Warning! Scammers on Facebook

by Gazali, proclivity for objectivity, at www dot gazali dash ahmad dot blog spot dot com.

Believe it, scammers are here in Facebook. A couple of nights ago, someone contacted me on Facebook through messages.

It started innocuously enough. A simple greeting message. My interest was pique. Who is this, from UK, so its profile seemed to say. The account seemed to have just been activated. And she have only 1 friend, a bloke from London, UK. No big deal, I thought, maybe just someone who wanted to try new stuff. I stared hard at the profile photo, trying to remember, if I knew her before. It drew a blank.

So, I replied back. She claimed to be an auditor with a major corporation in UK. I would not name it. She said she was from Malaysia, and that her dad died when she was young. Her mum, a British national, brought her back to UK, and she have been staying there, since. She is a single mother with a child. And she asked me about my family.

Briefly, I replied back with my family history. Then she asked me about the cost of living in Singapore, taxes and such. She claimed that she will be relocating here soon with her 11 year old son. Now, that is already an inconsistency. Why? She named her son "Cherry"?

That was also a strange request. If you were an auditor, in an international concern, you'd probably know, more or less about the taxes in various countries, and the cost of living.

So I replied about Singapore cost of living and taxes. And I placed a couple of personal questions.

She didn't answer those, instead ask me about my email address. My email is public knowledge. All you need to do is add me as a friend, and the details will appear. If you are sincere, you can connect with me on my LinkedIn.

I have already an inkling what the email will be. The infamous Nigeria, (sorry Nigeria), scam methodology.

Generally, it will be like this. Someone, who happened to work as a civil servant in a bank, claimed to hold large sums of money, from a deceased royalty, or variations of it. He is offering you something like 10% to 30% share of the money. That always amazes me, because why would they contact an unknown person? Wouldn't it be better if they get their relatives? And the clan pockets 100% of the monies.

So you agree, and next thing you know they would be asking you for a so called deposit money of a couple of thousand of dollars, purportedly for clearance fees.

You are hooked, with millions of dollars imagined, you transfer the amount. Being incorrigible salesman they are, they ask you for some more, claiming that another "official" or whatever got to know about it, and are demanding more payment.

By the time you realized it was a scam, you'd probably lost a couple of thousands. Then, you will start crying mummy daddy, to the police or whoever cares to listen to you.

Whatever it is, you deserved it simply because of your greed.

Now, her email contained a variation of the Nigerian scam. She claimed her company is interested in building a hotel in Singapore, and for your assistance, they are willing to compensate you, and she signed off with: May Allah lead us to His path, Amen.

When will anybody learn, that simply putting the name of God, doesn't guarantee sincerity?

For someone, who claimed to be living in UK, for so long, her command English was atrocious. It sounded like a foreigner, speaking English, rather than a native speaker.

Where did the email go to? Spam box!

So, please, dear readers, don't fall for it. If you received anything like that, simply ignore and delete the email. 

If she was genuine, she probably asked to add as a friend.

Photo credits: "Nigerian Scammer #1" by AMRosario.

Daily Morning Prayers

In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

Oh Creator of all thing; help me. For this day, I go out into the world naked and alone and without Your hand to guide me, I will wander far from the path which leads to success and happiness.

I ask not for gold or garments or even opportunities equal to my ability; instead, guide me so that I may acquire ability equal to my opportunities.

You taught the lion and the eagle how to hunt and prosper with teeth and claws. Teach me how to hunt with words and prosper with love so that I may be a lion amongst men and an eagle in the market place.

Help me to remain humble, through obstacles and failures; yet hide not from mine eyes the prize that will come with victory.

Assign me tasks to which others have failed; yet guide me to pluck the seed of success from their failures. Confront me with fears that will temper spirits, yet endow me with courage to laugh at my misgivings.

Spare me sufficient days to reach my goals; yet help me to live this day as though it may be my last.

Guide me my words that may bear fruit; yet silence me from gossips that none be maligned.

Discipline me in the habit of trying and trying again; yet show me the way to make use of the law of averages. Favor me with alertness to recognize opportunity; yet endow me with patience, which will concentrate on my strength.

Bathe me in good habits that the bad ones may drown; yet grant me compassion for weakness in others. Suffer me to know all things shall pass; yet help me to count my blessings of today.

Expose me to hate so that it not be a stranger; yet fill my cup with love to turn strangers into friends.

