Loyalty is for Dogs

What is loyalty (忠)? Loyalty is faithfulness or a devotion to a person, country, group, or cause. (Source: Wikipedia) Loyalty used to be a virtue, but now it's just plain foolishness - oh wait, has loyalty ever been a virtue? I guess it only happens in the perfect world under Confucius' teaching. Or loyalty is taught as virtue for the politicians to control over us?

In the world we living now, is loyalty a highly praised virtue? Or it just shows plain foolishness? We suppose that life with virtues will lead us to happiness and happiness is what we, every human, ultimately pursue for. However, loyalty, often times, is not rewarding although it is highly praised by the "saints". Let me illustrate a few example:

Kevin Garnett was a loyal basketball player to the Timberwolves franchise in NBA. He spent his prime time in that lousy franchise, which happened to be located in a a cold and deserted lousy place, achieving nothing and ended traded to Boston Celtic due to his age. So what loyalty rewards him? 7 years of losing. He didn't demand for the trade to Celtic but he was traded because he was too old for the franchise. Luckily, Celtic is a better place for him as a player, as he won his first championship on the year he got traded to Celtic.

On the other hand, Lebron James, the most hated NBA player on earth, saw Kevin Garnett's past and decided not to waste his prime in Cleveland (yet another lousy place, cold and deserted). After the Decision, he went to Miami (one of the best cities!!) to join his friends. And here the story of anti-LBJ goes.

Lebron James shows no loyalty at all. The Cleveland Cavaliers did everything they could to retain him but ended up setting records of losing 26 straight games. But he did show reasoning and intellect while making the Decision, making the best choice for himself.

Yet to see how loyalty mistreats players like Dirk Notwizki and Steve Nash. Yes they are white but when the time for decision making comes, they are more emotional and less reasoning than the black (Carmelo Anthony and Lebron James).

Enough for the NBA stories. How about some examples that are happening in our life? Such as brand loyalty? I will show how loyalty plays tricks in our mind and often misguides us from enjoying a better life.

We understand how companies spend tons of resources every year to build up brand loyalty in their customers. For example, Toyota, the leader in automobile industry, builds its brand loyalty through constant marketing, products upgrading and improvement on services. Through such efforts, Toyota successfully make its customers feel that driving a Toyota is driving the best car ever (for the given price of course!) and I was one of the millions brand loyalty victims. When competitors like Honda and Ford improves their products and services even better than Toyotas, Toyota customers, blinded by brand loyalty, refuse to accept or try the products manufactured by the competitors. As the result? These customers (including me) pay more for poorer product and service.

So does loyalty serve us good? Being loyal to Toyota is a good thing for Toyota's profits. And bear in mind, it is ONLY good for Toyota but NOT you. When competitors offer better products with lower price, we refuse to being reasonable and intellectual and make our decision based on emotion and past-ol-good-experience. As the result - we are paying more for less, and forfeit the "could have"/ "would have" enjoyment brought by the new competitors.

Also, loyalty is very often exploited by the politicians. What makes you vote for Party A instead of Party B? Some vote for party A because they like a particular politician figure in Party A. Some vote for party A because they feel that they belong to Party A.. Some vote for party A just because they hate Party B. But very few vote for Party A because they think Party A's policy serve them better in long term or short term.

So what is the purpose of having democracy when loyalty plays a more important role in deciding the country's leader/policy? Why don't we just have our monarchy system where the King and Queen live happily together in their pretty castle and we will be loyal for the emperor forever (as long as he doesn't abuse us)?

So back answering the question: Is loyalty a virtue? My answer is HELL NO because of the following arguments:

1. A virtue is a moral excellence in a person.
2. We practice a moral excellence because by practicing it, we believe we will achieve happiness.
3. Loyalty benefits only the loyalty-receiver, but not the loyalty-offeror.
4. Loyalty does not bring happiness to someone who practice it (the loyalty-offeror).
5. Hence, loyalty is not a virtue!!

Examples and arguments are presented to show how loyalty obstructs our reasoning and intellect to make decision which is best for us, hence hindering us from happiness.

So what makes us loyal? The rewards (often time in monetary form) given by the loyalty-receiver. Thus, loyalty can be bought with a price! You may ask what's the price for a loyalty. Remember the loyalty card given by Starbuck? A free coffee for every 10 coffee bought is what Starbuck paying to get a loyal customer!


