Kanan dan Kiri

The Great Ashley Madison Hack

2015-08-22T06:19:00.004+02:00

Dear Ashley Madison account owner:

Are you THAT stupid? You want to do those awful things secretly, and your next step is ... you give your identity to a company you never know personally? For good measure, you also declare your intention in that company´s website? I am 100% sure you deserve your current misery. Not only because you are an immoral arse, but also because you are that stupid.

Dear Ashley Madison owner, administrator, etc.:

Isn't it wonderful when people can't trust you anymore? Do you want to strangle those hackers who ruin that trust? Ah, that means you know how your clients SO feels about you. That is what we call empathy. That is what differentiate us from sociopath. That's why I can't help but smiling whenever I remember how this hack ruin your business.

Being and Stay Single

2014-09-17T18:47:00.001+02:00

Being single is not easy for anybody's social life. You know the routine, friends, relatives, even close families often think that they have the right to order every single people. Like usual, the order is ALWAYS masquerade as questions like "Where is your girl/boyfriend?" or "When will you marry?". You know, questions that were asked in passive-aggressive tone. Most single people will just shut their mouth even though they are pissed by those orders. Not me. I already prepared an elaborate answer that shut the hell up of everyone who dare to give me those "perfectly camouflaged" order.

Middle Spot

Folks, let me remind you of 2 facts:

1) A good relationship is INFINITELY BETTER than being single.

2) A bad relationship is INFINITELY WORSE than being single.

Society remembers the #1, this is one of the reason they keep nagging, demanding that all single people have to have relationship. At the same time, society know perfectly well but ignore or forget #2. This 2 polar opposite facts bring us to the conclusion:

Being single is located IN THE MIDDLE of the happiness curve.

And, what is so bad about being in the middle? I heard "everything have to be in moderation" is today's mantra for happiness? That is not all. This sweet spot in the middle is even sweeter than you thought! Usually that is enough to deter those pesky friends & families, but in case they still insist ...

Calmness is good

There is also the problem that arise from the dynamic nature of a relationship. Some relationship can turn from good to bad in a second. And, it is not only the "bad relationship" that hurts, the downward movement from good to bad is EVEN WORSE! Just ask people who have been through divorce. So, people who stay single by intent, avoid all those dramas. They consciously choose to live in the calmness of the middle spot, without any movement anywhere for awhile. That calmness actually enhances the happiness! The only thing that can disturb that calmness, that sea of tranquility, is the pesky-nagging friends and relatives.

It is not that all single people must stay single, to defend the "calmness" forever. Single people can also decide to take a risk, and seek for "mr/mrs right" and finally have a good relationship. But it is THEIR decision when and how to do it, not their friends, not their family. And let's speak about family.

Family

Oh, you are their family so you think you have the right to covertly order them? You LOVE to give them a lot of "between the lines" to be read by anyone in your family that is still single? Let me ask you this question philosophical question:

IS IT YOUR LIFE OR THEIR LIFE?!

Ordering anyone to have romantic relationship is easy. Making any relationship works isn't. Unfortunately, those people who give the order are not the one who suffer once the relationship gone sour. Who do you think will receive the shits when they are forced to date or, heaven's forbid, marry someone they don't like only because of social pressure? Not you, not their family, it is THEY WHO SUFFER.

A sensible strategy

Found this quote from Niall Horan shortly before I finished this
article..He got it right.

What? You said I am too pessimistic? I don't count the potential rewards of a good relationship? Screw that, society already screaming about those rewards ad nauseam with bullhorns. It is time to for me to scream back:

"HELLO, 50% of all marriages have ended in DIVORCE! Thinking about a relationship gone sour before it happens is not pessimistic, it is realistic and rational! Any risk manager will agree with me!"

It is the opposite, people who don't calculate that risk, even after being reminded, are the one who is ignorant, or delusional, or both.

So, stop worrying! Being single and consciously choosing to stay single is actually a sensible risk-management strategy!

Bonus: The Oatmeal already pointed out similar phenomena about having children

My Dream Car

2014-08-26T13:13:00.000+02:00

I am appalled. Whenever I asked most men about their ultimate dream car, most of them answer with sport cars. You know, like:

Lamborghini Aventador? Pff, too regular.

Ferrari F12Berlinetta? It looks like an asshole.

Porsche 911? Are you kiddin me? That car is smaller than my fist!

Aston Martin whatever? Too snobbish.

Bugatti Veyron? Zzzzz ... snore ...

Let me list the reasons why ANY sport car sucks in my city, Jakarta:

1) Maneuverability

The streets in Jakarta are simply too crowded. That's why you have to be brave to drive in Jakarta whenever you want to move your car to the next lane in a traffic jam. No, don't even try to shout, or scream, or pushing your horn. It is just useless. You only need to hit your gas pedal whenever you see an opening, whatever your distance to the next cars Good luck trying to do that with your Aston Martin! I bet your heart would scream far whenever you think about it. Speaking about crowded streets ...

2) Speed

That means you can't drive faster than 25 kmph. Even in some special cases whenever the streets were empty, you would hit some speed-bumps or holes or even a simple uneven surface. That would damaged your chassis in a blink of an eye. Just imagine your Ferrari's chassis got hit from below by a sledgehammer or pneumatic drill REPEATEDLY. Here, use my tissue to clean-up your tears. You'll need it!

3) Flooding

Other than that, until today (2014) flooding is still a routine problem in Jakarta. Try to run through 0,5 meter flood with your Bugatti Veyron. Picture the moment when dirty-black-waters of Jakarta flooded the gas-guzzling engine of your Bugatti Veyron. Here, I still have more tissues!

4) Criminals

Oh, driving those expensive sport cars would also draw attention of many criminals. You know, carjacks, robbers armed with axe, even corrupt policemen. Picture the moment when you and your sport cars got robbed by one of those criminals. NOT MANLY AT ALL!! BTW, looks like even all my tissues can't help you any longer ...

5) Capacity

The most popular cars in Jakarta are family cars. You know, cars where you bring not only your wife and children, but also your bro's wife, and his children too! Try to put all of that in your Porsche. Unless your and your bro's whole family are clown by profession, that is just simply impossible! What, your dream cars can't even be used to transport your family? Man, your dream car sucks!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

That's why none of those cars can hold the candle for my favorite car: GAZ BTR-80.

What? You never heard that name before? That's because most men were too busy eating up all the hype for those USELESS sport cars. That's because most men forget that utility ALWAYS beats fashion. Substance ALWAYS beats style. Their ears become deaf whenever a true dream car, like mine, arrive. Here let me give you its picture:

Here, let me put some of its specs (from wikipedia):

Specifications
Weight	13.6 tonnes (15.0 tons)
Length	7.7 m (25.3 ft)
Width	2.9 m (9.5 ft)
Height	2.41 m (7.9 ft)
Crew	3 (+7 passengers)

Engine	diesel KamAZ-7403 260 hp (190 kW)

Speed	80-90 km/h (49.7–55.9 m/h) swim 10 km/h (6.2 m/h)

Now, let's check those problems that make any sport car sucks again, shall we?

1) Crowded street and maneuverability

No need for arguing, screaming, or horn-pushing. A slight glance from anyone will convince them to give you ANY space! It is either YOUR WAY or the HARD WAY.

2) Speed

Read #1. With BTR-80, you just hit your gas pedal, and you'll brake for no one. Speed bumps? Holes? Uneven roads? Who cares, you are driving an 8 wheel drive armored battle vehicle!

3) Flooding

If you read the specs above carefully, you'll notice that it has 10 kmph swimming speed. Yes, BTR-80 can swim. Yes, IT REALLY CAN SWIM.

4) Criminals

What kind of criminal dare to touch a combat vehicle? A soon-dead criminal, that's who.

5) Capacity

See the specs above? It can drive 10 people inside. Since the space is huge, you can also bring your whole family AND both yours and theirs motorcycles for examples.

Plus, there is a big bonus for every dad who owns a BTR-80.

Just imagine, everytime you drive your son to their school, EVERYONE would be awed. "Mercedes S Class? BMW? Lexus? Rolls Royce? You still can't beat my dad's BTR-80!"

Here, use my tissue to wipe your manly tears from your manly eyes. You'll need it.

BTW, I guess some of you will argue that Hummer already doing everything in my list. Not really. Are you and your Hummer brave enough to run THROUGH Jakarta's traffic jam? Can your hummer ignore Indonesian road holes? Can your Hummer swim, I mean CAN IT REALLY SWIM? Is Hummer criminalproof? Can your Hummer bring you and 9 of your friends/families? NO, NO, NO, NO, AND NO!! So screw your Hummer too!

QED: Objectively, my dream car can objectively kick any of your dream car's buttocks anytime, anywhere, especially in Jakarta. Unlike sport cars, for BTR-80, style isn't exist to mask the absence of substance. It is the opposite, it is its utility, its substance that creates, permeates, and radiates style, MANLY STYLE!

Addendum 13.09.2014: I really envy this guy. At the same time, guys like him are those who give me hope for the future of mankind!

5 Reasons to Learn Mandarin ... and My Comments

2014-08-19T14:51:00.004+02:00

I already stated my reason why Mandarin is stupid. And again.

So, it is only proper to comment on people who learn Mandarin. No, not only to comment, but also to judge.

1) Because you were born in People's Republic of China/Singapore/Taiwan
Congrats! You just win a jackpot! Unlike any other people YOU will learn Mandarin as your native language! I assume that cut downs the difficulty level AT LEAST 60%. I really hope you consider to scrap that writing system of yours. You know, your logogram writing system ...

2) Because they have fallen in love with it!

No contest.

There is no accounting for taste. These people usually are fascinated, fallen in love with Mandarin because the beauty of the logogram script, DESPITE knowing how difficult they are. I say, GO FOR IT! It is always refreshing, empowering, and comforting to do things that you love!! All the problems and difficulties become fun if you really fallen in love with the language.

Nevertheless, we have to remember, some of these people refuse to admit the difficulties in Mandarin. They just assume that everyone will fall in love in it like them, and consider the difficulties irrelevant.
Also, many people fall into some confirmation bias. They can and have fall out of love of Mandarin once they face the staggering problems, but they refuse to admit it! I still love it dammit, and I still enjoy this! NO IT IS NOT DIFFICULT!

So be really careful when you ask opinion from people who "love Mandarin".

3) Because it is important!

The importance of Mandarin is undeniable. So is the fact that our time, energy, and money are limited. If you really want to master Mandarin, you will wasted YEARS or even DECADES. That means, you can already master say ... Spanish and Russian if you use that time, energy and money you spend on learning Mandarin. That means although Mandarin is arguably the 2nd most important foreign language, your energy can be used to learn the 3rd and 4th most important one, with less frustration and with similar, or even more, benefit.

Oh by the way, isn't it more efficient and effective if it were the Chinese who learn English/French/any other non-logogram language? Just sayin here ...

