Yay! My team is in the NBA Finals

I've been watching the LA Lakers my entire life. This will be the 29th time the Lakers are in the NBA Finals. If you don't watch basketball, you're really missing out.

Take a look at this play from Kobe Bryant.


More Kobe:


Top 10 Teamwork


NBA Basketball: I love it.

The Elusive Six-Pack

Everyone on earth seems to want a six-pack nowadays. I laugh whenever I see those dumb stomach/ab exercise machines on home shopping channels or the Internet. Don't waste your money. The only way for men to get a six-pack is to have low body fat (under 10%). For women, it's under 14% body fat. If you have more fat than that, you will not be able to see your ab muscles or maybe your feet. Also, it's impossible to lose fat in only one area. If you start losing fat, you'll lose it everywhere (legs, arms, stomach, face, etc.)

For my entire life, my body fat has ranged between 9%-17%. lol When I was at 9%, I had a six-pack. At 17%, it was just a soft belly. I'm going to try to get below 10% again.

How?

1. Low carbohydrates. (no bread, pasta, rice, etc.)
2. Eat a lot of low-fat protein. (tuna, chicken breast, turkey, eggs, beef, etc.)
3. Only drinking water and tea (no beer, whiskey, fruit juice, etc.)

Finally, I've had success with the ab exercises below. All you need is water and an exercise/yoga mat. I performed these exercises 3 days a week, during the winter break. You have to do the whole program (part 1 and part 2) which takes about 20 minutes or so. I was pretty happy with the results. =)

*Please remember these exercises are useless without a good diet. Good luck and see you at the beach. =)

Part I


Part II

Car-Jack (more Family Guy)

Car-jacking means to steal someone's car by force.

Here's an example:



Has anyone seen "Brokeback Mountain?" I wonder how the horses feel...



Repress means "to keep under control, check, or suppress (desires, feelings, actions, tears, etc.)." Some psychologists think it can be unhealthy, but I'm not sure if you'll get a tumor.




Revenge...



If you leave the military without authorization, you're considered a deserter. However, there are other ways to be discharged from the military...



Friendship

When Friends Borrow $

Have you ever loaned money to a friend? Did they ever pay you back?
I've stopped lending money for two reasons. First of all, I rarely get my money back. Second, it ruins the friendship. What do you do if your friend doesn't pay you? Usually, I just forget about it.

Here's what happened on Family Guy when Brian (the family dog) owed Stewie (the baby) money.

Evil That Men Do

Recently, in the JoongAng-Ilbo, there was an article about the Ilsan child molester. Lee Myeong-Cheol was caught beating and attempting to rape a 10-year-old girl. The judge in the Uijeongbu District Court sentenced him to 15 years in prison.

Here are my problems with the judge's decision:

1. This guy is a repeat offender. He was already imprisoned for 10 years for the same act.

2. He already had 3 convictions for raping children and 2 for attempted rape.

3. Child molesters are incurable. According to Dr. Janis Bremmer, "People have started to say that certain sex offenders are incurable." Gail Ryan from the University of Colorado believes that "they may not be treatable with the current methods we have at our disposal."

I'm from California. We have the "Three Strikes Law." If he committed any of these crimes in California, the third conviction would mean a minimum of 25 years. In addition, many U.S. states (42 out of 50) including California have Jessica's Law, which hands out a mandatory 25 year prison sentence and lifetime monitoring to child molesters. "In Florida, sexual battery or rape of a child less than 12 years old is a capital felony, punishable only by death or lifetime imprisonment with no chance of parole."

Lee Myeong-Cheol should never have been released from prison. Only 10 years for raping 3 children? It would be a minimum of 75 years to life in California and the death penalty in Florida. Korea's punishment of sex offenders is really light in comparison.

I'll light a candle for Korea's children.

Motley Fool CAPS

Last week I joined the Motley Fool CAPS game. Basically, you choose stocks that you think will outperform the market or underperform. You receive a score based on your results in comparison to the S&P 500. Your job is to beat the S&P 500 index. (If you can't beat the index, then don't buy stocks, just buy an index fund.) There are over 50,000 players. Some players have a perfect 100 rating. You can also find professional Wall Street analysts/investors and see their score. Here are Jim Cramer's picks and his score. You can see that he's only accurate about 47.8% of the time. However, he's had some amazing stock picks like Mastercard that returned 514%. Warren Buffet's score is only 38, but that's good enough to make him the world's richest man.

