Wine drinking is almost always potent and dangerous because it’ simply too delicious to stop. One thing most people forget is that the alcohol content in wine is much stronger than beer. Some wine can have almost 3X the alcohol, and 3X the potency. In addition, the alcohol in wine affect people differently then beer. Some people may need to drink lots of beer to get a buzz, and just a few cups of wine to get tipsy. Again everything in moderation is the key. My suggestion is to drink white and red wine, so new wine lovers can get a varietal experience on their taste plate. Also, try wine with food, almost always, wine is supposed and works best with food. My experience is that red wine almost always requires food to taste their best. White wine can on average taste great own their own because they have a stronger fruity taste to them. I had a great wine this weekend, from France. I don’t have the bottle with me, as soon as I get a picture of the bottle I will put it up. Here’s a proof of concept of my wine drinking experience. Quite amusing, and notice the plastic cup. How unsophisticated of me.

Tags: Wine, College, Consumption

Please let me be the way I am so that I can be free to express my opinion and unique expression. I love me because I how can I not love me? I’m afraid to love, because I must give up a part of my soul. Come into my life and teach me a new way, so that I can adopt a new path. Read me a book, so that I can be curious. Draw me a tree, so that new life will grow from it. Catch me a fish, so that I can make bubbles. I’m like a rock, kick me around and I might hit you in the face, but you can use me to hit some other fool as well. I’m hard and soft, full of substance, and full of life. Hardened from experience and pain. I’m like a teddy bear, brining back the old memories, and soft for you to touch. Wrap your hands around me, and I will comfort you. Get to know me, only a few more minutes left of this old year 2007. 2008 will be explosive, will be romantic, will be super nuts! Peace on earth, for the little creatures. xoxo ~ithinkminh

PS: Enjoy the firework that I captured in Omaha, Nebraska Firework Show 2008

Tags: Video, Firework

The year is coming to an end in a matter of a few hours and I felt that I have to close some loops by writing one last blog. Even though the a new year is coming up oh so fast. 2008 will be a new of new opportunities, new trials and tribulations, new challenges and hearty moments. I haven’t even made any New Year’s Resolution yet, and the usual still trying to make it happen. I hope to gain some weight, and have a few more pieces of muscle. I read a few great books this past year, hopefully I will read more fantastic books in 2008. Still there are much unfinished business in 2007, that I will pleasantly deal with as it comes up. I hope for new things, I hope for much, I hope for all, I hope for old. A toast for the dead, a toast for the living. A tribute to me, a tribute to all. Good luck everyone, ride your horse, and ride it with a steady-hand in 2008. ~ithinkminh

Tags: Resolution, Video

Positioning is the the secret of life or so the book Positioning states. That’s one of the theme that I got from the Positioning book by Al Ries and Jack Trout.

Finding a horse to ride: Finding a Position
The first horse to ride is your company
The second horse to ride is your boss
The third horse to ride is your friend
The fourth horse to ride is an idea
The fifth horse to ride is faith
Close your eyes and ride.

Doesn’t that have a poetic feel to it? Well maybe. I do like the analogy that life is like a big race, and that you are just jockeying for a better position, racing into hopefully first place. The focus is less on the driver, and more on the horse. The strongest horse, the fastest, the one with most endurance will eventually win the race. In addition, I like that idea of repeatability, or trails. If you can’t win with that one specific horse, you can just find yourself a new horse to race with.

It’s much easier to improve the horse than the driver. Sure the driver can lose a few pound, become more flexible, be more determined, more synchronous with the horse, but if the horse isn’t a winning horse, it’s still not going to win.

I don’t have a company yet, so I can’t ride that horse. I hope to work for a multinational corporation that’s in a strong growth position. It doesn’t have to be the Google, or the Apple. HP or Accenture will do just fine. I’m going to ride the current horse that I have right now though, my MBA from the Rochester Institute of Technology to get there.

My second horse is my friend. My inner circle of a singular friend above all. We don’t know where we are going yet, but we know at we have the right people on the bus, so the destination will be beautiful and awesome regardless.

My third horse is my family. I have a crazy family, and they are supportive of me, and all that I want to do. There’s no doubt, they are my daily inspiration, to continuously change and improve, and stay the course of being me.

The fourth horse I’m going to ride is that conceptually the idea of randomization and just being there will get be to where I need to be. The first try is the only try, because the second try will also be the first try since the circumstances have changed. Therefore I get infinite firsts over and over again. My decisions will be the best the decision I could have made that that moment in time with all that I know and all that I believe. Therefore there can be no regrets, because I have made the best decision that could and nothing above and beyond.

The fifth horse is faith or chance. I will ride the wind and give it a shot as well. Just as long as it’s not a shot in the foot. Regardless, chance is a hedge against the future of the certain world that is not. Above all I have me. The slow moving fast thinking always changing uncaring devout minh. 2007 have come to and end and I’m thankful for everything that hasn’t happened to me yet. So that I may enjoy them for the future years to come, the first of many, the first of first.

Tags: Life, communications

Flying does have its perk of being timely, convenient, and economic idealistically. Reality has proven time and time again, that this isn’t the case. Due to federal regulation and increased security, just the checking in to get an electronic ticket, and going through the security is hell. If you happen to fall under one of those ethic group that is targeted, security could be very stressful, and might require even more preparation and time. Flying does have it’s perk since you are just sitting on a fast moving locomotive, and you even get a beverage of choice and a small snack if you are lucky. However, I wouldn’t call it being convenient, driving gives you more choices, and you feel like you are more in control of your travel plans. Why do I bring this up? Well this has to do with my travel plans and it has been rough from the very beginning. The trip that was supposed to just take at most 6 hours, has now gone into it’s 9 hours and there still no end to the final destination.

