Saturday, December 31, 2011

11 Charts Of 11 Disturbing 11 Year Trends & 11 Years of Stocks Versus Gold

Over at Zerohedge they have eleven very disturbing charts about the economy that I think you'd be wise to take a minute to look at:


My favorite is 11 years of stocks versus 11 years of gold:



Here's another scary one: 11 years of Federal debt. As you can see, Obama has more than doubled the debt created when (that idiot) Bush was president: 



An Incredible New Year's Card Trick...Awesome Magic Online!


A New Year's present to a few friends: 

a David Copperfield trick

First, pick a card. Don't forget your card. Then scroll down and follow instructions....







Don't forget your card... 


Scroll down....








Don't forget your card. 


Scroll down....




 




Don't forget your card... 


Scroll down....








WTF?.... Again!?....


Scroll down....








Don't forget your card...


 Scroll down....









Don't forget your card...


 Scroll down....









Don't forget your card...


 Scroll down....







Have a Happy New Year 2012!!!! Best to you all!





HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012!

It's the Year of the Dragon! Specifically speaking, 2012 is the Year of the Water Dragon. It is going to be a good year for those with entrepreneurial spirit. Be one!
Famous people born in the Year of the Dragon

Joan of Arc, Susan B. Anthony, Florence Nightingale, Sigmund Freud, Mae West, John Lennon, Bruce Lee, Keanu Reeves, Orlando Bloom, Colin Farrell, and Sandra Bullock.
The year of the dragon has always been traditionally associated with new beginnings and good fortune. It is a lucky year.
Dragons, and those born under compatible signs with the dragon (Rat & Snake), will especially benefit from luck or good fortune during a Dragon year Dragons were born in 1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, and 2012.
Those with entrepreneurial spirit are particularly favored to see much success in the coming year. They merely must dedicate themselves and stay focused.

Generally, it's predicted that any new business venture or relationship might benefit from the outstanding luck often associated with the dragon. Therefore, 2012 will be a very good year to get married (if there could be anything like that!), have children, or start a new business... Or to even win the lottery! Of course, I only jest as any time is a good time to win the lottery.
As the world suffers through one of the worst economic calamities in recent memory, supposedly bold new leadership will help ease the circumstances of those suffering most from recent financial setbacks. (So maybe that does mean Ron Paul can win! Oh I hope so!)
Since 2012 is the year of the Water Dragon, the liquid element to this is said to calm the dragon's usually tempestuous nature, and will give a thoughtful perspective to the plight of the less fortunate.
Dragons who can pursue their own passionate ambitions while meeting the needs of others are best suited to navigating the year ahead. Those compatible with the Dragon — the Rat and the Snake in particular — will also find 2012's circumstances inspiring them to greater personal happiness and professional success. 


Seven Gods of luck


If you wish for more good luck, you can help yourself by cleaning your home windows (so you can "see clearer" and make a clear path from the North East corner of your abode through to the South West corner. This allows the dragon to glide effortlessly through your abode bringing good luck. Placing clean water outside your abode at the South West corner as a reward for the dragon will also tempt him to pass through your house and bring you good fortune.*


* Seriously, I learned this from a famous professional Feng Shui instructor in Japan!


For more on your specific birthdate and the Chinese Zodiac, click here. http://chinesehoroscopeonline.com/
------------

Remember, whatever the omens portend, for better or worse, you are the final master of your own fate.




Wishing you and your family a year of health and prosperity! Gung Hay Fat Choy!


Happy New Year to you and yours and may 2012 see you all in health and prosperity! 

Friday, December 30, 2011

Guru Gobind Singh Ji

SUNNY LEONE in Big Boss 5

SUNNY LEONE
Age: 30

Star sign: Taurus

Nationality: Canadian

Occupation: Adult film actress, businesswoman and model

Claim to fame: Penthouse Pet of the Year in 2003

Sunny Leone, whose real name is Karen Malhotra is an Indo-Canadian adult film actress, businesswoman and model. She was named Penthouse Pet of the Year in 2003 and was a contract star for Vivid Entertainment. Named by Maxim as one of the 12 top adult film stars in 2010, she has also played roles in independent mainstream films and television shows.

Leone is a bisexual, although she has stated that she prefers men. In her spare time she enjoys abstract paintings, horse riding, reading, playing World of Warcraft,watching The Simpsons and the Discovery Channel. 

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Don't Create Your Life's Regrets: Having an Affair

Usually, at this time of year, I'd make my predictions for the next year. But, as baseball legend Yogi Berra once said, "It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future." Of my top ten predictions for 2011, incredibly all of them were exactly correct excepting eighty percent of them....I predicted Kim Jong Il's death and Manny Pacquiaou kicking butt correctly, but the rest were way off. So I won't be doing predictions this year. 