But all these things be only if Thy will. I am but a small and lonely grape clutching the vine yet Thou hast made me different from all others. Verily, there must be a special place for me. Guide me. Help me. Show me the way.

Let me become all You planned for me when my seed was planted and selected by You to sprout in the vineyard of the world.

Help this humble slave.

Help me Allah.

Wa sallallahu alaihi wasallam wal hamdu lillahi Rabbil 'alamin

May the blessings and the peace of Allah be upon him (Muhammad) and all praise for Allah, the Sustainer of the worlds.

Photo Credits:

• Photo 1: "Sunrise Paddling on the North Canadian River" by freeWine under a Creative Commons License.
• Photo 2: "IMGP0548 - wine grapes rutherglen" by RaeA under a Creative Commons License.

Earn BIG money by logging in Facebook.

Once again, the infamous call of making BIG money is here. I don't know if it is universal, or just simply a challenge (problem) face by the Malays in Singapore. Though I do see it everywhere, even in US. I guess its  universal.

There we have images of purported "Bank Statements" or "Accounts" showing money credited and growing exponentially. Starts with $100, then $110, then $150 and suddenly, $1,500 then $15,000 after 6 months. I mean I could just get rich staring at my laptop daily.

I remember, a short while back, a friend approach me. To give you a brief background, he was from an insurance company in Singapore. The key word is once. When I met him, he has quit as an insurance adviser. I'm still at it, till today.

Excitedly he told me of an investment scheme that gives a fantastic rewards. Does "Swisscash" ring a bell? The scheme seemed to give guaranteed return, and at the end of the year, your money will have doubled. Something to that effect, if I can recall correctly.

Showed me his "internet bank statements" of his "investment growth" and said he has exercised his due diligence. How? By putting in his own money and tracking the growth and it showed.

Not again, I thought. I try to game him. Its always fun to do that.

"So how do you pay or put in the money?"

"Through Paypal, you have an account right, you are always good in IT", Ah, the flattery. Flattery gets you nowhere with me.

"How can they give such a high return? How do they do it?"

"Through investments!" he looked at me incredulously. "Why they can give you high returns is because they operate on the web (images of TRON appears in my mind), no office rental to pay, so you can reap better profits" How magnanimous of them.


Straight Talk - Stock Market
Uploaded by senatork. - Sitcom, sketch, and standup comedy videos.

I followed with a look of bewilderment. That hooked him.

"Let me show you the website," He switched on his laptop and went online:

Through the magic of web archiver, this is Swisscash. Looks professional isn't it.

"I thought you said they don't have an office? Why are they in an office setting?"

"This is just for show only" The irony of words. He didn't catch it. At this point I was just getting bored with it and simply had to end the meeting. All in all it was a full-bore scam.

True enough a couple of months, the "company" disappeared together with the monies. Just for those who still thinks Swisscash is legitimate click here.

How do you know that it can be a scam? If its too good to be true, then it is. Do your research throughly. You have the Internet at your fingertips,  use it, instead of just playing social games.

And now we have the same thing here on Facebook.

When will we ever going to learn that riches comes from passionate hard work, not just simply paying a certain amount, then hopefully it will sell by itself to another and another, and another.

You just got to put in the effort my friends and the service or product really adds value to the other person. Basic rule of sales 101.

Photo Credits:
1st Photo "Money" by aresauburn™ under a Creative Commons License.
2nd Photo "Cheating Cheaters and the Cheaters Who Love Them" by Mr Stein under a Creative Commons License.

Monday Morning Perk up

5+1 ways to improve your life.

1. Give value first.
   That's right, you must first give, in order to receive. How do you give value? It doesn't have to be anything big, just small little things.   Teach (not preach) of things that others can learn from you. On Facebook, there is a little Notes application, write on it, if a blog sounds intimidating for you.
   
   
2. Help other people.
   Do not try to help everybody, just as many as you can and to your ability. It could be anybody, your colleagues, friends, kids and even strangers.
   
   
3. Strive to be the best at what you love to do.
   In whatever you do, do it to your best ability, on and off work. Always be a student, the day you become a master is that day that you stop being the best.
   
   
4. Establish long-term relationships with everyone.
   Think of the long-term and base every decision on it. When you do that, it''s more likely you make better decision in regards to fairness and ethics.
   
   
5. Have fun every day.
   Ah, the fun part. Its what keeps all of us sane. Doing it everyday means you're always smiling. If you don't understand it, its likely you're not having enough fun. If you love what you do, all your days are simply holidays and I wish it for you.