We are just human. If you want loyalty, get a dog........ and feed it!

Why We Can NEVER Be the Next Warren Buffet

Yes, there are tons of books selling in the market, teaching you how to be the next Buffet. Ask yourself, have you seen a book written by Warren Buffet? If those authors really know how to be the next Buffet, do they need to spend their time writing such books instead of researching the next big business?

I think that such books are useful in some ways because they provide different perspective of investing theories. However, we are all human and we have our own opinion. We'll hardly find anyone who share the same views even on the same thing. For example, some people think Justin Bieber is cute, some people think Justin Bieber is gay. We are looking at the same Justin Bieber here but we all have different views. And that's the beauty of differences that creates the stock market.

Warren Buffet seems to have the most successful stock picking skills/knowledge. But do his skills/knowledge fit us? The answer is NO. Even if Warren Buffet himself will not able to create such wealth if he is born 50 years later. I will tell you why.

The global population in 1960 was just merely 3 billion. In 40 years, it doubled to 6 billion in 1999 and now according UN, we have 7 billion population on earth. For the given another 40 years, do we expect the population would double again to 14 billion? Highly unlikely as the expected global population by 2045 is 9 billion by the UN.

During the age of Warren Buffet

1. Laws and regulations in the stock market is not as strict.
   
2. Not many people practiced fundamental stock valuation.
3. Relatively low level of education in the world.
4. The sudden boom of population growth.

Just imagine he make $1 for every increase of population. He would make $3 billion in 40 years. But if he make $1 for every new baby born, he would make $300 billion in 40 years (without subtracting off the death rate). How about let's say he make $10 for every new baby born, he would make $3 trillion in 40 years!!!!

One would argue that in another 35 years, the world population is expected to grow for another 2 billion. We could have made $10 for every new baby born too. But here's the trick, to be the smartest in a group of 3 billion is super super super super super tough. And to be the smartest in a group of 7 billion, not to mention that higher education rate among these 7 billion people? x100 toughness......

Furthermore, good companies with good constant earnings can be only bought with a very high price. Let's say now we buy stocks of Warren Buffet's favorite companies such as the consumable giants Coca Cola and HP, they do not generate the same return Warren is enjoying right now because they are just too damn expensive!

So here's the suggestion: Let's look for new companies that share the similar characteristic as Coca Cola and buy them while they are cheap. But the problem is: You're not the only smart guy here. Price war will drive up the stocks without increasing the value. Thus, it generates less return.

So let's face the fact, we'll never be the next Warren Buffet.

However, if we do something different, we are able to create a name for ourselves. The catch here? Following Buffetology will not create the same wealth because we live in the different era. Man, that dude is 84 year old..... We have generation gap!!

Happy Chinese New Year a.k.a. Gong Xi Fa Cai

3 years not celebrating Chinese New Year, now I have a chance to celebrate Chinese New Year. Moreover, this year is the year of rabbit and I'm born in the year of rabbit, so this year is MY YEAR!!! WOOHOO~~~~

So here is my new year wish list:

1. Get a job - I mean get a serious job, not boob job nor blow job. As I am going to USA now, I want to have a real job in my field of study, which is finance. Working in an investment bank will be cool, and I will do my best to get the job.
2. Get a girlfriend (whom I love) - I mean get a REAL girlfriend, not female BFF nor Kaede. With my handsome looking, the first part should not be easy. The difficult part is the loving part =(
3. Get six pack - I mean six pack on my abs, not six pack of beer nor six pack of cola. I must let my six pack to see the sunlight, it has been hidden 5cm under my fat for years!

I'm not a greedy person, 3 wishes are enough for me. I'll be the genie of my own and you will just have to sit back and relax and witness my success =D

Of course, this post is not just about my new year wishes. I wanna let the whole world know why the year of rabbit is the BEST year ever. The reasons are:

1. Because I am born in the year of rabbit, that's why!
2. Everyone just loves the year of rabbit, because we all do not like other 11 animals as much!

