A chicken farmer went to a local bar, sat next to a woman, and ordered a glass of champagne.
The woman perks up and says, "How about that? I just ordered a glass of champagne, too!"
"What a coincidence," he said, "This is a special day for me, I'm celebrating."
"This is a special day for me, too, and I'm also celebrating!," says the woman.
"What a coincidence," says the man. As they clinked glasses he asked, "What are you celebrating?"
"My husband and I have been trying to have a child, and today my gynaecologist told me I'm pregnant!"
"What a coincidence," says the man. "I'm a chicken farmer.
For years all my hens were infertile, but today they're finally laying fertilized eggs."
"That's great!" says the woman, "How did your chickens become fertile?"
"I switched cocks," he replied.
She smiled and said, "What a coincidence!"
King of the Birds, Lord of the Skies
Gather ye rose buds while ye may, old time is still a flying;
and this same rose that you see today, tomorrow will be dying.
CarpeDiem: Seize the Day!
- Dead Poets Society
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Gordon Gekko: "Greed is Good"
Gekko: Well, I appreciate the opportunity you're giving me, Mr. Cromwell, as the single largest shareholder in Teldar Paper, to speak.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, we're not here to indulge in fantasy, but in political and economic reality. America, America has become a second-rate power. Its trade deficit and its fiscal deficit are at nightmare proportions. Now, in the days of the free market, when our country was a top industrial power, there was accountability to the stockholder. The Carnegies, the Mellons, the men that built this great industrial empire, made sure of it because it was their money at stake. Today, management has no stake in the company!
Well, ladies and gentlemen, we're not here to indulge in fantasy, but in political and economic reality. America, America has become a second-rate power. Its trade deficit and its fiscal deficit are at nightmare proportions. Now, in the days of the free market, when our country was a top industrial power, there was accountability to the stockholder. The Carnegies, the Mellons, the men that built this great industrial empire, made sure of it because it was their money at stake. Today, management has no stake in the company!
All together, these men sitting up here [Teldar management] own less than 3 percent of the company. And where does Mr. Cromwell put his million-dollar salary? Not in Teldar stock; he owns less than 1 percent.
You own the company. That's right - you, the stockholder.
You own the company. That's right - you, the stockholder.
And you are all being royally screwed over by these, these bureaucrats, with their steak lunches, their hunting and fishing trips, their corporate jets and golden parachutes.
Cromwell: This is an outrage! You're out of line, Gekko!
Gekko:
Cromwell: This is an outrage! You're out of line, Gekko!
Gekko:
Teldar Paper, Mr. Cromwell, Teldar Paper has 33 different vice presidents, each earning over 200 thousand dollars a year. Now, I have spent the last two months analyzing what all these guys do, and I still can't figure it out. One thing I do know is that our paper company lost 110 million dollars last year, and I'll bet that half of that was spent in all the paperwork going back and forth between all these vice presidents.
The new law of evolution in corporate America seems to be survival of the unfittest. Well, in my book you either do it right or you get eliminated. In the last seven deals that I've been involved with, there were 2.5 million stockholders who have made a pretax profit of 12 billion dollars. Thank you.
I am not a destroyer of companies. I am a liberator of them!
The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed - for lack of a better word - is good.
Greed is right.
Greed works.
Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.
Greed, in all of its forms - greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge - has marked the upward surge of mankind.
And greed - you mark my words - will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.
Thank you very much.
I am not a destroyer of companies. I am a liberator of them!
The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed - for lack of a better word - is good.
Greed is right.
Greed works.
Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.
Greed, in all of its forms - greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge - has marked the upward surge of mankind.
And greed - you mark my words - will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.
Thank you very much.
Gordon Gekko: Address to Teldar Paper Stockholders
From the movie "Wall Street" (1987)
The Seven Wonders (Economic Giants) of the World!
I won't keep you guessing as to who the giants are.
They're Russia, China, India, Japan, Brazil, Australia and Canada. (not in order of preference)
I will simply refer to them as “BRIC JAC”.
There is nothing that you do every day that is not connected to, or dependent upon, these seven countries. Quietly, invisibly, they have penetrated every corner of your daily life. If you do not hold significant investments related to these seven global giants, you are already missing out a lot. I am seeing a series of largely untold economic miracles:
China
Consumer spending recently jumped from virtually zero to nearly $1 trillion. She currently boasts 1.3 billion consumers! Her stock market grew 130%. China plans to boost natural gas consumption by 500%, invest $4 billion in IT & infrastructure, expand fiber optic networks, beef up telco capacity, establish digital capable HDTV transmission & use GPS technology for traffic control. China is building massive skyscrapers, highways, city expressways, subway lines, & intra-city light rail. It's expanding the airports, improving water, electric, gas, & heating facilities. And it's investing billions to build 112,000 miles of rural roads — enough to circle the globe four times over.