So I started out at Rochester International Airport, flying Northwest. Right away there was a huge line and I mean huge, because of delays and other weather related chain reaction from heavy travel. It took 45 minutes just to get my electronic ticket and to check in my two luggage. Security check was fast and easy, I followed direction to a tee, and the security people didn’t give me any grief at all. By the time I went through all the madness, I had already missed my flight. Thankfully they had an hour and a half delay so I ended up with some extra time to play with my laptop, and new iPod Touch toy I just got for Christmas. A big applause to the Rochester International Airport for providing free wifi.

I had planned for timely travel so I took two dramamine before traveling, however, due to the long delays, I was completely drowsy and sleepy, even before the flight took off. Note to self, don’t take dramamine until I’m in the air. It’s not too late then, and no crazy side affects.

From Rochester, I had a connecting flight to Detroit International. This is the big hub for Northwest Airlines. I had so much trouble here. First, I though that I had missed my connection due to the delay from leaving Rochester. When I talked with the “flight coordinator” she surprised me that the flight was still grounded due to some freezing fog and visibility. Later we found out after four different gate transfer, it was due to the lack of available staff. According to Federal Aviation Regulation, crew members can only be timed in for 16 hours straight. And apparently, Northwest didn’t have any more people available at Detroit International. They tried really hard, and finally gave up at around 1:30 AM. At this time, everyone was extremely tired and sad, because we know that we don’t be able to go anywhere.

This is also were the experienced flyer separate from the first timer. I have to admit that I’m not inexperienced with flying, for am I an expert. I’m just great at going with the flow. So the first thing we had to do was reschedule for another time, I of-course want the earliest time available to fly home to Omaha, OMA. In addition, due to the nature of the distress the passenger could get a hotel voucher. This is where it gets interesting, inexperience people would have to figure out where they were going to stay. While the experience people would try to get the airline to give them the best hotel available. I was not one of those people. I tried to get my own hotel, but gave up, and got back inline again. Luckily, by the time I got the counter again, the flight coordinator, said something about 2 slots left, one for her and of-course one for me. The last room to the Marriott. Success, I got a room to the Marriott, and meal voucher as well. It was fantastic, now, I had to find my way to grounds transportation. A seemingly simple task, however, Detroit International is huge! I had to take a tram, lots of walking, and asking 2 staff people, to find my way out into the street, where I waited for 20 minutes for the Marriott shuttle that only comes at every 30 minute interval between 12:00 AM and 5:00 AM.

By the time I got the Marriott, I was exhausted, and I just wanted to curl up and go to sleep. The bed was magnificent and ultra comfortable, it would have great to bounce around on the bed, which I did, because I’m silly like that. Good thing I remembered to charge my Palm through my laptop, since my charger is somewhere in my luggage at some unknown location. I really wished that the Marriott would have had free wifi, but they don’t silly them.

The shampoo and conditioner where provided by the Bath and Body Work. It was aromatic and I wanted to take it with me, I would have too! But I didn’t want to deal with the security people with the 3 ounce liquid rule. It was really good though! So now I’m off to my breakfast lunch, before I head back to the airport again, right now I’m still in heavenly peace, and away from all the madness. Who knows if I will even get a flight out of Detroit. I wouldn’t mind another night at the Marriott at all. I would have to buy a new pair of underwear though, else I could go commando. It’s 11:15 AM right now, I only have another 45 minutes left at this glorious Marriott room, so I might as well take advantage of it. Bring me some kleenex tissue please!

Why it’s that all the help staff are Asian? I guess they come in packs, all really nice though. Most look like they are immigrants, it’s a cushy job for someone with limited skills. I wished that my parents could have worked for a hotel as a help staff, instead of having to slave away at the madness of a food processing plant for the giant food frozen foods company ConAgra. This trip continues.

Tags: Travel, Consumption

Dear Media for(of) the Mindless,

Those born with atypical sex characteristics today have many options to live out their life. It’s not as if it’s a death sentence anymore, because the success rate for gender reassignment is common knowledge. I don’t think that parents should decide on the sex of their child at birth because the physical attributes and the emotional gender might not match up as that child matures. I don’t know the in an out of gender confusion, so I can’t speak on this from an experts opinion. Avoid “shim or she-him” or IT. This whole transgender debate is silly as it’s not even about gender or sex. It’s so much more than that. I think it’s more along the line with help “I’m a girl trap in a guys body!”

What I can say is that gender confusion, and identity crises has as much to do with the way a child is brought up, as physical attributes. We can see many examples of this in real life. Colors are a wonderful thing, however it’s often aligned with musicality, and femininity. Blue for boy, pink for girl. Who ever made up that rule, and the people who followed it are mindless mobs. Moreover, gender roles, like males are doctors and firefighters, and females are secretaries and editors. Already those roles are fast changing in today's knowledge economies, and they will be redefined much more in the coming year. However, we can still look to developing countries to see cultural differences and gender roles and expressions. Again, gender confusion is as much a product of culture and is misaligned sexual characteristics.

