The Humbleideas.com Blog

2009 in retrospect

datsan — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:18:34 +0000

Here we go again.

2009 coming to a complete end pretty soon. Time to review – reveal – what happened to me…

This entire year I had been more busy than ever helping the kids with their school work which is getting more, well – intriguing. I feel like I am living a second life, all over again, going to school each year advancing all the way one grade each year… I am glad that the final examinations will be over in 8 days time and as family we could look forward to a refreshing time to plan for the year end holidays again! We’re going on a cruise on board the “Royal Caribbean” cruise ship !!

Yes, I had been transformed into a fitness-nut of sorts. After much research, I found the REAL reason why people get high cholesterol. I also found out to my great surprise that all our common understanding of Cholesterol and Saturated Fats is almost completely wrong – we have been duped! A famous doctor in the USA admitted that the number one source of death in the USA is – doctors! Doctors who don’t know the truth, deliberately or otherwise – dispensing bad advice. I have “un-learned” so much, and re-programmed my brains, that I succeeded in cutting down – the natural way – my Triglycerides and Cholesterol by 20% this year. I also started on a strict and disciplined exercise regime, swimming 1,000 meters non-stop (45 minues average) each on Mondays and Thursdays since April 2009 to-date.

There are so many facts of Nutrition and Health which had been completely distorted by the media, by politicians and other, that it is an uphill task to re-educate everyone. I have dedicated my website at http://humbleideas.com to help people find out the truth in a fun way. The new website (the hard coding in Cascading Tile Sheet and XHTML was done by myself through laborious experimentation, reverse engineering and self study ) Please visit my site!

2008 in retrospect

datsan — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 01:58:24 +0000

Happy New Year 2009!

Time to review the last year’s achievements!

Well i have certainly made progress in the development of my “business” at http://humbleideas.com In total as at 1st Jan 2009 i have11,938 hits on my 25 videos posted on REVER hosted at my site. In fact one of the videos posted on Metacafe attracted 60,677 hits (as at 1st Jan 2009) in 4 months: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1755541/calculator_hidden_secrets_1_of_4/

I’m a bit cheesed off by both Metacafe and Revver though… Metacafe for their failure to pay me due to their reason that the video was not “entertaining” enough (there are so many simple non-entertaining videos in Metacafe that they pay hundreds of dollars to the authors).. and Revver for their slow pay-outs (rumours abound that they are in Chapter 11 mode or something like that!). Well i’ll still roll out more videos in 2009 regardless, since i get a lot of sense of satisfaction from the work, Stay tuned!

And guess what, in the two years after i rejected the big fat salary in the Corporate world and its accompanyingfrustrations, i never had to visit a doctor! It is probably due to a more healthy lifestyle and happy environment with less stress. As 2009 unfolds i wish all readers a happy and healthy new year ahead!

Likes and Don’t-quite-likes

datsan — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 02:36:44 +0000

I like ISLAM for its idea of compulsory fasting once a year. This practical action really provides a very humbling experience, especially for the rich Muslims, for it gives them a sense of understanding of the physical discomfort of hunger faced by people who are not so blessed. For the faithful who are serious with fasting I have no doubt in my mind that they will be closer to their god and they will become better human beings.

I don’t-quite-like ISLAM for its various implications on the superiority of Male over Female and for its heavenly reward system which seems to be designed for a particular sex. There seems to be some violation of human rights in today’s language but perhaps in those days it was necessary to protect the weaker sex.

I like CHRISTIANITY for its wide range of inspirational and catchy hymns and tunes. This seems to me the selling point of the religion. Comparing the songs from different faiths, and the range of emotions Christian songs are able to evoke, it is no wonder that many people young and old are magnetised and attracted into the religion, dare i say hypnotised to follow its teachings!