And you can't be Chinese, even after you speak and write Mandarin fluently. Seriously. Even overseas Chinese (See reason #5) have problems to be considered "Chinese" by many mainland Chinese AFTER mastering Mandarin. If you are a caucasian or african or South Asians, or any other people that distinctively NOT CHINESE, you will be considered similar to a monkey that can play piano. You know,"Nice tricks there, but you will only marry my daughter OVER MY DEAD BODY!" mentality.

4) Because your parents order you! No, order is not strong enough. Because your parents FORCE YOU!

News flash: you are a victim of child abuse. Seriously. What kind of parents forced their children to memorize thousands and thousands of symbol? What kind of parents obligated their children to learn a language that causes a pain in the neck whenever we use its dictionary? The time, energy, and money can be used for other things like ... learning Spanish, Swahili, and MANY other foreign languages!

Usually parents do that because they underestimate Mandarin. Show them this article and the links. Hopefully that would enlighten them.

5) Because you are a "Chinese"! An overseas Chinese BUT STILL A CHINESE!

In "Bahasa Indonesia" there is a word that is hard to translate to English: "Bebal". Usually people translate it into "foolish". Nope, it is different. A foolish person is a person who can't learn. A "bebal" person is a person who REFUSE TO LEARN.

Until today, Chinese culture IS A "BEBAL" CULTURE!! Every other people on earth already realized using a symbol for every single word is very stupid. That's why centuries or even milennias ago they created alphabet/abjad/abugida/syllabary. How the Chinese react to this difficulty? Chinese are smart and clever, they surely notice this, right? Nope. They say how PROUD they are of their "3000 years history." They are proud because their "heavenly language" permeates a high culture, unlike the "stupid alphabets" from the non-Chinese aka barbarians.

Yeah right. Sounds like 3000 years of refusal to learn to me.

Now, YOU as a "modern Chinese" want to perpetuate this monstrosity and smugness voluntarily? SERIOUSLY?! Are you high?

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

My tips: if you learn Mandarin because reason #3 - #5 and HAVE TO learn Mandarin, SKIP THE STUPID LOGOGRAM! Just learn the Hanyu Pinyin romanization and the spoken language. The tonal nature of Mandarin already poses a challenge. No need to compound it with memorizing symbols in thousands. If reading those logograms is an absolute necessity, you can learn it AFTER you master the speaking and the Hanyu Pinyin.

Oh by the way, I don't want to put "bebal" label on any culture. That's why I really hoped that China can change and ditch that terrible logogram. I assure you, more people will learn Chinese after that. I assure you too, native speakers will learn to write FASTER than ever! Move the study of logogram into "classical Chinese", to the hobbyists only domain. Spare us, laymen, the horror.

Further reading:
Don't Learn Mandarin
Why Chinese is so Damn Hard

ISIS, ISIL, IS, Whatever

2014-07-02T08:58:00.001+02:00

Some thugs just use brutal methods to carve some territory for themselves. They are so brutal that even Al Qaeda denounces them. Naturally this development alarmed many. Even people outside the Middle East are afraid of the new flow of terrorists. Do these thugs have any chance? Nah, they have ZERO percent chance of succeeding AT LEAST for two reasons:

1) Air Power

First, their success is due to governments everywhere underestimating them. Or in case of Syria, too busy to fight other threats. They are successful because they move in small numbers, making big powers with air supremacy unable to find and pounce them from the sky. Not anymore. Their success has made them cocky, moving in big numbers, with banners waving, providing targets for any ground attack aircraft! The Iraqi government just buy 25 Su-25 Frogfoots to do just that. How can ISIS react to such fury unleashed by these gunships? How can they stop gunships, heavy bombers, and other modern military equipments, bought from Russia or other countries, from massacring their warriors? They have no chance. Just ask Saddam Hussein army, they know the taste of fighting open war against first rate power with aerial supremacy.

2) No Money No Honey
Second, their source of income are multiple, but ultimately rest on their ability to loot Iraq and Syria. Once the Russians etc crush ISIS army (see #1), no chance in hell they can have this kind of money again. Without money, no terror organization can survive. Just ask the communist parties and rebels around the world after the collapse of USSR. Just ask how dependent the jihad recruiters schools on foreign money. They will resort to local donation. Good luck convincing Muslims to donate after the spectacular "WE WILL DESTORY KA'BAH" proclamation.

Ultimately, ISIS will fail because they are just too abhorrent, too cruel, too barbaric, even for Al Qaeda taste. When you burn everything around, everybody will go beyond afraid. Everybody will hate you and stop you. Violently. Looks like such simple logic escapes the hotshots in ISIS.

The Scariest Computer Company

2014-01-14T14:56:00.004+01:00

Take a guess! I am sure many of you will have the same answer with me! I am sure many will also answer differently. My guess most people will think that Apple with its cult-like devotees. Others will think it is Facebook because it is the main threat to our privacy. Or the old hegemon, Microsoft, who still ruled the OS Market of desktop and still big as hell. Nope, they are not the scariest. You can guess now which company I am talking about right?

No contest. It is Google.

Yes, Google is even scarier than Apple, Facebook, & MS. Here is why:

1) Can you avoid Google?

I never buy or use any Apple product. Result: I save tons of money! Hurra!

I use Facebook all the time, but I can imagine I never use it anymore. On some busy days, I didn't touch Facebook for the whole day and nothing bad happens.

Oh Microsoft? 10-15 years ago it was impossible to avoid, but now you can use MacOS or Linux or Unix to avoid Windows; Open Office or Libre Office to avoid MS Office; Opera, Firefox, Lunascape, and many other browsers to avoid Internet Explorer, etc.

Try to avoid Google. Everyday I use Youtube, Google search, Gmail, Google Book, Google Scholar, and Google Translate. Millions used smartphones powered by Android. Millions depend on Google maps. NO FREAKIN WAY we can avoid Google in totality even only for a day.

2) Has Google failed spectacularly?

Apple lost its market share in the 1990s. Steve Jobs was fired during that era. More recently, Apple Maps sucks. Steve Jobs renaissance is great for Apple, but after his death, Apple surely lost its mojo, and I don't expect them to be as successful as his time. Not scary.

Facebook spend 1 billion Dollar to buy Instagram. Their business model is questionable at best. They only manage to make money recently. Not scary.

Microsoft Zune crash and burn, while Microsoft Windows slowly lose its relevance. Not scary at all.

Let's see ... GoogleTV failed ... that's it? Is there any other notable fail from Google? Not that I can think of! Wait, wait, I know, what you think, Google+ is Google's most spectacular failure right? Check #5.

3) Has any of them capability to watch your house 24/7?

Microsoft try to do that with their Kinect 2.0 in Xbox One. It failed spectacularly because of the massive boycott and protests. Google will try to do that. They just buy Nest Labs, you know, the company that makes smart thermostat that monior your house 24/7 and send the data to the internet. No one protests so far (How can they protest?). That's only make argument #1 even scarier.

4) Has any of them buy a military robot company?

Yes, that sounds just like Terminator's Skynet, but that's a fact. Google bought Boston Dynamics, a military robot make r. They are the only tech company not only with the capability to monitor everything, but now with the potential to enforce their control over everyone, including the government.

5) Has any of them build "The Matrix"?
What about Google+? Google screwed-up big time there right? They are far from defeating Facebook, and Youtube users screamed about its intrusion in Youtube right? We actually get it wrong. Google+ is not really geared to defeat Facebook. It is totally geared to create one umbrella online identity. They want to control your online life. In short, I am totally agree with one Guardian article that says Google + is "The Matrix".

So sorry if I just scare you shitless, but hey, better be aware of this danger now! Awareness is the first step in solution right?

Melissa Bachman and Hunting

2013-11-18T13:12:00.001+01:00

US TV presenter, Melissa Bachmann posted her hunting photos in South Africa. Then, tons of people are screaming about that. Some in the comment section of any article about that even wish her dead. Thousands sign a petition to ban her from entering South Africa.

First, let me start with a disclaimer: I HATE HUNTING. I am not interested in shooting animals! I never, and will never ever hunt anything to spend my freetime!

How to pay the bill?

At the same time, I know that running a National Park is extremely difficult and expensive! Especially in Africa, where tons of heavily armed poachers roam freely. At the same time, millions live in abject poverty nearby the park. At the same time, local governments there ... okay, no need to say anything about them. That means, a national park in Africa is far more expensive and difficult to run than a national park in a 1st world country. The situation is of course a little bit better in South Africa, but it is definitely far worse in other poorer African countries like Tanzania, Kenya, etc.

That means, national parks in Africa needs to pay more bills. They need to buy, install, and maintain miles of fences. They need to hire, equip, and pay lots of park rangers with guns to deter poachers. In many (or all?) African countries, they can expect less helps from their government. The park needs every single cent they can get! And surprise, surprise, hunters pay thousands of Dollars for the hunt! Thousands of Dollars that can be used to pay their bills! Check this list from South Africa as an example of hunting fees: African Sky

Criticizing Melissa Bachman means deterring the hunters to hunt in general, specifically in Africa. Stopping those hunters from hunting means stopping thousands of Dollars cashflow to the national parks. That will make the conservation far more difficult than today's condition, to say the least.

Overcrowding
Then national parks also have overcrowding problems: too many animals inside the national park.

What? That sounds nuts, how come there are "too many endangered animals"? The problem is, national parks have limited space. Animals, especially big one, needs space to provide food and water for them, to provide roaming area, in general: to support them, that means the limited space of national park can only support limited numbers of animals. Small herbivores like antelope and warthog can be controlled by the carnivores, but what about a top predator like lion? Or enormous herbivore with no predator like elephants? Once they are comfortable (the goal of any national park) they will breed, their numbers will grow exponentially. Too many elephants will devastate the grass and trees, killing small birds and rodents, and start a domino effect on the ecology. Too many lions will devastate the herbivores, starting another domino effect. So, what is the solution?

Relocation -> Moving the surplus animals to other place. It is difficult and expensive. The animals can be stressed and die because of it. Plus, for some animals, there are not enough demand, i.e., no place to be relocated.
Contraception -> Limiting the number of birth. This is another method. It is not as difficult and expensive as relocation, but it only solve the problem in the long run. National parks need immediate solution to solve this problem right now!
The last option is of course killing the surplus animals. If you expect that every killing done by veterinarians, you can also expect that the park receive far more bills. If you expect the ranger to shot the animals, then we return to the initial problem, plus unlike hunters, park rangers don't pay the park for the kills.

That means, license hunting is a solution for overcrowding! Let those hunters kill the extra animals, designated by the park! That means hunting actually solve two problems with one shot!

No wonder the national park defends the hunters. Good!

Conclusion
In the end, it boils down to two options:
1) Stop the hunters, depraving the national park of the fund, and take from them one tool to solve overcrowding problem, therefore endangered the whole park, the whole ecosystem, and killed many animals.
2) Let them hunt and kill some animals, let them pay for what they have done, therefore supporting the park both financially and ecologically.