Just imagine: raw materials & natural resources like cement, asphalt, tar & steel required to feed that kind of growth. That's why consumption of just about every imaginable resource is flying off the charts.
Gold & silver are surging. Ditto for copper. Aluminum prices are skyrocketing. Demand for zinc, lead, nickel & tungsten is roaring. Thanks to surging demand from countries like China and India, the price of uranium has also tripled in two years. Oil has zoomed from $20 to as high as $70 a barrel in three years.
India
India is like China 15 or 20 years ago. Look at these statistics:
i) India is currently home to more than 1 billion people and projected to surpass China as the most populous country on Earth by 2015.
ii) India's economy is growing 8 percent a year — the second fastest rate in the world.
iii) The Indian stock market has tripled in three years — creating a record number of billionaires.
One reason: Foreign investors have poured $30 billion into India's stock market in 36 months. Just like China, India needs massive amounts of natural resources & commodities to feed its booming economy. And this is not just a passing trend. It's an economic appetite that could last for a long time.
Brazil
Brazil's market, despite a relatively slower economy last year, delivered double the gains of S&P 500. The national leadership has implemented the most disciplined fiscal and monetary policy the country has seen in half a century. Brazil's currency was up by 69%, trade surplus by 225% from $14.1 billion to $45.8 billion. Her debts to the International Monetary Fund was 100% paid off! The Bank of Brazil (the equivalent to the US Fed) slashed its benchmark interest rate 14 times, to the lowest level in recent history. The economy is responding:
Retail sales have jumped 8.5%. Capital goods production jumped 18%. And Brazil's key stock index, the Bovespa, which rose 32.9% last year, is making new highs again. In just four years, Brazil's president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has transformed the Brazilian economy and forged monumental deals with China. Brazil's trade balance has gone from an $8 billion deficit to a $46 billion surplus. Brazil's natural resources are quivalent to those of the U.S. and Canada combined. But even those resources alone can't feed the needs of China, India, and all of Asia.
Canada
Canada is one of the strongest, most stable natural resource nation in the world. Unlike emerging nations, Canada has all the technology and expertise it needs to exploit its vast resources. Even more important, Canada has modern deep-water ports on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts — giving it easy access to both European and Asian markets. Best of all, Canada is sitting on massive deposits of gold, uranium, coal, oil & other vital resources! And they're already cashing in. Canada recently recorded its fifth-best trade surplus in history. The reason? China.
Chinese importers are buying all the raw materials that Canada can sell them. That, plus a boom in mining projects and fattening margins, helps explain why the TSX-Venture exchange (Canada's small-cap market has outperformed the S&P 500 by 153% over the past five years. You know what? China has blanketed the country with a vast network of representatives to scoop up coal mines, oil sand fields, natural gas pipelines & metals.
Australia
In the 1800s, Chinese miners flocked to Australia for the great gold rush. Today, it's happening again. Only the Chinese aren't looking for gold; they're after uranium. They're coming with mountains of money. Why?Because Australia happens to sit on the world's largest known deposits of uranium — with more reserves than the United States, Canada, Russia & Brazil combined. And with more than 900 new nuclear plants now being planned, the hunger for uranium is just beginning.
Australia's abundant natural resources — including iron ore, nickel, coal, uranium, & more — are in such huge demand in nearby Asia. Australia's economy is now in its sixteenth consecutive year of expansion. Job growth has been the strongest in 17 years! Result: Consumer spending is growing & consumer confidence recently hit a 19-month high. There's no better indicator of a country's future than its currency, and the Aussie dollar recently reached its highest level since 1996 against the greenback.
Japan
The Sun is rising again! Japan is now enjoying its longest, non-stop, sustained expansion since World War II. Automakers are soaring. Banks are thriving. Unemployment just hit a record low. And the stock market has doubled in 24 months. So what's the mega-force behind Japan's remarkable recovery? You guessed it — China.