Instead of predictions, let me state some facts. Such as, "If you do so-and-so, you will regret it" I have much experience with that, so I have confidence in that area.


I am an expert at doing stupid things and then regretting them later. So let me warn you about one thing that far too many people do that they later regret... Sometimes they regret it for the rest of their lives.... And that is having an extra-marital affair.




Guys do stupid things. I don't know an honest guy who won't admit it. I've done lots of them in my life.

One of the really stupid things we do is get married or engaged while still young and then go out an have affairs with other women.

They might be so-called, "One-night stands" but, if they are, that's usually only because the woman wasn't satisfied and is no longer interested in having sex with a dud. Yep. Been there. Done that.

Why we get a fiancee or get married and then still want to go out and screw around with other women is really a head scratcher. Oh sure, I can say that now that I am to be 55-years-old next year, but when I was 16 ~ 25, I, like 97% of all guys who will admit it (the other 3% are liars), would have sex with just about any girl on the planet at any time any place.

Oh, don't think I was so sexually active at 16. I wasn't. I only dated "Handrietta and her five sisters" back then. I didn't actually have sex with a girl until I was 20 or 21.



But I digress. Where was I? 

Oh yeah. Doing stupid things like having affairs. Why do guys do that? Well, it's definitely a problem of not being able to control hormones. That's for sure. Guys have a hormone problem when they are young and it makes us unable to think with our brains and only with our, er, family treasure. 


But when it comes to having an affair that means breaking a bond of trust.  When we make a bond of trust to some wonderful girl (and trust that all women have a little girl inside of them as all guys have a little boy inside of us) as well as her family, why do we have an affair and want to hurt their feelings? Many girls have some childhood fantasy that they carry through life that they will meet some white knight on a steed and we are going to take them away. I think they call it a "Cinderella Complex." We meet this wonderful girl that we fall in love with. Then we meet her family and father and mother who are kind to us; we marry. Then, we screw around with other women and mess things up for them and ourselves!? Why do we do that? What have they done to us that was so bad? Why do we want to hurt them so?


Especially if we have children. Do we hate our partners and children (and ourselves) so much that we want to mess it up so badly just for 2 hours of sex and then weeks and months of whispering, lying and sneaking around? What, are we stupid?



Ninety nine percent of young guys have an excuse for doing stupid things; if they are under twenty five, they can't control their hormones.  But when we are older, have kids and a meaningful job, why do we risk all of that? I mean, think about it. When a guy is married or has a steady girlfriend or fiancee, then why would they want another girl? 


To be totally flippant about it, isn't one girl enough trouble as it is? 

Go figure.

But even more confusing than men having affairs is married women having affairs, I think. OK, call me sexist, but, from what I have read and understand, women don't go around thinking about sex for seven or eight hours straight a day, everyday like men do. Women don't go to bed at night and dream about sex all night and wake up in a puddle.

Nope. From the literature I've read, they don't do that. 


There is a woman who lives in my neighborhood that we've know for at least six years, named Linda (not her real name) who I think is having an affair. Linda has two kids and is somewhere around 35-years-old. I have no solid proof, like photographs, that she is having an affair, but, like I said, "Been there. Done that." I could surmise from what she was doing, how she was dressed and how she has been acting, that she is indeed having an affair. 


I used to see Linda walking around in the neighborhood sometimes, like I see all the neighbors. I am a friendly guy so I always greet the locals. Linda would be walking around with her small children and I'd say, "Hi!" My wife and son would also say hi to Linda and her family.


Because of my job, I don't usually have to go sit in an office from 9 - 5 everyday. I often get to work from home or have very unusual hours. Often times I go to the local Starbucks for meetings with friends and clients and possible business partners. It was at the Starbucks that I saw Linda and knew immediately that she was having an affair. I felt sorry for her. But mostly I felt sorry for her children.


By the way, near the Starbucks, across the street, and a 4 minute walk on the back road, is also what we call a "Love Hotel." A Love Hotel is a hotel that rents out rooms for two-hour trysts. They are quite popular for young people and those having affairs... So the Starbucks is probably a convenient (but stupid) "meeting place." 


