Global Fusionist Motivational #1

I thought I would add another segment called Global Fusionist Motivational as short notes of wisdom I wish to impart to everyone. I encounter so many people who feed their minds with jealousy and envy that it thwarts their own progress. With all the hype and negativity the world throws at us, I shall start preaching, as I practice it in my own life, radical honesty.

Most disputes and disagreement could be resolved quickly and easily if only WE take the time to LEARN to COMMUNICATE WITH ANOTHER HUMAN BEING well. We MUST repudiate unnecessary ambiguous gullability and lethargic convictions. Simply, say what you mean and mean what you say. Do not say more than you mean or mean less than what you say. Pay attention on how you use your skills.

Make the most of your skills and your talents. Think about this: People who usually take their time to tear your down directly or indirectly are doing so because they only dream of being able to do the things you can. It is perfectly OK to play to your strengths rather than always concentrating on developing your weaknesses. NAYSAYERS are not stumbling blocks but stepping stones. Use  and build these stones they throw at you as a sturdy leveled strip of smooth ground runway as you propel yourself FORWARD. LIVE a little today. BE DARING. Whenever urge comes to perform and whatever your habit is, REBEL against it gloriously. DO NOT SUCCUMB to desires and  urges of bad habits and mindset that do not contribute to anyone’s growth, especially to yourself. Enjoy your ability and use it to help others too. You will be surprise when you make that choice to BE THE CHANGE.

How to Track Fraudsters and Cyberbullies via E-mail

You receive an e-mail from a prospective customer – requesting information on your products, price etc. or placing order. Normally, you would like to find out more information about this customer before parting with requested information, especially if the information is of sensitive nature like price list, discount rate etc. There may be other occasions when you want to find out more information about e-mail sender – for example, to locate the identity of a spammer or someone whose identity is suspicious. How do you go about it?

I belong to a closed network of CEOs who share information with each other regarding international finance and trade deals worldwide and every month we share notes in our own blacklists as well as high level messages carrying “red flags”. Since I achingly encounter fraudsters (and lately some cyberbullies) on a weekly basis, I decided to write about one simple technique we do that I tell our employees worldwide in how we do business within MJS companies.

E-mail is perhaps the easiest thing to acquire in the Internet. Though Internet is anonymous – there are few tools with which you may dig out some information about your customer before entering into a negotiation. For example – if you receive an e-mail from a ‘customer’ with US postal address but discover that the e-mail has been sent from an African country – you´ll  know what to do with the help of these steps.

Analysis of Given Details

Every e-mail has at least three distinct elements:

From: (e.g. abcd@whyme1234.com)

To: (e.g. seller@products.com)

Subject (e.g. Want to buy Your products)

The simplest test is to put the tail of sender’s e-mail address (e.g. www.whyme1234.com for abcd@whyme1234.com) in your browser’s window and check if there is a web-site at this URL. If you find a valid and business like web-site at this URL – your job becomes easier. One can dig out significant details from web-site as also other sources. Please see Faida article – ‘How to evaluate a business web-site’ for details. 

However, if you can not find e-mail sender’s web-site at URL – do not jump to conclusion that the sender is phony. Lot’s of people use business e-mail address without web-site. In such cases, you need to determine if this guy is one of them or is using an anonymous web-based free e-mail, disguised as business e-mail. Your next task is to find out ownership details of the domain name.

Tracing Owner of Domain Name

Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the nodal agency that supervises registration of domain names. Information on ownership of domain names can be located from ICANN approved registrars, who maintain public access database (called whois) on ownership of domain names.

Please visit such a whois (e.g. http://www.internic.net/whois.html) and check ownership of domain name. 

If the sender is using a business e-mail – the domain name should be registered in sender’s or his/her company’s name. 

When e-mail Sender Uses free web-based E-mail service

What happens when the e-mail sender uses a web-based free e-mail service (e.g. hotmail.com,yahoo.com, rediffmail.com etc.) ? Well, you can still find information about the sender by analyzing the e-mail header.

Unraveling Hidden information from e-mail header

Every e-mail has a visible set of information on sender (From:), recipient (To:), subject (Subject:), Organization of the sender (Orgn:) etc. However, there’s a great deal more hidden within, that can reveal significant information about the sender. 

A little scrutiny of this hidden information may help you locate sender’s country, genuineness of the e-mail used in ‘From:’ column, whether the sender tried to conceal his/her identity etc. 

A fake sender attempting to confuse identity usually means a fraudster trying to steal your money or a virus attack, a potential hazard in either case, that can cost you a lot in terms of financial loss, computer crash etc. A little time spent on analyzing suspicious looking e-mails is an insurance against such disasters. 

Those using Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail or any such web-based e-mail service may think that their true identity and location are hidden. In reality – one may still find information about them by analyzing their e-mail headers.

What is E-mail Header

The part of an e-mail where such hidden information is stored is called ‘header’. Header of an e-mail stores various information on the path it has traversed while reaching your mailbox – right from sender’s computer. Normally, one doesn’t need this kind of information and mail clients (Eudora, Outlook, Netscape etc. ) do not display it. 

To see e-mail header in Netscape, open any e-mail and click 

View > Page Source 

For Outlook, right-click on the mail message that is still in your Inbox, select ‘Options…’ from the resulting popup menu Examine the ‘Internet Headers’ in the ‘Message Options’ dialog 

At first look – the header may look confusing and puzzling. This is more so for spam e-mails as spammers try their best to make the header misleading. Do not lose heart – I am going to explain how to pick up right information from it.

Examining a Typical Header

Let us examine following e-mail header:

1. Delivery-date: Wed, 03 Nov 2004 23:59:47 -0600
2. Received: from bani by arjuna.banijya.com with local-bsmtp (Mann 4.43)
3.  id 1CPaev-00057o-Q4
 4.  for abcdxyz@banijya.com; Wed, 03 Nov 2004 23:59:47 -0600
5. Received: from [203.199.83.28] (helo=rediffmail.com)
6. byarjuna.banijya.com with smtp (Mann 4.43)
7. id 1CPaev-00057f-8T
 8.  for info@infobanc.com; Wed, 03 Nov 2004 23:59:45 -0600
9.  Received: (qmail 28471 invoked by uid 510); 4 Nov 2004 05:59:09 -0000
10. Date: 4 Nov 2004 05:59:09 -0000
11. Message-ID: <20041104055909.28468.qmail@webmail18.rediffmail.com>
12. Received: from unknown (61.3.251.11) by rediffmail.com 
13.  via HTTP; 04 nov 2004 05:59:08 -0000
14. MIME-Version: 1.0
15. From: “Raj International ” 
16. Reply-To: “Raj International “ 
17. To: “InfoBanc” 
18. Subject: Thanks for activation

Explanation of Header Elements

If you look carefully at e-mail header above, a pattern is clearly visible. The header is composed of several lines of text – each starting with header name (e.g. Delivery-date) , a colon (:), a space and finally header value. If a line starts with a tab or spaces (line nos. 2-4 and 5-8) – that line is a continuation of the previous header value line. So, the header name ‘Received:’ in line 2 has a header value that spans lines 2 to 4. 