Why did I join?

Because I think it's a great way to practice/improve your stock picking skills. I think investing is like anything else in life. The more you practice the better you get at it. Why should investing be any different?

In addition, I've found quite a few stocks from other CAPS players that I wouldn't have found on my own. It's like having 80,000 people searching for good stocks for me. =) This game really demonstrates the power of the Internet. (I love it!) Each stock has a rating between 1 (don't buy) and 5 stars (buy it). However, it's up to you to do your own research to decide if you should invest real money.

If you're interested, here is my personal CAPS page. Yes, my screen name is "seouljester." I've actually invested real money in some of these companies, but I won't tell you which ones. If I told you to buy a stock and you lost money, I'd feel like crap. So, please do your own research before you invest your hard-earned cash.

Stop wasting time surfing the Internet. Learn something new and develop a skill. If you want to join, click here. If nothing else, practicing here may help you determine if you should be investing in stocks on your own, or just putting your money in an index fund. Either way, you'll learn something and gain some knowledge. Let me know your screen name if you decide to play. Have fun!

A Super Bear

A bear market means stock prices are falling (typically 15% or more). Whereas a bull market means stock prices are rising. You can use these terms as adjectives or nouns. If he's bullish, it means he thinks stocks will rise.

The bear came first. This term comes from an English proverb: "It's not wise to sell the bear's skin before one has caught the bear." So, bear was used for selling. Bull was used as a contrast to bear from 1720.

You may not have heard of him, but Dr. Gary Shilling is an economic forecaster and is widely considered to be one of the best in the world.

Shilling is like Nostradamus for investors.

"In 1973, he stood almost alone in forecasting that the world was entering a massive inventory-building spree to be followed by the first major worldwide recession since the 1930s."

"During the 1980s, Mr. Shilling... saw sharply lower interest rates ahead. ...investors who bet on his rate forecasts by putting their money in long-term bonds did very well."

"The July 5, 1991 edition of The Wall Street Journal stated, 'Mr. Shilling was one of the few analysts a year ago to forecast a recession. At that time, he said a recession ‘may already have started,’ a forecast that now looks prophetic.'"

In 2004, he predicted the subprime crisis would occur in the U.S.

In December 2007, he told investors to sell Chinese stocks. The Shanghai Index has fallen 37% since then.

What does he think today?

1. China will plunge. (Sell your China stocks.)

2. Sell your U.S. house. (He thinks real estate will drop an additional 20-25%.)

3. U.S. stocks will plunge to 2001 levels as corporate profits fall. The U.S./China collapse will affect stock markets worldwide. The Dow Jones and S&P 500 have each fallen about 10% since their peak, but Shilling predicts they will fall 15% more. Based on 2001 levels, the Dow Jones will be around 11,000 and the S&P 500 will be around 1,300. This equates to an additional 15% drop. If the Kospi drops 15%, it will end up around 1,600. However, 2001 would mean 900. =(

4. The U.S. dollar will rally. Historically, the $ becomes the safe currency during a worldwide recession.

5. Real estate prices will fall further.

6. Commodity prices will fall.

Here are Shilling's recommendations:

Sell short housing stocks, discretionary spending stocks (airlines, car companies, consumer electronics, etc.) , commodities, and emerging market stocks.

Buy the U.S. dollar and U.S. Treasury bonds. A 6% return on U.S. treasury bonds doesn't seem very attractive, but it's better than a 15% decline in your stock investments. =)

I don't know if I agree with him, but I believe the U.S. economy is very shaky right now. Also, remember for every bear there is also a bull. However, I respect his opinion because he looks like Mr. Burns from The Simpsons.

Do you agree with him?

You can read Gary Shilling's articles in Forbes magazine here.