Yes, that means "animal lovers" have to choose between two evils, but that is just the facts. Life is not always easy, we have to take tough, difficult choice. C'est la vie.

Suggestion

Of course those options are the current option. I have the 3rd option, but this is the hardest one.

Here is my suggestion to "environmentalists" or "animal lovers" who love to equate those hunters with Lucifer: donate thousands of Dollars to replace them BEFORE you scream with a bullhorn. Not only now but routinely like the hunters do. Oh, you need to pay even more as a compensation for any overcrowding. Devising a cheap-humane solution for overcrowding will also be very helpful.

Oh, you can't because you don't have money? You don't know how to solve their problem? Then, SHUT UP, and stop obstructing the conservation! Yes, it is counter-intuitive to say that hunting may save more animals than animal lovers, but that is objectively what happens here since hunters pay the conservation bill, while environmentalists scream to stop them!

What? You don't like people killing animals for fun? I thought protecting the animals is more important than our ego? The fact stands: those hunters pay for conservation and help them solving the overcrowding problem while the animal lovers work hard with love to stop the hunters! Hey, I got news for you: love alone doesn't pay the national park bills! Love alone doesn't solve the overcrowding problem! So sorry to point this out, so sorry to prove objectively that your hated "animal killers" actually help more than you do, but painful truth is far more useful than comfortable falsehood.

By the way, I am not surprised with this nonsense. Private ranches in Texas are the only hope for scimitar-horned-oryx survival. They got their money from the hunting licenses there. Guess what,they experienced this bullcrap. What can be a win-win condition between survival of a magnificent species and hunters is ruined by some holier-than-thou treehuggers.

Last words, I think this quote is fitting to close this writing:
"The truth will set you free ... but first, it will make you miserable!"

Other article:
Elephant overcrowding problem
Lion overcrowding problem

Freedom and Responsibilities

2013-10-24T01:13:00.003+02:00

After the US government shutdown, the fight between liberals and conservatives intensifies!

But seriously, they are not really different. Here, I will put 2 examples where both sides deep down is actually basically the same:

1) Example one: military conscription/Draft

Most Liberals-Hippies join Libertarians from the right in this case: SAY NO TO CONSCRIPTION! Say yes to 100 % volunteer army! Freedom from the military! Oh, by the way, have you noticed that none of these hippies want to join the military? Their idea about collective security is: "Let other die to protect this nation state! I can spit on the military all the day, while receiving no penalty for being a security parasite!"

2) Example two: universal health care

This time, most conservatives join Libertarians: SAY NO TO UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE! Say yes to 100% free market & charity (read: voluntary) based health care! Freedom from socialism! Oh, by the way, have you noticed that none of them want to help fellow Americans in health related financial trouble? Their idea about health care is: "WHAT? I have to pay more so other can have the chance to survive horrible diseases? SCREW THEM, LET THEM DIE!"

Extra Example: The Libertarians!

And finally of course you also have the Libertarians who are the disciples of Ayn Rand, whose idea about humanity is "everyone is a an egotistical-heartless bastard. I am only better in the sense that I am aware of this fact." They logically cheer up deaths! Hey, more deaths means less OTHER heartless bastards, that means less competition, and more benefits for ME! MORE FREEDOM BABY!

So, AMERICANS, stop all the fighting! You are all jerks, speaking about freedoms while in essence you want to act as irresponsible as possible. So, let's sing kumbaya together and celebrate your jerkiness and irresponsibility!

God Tropes, Video Games, and Other Stuffs

2013-08-14T10:44:00.000+02:00

You know, there is a vast conspiracy to perpetuate the grip of religion among humanities. A conspiracy to strengthened the grip of the clergies. Video games are part of it.

God Tropes in Video Games

Listen to me, how many times you play video games where in the end we discover that God is exist in some form? How many video games concluded that there is no afterlife? No even worse, most video games actually is ABOUT the fight against or for God, and about the afterlife.

This is an evidence that video games conspire
against not only atheism, but also secularism!

Here, let me list some examples:

In Asura's Wrath, not only we play as a Demigod, the existence of "Naraka" or "Hell" is an important plot point.
In God of War, we fight Olympus Gods, and become God itself.
In many, if not most, RPG games, we fight in a quest to fight a demon-God, or fulfill "destiny".
Even worse, in Civilization V, the states actually CREATE religions! That means they 100% indoctrinate the player to support theocracy! Don't let the social policy "secularism" fools you, the state still build the shrines, temples, mosques, cathedrals, etc. Can you believe that, public assets is used to finance construction of religious centers?
Some most recent popular video games doesn't address this issue at all. For example, God and afterlife is irrelevant in Call of Duty or Battlefield series. But don't let them fool you! Absence of evidence is not the same with evident of absence!

Those examples are only the tip of the iceberg. Q.E.D., the whole video game industry conspired to repressed atheism.

Whining

Okay, step back, what do you think about my writing? I bet you thing that is just plain RIDICULOUS or STUPID or BATSHIT INSANE, or all of that.

I can hear you complain "DUDE, CONSPIRACY THEORY IS BULLSHIT!!"

I can also hear you complain "Dude, stop being a whiner."

Hell yeah!

I wrote that piece by emulating Anita Sarkeesian approach. You know, "Everything is patriarchy conspiracy to undermine women" approach. Or should I say "I am a hammer therefore everything else is a nail" approach. I just switch patriarchy with religion, and women with atheism.

Dear Ms. Sarkeesian, stop it. You, basically, are WHINING that the patriarchy is repressing women. Your whining actually empowered one of the bad stereotype of woman: all women are whiners. This stereotype is strongly connected to the trope you discuss: women are weak therefore need to be saved by men.

Badass Women
Your whining actually distract the public from badass women. You know, women whom you should put more attention to, in comparison with video games. Women like Hawa Abdi from Somalia who faced gun touting Somali militias. Women like Lyudmila Pavlichenko from Russia, who terrorize her countrie's invaders with her snipe. Women like Rukhsana Kauser who actually turned the table on some misogynist terrorists who tried to brutalize her family.

Those badass women prove that women are strong, intelligent, and able to rescue men. You don't help changing social stigma of your gender with your Youtube whining. Please, stop it, for your cause's sake.

Oh, playing the video games yourself (not only posting other's "Let's Play" video), or AT LEAST give some attribution to the original creator, will also help your cause tremendously. Stop hurting your case further.

Insecticide and Secularism

2013-08-09T03:37:00.002+02:00

Insecticide

Let's start with a little story about insecticide.

Insecticide is a very important part of our life. It is a part of green revolution which increased agriculture yield astronomically. Say what you want about green revolution, the fact stands: without killing so many harmful insects with it, our food supply will be far lower, hence food will be far more expensive, hence millions will starve. Despite that importance, NEVER EVER drink any insecticide! Failure to obey this simple rule will end with your death!

"WAIT! I disagree with the last part! Many people NEVER drink insecticide, but they STILL DIE! How dare you smear the reputation of insecticide!"

See how stupid that counter-argument is? Non-consumption of insecticide is not a cure-all, but consumption of insecticide is a kill-all! To counter the last part of the 2nd paragraph, you have to show MULTIPLE CASES where people are not affected, or even become healthier, after drinking insecticide!

Secularism

Same with religion in politics. Yes, religion is very important for many people. Nevertheless, mixing religion and politics is a certain death. Just pick ANY religious government/theocracy in our world today. You will find screwed-up countries. In most cases, they are poor and some even totally wrecked by conflicts. Countries like Afghanistan, Nigeria, etc. In some cases, they are rich ... but they treated women and non-believers like crap. You know, countries like Saudi Arabia. Oh wait, they are rich NOT because of theocracy but because they sit on top of gigatons of oil. Heck, the best non-secular country that come into my mind is Malaysia, you know the country that basically said one race (Malay) get all the perks while Chinese and Indians are second class citizens. In essence: a racist country. Even more tragic, the "Malay race" is defined by their religion. Ha!

That means theocracy is analog to drinking insecticide. Secularism is analog to NOT DRINKING that insecticide. Are there screwed-up secular countries? Sure, tons of it! Syria and Egypt for starters. Does that prove that secularism does not work? Hell, no! So many other secular countries work better than theocratic countries! Lenin once said, people vote with their feet. People move from the best theocratic countries (Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, etc) to the not-so-best far more secular country. (France, Germany, USA etc.)

Once you give political power to religious establishment, you will see prosecution of other religions. And other denominations. Just ask non-Muslims and the Ahmadiis in (Taliban) Afghanistan, Iran, etc.

Once you give religious power to the politicians, they will silence all protests against using "Heaven's mandate". Just ask the people who protest against the House of Saud. Just ask the Malaysian people, especially Chinse and Indian Malays, and Malays who want to change their religion.

Let me close this writing with a quote from George Carlin:
"I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death."
Especially if you don't have the same religion with the government. Oh wait. The government itself who define YOUR RELIGION. Usually when they don't like you, they will define "your belief" as heretics. Just like the Ayatollahs hate the Sunnis, and the Taliban hate the Shiites, despite both sides claim to be Muslims. Forget it, you are screwed anyway, no matter your "true" religion.

I Really Love to Master These Languages

2013-07-14T14:16:00.002+02:00

Göthe once said something like: "Our world is limited by the language(s) we master."

Amen.

Sadly, nobody has the time, energy, intelligence, and money to master all languages on earth. Therefore, it is an unreachable goal. That's why we selected some languages, languages that are directly useful to us, languages that we love, or both.

There are languages that I really want to learn but after giving it second thought, I decided against it. Here they are, from the one that I most eager to learn to the least eager one. Three factors decide it: aesthetic, usefulness, and easiness. Note that aesthethic is very, very subjective. My taste may differ than yours. On the other hand, easiness is subjective because my native language is Indonesian.

Latin

Aesthetic: 100/100
Usefulness: 40/100
Easiness: 50/100
Total: 190/300
This is the language of the Roman Empire, the parent language all Romance languages. There is this ... mythical aura, radiated from each Latin words & sentences. I think this is thanks to the fact that Latin is the language of classic literature, the language of many motto, the language of the most powerful empire in ancient Europe, etc. You sounds educated, sophisticated, and smart if you said anything in Latin!

Mastering this language means opening the gate of beauty from the classic literature, the writings of Cicero, Plutarch, Cassius Dio, etc. It is also the language of tons of early Christian documents.

Mastering this language also make learning all Romance languages easier. Those languages are used extensively in Meso and Latin America.

Unfortunately, only limited people use this language in their daily life. That's the only reason why I don't learn it.

I will learn it when: I have free time, money & energy

Esperanto

Aesthetic: 50/100
Usefulness: 20/100
Easiness: 100/100
Total: 170/300
Created in Poland in the beginning of 20th century, this language was designed to be as easy as possible, to be the universal language of the world. That's why this language is very easy!