Some of the header names are simple and self-explanatory, such as the ‘Delivery-date:’, ‘From:’, ‘Reply-To:, ‘Subject:’ etc. For example, sender’s e-mail address appears after header name ‘From:’ and the recipients e-mail address appears after the ‘To:’ header name. 

Please note – mail servers have no way to check if the sender is using his or her own e-mail address. This lack of verification is a weakness – that spammers and fraudsters use ruthlessly to confuse recipients. So, do not accept sender’s e-mail address at face value. A fraudster or spammer, in all likelihood, will never use his/her actual e-mail address. Instead, he/she may use a legitimate e-mail address (it could even be your own e-mail) as sender. 

We shall not discuss each and every header name – as many of these can be forged or a fake one inserted by spammer. What is most important for our purpose (and most difficult to forge) is the ‘Received:’ headers. Analysis of ‘Received:’ header names can reveal a great deal of information about the sender.

Locating Actual Sender from Header Analysis 

Every e-mail has a header that stores significant information about sender of the e-mail and the path it traversed before reaching your mailbox. In earlier issues – we have discussed how to read e-mail headers and various header elements. In this issue, we shall discuss how to locate actual sender of an e-mail and his/her geographical location. 

Considering anonymous nature of Internet – this a vital piece of information for every e-business. If you receive an e-mail from a ‘customer’ with US postal address but discover that the e-mail has been sent from an African country – you know what to do ! 

Users of web-based free e-mail services like Yahoo, Rediffmail, Hotmail etc. may think that their true identity and location are hidden. In reality – one may still find information about them by analyzing their e-mail headers.

‘Received:’ Headers

Of all header elements we have discussed, ‘Received:’ headers are most important for identifying sender’s country. One reason is that – ‘Received:’ headers are most difficult to tamper with. 

Any header element can be forged and faked ones inserted up to a point, as the headers are just textual data, and only the headers added by servers that you trust can be considered reliable. 

Every time an e-mail moves through a new mail server, a new Received header line (and possibly other header lines) is added to the beginning of the headers list. This means that as you read the Received headers from top to bottom, you are gradually moving closer to the computer/person that sent you the e-mail. 

But please note that as you read through the Received header fields and get closer to the computer/person that sent you the e-mail, you need to consider the possibility that the sender added one or more false Received header lines to the list (at the time, the senders beginning of the list) in an attempt to redirect you to another location and prevent you from finding the true sender. But, now that you know false header lines are possible, just stay alert.

Reading ‘Received:’ Header

Consider following e-mail header and its interpretation:

1. Received: from [216.136.225.35] (helo=web20024.mail.yahoo.com) 2. by arjuna.banijya.comwith smtp (Mann 4.43)
3. id 1CPhNE-0002Qt-0T
4.  for info@infobanc.com; Thu, 04 Nov 2004 07:09:56 -0600
5. Received: from [69.132.4.255] by web20024.mail.yahoo.com via 
6.  HTTP; Thu, 04 Nov 2004 05:09:53 PST

Interpretation

Line 1 – 4 : Mail sever arjuna.banijya.com  receives a mail  for one of its clients (info@infobanc.com) 
 from mail server web20024.mail.yahoo.com
 which has an IP address 216.136.225.35



Line 5 – 6 : Mail server web20024.mail.yahoo.com receives
  a mail from IP 69.132.4.255

By the way - IP stands for Internet Protocol. The Internet uses a technology to interlink millions of computers in its fold – TCP/IP. The core of this technology is called IP addressing or Internet Protocol addressing. Every computer connected to Internet is given a unique number for identification – called IP number. IP number is used to verify location and activities of any computer. Your ISP provider assigns you an IP address each time you connect to the Internet. 

It is evident from header interpretation that actual sender is the one at the bottom of series of ‘Received:’ headers and the recipient is at the top. In other words, mail server web20024.mail.yahoo.com received an e-mail from IP address 69.132.4.255. 

So IP address 69.132.4.255 is the sender of this e-mail. 

Interestingly, this sender used a free web-based e-mail service (yahoo.com) to send this e-mail – still his/her identity can be traced using IP address 69.132.4.255 found in mail header.

Locating Sender’s Country from IP Address

Spammers and fraudsters may forge many header elements like ‘From:’, ‘Received-date:’ etc. – but it is very difficult to change IP addresses inserted by mail servers. At best, they may insert fake ‘Received’: headers to confuse recipient. 


 

Once you locate IP address of actual sender’s mail server or computer, it is possible to locate geographical location or country.

E-mails are anonymous by nature – but contains significant information in its header about the path it traversed before reaching your mailbox. The header is normally not visible. We have discussed how to view and analyze header of any e-mail and locate actual sender with his/her IP address. In this issue – we shall discuss how to locate sender’s country from IP address.

Internet Resources for IP Analysis

There are various free and paid-for Internet resources to help you find information about IP addresses, domain names etc.

1. VisualWare

Perhaps the leader in IP tracking software, Visualware has number of products to track e-mail, IP, domain name owner etc. 

VisualRoute and eMailTrackerPro are two software from Visualroute that can help you significant information on e-mails. 

VisualRoute has a free service to demonstrate how the software works. If your IP tracking requirement is modest – you may use this free service to track any IP address. However, if you wish to use this facility regularly – please consider buying the software. 

To use the free service – please visit Visualware web-site http://www.visualware.com/index.html

Click on ‘Online demos’ button on above page – you will reachhttp://www.visualware.com/demo/index.html 



Click on ‘VisualRoute’ link on above page and you will reach IP Tracking area -http://visualroute.visualware.com/ 



There is a simple one-step registration process that requires your e-mail address only. Enter your e-mail address in registration box – an identification number (called PIN) will be sent to your e-mail. Use this PIN for first time – you will not require it again. 

After registration – copy and paste any IP number and it will immediately show the country of origin of the IP number on world map.

2. DNS Stuff

My favorite – this is a very powerful yet completely free service that does dozens of extremely useful functions. Internet is truly a marvelous place – where else would you find such high quality service completely free of cost ? 

This does not even require registration – please visit http://www.dnsstuff.com/ and perform dozens of IP and DNS related functions. 

To trace geographic location of an IP address – please use Tracert (Traces the route packets)

3. American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)3. American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)

An excellent free source for finding information on IP number. To use this service, please visit http://www.arin.net/whois/index.html . Enter the IP into the search text box and hit “Submit”. If the IP address belongs to an organization in North America or sub-Saharan Africa it will display the details of owner of the IP address. 

For organizations located outside ARIN’s geographical area of responsibility – here are other resources 


RIPE (European Registry):  http://www.ripe.net/ripencc/pub-services/db/whois/whois.html

APNIC (Asia Pacific Registry): http://www.apnic.net/apnic-bin/whois2.pl

LACNIC (Latin America and the Caribbean Registry): http://lacnic.net/cgi-bin/lacnic/whois?lg=EN

To determine in which geographical area a particular country is located, see the List of Countries in Regional Registry Geographical Areas: http://www.arin.net/library/internet_info/countries.html

 4. NetGeo – The Internet Geographic Database

NetGeo is a free service for locating geographical position of an IP address. Though this free service is almost as good as Visualware – much of its functionality is now lost as its database is not updated regularly. 



