Jesus Camp

First of all, I'd like to state that I am not in anyway related to any religious group, I do not believe in any other being beside myself and I respect all individuals who have found their faith somewhere.

Now, where should I start ...

I first watched this trailer a few months back on apple website, somehow gave me an unpleasant feeling, though I couldn't exactly describe it then, but I made a mental note to watch this film when it became available.

I have just watched it ... but it did not clear up my feelings at all, instead, I had this mixture of anger, disappointment, shock, frustration and saddness.

How could parents lead their children blindly onto this religious path at such a young age? I don't know. How could parents let others brainwash their children? I don't know. How could they stand there and watch the mental damage caused by so-called-savior and bible? I honestly do not know. The only guess I could think of is that themselves are so deeply trapped inside, they can no longer see clearly.

Regardless which religion you believe, you have no right whatsoever to take away the choices for your kids. It was an important stage in their growing up, they deserve the chance to try and taste the world, under the right guidance, they should decide which religion to follow if they want to follow at all. They should be given the chance to run around wild in the woods, play ball games on the lawn, eat ice cream and see wonderful colours, not a semi naked man hanging on a wooden cross! They should read manga, watch cartoon, listen to music and laugh out loud, because later on in life, they will not get another chance to enjoy life freely, so why stuff the most innocent part of their life with Christianity?

Becky mentioned very briefly about what Islamics were doing to their children, as if they were wrong and she is right. Who the hell on earth gave her the right to judge that? Why would she believe what TV says anyway? If there was a god and if he was as described in the bible, he would punish the ones who took others' choices away against their will.

I am so glad that I am not religious, it would really scare the hell out of me to not be able to see what I see today, to say what I want to say, and live a life under restraints of a mis-translated book from hundreds of years ago!

Religion itself is a propaganda, but we are not! Our brains have the ability to distinguish black from white, right and wrong, why give it all up? Wouldn't you think that is the most gracious gift god gave us?

Free those kids for god's sake!

Anger cannot be dishonest

This quote by Marcus Aurelius, one of the "Five Good Roman Emperors" and a stoic philosopher, can be read from his book "Meditation".

When you think about it, it is true to its core, however, I don't think the quote is complete.

Being honest does not necessarily mean it's right.

When certain things do not agree with your perception of them take place, it naturally gears up the feeling inside and drives your urge to express or to correct them. The feeling is no doubt as honest as it can be, but it says nothing about your perception of it is as impartial as it would get.

One of the reasons our world is so colourful and full of varieties is because every individual perceives same thing differently, hence alters our behaviour, the way we work and live. Also, because there isn't and never will be an absolute right and wrong, nobody can truely do everything right.

Given any situation, certain parties would be more right than the rest, but that does not mean the rest is wrong. Therefore, when something happens to you that really upsets you, calm down and think about it, don't start yelling at everyone you know and try to make them agree with you, they don't have to and they probably wouldn't.

One's anger comes from no place but within itself. Nobody else could be in the exact same shoe to feel the same feeling.

No sympathy ... whatsoever.

phenomenal ebay phenomenon

Why would I say that? You may wonder.

Well, for starters, it changed our way of living, that's right, not just buying and selling, but living in general. It is the one and only market place where you can source your entire shopping lists from, while sitting in your very room without stepping outside the house.

Another amazing factor about eBay is the opportunity it creates for individuals worldwide. I would say it certainly helped government to lower their unemployed rate substantially, not just a government, but for all countries that runs an eBay site in their own language.

EBay has broadened existing market significantly, it has also paved way for a whole new section, to commodities creativity. That's right, you can sell things as creative as one's imagination can be, as long as it stays within the legal boundary. Thousands of people started to sell Welsh water, Scottish soil, new york trash, bags of air, longest chip, virginity, even surprises!

Of course there is a dark side to every story. As well as providing a convenient global market place, it also attracted huge amount of attention from con man, fraudster and other "clever" criminals. Thanks to them, eBay no longer exists simply as a market place, it evolved to an online community, it started to provide policing powers, became financial regulators, market monitor, stats generator, info database.

First eBay posed as an "incredible" threat to local business and high street retailers, of course they would think that way, they have been conducting business in the same way for so long, and became slow in reaction and adaptability. Their concerns were real, pricing all of sudden become the most sensitive part of their business, ultimately that squeezed everyone's profit margin by a great deal. Slowly but surely, they began to change and evolve around eBay phenomenon, and start to use their brain to explore new ways to turn the situation into their advantage.

There is an old Chinese proverb "when wind starts to blow, some will start building shelters, while some will start building windmills", it cannot be more precious in describing the effect of eBay. Can't beat it? Join it!

What has eBay changed in us consumers? There is good and bad. The good things are lower price, better options, easier shopping channel, and we no longer chuck things we don't use anymore, we turn them into chunks of cash while give others bargains of their life time! The bad sides are become victimised, not every eBayer has pleasant experience dealing online, poor customer service if at all, hassle in return and refund, and the worst of all, it made us lazy, real lazy.

I have not once but many times found same products cheaper elsewhere, either from the shops or other online retailers, yet everyone seems to be buying from eBay, it's gradually replacing the words such as "shopping", "shop", "shopper".

To prove my theory, I have sold a number of items on eBay, which you can either get it cheaper from local shops, supermarkets, or simply google it, you'll find cheaper alternative.

I'm not in anyway complaining, just a little sorry for those lazy buggers.

Free cheese only comes with mousetrap

... is simply another way of saying "there is no free lunch in the world".

I used to think there is, when I was young and just started to understand a thing or two, not anymore.

You may disagree, and I'm certainly not gonna even try to convince you.

What I believe is every time you take something for free, somewhere, somehow, someone is or will be paying for it. Sooner or later, it will come right back at you.

It is like Karma in many ways, what goes around, comes around, however, what I'm saying here is something traceable, even physical in certain ways, not just a spiritual belief.

forget about ...

I remember a few years back, eminem released a song called "forgot about dre", the chorus goes:

Nowadays everybody wanna talk like they got something to say
but nothing comes out when they move their lips;
just a bunch of gibberish
And motherfuckers act like they forgot about Dre

This part pretty much sums up the root to many problems in our world today, of course, not because everybody forgot about dre, because everybody forgets how to listen.

Everyone would jump at any given opportunity to "express" themselves. To be honest, I wouldn't call that "express" at all, it's more like "shout out the first thing comes to mind and who cares what happens next".

You're absolutely right, it is merely a way to exercise one's right to freedom of speech, but given the choices, please shout out something meaningful, nobody wanna hear what you have been suffering from, how terrible your life is, or how deserted you feel from the society; tell us what you gonna do about it, what actions you would take to solve the problems, and while you are at it, what am I gonna benefit from it.

Individuality has gone a slightly too far, and the latest technology does not help slowing it down at all. With the increase number of bloggers, podcasts, youtubers, everyone wants everyone else to listen to what they have to say.

If everybody wants to talk and is talking, who is listening?

Well, I am, at least ...