But, its speakers are limited. No historical texts, literature, or anything written in Esperanto by its creator. This language in practice become a "geek language" just like Klingonese from Star Trek and Elvish from The Lord of The Ring.

I will learn it when: it was used as national language of at least 3 countries ... or one big country.

Japanese

Aesthetic: 70/100
Usefulness: 70/100
Easiness: 20/100
Total: 160/300
I think this is the the most popular foreign language after English and Mandarin. Probably more popular than Mandarin. Hey, this is the original language of manga and anime!

But, in the end, I don't want to learn it. One of the thing that I hated most is formality. I prefer egalitarian culture and society. This language is ALL ABOUT FORMALITY!

There are multiple Pronouns that indicate social position. They have different verbs to describe exactly the same activity. The different is in how they emphasize politeness differently. You can't ask "Have you seen my garden?" because it is not modest enough. You have to say "Have you glance my unworthy garden?" At the same time, I also can't say "I have seen your garden" because that is not polite! I have to say "I enjoy your beautiful garden."

Nuts. Plain nuts.

I will learn it when: they use the Latin alphabet, and they throw away that freakin hierarchical rule.

From wikipedia user OldakQuill

Sanskrit

Aesthetic: 90/100
Usefulness: 30/100
Easiness: 10/100
Total: 130/300
This is the Vedic language, the language of Indian culture that spread to Southeast Asia. Just like Latin, it also has the mythical aura, thanks to its historic importance. Unfortunately, just like Latin too, nobody really use this language in today's everyday life.

Unfortunately, I heard that this language is designed to be AS HARD AS POSSIBLE to ensure the monopolization of knowledge in the hand of few, i.e. the Brahmanic caste. It doesn't use alphabet. Instead, it uses abugida where its vowels got special treatments. Okay ... that is not as easy as alphabet but it can be learned. Oh, It also uses complicated grammar. VERY complicated grammar. For starters, it doesn't have 6 grammatical cases like Russian, or 4 like German, or 1.5 like English, or 1 like Bahasa Indonesia and many Asian languages. No, no, no, it has EIGHT cases: nominative, vocative, accusative, instrumental, dative, ablative, genitive, and locative. Try to stomach that.

No thanks, better use my energy somewhere else.

I will learn it when: I need it to save my life.

Chinese/Mandarin

Aesthetic: 40/100
Usefulness: 70/100
Easiness: 0/100 ... no, actually it is -200/100.
Total: -90/100
This is the language of my ancestors. They said it shows the power of the Chinese culture. So, I should learn it right? Yeah, I should ... but ...

I gave up. Really. I already tried more than once, it is just TOO DAMN HARD! Oh, the fact that I DON'T LIKE HOW IT SOUNDS didn't help either.

Let me reiterate why it is so damn hard:

Because they use tone to differentiate their words.

People in other language used tone to convey EMOTION. To differentiate a statement with a question. To stress the importance of certain part of the sentence. Etc. Not the Chinese and many other tonal languages like Thai, Vietnamese, and many African languages. They use it to differentiate WORDS! If you mess the tone in Mandarin, you can mistake "mother" with "horse" for example. That would be hilarious in a sitcom. Not so if you are the one who make the mistake.

Because the script is just STUPID.
Actually stupid is an understatement for such monstrosity. Seriously, why we need to memorize at least THREE THOUSANDS different characters? How can you write a dictionary or do any kind of sorting with that script? How complicated is the Chinese typing procedure? How can you GUESS how it sounds if you encounter a character for the first time?
I heard Vietnamese is hard too because it is a tonal language like Chinese. But at least they have the common sense to use Latin alphabet!
Sanskrit don't use Latin alphabet, and they have more complicated rules to write their alphabets. But at least their alphabet is not in thousands!
Russian may have complicated grammar and strange-looking alphabet, but at least it is only 33 characters. After one intensive day you can master it and know exactly the sound of each word!

I learn it when: Hell freezes over.
It is an understatement, the chance of hell freezes over is HIGHER than the chance of the Chinese people admit that their logogram script is stupid. Seriously, I am sure even the need to save my life can't enable me to learn this language.

Future Microsoft Game Console

2013-06-28T01:20:00.002+02:00

Microsoft tried to shove b.s. to suck money from gamers. Their tool: their newest gaming console "Xbox One". What b.s you ask? You know, b.s like the console has to be connected to internet once every 24 hours. Why? Because they want to sell "blast processing" ... sorry, that was what Sega sold 2 decades ago. Now they used the name "Cloud computing." Okaay, I am still skeptical, but maybe MAYBE cloud computing is as awesome as they say ...

But that was not the only b.s. from Microsoft. Xbox One games can't be re-sold without big-brother permission. Their reason for this? The second-hand game market killing the developers ... yeah right. Just like second-hand car burying the car industries, second-hand clothing destroying textile industries, etc.

Oh, other than those 2 b.s., Microsoft also tried to shove its version of Orwell's 1984: Kinect 2.0.. In essence, it is a digital camera-microphone that is equipped with their own processor. It can see everything. EVERYTHING. Even your heartbeat. Oh, since the only way to turn on the Xbox One is via voice command, this baby is ALWAYS ON. They try to b.s that it can be paused. During this paused mode, it can only recognize "Xbox On" phrase. Err ... that means it is till functioning right? It is watching us all the time right? And they introduce this at the same time with the Prism scandal? No wonder Penny Arcade gave it a loaded name "Mandatory Evil Camera." A German official calls it "a twisted nighmare". Nah, either nickname is too blatant for my taste. I prefer to call it "Eye of Sauron" :)

Of course gamers didn't take it lightly and basically boycotting "The One". The backlash was so severe that one of Microsoft direct competitor, Sony, exploited it to boost the sale of their machine, the PS4. The reaction from gamers is just ... overwhelming. For example, gamers gave Sony standing ovation when they say "WE ARE NOT MICROSOFT," we love status quo! Microsoft decided to cancel all of their b.s. I think it is too little, too late. And it has to be noted, it is NOT a total reversal. For starters they keep the Eye of Sauron. This actually amplify the current main problem of Xbox One: the lack of trust. I use this "Xbox One" experience to guess future gaming console from Microsoft. I wonder if others think like this too ...

1) XXXbox!
Let's start with the name ... since they think that "Xbox One" is a good name for the successor of "Xbox 360," why don't go for broke? Use the name: XXXbox! It is so hardcore that one X is not enough! It will be ETERNAL, just like porn! Wicked! Bodacious! Cool! Funky! Epic!

2) Green Pass!

Not only electricity and internet connection, XXXbox could only function if we put a special green sticker, evidence that we pay the company, I mean SUPPORTING THE ENVIRONMENT! Yay! It only cost 10 Bucks per month! What? You hate that? You don't want to save the trees? HEARTLESS BASTARDS! This is about the future of EARTH! How dare you protest this, are you intending to rip off your own planet?

3) Let's monetize EVERY SINGLE DETAIL!

Microsoft already tried to monetize the second-hand game market by ordering re-sellers to pay them. Why stop there? Using the EYE OF SAURON Microsoft can totally monitor how many people access your XXXbox!

Two gamers playing the game console? ARE YOU TRYING TO BLEED US DRY? Second player has to pay, PAY PAY PAY!

The whole family want to watch Netflix together with it? HEY, movie theater sold their ticket to EACH INDIVIDUAL! Are you trying to rip-off Microsoft with this so called "family gathering"? Not a chance! PAY, PAY, PAY!

You stand in front of your TV? HA, that's mean you already intended to play, the machine will start warming up! What? You are not playin? PAY, PAY, PAY!

4) Big Brother Sucker Portal!

Why stop with the "Eye of Sauron"? In the future, you can only play your XXXbox after giving TOTAL CONTROL of your Facebook account, Twitter account, and Bank Account to Microsoft! This is for your own benefit, this way Microsoft will assist you in your social and financial live! No need to worry to buy the Green Pass, family member-pass, extra-gamer-pass or all other extra fee Microsoft will automatically charge you! Microsoft will also charge you for the latest accessories!

Oh, since Microsoft already take over your Twitter and Facebook accounts, they will also charge you everytime you mention their name in bad context! Hey, that "®" and "™" signs are there for a reason you know! How dare you smear that without paying!

LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, that is the future of gaming! Hopefully you liked them. Don't worry, if you hate that ... just buy and play an Xbox 360!

What? You think they won't be THAT evil? C'mon, these guys INSIST on putting Eye of Sauron in your room!

Prism, Privacy, Security

2013-06-19T20:04:00.000+02:00

News flash for Americans: you don't have digital privacy. The government is watching YOU!! NSA and its PRISM program essentially recorded every single electronic activity of every single American.

The support for this evil is BIPARTISAN! President Obama reaction to this leak can be summarized into one word: "TOUGH!" On the other side, the GOP also supports it wholeheartedly. Where is the Democratic Party that support civil liberty? Where is the GOP that fight against the overarching government? Where is the massive bipartisan movement against PRISM? Both sides defends this nasty encroachment and argues that such appalling intrusion to your life could increase security. Dick Cheney for example, said that such measure could prevent 9/11.

Wow, what a compelling logic! Hey, while you are at it, let me give some suggestions how to PREVENT 9/11. As far as I know, no one inside the big house can hijack an airplane, so you would DEFINITELY prevent 9/11 by putting every single American in jail.

What else ... AH, those terrorists are foreginers who abused their visa! How about this: interrogate and WATERBOARD every single visa-applicants to make sure they have good intention!

Heck, why we took any chance, just slaughter every single human being in USA. And Middle East for good measure! After those measures, I GUARANTEE 1000%, 9/11 couldn't happen!

In essence they said "If you crush your house with BIG BULLDOZER, you don't have to worry about the leaky roof!" They say they protect the house while actually they tear down the house, and sold every single part of the house to a shabby junk dealer.

That is just pure evil. The year is 2013, but I am totally for turning it back into 1984.

Review: The Act of Killing

2013-06-09T19:24:00.000+02:00

This is an imperfect world. Mass oppressions, mass murders, and genocides still happens until today. Hundreds, thousands, even millions were slaughtered for meaningless reason. Nazi Germany, Communist Russia, racist Rwanda, racist Serbs, etc did that.

Decent people are always baffled by this, what kind of human beings were able to conduct such atrocities? How they deal with their empathy, their conscience? The movie maker Joshua Oppenheimer tried to somehow answer important questions like that with this documentary movie.

The film started with an important disclaimer: unlike the Nazi Germany, or the Interhamwe militia in Rwanda, the perpetrators here were and still are the winners, people who have connections to the highest level of power in Indonesia. This is the movie about how some butchers from the 1960s "communist" massacres tried to create a movie to glorify their massacres. The movie focused especially on Anwar Congo, who before the massacre was a small-time movie theatre gangster (Preman in bahasa Indonesia).