Gender expression is creativity. I would love to be able to wake up in the morning and dress however I feel like without constrained, this mean, the choice to not wear anything and not be ridiculed. Why can’t males wear makeup? Well some do, in the fashion industry, the entertainment industry, sex, it’s pretty much fair game. Why isn’t it mainstream? Because I don’t see commercials for makeup products for men. Well, that’s starting to chance, they just don’t call it makeup. What about clothing and fashion. Why can’t men where women’s clothe, yet it’s socially acceptable for women to wear men’s clothing? I would totally rock in a silk little black dress.

An Androgynous society would be equal and effective in bringing the standards of living up for everyone. Because roles aren’t defined, each person can really do what is their best, without shame, and social regulations will at it’s best be minimized. Androgynous would unfortunately roboticize us, and take away the creative expression. To be creative is to take risk and be different. Being Androgynous would take away much of the risk and points of contention, it isn’t a feasible option in today’s fragmented and polarized world of opinions dominated by few, and shared by mobs of brainless content less information toilets.

Intersex is a new term to be more socially acceptable, yet it has all the elements of social wreckage. It doesn’t add any value as all; it just makes it more accessible for assimilation and categorization. If I were one of those unique people I would be totally be making a stand now. The message would be. “Please Don’t DEFine Me!”

ithinkminh

Tags: People, Lifestyle, Gays

Why Photographers Hate Creative Commons
Written by Scott : Thursday, 20 December 2007

“Creative Commons turned five years old -- five years of phenomenal growth, thanks in no small part to advocates like the photo-sharing site Flickr.

Now, I don't want to piss on CC's birthday cake just for the fun of it. But it does seem clear that an increasing number of photographers -- not just professionals but high-end hobbyists also -- have become disenchanted with the Creative Commons system.

Why? Depending on who you ask, it's because:

1. It's taking money out of the pockets of working photographers;
2. It's putting money into the coffers of large corporations, whose executives like CC-enabled crowdsourcing even better than Third World child labor;
3. It's supposed to make sharing your work easier, but it often just makes it more confusing -- creating the kind of misunderstandings that lead to lawsuits.

Since the first two complaints are related, let's address them together. Creative Commons is a system that enables you to renounce some or all of your copyright protections -- in the name of sharing. This raises a question that doesn't get enough serious consideration: Who actually benefits from this?

Theoretically, we all do, since I can stick your Flickr photo on my blog and link back to you, and maybe this will cause more people to visit your Web site, and -- who knows -- maybe if you're a professional photographer, you'll get a paying gig or two out of it.

The fact is, though, that a Creative Commons license isn't necessary for this kind of sharing to happen. People are going to grab your photos anyway for their noncommercial use, because that's the common law of the Web today -- where "fair use" is interpreted very broadly. And if you really, really want to encourage people, you can put a note on your Web site explicitly giving people permission to use your photos, under whatever conditions you set forth. How hard is that? Why do you need a CC badge to say it?

The real issue is commercial use -- and this is where we get to who really benefits, at least over the long term. Before Creative Commons, a corporation or ad agency that wanted to use your photo would have to contact you or your photo agency for permission to use it. You could negotiate a price based on the particular use, making sure you got a fair deal.

Through CC, hundreds of thousands -- if not millions -- of photographers have thrown this right away forever. (Remember, CC says that once you choose a license for your work, it's irrevocable.) Photographers are generally doing this with good intentions or for idealistic reasons. But the end result is that you are building a system enabling commercial buyers to use your images without paying for them.

I know what you're thinking: "But you can choose a noncommercial use license to protect yourself from this." Sure you can, if:

1. You are informed enough to make the correct license choice;
2. The publisher of your photo is informed enough to know the differences among the various licenses; and
3. You, the publisher and the rest of the world can all agree on what "noncommercial use" actually means.

Gordon Haff offers just a few of the scenarios that can be interpreted either as commercial or noncommercial:

* What if I have some AdSense advertising on my Web page or blog?
* What if I put together an entire ad-supported Web site using noncommercial photos?
* What if I'm using those photos as "incidental" illustrative content in a presentation I'm being paid to give? (This was my case.)
* What if I print a book of these photos but only charge my cost? What if I cover my time at some nominal rate as well?

And if you and the entity that publishes your photo don't see eye to eye -- or you choose, as many CC users do, a simple attribution license? As Daryl Lang of Photo District News puts it:

If you're not careful, you might inadvertently grant permission for your photo to appear on a giant billboard for herpes medication, or in the newsletter of some political organization you despise. Images have commercial value that's very different from, for example, a piece of writing. Their rights need to be treated with care and respect.

Because it's so confusing (or, to be more generous, "open to interpretation"), Creative Commons licensing spawns false confidence and innocent mistakes -- giving sue-happy lawyers much to salivate over. Did you know that Creative Commons and Flickr can't even seem to agree on whether CC licenses are permanent? That would seem to be a rather basic point.

Earlier this month, blogger Jeremy Johnstone expressed his frustrations:

I license almost all of my photos under a CC license (attribution-noncommercial-no derivative works 2.0 specifically) and I have been finding that virtually _no one_ follows what I believe to be the intent of that license ...

I've come to accept my colleagues' and peers' opinions that non-commercial simply means they can't sell my work. Personally, I think this should also mean you can't put my photo on a page you are making money off of (aka advertising) either without my permission (which in most, but not all cases I would give automatically upon being asked), but apparently I am fairly alone in that belief...

Some say that I should be happy that people want to use my photos and I am getting free publicity (when they actually link back to me that is), but it becomes a whole different situation when you are getting flak about photos you took being used in manners not intended (like one I took of a leader of a foreign country a while back).