You may find more information about NetGeo at http://www.caida.org/tools/utilities/netgeo/ 



To use this facility – please visit http://www.dnsstuff.com/ and use NetGeo IP Lookup

Here are just some pointers to help your business and personal life. Our companies, MJS Commodities and MJS Capital  are very active within international trade, we are very diligent in making sure that we deal with real players in the business. Trust, Integrity and relationships are our greatest commodities in our business. I hope this will help you become productive and have a safe experience in this new technologically savvy  generation of fraud, scams and cyberbullying. I look forward to your comments, feedback and suggestion.

Quarter Life Crisis

For a few weeks now, I have been going through personal meditation á la Marcus Aurelius and pondered about this Quarter Life Crisis (QLC). I consider myself a late-bloomer in some aspects of my life that I still feel some of this. It may be nothing, but it certainly always pushes me to assert the true me everytime my birthday comes around. This usually ranges from the early twenties to the early thirties. Again, I am a late bloomer in “some” aspects so don´t crucify me when you read this.

Some people don´t really understand the gist of this since coining of the term is pretty recent (and pointless). The first time I heard of the term was from a John Mayer song. 

Man, I remember getting out of college, it is when you stop going along with the crowd and start realizing that there are a lot of things about yourself that you didn’t know and may or may not like. You start feeling insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two, but then get scared because you barely know where you are now.

You start realizing that people are selfish and that, maybe, those friends that you thought you were so close to aren’t exactly the greatest people you have ever met and the people you have lost touch with are some of the most important ones. What you do not realize is that they are realizing that too and are not really cold or catty or mean or insincere, but that they are as confused as you.

You are beginning to understand yourself and what you want and do not want. Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see what others are doing and find yourself judging a bit more than usual because suddenly you realize that you have certain boundaries in your life and add things to your list of what is acceptable and what is not. You are insecure and then secure. You laugh and cry with the greatest force of your life. You feel alone and scared and confused. Suddenly change is the enemy and you try and cling on to the past with dear life but soon realize that the past is drifting further and further away and there is nothing to do but stay where you are or move forward.

You get your heart broken and wonder how someone you loved could do such damage to you or you lay in bed and wonder why you can’t meet anyone decent enough to get to know better. You love someone but maybe love someone else too and cannot figure out why you are doing this because you are not a bad person.

One night stands and random hook ups start to look cheap and getting wasted and acting like an idiot starts to look pathetic. You go through the same emotions and questions over and over and talk with your friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to make a decision.

Wikipedia put it plainly:

Characteristics of quarter-life crisis may include:

feeling “not good enough”

feeling unsuited for current job

feeling that one’s life has no definitive purpose

frustration with relationships, the working world, and finding a suitable job or career

confusion of identity frustrated with peers and/or feeling more mature than peers

insecurity regarding the near future

insecurity concerning long-term plans, life goals

insecurity regarding present accomplishments

re-evaluation of close interpersonal relationships

disappointment with one’s job

nostalgia for university, college, high school or elementary school life

tendency to hold stronger opinions

boredom with social interactions

loss of closeness to high school and college friends

financially-rooted stress (overwhelming college loans, unanticipatedly high cost of living, etc.)

loneliness

desire to have children

a sense that everyone is, somehow, doing better than you

uncontrollable urge to get a tattoo — Ok, I never got this urge at all!

These emotions and insecurities are not uncommon at this age, nor at any age in adult life. In the context of the quarter-life crisis, however, they occur shortly after a young person – usually an educated professional, in this context – enters the “real world”. After entering adult life and coming to terms with its responsibilities, some individuals find themselves experiencing career stagnation or extreme insecurity. The individual often realizes the real world is tougher, more competitive and less forgiving than they imagined. Furthermore, the qualifications they have spent so much time and money earning are not likely to prepare them for this disillusionment. A related problem is simply that many college graduates do not achieve a desirable standard of living after graduation. They often end up living in low-income apartments with roommates instead of having an income high enough to support themselves. Substandard living conditions, combined with menial or repetitive work at their jobs create a great amount of frustration, anxiety and anger. Nobody wants to admit to feeling like a ‘loser’; this secrecy may intensify the problem. As the emotional ups-and-downs of adolescence and college life subside, many affected by quarter-life crisis experience a “graying” of emotion. While emotional interactions may be intense in a high school or college environment – where everyone is roughly the same age and hormones are highly active – these interactions become subtler and more private in adult life[citation needed]. Furthermore, a factor contributing to quarter-life crisis may be the difficulty in adapting to a workplace environment. In college, professors’ expectations are clearly given and students receive frequent feedback on their performance in their courses. One progresses from year to year in the education system. In contrast, within a workplace environment, one may be, for some time, completely unaware of a boss’s displeasure with one’s performance, or of one’s colleagues’ dislike of one’s personality. One does not automatically make progress. Office politics require interpersonal skills that are largely unnecessary for success in an educational setting.

Looking at all the “symptoms”, I know MANY who are past 30+ who feel like this. Why box it in just one age group. Clearly, these issues are prominent in any stage in one´s life…more so than others of course.

The 12 Step Program for Liberals Anonymous

This version of the 12 steps is an adaptation from the original 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and is intended for general use with any addictive or dysfunctional liberal behavior. This is only to address a particular addictive or dysfunctional behavior within the way we want to run our daily lives and countries. These steps are meant to be worked sequentially as a process of getting rid of addictive behaviors and growing in freedom and happiness:

Step 1 - We admited we were powerless over our addiction to meddle with other people´s lives and their monies – that our lives had become unmanageable

Step 2 – Came to believe that a Power greater than big government; that We are the ones who should decide how to govern our personal lives which restores us to sanity 

Step 3 - Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God–who gave us sovereign right to rule our own lives not other people 

Step 4 - Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves and found that being spineless and pandering does not lead to godliness

Step 5 - Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs: Socialism and Communism is against our sovereign right as human beings and potential.

Step 6 - Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of all the brainwashed character we have acquired from media, liberal professors and bitter idiots.

Step 7 - Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings especially insulting true Conservatives

Step 8 – Made a list of all persons we had harmed, brainwashed, controlled and became willing to make amends to them all

Step 9 – Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others

Step 10 – Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it

Step 11 - Sought through study of true Conservatism, prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood God, praying and doing only for knowledge of God’s will for us and the power to carry that out

Step 12 - Having had a spiritual, mental, psychological and ideological awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs

The Core Difference between Democrats and Republicans in the US

I got this from a Facebook friend. To put this entire note in simple terms, let me give some vocabularies to summarize:

character |ˈkariktər| noun: the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual; strength and originality in a person’s nature 

hypocrisy |hiˈpäkrisē|noun: the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behavior does not conform; pretense.

This is not about politics. This is about decency and respect. Bush may not have been the perfect President, but he has always been a decent human being. Thank you, President Bush for showing that cowboys got more class than any Rhode Scholarship or Harvard degree combined. This is why I cannot stand liberal elitism.

Jan 20th, 2009

Outgoing President George W. Bush quietly boards his helicopter and leaves for Texas, commenting only: “Today is not about me. Today is a historical day for our nation and people.”

Eight years ago

Outgoing President Bill Clinton schedules two separate radio addresses to the nation, and organizes a public farewell speech/ rally in downtown Washington D.C. scheduled to directly conflict with incoming President Bush’s inauguration ceremony.