The movie shows that those gangsters are so full of themselves. They proudly admit in front of camera how they enjoy those massacres, laughingly explained how they enjoy raping 14 years old "communist". Their pride is also extended to any other "gangster" activities, and even to the label "gangster"/preman itself. Many of them stated that the word preman came from the word "free man," people who are free, who want to do anything they like. Looks like that freedom includes freedom to threaten and extort some store owners in the market in front of a recording camera. Yes, they are THAT proud.

That pride even overcame their logic. In one scene, the gangsters re-enact the destruction of a communist village. The then-deputy of Sport Minister, Sakhyan Asmara come and lead the reenactment. After the shooting, he realized that such spectacle would impress the audience that the communists were the victims, and the gangsters were barbarous thugs. BUT, he also asked Oppenheimer NOT to delete that scene because "People need to know that Indonesians can be very furious when fighting against communist!"

That means this movie goes BEYOND the 1960s massacre. This is a documentary about Indonesia past and present gangster's culture. Oppenheimer asked Anwar Congo and his friends about "justice" and "truth." One of them said "truth is not always right, and justice is defined by the winner." As an Indonesian, I am sure there are millions who agree with this statement OR accept it as "unchangeable truth." This is exactly the reason why Indonesia will never become a developed country. Rule of law, human rights, and so many other civilized things are lower priorities in comparison with pride and personal fortune, they are SUBORDINATE to the existing gangster culture, and its acceptance by many Indonesians.

That alone make this movie fascinating, and there is one more important point here for me: the most important question is not about "justice" or the past. Not about whether those gangsters should be punished or not. For me, the future is far more important. That's why the biggest question is:

"Can such atrocity happen again in Indonesia?"
With such pride from doing it, with such glorification of previous atrocities, why not? And after second thought, I remember that the Shiah and the Ahmadis experienced similar atrocities TODAY. In essence, it is not the question "Can it happen again?" but "When will it stop?" At first, everything looks bleak. Looks like Indonesia is trapped in this appalling gangster culture.

But, not all is lost. In the last part of the movie, Congo's empathy overcome his pride. He finally started to feel the pain of his victim after he played a communist sympathizer in one of the reenactment of the torture. We can clearly see from his eyes, from his body languages that the guilt finally manifested. Oppenheimer reminded him that he felt that EVEN THOUGH he knew that such torture is only a play, while all his victims knew their life would end shortly. Congo replied with "But I know Josh. I feel it." That scene alone give me hope that conscience exists, that such monstrosity is not acceptable, that Indonesia can overcome its gangster culture.

Nevertheless, it has to be stressed that looks like Anwar Congo is the exceptional case. His compatriots don't show any remorse or guilt. Indonesia still in the long way to reach "post-gangster culture" where rule of law & human rights are the norms, not mass murder & coercion.

Final verdict: 100/100. Thank you Joshua Oppenheimer, for sharing with the world the true face of Indonesia, for giving me hope that not all is lost. Let the world know the complete picture of Indonesia. Let Indonesians become aware of this atrocities and all madness that follows ...

Scientists, Artists, Heaven, and Hell

2013-05-22T21:08:00.000+02:00

"The greatest joy in Heaven is in watching the torments of the damned in Hell--a spectacle far more pleasing than any upon earth."
-- Tertullian in De Spectaculis

Yahweh is pissed. Many scientists are atheists who reject His existence. On the other spectrum, many artists also rejected religion and some even blasphemed His name because of their free-spirit and "everything for art" mentality. He decided to send them all to hell.

After some time, He noticed that more and more people are eager to go to hell. Many who have the right to go to heaven even rejected it, and chose Hell. He decided to pay Satan a visit, and what He saw appalled Him.

Hell became a very beautiful place. Full with music, marbles, fountains, etc. People in hell partying all the time. All kind of parties in different palaces or outdoor settings. Discos, eating buffet, LAN-party, etc. Only very few were tortured in some dungeon, and ... they keep asking for more torture, not asking for mercy. Furious, He approached Satan, and this dialog started:

Yahweh: What the hell is this?

Satan: DUH, yes this is Hell, should I explain the obvious?

Yahweh: This doesn't look like Hell.

Satan: Oh, you don't like this "Workplace improvement"? This is all thanks to thou!

Yahweh: Me?

Satan: Indeed, so let me say these words that I previously thought impossible for me to utter: thank you God for giving me such blessing!

Yahweh: What trickery did you do?!

Satan: No, no, not trickery. I never initiated it. It was you who created it, indirectly. Remember when you send all those nerds with thick glasses here? When they arrived they instantly spot it: this unquenchable fire is a source for infinite energy! After millions of experiments and thinkering, they figured how to isolate the heat and harness it. Yes, there are some mechanical failures here and there, but usually we are fine. After those geeky nerds invented and maintains this technical wonder, those hippies started to do their magic. That's why we have all this beautiful fountains, musics, and so on! Thanks a lot dude! Without those nerds and hippies, I won't enjoy this job like now!

Yahweh: THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE! Now people are eager to go to Hell!!

Satan: Dude, do you remember our previous arrangement? You complained that so many assholes did good only because their fear of hell, and love of heaven. What a bunch of hypocrites you got there! Now that is no longer the case, from now on only your hardcore fans go to heaven! Hey, you got quality over quantity dude, why the complain? Think positive! Just embrace it and be grateful!

Yahweh: This is wrong on so many level! Hell is for infinite torture, heaven is for infinite reward! You and those nerds and hippies are acting way out of place!
Satan: Dude, chill down! Nobody here bothering you or your heaven when we enjoy our parties. Our world here is sound-proof! What's the big deal?
Yahweh: Are you kidding? The fact that they are neither tortured nor miserable bothered me and many pious followers of mine!
Satan: Woa, woa, so ... our misery is essential for the happiness of heaven? Let me get this straight, you are against this because you want to torture people in billions infinitely and see them suffer?

Yahweh: That's the entire point of Hell! Do you think I create this to make a Disneyland? Everyone know that! How dare you NOT to torture those people!

Satan: Dude, I am a sadistic bastard who love to see people suffer, but I am also a selfish bastard. Look, if I still torture them after they provide such upgrade for my office, everything will falling down. I am sneaky as a snake, but not an omni-scient being who can maintain this wonder indefinitely. Those nerds ... they are nasty human, you know that right? They will figure it out how to screw my if I screw them first.
That's why my selfishness trumped my sadism, that's why I let them enjoy their eternity here in good atmosphere, as long as I can enjoy it too. Relax, there are so many things to enjoy in this universe! Like ... torturing those masochist! You have to see them dude, they ASKED to be tortured! That's why you still see some were still tortured.
Yahweh: How dare you telling me what to do! I have ordered you, and millions, BILLIONS of people have to be tortured for eternity, not a fraction of it, not because they ask it, and that is final!
Satan: (Shaking his head.) Until today they still call you the good one? Hey, who is your P.R guy, I really want to meet him!

Yahweh: That's it, this has to stop!

Satan: (Laughing his ass off.) What do you want to do? Sue me? Before the first scientist or artist was born, you already send every single lawyer here!

Yahweh: I'll see you in court.

In the court, every single lawyer were in Satan's side. When they called for "expert witnesses," they have infinite numbers of scientist who objectively prove Satan's point. On the other hand, all witnesses from Heaven are dismissed because they refuse to give any coherent testimony, they only start praising Yahweh. But those witnesses are not needed. The judge and jury have conscience. They don't think that infinite torture is a good think to be upheld In the end, Satan can keep his Hell, and Yahweh got a court's order to stay away from Hell. Thus from that day, he and Hell's population are free from infinite torture.

What? Do you expect me to say that they live happily ever after? Hey, don't denigrate escaping from infinite torture! That is at least as valuable as "live happily ever after"! Especially when He who wants to torture you infinitely has good PR, millions of fanatical followers, and omni-in so many ways.

As for Yahweh, Tertullian, and many heaven's population ... they lost their "live happily ever after" status, because they can't watch the misery of hell anymore. Founded upon the torment of others, such happiness crumble once the torment ends. That is what I call a good ending!

The West, Colonialism, and China

2013-05-19T12:49:00.000+02:00

Many people hate "the West". Understandable. UK, USA, France, etc. are responsible for colonialism all over the world. Let me stress this, colonialism is NEVER pretty. It encapsulates racism, economic injustice, political injustice, slaughter, and so many other horrible things. It creates misery, resentments, and so many other "negative feelings."

Unfortunately, some people lost perspective. They confuse the cause and effect, the ends and means. They forget that it is colonialism that we must avoid at all cost, NOT THE WEST.

What? You think only the West can practice colonialism? Do you think People's Republic of China is your savior?

Here, let me give you some example of Chinese colonialism:

1) The occupation of Vietnam. (111 BC - 39 AD, 43 - 544 AD, 602 -938 AD, 1407 - 1427 AD)

Yes, the Chinese repeatedly ruled Vietnam. Other than those 4 periods of domination, maybe you still remember how they invaded Vietnam after Vietnam stopped Pol Pot and his Cambodian slaughterfest. Wait, what? How come China tried to punish Vietnam for stopping the Killing Field? Sorry, my bad. Pol Pot is a friend of China. The Killing Field is worth defending.

There is an old Polish saying: "Under the German, we lost our freedom. Under the Russian, we lost our soul." I suspected Vietnam has the same view on France and China. It has been confirmed. My Vietnamese friends has said the same mentality exist in VIetnam. One of them even going further by saying that most Vietnamese won't admit that they were and are influenced by China culturally and politically, that Chinese occupation left many legacies that still important until today. They are just too ... careful not to be colonized by China again.

No, this is not paranoia because of history/the past alone. The Vietnamese have good actual reasons to be fearful and suspicious of its gigantic neighbor.

2) Spratly Islands (Late 20th century - today)

This islands is a hotpoint. Philippine, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei contested that island. So does China. How does the gigantic China claim those islands? Does it has any merit? Not really. If you see the map on the right, Philippine is nearby, Vietnam is nearby, Malaysia is nearby, and Brunei is nearby. Not China. They only nearby if we count Paracel Islands which they wrested from the Vietnamese after the Vietnam war.

Check the map again. This is not only about Spratly. This is about total control of South China Sea. The border claimed by China will leave other countries with only a tiny strip of sea in front of their coast. Appalling.

And how China assert its control? Simple: they send warships, marines, and fighter jets to attempt a de facto domination there! Who said the Chinese are ABOVE military action?

Oh, they also interested in Spratly because most likely there is oil deposit there. So ... if USA tried to conquer Iraq for oil it is colonialism, while China trying to conquer Spratly is only ... let me gues ... conflict of interest? HURRAA FOR DOUBLE STANDARD!

Oh yeah, similar case happens in Senkaku/Diaoyu. I already pointed out that such conflict is utterly stupid. That, and an example of Chinese expansionism and attempt at colonialism. The Vietnamese indeed have good reason not to trust the Chinese. And that is not all.