Jeremy's objections aren't the half of it. Creative Commons can -- and inevitably will -- lead to more Virgin Mobile-style lawsuits. It's nice to get your photo in the New York Times, until you realize you're not getting a dime for it. Let's face it: CC is confusing to the point of being a running joke.

So photographers, feel free to congratulate Creative Commons on its fifth birthday. Just don't celebrate by giving commercial users the gift that keeps on giving – a license to use your work for free, forever.”

Tags: Photography, Connection, Culture

Two young guys were picked up by the cops for smoking dope and appeared in court on Friday before the judge. The judge said, "You seem like nice young men, and I'd like to give you a second chance rather than jail time. I want you to go out this weekend and try to show others the evils of drug use and get them to give up drugs forever. I'll see you back in court Monday.

Monday, the two guys were in court, and the judge said to the 1st one, "How did you do over the weekend? "Well, your honor, I persuaded 17 people to give up drugs forever. 17 people? That's wonderful. What did you tell them? I used a diagram your honor. I drew two circles like this...

O o

and told them this (the big circle) is your brain before drugs and this (small circle) is your brain after drugs." "That's admirable," said the judge. "And you, how did you do?", he asked the second boy, "Well, your honor, I persuaded 156 people to give up drugs forever." "156 people! That's amazing! How did you manage to do that?" "Well, I used a similar approach….he draws two circles

o O

and I said (pointing to the small circle) "this is your butt hole before prison.....

Tags: People

Facebok Letter

December 19, 2007

Head PR Director
Facebook
Palo Alto, California

Dear Facebook,

“Founded in February 2004, Facebook is a social utility that helps people communicate more efficiently with their friends, family and coworkers. The company develops technologies that facilitate the sharing of information through the social graph, the digital mapping of people's real-world social connections. Anyone can sign up for Facebook and interact with the people they know in a trusted environment. Facebook is a part of millions of people’s lives and half of the users return daily.”

I’m one of your most loyal customers and prospective employee because I love you so much. I would love to either move to California and or work in your NY office. I enjoy working in a fast growing company where the culture is young, creative, and forward thinking. I don’t have any skill that are directly related to programming, application programming interface, software development. What I have to offer is my unique creative insights into the Asian Pacific American mindset, a graduate business education focused on entrepreneurship, technology management, and environmental sustainability management. So if you need help writing a mission and vision for your budding environmental code of conduct that’s ISO 16001, count me in. I can be a great asset to you marketing and sales team. I’m young, energized, and really to do your bidding.

Ideas I have for improving the Facebook experience would be to allow users to be in more than one network. I’m from Council Bluffs, Iowa. I go to school at Rochester Institute of Technology, which is located in Rochester, NY. I’m looking forward to moving to Boston, NYC, San Francisco, & Toronto as potential targeted cities. I would like to join all those networks please! How hard could be to allow a few to of changes? The impact would be more social interaction, and more points of contacts for me to network, and increase my Facebook Marketplace views as well.

How many Facebook requests do I get each way? Excessively many! I don’t care for them, I don’t want to join them, and the ones that I want to join, I’ve joined already. They are annoying, and I’m sure they are taking up valuable Facebook network resources. I know that you have limited them already, and can you enforce them a little bit better? These crazy developers are always finding loop holes and they are making my Facebook Experience not as enjoyable.



Sincerely yours,
ithinkminh

Tags: Letters

Tags: People, Viral, Culture

I have a central tendency to hoard things for no apparent reason, maybe it’s because I like to have material possession, maybe because I’m just neurotic and can’t control my obsessive-compulsive behavior. Thus far, in my 22 years in of life on this planet earth, it hasn’t landed me in jail or hasn’t gotten me in trouble yet. Below are some accounts of my hording and kleptomania behaviors that have occurred in the past. Disclaimer: These historical accounts have no indicator as to my present personality, character, and or lifestyle.

My parents used to own a small coffee house lifestyle business. Business wasn’t booming, but it brought in consistent cash flow that provided for my two sisters and me. I can vividly remember the rush of taking money from the cash register, it was much, and it was a couple of bucks here and there, on irregular intervals. I also remember being caught once and then the punishment was severe enough that I stopped.

When I went to college, I was one of those bad college students that engaged in the music piracy. I have many thousands of sounds, in fact the last time I checked, I have enough music, albums, tracks, all types and genres, from around the world. That if I let it play on non-repeat, it would play for 256 days straight, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Is that a lot of music? I suppose. The funny thing is that I don’t even like listening to music that much, and I actually only listen to the few CD’s that I actually liked enough to buy. Weird. I know! I guess I just like the fact that I have that much, the bragging rights, and the security of knowing that if I ever needed it, I would have it, somewhere, got to dig though all of the unlabeled CD’s first. In addition, I despise tagging, who in their right mind has time to tag and favorite hundred of gigabytes of information? Someone neurotic, oh wait that’s me.

Other behaviors? Well I have no shame when it comes to sampling grapes and cherries at the grocery store. I buy them anyway, but I don’t feel bad at all when I eat them. Oh and the candy bar. Gosh, I always goes for the sour candy, I’ll eat a few if I’m in the mood. Pennies!

I confess I have never shop lifted! There were times when I saw “opportunities,” but never had the guts to go through with it. Seriously, I really think that shoplifting is stupid, because the rewards aren’t very high, and the risk of being caught and punishment serious.

I confess that I have done other shadier behaviors, pretty genius now that I think about it. I guess I’ll have to document those acts in another future blog for all those kids out there who would want to make a few quick bucks and cheat the system.