Anyway, my meeting with my client was at 10 am sharp inside the Starbucks which is on the seventh floor of this huge department store near my house. Ten am is opening time for the department store and Starbucks. I was one of the first customers in the Starbucks. I bought my coffee and sat down at a table near the door so that my client and I could catch each other easily. I don't usually pay attention to other people in coffee shops and certainly don't look around for other people that I might know so I sat down and opened my computer. After a few seconds, the lady at the table next to me abruptly stood up and almost ran out of the coffee shop. I noticed her because of the way she was dressed; She had on dark sunglasses (inside of a coffee shop on a cloudy day? Hmmm?) and was wearing a head scarf like some woman who was hiding from the police in an old detective movie. It was Linda. She didn't say, "Good morning" or anything to me and she swiftly left the coffee shop.


A tad bit odd, wouldn't you say?


See? This is how women dress (Jacqueline Kennedy) when they don't want to be recognized. If a person is dressed like this, they are ashamed of what they are doing or they are outside on a windy day. Dressed like this inside a coffee shop? 


Now, let's review this situation. It's just past 10 am. The coffee shop just opened. I am one of the first customers in the shop. I buy my coffee and sit down. This woman, who I've seen in the neighborhood (and who has even been to our house with husband and children for a BBQ party before), dressed in an obvious fashion to disguise herself, ups and abruptly leaves the premises without saying "Hello" and she's wearing dark sunglasses inside a building?!


What's that say to you? Circumstantial for sure, but it says to me that she's having an affair with someone.


As Shakespeare would say, "Oh what a tangled web we weave when we first practice to deceive."


Like I said, I feel sorry for her. I feel sorry for her husband and I certainly feel sorry for her kids. Hopefully she has stopped but probably not.


I suspect that she knows that I saw her (and I could "read her mind") as I have seen her around the neighborhood over these last few months but she definitely tries to avoid greeting us and avoids having eye contact with me anymore.... When I do see her, she has that "deer caught in the headlights"  look. Oh well. Poor woman.


It's hard enough in life to obtain this as it is, why ruin your chances by your own stupid and foolish actions?


If my guess is correct, and I am quite confident that it is, now, what does she have? She is living in guilt. She has betrayed her family and children. Did the kids deserve this? Make no mistake about it, no matter how you slice or rearrange it, it is betrayal. Now, she has to live with that guilt and regret all her life. Like I said, I know what I am talking about. I've experienced this.


Maybe it is a sickness of the heart and soul? 


Some will say that it takes three to have an affair: two people to have the affair and a cold, mean or uncaring spouse to create the situation whereby the other spouse wishes to have an escape. This might be true. But it still doesn't erase the guilt that someone like Linda must feel when she looks into her children's eyes.


Life is too short to live if it is full of regrets. Of course, we should live life fully, but we should never betray the trust of those we love and who love us.






I hope that, in 2012, my friends, you can live a wonderful year without misfortune and regrets.


Happy New Year 2012. May the New Year see you and yours happy, healthy and prosperous. Live without regrets


NOTE: For you bilingual folks (or those who know about Google Translation), my wife has written a pretty funny commentary and take on this story. She thinks I am imagining things. It's hilarious: 男の勘、男の想像力
http://ameblo.jp/yukarogers/entry-11122144496.html 

TV Really Going Down the Drain in Japan

I've written extensively on the fall of television in Japan. In July of 2011, all terrestrial television stations in Japan stopped analogue broadcasting and switched to digital. That cost all the stations 20% of their viewership. Japanese major TV stations were losing money before the switch to digital, how shall they make money when they spent a cumulative $5 billion dollars on the switchover and then lost 20% of their audience?




I can't figure that out no matter the size of my abacus.


While on vacation to Guam the other day, I saw a sign along the road that made me chuckle. In Guam, there are a very many people who are quite a bit overweight... No! Make that quite obese. The sign along the road said,


"You need more fiber in your diet and less cable TV"






Yep. Sitting around and watching TV while munching on chips and junk has seriously fallen out of favor with the active and young crowd.


Another sign that TV viewership is collapsing in Japan is the fact that, after initial fanfare and many years of positive spin on poor sales, Sony has decided to get out of flat TV manufacturing. The sales projections do not make up for poor sales ( and high manufacturing costs) which have lead to wide price dumping across the board. 