Let's have a comparison of all the animals

RAT
Rat is ugly and dirty. I do not understand why we have rat as the first animal. Perhaps the ancient Chinese were so smart that they predicted that the most famous animal in the modern history is a rat (Mickey Mouse).

Rat can be ugly but adorable a.k.a. cute (for some people). There is a Chinese proverb - everyone hates a stress crossing rat (过街老鼠，人人喊打). Although we are not cats that really hates rats in their blood, I do not think we are able to show our love to the rats.

COW
Cow are nice, nice and ..... nice?

1. Cows farm(ed) for us.
2. Cows provide milk that are used to produce chocolate, cheese, yogurt and many other delicious food products.
3. Cows provide New York steak and T-bone steak.
4. Cows provide ox-tail soup and ox bone soup.
   
5. Cows provide LV bags and Gucci bags.
6. Cows provide cow girls!

Yea talking about cow girls can be sexy and lovely too - umm not these cow girls. I mean the REAL cow girls as follow:










We should be thankful to the cows and be thankful in the year of cows.

TIGERS
And move on, we have the year of tiger. Some men love tiger (Thai-girl) and some men do not. Tiger represents courage, and we can see why - we do need a lot of courage to wear something like that!















Tigers also represents fierce. For example, having a tiger girlfriend/wife means that your girlfriend/wife is fucking fierce. However, tigers have the cute and sexy side too. We just need to know how to tame the tigers.
















RABBIT
We'll skip the year of rabbit because I wanna save the best for the last.

DRAGON
Dragon is known as god of animals and some Chinese even worship the dragons. With the help of such mythical and godly animal, the year of dragon should be the best year. But the problem is dragon is not a real animal. Until I see a dragon, I will not even consider the year of dragon is a valid year for Chinese New Year celebration.

But here is the interesting part: Although no one has seen a dragon before but we all know how the dragon girl (should) looks like.


Nonetheless, we do love dragon girl, don't we?

SNAKE
Snake plays a utility role as it is slim, lazy, evil, and cunning. Girls want to have a a snake waist, long and slim. Boss hates it when someone is "snaking" (去蛇 a.k.a. do nothing). Christians think that the snake makes us all sinful. Teachers always try to catch us "snaking" (出蛇 a.k.a. cheating)

Because there are more bad than good, the year of snake is not a good year. Still, I love it when a girl is related to snake somehow.










But not too much =(










HORSE
Horse represents energetic. So it's always good. But horse can be used to scold someone as ugly too (马脸). Therefore, it's not a perfect year like the year of rabbit.




GOAT
Goat represents tame. Yea of course they are tame as they are vegetarian. But in some religion, the goat is the devil itself (OMG~~~!) For these people, they hate the year of goat because they think that they are living in the year of devil!!!!!!

Also, I think goat is ugly and creepy =(










MONKEY
Monkey represents playfulness. For Darwin followers, monkey is our ancestor! Therefore, the year of monkey is the year of their ancestors. This is bullshit because I do not see anything in common between a monkey and a human, oh wait I do....










CHICKEN
Chicken represents protein and nothing else. It is most common source of protein and is widely acceptable by many people (but the vegetarian). Sometimes, humans are so evil - we eat not only the chicken itself, but we eat also their unborn baby (eggs). If we continue to eat at such rate, the chicken will be extinct very soon!!!!!!










So please, save our chicken!!! Also a message to one of my friends that LOVES nothing else but chicken: please eat as many chicken as you can before they get extinct!

DOG
Dogs are men best friends because women never stop talking and never listen but dogs just bark sometimes and listen to men. Also, men and dogs have one thing in common - they are always horny. You have no idea how jealous a man is when dogs can hump on anything/any bitch they see. So, dogs are men best friends forever~~~~

Ya even a cute cosplay dog girl cannot replace a real dog in a man's heart unless the man can keep the girl mouth shut!

PIG
For some reasons, we use pig as an adjective. Pigs represent fat, ugly, stupid and lazy. So the year of pig is definitely not a good year. It is true that pigs are fat. But don't forget that we feed them so much to make them fat so that they can feed us with their fat. We are just being hypocrite like we always do =(

However, it is untrue that pigs are ugly, stupid and lazy. How can we justify that pigs are dumber or lazier than a dog? Therefore, in my opinion, the year of pig is not as bad as a pig represents.