Tags: Life

I have also loved wine, I just didn’t know that much about wine tasting and wine culture. Therefore, I decided to sign up for a wines of the world class. It really is the best class ever! They’re little work involved, except for a bit of reading, and showing up for class to try many different varieties of wine. It’s fascinating, that there’s so much going on in something as simple as wine. Really, it just comes down to drinking either a yellowish liquid or a reddish liquid made from fermented grape. I tried the big SIX types of wine today.

Whites:
• Sauvignon Blanc 2007: New Zealand. It’s got a slight yellowish color to it. With aromas of pear, lychee, and grapefruit. The taste was quite enjoyable with slight sour and very light, leaving your mouth watering due to to the sour taste. My overall impression is that it’s excellent just for sipping with something light to eat.
• Riesling 2006: Germany: It’s got a deeper yellow tone. With aromas of peach, honey, and apricot. The taste is a bit more heavy and more on the sweet side. The after taste was just delightful and charming, it’s by far my favorite. My overall impression is that it’s fantastic with dessert, cheesecake anyone?
• Chardonnay 2005: California: The bottle had a deep yellow tone, its got an amazing aroma of butterscotch, buttery, and spice, fire. The oak flavor was there, which leaves the taste dry and bitter. Typical of Chardonnay and really shouldn’t be drank alone, really with some protein like fish or scallop.

Reds:
• Pinot Noir 2005: Vin de Pays d’Oc, France: The color wale pale red, with aromas of cherry, almond, and plum. The taste was definitely bitter, light, ad spicy. There wasn’t a lot of tannin, but you could definitely taste it along with a slight level of acidity. Again, red wine should be paired with food or creamy cheese.
• Syrah 2003: Columbia Valley, Washington: This wine had a very deep dark red, with aromas of blackberry, cherry, oak, and spice. The taste was very strong, too strong to drink by itself. It had a very oak taste with a strong dry aftertaste that will leave the mouth very dry. I would suggest this wine with some hearty meat like steak, or pork.
• Cabernet Sauvignon 2005: Colchagua, Chile: The color was not as red as the Syrah, but still very deep red. It had a distinctive chili pepper, hot pepper, spicy aromas. Again, dry with deep tannin aftertaste. I liked this best out of the three red wines.

Wine drinking isn’t scary or complicated. I really think that the more you drink it, and understand the culture behind wine drinking. The more enjoyable the whole experience becomes. Besides, there are just so many different types of food that go well with wine. I’m just starting to understand some of the complexity behind winemaking, and wine culture. At this point, I’m just excited about the whole process and being able to try more varieties. I still haven’t found the favorite choice yet, but white wine is truly much easier to consume on a casual basis, red wine is much more serious.

Tags: Wine, Lifestyle, Consumption

It’s been so cold here lately in Rochester, NY. All I can think of is sun, sun, and sunshine. There might be some sunshine later on this week, but we can count the heat factor out. So how are we going to turn the heat on? Well I was thinking about swimwear and underwear. Yes, I do have a slight infatuation with men’s underwear fashion. When CKs were hot, I got like 15 black pairs, and they have surprisingly been holding up very well despite a few years of wear and abuse.

Interestingly there have been quite a few specially shops that have prop up lately and some have even garner international attention. I do not know what’s “hot” any more, but in the Gay world of fashion, these are considers most desirable and pretty much everyone and their hags wants one.

1. Ginchgonch: I would have to say that these are the top tier, got to have them hotness. Pretty much all the models are porn stars, and or have had a history of taking off their clothes. They pretty much have the gay market cornered. I very much desire to have them, but not at those ridiculous prices. So I guess this gay boy isn’t really their target market. Just from their website I gathered their underwear’s are meant to been seen and touched. Omg, pretty much a huge “rape me” sign if you are wearing it at any club. Interestingly though, they have a huge selection of female underwear as well, completely cute/hot. I’d buy one for my sisters. 0-o? Check out their videos that you can download and desktop pictures. Hot hot.
2. aussiebum: Was the reigning tsar of the gay love, pretty much fell of the face. I guess us gay boys are fickle and our needs have to be pampered too 23/7. I still think that assiebum is hot, and I would love to have a few more pairs. They just have this fun energy sexy cute lovely weird crazy love to them. Plus their models are high quality porn stars as wel, and their assielife youtube vids are a must see.

3. justusboyz: These guys, I just have heard of recently. Just from going to the website, it’s not as LOUD as ginchgonch or assiebum. They have respectable models and images. I’m not feeling the wowz factor yet, bit I have a feeling they will be just as big if their marketing campaign starts to hit the club scenes.

4. If screaming sexiness isn’t your thing, red gap underwear, and target men’s have some decent and lovely design as well. From personal experience, my rEd gap underwear is currently my favorite pair to bear in.

So hopefully this will be short winter, so that we may all go skinny dipping soon in the beautiful shore of the Ontario lake and eat some yummy ice cream as well.

Underwear Collection and Fashion Trend 2008:

Tags: underwear, Culture, Beauty, Models

The will to change is available to everyone and really doesn’t cost a thing. I really believe that everyone is capable of change if they set their mind and hearts to the task. We all have had to go through difficult experiences in our life, each of those impressions are what make us who we are as a person, an individual.

Why is that despite all the odds and difficulty some people can survive through anything, and others drop off the face of the earth? Why it’s that some people are more ambitious and more willing to take on overwhelming amounts of risks? In the end game, the greatest lost, is the lost of life. Therefore, unless you choose to die, you haven’t taken on as much risk as you would have yourself believe.