Japan's trade with China jumped to $189 billion last year, the seventh straight annual record. This year, it should easily top $200 billion. Just when most people (myself included) were giving up on Japan a few years ago, the country was cleaning up its balance sheet & starting to capitalize on China's economic boom. At the same time, Japan is also solidifying trade & security links with Australia. It's currently the biggest buyer of that country's coal, natural gas, oil, & agricultural goods. And if the two countries hammer out a free trade agreement, both economies will get an additional boost. Companies are now making more money & they're much more optimistic about the future. But investors aren't quite as bullish. So valuations on Japanese stocks are still among the lowest in the world.
Mother Russia
The Russian Bear used to use its military might to keep its European neighbors in check, but today Russia's vast natural resources are the weapons of choice. Europe has grown increasingly dependent on Russian oil - & especially natural gas - to power its economies. In fact, Russia really has a stranglehold on fast-growing Eastern & Central European nations. And the state-controlled Gazprom conglomerate now holds all the cards. According to a recent article in The Economist, Poland, Hungry, & the Czech Republic each depend on Mother Russia for more than 60% of their natural gas imports - while Bulgaria gets nearly ALL of its gas from Russia. In Western Europe, over 40% of Germany's gas imports come from Russia, while in Italy & France the figures are 30% and 20% respectively. What's her future? You do the maths.
This worldwide growth and expansion has come, and it will represents the greatest wealth-building opportunity ever. I hope I've managed to communicate the colossal magnitude of the expansion that's now happening. We will still be focusing on the US market, but we can intelligently diversify into these exploding markets and watch our portfolio multiply.
Remember: BRIC JAC!
Best of luck for your week ahead.
They're Russia, China, India, Japan, Brazil, Australia and Canada. (not in order of preference)
I will simply refer to them as “BRIC JAC”.
There is nothing that you do every day that is not connected to, or dependent upon, these seven countries. Quietly, invisibly, they have penetrated every corner of your daily life. If you do not hold significant investments related to these seven global giants, you are already missing out a lot. I am seeing a series of largely untold economic miracles:
China
Consumer spending recently jumped from virtually zero to nearly $1 trillion. She currently boasts 1.3 billion consumers! Her stock market grew 130%. China plans to boost natural gas consumption by 500%, invest $4 billion in IT & infrastructure, expand fiber optic networks, beef up telco capacity, establish digital capable HDTV transmission & use GPS technology for traffic control. China is building massive skyscrapers, highways, city expressways, subway lines, & intra-city light rail. It's expanding the airports, improving water, electric, gas, & heating facilities. And it's investing billions to build 112,000 miles of rural roads — enough to circle the globe four times over.
Just imagine: raw materials & natural resources like cement, asphalt, tar & steel required to feed that kind of growth. That's why consumption of just about every imaginable resource is flying off the charts.
Gold & silver are surging. Ditto for copper. Aluminum prices are skyrocketing. Demand for zinc, lead, nickel & tungsten is roaring. Thanks to surging demand from countries like China and India, the price of uranium has also tripled in two years. Oil has zoomed from $20 to as high as $70 a barrel in three years.
India
India is like China 15 or 20 years ago. Look at these statistics:
i) India is currently home to more than 1 billion people and projected to surpass China as the most populous country on Earth by 2015.
ii) India's economy is growing 8 percent a year — the second fastest rate in the world.
iii) The Indian stock market has tripled in three years — creating a record number of billionaires.
One reason: Foreign investors have poured $30 billion into India's stock market in 36 months. Just like China, India needs massive amounts of natural resources & commodities to feed its booming economy. And this is not just a passing trend. It's an economic appetite that could last for a long time.
Brazil
Brazil's market, despite a relatively slower economy last year, delivered double the gains of S&P 500. The national leadership has implemented the most disciplined fiscal and monetary policy the country has seen in half a century. Brazil's currency was up by 69%, trade surplus by 225% from $14.1 billion to $45.8 billion. Her debts to the International Monetary Fund was 100% paid off! The Bank of Brazil (the equivalent to the US Fed) slashed its benchmark interest rate 14 times, to the lowest level in recent history. The economy is responding:
Retail sales have jumped 8.5%. Capital goods production jumped 18%. And Brazil's key stock index, the Bovespa, which rose 32.9% last year, is making new highs again. In just four years, Brazil's president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has transformed the Brazilian economy and forged monumental deals with China. Brazil's trade balance has gone from an $8 billion deficit to a $46 billion surplus. Brazil's natural resources are quivalent to those of the U.S. and Canada combined. But even those resources alone can't feed the needs of China, India, and all of Asia.
