By Tommy Leung on 07/31/2011 in Life
“We should make the poor uncomfortable and kick them out of poverty.” —Benjamin Franklin
It is socially popular and acceptable to take punches at capitalists and businessmen who create jobs, wealth, and keep society running but, any jokes at the expense of poor people on welfare who are clearly abusing the system has to be said quietly or under one’s breath. You never know when a self-appointed do-gooder is within earshot and ready at a moments notice to jump down your throat for saying something so dastardly! After all, it is distasteful to make poor people the butt of our jokes or have a laugh at their expense.
Everyone knows that it’s not the poor person’s fault for their state of poverty! Why, it’s the businessmen! The white man! The weather. The internet. The illegals. Those damn immigrants! An act of God–or gods. To so much as suggest that a poor person should get off their ass and find a job is unthinkable–there is obviously some other explanation for their sad state like the alignment of the planets or the migration of the whales.
People who say these things on TV or in their political campaigns might believe this nonsense but, ordinary people who go to work to support themselves and their families despise and ridicule welfare freeloaders in private and among friends and family. And the Great Recession has made everyone much less willing to turn a blind eye to supporting these societal parasites.
I have certainly grown to hate seeing beggars on the NYC Subway system and in the streets. I don’t know whom among these people are really incapable of working due to physical handicaps. The freeloaders have gone so far as to manufacture physical deformations and injuries to garner more charity from subway riders and the commuting public. As far as I’m concerned, the con artists have killed any sympathy for people who are truly in need of help.
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By Tommy Leung on 07/18/2011 in Life
“Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come” - Sir Victor Hugo, 1852
Life is all about ideas. It’s the lens through which we see our world. It’s how we choose whom to build relationships with. It’s how we form opinions. And at any given point in life, we are in a battle of ideas.
Whether the idea is something as inconsequential as iPhone vs Android or important as organic foods vs processed foods, the battle of ideas is taking place all the time and everywhere. There is no escaping it, hiding from it, or ignoring it. As long as you are a thinking human being, you are in it.
I am one who often finds himself in the minority or controversial side of the battle of ideas. I do not believe in a low-fat diet to prevent the diseases of civilization. Instead, I subscribe to an evolutionary diet that is generally high in fat. I believe the science is there to support it. I’m also on the side of climate change skeptics. I don’t believe man’s output of CO2 has any meaningful impact on the warming or cooling of the planet. I believe man does pollute but, CO2 does not cause warming or cooling. I believe there’s science to show that increased sun activity has warmed the Earth as it has every other planet in the solar system along with other forms of evidence. I also don’t believe in doing cardio to lose weight and get in shape. No matter what age or sex, I believe the key to increased physical health is through lifting weights. The science is there as well.
All of those ideas except the last is quite controversial. Environmentalists wouldn’t think twice about stoning me and mainstream doctors and nutritionists think I’ve fallen off my rocker. And the majority of public opinion on both of those issues aren’t on my side so there is little shelter from looks and opinions of shock, disgust, and/or confusion when my views are made known.
Of course, that’s only the tip of the iceberg in my battle of ideas that will throw people for a loop. Regardless of any hostility that I may receive from expressing such views, I am incapable of expressing any other. It is who I am. The summation of these ideas make me who I am. The thought of betraying myself to pacify others is preposterous.
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By Tommy Leung on 07/10/2011 in Fitness
I was at the NYC premiere of Farmageddon. It’s a documentary about the unseen war on American family farms. That war is being perpetrated by our food overlords in the FDA, USDA, and government bodies at large.
I’ve been on the paleo diet for a year now and the paleo diet is largely a branch of the whole/real foods movement that’s been brewing for quite some time. People are learning that their health is better suited with real foods grown locally and humanely.
We don’t want cows that are fed an unnatural diet of corn and soybeans and are then injected with antibiotics to remedy the problems brought about by such a diet. We don’t want our animals huddled together like a can of sardines unable to get any exercise and literally living in their own excrement. Livestock raised this way are less nutritional and more liable to causing illnesses in humans.
Farmageddon is not advocating that we get rid of these factory farms in favor of small local farms. It is merely presenting the case that we should be allowed to choose between factory farmed goods and sustainable, locally farmed goods. And the powers that be are making it harder and harder for local family farms to get their goods to market.
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By Tommy Leung on 05/22/2011 in Games, Marketing, Tech
LinkedIn had their IPO and more than doubled their share value in a day. Of course, the whole world is now wondering if there’s another tech bubble brewing. The tech bubble in 2000 wasn’t that long ago so we haven’t yet forgotten about it. But, is this just a case of being wary of getting burned twice or is there really a bubble in our midst?
I don’t work directly in the technology industry that’s booming. I work in the games industry and we’ve received an echo effect from the tech boom–specifically social games and apps. Some can say that social games and game apps for mobile devices have driven the boom but, that’s an entirely different discussion. For the record: I think games are an innovative driving force everywhere but, that has nothing to do with the topic at hand.
It’s safe to say that I’m not an outside Wall St analyst looking in. I’m not saying that makes my opinion anymore valid or correct but, I think I understand what’s happening better than a talking head. Or it makes me completely blind to what’s going on. Either way, it’s always good to get different perspectives.
It’s a Bubble Isn’t It?
The analysts are generally espousing doom and gloom. Jim Cramer says it’s ridiculous, outrages, and preposterous. Okay, Cramer was talking about the way Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, and others priced the LinkedIn stock initially. The story goes that the stock was priced too low initially and that’s why we had this ridiculous one day rocket launch that more than doubled the stock price.
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By Tommy Leung on 05/15/2011 in Life
I’ve had an insane last couple of weeks. I lived on much less sleep than I would have liked due to an unfortunate and unforeseen circumstance. I slept about 25 hours from Friday night to Sunday morning to make up for it this past weekend. It wasn’t even by choice. I was just super tired. It was what my body wanted.
I had a work crisis that required a superhuman effort to fix. And by superhuman, I mean forgoing sleep and everything else. I credit the paleo diet for keeping me energetic and functional throughout the insanity. I didn’t eat any bread or crap either. I didn’t even have coffee. Just tea. Not that coffee isn’t paleo but, I’ve been limiting my coffee exposure as of late. I was starting to rely on it and I don’t think that’s good. I still love it and will have it as long as I’m not using it as a replacement for adequate sleep.
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