Nonetheless, when someone says that you're a pig, means that something's wrong with you.....










RABBIT
Yea the year of rabbit is the best because......

1. Rabbit is tame as it is vegetarian.
   
2. Rabbit is cute.
   
3. Rabbit is smart (Bugs Bunny).
   
4. MOST MOST MOST importantly......

Don't you agree that rabbit is the best animal ever? SO CUTE~~~~~ that you can't think of anything bad about it!!

Even Paris Hilton looks cute But still slutty.....

And yea, we can all join the fun of being rabbit.....

Wahaha for Life

We should all love our penis because our penis is having a pathetic life. He's often called dick. His hair is a mess, his family is nuts, his neighbor is an asshole, his best friend is a pussy and most importantly the owner always beats him!

Road to the Champ - Miami Heat

Miami Heat, in spite of being the winner of the off-season free agency trade, is now a public enemy in the basketball world. When Lebron James and Chris Bosh joined Heat this summer, it was nothing like when Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen joined Boston 3 years ago. Unless you are staying in Miami Heat, everyone else HATE them and wish that they (or more precisely, Lebron James) would lose. Lebron James lost most of his fans while gaining very little as he went from Cleveland to Miami for his new career.

On the other hand, Kevin Garnett's fans wanted him to be traded to a better team after wasting all his prime time in Minnesota. Not only Boston embraced the arrival of KG, his fans who root for him are now rooting for Boston Celtic too! And without any disappointment, Boston Celtic won championship that year.

Therefore, for Miami Heat to be able to say "FUCK YOU! We are the champ!" to all its haters, Lebron James and Dwayne Wade's crews need to win championship so badly this year - not reaching Conference Final, not reaching Final, but winning a championship. But the road is not easy for them to win a championship as here lies their challengers.

1. Boston Celtic - Difficulty Level: Very very Difficult
Boston Celtic, although is able to play with its 60% of its full lineup, is having a better standing than Miami Heat. Yea Boston Celtic is a monster team, they have the depth in bench and they can integrate with any player to their game plan. Look at Shaq, the big failure after winning a championship in Miami Heat in 2006! Now, as a sidekick, he's having his best season since being a Lakers.

Talking about match up problem with the Miami Big Three? How about we talk about match up problem with the Boston Celtic whole fucking team. They have the bench who play as good as any starting lineup in 76ers, Clippers or even Hawks!

Not to mention that Boston Celtic is a veteran playoff team. If they can play this good during regular season, they are for real (unlike Dallas, Houston or Phoenix) for playoff matches.

Therefore, if Miami Heat wants championship, Boston Celtic will be the main challenger.

2. Orlando Magic - Difficulty Level: Medium
Orlando Magic has Dwight Howard and that makes them a regular playoff team. Dwight Howard is the best center available in this era. He has a "defend wins games" mindset and yes, with him in the middle, LBJ and D-Wade are not getting to the rim this easy.

After the 3-way-trade with Phoenix Suns and Washington Wizards, Magic now has Jason Richardson, Hedo Terkugolo, and Gilbert Arenas in their lineup. Not a very defensive lineup but they can kill you with their 3 pointers. Although they have achieved 5 wins after the trade, we still need to have a look the chemistry among these players before we label the Magic as the threat in the East.

If Miami Heat wants to stop Orlando Magic, they need to stop Dwight Howard from stopping them to score.
3. New York Knick - Difficulty Level: Easy
Yea Amare Stoudemire! A beast at the rim!! So what? They have only one Amare Stoudemire as one man team. Remember Cleveland last year? It is an one-man-team too and see how far it went? And Amare Stoudemire is not as fearful as Lebron James.





(Now if Miami Heat clear all the opponents in the East, they must face the powerhouses in the West before they can win a championship!)

4. San Antonia Spurs - Difficulty Level: Very very Difficult
Deep, strong and consistent are Spurs. Tim Duncan, being the best player after Michael Jordan, is the key to the playoff. And tell me, who can match up with Tim Duncan in Miami Heat? (oopps i mean in the league!) No one can stop him but hope that he loses his touch whenever he shoots. But hey, he's the big fundamental! If you're hoping him to make mistake, you are making a big mistake!