Bloomberg reports:



Sony Corp. sold its stake in the venture with Samsung Electronics Co. to make liquid-crystal displays to the South Korean company after predicting an eighth consecutive year of losses from TVs amid sluggish demand.
Samsung will pay 1.08 trillion won ($935 million) in cash for Sony’s stake in S-LCD Corp., a venture formed in 2004, the Suwon, South Korea-based company said in a statement today. Sony, which invested 1.65 trillion won in the venture, will take a charge of about 66 billion yen ($846 million) in the quarter ending Dec. 31 after the deal, Japan’s biggest consumer- electronics exporter said in its statement.
The stake sale enables Sony Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer, 69, to shed the responsibility of panel manufacturing amid losses in the TV business, where Samsung is the world’s biggest. To turn around Sony, which has forecast a fourth consecutive annual loss this year, Stringer has teamed up with partners to announce acquisitions worth a combined $8.4 billion in 2011. The purchases are designed to bolster the profitable phones and music divisions and introduced tablet computers to challenge Apple Inc.’s iPad.
Catch that? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what Sony has figured out: There's no future in TV sales; they're best off investing in the future of hand-held devices... Hand-held devices and tablet computers are generally not used to watch TV.


Tissue Time was a famous Japanese TV show in the mid-80's... No more.
How much clearer could the writing on the wall be? 

Doctors Saikyou no Meii ep 4

I love Moriyama's expression going from wtf are they all greeting me to this is bloody troublesome.

Writing about bad doramas is easy, just make fun of how bad it is but there's always that strong feeling of anger and frustration that lingers cause you sort of have to experience it twice. Writing about pedestrian doramas is hard because you can never be sure what's missing, only what you had hoped to see. Writing about well written doramas is a joy because the thoughts come to you when you're watching. Its just a matter of organising it.


After the events of ep 3, we can see the effects of the operation on Moriyama-sensei. People think him a great doctor and the nurses all greet him and he begrudgingly greets them back. A great change from ep 1 when the doctors would not greet the nurses. The theme for this episode is pride, specifically Moriyama's pride. He may be a childish but he has skills and pride and for once Moriyama has actually done something to be proud of. Manipulation of Moriyama's pride is the key to motivate him or use him like the sales rep.

Moriyama and gang reveling in their 'victory'.

I love the scene where Sagara gets into an argument with Moriyama and lets him win. His rational is that winning an argument will not change people's minds. His method is to make people change their own minds not be winning them to his side but by letting them experience what they could be. Moriyama is becoming a better doctor after episode 3. He takes his young patient seriously and even does some reading the night before the operation.


Success and praise has made Moriyama feel more responsible. Its gives him a feeling that he can make a difference. We also get another funny scene with Minagawa sensei appealing to his pride to help him connect with the patient. The whole team thing in episode 3 was also a message to Minagawa to trust that the other doctors would respond to the trust. I hope Moriyama never goes to the 'good side'. His character of being childish and vindictive towards Sagara should not change. He can become a good doctor while still being himself.


This episode really shows the purpose of Moriyama sensei and that he is a cartoon character not because jdoramas always like their villains to be non-threatening, overacting caricatures but because it makes Sagara sensei's manipulations more fun and makes Moriyama sensei great comedy relief. I can't believe he has turned into an enjoyable character! I dare say that Moriyama probably knows he is being manipulated but his pride will never let him admit it.


The other element of episode 4 is the story of the two patients, a middle school student from an elite school and a homeless man and how they are connected. I like how the story addresses two things that we don't see often in jdoramas; firstly that no one wants to be homeless and the pressure of living life as a Todai graduate/elite. Episode 4 doesn't go into the issues great detail but I thought the script deals with it very succinctly and beautifully.


Looks like episode 5 is going to be about the nurses vs doctors and there's a bit of foreshadowing with one of the doctors saying that the nurses are complaining their workload has increased since the hospital started taking emergency patients. I for one cannot wait for Nutcase's subs for the next episode.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Big Government is Not the Answer... Government is Our Enemy

I often get complaints from people about my anti-government stance on just about, no make that ALL, everything.


The Roman empire had Caesar, Caligula, Nero, Augustus, etc...
Different presidents, but it was still ultimately the Roman Empire.
The USA has had many presidents.... (Get it?)


Judge Napolitano has written a brilliant expose simple stating why government is the root of our problems and not the solution...


Like I have always said, "If government were benevolent and the answer to all out problems than a big government country like the Soviet Union would have been hugely successful. But they weren't."


The good judge sums it all up in one great sentence: 


"Unlike an individual or a well-run corporation, government is not motivated by how efficient it can be, but rather by how lucrative it can be for those associated with it, and how those who run the government can stay in power." (emphasis mine).


The above is exactly correct. No matter the problem, the government's answer is always to expand upon itself. That is the nature of all government.


Who was in charge when the Twin Towers were attacked? The Bush Administration. Did anyone lose their jobs? No. The government's powers and reach were expanded.


