About cheating and punishment

Though it could be just a coincidence, I think I might have been a bit recall-biased. After I finished writing the monogamous gibbons, I went to Yahoo!. On the main page where the news rotate, it showed "Cheat on your spouse in Michigan and spend life in prison?". There you go.

To add further bias, here are some quotes from the article:

"The state's appeals court recently ruled that extramarital flings can be prosecuted as first-degree criminal sexual conduct, a felony punishable by up to life in jail."

A judge said: "Technically, any time a person engages in sexual penetration in an adulterous relationship, he or she is guilty of CSC I."

CSC is, I guess, criminal sexual conduct. And CSC I is the most serious sexual assault charge in Michigan's criminal code.

I'm sure it's not as simple as putting men and women to jail once they're found guilty of cheating. But for sure, this will further put the case that lawyer is the most shining profession in, at least, Michigan.

What if someone wakes up in the morning and decides that Indonesia needs to adopt this law? Perhaps no one will want to be the member of DPR anymore...

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Even gibbons are monogamous

I went to the National Zoo today. On the way rushing back to the exit, we managed to stop by at the apes area and just happened to pay a bit more attention on this guy: ungka kelabu (Bornean Gibbon).

Looks like a loyal creature, isn't he? You bet he is. The information board says that these gibbons are monogamous and that they mate for life.

And a bit closer...

Enough with the big hoo-haa AA Gym created several months ago on monogamy and polygamy.

But what's going on here? Monogamous apes? For the world's sake, animals don't register their marriages. Is this the true loyalty, or monkey love? Or perhaps they all look similar - that it leaves no motivation or desire to find the second partner...

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Father

This is to my buddy in Royal Oak, MI, in welcoming his newborn son on January 17.

"To become a father is not hard. To be a father is, however"
- Wilhelm Busch

Well, conceptually and comparatively.

All the best, pal. Cherish every moment.



About the quote:
My wife used to buy Real Simple magazine regularly. There's this one I happened to find in the bathroom a couple of days ago, with the quote on the side cover. Pretty simple, yet true.

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General Tso's chicken

I got a surprise from my wife today. She cooked general Tso's chicken for lunch. It's been at least one and a half years since the last time I had this dish. I love you, babe.

No, I'm not writing the recipe here.

General Tso's chicken is the first American Chinese food I had, and I love it since. It's deep-fried boneless chicken with thick, sweet-spicy sauce - just perfect. It's one, if not the most, popular Chinese food dish in the U.S.

There are some other chicken dishes similar to general Tso's. Orange chicken and sweet and sour chicken to name a few. They're all boneless. But Tso's chicken is the best.

It also only exists in the U.S. Wikipedia says that the dish is unknown in China and other lands home to the Chinese diapora. The dish was invented in early or mid 70's in NYC.

I never thought to try to find out who General Tso was, and whether this guy is for real or not. He did exist, I found out today. He was a frighteningly gifted military leader during the waning of the Qing dynasty, said Washington Post's article "Who was General Tso and why are We Eating His Chicken?" So Tso did exist and was, indeed, a military general.

I salute you, general. You and your buddy Colonel Sanders.

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2007 North American International Auto Show

aka Detroit Auto Show

I was a regular to this show while in Michigan. I'm not, and wasn't, into cars, but it was more because the creativity and imaginations of the concept cars (and to keep up with everyone else in Michigan...). The concept cars are just simply stunning.

Here's a few: the Honda Accord Coupe concept, the Accura Advanced Sports concept, the Chevrolet Volt concept, and the Mazda Ryuga concept.

This year there is ChangFeng. What? Ah, a Chinese automaker - making their first appearance outside China. As ugly as their concept cars mighy look to some, the point is they made it to the biggest auto show on earth! Effect of brain gain?










And last but not least... like any other exhibitions, there are always the SPGs...



(all pictures from Detroit Free Press)

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Malaysia's bloggers sued

Just found this today through Unspun. Bloggers sued by journalists. And, from all the possible places in the world, it's Malaysia. Not sure for what reasons, but isn't it alarming? Now I don't really feel comfortable putting my uncensored thoughts about it...