Plus 1 more : 

DON'T QUIT
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
when the road you're trudging seems all uphill,

when the funds are low and the debts are high,

and you want to smile but you have to sigh,

when care is pressing you down a bit -

rest if you must,

but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns.

As everyone of us sometimes learns.

And many a fellow turns about

when he might have won had he stuck it out.

Don't give up though the pace seems slow -

you may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than

it seems to a faint and faltering man;

often the struggler has given up

when he might have captured the victor's cup;

and he learned too late when the night came down,

how close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out -

the silver tint of the clouds of doubt,

and when you never can tell how close you are,

it may be near when it seems afar;

so stick to the fight when you're hardest hit -

it's when things seem worst,

you must not quit.

by Edgar A. Guest (August 20, 1881 - August 5, 1959)

Photo by Umair Mohsin under a Creative Commons License.

When will we ever learn.

War is never about glory. It is always about old men sending young men to die for whatever reasons. Where the poor of the invading country is sent to kill the poor of the invaded country. Who profits? The companies that produce the war supplies. Its about controlling the wealth and to subjugate and suppress the culture and ideology of another country or groups of people.

Naturally, the common people don't want war, but after all, it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag people along whether it is democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country. Hermann Goering. Hitler's Reich-Marshall at the Nuremberg Trials after WWII.

The current situation:
Terrorism, Islam, Capitalism, Cui Bono?

War on terrorism is simply a euphemism for war on (fill in the current situation).

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930).

















Preaching the "Glory of the Fatherland"

Professor Kantorek's (Arnold Lucy):

You are the life of the Fatherland, you boys - you are the iron men of Germany. You are the gay heroes who will repulse the enemy when you are called to do so. It is not for me to suggest that any of you should stand up and offer to defend his country. But I wonder if such a thing is going through your heads. I know that in one of the schools, the boys have risen up in the classroom and enlisted in a mass. If such a thing should happen here, you would not blame me for a feeling of pride. Perhaps some will say that you should not be allowed to go yet - that you have homes, mothers, fathers, that you should not be torn away by your fathers so forgetful of their fatherland...by your mothers so weak that they cannot send a son to defend the land which gave them birth. And after all, is a little experience such a bad thing for a boy? Is the honor of wearing a uniform something from which we should run? And if our young ladies glory in those who wear it, is that anything to be ashamed of?...To be foremost in battle is a virtue not to be despised. I believe it will be a quick war. There will be few losses. But if losses there must be, then let us remember the Latin phrase which must have come to the lips of many a Roman when he stood in battle in a foreign land:...Sweet and fitting it is to die for the Fatherland...Now our country calls. The Fatherland needs leaders. Personal ambition must be thrown aside in the one great sacrifice for our country. Here is a glorious beginning to your lives. The field of honor calls you.

Realities of War

Paul Baumer's (Lew Ayres) return speech to his Professor's class after experiencing warfare's despair: ("I heard you in here reciting that same old stuff, making more iron men, more young heroes. You still think it's beautiful and sweet to die for your country, don't you? Well, we used to think you knew. The first bombardment taught us better. It's dirty and painful to die for your country")

Dulce Et Decorum Est

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,

Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,

Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs

And towards our distant rest began to trudge.

Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots

But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;

Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots

Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.

GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,

Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;

But someone still was yelling out and stumbling

And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--

Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light

As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,

He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace

Behind the wagon that we flung him in,

And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,

His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,

Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud

Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest

To children ardent for some desperate glory,

The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est

Pro patria mori.

Wilfred Owen 18 March 1893 – 4 November 1918

Photo by unclebumpy under a Creative Commons License.

Dedicated to a friend

 

Hang in there, you'll make it.

Life is a Lesson We Learn Day after Day

I have learned so many lessons in my life.
I have discovered how to enjoy
the people and places that surround me,
to appreciate the here and now.
I have grown and changed through
expressing my thoughts and feelings
to family and friends.
I have given of myself to them when times
were good and when they were not,
and the bond of understanding that we
feel for one another has taken
our hearts and woven them together.

Life is a series of transitions
and a collection of interactions with others.
It is a journey through time that
gathers together so many emotions
and allows us all to cherish
the truths that we believe in
and to respect others for theirs.

Life proceeds forward,
and it happens over and over again
as each day begins and ends.
It holds millions of mysteries for each of us
to explore and incorporate into our lives.
We are each the center of our own life
and by focusing on ourselves
and by understanding our desires and dreams,
we can fulfill our true spirits and find
a sense of happiness in all that we do.