Business Letter Sample 2

This is a letter sent yesterday from Carl Icahn to Yahoo! chairman Roy Bostock. Very well written. =)

Dear Mr. Bostock:

It is clear to me that the board of directors of Yahoo has acted irrationally and lost the faith of shareholders and Microsoft. It is quite obvious that Microsoft's bid of $33 per share is a superior alternative to Yahoo's prospects on a standalone basis. I am perplexed by the board's actions. It is irresponsible to hide behind management's more than overly optimistic financial forecasts. It is unconscionable that you have not allowed your shareholders to choose to accept an offer that represented a 72% premium over Yahoo's closing price of $19.18 on the day before the initial Microsoft offer. I and many of your shareholders strongly believe that a combination between Yahoo and Microsoft would form a dynamic company and more importantly would be a force strong enough to compete with Google on the Internet.

During the past week, a number of shareholders have asked me to lead a proxy fight to attempt to remove the current board and to establish a new board which would attempt to negotiate a successful merger with Microsoft, something that in my opinion the current board has completely botched. I believe that a combination between Microsoft and Yahoo is by far the most sensible path for both companies. I have therefore taken the following actions: (1) during the last 10 days, I have purchased approximately 59 million shares and share-equivalents of Yahoo; (2) I have formed a 10-person slate which will stand for election against the current board; and (3) I have sought antitrust clearance from the Federal Trade Commission to acquire up to approximately $2.5 billion worth of Yahoo stock. The biographies of the members of our slate are attached to this letter. A more formal notification is being delivered today to Yahoo under separate cover.

While it is my understanding that you do not intend to enter into any transaction that would impede a Microsoft-Yahoo merger, I am concerned that in several recent press releases you stated that you intend to pursue certain "strategic alternatives". I therefore hope and trust that if there is any question that these "strategic alternatives" might in any way impede a future Microsoft merger you will at the very least allow shareholders to opine on them before embarking on such a transaction.

I sincerely hope you heed the wishes of your shareholders and move expeditiously to negotiate a merger with Microsoft, thereby making a proxy fight unnecessary.

Sincerely yours,

CARL C. ICAHN

Mad About Mad Cow?

It seems like every time I pick up a newspaper or watch the news in Korea, the headline is about beef. I'm neither anti-American beef nor pro-American beef. However, I am definitely pro-beef. =) I've eaten beef from Korea, Japan, the U.S., Canada, Argentina (my personal favorite), Australia, China, and Mexico. I'm going to present some facts:

So far, the U.S. has had a total of 3 cases of vCJD (Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease). This is the human form of mad cow or BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encelphalopy). Worldwide there have been approximately 193 cases. The majority of cases have been from the U.K., with 163 cases of vCJD and 183,823 cases of BSE. Wow. 1980-1996 are considered the unsafe years for anyone living in the U.K. and consuming U.K. beef.

In the first case in the U.S., the patient was born and raised in the U.K. and later moved to Florida in 1992. This patient was born in the 1970s in the U.K. and spent most of his adult life in the U.K.

In the second case in the U.S., the patient was also born and raised in the U.K. and lived in Texas from 2001-2005. His symptoms began in 2005.

The third case was a man born and raised in Saudi Arabia. He moved to the U.S. in 2005 and his symptoms started in 2006.

BSE is not found in meat (steaks, roasts, ribs, etc.) BSE is usually found in brain and spinal cords.

A study claims 94.3% of Koreans carry a gene called MM (Methionine-Methionine) and are 3-4 times more likely to contract vCJD. 38% of Americans also carry the MM gene, which equals 114 million Americans. Approximately 1.4 million Koreans live in the U.S. with zero cases of vCJD.

In 2006, scientists were able to genetically produce cattle that lacked a necessary gene for prion production. So, BSE may eventually become a thing of the past.

My Favourite Chef

If you've ever watched Hell's Kitchen or Kitchen Nightmares, then you're familiar with this guy. Gordon Ramsay has a 3 star Michelin restaurant and 12 other restaurants. Ramsay also has a net worth of around $160 million. There are not that many 3 star restaurants in the world. You can find a list here.

Here's a 60 Minutes Australia article about him. Please be warned. There is a lot of bad language in this, especially the f-word. This guys is controversial because of his language. I think he's extremely passionate about his job. lol



Here are highlights from Hell's Kitchen.