Why are people so fearful of taking on risk? They are afraid of lose their house, they are afraid to lose their wife, they are afraid to lose their face, they are afraid to lose their integrity, they are afraid to lose their power position, they are afraid to lose their stock portfolio, they are afraid that they will catch some incurable disease if they travel a little bit too far from home, they are afraid to admit that they are afraid.

I’m afraid, I’m very afraid of all things and everything. Mostly of uncertainty. I’m afraid that I won’t live up to the expectations that I have placed upon myself. I’m afraid that I won’t be a respectable citizen, and that I won’t amount of much of anything later in life. I’m afraid that no one will love me, and that I will die, alone and unnoticed.

The will to change is right now! I can work on my fears, I can take actions so that my fears will become my pillars of strength and roadmap to life. I can make a concerted effort to live closer, and connect deeper with my inner circle of friend so that I will long be remembered after I have passed away. I can work hard to earn a higher education so that I can have more opportunities and the needed skills to impact life and society. I can take opportunities as they come to me, and live each day to the fullest, so that I know tomorrow will be a better day because of the seeds that I’ve planed today.

Tags: Change, education, emotion

Search engine marketing and how blogs are an essential part of the marketing mix. I still don’t understand search engine optimization well, yes, there are a thousand sites out there that try to explain and help people understand how to make their site better be optimized. Yet, I doubt anyone one single person really understand this either, I think it’s a mix between a science and an art of getting your site to have a better site ranking.

Search engine optimization is the process in which you get your site to increase in site ranking on the different search engines by modifying text and key words toward organic search engine coverage free news.

I really think the best way for an individual’s blog to increase in ranking is to have consistent updates, and relevant precise focus content. So it’s much better to blog about just one or two topics, then many topics. Even a blog on technology is too broad; it’s better to blog about digital camera, laptops, or smart phones. I know that’s going to make it easier for users to know exactly where to go if they need specialize. How boring is that? I just want to blog about whatever is interesting to me at that point. Blogging is personal, it’s not just about the reader, it’s a “creative” outlet for the writer as well.
My only goal for this blog is be of help in the first two-step of the buying behavior process. Increasing awareness and interest in some technology that I really like, and try to make it that much easier for the next person who is like me to consider buying those products, or go to that website. Yeah, a person does on average of about 13 to 14 searches on a topic at each of the buying steps. So hopefully all the college, high school age people out there are finding my website interesting enough to come back. On my part, I just have to pound the keyboard more often, hopefully that’ll just do enough, and my site ranking will increase after I reach a critical mass of content.

Tags: Consumption, Culture, Credit, save Money

It doesn’t take a smart person to win at investing. When we think of investing, most people think of money, a return on investments, a return on financial futures. I would like to talk about a great type of investment, a return on involvement, a return investing in you. We all have a very scare resource call “time.” It’s one of the great equalizer; it doesn’t matter if you are the president, a billionaire, a famous actress, a porn star, a street sweeper, a child, and an adult. We all just have 24 hour in a day, 365 days in a year to live out our life.

Time is a currency, and it’s something that is traded all the time. People do it often, they just don’t think of it in that way. You pay money for “faster” services, for convenience. People fly instead of driving, use convection oven instead of a regular oven, run instead of walk, multitask instead of single task, sleep less, eat faster, take shortcuts, and speed while driving. Why? Because we want to save a few minutes, few seconds.

Instead of trying to save time, why just not waste it. There’s 24 hours in one day, and it just goes down from there. You can never take it back; you just have to use it as effectively as possible. Invest your time in people and your returns will be more rewarding then financial gains. Invest your time in people because people can give you rare commodities like their love and time, their tears and experiences, the laughter and despair. How can you get people to spend more of their time on you? How can you share more of your time with others?

Tags: Investing

Everything from Careerbuilders:
Interests
You have a notable interest in one core element of business work:

* Enterprise Control

You have an elevated interest in Enterprise Control, one of the central activities in business work. You enjoy setting strategy and seeing it carried out. You want to have ultimate decision-making authority for complete operations; to make the decisions that will determine the direction taken by a work team, a business unit, or an entire company; and to control the resources that will enable you to actualize a business vision.

In the workplace you'll enjoy activities like:

* taking the lead on implementing important strategic decisions
* "owning" deals and negotiations
* participating in meetings in which strategic issues are on the agenda
* leading project teams
* having full responsibility for the profit-and-loss performance of an enterprise
* being involved in all aspects of a business enterprise (marketing, finance, sales, operations, etc.)
* acting as a "rainmaker," bringing in new clients and customers

The "enterprise" you control can be big or small, or short- or long-lived. You might want to control an enterprise that you believe will exist for your lifetime or even beyond. On the other hand, you might prefer being in charge of much shorter-lived "enterprises"; for example, "doing deals" that you know will close in only a few months or weeks.

With a strong interest in Enterprise Control, you may be eager to run something now. You may find it difficult to be patient during the early stages of your career, when you're learning and proving that you're qualified to be captain of the ship. If you feel frustrated, resist the temptation to switch to another company too early. Impatience can get in the way of your success if you let it force you off your career path too soon.

Of course, having a strong interest in Enterprise Control doesn't necessarily mean you have the skills you need to succeed in a career in which that activity is a predominant part of the work. But people often develop abilities where their interests lie. So don't let a lack of training or prior experience with leadership activities keep you from gaining the knowledge or strengthening the skills you'll need to express this interest.