3) Burma/Myanmar (Middle-late 20th century)

In the past, the Qing dynasty tried to conquer Burma. They sent 4 expeditions. Bad idea. VERY BAD IDEA! All of them were devastated by malaria and Burmese army.

That was the past, how about today?

Well ... the military junta in Myanmar think that since the West refused to help them in any way, they can get helps from the Chinese. Bad idea. VERY BAD IDEA. The Chinese, hungry for natural resources, dictated every single contract. They pushed their luck with the Myitsone dam. Nobody in Myanmar wants that dam. Only the Chinese benefit from it. That is the last straw for the Myanmar people. Finally, the junta had enough and decided to open their country to democracy and western ideas. Heck, they even released most of their political prisoners!

This is really a sobering experience. If you think US and Western domination is bad, Burma just show that Chinese domination is far from pretty or mutually beneficial.

4) Rare earth mineral

Some year ago, some Chinese fishermen did illegal fishing in Japanese water. The Japanese coastguard apprehend those fishermen. So ... how does China reacted?

They used their monopoly on rare earth mineral to squeeze the Japanese to release those fishermen. It worked.

Ladies and gentlemen, that is economic colonialism in action!

EVERYONE learned the importance of rare earth mineral, so Australia and USA start re-open their rare-earth mineral mines again. Better late than never.

5) The Passport Controversy
China also used trickery to get what it wants. Sometimes, it is borderly juvenile. Like ... when they printed their territorial claim into their passport. Let me be clear: EACH PAGE of their passport displays China as the owner of Spratley, Senkaku, and many other contested regions. My guess is, they wanted to use any stamp on any page as prove of APPROVAL of Chinese territorial claim.

Nope, not working. India, Vietnam, etc. refuse to stamp those passports.

This is not a sign of good intention. It is a sign that the Chinese will use all means to grab new territories.

This sign was send not only to countries with territorial dispute with China: it was send to all countries. Unfortunately for them, once again they pushed their luck here. Now everyone know that China is willing to trick, to deceive, in order to got what they want. Smart people already know this, but this should enlighten all western haters to leave "China fans club".

You see, we have to be careful, watchful, and critical not only to West. The Chinese or ANY OTHER POWER also can be as ruthless, as exploitative, and as devious as the West and more! Time to ditch the mentality that only the West can practice colonialism. Time to ditch the mentality that the non-West are always the victim.

The Bible, Modern Morals, and Zeitgeist

2013-05-08T22:45:00.000+02:00

I have argued that many Bible stories have despicable morals and should not be followed.

Many Christians argued back "You can't use modern moral to judge those stories"! Or in more fancy words: The Zeitgeist has changed.

Err ... yes I can. And no, the Zeitgeist has nothing to do with it.

1) You start it by using ancient history as modern moral compass

The problem is they want to make the bible today's moral compass. For example, they ask repeatedly to put the bible in school, not only physically but also in the curriculum! They want to harass today's homosexuals based on the Bible. And now suddenly they are upset when I pointed out that many morals in it are despicable? That's the whole point! The Zeitgeist has changed, that's why today we have no excuse to use ancient rules from different Zeitgeist.

2) We can say that because we are imperfect, fallible, and mere mortals unlike the all-powerful God.

Of course we have to put the Zeitgeist into consideration, because Moses don't get the idea of human rights, equality, democracy, etc.

But WAIT!! We never speak about Moses or Abraham or any other mere mortal, we are speaking about God himself! Moses and pals were only "the hand." They are definitely NOT "the brain." An omni-benevolent and omniscient being doesn't have an excuse for such imperfection. What? That kind of standard is impossible to fulfill? That means your God is impossible to exist.

3) In fact, some other religions already set higher standards SINCE ANCIENT TIME
I am not a big fan of Islam, but one thing I can't deny: their holy scripture treated slaves far more humanely than the Bible.

The Quran is not the only one. The Zoroastrians' holy scripture even prohibit slavery totally.

If the writer of the Bible is the perfect God ... how come OTHER holy scriptures exceed its morality?

So, yes, the bible was written in ancient time, according to ancient Zeitgeist, proving that it was NEVER written by an omniscient and omni benevolent being. That is the reason why it is NOT an up-to-date moral standard that we can use today. Only some parts of it are usable in that way. Some. Not every part. Definitely not all parts.

Einstein and an Atheist Professor

2013-04-29T18:26:00.002+02:00

One "inspirational" story that is said and posted REPEATEDLY is "How the young Einstein humiliated an atheist professor." Here is the story:

The professor of a university challenged his students with this question. "Did God create everything that exists?" A student answered bravely, "Yes, he did".

The professor then asked, "If God created everything, then he created evil. Since evil exists (as noticed by our own actions), so God is evil. The student couldn't respond to that statement causing the professor to conclude that he had "proved" that "belief in God" was a fairy tale, and therefore worthless.

Another student raised his hand and asked the professor, "May I pose a question? " "Of course" answered the professor.

The young student stood up and asked : "Professor does Cold exists?"

The professor answered, "What kind of question is that? ...Of course the cold exists... haven't you ever been cold?"

The young student answered, "In fact sir, Cold does not exist. According to the laws of Physics, what we consider cold, in fact is the absence of heat. Anything is able to be studied as long as it transmits energy (heat). Absolute Zero is the total absence of heat, but cold does not exist. What we have done is create a term to describe how we feel if we don't have body heat or we are not hot."

"And, does Dark exist?", he continued. The professor answered "Of course". This time the student responded, "Again you're wrong, Sir. Darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in fact simply the absence of light. Light can be studied, darkness can not. Darkness cannot be broken down. A simple ray of light tears the darkness and illuminates the surface where the light beam finishes. Dark is a term that we humans have created to describe what happens when there's lack of light."

Finally, the student asked the professor, "Sir, does evil exist?" The professor replied, "Of course it exists, as I mentioned at the beginning, we see violations, crimes and violence anywhere in the world, and those things are evil."

The student responded, "Sir, Evil does not exist. Just as in the previous cases, Evil is a term which man has created to describe the result of the absence of God's presence in the hearts of man."

After this, the professor bowed down his head, and didn't answer back.

The young man's name was ALBERT EINSTEIN.

This story is so wrong on so many levels. Unfortunately, religious people, like my Christian friends, take it at face value. They regard it as a prove that Einstein is a theist, therefore as the prove that God exists. So, how can we started ... let's put it into 4 level of bullshits:

Einstein, 14 years old

1) Existential

God/Yahweh has so many properties. He cares about this world and repeatedly interferes. He is omni-benevolent, omnipotent, omniscient, an omnipresent ... wait, OMNIPRESENT? Doesn't that means he ALWAYS EXIST? By saying that God didn't exist during those evil occasions, you prove that your version of GOD doesn't exist. No omnipresent being can be ABSENT at any point. It is like there is no triangle with more than 3 sides.

2) Ethical-Moral

Basically that story is about PASS THE BUCK from God. Sorry, you can't do that. Let me put it this way, if your God really interferes on this world, while being omni-benevolent, omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent, that means NOTHING CAN ESCAPE HIM! You see, like I say before, more power means more responsibility. Infinite power means infinite responsibility. You can't pass the buck. Seriously, you can't.

3) Philosophical

There is one long, elaborate philosophical rebuttal of this argument. Basically, the student confused "secondary qualities" with existence. Here is a paragraph that for me crystallize the whole rebuttal perfectly:

"So, if someone murders your mother tonight, nothing happened? There was just an absence of morality in your house? Wait, I forgot... she's not dead... she's just experiencing an absence of life, right?"

4) Historical

My first reaction to that story is "Did Einstein really said that?" Nope. He never said that. Let me emphasize it: NEVER. Einstein is NOT a theist. Whenever he said anything about "God" or "religion" it is not about "Yahweh" or "Judaism" or "Christianity." Most of the time he refer to the cosmos, the universe itself, to the natural law. Not to God or Jesus or Allah.

So ... that means you end your argument by putting false claim? Nice way to end your argument there.

When I for the first time encounter this, my Christian friend responded by saying "So what? It is not really important if Einstein never said it." If you think like that SHAME ON YOU! Let me put it this way. Check back again the long philosophical rebuttal in #3. I could add to that story:

"And the name of professor is ... Karol Józef Wojtyła alias Pope John Paul II."

What? Are you offended? Are you pissed when I just falsely claim that a pope argued AGAINST your argument? Of course you are. That is because NOBODY want to eat bullshit. Not you, not me, not anyone. That's why I would never try to claim such bullshit in my argument. That's why YOU should be ashame when you say the truth is not important. Oh sorry, maybe the truth is not important to you. Maybe CONVERTING ME is more important.

That means, next time a smug Christian tries to convert you, try to b.s. that evil is the absence of God, just ask back:

"So it is moral for me to beat you with this monkey wrench and take your money now? Hey, pain is not exist, pain is only "the absence of health," and you won't be broke, you just experience "absence of money!" Thank Lord for the non-existence of misery!"

Criticism of Religion & Racism

2013-04-23T22:02:00.007+02:00

Civilized people agree that racism is wrong. Anyone who declare that another race(s) is greedy, stupid, weak, or any other negative label will look like a fool, or a jerk. Or both.

Nowadays, people try to equate all criticism of Islam with "Islamophobia." After that, they equate "Islamophobia" with racism. See how Sam Harris, because of his criticism of Islam, was accused of first Islamophobia, THAN racism. Heck, they even tried to put this in the UN! Repeatedly! Of course this is not only about Islam, some people from other religions also think that their critiques are some sort of racist. All of this reminds me of the authoritarian dictator named Soeharto from Indonesia, who equate religion with race and class conflict in his SARA policy. That is the context of this discourse, an authoritarian effort to silence critics. A "Big Brother" style effort to censor, and squeeze freedom of speech.

So, why criticisms toward religions are totally different than racism? Why criticism of religion is a sine qua non of a free society?

1) Genetic vs culture

Race is a genetic fact. Your skin color is imprinted inside your DNA. Not even plastic operation can change that. Religion on the other hand is a set of believe. It is a matter of choice. Anyone can reject their old religion and pick a new one anytime.

2) Your religion is not God

God is by definition above criticism. But religion is not God. Religion is a system, an ideology that was BELIEVED that it was written by God, then written and maintained by mere mortals. A critic of religion is a critic to a HUMAN. Don't insult God by equate Him with your preachers or prophet. They are 2 different beings. Oh, what is this has to do with race again? Doubting the truth of some of this believe is racist? Get real!

Yes, we know you were offended, but your rage
also offended us!

3) Do they have the balls to be criticized?

None make a prohibition to criticize Einstein theory of relativity.

None persecute who hate Picasso's work.