Would you want to learn how to cook from him? I would. =)

Virtual Insanity

Myanmar is a joke. The U.N. has to suspend aid because "all of the food aid and equipment that we managed to get in has been confiscated," a U.N. World Food Program spokesman said. Why did the ruling government (junta) confiscate food from the WFP? Because they want to plaster "the boxes with the names of top generals in an apparent effort to turn the relief effort for last week's devastating cyclone into a propaganda exercise." lol



Yes. These gentlemen on your right seek fortune and fame.

How many people are hungry and homeless in Myanmar? About 1.5-2 million.

Here are some World Food Program statistics from wfp.org:

Top food aid donor governments (metric tons)

United States: 4,026,382
EC: 623,231
China: 576,582
Japan: 402,868
RO Korea: 393,221
Canada: 275,498
Netherlands: 151,674
Australia: 151,476
Germany: 132,421
Sweden: 124,606

Top food aid recipients (metric tons)

Ethiopia: 1,097,240
DPRK: 1,079,560
Sudan: 877,590
Uganda: 309,125
Eritrea: 272,042
Bangladesh: 271,807
Kenya: 231,533
Afghanistan: 204,058
Indonesia: 197,113
Sri Lanka: 158,344

Persistence

“Education will not (take the place of persistence); the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” - Calvin Coolidge

I like to watch dramas like CSI: Miami, Las Vegas, etc. But my favorite show is Family Guy. =) Why do I like the show? Because it's creative and crazy.



If you don't know the expression "put down," it can mean to insult, record, suppress, pay a deposit, or to kill an animal (usually if the animal is too old or injured).

Lose Weight (or Fat) in 5 Minutes?

This is a popular exercise for losing fat. I've never tried it before, but I may give it a shot. It looks like hell. "Dumbell thruster" is the name of the exercise. It's quite simple. Basically, you do as many reps as you can for 20-30 seconds and then rest for 10-20 seconds. Repeat 7 or 8 times. This only takes a total of 4-5 minutes. =) Don't choose a weight that is too heavy or too light. If it's too light, you're not doing anything. If you feel like vomiting, and your sweating a lot, then you're doing it correctly. lol



Before you try this, here are some tips:

1. The ball is optional. You don't really need it.
2. Don't do this everyday. Just 3 or 4 times a week max.
3. You're going to be really sore after the first time. This is normal. I'm sore every week.
4. If you want to lose fat, you need some muscle. And "No!" you will not become like The Hulk. Take a look at the girl in the video. She's using 15 kilo dumbbells. That's the same weight I would use. =( I'm much bigger than her because I'm a man. At least I hope I am. lol

Business Letter Sample

Want to see a sample business letter? How about a letter from the CEO of Microsoft to the CEO of Yahoo? Please note the format and the wording (transitions).

May 3, 2008

Mr. Jerry Yang

CEO and Chief Yahoo

Yahoo! Inc.

701 First Avenue

Sunnyvale, CA 94089

Dear Jerry:

After over three months, we have reached the conclusion of the process regarding a possible combination of Microsoft and Yahoo!.

I first want to convey my personal thanks to you, your management team, and Yahoo!’s Board of Directors for your consideration of our proposal. I appreciate the time and attention all of you have given to this matter, and I especially appreciate the time that you have invested personally. I feel that our discussions this week have been particularly useful, providing me for the first time with real clarity on what is and is not possible.

I am disappointed that Yahoo! has not moved towards accepting our offer. I first called you with our offer on January 31 because I believed that a combination of our two companies would have created real value for our respective shareholders and would have provided consumers, publishers, and advertisers with greater innovation and choice in the marketplace. Our decision to offer a 62 percent premium at that time reflected the strength of these convictions.

In our conversations this week, we conveyed our willingness to raise our offer to $33.00 per share, reflecting again our belief in this collective opportunity. This increase would have added approximately another $5 billion of value to your shareholders, compared to the current value of our initial offer. It also would have reflected a premium of over 70 percent compared to the price at which your stock closed on January 31. Yet it has proven insufficient, as your final position insisted on Microsoft paying yet another $5 billion or more, or at least another $4 per share above our $33.00 offer.

Also, after giving this week’s conversations further thought, it is clear to me that it is not sensible for Microsoft to take our offer directly to your shareholders. This approach would necessarily involve a protracted proxy contest and eventually an exchange offer. Our discussions with you have led us to conclude that, in the interim, you would take steps that would make Yahoo! undesirable as an acquisition for Microsoft.

