though the percentage is small, a foreigner is twice as likely to be criminally-inclined compared to a local. That's worrisome enough!
So in fact we *still* have more to fear from foreigners than locals, but not as much as I initially thought. There are a LOT of caveats to the numbers I used, so don't go quoting my page in any research paper you're doing.
02 October 2007
A Dream is Delayed
So.... I've just got an email that BodyJam training has been canceled due to low participation.
Oh well. Wait for next one... (dark clouds in the sky)
Oh well. Wait for next one... (dark clouds in the sky)
24 September 2007
Preparations for BodyJam Training
So... the registration is official and I'm going for the training next month. As expected, we'll be training on BodyJam 42, a great release IMHO. Here's my thoughts on each block and how I think I will do if I have to present them:
Warmup
1. Boogie 2Nite - Booty Luv
Super super easy! I'd be grinning all the way to the gym if I only had to present this.
Isolations
2. Tambourine - Eve
The hip movements are a bit tricky. I get a bit messed up when having to add in the arm/chest pop. And I'm not even cueing it yet! Not to mention I feel weird getting 'down n heavy' as hip hop just ain't my style! Screw Up Probability (SUP): 60%
Cha-Cha-Cha
3. Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing - John legend
4. Let's Get Loud - Jennifer Lopez
Easy latin block in this release. It's important to get my posture right, plus I still can't get the "boom!" right when J.Lo comes in. The leg curl can get a bit confusing if I suddenly switched between participant and presenter. SUP: 30%
Contemporary Rock
5. Do It Again - Mega NuRave Styles and DJ'Little'Rippa
6. One And Only - Timbaland feat. Fall Out Boy
Considerably easy too, but the first song has a lot of break-down parts to it and I don't have the song to memorize to. I'm improving my 'center' so I don't get dizzy that much when I'm doing the turn and leap. Have to get the "rock" attitude in as well. SUP: 45%
Recovery
7. Umbrella - Rihanna feat. Jay-Z
Oh! Beautiful beautiful song and moves! I'm not sure how authentic my hip scrape is, but the heel lift and heel drop shouldn't be a problem. I just have to work on putting the emotions into my cueing. SUP: 10%
Jam de Podium
8. Sexual Healing - Alibi vs. Rockefeller
9. Get Down - Groove Armada
10. Get Up (Before The Night Is Over) - Global Deejays feat. Tecnotronic
11. Rain Down Love - Freemasons feat. Siedah Garrett
My biggest fear at the moment! I'll never have to present all 4 tracks, but any 2 tracks would be scary. I've got no problem with the entire routine but it's the break-down moves that I haven't mastered. And the whole block is heavily edited so it's useless if I can find the original songs. SUP: 85%!
Groove Down
12. Beautiful Liar - Beyonce feat. Shakira
Easy as well. As with Umbrella, got to put more sexiness in my cues and hip roll. SUP: 15%
The SUP will go straight down to 0% if I had the DVD to work with, but I'm not going to ask my current BodyJam instructor for it. And it'll be so unethical. Plus, I wanna prove that I can learn it by myself in that short period of time. I gotta summon my old Straight-A Student personality back from college for this one...
Warmup
1. Boogie 2Nite - Booty Luv
Super super easy! I'd be grinning all the way to the gym if I only had to present this.