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Earn it like Beckham

So Beckham got a deal with LA Galaxy worth, potentially, US $ 250 million for five years. That's the total package if everything goes as planned -- $50 million in salary, $50 million in club profits, $50 million in shirt sale merchandising, and $100 million from sponsors. Or around that, lah.

Seems to be a lot of money. It is, actually, compared to other soccer players in the U.S. The $50 million salary for five years is approximately $200 thousand a week or about 102 thousand Pounds (shoot, I don't know how to type the Pound sign). The second-highest paid player in the MLS earned $1.3 million in 2006, while the average salary for a squad player is $32,000 per year, not week.

That's pretty much on par with other top soccer players in the European league. Roy Keane, for example, earned 90,000 Pounds per week while at Manchester United, while Shevchenko receives around 130,000 sitting on Chelsea's bench. In Spain, Ronaldinho's annual salary is US $11.4 million.

So, apparently the salary itself is not that eye-popping. It's the remaining of the package. It's Beckham's brand equity.

But how about the rest of the industry?

I did a quick google on CEO's salary. Well, they probably are laughing now as people are making a fuss over Beckham's package. A typical total CEO take-home compensation comprises of salary, bonuses, stocks and incentives, and stock options. Most of the pays were in stock options gain. The typical CEO salary itself was ranging from zero to about $2 million.

Here are some examples how much companies paid their CEOs in 2005 (total compensation -- excluding "other compensation" such as personal use of company aircraft). Disney - $10 million. GE - $18 million. American Express - $28 million. Goldman Sachs - $45 million.

Still below Beckham's annual $50 million total package. Try this: Dell - $67 million. Oracle - $92 million.

Capital One Financial even paid its CEO to the extreme: $280 million of total compensation with $0 salary and $0 bonus.

So, wanna earn it like Beckham, or stay in the corporate way?

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Easier entry into Britain with an MBA

Heads up, MBAs!

MBAs from 50 British-approved institutions will get a higher chance to get the permit to work in the U.K. under the point-based system in the Highly-Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP).

Professionals with MBA qualification, graduated on or after December 2, 2004, stand a better chance as compared to Master's degree holder and Ph.D. Young professionals with high salary get further advantage, as summarized in this table.

I'm not sure whether nationality matters, but I would guess those from the commonwealth nations would have a better chance. I couldn't find what the 50 MBA institutions are, but 10 of them are U.K. institutions and 40 are from the rest of the world.

Despite the high living-cost in U.K., I think it'll be nice to spend several years to get more international perspectives. I don't have any insight on how the working culture is like over there, though.

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One

One life
But we're not the same
We get to carry each other
Carry each other
One...
- U2





Now the world is gone
I'm just one
Oh God help me
Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please God help me...
-Metallica





A couple of my all time favorites.

It's difficult to interpret U2's One. Without paying much attention, I always thought that the song was about two lovers. Others say the song is about about Bono's relationship with his father.

Metallica's One is probably more straightforward. Literally, it's about a dying soldier who has physically lost everything and is wishing for death. I think the picture (from the single cover) tells a thousand words. Well...

There are other (a lot more) songs titled One. Alanis Morissette, Mary J. Blige, Faith Hill to name a few.

I was wondering if there are any Indonesian songs titled "Satu" -- other than that "Satu, satu", the children song...

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Foreign Workers

There is a lot of Indonesians in Malaysia. Most of them are low-skilled workers like maids and construction workers.

Low-skilled foreign workers account for an estimated 20% (15% are legal) of Malaysia's total workforce as per recent article in New Straits Times about chaos without foreign workers. They work in security, constructions, factories, restaurants, plantations and other industries. Of course, also as maids. They come from many countries too: Vietnam, Bangladesh, Philippines, India, and Myanmar.

Foreign workers let "local" workforce to pursue higher value activities that can contribute to, presumably, better economic returns for themselves and the country. On the other hand, these foreign workers are cheaper too. For instance, local workforce will cost construction 30% more.

It's good opportunities too for the foreign workers. They make much better living than they do in their home countries.

But, what is it for the "exporting" countries? Will these workers add values when they come back? Will the gap between the exporting country and the importing country get bigger?

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