Canada
Canada is one of the strongest, most stable natural resource nation in the world. Unlike emerging nations, Canada has all the technology and expertise it needs to exploit its vast resources. Even more important, Canada has modern deep-water ports on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts — giving it easy access to both European and Asian markets. Best of all, Canada is sitting on massive deposits of gold, uranium, coal, oil & other vital resources! And they're already cashing in. Canada recently recorded its fifth-best trade surplus in history. The reason? China.
Chinese importers are buying all the raw materials that Canada can sell them. That, plus a boom in mining projects and fattening margins, helps explain why the TSX-Venture exchange (Canada's small-cap market has outperformed the S&P 500 by 153% over the past five years. You know what? China has blanketed the country with a vast network of representatives to scoop up coal mines, oil sand fields, natural gas pipelines & metals.
Australia
In the 1800s, Chinese miners flocked to Australia for the great gold rush. Today, it's happening again. Only the Chinese aren't looking for gold; they're after uranium. They're coming with mountains of money. Why?Because Australia happens to sit on the world's largest known deposits of uranium — with more reserves than the United States, Canada, Russia & Brazil combined. And with more than 900 new nuclear plants now being planned, the hunger for uranium is just beginning.
Australia's abundant natural resources — including iron ore, nickel, coal, uranium, & more — are in such huge demand in nearby Asia. Australia's economy is now in its sixteenth consecutive year of expansion. Job growth has been the strongest in 17 years! Result: Consumer spending is growing & consumer confidence recently hit a 19-month high. There's no better indicator of a country's future than its currency, and the Aussie dollar recently reached its highest level since 1996 against the greenback.
Japan
The Sun is rising again! Japan is now enjoying its longest, non-stop, sustained expansion since World War II. Automakers are soaring. Banks are thriving. Unemployment just hit a record low. And the stock market has doubled in 24 months. So what's the mega-force behind Japan's remarkable recovery? You guessed it — China.
Japan's trade with China jumped to $189 billion last year, the seventh straight annual record. This year, it should easily top $200 billion. Just when most people (myself included) were giving up on Japan a few years ago, the country was cleaning up its balance sheet & starting to capitalize on China's economic boom. At the same time, Japan is also solidifying trade & security links with Australia. It's currently the biggest buyer of that country's coal, natural gas, oil, & agricultural goods. And if the two countries hammer out a free trade agreement, both economies will get an additional boost. Companies are now making more money & they're much more optimistic about the future. But investors aren't quite as bullish. So valuations on Japanese stocks are still among the lowest in the world.
Mother Russia
The Russian Bear used to use its military might to keep its European neighbors in check, but today Russia's vast natural resources are the weapons of choice. Europe has grown increasingly dependent on Russian oil - & especially natural gas - to power its economies. In fact, Russia really has a stranglehold on fast-growing Eastern & Central European nations. And the state-controlled Gazprom conglomerate now holds all the cards. According to a recent article in The Economist, Poland, Hungry, & the Czech Republic each depend on Mother Russia for more than 60% of their natural gas imports - while Bulgaria gets nearly ALL of its gas from Russia. In Western Europe, over 40% of Germany's gas imports come from Russia, while in Italy & France the figures are 30% and 20% respectively. What's her future? You do the maths.
This worldwide growth and expansion has come, and it will represents the greatest wealth-building opportunity ever. I hope I've managed to communicate the colossal magnitude of the expansion that's now happening. We will still be focusing on the US market, but we can intelligently diversify into these exploding markets and watch our portfolio multiply.
Remember: BRIC JAC!
Best of luck for your week ahead.
Spend Time Planning & Dreaming
Spend time planning; you can only benefit from a good plan.
Spend the same amount of time focusing your ability to believe.
Focus on thoughts of how you will feel once your goals are achieved and elevate your beliefs to expect those things you desire, as this belief is what will carry your spirit through any potential obstacles with ease and give you the courage to act.
Also, never be so busy with activities that you have no time to dream. Take the time to use your mind to extend your reach beyond your grasp. Balance your time between intellectual plans and emotional connection, between physical activity and spiritual dreaming and you will experience a divine sense of abundance and fulfillment.
"To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe."
- Anatole France
Spend the same amount of time focusing your ability to believe.
Focus on thoughts of how you will feel once your goals are achieved and elevate your beliefs to expect those things you desire, as this belief is what will carry your spirit through any potential obstacles with ease and give you the courage to act.
Also, never be so busy with activities that you have no time to dream. Take the time to use your mind to extend your reach beyond your grasp. Balance your time between intellectual plans and emotional connection, between physical activity and spiritual dreaming and you will experience a divine sense of abundance and fulfillment.
"To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe."