Isolations
2. Tambourine - Eve
The hip movements are a bit tricky. I get a bit messed up when having to add in the arm/chest pop. And I'm not even cueing it yet! Not to mention I feel weird getting 'down n heavy' as hip hop just ain't my style! Screw Up Probability (SUP): 60%
Cha-Cha-Cha
3. Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing - John legend
4. Let's Get Loud - Jennifer Lopez
Easy latin block in this release. It's important to get my posture right, plus I still can't get the "boom!" right when J.Lo comes in. The leg curl can get a bit confusing if I suddenly switched between participant and presenter. SUP: 30%
Contemporary Rock
5. Do It Again - Mega NuRave Styles and DJ'Little'Rippa
6. One And Only - Timbaland feat. Fall Out Boy
Considerably easy too, but the first song has a lot of break-down parts to it and I don't have the song to memorize to. I'm improving my 'center' so I don't get dizzy that much when I'm doing the turn and leap. Have to get the "rock" attitude in as well. SUP: 45%
Recovery
7. Umbrella - Rihanna feat. Jay-Z
Oh! Beautiful beautiful song and moves! I'm not sure how authentic my hip scrape is, but the heel lift and heel drop shouldn't be a problem. I just have to work on putting the emotions into my cueing. SUP: 10%
Jam de Podium
8. Sexual Healing - Alibi vs. Rockefeller
9. Get Down - Groove Armada
10. Get Up (Before The Night Is Over) - Global Deejays feat. Tecnotronic
11. Rain Down Love - Freemasons feat. Siedah Garrett
My biggest fear at the moment! I'll never have to present all 4 tracks, but any 2 tracks would be scary. I've got no problem with the entire routine but it's the break-down moves that I haven't mastered. And the whole block is heavily edited so it's useless if I can find the original songs. SUP: 85%!
Groove Down
12. Beautiful Liar - Beyonce feat. Shakira
Easy as well. As with Umbrella, got to put more sexiness in my cues and hip roll. SUP: 15%
The SUP will go straight down to 0% if I had the DVD to work with, but I'm not going to ask my current BodyJam instructor for it. And it'll be so unethical. Plus, I wanna prove that I can learn it by myself in that short period of time. I gotta summon my old Straight-A Student personality back from college for this one...
11 September 2007
1 Year Retrospective
While America mourns the WTC tragedy, I have a reason to celebrate!
As of today, I've worked in this company for a year. How time flies! I never expected to be doing what I'm doing now, but I have learned much (though not as much as some people). I really enjoy the working environment and the flexibility for me to do my own things (aerobics class being the main one). Here's hoping I get to leap through the next year to greater heights!
As of today, I've worked in this company for a year. How time flies! I never expected to be doing what I'm doing now, but I have learned much (though not as much as some people). I really enjoy the working environment and the flexibility for me to do my own things (aerobics class being the main one). Here's hoping I get to leap through the next year to greater heights!
07 September 2007
The BodyJam Diaries
I've decided, against all reason, to go for BodyJam training next month in Klang.
I've actually had half a heart to get certified for some time, but I always thought the next training session would be in 2008. To my surprise a session was announced to be held at Y-Fitness, 19-21 Oct 2007. It costs RM930 just for the training fee, but I feel I'm ready to get certified.
Ever since I started teaching I've been preparing for this day. I'm considered lucky because I got to start teaching at a couple of places without any certification. But to actually get a class at established gyms require a certification.
Gawd, I'm rambling! I've been 'off the hook' lately with this news. I have to get physically and mentally prepared for the 3 day training. I never thought I could dance but I've enjoyed every minute of BodyJam, and now it's time to answer that question "So You Think You Can Dance?" with pizazz.
I'll be keeping you guys updated on my progress, on this road to becoming a BodyJam instructor. And if you're an instructor I would love to hear how you got through training.
I've actually had half a heart to get certified for some time, but I always thought the next training session would be in 2008. To my surprise a session was announced to be held at Y-Fitness, 19-21 Oct 2007. It costs RM930 just for the training fee, but I feel I'm ready to get certified.
Ever since I started teaching I've been preparing for this day. I'm considered lucky because I got to start teaching at a couple of places without any certification. But to actually get a class at established gyms require a certification.
Gawd, I'm rambling! I've been 'off the hook' lately with this news. I have to get physically and mentally prepared for the 3 day training. I never thought I could dance but I've enjoyed every minute of BodyJam, and now it's time to answer that question "So You Think You Can Dance?" with pizazz.
I'll be keeping you guys updated on my progress, on this road to becoming a BodyJam instructor. And if you're an instructor I would love to hear how you got through training.
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