We regard with particular concern your apparent planning to respond to a “hostile” bid by pursuing a new arrangement that would involve or lead to the outsourcing to Google of key paid Internet search terms offered by Yahoo! today. In our view, such an arrangement with the dominant search provider would make an acquisition of Yahoo! undesirable to us for a number of reasons:

· First, it would fundamentally undermine Yahoo!’s own strategy and long-term viability by encouraging advertisers to use Google as opposed to your Panama paid search system. This would also fragment your search advertising and display advertising strategies and the ecosystem surrounding them. This would undermine the reliance on your display advertising business to fuel future growth.

· Given this, it would impair Yahoo’s ability to retain the talented engineers working on advertising systems that are important to our interest in a combination of our companies.

· In addition, it would raise a host of regulatory and legal problems that no acquirer, including Microsoft, would want to inherit. Among other things, this would consolidate market share with the already-dominant paid search provider in a manner that would reduce competition and choice in the marketplace.

· This would also effectively enable Google to set the prices for key search terms on both their and your search platforms and, in the process, raise prices charged to advertisers on Yahoo. In addition to whatever resulting legal problems, this seems unwise from a business perspective unless in fact one simply wishes to use this as a vehicle to exit the paid search business in favor of Google.

· It could foreclose any chance of a combination with any other search provider that is not already relying on Google’s search services.

Accordingly, your apparent plan to pursue such an arrangement in the event of a proxy contest or exchange offer leads me to the firm decision not to pursue such a path. Instead, I hereby formally withdraw Microsoft’s proposal to acquire Yahoo!.

We will move forward and will continue to innovate and grow our business at Microsoft with the talented team we have in place and potentially through strategic transactions with other business partners.

I still believe even today that our offer remains the only alternative put forward that provides your stockholders full and fair value for their shares. By failing to reach an agreement with us, you and your stockholders have left significant value on the table.

But clearly a deal is not to be.

Thank you again for the time we have spent together discussing this.

Sincerely yours,

/s/ Steven A. Ballmer

Steven A. Ballmer

Chief Executive Officer

Microsoft Corporation

The Amazing Brits

A lot of my students want to study in the U.S. However, don't forget the UK.

Here are some interesting statistics about Great Britain from wikipedia:

UK population: 60 million (US 300 million, ROK 50 million)

Size: 244,820 square kilometers (U.S. 10,000,000 sq. km, ROK 90,000 sq. km)

GDP ranking: 5

London is the world's financial center. 73% of GDP comes from the service sector. The financial sector dominates.

Largest banks:

1. HSBC
2. Royal Bank of Scotland
3. Barclays
4. Lloyds
5. Standard Chartered

The UK ranks number 6 in tourism (27 million visitors a year). France is number 1 with 75 million tourists a year. Wow.

The world's second largest pharmaceutical firm, GlaxoSmithKline, is based in London. Britain also has the world's fourth largest retailer, Tesco. (Wal-Mart is number one.)

London has the world's largest subway system with 253 miles of track.

In terms of a college education, it's tough to beat this relatively small country.
Here are the QS 2007 World University Rankings:

1. HARVARD University United States

2. University of CAMBRIDGE United Kingdom

2. University of OXFORD United Kingdom

2. YALE University United States

5. Imperial College LONDON United Kingdom

6. PRINCETON University United States

7. CALIFORNIA Institute of Technology (Caltech) United States

7. University of CHICAGO United States

9. UCL (University College LONDON) United Kingdom

10. MASSACHUSETTS Institute of Technology United States

11. COLUMBIA University United States

12. MCGILL University Canada

13. DUKE University United States

14. University of PENNSYLVANIA United States

15. JOHNS HOPKINS University United States

16. AUSTRALIAN National University Australia

17. University of TOKYO Japan

18. University of HONG KONG Hong Kong

19. STANFORD University United States

20. CORNELL University United States

20. CARNEGIE MELLON University United States

22. University of California, BERKELEY United States

23. University of EDINBURGH United Kingdom

24. King's College LONDON United Kingdom

25. KYOTO University Japan

The UK holds 6 out of the top 25 which is very impressive.