Besides Tim Duncan, Spurs has
1. Ginobilli - who is always creative in scoring and is a lefty!
2. Parker - who just lost one ring and is hungry for another ring!
3. Hill - who is not Grant Hill but plays like him, being hustle in both ends
4. Jefferson - who is getting back his offensive power which he left in New Jersey Nets
5. Bunch of players from the bench - who are all possible to make a run for the 6th man award if they want to
6. Popowich - the mastermind of the Spurs who transformed Spurs from a super defensive team into a super offensive and super defensive team.

This is the depth that Miami Heat can't match. If Miami Heat wants championship, the big 3 need to be consistently super explosive for the series.

5. Dallas Mavericks - Difficulty Level: Difficult
Regular playoff team but not able to finish a series but we have to remember that the German man is not going to back down. When Dirk Nowitzki is playing at MVP level right now, Miami Heat really need some luck to stop this 7 footer from making wade-away shots.

But Mavericks is always seen as a soft team. They need some toughness and hustles from all their players. If all the players are as tough as their owner Mark Cuban, Mavericks is one hell of team that Miami Heat should fear! Never forget that Mavericks is able to stop the hot winning streak of the Heat!

6. Los Angeles Lakers - Extremely Difficult
When it all comes to championship, we think of a championship team - Los Angeles Lakers - the two time defending champion. Yes, Miami Heat kicked their ass on Christmas but don't forget that Lebron James as a Cavaliers kicked the Lakers ass too last Christmas! And? The champ is still the champ.

They might not be playing like a champ right now but we cannot ignore how pushy & crazy & hungry to outperform Michael Jordan & scorable Kobe Bryant is, how tough Ron Artest is, how deadly Derek Fisher is, how productive Pau Gasol is, how commanding at the post Andrew Bynum is, how deep the bench is and how winnable Phil Jackson is.

Soon when they play like a champ, Miami Heat should fear the champ. I do not see how Kobe Bryant is going to give Miami Heat the ring and we should always remember that the Lakers being the Lakers is the defending champ!

Yea, We're so Living Facebookly

Mark Zuckerberg should probably get awarded Noble Prize for inventing Facebook that change our life so drasticall, just like how Edison changed our life with light bulb. Here are something examples how we are living facebookly:

You are not my friends until I fucking add you in my facebook!! - If facebook were invented by then, Rachel would not be friend with Ross, Chandler, Joey, Monica and Phoebe if she did not add them in facebook. This is probably why they stop producing this classic series because simply adding people in your facebook makes them your friends.

Don't know how to dump your girlfriend / boyfriend? Remove "in relationship with her/him" and be "single" on facebook - Seriously? Break up artists? They are so gonna lose their jobs. Removing "in relationship" status is the best way to announce that you've OFFICIALLY break up with that bitch/douche. We can avoid all the crying, begging and dramas with a simple click! And most importantly, you're announcing "HEY!! I'M SINGLE!!! PLEASE DATE ME~~~"

How we kiss good bye to DNA test and get things straight on family issues - Remember how Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker first encounter in Star War? This is so classic when Darth Vader reveals that he's Luke's father. But if facebook was invented then, Darth Vader could have added Luke Skywalker in facebook and added him as son. It will be a family reunion instead of a fight between two jedis. Darth Vader classic FML

No more curfew because your parents will always know what you doing at where - Yea that's right because your friends will always tag you and reveal your activities!! You, "I swear I was studying with Bob at his place until the next morning!!" Parents, "Yea right~~~ we saw your fuckface tagged this morning......." No lies, better life!

Getting red lights from your boss when he/she is emoing - Yes, your would want to check his/her status before you start working every morning. This is for the sake of your life during your employment in the company. When you read his/her status: "fucking emo now" or his/her game status "failed to reach level 2 ....again....", you know that it's not a good sign - just avoid your boss at all cost during work hours!

Lastly, enable us to stalk publicly through facebook - Yes, this is great because this avoid creepy stalkers stalk you at the street or at your house or at your work place. Just add them in the facebook, these stalkers can now officially have a good look at you. Just show them your party pics, your bikini pics, your activities and even your birthday - maybe you will get a surprise gift from one of them on your birthday, who knows??

Facebook, definitely help us to live better!! Ya~~~