I create the roads that will follow.
My life is an ongoing experience
that fascinates and enlightens me.
I am forever questioning
my thoughts and feelings
and the never-ending illusive truths that
keep me pondering the mysteries of life.
I have no words of wisdom to explain
what life should or should not be,
but I do know this:

"Every breath is counted
and time is timeless.
One day I will be gone."

Deanna Beisser.

Photo credits:
Photo by annia316 under a Creative Commons License.

Lest we be proud

Ozymandias

I met a traveller from an antique land

Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown

And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.

And on the pedestal these words appear:

`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:

Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,

The lone and level sands stretch far away".

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)

Photo credits:
Photo by shapeshift under a Creative Commons License.

Genesis : A new birth

Genesis: The act of producing, or giving birth or origin to anything; the process or mode of originating; production; formation; origination.

Finally, things are coming together again. I have started a new project. I may not have time to update a lot of things. I may have to drop my daily reading of the news on the internet. Then again, it is a good thing. Everyone has an agenda. Everyone has an opinion. Most just follow without thinking.

I'll still update my blog. This is what I like to do. It took me 6 years before I finally commit to start  a blog. Ideas are like that. some germinates faster, some ever so slowly. 

 

After two years of testing, I can now launch my company to public view. It is something that my partner and me have been working on for the last two years. The seed of the original idea started 10 years ago. Now things are falling in place. When the time comes, I will reveal the company. Launch date, would hopefully be by on the 3rd quarter of this year.

Right now we are in the midst of agreeing on the framework with our new partners.

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Some days, I look back into my life, thinking what would it be like if I had not taken that step, 13 years ago. I was working at Performance Motors. Straight forward job, Customer Service Officer, basically a 9 to 5 job, attend to customers about their BMW cars and maintenance.

I quit the job. And when into sales, insurance sales, 100% fully commission. Still at it today.

"No basic pay", my wife freaked out. I was then just just married for about 3 years and have my first son.

And 13 years later, 3 more children, I'm still in sales.

Some "suggested" that I should get a "proper" job.

The truth of the matter is, I can't. I love doing sales, I love meeting people. And if I were to die and be born again, I'd probably do the same again.

Off course, there are ups and downs. When is life all the way up or down.

Confucius says it better:
"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in getting up every time we do."

To love is to risk not being loved in return. To hope is to risk pain. To try is to risk failure, but risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.

I take risk, not unfounded risk, instead calculated risk. It is in my nature. I am not one who plays it safe, I don't go to "work" as they say. I create work.

Not many would understand it. Do not take advice from those who have not done what you have done, even though they are your close relatives. Even for those who have and failed, use their failure as an opportunity to learn.

Many times, I have friends in business who failed and some gave up, when you asked them, inevitably, they will say its better not to risk everything, just work for someone else, let them take the risk.

Don't sympathize with them, instead empathize, get to know how they fail and learn from their failure. It is always better to learn from other people's failure than your own.

Always believe in what you do. Never, never, never take advice from anyone (includes your relatives, your mom and dad too), who have not done what you have done.

Some people are fearful, they need so called "blessings" from people. I'm a Muslim and yes, you do have to respect your parents, regardless.  It doesn't mean they have the power to confer "blessings". I'm a father too, I have four kids. Do they need my blessings?

What I can do is guide them in making the right choices. I am fully aware that when they are 18, they are adults responsible for their own actions. Two of my kids are teenagers, I talk to them about a lot of topics, and yes it includes sex, porn and drugs too. 

I will always discuss to them about the implications. I always tell them, just because everyone thinks that it is alright to do it, it doesn't mean its right. What we need to do is access it objectively.

Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe.

I have never been a spectator, I am always a contender. I am always in the ring. Once awhile, I get knocked out, I'll get up again. I may be sidelined, soon I'll be in it again. Spectators will always cheer or jeer, it doesn't matter. What matters is that my most important fan doesn't give up one me.

Who is my most important fan?

Myself.



Photo credits (Bear with me until I figure out how to caption the photos properly):
Photo by Indie Charlie under a Creative Commons License.

No shortcuts

One of the truism in life. You will not get ahead unless you put in the effort. I'm not going say "to work smart" or "to work hard" cliche.

Everything will simply fail when you look for a shortcut. There is nothing inherently wrong in taking a shortcut, it becomes, suspect, when you start thinking of doing less and getting more. Up to the point, that it will be "auto-generated".