Your interests strongly resemble the interests of entrepreneurs that distinguish them from other business professionals. This doesn't necessarily mean that an entrepreneurial venture you're involved with will succeed. Nor does it mean that you should run right out and start a new business. However, it does suggest that you would be happiest in an organization (or in part of a larger organization) that has a decidedly entrepreneurial culture -- even if you aren't the founder. (Many CEOs of entrepreneurial companies didn't set up those companies, but they are most definitely entrepreneurs.) Remember: There is no such thing as one "entrepreneurial type;" different entrepreneurs exhibit different styles in leading their organizations.

Your interests are the single most important factor in your happiness
and success.

Organizational Culture
You would fit best in an organizational culture characterized by an aggressive "rough and tumble" give-and-take in daily activity and by a high level of activity overall. In companies, departments, and teams like these, "pushing" an agenda to get things done (but not to dominate someone else) is seen as a good thing. People who thrive in these cultures view meetings, discussions and negotiations not as distractions from the "real" work but rather, as the work. And they have no qualms about making a little noise in order to get their ideas heard. Your tendency in this direction is very strong, so pay close attention to this aspect of any organization you consider working for. For tips on how to examine an organizational culture in this regard, click here.

You would enjoy a culture that has a competitive spirit (internally as well as against industry rivals) and that encourages healthy conflict. In such companies, departments, and teams, competition for resources and personal rewards (bonuses, promotions, etc.) is fostered by management, and people engage in skeptical and critical examination of ideas as a normal part of assessing business situations and making decisions. People who thrive in these work environments tend to feel comfortable with conflict. They have no qualms about challenging co-workers when they think doing so will shed helpful light on a business decision -- or will give them the advantage in a negotiation or debate. Your tendency in this direction is very strong, so pay close attention to this aspect of any organization you consider working for. For tips on how to examine an organizational culture in this regard, click here.


Abilities
You have a number of strengths, including:

* Flexibility: Adapts easily to changing situations and is able to adopt new approaches when necessary.
* Multiple-focus: Able to juggle many projects and responsibilities at once.
* Quick Thinking: Picks up new ideas and processes new information quickly and easily.
* Recognition of Opportunity: Recognizes new opportunities and acts to take advantage of them.
* Resilience: Handles pressure and stress well.
* Work Ethic: Has a strong work ethic, willing to make sacrifices to achieve important goals.

You don't have any obvious weaknesses that you know about. However, feedback from others may help you to uncover an ability where you could improve.

Motivators (i.e. Work Reward Values)
You place a very high value on these rewards:

* Positioning (the position offers experience and access to people and opportunities that will position me well for my next career move)
* Power and Influence (the position offers the opportunity to exercise power and influence, to be an influential decision maker)

These are your most powerful motivators in work situations. You won't be happy for long if you find yourself employed in a position where you can't earn these rewards. Likewise, you'll want to avoid reporting to a manager who won't provide you with opportunities to earn these rewards.

You're also motivated by:

* Affiliation (the position offers a setting with enjoyable colleagues with whom I feel a sense of belonging)
* Financial Gain (the position provides opportunity for exceptional financial reward)
* Recognition (the position is in an environment where individual accomplishments are recognized and honored by peers and superiors)

These are significant motivators for you. However, you may be willing to trade one or more of them for something else that a particular work opportunity offers (such as a desirable geographic location).


Finding the right organizational culture is about more than being happy. It can determine whether you succeed or fail.

Things to Be Alert For -- On the Job and In a Job Search
Your assessment indicates that you are highly sociable, assertive, and outgoing. You like excitement, and you want to be where the action is. You're not someone people would describe as shy or easily manipulated. These qualities are great assets, but they can also cause you some trouble in your career.

Because you tend to have a strong, dominant personality, you may experience difficulty listening to other people and really hearing their ideas, concerns, or objections. At times, you may come on too strong, and be unable to take a back seat during a discussion or project and mesh with other members of a team. Without intending to, you may intimidate people who are less forceful than you are.

Habitually taking up too much "air time" can pose a danger in class discussions (if you're in school or in a workplace training seminar). This tendency can also hurt you during negotiations and on-the-job meetings. Be careful that you don't get a reputation for "sucking up all the oxygen in the room." And remember that sometimes the best thing to say, especially during a negotiation, is nothing.

Being excessively assertive can also pose problems in job interviews, where most interviewers want to lead the conversational "dance." If your interviewer is a bit shy or more introverted than you, you may feel even more tempted to dominate the discussion to an inappropriate degree. As you would with any personal asset, make sure you don't let these strengths become your undoing.

Tags: Jobs, Culture, Self Help

When is there ever a good time to travel? Seriously, there are always problems either with money or with time. This week I decided that I want to travel more, and I’m going to do whatever it takes to make this come true. That means I’m going to have to be more concrete with my travel plans and really being dedicated to my traveling goals. I think that there should be a process that we can take to make it that much easier to travel.