Jan 20th, 2009

President Bush leaves office without issuing a single Presidential pardon, only granting a commutation of sentence to two former border patrol agents convicted of shooting a convicted drug smuggler. He does not grant any type of clemency to Scooter Libby or any other former political aide, ally, or business partner.

Eight years ago

President Clinton issues 140 pardons and several commutations of sentence on his final day in office. Included in these are: billionaire financier, convicted tax evader, and leading Democratic campaign contributor Marc Rich; Whitewater scandal figure Susan McDougal; Congressional Post Office Scandal figure and former Democratic Congressman Dan Rostenkowski; convicted bank fraud, sexual assault and child porn perpetrator and former Democratic Congressman Melvin Reynolds; and convicted drug felon Roger Clinton, the President’s half-brother.

Jan 20th, 2009

The Bush daughters leave gift baskets in the White House bedrooms for the Obama daughters, containing flowers, candy, stuffed animals, DVD’s and CD’s, and heartfelt notes of encouragement and advice for the young girls on how to prepare for their new lives in the White House.

Eight years ago

Clinton and Gore staffers rip computer wires and electrical outlets from the White House walls, stuff piles of notebook papers into the White House toilets, systematically remove the letter “W” from every computer key-pad in the entire White House, and damage several thousand dollars worth of furniture in the White House master bedroom.

Headlines On This Date 4 Years Ago

“Republicans spending $42 million on inauguration while troops Die in unarmored Humvees”

“Bush extravagance exceeds any reason during tough economic times”

“Fat cats get their $42 million inauguration party, Ordinary Americans get the shaft”

Headlines Today

“Historic Obama Inauguration will cost only $170 million”

“Obama Spends $170 million on inauguration; America Needs A Big Party”

“Everyman Obama shows America how to celebrate”

“Citibank executives contribute $8 million to Obama Inauguration”

U.S. Stimulus Bill to be voted today in lieu of Pelosi´s Travel Plans

Rep. John Culberson, TX claims the “stimulus” bill must be urgently voted on today — because Speaker Nancy Pelosi is leaving at 6:00 PM for an 8 day trip to Europe! This outrageous American Political Soap Opera is really turning ugly. 

Pelosi is said to lead a delegation to Europe; there’s a meeting with the Pope and an award from an Italian legislative group. It is official that the Democrats have now broken their promise to have the public see the $790 billion bill for 48 hours before any vote.  Welcome to the new CHANGE that this Obama Administration has been promising. Empty and politics AS usual.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) predicted that none of his Senate colleagues would ‘have the chance’ to read the entire final version of the 1,071-page bill before it comes up for a final vote. Now we know why.

Pollster Scott Rasmussen reports that Democrats are currently ahead of Republicans by only 40 percent to 39 percent. Given that this generic ballot question over the years has tended to understate Republicans’ performances in actual elections,we can safely conclude that if the 2010 election for House seats were held today, Republicans would win or come close to winning a majority of seats—which is to say, they would gain about 40 seats. By way of comparison, they gained 52 seats when they won their majority in 1994. This result may just be a momentary blip, which will pass away as quickly as it appeared, and we are a long, long, long way from the November 2010 elections. *Sigh*

But any Democratic member of Congress in even a marginally marginal districtshould start worrying. Conservatives against this Obama/Pelosi stimulus package should concentrate less of lynching the three Republicans who supported the Senate version but  more on Democratic members of the House and (at least those who are up for reelection in 2010) the Senate. It will certainly be a very busy time for strategists and GOP state organizations to raise monies now to tackle this.

Must have in 2009: A Cyberterrorist Love Letter

 

I have been quiet the entire vacation time to put in some time doing content for our companies under MJS Global Group: MJS Strategies, MJS Commodities, MJS Capital, etc. I have been putting it off for quiet sometime so I decided to buckle down with the help of some associates. After countless hours back and forth sharing and working through them despite of the time zones, I got the news today that we got hacked by this guy and all the files got infected and therefore we have to work from scratch again. We have notified Hostmonster and they have not responded due to the holidays.

 

My Love Letter from a Cyberterrorist

This is my first experience on cyberterrorism. On the positive note I am glad we are still in the beginning stages, however, I already did 70 pages worth of content. What a way to start the year. 

Today is the 6th day of the airstrikes in Gaza so I know there are a lot of tensions. Many protests are going on and on the other end, I can understand why this cyberterrorist would do this. It forces people to look and listen, but to the extent of innocent casualties. 

This should be a huge concern for all of us especially when we are about to usher in the third evolution of the Internet: Semantic web, which will enable people to share content beyond the boundaries of applications and websites. So think about all your important information from Government to banks, etc and cyberterrorists like this suspends all activity. I know I cannot live without internet. I cannot even picture in my head how chaotic it would become when that is done on a global scale the way they hit 9-11 in New York just to make a statement. 

Al Qaeda are using this vehicle for fundraising and recruitment. Mumbai bombers were also quite high tech. These terrorists don´t need much to sacrifice to do destruction. They have calculated so well that all they need is a small rock to start the ripple effect. People have become so much smarter…and more evil towards each other.

The world has definitely changed. Happy New Year to us all!

Facebook Disabled my Account without Warning

Last Friday, I posted a note called The Gospel of Obama (I shall post it here too so you know what I am talking about) and like most notes that I post there, I got quite a lot of hits from my circa 2000 friends. I have recently used my Facebook account to facilitate intellectual debates about everything under the sun and welcomed all sorts of ideas from people. I am shock to find out the next day that the company disabled my account. I have been a FB account holder since 2004-2005-ish and this is the first time that I have experienced this. The only thing I could think of is the fact that there are people who do not agree with my views that petitioned I be removed. 

I understand that politics is personal, but I find it stupid that people cannot handle hearing other people´s opinions. Since when are we allowed to really pass judgment on people based on the fact they are different. Well, forgive me that I am not like you. I take pride in the fact that I do not think like most people. I like to form my own opinions.

Someone even called me “offshore terrorist” or “Arab lover” because I read Al Jazeera. I happen to like reading and watching news from all sources like ABC, CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, The Economist, TIME, Fox, The Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg to name a few. Why would that classify me as a terrorist just because I want to read all sources and learn from everyone. 

A VP of MTV wrote me on Facebook once that he detest my views and considered me stupid because I liked McCain-Palin or even the conservative platform.

I happen to be moderate independent with Conservative leanings like on fiscal policy, but I am moderate in social views. Why does it matter anyway? Why can a minority woman like me not have a political opinion in peace? I let people with differing views argue with me and I only moderate when profanity is used and do personal attacks that does not add to the discussion. 

Anyway, for a company who lobbyied and marketed to politicians in Washington D.C. to use their site, I find it very odd they would do such a thing.

The Gospel of Obama

And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness.

The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.

When he was twelve years old, they found him in the temple in the City of Chicago, arguing the finer points of community organisation with the Prophet Jeremiah and the Elders. And the Elders were astonished at what they heard and said among themselves: “Verily, who is this Child that he opens our hearts and minds to the audacity of hope?”

In the great Battles of Caucus and Primary he smote the conniving Hillary, wife of the deposed King Bill the Priapic and their barbarian hordes of Working Class Whites.