A friend of a friend of mine, is brilliant in doing this kind of work. He excels in web programming. What he does, he writes a script and aggregates news feed to his blog. That's fine initially, until the readers found out it is just spewing and regurgitating recycle muck from the Internet. What happens? Less and less viewers.

As they say, content is king. It has to be original and from you. Not from some disconnected feeds, nor from some article base. Anyway the advantage of writing you own material is that, you won't be accused of plagiarism.

A couple of weeks back, one of my friend was excited about a program he found. I already knew, have seen so much since, though I always keep an open ear. "EASY, FAST, AND SAVES TIME AND MONEY" screamed the headline. So I asked him what is it really about.

He is not one of those techies, and he can't explain it. He told me all he needs to do is provide an email. I smiled, "That's the hook". True enough it wasn't free, there is a price attached to it.

"Should I?", "You should!"

Weeks later, I met him again.

"How was it?",

"Why didn't you tell me not to do it?"

I explained to him that it was just a lesson. Sometimes the best way to learn is experiencing it yourself, so it will be internalize. I have my fair share of scams foisted on me.

I explained to him about the tech side of things, and he realized its not his forte. We laughed about it and my friend came out wiser, I'm sure he will spread the message. Don't commit until you understand what you are getting into.

In every industry, there will always be a top performer. She is always passionate about what she is doing. The thought of doing it easier, never crossed her mind. And she will be paid top dollars for it.

The thing that I would like to stress is that there is always work to be done. When you give all your heart and soul, things naturally fits in.

Anyway other way will simply not work. There is no such thing as something for nothing.

For me, I have always been writing, on everything, from bits and scraps of paper to notebooks. Thoughts form in my mind instantaneously and like a raging river. I have to drink cups of coffee, at night, just to calm my mind, else I can't sleep.

Its always coffee black and no sugar, used to be with a cigarette or two before I learn how to control it. Took me 6 tries. Now I am not addicted to smoking. I can turn it on and off like a switch.

This blog is a natural progression.

People do fall for the same old tricks over and over again. These words and phrases carry a very powerful emotional concoction.

• More money.
• Free.
• Less work.
• Vacation everyday.
• Kids, family, loved ones.
• Quality time.
• And many more.

Use it in combination and voila you get a emotionally charged landing page that can motivate you to take action.

The question to ask, "Does it fit naturally into my character?"

The Living

To appreciate life is to understand that death is part and parcel of it. In His great wisdom, we would not know when is our life due.

Does dying early means an untimley death or living a long life means you have so called "enjoy life". A measure most people use is how long have someone lived. Yet the more important thing that we should realize is, how much have we contributed.

I remembered the day my dad died. It was in the evening and it was raining. I was just finishing my work when I heard the news. I have not known my dad well enough, only in his later years, fragments of his memory came alive.

He told me he was once a hawker; a sailor; and who were his friends. The places he grew up in. I knew he was married before and divorced, my mum was his second wife. He had children, and up to this day, I do not know who they are. I do not know any of his brothers or sisters.

He was from Malaysia and decided to move and stay in Singapore. That was way back in 1937. I did not exist back then. Whatever had happened, he changed his surname. At his death, his surname was changed back to what it was once.

Every life is meaningful and contributes in its own unique way.

All of us face the great leveler, death. Friends and relatives have passed away before me. Do I feel sad? Only when I think about it.

Today another death of a relative. I just visited him yesterday, he was weak, and I instinctively knew. I didn't say much. I do not know how one would receive the inevitable.

This morning my brother SMS me and told me that his father in law heart is weak and they are moving him to the ICU. I told him to recite the Yassin chapter from the Quran, and let Him in his Infinite Wisdom, do what's best.

Later in the afternoon, God loves his slave more and free him of his suffering.

Allah (S.W.T) says in the Quran:
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful



Who say, when afflicted with calamity:
"To Allah we belong, and to Him is our return"

Synchronizing the Social Web

It was a social experiment, and I am happy with the result. I just wanted to see how far I can really push this social media thing. Initially, I was apprehensive about doing it, since I had to provide a lot of information for others to see. Then I realized that a stranger is a friend that you have not known yet. With that in mind, I went in 100%.

I had a Facebook account last year and a blogger account since 2008. Both weren't active.

In fact I terminated the Facebook account last year. I restarted it again this year. Here's the timeline:

Timeline:
I joined Plaxo first then LinkedIn . Can't remember the exact date, it should be somewhere early February or late January 2010.