1. Decide where you want to go, if there is opportunities present, don’t hesitate, and just go for it.
2. Make sure you have all the paper work needed to travel, and medical shots, so that you can travel. Do you have your Passport yet? You can apply and pay online now! How cool is that?
3. Read the reads, and check up on the local news and current events so that way you are knowledgeable about the cities, and not get lots, and you can join in the local conversation.
4. Budget! Budget! If you estimate for the trip to be $500.00 dollars. Always add 10% to 15% to the thing, because costs always go over.
5. Don’t buy souvenirs. Those things are worthless. If you are going to buy something, much sure that it’s going to be functional and that you really must have it. Or else you are just going to take it home and put it in the junk pile and never look at it again. Better, off, just take a picture of whatever it’s that you really want.
6. If you are traveling internationally, make sure that you really understand the currency. Exchange rates can be killer, right now, the Euro Zones can be killer, and you won’t be able to afford much. You are better off traveling to South & Central America where you’ll get more bang for your buck.
I’m sure there are many more things people have to plan for, especially for international travel. I’m making my trip plans to go to Prague for Spring Break this year. It’s with the college group, so pretty much all the details are taken care of. I just have to come up with the lump some money, and all should be grand.

Tags: Travel, Culture, Passport, Security, Europe

Facebook is very personal especially to college students. Some people would say that they are addicted the social network. People are constantly checking to see what their friends are doing. Uploading those pictures that they just took last night at the party and tagging all of their friends is a real time killer activity. The thing that takes up the most time is just casually checking out what other people are doing or stalking someone eles Facebook to see what’s going on in their life.

I think that this is so popular and addictive is because it allows you to enter into that persons personal space. It’s like being able to read their dairy, see the feedbacks and comments, and getting to participate in the whole thing. It’s exciting really, when you can find some dirt, or find some incriminating facts or pictures just to laugh it out. Facebooking really is the activity of today’s generation. I would put it up there as enjoyable as going to the mall, going out to the movies, or tea party.

And then there’s the live group interaction in Facebook. Really, it’s the ultimate gossip machine. I once went to a party where everyone was drinking some alcoholic beverages, music thumping, people socializing around a laptop. They were on Facebook just looking up random people or people who they know and updating their relationship status. Wow, the conversation that you hear are just of this world, especially if so and so was at the party. They dynamics are very interesting because of the online/offline elements of the conversation. Where does on end and the other start? Nowhere, it’s a continuous conversation that if you want to be in on it, you have to be an integral part of it. Meaning, you have to invest countless hours on Facebook, because you are either a part or it, or you are not!

So for something as personal as Facebook is to so many people it’s going to require real transparency to the core consumers or else it’s going to appear as if Facebook is selling out. I for one would like for Facebook to have ads personalized just for me, it’s just going to make it that much easier for me to find products and services that I would already be looking for anyway. And props to the companies that are smart enough to connect with Facebook, because it sends a strong signal that they are in the game and wanting to connect with my generation.

Tags: Facebook, Social network, Simplicity, Choices

Adverse selection, anti-selection, or negative selection is a term used in economics, insurance, statistics, and risk management. On the most abstract level, it refers to a market process in which bad results occur due to information asymmetries between buyers and sellers: the "bad" products or customers are more likely to be selected. A bank that sets one price for all its checking account customers runs the risk of being adversely selected against by its high-balance, low-activity (and hence most profitable) customers. Two ways to model adverse selection are with signaling games and screening games.

This is how the subprime ad the adjustable mortgages got into trouble. It really is the simply understanding that the least qualify people are the ones that would have the most trouble paying back their loans, and are the most likely to sign up for the teaser rates. I’m surprise that all these large institutional banks and junk mortgage buyers didn’t have more actuaries run more econometrics with the worst case scenario, just more scenario analysis. If the bank executive knew that the worst case would mean billions of dollars in write-down, would they still go ahead with it? Maybe, and that goes into the problem with agents of the corporation not doing what’s best for the share/stake holders. We would have to discuss the positive attributes of agency theory.

Moral hazard refers to the prospect that a party insulated from risk (such as through insurance) will be less concerned about the negative consequences of the risk than they otherwise might be; for example, an individual with insurance against automobile theft may be less vigilant about locking the car [1] even though locking the car is a simple risk reduction strategy. Moral hazard arises because an individual or institution in a transaction does not bear the full consequences of its actions, and therefore has a tendency or incentive to act less carefully than would otherwise be the case, leaving another party in the transaction to bear some responsibility for the consequences of those actions.

Because big bank are backed by the government and they very know that the government, or big brother will come and save them with tax dollars, they are more likely to be much riskier than otherwise. Why? Because the government is afraid of a run on the bank, and the slowing economy would have a political and destabilizing affect. I give an full round of applause for all the banks that took the big hits now, and will be writing down more on their book. Why? Because this is the best opportunity to do so. Election year will be coming, and the government will be much more generous in helping the bank get back into full health. The banks got greedy, and they get to walk away unscratched. Aren’t they supposed to pay more for the opportunity to take on additional risk? Apparently, that doesn’t apply to big banks, and especially not near election year. Let this be a lesson to other industries as well. If you have a major weight on the political process and have adverse skeleton you are currently hiding in the closet. Come out with it already! The government will be much more friendly and the media will have much more to cover on the candidates and other scandals than to be focusing on your skeleton. I predict a row of back dating, stock option insider trading, top executive management shakeouts, failed tests, environmental hazards will be making news within the next couple of months will little fanfare. As the public will only be focusing on the “economy,” “unemployment,” and the financial bailout for the subprimers.

It looks like everyone is going to win. The government will be the hero, coming in to save the poor folks who are about to lose their home. In addition, the banks will appear to be in full health again after some major currency induction from the fed at low low interbank rates. Who suffers? Well we all do. I see everyday that my purchasing power is eroding. Gas prices and foreign goods are going to spike, so say bye bye to that new European designer shirt you’ve been wanting for Christmas and stick to the domestic goods. If nothing else, you’ll be helping the locals.

Tags: Banks, Subprime, Mortgages, Credit