And so it was, in the fullness of time, before the harvest month of the appointed year, the Child ventured forth – for the first time – to bring the light unto all the world.

He travelled fleet of foot and light of camel, with a small retinue that consisted only of his loyal disciples from the tribe of the Media. He ventured first to the land of the Hindu Kush, where the

Taliban had harboured the viper of al-Qaeda in their bosom, raining terror on all the world.

And the Child spake and the tribes of Nato immediately loosed the Caveats that had previously bound them. And in the great battle that ensued the forces of the light were triumphant. For as long as the Child stood with his arms raised aloft, the enemy suffered great blows and the threat of terror was no more.

From there he went forth to Mesopotamia where he was received by the great ruler al-Maliki, and al-Maliki spake unto him and blessed his Sixteen Month Troop Withdrawal Plan even as the imperial warrior Petraeus tried to destroy it.

And lo, in Mesopotamia, a miracle occurred. Even though the Great Surge of Armour that the evil Bush had ordered had been a terrible mistake, a waste of vital military resources and doomed to end in disaster, the Child’s very presence suddenly brought forth a great victory for the forces of the light.

And the Persians, who saw all this and were greatly fearful, longed to speak with the Child and saw that the Child was the bringer of peace. At the mention of his name they quickly laid aside their intrigues and beat their uranium swords into civil nuclear energy ploughshares.

From there the Child went up to the city of Jerusalem, and entered through the gate seated on an ass. The crowds of network anchors who had followed him from afar cheered “Hosanna” and waved great palm fronds and strewed them at his feet.

In Jerusalem and in surrounding Palestine, the Child spake to the Hebrews and the Arabs, as the Scripture had foretold. And in an instant, the lion lay down with the lamb, and the Israelites and Ishmaelites ended their long enmity and lived for ever after in peace.

As word spread throughout the land about the Child’s wondrous works, peoples from all over flocked to hear him; Hittites and Abbasids; Obamacons and McCainiacs; Cameroonians and Blairites.

And they told of strange and wondrous things that greeted the news of the Child’s journey. Around the world, global temperatures began to decline, and the ocean levels fell and the great warming was over.

The Great Prophet Algore of Nobel and Oscar, who many had believed was the anointed one, smiled and told his followers that the Child was the one generations had been waiting for.

And there were other wonderful signs. In the city of the Street at the Wall, spreads on interbank interest rates dropped like manna from Heaven and rates on credit default swaps fell to the ground as dead birds from the almond tree, and the people who had lived in foreclosure were able to borrow again.

Black gold gushed from the ground at prices well below $140 per barrel. In hospitals across the land the sick were cured even though they were uninsured. And all because the Child had pronounced it.

And this is the testimony of one who speaks the truth and bears witness to the truth so that you might believe. And he knows it is the truth for he saw it all on CNN and the BBC and in the pages of The New York Times.

Then the Child ventured forth from Israel and Palestine and stepped onto the shores of the Old Continent. In the land of Queen Angela of Merkel, vast multitudes gathered to hear his voice, and he preached to them at length.

But when he had finished speaking his disciples told him the crowd was hungry, for they had had nothing to eat all the hours they had waited for him.

And so the Child told his disciples to fetch some food but all they had was five loaves and a couple of frankfurters. So he took the bread and the frankfurters and blessed them and told his disciples to feed the multitudes. And when all had eaten their fill, the scraps filled twelve baskets.

Thence he travelled west to Mount Sarkozy. Even the beauteous Princess Carla of the tribe of the Bruni was struck by awe and she was great in love with the Child, but he was tempted not.

On the Seventh Day he walked across the Channel of the Angles to the ancient land of the hooligans. There he was welcomed with open arms by the once great prophet Blair and his successor, Gordon the Leper, and his successor, David the Golden One.

And suddenly, with the men appeared the archangel Gabriel and the whole host of the heavenly choir, ranks of cherubim and seraphim, all praising God and singing: “Yes, We Can.”

Borrowed from Gerard Baker from Times UK

Media Bias Towards Obama

The mainstream media’s support for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign was so biased that even major insiders are now admitting they were shocked by its depth and depravity.

Last week, Time magazine’s Mark Halperin called the media’s performance during the campaign simply “disgusting.”

Halperin told a panel of media analysts at the Politico/USC conference on the 2008 election, “It’s the most disgusting failure of people in our business since the Iraq war.”

He added, “It was extreme bias, extreme pro-Obama coverage.”

According to the Web site Politico, Halperin, who edits Time’s political site “The Page,” zeroed in on two New York Times articles near the end of the campaign that profiled both Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama.

“The story about Cindy McCain was vicious,” Halperin said. “It looked for every negative thing they could find about her and it cast her in an extraordinarily negative light. It didn’t talk about her work, for instance, as a mother for her children, and they cherry-picked every negative thing that’s ever been written about her.”

But the Times gave Michelle Obama red carpet treatment, “like a front-page endorsement of what a great person Michelle Obama is.”

Halperin, a former ABC News political director, allowed that some of the press coverage simply reflected the extreme efficiency of Obama’s presidential campaign.

“You do have to take into account the fact that this was a remarkable candidacy,” Halperin said. “There were a lot of good stories. He was new.”

Obama also had a lot of money and outspent Republican John McCain by more than 2 to 1.

The press never bothered to hold Obama accountable for reneging on his promise to use public financing. McCain kept his promise to do so.

During the campaign, conservatives criticized the pro-Obama coverage, but it had little effect.

Columnist David Limbaugh noted: “Never has that been clearer than in the 2008 presidential election, during which they are covering up rather than covering Barack Obama’s shady past and alliances, his knee-deep involvement in corrupt practices threatening the very core of our democratic system, and his many policy misrepresentations.”

Limbaugh noted that the press went into a tizzy over Sarah Palin’s wardrobe, but ignored extravagances like Obama’s “obscenely idolatrous million-dollar Greek coliseum mirage.”

Now that the election is over, Halperin is not alone in admitting the bias. The Washington Post’s ombudsman recently conceded that the paper’s coverage was skewed strongly in favor of Obama and against the McCain-Palin ticket.

Obama’s ’Change’: Recycling Clintonistas

What’s with Obama’s choice of old-time Clinton cronies and recycled Washington insiders to run the transition to his new politics of change?

Can’t the anti-Washington-insiders and the president-elect find anyone who isn’t a Beltway has-been?

Judging by the appointments to his transition committee and leaks about possible top staff and Cabinet choices, Obama appears to be practicing the politics of status quo, not the politics of change.

Obama based his innovative campaign on an emphatic and convincing commitment to change the culture of Washington and bring in new people, new ideas, and new ways of doing business.

But now, Obama has definitely changed his tune. As president-elect, he’s brought back the old Washington hacks, party regulars, and Clinton sycophants that he so frequently disparaged. Like Jimmy Carter, the last president who ran as an outsider, Obama has reached out to the same old folks who dominate the Democratic Party and represent the status quo.

His transition committee looks like a reunion of the Clinton administration. No new ideas of how to reform the system there. The chairman, John Podesta, was Clinton’s chief of staff. He presided over outrageous last-minute pardons and his style is strictly inside-the-Beltway and make-no-waves.