How come? Because both of them are ballsy enough to be criticized. Because their admirers are sane. smart, mature, and ballsy enough to let others criticized those 2 maestros. They don't throw "RACIST" accusation whenever anyone criticized Picasso's painting or Einstein's relativity theory. The lack of courage to be criticized really put the claim that those religion represent an omnipotent-omnibenevolent-being into great doubt.

4) I am offended!

You know this cliche: "I am offended, therefore I have the right to burn, loot, maim, and kill!" Are you kiddin? Everybody get offended EVERYDAY! An offensive statement is not a racist statement per se. Those people who react against offensive statement with violence are just whiner. They actually proved the point that their religion is a religion of war, of violence. They also humiliate their own religion, making it look far more insecure than other religions. Yes, there are tons of trolls and idiots, who criticize solely with name-calling, ad hominem, and without any substance. Let them embarrass themselves. No need to make any physical threat to them, let alone attack them with machete. Don't embarrass yourself or your religion.

5) All religions made mistakes
Do you notice that many religion actually REGULATE slavery? Some religion also ordered genocides. Now ... imagine if anyone who try to abolish slavery was attacked as "blasphemer" ... oh right, silly me, that happened all the time.

So seriously, if that is still not clear enough let me spell it for you: religion IS NOT RACE!

Affirmative Action and Quotas in Germany

2013-04-18T19:21:00.001+02:00

Germany rejects Affirmative action. Their parliament refuse to put women quota on German's companies. Hurra! i already pointed out that affirmative action is sexist, racist, wrong, and in the end benefit no one, not even the women or the minorities or whomever its target group. In fact, it denigrates those target groups, since it assumes they can't be successful without any forceful intervention from the government.

That's why the Deutsche Welle article that reports it baffled me. Sorry, "report" is not a correct word. "Feminist propaganda" is more appropriate. So, let's get started! Here are 2 most important points in that article that really annoys me.

First, these sentences:
"Pohl admits that a quota is senseless, because it would not do justice to women and may even create new injustices. "But as long as we have no other instrument to solve the inequalities that still exist, it is unfortunately the only instrument that will work.""

Huh? Those sentences contradict each other. The first one validated my opinion. But, this Pohl suddenly change his mind. It is like saying "Racism is morally wrong, and economically unsound. It costs the society not only its moral high ground, but also its money. But since it is acceptable and beneficial for the society, we will use it."

Now, let's talk about "instrument to get gender equality." Hey, here is an idea, what about letting the women prove their capability in the company that decide to hire them WITHOUT quota, WITHOUT affirmative action? I am 100% sure many women can kick ass, they will prove to the whole world that misogyny is just stupid, detrimental, and above all ... expensive.

Second, we have this gem:
"Critics claim a women's quota "promotes mediocrity" and represents "an economic risk for the company." Sociology professor Heather Hofmeister says this argument is an indication of open misogyny: one can't just say that the female half of the population is less capable than the male, and Germany's good economic shape cannot be explained by the fact that its companies are almost exclusively run by men.""

Okay, here Hofmeister is just being sexist. Or dishonest.

"Women's quota promotes mediocrity and represent an economic risk" NOT because of the assumption that "all women are less capable than man." That is simply a strawman attack.

Gender equality is about moving BEYOND gender dichotomy. It is an idea that an individual gender has nothing to do with their competence. It is an idea that meritocracy is supreme, far above gender dichotomy.

Look, let's just get real about those management positions, shall we?
Many women are more capable than many men.
Many men also more capable than many women.
A woman quota will advantage less competent women over a more competent men. It is a form of sexism, discrimination against men, not eradication of racism. The possibility that an incompetent women will be accepted ONLY because of her XX chromosome escaped Hofmeister entirely. I thought we are all about gender equality? Silly me, many feminist, leftist, etc just want to discriminate male, and starting the matriarch.

Let's just stop discriminating anyone just because she got a vagina. Don't start discriminate anyone just because he got a penis. Why it is so hard and complicated? Oh yeah, because according to many people, equality is not the issue. DOMINATION is actually the issue. Because according to certain ideology, two wrongs makes a right, and women has the right to dominate men. Silly me.

Multi Level Marketing

2013-04-13T21:11:00.000+02:00

I never got sucked into the monstrosity called "Multi-Level Marketing" or MLM.

Maybe because I am asking too many questions?

Here is a list of questions that I always asks whenever I meet an MLM marketer:

1) Can you tell me more about this product? Give me time to research this awesome product of yours!

MLM is selling MEMBERSHIP, not product. Focus on the product to see them crumble. For example, if the product is vitamin supplement, asked for the ingredients. No, even better, asked for a sample OF THE PACKAGING. You know, the box where it states its ingredients, with a piece of paper with more details about that product. Bring those stuffs to your local vitamin sellers. Asked those sellers about SIMILAR products. Compare the ingredients and the prices. Or better, bring that box asked your nutritionist. Etc. Usually they crumble, since they only want to sell the membership, not the product. Even if they are ready with the product, usually it is not that special. You can get similar products with cheaper price in Wal-Mart.

2) If it is all about passive income ... why you aren't enjoying life in your house now?

One of the mantra keep repeated by MLM marketers is, MLM will create a "passive income," that means you can get money even though you don't do any work. Great, but isn't try to convince me to join is also a kind of work? Oh, you also spend hours for convincing other people to join your scheme? How high is your success rate? Do you feel your energy DRAINED by those efforts? Yup, in the end this "passive income" needs tons of active salesmanship!

3) So you suggest me to compete with my own friends?

One thing that many people forget about MLM is, you compete with your own friends. For example, "A" recruits "B" and "C". So far so good. But here comes the kicker: when B & C want to recruit their friends, they have to compete with each other ... and with "A" too! Please remember, all three of them have lots of common friends. Everytime we recruit new people, we also shrunk our recruiting pool ... and theirs. Before long, those 3 already dried up the pool.

4) Interesting success stories about those rich "Diamond Distributors". How long did they need to achieve that? When did they achieve that? Where did they live? How many are they? How long they keep their "Diamond Distributor" status?

There are success stories, MLM marketers who became "Diamond Distributor," who became millionaires. Let's put them under scrutiny. Let's talk about how many people are able to reach that level ... in comparison with the TOTAL amount of people who become a member in that scheme. My guess it won't be higher than 1%. So, that means roughly you have ONE PERCENT chance of success ... oh sorry it is even worse. Your chance to be an MLM millionaire is FAR LOWER than that 1%. Definitely those millionaires are the first participants of the scheme. When it's already 2 years after the first day this MLM opened their business, forget about it. You are just a small goldfish compete with existing sharks ... and many other goldfishes. (See #3 above.)

5) I think you read too many Robert Kiyosaki. Do you know that he has gone bankrupt?

I save the best for the last. Kiyosaki is a prophet for many MLM marketers. "Passive income" is a phrase created by him, repeated ad nauseam by MLM marketers. He wrote a bogus book that convinced his followers that he gave good advice ... although in essence he gave them CLICHES about money. In 2012, his company has gone bankrupt. His fanatic followers still try to spin it, saying "It's only his company, not himself". Ha! What's next, they try to sell the moon via MLM?

So, does that means that MLM is always a big no-no ? Not really. If an MLM scheme tried to sell a unique product that you have checked RIGOROUSLY, that you can't find anywhere else, that you can afford, you can be their member to be able to get the distributor discount for that product. I think that is the only condition where you can benefit from joining an MLM scheme. Good luck finding that kind of MLM.

Further readings:
Don't Answer Calls from Old Friends, They Could be MLM Agents

John T Reed analysis on "Rich Dad Poor Dad"

Amway: The Wrong Way

Joel Osteen: How He Hates Expertise

2013-04-11T17:35:00.000+02:00

One of my Facebook friend posted a Joel Osteen's status on his wall. Here it is:

At first, I was amazed. Then, I was enraged.

This ... this .... ARGH, this is just ... here let me explained why I don't like that status at all.

1) Noah's flood story is not special.

There are HUNDREDS global flood stories from other religions. Is that an evidence that a great flood really happened once upon a time? Nope. There is a superior explanation.

All civilizations were born nearby a river, since water is an essential thing for our existence. Those rivers definitely floods its surrounding several times, so it is normal for a poet, for a writer, of every civilization, of that time to write a "great flood" epic, even though no global flood ever happened.

Oh yeah, not only a flood from local river, a tsunami can also inspire ancient writers to write such epic. No global flood needed.

2) "What God has put in your heart"

Whatta heck is that? Seriously, what is that? Gut feeling? Intuition? Instinct? Desire? If you want to give an advice, please give a concrete, testable, and falsifiable one. If not, you are just a politician who give amorphous, non-definite promise to escape blame if anything goes wrong.

3) And don't forget about "God's experts" like Mr. Osteen here ...

Since #2 is NEVER clear, many people claimed to be "God's expert" to tell you what God really wants, what God really puts into your heart. Thanks to that we got the Spanish inquisition, witch-hunt, multiple crusades, and many more!

4) The best expert has been wrong ...

Here is the irony, by Osteen's definition, GOD is the best expert for everything. Every single thing. Unfortunately, God made mistakes too!

What? You disagree? You thought that God is infallible? So tell me, how come God wiped out most living beings using the great flood?

Oh, God also admit that He can forget His promise and plan evil, then ... surprise, surprise, he was corrected by a mere mortal named Moses! No wonder Osteen despises expert. His "best expert" is just ... not that trustworthy!

5) The Titanic once existed. The Ark never exists.

How I know it never happened? Simple, because if it happened, the soil would record it! The permanent ice in Greenland, Siberia, etc would record it too! Since there are no record about such flood, it is safe to state that the flood never happens.

Even if the flood really happened, there is another record that can show the existence of a population bottleneck, that shows that every single modern human being are the descendants of the 8 members of Noah's family. This can be done since our mitochondria gives accurate record about our mother, while our Y-chromosome gives accurate information about a male's father. So, using mitochondrial and Y-chromosomal analysis, we can know our common ancestors. The result is out. Nope, it is not Noah's family. The "Adam" and "Eve" are totally different. Definitely not Noah or any of his family.

That makes comparing Noah's Ark with Titanic like comparing Boeing 747 with Santa's sleigh. I bet Santa's sleigh has superior track record!

Why Osteen spouted nonsense like this to his followers? Simple, because he wants them to hate all kind of experts that he disagree. Because he wants to monopolize truth. Yes, once again this is about power over "hearts and minds," especially "minds." What do you expect? We are talking about religion here!

Three Reasons to Hate Asterix

2013-04-05T14:58:00.000+02:00

I read all kind of comics. My top 10 comics consists of Japanese Manga , American superheroes, and Franco-Belgian comics. As long as it is a good read, I'd give my thumbs up!

There is this one very famous Franco-Belgian comics; on par with Tintin, Spirou & Fantasio, and the Smurfs; the comic that no matter how hard I tried to love it, I still hate it until today: Asterix by Goscinny and Uderzo. At first, I couldn't pointed out why exactly I hate that comic. Fortunately, now I can. So, let's get started, these are 3 main reasons why I hate this comic ....