I don’t-quite-like CHRISTIANITY for its hypocritical portrayal of god as pure love and forgiveness. In reality the disparity between the terrorism invoked by their founding fathers, on other races (in the name of their god and promised land!) is simply too much. Blood has long memories. That is why to this day, there is a huge divide between the faith and certain other faiths…

I like BUDDHISM as i think it really is a peaceful religion with no blood written in its history. Some say that Buddhism is a philosophy and not religion. So anyway this philosophy or religion has never led to any territorial acquisitions in any way and for me this really means something.

I don’t-quite-like BUDDHISM for its complex chantings, incense, huge idol representations which gives me a rather eerie, frightful and uneasy feeling. Perhaps some day i will understand it but it’s not a very attractive path to traverse (for me).

And, HINDUISM . Well i like the concept of re-incarnation, the cyclical behaviour of many things in nature really make the proposition of re-incarnation a very credible one. I also like the idea of not killing animals and of eating vegetables, it is very scientific and healthy proposition.

And.. I don’t-quite-like HINDUISM as it seems incongrous and awkward to pray to figurines of animals and strange beings with several limbs …

It seems to me entirely possible to amalgamate the best of all religions into a new religion and get people motivated with a new meaning to life.. But then one has to travel back through time to publicise it, since without the benefit of hundreds or thousands of years of history nobody would listen to you.

In conclusion i think that TOLERANCE IS THE GREATEST VIRTUE TO BE LEARNT FROM ANY RELIGION. LIVE AND LET LIVE, LET US NOT THROW BRICKS AT EACH OTHER’S HOUSES.

Ps> Visit http://www.humbleideas.com today!

In the beginning..

datsan — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 01:52:28 +0000

Welcome to the beginning of my new series of postings under the category FAITH MATTERS. Here is catchy phrase as there is a pun-ny meaning to it… the word “matter” here could either mean “discussions on faith or religious matters”, or it could mean important, as in, “it doesn’t matter whether you like chocolates”.

Mission Statement

datsan — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 00:03:16 +0000

It’s coming to 2 years since i threw the towel on the Corporate World (see blog entry for Oct. 2007) ! The period of disorientation and nostalgic dreamings seems to have passed. In 2009 I plan to revive this blog. first a Mission Statement:

“To promote the exchange of original, insightful views about any aspect of life and to make a lasting impression on any visitor in such a way that will draw him or her back for repeat visits”

Do note that this blog is now integrated as part of http://www.humbleideas.com which contains a substantial number of home made videos targetted to create zest in your life. Do check it out.

The Next Lap

datsan — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 23:52:26 +0000

Time Flies! Six months passed since I “sacked my boss”, so to speak. Here’s an update of what’s been happening lately.

My gardening projects are more than half completed. I completed the design and construction of a modified french drain and planted the grass sod. However there were certain bald patches after some weeks, so i tried to make repairs with some grass seed, but that attracted pigeons which peck at the seeds, so i am still at a loss how to repair the bald patches which are quite annoying…It seems the gardener’s work is never done!

I am working out another drainage project in other part of the garden, and I get a satisfaction just watching grass grow!! Observe the papaya and bamboos growing in the pictures below. The bamboo doubles its length in 3 days!!

An unexpected happy event also took place right in my garden, a bird built its nest just in front of some plants near the front door. After several weeks two eggs hatched and birds actually grew out of it. I was so thrilled to capture the right moments below:

Recently i also caught two toads in my garden which my dog Bobo alerted me to. They had been very co-operative to pose for a nice picture for me.

My daughter’s hamsters have also multiplied profusely as shown below. The Syrian hamster couldn’t do the same though as they were a pair of males..

(Note: you can get a bigger view of all the pictures by double clicking on them).

Finally, I have also found time to understand and evaluate (Excel spreadsheet programming) using Future value analysis – time value of money – many of the insurance policies offered in the market. I realised that all insurance policies which promise a pay-back cash value after many years, are NOT worth it. There is an old saying “Buy Term, Invest the rest”.. it means, buy simple policies which are cheap (you pay small amount for about 20 times cover, but you have to accept that the small amount is not recoverable), and stop thinking about cashing back after umpteen years, they are rip offs.