Then there’s Carol Browner, Clinton’s competent former EPA administrator who became the consummate Washington insider. She’s Madeline Albright’s partner and recently married mega-lobbyist and former Congressman Tom Downey. During the uproar over Dubai taking over U.S. ports, Browner brought Downey to meet with Sen. Chuck Schumer to plead Dubai’s case. Downey was paid half a million dollars to push Dubai’s position. He’s also a lobbyist for Fannie Mae, paid half a million to try to cover their rears on the subprime mortgage mess. Is this change?

Federico Pena was Clinton’s secretary of transportation and of energy. The president felt he was unduly soft on Air Florida after a crash and lost confidence in him. Now he’s back as a transition committee member.

Bill Daley, Clinton’s former secretary of commerce and the brother of the mayor of Chicago, is the epitome of the old Democratic establishment. Clinton appointed him to the Fannie Mae board and his son worked as a lobbyist for the agency. Aren’t these the kind of folks that Obama ran against?

Larry Summers, president of Harvard and former Clinton secretary of the treasury is not exactly an outsider either. He’s also alienated more than a few with his bizarre suggestion that women may be genetically inferior to men in math and science.

Susan Rice, assistant secretary of state under Clinton advised John Kerry and Mike Dukakis. Does that tell you enough?

Obama has named one of his big bundlers — Michael Froman, an executive at Citigroup. Is this supposed to symbolize change?

Obama’s choice of a spokesperson for the transition is also surprising; she is definitely not the face of reason and new politics. Stephanie Cutter is the brash and combative former Clinton, Kerry, and Ted Kennedy mouthpiece. The liberal DailyKos.com once described Cutter as “a moron to the nth degree” when she tried unsuccessfully to force The New York Times’ Adam Nagourney to treat her unsolicited e-mail criticizing Howard Dean as “background” without mentioning her name.

Speaking of brash, Rahm Emanuel, the new White House chief of staff, makes Cutter look timid. Rahm is also a former Clinton White House staffer — and a very obnoxious one. He spent his White House years leaking to The Washington Post whenever he didn’t like what the president was doing. Even Bill Clinton stopped trusting him. Any hopes of Obama keeping his commitment to reach across the aisle would go right out the window with Rahm’s appointment. Instead of extending a hand to the opposition, it would be like raising just one finger. And Rahm’s strident demeanor laced with the ‘F’ word in every sentence will do little to elevate the bipartisan dialogue in Washington.

Christopher Edley, another member of the transition team, is dean of the Berkeley Law School. He was a member of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission under Clinton, and his wife, Maria Echaveste was Clinton’s deputy chief of staff.

Transition committee staffer Christine Varney was a federal trade commissioner under Clinton and worked in the White House.

Throughout the early debates, Obama criticized Hillary Clinton as part of the inside-the Beltway establishment that needed to go. But now he’s reaching out to these exact same folks. Some change.

Republicans WILL Rise from the Ashes and Emerge Stronger

If ever there was an election that was not worth winning, it was the contest of 2008. While it was hard-fought on both sides, had McCain won, it might have spelled the end of the Republican Party. As it is, the party is well-situated to come back in 2010 and in 2012, if it learns the lessons of this year.

Simply put, all hell is about to break loose in the markets and the economy.

The mortgage crisis will likely be followed by defaults in credit card debt, student loans and car loans. We will probably be set for two years of zero growth, according to economists with whom I talk. And the federal efforts to protect the nation from the worst of the recession will probably lead to huge budget deficits and resulting inflation. We are in for stagflation that could last for years.

Had McCain won, he would be the latter-day Hoover, blamed for the disaster that unfolded on his watch. Now it is Obama’s problem. With the Republicans suffering a wipeout in congressional elections (although not as bad as they feared), the ball is now squarely in the Democratic court. Good luck!

If Obama raises taxes, the situation could get even worse. With a liberal Congress on his hands, he will be constrained to move to the left, if he needs any pushing.

When Clinton was elected in 1992, the Democrats in control of Congress gave him a clear message: Either you govern within the four walls of the Democratic Caucus or you won’t get our support. Crossing the aisle to get Republican votes, even including the GOP in negotiations, was a no-no for which the president would pay dearly if he transgressed.

The result was predictable. Moderate initiatives like welfare reform were scrapped, the Congress passed tax hikes and legislation became festooned with liberal amendments.

Faced with the need to round up every last vote in the Senate and House Democratic caucuses, Clinton had no choice but to load up conservative bills like an anti-crime measure with liberal pork (like a provision for midnight basketball courts in urban areas) to get unanimous caucus backing.

Obama will have to move left to appease his caucus. He will become their hostage, and they his jailers.

This dynamic will produce extreme-left-wing governance, which the Republicans can blame for the continuation of the recession and for any worsening. The party will recover, fed by anger at Obama’s policies, and will emerge from this defeat stronger than ever.

But the Republicans must learn the lesson of MoveOn.org. Founded in the bleak days of the Clinton impeachment, MoveOn developed a grass-roots Internet base. Building up its e-list of activists and contributors, MoveOn laid the basis for the incredible Internet appeal of the Obama campaign. At last count, Obama has 4.5 million donors, most online.

Conservatives cannot count on the Republican Party to fight their battles for them, and certainly cannot count on them to win. The right needs to develop cyber-roots conservative organizations to rival the power of groups like MoveOn.org.

The stellar efforts of Newsmax.com and its ally, GOPtrust.com, illustrate the power of such efforts. Together, these groups raised $10 million for an independent expenditure on media in swing states featuring the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s anti-American bombast.

And their efforts worked.

Virtually all the polls agreed that Obama would win 52 percent to 53 percent of the vote, but the surveys varied in the amount of undecideds they found.

On Election Day, virtually every undecided voter went to McCain, and Obama’s final vote share was no more and no less than the 52 percent to 53 percent the surveys had predicted. This unanimity among undecided voters is attributable to the endgame of groups like GOPtrust.com and Newsmax.com.

These groups have to lead the way in running media to battle against the leftist legislation that will undoubtedly emanate from the Obama administration and the liberal Congress America has just elected. Then they can become the basis for a Republican resurgence, just as MoveOn.org was this year for the Democrats.

Obscurity

Obscurity
My real name.

I drown
Deep in the waves.

Constantly giving
Barely receiving.

Wholly unto myself 
I exist.

I am great 
But not worthy.

I wrap no soul
In my embrace.

No mentor worthy
Of my calibre.

I am all alone
Between failure
And frustration.

I am the red thread
Between
Nothingness
And Eternity.

The Great Gatsby

Fitzgerald´s The Great Gatsby will always be a lifelong favorite book for me. Mainly, due to the premise of how a man returned with so much material wealth to show the woman he loved what she wanted. But of course the twist in the plot was that she got married to a wealthy conniving man (which is the main reason she broke up with the love of her life). The entire thing ends up in tragedy because the woman gets killed and Gatsby, our hero was framed. Whether we like it or not, it reflects our past and current societies even if we try to slam dunk that with the advent of independent women who can earn and pay their expenses. Taking out that peel though, we know many women will want a woman who can amass more wealth and power than they do. I went through something like that from my former ex-fiancé and her family. The difference is that I have no desire to go back like Gatsby. But I am preparing myself for the fiancé that is coming my way.