6th February 2010.
Don't ask me about the significance. It just happened, maybe it was a lazy Saturday. I joined Facebook and now with 107 friends and Twitter now with 73 followers.

7th February 2010.
Created Posterous blog account and first post on it. As of yesterday, it had generated 518 site views. I always wanted to write and I found at that point, Posterous was easy. I was intrigued by the idea of autopost.

Just emailed to Posterous and all your social sites get updated. It made things easier. So my blog does not remain unconnected and it gets the visibility in Facebook.

09 Feb 2010
Google buzz launched. I was already on Gmail and a lot of other google apps, it was just a natural progression. Anyway I think Google found that social networking is a key element of the next wave. They launched straight away without putting it on Beta. Gmail was taken out of its Beta phase only just recently. Right now I have 12 followers in my Google Buzz.

Google did have another networking tool before call the Wave. I loved the idea though I find it a little bit overwhelming. Anyway it requires an invitation. It's still a work in progress.

11 Feb 2010.
Burned RSS feed for Posterous. As of today: 7 subscribers.

14 February 2010.
Then I remembered that I have an account at Blogspot, and yes it was till there. Created Gazali's Thoughts and first post on this blog. As of yesterday it had generated 420 page views.

20 February 2010.

Burned RSS feed for "Gazali's Thoughts". As of today: 12 subscribers.

Somewhere around this time, I found blogger was easier to modify. Posterous was not that easy. It didn't integrate with adsense and I had to comb the HTML just to include Amazon. It didn't support Java and that was a big downer. I probably could easily modified the CSS/HTML. The thing is, I don't have the luxury of time. I then set out to find if blogger could do what Posterous did for autoposting.

In the mean time, I apologized to all my friends. You probably see a lot of double or triple posting of the same item in news feed on Facebook. I was just seeing how the things will work and I think its better now. Blogger worked like Posterous on autoposting. You just have to configure a lot more web application services.

Summary of how my post will propogated through my social network.
An article was written here. it could even be by email if I wanted to.

• Post fed into RSS feed about new article.
• TwitterFeed picks up the RSS feed. I wanted to use Ping.fm, unfortunately they were down for the whole of the week. They were being acquired by Seesmic. Maybe I look at it later.
• Shortened URL generated by Bit.ly through TwitterFeed. I have already signed up for Bit.ly. It gives an indication of how many people read the article.
• TwitterFeed then feeds into my Twitter account. This is the main where things get wild. My twitter account is connected to my Facebook, Posterous, Linkedin and some other services.
• Twitter will then feed the post into my Facebook and through all my other social networks.

I hope you understand. I do get lost in it, sometimes. That's how its under the hood. It is like a car.

I built up the engine and whatever components needed for the car and all I need to do now is simply turn on the ignition.

Of course there is some outages. Facebook was slightly down last week and so was Twitter. Sometimes Facebook updates my status from Twitter a little bit longer. And Facebook native Notes application updates a couple of hours later. Though it still get updated.

So, if I write a post, my Facebook and other social sites will get updated.

The ignition key
If I update my status on Facebook; my Plaxo, Blog and LinkedIn gets updated too. In fact its all connected to a certain degree. I could just go on Twitter and tweet something and everything else gets updated too. Similarly with the other social sites as wll

My next step is to have all my info synced consistently throughout my social network. So that is how my social network gets updated. I know, it looks complicated enough, and I will try to break it down step by step, for you to follow. There is obviously a purpose for this.

Do check back once awhile, or get connected through my Twitter, Facebook, Plaxo or LinkedIn accounts. You can also opt in by getting emails of my post or subscribing via RSS.

Feel free to comment and thank you.

Integrity, Truth & Honesty

How do we keep our integrity in a world that can sometimes be unforgiving.

Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people.

Spencer Johnson.

We always want to live to our highest ideals, yet at times it is not to our advantage. How many times have we tried and in the end its better to just keep quiet.

So what happenes? Most of us would just remain silent, or speak with selectively truths.

What are selective truths?

You are late in meeting your friend. She SMS you asking where you are? The fact is, you are just about to leave your house. What do you reply?

"I'm already on the way there. Will be there as soon as possible"

What you didn't tell her was that you forgot and still at the house getting ready to go.

The overriding concern of most people is self-preservation. When was the last time you said something that you know will affect your well-being?

So most of us will go with life with all these burdens secretly carried in our hearts.