Some will say that the government is here to protect the little guy. Oh really? How's that working out for the now nearly 46 million Americans on Food Stamps? Or the now 25% of all American children in poverty? Has the government cut the Pentagon budget to help pay for these poor people? Nah.


Here's another good one that never ceases to amaze me: "The Civil War: The North went to war with the South to end slavery." Ha! Oh really? Is that why some Northern States still allowed slavery for two years after the war started? And, think about this, since when has the USA ever gone to war to protect the rights of dark-skinned people? Never! Get real if you think we have.... Or do you think we are bringing democracy to those people in the Middle East too? 


Have you never read "War is a Racket"? The USA only goes to war for economic aims. Never to protect minorities.




Here are some more great bits from Judge Napolitano's article:  


Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney don't want to shrink government. They love government. They just want to manage it better. The problem with that approach is that government by its very design is always mismanaged. The centralization of decision-making amplifies the effects of poor decisions while disincentivizing prudent ones.
Unlike an individual or a well-run corporation, government is not motivated by how efficient it can be, but rather by how lucrative it can be for those associated with it, and how those who run the government can stay in power. Someone who was philosophically opposed to government domination of the housing market wouldn't perpetuate it by taking one red penny of taxpayer money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, like the former Speaker did, whether he calls himself a historian or a lobbyist. Someone philosophically opposed to government domination of the health care market would never offer up government as the solution to the problem of the uninsured, like the former governor of Massachusetts did, since the problem of the uninsured was created by government's involvement in the health care market in the first place.
The federal government does not need an efficient manager. That's a pipe dream based on the noble but flawed premise that government can be made to operate as a business. It cannot. Business is subject to the forces of free choice, supply and demand, and competition. Can you imagine government subjecting itself to the forces of competition? Can you imagine government permitting us to ignore it?.... (Read the rest at Lew Rockwell...)   http://lewrockwell.com/napolitano/napolitano34.1.html

NOTE: See this big news just in: 

Michele Bachmann campaign chair and Iowa state senator defects to Ron Paul







Tokyo's Top Morning FM Radio Show Returns For One Day: Jan. 3, 2012

Win a state-of-the art Dyson dc36 vacuum cleaner! Or an Antelope Zodiac DAC converter that converts MP3 to mighty digital audio! How about romantic helicopter tours for two around Tokyo! 2 people will win iPod iTouch! Over 40 pairs of ski lift tickets to Japan's top ski resorts and much more! All for free! All you have to do is listen! InterFM Special: 


Tuesday January 3, 2012 from 7:00 am ~ 11:00 am on 76.1 InterFM. 
"InterFM New Year's Holiday Special 2012 - Bam!" 


新春初笑い 2012年1月3日奴等が朝に帰って来る!76.1mhzインターFM朝7時~ GMTの3人が沢山のお年玉をプレゼント!!日本においでの方、関東においでの方は是非お聞きくださいませ。


From April of 2006 to October of 2009, the highest rated and most popular radio show at the time was "Good Morning Garage." "GMG" as it was called was the flagship morning show of 76.1 InterFM and was the first time in that station's history to be #1 in ratings in the extremely competitive Tokyo Morning FM radio drive time competitive slot.


L to R: George, Taro, Mike


GMG was the first time that 76.1 InterFM beat the dominant Tokyo FM radio station, J-Wave, in ratings. It was the last time also.


On Tuesday January 3, 2012 the GMG gang with Wakana san will be back for a four hour special that will also feature Feng Shui trainer Shiuma san. It's going to be a blast.


Not only that, there's tons of presents too!


One lucky winner will get a chance to win an Antelope Zodiac DAC converter. This fantastic device converts your crappy sounding MP3 sound files into awesome sounding digital music the way it's supposed to sound.






Another lucky winner will also win the world's best vacuum cleaner, a Dyson DC36!


A lucky pair will win a romantic helicopter tour around Tokyo (just like Tom Cruise had) courtesy of Excel Airport!






Two lucky people will win an iPod Touch!




Three people will win ¥5000 coupons for flower arrangements from "Hana Boukujyo"






And five people will win "Boardsmart face masks" and forty lucky couples will win free ski-lift tickets for Japan's top ski and snow board resorts courtesy of Boardsmart.




And there's much more!


The show is entitled "InterFM New Year's Holiday Special 2012 - Bam!" (featuring George Williams, Taro Furukawa, Wakana san, Feng shui trainer  Shiuma san and finally, me, Mike Rogers)


Left: Wakana san Right: Shiuma san




That's Tuesday January 3, 2012 from 7:00 am ~ 11:00 am on 76.1 InterFM.


Click here to see all the great prizes lined up.


*some images above are not exact 
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