My mission in life when it comes to the next woman who comes along and decides to choose to spend the rest of her life with me: TO AMASS SO MUCH WEALTH THAT SHE AND MY CHILDREN AND FUTURE CHILDREN WILL NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ANYTHING. Of course, I am not saying that is the ONLY thing required, she will get unconditional love from me, but I want to give her a freedom and life where we don´t have to worry about anything…and of course, crazy enough where I can retire at 40 yrs old if I want to (which may be a problem because I am such a workaholic and love the international scope of my work).

But bottom line, my desire can be in a snapshot such as this:

I sit on MY beach (yes, in my own island) with my mobile phone having a short meeting with my company board running my companies sipping Mai tais while I lovingly look and wave at my naked wife and kids playing in the water.

Very simple. Very achievable. Very reachable.

I am almost there.

All missing is my dream woman.

Aloha oe! (Part 1)

I was chatting with Chris Abraham online today and we went on a nostalgic journey of Da Rock. While I never grew up in Hawaii, I have always felt the affinity there. I came back to Norway in 2006 after being several years in the USA and most of it was living in Hawaii.

I miss the beaches. I lived in Oahu, the Gathering Place as they call it that has at least 125 beaches. I lived next to Ala Moana Shopping Center where my apartment penthouse was across the beach. I missed swimming there every morning. Waikiki night life, Hanohano Restaurant on Sheraton´s penthouse,  sharkdiving, skydiving in North Shore (it´s warmer there than in Norway for this activity…brrrrr)

I miss my moped zipping through Kaimuki and Kalanianiaole Highway. I also miss Tantalus where I used to live since I picked fresh Hawaiian flowers there every weekend. I miss the pancakes at Ken´s house in Big Island, the lilikoi pancake sauces, chocolate and caramel macadamia nuts, fresh kona coffee…

Had to agree with Chris, everything came like a flood. Whether one admits it or not, Hawaii grows in you.  I can hear Israel Kamakawiwo Ole´s Sandy Beach of Hawaii song. Volcano National Park. Molokai. Manele Bay on Lanai. Ken´s Pancakes in Hilo. Looking at the snow and the crazy telescopes up at the top of the world on the small airplanes we used to chill with.  I miss being tan and I miss freediving off of Waimea Beach. Snorkeling in Hanauma Bay. Body surfing in Waimanalo and Sandy. I miss seducing women by packing picnics and take them to Kailua beach and take them on top of Makapuu after circling the island, stopping for shave ice with ice cream in Hale`iwa. 

It is a rough place if you are a local. But as a tourist it is fine. I remember having friends who worked 3 jobs just to get by. It is painful to see that what used to be the land of the Kings where ancient Hawaiians lived, is now filled with commercialism. Tourism is the bread and butter of the islands as any tropical places on earth. I have always been a proponent of diversification of industries. So much can be done and at the same time limited due to the distance to the mainland USA. Monopolies are also predominant there, especially in the shipping industry. But the struggle to survive everyday is a problem for most. I know that one of the major issues when I ran a Governor´s race was the plight of the Hawaiians and the Ceded Lands that the US government took from them. Former Governor Benjamin Cayetano (proud to say, he was the highest ranking Filipino descent in US political office) instituted the Hawaiian Affairs Office to help the Hawaiians. Unfortunately, nothing gets done. So much bureaucracy that nothing gets done as the constitution stipulates that they need majority votes to get something accomplished. Meanwhile, you have the Hawaiian descent with literacy, health and economic problems. Hawaii was a place of contrasts. I learned a lot from her multi-ethnic world. Where else can you find a place where the whites are minority? 

Well, I still hear Bruddah Iz in my head…

I saw you in my dreams
We were walking hand in hand
On a white, sandy beach of Hawaii
We were playing in the sun
We were having so much fun
on a white, sandy beach of Hawaii

The sound of the ocean
soothes my restless soul
The sound of the ocean
rocks me all night long

Those hot long summer days
Lying there in the sun
on a white, sandy beach of Hawaii

The sound of the ocean
soothes my restless soul
The sound of the ocean
rocks me all night long

Last night in my dreams
I saw your face again
We were there in the sun
on a white, sandy beach of Hawaii 

 

Stranger

Doing my best to quest my destiny
Without asking too many questions of
A force which I could never understand
I am willing to bear the loneliness
Of being the way I am since I see
That the consequence of my onlyness
As a stranger lost in a stranger land
As one unable to assimilate
As such an unwitting contrarian
Such that I stick out like a sore thumb here
As a quite-possibly-dangerous-person
Is that while I flounder with the hand fate
Has dealt me here where the jokers run wild
I run across other strangers to love
Who found me because I was a lost child

I will always be lost and always found
Know who my friends are and where they are too
Know strangers who like to see me around
No strangers to each other (me and you)

How ironic becoming iconic

Especially as an iconoclast
Wearing a tall pointed hat on my head
In perfectly balanced absurdity
Acceptance seems a general tonic
And icons (as we know) are made to last
These portals of improbability
Where opposites can be reconciled once
They are given the opportunity
Where one can be a wizard and a dunce
Who knows to know nothing is everything
That winter releases the death of fall
Wiping the slate for a new question in
The time when planted questions sprout in spring
I never get any answers at all
But I enjoy it when questions begin

If anyone asks I was just asking

Unanswered questions being ironic
Of something I could never understand
A once-a-dunce becoming iconic
As a stranger lost in a stranger land

Journey

Something I’ve once said before, that seems fitting to all that surrounds me…

The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are, who you really are… You trade your reality for a role, your sense for an act. You give up your ability to feel and in exchange you put on a mask. There can’t be any large-scale revolution until it’s a personal revolution, on a personal level. It’s got to happen inside first. You can take anyone’s political or personal freedom and you can’t hurt them… unless, you take away their freedom to feel. That can destroy a person. That kind of freedom can nit be granted. No one can win it for you.

That’s what real love amounts to, letting a person be who he/she really is. Most people love you for who you pretend to be. To keep their love, you keep pretending or what you may call performing (trying to impress). You get the chance to love your pretense… It’s true, we are all locked in an image, an act and the sad thing is, others get so used to their image; they grow attached to their masks. We love our chains. We forget all about who we really are… and if you try to remind us, we hate you for it, we feel like your trying to steal our most precious possession.

People are afraid of themselves, of their own reality; their feelings most of all. People talk about how great love is, and most times it my be true, others are false. Love hurts, feelings are disturbing. Society is taught that pain is evil and dangerous. How can one deal with love if they are afraid to feel? Pain is meant to wake us up. Others try to hide their pain, but their wrong. Pain is something to carry, like an old school radio (strangely put but true). You feel your strength in the experience of pain; it’s all in how you carry it. That’s what matters. Pain is a feeling, feelings are a part of you… your own reality. If we feel ashamed of them and hide them, you’re letting society destroy your reality. Don’t do it, stand strong. My greatest fear is to be just another statistic. I say, keep your role, exchange your act and find that revolution that creates only the best.

God speed for the length of our journey…

Steps to Happiness

I read this somewhere and it touched me:

Everybody Knows, 
You can’t be all things to all people. 
You can’t do all things at once. 
You can’t do all things equally well. 
You can’t do all things better than everyone else. 
Your humanity is showing just like everyone else’s.