It is always difficult when you leave a company. It is not about the company, its about the colleagues that have become friends. People like to belong in a group. That's why Facebook is widely popular. You just want to be in a group. I would too.

It becomes difficult when they ask why are you leaving and where are you going?

My advice. If any of your colleagues are leaving the company, don't put her in a difficult position. Don't ask her where she is going. Just respect her decision, update contact details and called after she left.

Why?

She might be joining a rival firm, and by asking her where she is going, you put her in a position to lie. And what happens when you found out the truth? You feel betrayed. The fact is you put her in a position to lie.

Do not confuse friendship with loyalty to a company. A company exist for the sole purpose of making profits for its owner, most will never think twice of letting you go, if their bottom lines are at stake.

Yes, there are labour unions. They can protect your job. Not really, some companies are very creative in dealing with lay-offs. Instead of letting people go en-masse, they do it bit by bit, so as not to arouse suspicion. Some would simply call in "structural re-engineering" or "change of management" and make you sign a new employment contract.

You have only two choices, accept the new terms or leave.

So when you friend is leaving the company, don't ask where she is going; ask, if you really want to know, after she left.

Multi Level Marketing

Cont...........................................................................................................................................

The other thing, detractors always point out is that MLM products are expensive. Expensive is a relative term. To a person earning $10,000, $100 is pocket change. For someone who earns $1000, $100 is a sizable amount. What I am saying is that, if you think it is expensive, its expensive. Don't look at the price, instead look at its value.

To me Crocs shoes are over priced. I still don't get it why people buy, basically a pair of plastic, made in China, where I can have a better quality shoe for the same price.

In every profession, there are bad apples. Do you think there are no rotten lawyers, cops, doctors, judges? Of course there are. Same with sales, sometimes these people get on my nerves, that doesn't mean they are all the same.

MLM companies claim their products are the very best. Of course, why not? Did BMW claimed their cars are the best? What about Porsche? Mercedes? Did you recently go to a restaurant and it claimed its dish is the best? There is nothing wrong with that. What about you? Do you have a best product? As a consumer, it is up to you to judge.

Some MLM companies claim that you need only to work once and everything else will be self-generating income for life. That is of course, not true. If they claimed it, then run. In every profession, you can be the top guy, provided you work for it. Let me say it again, you must work for it to be at the top. There are no shortcuts or magic spells to it.

So is MLM that bad or is it a harmless marketing strategy.

It all boils down to you.

If you liked the product, then buy it, tell your MLM friend that you only interested in the product. A good company will have the option for you just to purchase just the product.

Avoid those that require you to pay a huge sum of money up front. They should have something less than $200 for you to start off it.

A long time ago, I happened to have a meeting with a Caucasian man, at a hotel cafe in Singapore. He was promoting a multi-level scheme. Back then I didn't know what it was all about. Guess what products he was trying to sell, cosmetics. Yes cosmetics use by ladies. I told him that I do not know a thing about cosmetics. He said no problem, just introduce it to my girlfriend or wife, mother. The other thing, he said I need to purchase a starter kit, consisting of a range of products which cost $5,000.

In a flash I was out of the hotel.

Surprisingly, now some people still fall for it. They paid something like $5,000 or so, to start off. Maybe they thought it would be "self-generating" income.

If you really believe in the spiel, then do your research. Ask about the products, what goes into it, tested by whom and ask for the compensation plan. It must be simple. If your upline or friend can't explain it properly, then I would suggest you not get into it. If your friend can't explain it, do you think you can?

If the company requires you to go to meetings over and over again, or ask you to buy tapes, books or so called "success resources", avoid them. You will end up with tons of materials and it will end up in your closet.

The key to MLM is duplication. It must be simple to duplicate. I stress the word SIMPLE. If you didn't find it simple, how on earth would your next sponsor be able to do it?

When you go on the web, sometimes you see websites, proclaiming to let you earn thousands, if not tons of money, just by buying their product. You must understand what are you selling.

I have someone who tried to sell me a website where I can recruit other people to sell websites. So I asked him, what exactly am I going to sell to people. Membership to a website where you can put up your own stuff and get others to do the same. Isn't that plain ridiculous. I have to come up with an upfront fee, pay monthly fees for the same website that repeated over and over again, same content, only the names are different. The important point is, is it SIMPLE?

I can go to Go Daddy and get a cheap domain name with hosting.

The choice is yours. Just do your homework before committing.