Oh yeah, one last thing, there are still many small details of this comic that annoys me. I only list these 3 because they are the primary reasons.

1) No danger, no suspense

For those who have no idea about Asterix, basically this is a comic about a Celtic village in ancient France during the late Roman Republic. After the Roman Republic crushed the last Celtic resistant in the battle of Alesia to be more precise. This village managed to defy Roman rule due to the magic potion created by their resident druid, Panoramix/Getafix. The magic potion basically makes its user temporarily super-strong, super-fast, and invulnerable. Asterix sidekick, Obelix, has no need to drink that potion, because he drank the whole cauldron when he was very small, so he permanently has those superpowers. And ... everything went downhill after that.

Seriously, if you were a member of a village of supermen, with enemies armed only with spears and swords, life is not hard at all. This is one tricky part of writing a superhero story. If the superpower is too powerful, you take out all the suspense from it! You don't care anymore, since the enemy pose ZERO threat to the hero! Every single Asterix comic book, I must emphasize here: EVERY SINGLE ONE, full with Asterix and Obelix sending Roman soldiers flying with their fist, while Roman swords, arrows, and spears can't even scratch their skin. It get's old quite fast. After 2 books, I start to snore. It is like reading a story about an expert ninja, master of illusion , hand-to-hand combat, projectile throwing, magic, and all other ninja stuffs, veteran of fighting against anything from the most vicious warlords to demon hordes ... only to fight a gang of primary-school bullies who cries whenever they see blood. In the end, the ninja won, and beat every single bully of the story. Boo-hoo, what a surprise! And this happens THROUGHOUT the series! I don't know about you, but I just can't stand the boredom.

And boredom is not the only thing that those magic potion created.

2) They are just a group of bullies.

After sometime, I also realize that they had gone too far in describing the relationship between Asterix and the Romans. Just like the writers of "Tom & Jerry" and "Bugs Bunny," which I despise wholeheartedly, they turn the victim into bullies. They repeatedly BEAT UP ANY ROMAN ARMY THEY MET, often without provocation, often definitely not out of self-defense, but for petty excuses.

If that is not bullying, I don't know what is.

Once again "It is cute and funny if the bully is the underdog (People from small village fighting against the Roman Legions.)."

No it is not. Bullying is bullying, and disgusting.as hell.

And as my #1 pointed out, they are NOT the underdogs. Their superpower took out that status since book #1. Underdog or not, they are plain and simple bullies.

3) Because their enemies are stupid
Both #1 & #2 are reinforced by the stupidity of the Romans. Seriously, if I were the Romans, I would poison the village with the most lethal poison available. Just poison their wine or food before the feast that routinely done. Once everyone is dead, the Romans can turn the village into anything they like.

Or just poison Obelix and Panoramix. Without them, no superpower. Without any superpower, wiping out the village with conventional means would be a cakewalk.

Or what about this, kidnap Falbala, the girl that Obelix (and Asterix to lesser degree) has crush on, so Asterix & Obelix rush to save her, while Panoramix is attending one of the druid meeting. Crush the village during the window time when those 3 are not in the village. If they kept spare magic potion, make sure they waste it using feign attack(s). After finishing the village, than eliminate the 3 survivors one by one. THAT is what we call "defeat in detail" ladies and gentlemen!

Bottom line: There are SOO MANY other methods to neutralize the village, but did the Roman tries? Nope, because they are all stupid.

So, in essence, it is excruciatingly hard to LIKE a comic whose heroes are just mega-powerful bullies, and the antagonists are not that bright.

Hiroshima Nagasaki: How We Learn to Love the Bombs

2013-03-29T12:37:00.004+01:00

Many peaceniks from the Left blame the US for everything. Now they even don't get the idea that the US has every right to disarm Iran, North Korea, and many other countries. One of their favorite argument is:

"The US is a hypocrite since they already nuked Hiroshima and Nagasaki, therefore they don't have the right to prohibit others from acquiring nukes!"

That means they never read history. Or choose to ignore it. Here, let me enlighten you guys:

The Terror of Imperial Japan

Hey, peaceniks, if you think USA is nasty and hypocritical, just try dealing with the Imperial Japanese of the 1930s & 1940s! They raped and massacred the whole city of Nanking, and created a systematic sexual slavery across their vast territories! Yes, let me stress it again: SYSTEMATIC SEXUAL SLAVERY! Got that? Oh, they also spouted that we have to support their empire, since they were creating "The Great Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere." Yeah, they had the nerve to declare sexual slavery as "prosperity"!

None of us buy that b.s. We in Indonesia have a saying "350 years under the Dutch is nothing compared to 3.5 years under the Japanese." Heck, my own grandpa told me the stories how the Japanese stole EVERYTHING from his house, even every single nails and bolts.

And don't let me start about their war mentality. They are baffled by the idea that any surrendered enemy combatants has to be treated with respect. Hey, who can blame them? In their honor-based culture, "surrender" is the apex of disgrace. That's why they keep fighting and fighting, AND RAPING in between. That continued even after the Allied started sending waves and waves of B-29 bombers in mid 1944. The destruction of their fleet, and the end of their oil supply from Southeast Asia in October 1944 didn't convince them to surrender either. Any sane government would throw the towel after that, but nope. To hell with sanity and the well-being of their people, the Imperial Japan keep fightin since their priority is THEIR HONOR!

USA vs Others?

Hey, with that mentality, how can you protest when the US finally nuked their cities? They had it coming. Others wouldn't be that nice. Let's say the Japanese faced nuclear-equipped Russians instead of Americans at that time. The Russians are never as squeamish as the Americans. To ensure the maximum effect of the atomic bombs, they would start nuking Tokyo and Kyoto, the political and cultural capital of Japan. If they have more bombs, they would nuke Osaka, Kobe, and other major cities too.

And now you peaceniks think that Americans is immoral? What other options they have? Here, let me show the other options to you:

A) Stop the war by agreeing "peace" with the Japanese, accepting their terms.

The Japanese were eager to keep China and many other "Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere." Good luck telling that with a straight face to the Chinese. They would be enraged! They would continue their war against Japan. People in other area like Indonesia would either die in millions because of the harsh treatments, or die in millions because they finally rebel, but the Japanese use superior firepower to massacre them.

B) Asking the Japanese to surrender unconditionally and immediately, renouncing all of their conquest.

Do you live in a fantasy world where "HONOR" were never a part of Japanese culture? Like I said before, they would do EVERYTHING to avoid losing face, even keepin a losin war goes on and on. What's next, asking lions to be vegans?

C) Just keep bombin and blockadin Japan until they surrender

The famine in Japan would be amplified. There would be outbreak of nasty diseases. Japanese would die in millions, slowly, excruciatingly.

Oh, same thing would happen in their colonies too. That means, another millions would die in China, Indonesia, Indochina, etc.

Oh, the Russian actually planned to invade Manchuria, Korea, and Northern Japan. That means not only Manchuria and North Korea, would fall into communist hand. South Korea and Hokkaido would be grabbed by the communist. Say hello to the "People's Democratic Republic of North Japan." Say hello to total domination of Korea Peninsula by Kim Il Sung's dynasty.

D) Direct invasion to Japanese Homeland

US Navy and Army planned this invasion because they were unaware of the atomic bombs until last minute. They knew the invasion would be ... nightmarish at best. Not only thousands of Allied's and Japanese sailors and soldiers would die, millions of Japanese civilian would perish too. Hey, they already taught their CHILDREN to use a sharp bamboo spear to disembowel Allied soldiers! Those who can't fight would choose suicide instead of surrendering to the Allies. We know that because that was what happened in Saipan and Okinawa. The civilian population plunged to a cliff WITH THEIR BABIES in their hands, instead of surrendering. I can say 5 millions civilians dead already sounds optimistic.

Oh, since the Allies busy with the invasion, nobody would dare to question the Russians when they rolled to South Korea and Hokkaido.

As you can see, the other options are FAR WORSE than the atomic bombing of Hiroshima-Nagasaki. It was THE BEST CHOICE among several nightmarish options. The root of the nightmare is the honor-based Japanese culture. Even the peace party in Japan couldn't convince everyone else. They need Hiroshima-Nagasaki, AND Soviet invasion to silence the war party. Blamed Tojo, Hirohito, and other Japanese militarists, not Truman or the US.

Don't like that? C'est la vie, life is not consisting of easy black-white option. Grow up and stop whining about your never-exist childish dream. Hard choices have to be made, and we will be damned if we close our eyes and fool ourselves that all choices are easy.

Reasons Against Gay Marriage

2013-03-28T17:27:00.003+01:00

Once again "gay marriage" become an issue in the US. Some people want to ensure the legality of gay marriage. Others try hard to stop it. So, what is the argument against gay marriage?

It undermines the institution of marriage!

So ... you mean if gay marriage is legal, there would be more divorce? Or you would divorce your spouse if gay people start marrying? Wow, are you really that insecure?

It paves the way for incest, bestiality, and other barbarity!

Funny isn't it, this argument was also used to stop inter-racial marriage. Funny how exactly the same kind of people, the conservatives, try to stop gay marriage now. History loves to repeat itself!

It is not natural because they can't procreate!

Seriously? By this logic, anyone who is infertile can't marry. Anyone who lost their fertility also has to dissolve their marriage. Including old people. What? That is atrocious? That's because this argument is atrocious!

A child needs a father and a mother! Not two mothers! Not two fathers!

So, what are you waiting, JAIL ALL SINGLE PARENTS! Take their children from them! Give their children for adoption! A mother and a father for every single child! NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND!

It is God's order!

What? The same God who forced us to do incest? The same God who demanded us to be sycophant 24/7? The same God who threatened us with infinite torture but has the nerve to claim that he is just? The God who thought that regulating menstruating women is more important than prohibiting slavery? Seriously? I need to obey this monstrous entity? Tell you what, my conscience, my empathy, my intellect, and my decency actually say that I have ONE MORE reason to legalize gay marriage: to piss that slavery enabling dude! Oh, by the way, am I arguing against "God" or against people who are arrogant enough to know "God's will"? Never mind, whatever the case, gay marriage would piss a jerk.

Marriage is between a man and a woman!
Excuse me, please speak with the people who use "God's order" as their argument. Their holy scripture said that marriage is also between:

Oh you two are the same person? So ... I bet you get your wife after burning and looting her country? Yay?

I AM A CONTROL FREAK! I WANT TO CONTROL YOUR LOVE LIFE! YOUR SEX LIFE!

Well ... nobody said this blatantly, but that is what they imply when they try to stop gay marriage right? They may use God, the Bible, biology, or anything as justification, but in essence, this is the foundation of their argument. They are so full of themselves that they think they have the right to control how others love, how others fuck.

So, are you a control freak? Really, that is the only relevant question in this debate. The rests are cosmetics.