So, 
You have to find out who you are, and be that. 
You have to decide what comes first, and do that. 
You have to discover your strengths, and use them. 
You have to learn not to compete with others, because no one else is in the contest of “being you”.

Then, 
You will have learned to accept your own uniqueness. 
You will have learned to set priorities and make decisions. 
You will have learned to live with your limitations. 
You will have learned to give yourself the respect that is due. 
And you’ll be a most vital mortal.

Believe, 
That you are a wonderful, unique person. 
That you are a once-in all history event. 
That it’s more than a right, it’s your duty, to be who you are. 
That life is not a problem.

Terms to ponder in the future

Semantic Web
Artificial Intelligence
Virtual Worlds
Mobile
Attention Economy
Web Sites as Web Services
Online Video / Internet TV
Rich Internet Apps
International Web
Personalization
Integration into everyday devices
Hyperlocal
Data retrievel/manipulation agents
Read/Write/Request Web
User-controlled, open Internet Identity
New forms of Internet Interaction
Extended Reality
Expert Systems
Personalized Medicine
Blog reading automatically input into our brain

Dream Versus Vision

“Nothing has meaning except for the meaning you give it.” I wholeheartedly believe that everyone possesses a rich and awesome destiny. However, whether a person is BOTH willing and able to do what is required in order to align up different elements in order to achieve their fullest potential therein contained, is an entirely different matter altogether. Consider my personal mantras: “Your programming leads to your thoughts; your thoughts lead to your feelings; your feelings lead to your action; your actions lead to your results.” “Faith is not believing God can. It is knowing that God will.” “How you do anything is how you do everything.” “Excuses are lies you tell yourself. Make an effort, not an excuse.” “Some people succeed because they are destined to, but most people succeed because they are determined to.” “A lot of getting over fear is just doing what you’re afraid of.” “Feed your dreams, starve your thoughts.” “Following the herd is a sure way to mediocrity.” “I like to think of myself like that….we are all limited to the thoughts we have about ourselves…our thoughts determine how far we go in life…have you listened to your thoughts lately?” “Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.” Here is my take at the difference between a dream and a vision is that we all dream. However, many of us keep it at a daydreaming level of what else”could be” if we opened ourselves up more to the full spectra of possibilities, worked smarter, etc. In a nutshell: A dream is more fuzzy, raw, unrefined due to it being un- or under-defined. Whereas, a vision that is something more distinct, concrete, and spelled out in great detail. Regarding destiny, which inevitably nailing you right between the eyes and piercing straight through the heart, once an individual really knows and is consistently going after what they want, I believe it can be accurately illustrated in 2 quick examples. One is simply shown through burning an ant once you take a magnifying glass and direct it’s heat to any given single point. QUESTION:” What’s the ant that you’re aiming to mercilessly scorch?” Lastly, a quote to mentally munch on, “Luke says his landing the leading role was not so much about being in the right place at the right time. ‘It’s about being in constant pursuit of your purpose,’ he said. ‘Once you are in your purpose, there is no lack. It’s bound to happen whe you are determined and going after your purpose.” -Derek Luke (opposite Denzel Washington in the movie “Antoine Fisher”). “The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on my life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company…a church… a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the string we have, and that is our attitude…I am convinced that life is ten percent what happens to me and ninety percent how I react to it. And so it is with you…we are in charge of our attitudes.” -Charles Swindoll

MJ 2.0 Unleashed!

I guess it´s time to graduate from MySpace and grow up a bit. It is nice to have a dedicated blog to where I can be much more “professional” at the same time be myself.This year, I decided to reinvent myself. I am excited of what journey 2008 has in store for me. I believe that it is my launch year in so many aspects.So for my mantra this year which will also become the company´s: THINK BIG, DO BIG and DO IT WELL! I have purged and emptied every vessel in my life since 2005 that a definite outpouring is inevitable this year. I am ready to receive life´s blessings!My company is now completing its process of reorganizing its business model and structure. Going global is harder than I had thought. It´s all different when you imagined or envision than when you actually put it on paper and into action. On the other hand, I do think I got the THINK BIG part of the mantra. DO BIG is now the next step and I know we will DO IT WELL! I have formed a great team. Great potential. So watch out! But basically, I want to reflect my own values and principles in this company to walk the talk. I believe that if we got the foundations in the right principles and values, our growth will be steady and our clients will feel at home with us because we will be sincere in all our efforts, since we live and breathe it as well.I am excited about this blog. It has so much ranting possibilities about everything.So, let´s see where this ride takes us…here we go!

Breaking out

Martin Luther King said, ” I have a dream…” Abraham Lincoln failed so many times before he became President. So many people whom we admire went through hell and high water before they achieved their dreams.

I just realized today, that the more I get bugged by my past, the more I get my acceleration. I have been trying to be proactive as much as I can. The previous person I gave my heart and soul to was the very poison I didn´t need. I know in my lifetime I go through a lot of purging. I guess the last baggage that was holding me back was gone and now I am really to fly.

I guess we do go through life in phases. I am in this moment of my life where I have emptied myself and ready to take on what I am destined to do. One step at a time. My mantra now: THINK BIG, DO BIG. But strategies has to be made. So I forced myself to ponder on questions where its answers woke me up and gave me clarity to make my priorities:

1. What do I want for the quality of my life?
2. What do I want for the quality of my relationships?
3. How will becoming fit and maximum health influence my destiny?
4. How will financial prosperity give me the freedom to live an outstanding life?
5. How will increasing spiritual insight balance my life and create harmony?

I just finished courting what could be one of the biggest fish I caught this month. I now have a Chief Creative/Developer..and would be the other CTO I am looking for my management team. The guy has impressive accolades that adds credibility to my company. Funny thing, I know his father, who created Darkwing Duck for Disney on which I am a fan. My new right hand man was responsible for various works and was connected for programming/creation of websites the 49th Grammy, Amazing Race, Survivor Fiji, CBS, Victoria Secret Fashion Show, some credit unions, ticketmaster, match.com, ask.com…yeah…it is endless. I am humbled by his experiences

Then 2 are coming in one with telecom experience and the other solutions architect from Asia´s biggest interactive agency.

By Spring next year, I also have a meeting with Yahoo. Ah, you guys will have to wait on that.

Definitely, now my team is beginning to look like a superstar team worthy of representing multimillion dollar projects. We are entering January with a bang! I am just glad my inner circle is beginning to be complete and strategies are being placed.

After my gf found me (yes, she found me devastated), everything took off. As one of my gifts to her, I had an animation made with her as the star to present our first start up. I looks beautiful so far. So I will share you that when we are officially launching. It´s supercool how everything is slowly coming to place.

Got me a woman who is COMPLETELY honest with me, someone who is definitely and seriously devoted to being true to me, and I am happy to know that I don´t have to worry about the betrayal and cheating part since we are both on the same mature level on that issue. Having her by my side keeps me grounded now. It´s all I ever needed. My personal security, my home. EVERYTHING CAN FADE AWAY…but having solid and grounded relationship will keep everything into perspective. Of course, there´s a long way to go…but I know, I am headed to the right direction…

I am excited what 2008 has in store for me. I know this is going to be a bang…and my dear God, I have emptied my vessel…I am ready for you to pour down Your blessings…and break out of my own life´s borders.