And remember, you have to work on it to get it working for you.

Me? I'm just happy to buy some of their products.

Posted via email from Gazali's Thoughts

Multi Level Marketing

Multi-Level-Marketing or MLM is a word that evokes passionate expressions from people who heard it. It normally fall in the extreme view; either you like it or don't. Those who like it, borders near to religiosity and those who hate it are the same. You can't put these groups of people together.

Why is such a word as MLM can evoked such a passion? Try this, go around and tell everyone you meet that you are in a MLM organization, and see their reactions. Most would be polite, one or two may want to know more, and in fact you might even "sponsor" (as they say in MLM parlance) one of your friends. Though the majority would just avoid you.

So what exactly is this word? A word that could even break up marriages (yes, it had happened).

MLM is actually a simple sales method. There is nothing wrong in selling stuff to people or even your friends. Everyday, you are selling something to everyone. To your colleagues, in getting them to agree to go to lunch at a particular place, and right down to your kids, getting them to do their homework. Of course others are doing it too. It doesn't have to be an exchange of money, maybe a simple gesture of covering up for your lateness at work to maybe changing shifts with a colleague. Even with friends, relatives, and in most that we interact closely. Unless you are a hermit.

Even me, I got you to read this post, didn't I?

What MLM does is sells through your network of friends or those that you know. It's funny how one can overreact to this. I do not know what rules these people have, it seemed that its wrong to sell things to your friend (which they have already been doing), instead its perfectly alright if their friends buy from other people (like shopkeepers, store owners, food stalls)?

Its actually a simple sales strategy that works on the principle of word of mouth. How many have seen the latest movie by James Cameron? Need I say the title? And its simply because of this a lot of people went and see it (I did, together with family).

The thing is, did you get paid for recommending the film? Of course not, nonetheless you still talk about it. The product range could as simple as your favorite perfume or to your favorite restaurant and even your favorite vacation place.

That's where MLM comes in. It pays you based on your recommendation to your friend, to get the product and it goes on and on.

Detractors simply point out that if that were to happen, you need another planet to sell more. Of course that won't happen. Do you have a TV set at home? What about a fridge? Handphone? Practically everyone has it. When you go out, do you still see shops selling these items? Of course there are. Why? Simply because people will replace these items over time. With MLM, not everyone will buy, those that buy, can drop off and join again and so on. So as you can see, there can never be a saturation point. Not everybody will buy every time.

................................................To be continued (I'm a bit tired because of my new project and nope its not about MLM). See you tomorrow.

Posted via email from Gazali's Thoughts

A new Beginning

To love is to risk not being loved in return. To hope is to risk pain. To try is to risk failure, but risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.

Tomorrow, I will sail forth to a new venture. I take risk, not unfounded risk, instead calculated risk. It is in my nature. I am not one who plays it safe, I don't go to "work" as they say. I create work.

Not many would understand it. Do not take advice from those who have not done what you have done, even though they are your close relatives. Even for those who have and failed, use their failure as an opportunity to learn. Many times, I have friends in business who failed and some gave up, when you asked them, inevitably, they will say its better not to risk everything, just work for someone else, let them take the risk.

Don't sympathize with them, instead empathize, get to know how they fail and learn from their failure. It is always better to learn from other people's failure than your own.

Always believe in what you do. Never, never, never take advice from anyone (includes your relatives, your mom and dad too), who have not done what you have done.

Some people are fearful, they need so called "blessings" from people. I'm a muslim and yes, you do have to respect your parents. It doesn't mean they have the power to confer "blessings". I'm a father too, I have four kids. Do they need my blessings?

What I can do is guide them in making the right choices. I am fully aware that when they are 21, they are adults responsible for their own actions. Two of my kids are teenagers, I talk to them about a lot of topics, and yes it includes sex, porn and drugs too. I will always discuss to them about the implications. I always tell them, just because everyone thinks that it is alright to do it, it doesn't mean its right. What we need to do is access it objectively.

Anyway, as I said, its good to be setting up things on a New Chinese New Year. Don't get me wrong, I am not a believer of what the Chinese believe, it is just simply there are synergies that can be tapped on. It benefits everyone.

The past few days were wonderful, as I have time to be with family. Played games like Boogle (had to play with a handicap of -10). Next two quarters, I will probably be very busy. I will try to post an update regularly. Anyway posterous is great because I can just saved it as draft in gmail. So when I have some free time, I can add more again.

Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe.

Posted via email from Gazali's Thoughts