- Anatole France
Finding Good in Every Situation
If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation,
you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude,
a feeling that nurtures the soul.
- Rabbi Harold Kushner
you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude,
a feeling that nurtures the soul.
- Rabbi Harold Kushner
Sorry
歌曲：Sorry
歌手：苏永康
Sorry, I'm really sorry
我又一次把你气哭在陌生街头
爱你......我当然爱你
自从第一眼到现在
甚至没人敢预测的将来
请你相信
不是我不愿意改变我自己
而是一再努力
又一再放弃
那个软弱的自己
其实我恨透了我自己
没有认输的勇气
让你受尽了不安和委屈
你是我这一生 这一生
最最最害怕去伤害到的人
也是我这一生 这一生
唯一能让我安定下来的人
虽然我并没有 并没有
并没有一身温驯的灵魂
但是我很愿意 很愿意
做那个永远照顾你的人
我的爱人 请听
我有颗不善言语的心
只能够
看着你远去的背影
歌手：苏永康
Sorry, I'm really sorry
我又一次把你气哭在陌生街头
爱你......我当然爱你
自从第一眼到现在
甚至没人敢预测的将来
请你相信
不是我不愿意改变我自己
而是一再努力
又一再放弃
那个软弱的自己
其实我恨透了我自己
没有认输的勇气
让你受尽了不安和委屈
你是我这一生 这一生
最最最害怕去伤害到的人
也是我这一生 这一生
唯一能让我安定下来的人
虽然我并没有 并没有
并没有一身温驯的灵魂
但是我很愿意 很愿意
做那个永远照顾你的人
我的爱人 请听
我有颗不善言语的心
只能够
看着你远去的背影
The Rose & the Thorns
A man planted a rose and watered it faithfully, and before it blossomed, he examined it. He saw the bud that would soon blossom and also the thorns. And he thought, "How can any beautiful flowers come from a plant burdened with so many sharp thorns?" Saddened by this thought, he neglected to water the rose, and before it was ready to bloom, it died.
So it is with many people. Within every soul there is a rose. Qualities planted in us at birth growing amid the thorns of our faults. Many of us look at ourselves and see only the thorns, the defects. We despair, thinking that nothing good can possibly come from us. We neglect to water the good within us, and eventually it dies. We never realize our potential.
Some people do not see the rose within themselves; someone else must show it to them. One of the greatest gifts a person can possess is to be able to reach past the thorns and find the rose within others. This is the characteristic of love, to look at a person, and knowing his faults, recognize the nobility in his soul, and help him realize that he can overcome his faults. If we show him the rose, he will conquer the thorns. Then will he blossom, blooming forth thirty, sixty, a hundred-fold as it is given to him.
Our duty in this world is to help others by showing them their roses and not their thorns. Only then can we achieve the love we should feel for each other; only then can we bloom in our own garden.
Source: Unknown
So it is with many people. Within every soul there is a rose. Qualities planted in us at birth growing amid the thorns of our faults. Many of us look at ourselves and see only the thorns, the defects. We despair, thinking that nothing good can possibly come from us. We neglect to water the good within us, and eventually it dies. We never realize our potential.
Some people do not see the rose within themselves; someone else must show it to them. One of the greatest gifts a person can possess is to be able to reach past the thorns and find the rose within others. This is the characteristic of love, to look at a person, and knowing his faults, recognize the nobility in his soul, and help him realize that he can overcome his faults. If we show him the rose, he will conquer the thorns. Then will he blossom, blooming forth thirty, sixty, a hundred-fold as it is given to him.
Our duty in this world is to help others by showing them their roses and not their thorns. Only then can we achieve the love we should feel for each other; only then can we bloom in our own garden.
Source: Unknown
Time Management
"No matter how much time you’ve wasted in the past, you still have an entire today."
- Denis Waitley
"Minutes are worth more than money. Spend them wisely."
- Thomas P. Murphy
"With excellent time management, you get more living out of life, more time for the people and things you enjoy."
- Brian Tracy
- Denis Waitley
"Minutes are worth more than money. Spend them wisely."
- Thomas P. Murphy
"With excellent time management, you get more living out of life, more time for the people and things you enjoy."
- Brian Tracy
If You want Happiness
If you want happiness for an hour - take a nap.
If you want happiness for a day - go fishing.
If you want happiness for a year - inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime - help someone else.
- Chinese Proverb
If you want happiness for a day - go fishing.
If you want happiness for a year - inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime - help someone else.
- Chinese Proverb
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