Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Below is a painting done by Gabriel Metsu, and its description is the framework for this chapter. The painting is titled Usurer with a Tearful Woman, and like many other famous Dutch artists in the 17^th century, the paintings serve as “social commentary” or to “deliver moral lessons.” In this painting, we assume the woman is at some sort of debt to the usurer. As she holds a note in one hand, the usurer looks at her scornfully, as it is likely she does not have the money to pay what is likely her husbands debt.

It is also very important to draw attention towards the woman’s purse. When first looking at it, it simply appears to be a loose handkerchief or piece of cloth. But, Metsu had some deeper meaning behind it, as you look closer it appears to be a floating hand reaching into her purse. This shows the view of the usurer who see that he can and will take advantage of this desperate lady. This painting carries some relevance today, as America is almost now a society that places more value on debt that we do on equity, causing a lot of economic heartache.

AMDP Investment Memo-- Draft

To: Clark Hansen, CEO, AMDP

From: Albert Wijaya, R&D Consultant, AMDP

Date: March 1, 2016

Subject: Potential Investment Opportunity—Toyota Motor Corporation

After extensive research during the week, I believed I have found a potential news that might require further attention on Toyota Motor Corporation. Toyota has been one of the leading car manufacturer in the world for the past decades. It has been renown for its cars' design, compactness and efficiency. What I would like to focus right now is on the concept of Hydrogen Fuel Cell vehicles. It has a chance to be the future of the car industry. Last but not least, this perfectly aligns with AMDP's principles.

AMDP’s Guiding Principles

AMDP wants to make investments would leave a positive lasting impact on the world. These principles provide the foundation of our company’s mission, vision and values. The following four principles in the nature of Anima Mundi, are important in analyzing potential investments: 

Triple Bottom Line

Triple bottom line is an accounting framework used to evaluate performance to create a better business value. It consists of three parts:

• People: The approach the company uses to its employees and community where it resides

• Planet: The use of sustainable environmental practices for minimizing harm to the environment

• Profit: The economic value of the company including its impact on the environment

Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate social responsibility is the idea that companies has “social” responsibilities that their business may or may not create. They are committed to positively impact society while improving the company’s stakeholders position.

Social Enterprise

Social enterprises are businesses that maximizes the common good. These entities are businesses that are committed to maximize social, cultural, economic, and environmental impacts of their businesses.

Carbon Footprint

"The total amount of greenhouse gases that are emitted into the atmosphere each year by a person, family, building, organization, or company.”(EPA) We measure it by estimating the amounts of CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) that we emit.  It is important to reduce our carbon footprint in order reduce the effects of global warming.

Toyota Motor Corporation

History

Toyota Motor Corporation is an international Japanese car manufacturer headquartered in Toyota, Aichi, Japan. Toyota is the world's first car manufacturer to produce more than 10 million vehicles per year. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda in 1937 as a subsidiary to his father's company, Toyota Industries. Since then, it has grown to be a major player in the automotive industry. It produces vehicles under 5 brands: Toyota, Hino, Lexus, Ranz, and Scion. It also has significant relationships with other players in the industries that include Yamaha, Daihatsu, and Tesla. 

Toyota has been a major proponent of the environment, as one of the first firms to establish a comprehensive CSR policy. Not only that, Toyota has been a forerunner in several technologies, such as: Robotics, Aerospace, and Biotechnology. In fact, Toyota is one of the first to introduce the first commercially available hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, the Toyota Mirai in 2015.

Hydrogen: Fuel for Our Future

Hydrogen fuel cell is not an recent invention. It was invented as late as 1838, and was mostly used by the NASA for their space programs. It has been there for a long time, and it has a lot of different applications. The most recent being the fuel-cell vehicles. In these vehicles, the hydrogen cells's waste will only be water, making it one of the most environmentally friendly solution. But hydrogen fuel cell has its own limitations. One of the most comprehensive problem it must solve is definitely the infrastructure needed to deliver these fuel cells to customers. Another one is the fact that to produce these fuel cells and transport them, we would still need carbon-based fuel and will still leave carbon print. 

A Futuristic, Super-Smooth Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car

The Toyota Mirai was a sensation. With a range of 300 miles and a top speed of 111 mph, the Mirai is definitely a car worth driving. Compare that with Tesla Model S' 265 miles and Nissan Leaf's 107 miles range. Not only that hydrogen fuel cell has a really fast recharge rate, with only an average of 5 minutes per charge. If we compare this to electric based cars' average of 5-6 hours for it max charge, then the Mirai is definitely at the top of the league.

Final Reccomendation

In spite of its flaws, I believe in the future of hydrogen fuel cell cars. It is a more viable solution to our problem. Beside, with the likes of Toyota backing and promoting it, I am sure it will not be long before hydrogen cars be a reality. Therefore, I strongly recommend AMDP to take this opportunity to invest in Toyota.

Chung King Road Art Night

Coagula Curatorial

When you walked on Chung King Road, you can feel the vibe of art. You could hear the music playing and you can see a lot of people outside these different galleries.

 On the left, you can see the works of Emma Sulkowicz. The small one is a miniature and below it is a Emmatron, a life-sized replica of Sulkowicz. The last one is the artist herself, which will answer your questions. I went to the other galleries beside Coagula. One has an exhibition about skulls and the other one has a painting exhibition. Pretty fun night, and quite amusing I would say.

Here is Tim enjoying his wine.

Is the "Rise of Trump" an Armageddon?

For the past few months, I can literally see and hear the word "Trump" everywhere. Whether when I pass his buildings, read newspapers, sit in class, and even when I play DOTA 2. His recent string of victories certainly dispel my first expectations about him. I have always thought that he just wanted to promote his books, perfume, and shows. Perhaps that was his first intention. Who would have thought he would progresses so far and we would see the likes of Jeb Bush falls.

But, is he really bad for the USA? Probably yes if he won. I would not deny that. His policies are populist and I really doubted that he would even be able to implement it all (Remember the Wall).  "Make America Great Again" is his slogan. But to be honest, is the USA not great anymore? Not at all. Probably for most Americans who have lived through you might say the golden age of the USA, life is hard right now. But the USA is still the No.1 country in the world. It has the strongest military, and you might say a really high quality of life compared to the rest of the world.

Donald Trump is probably the "worst" thing that can happen to you, but relax. You don't live in a third world country. You don't live in a dictatorship. Your country gives you financial aid and healthcare and although the system is not perfect, you can basically live a good life. Try going to another country and see how lucky you are to be born and be able to live in the USA.

Growing a Farmer Part 2

Kurt's story progresses. As in my first blog, we see Kurt doing what a novice Farmer would do. Make mistakes and learn from it. These enables him to change how he runs Kurtwood Farms for the better. His drive is relentless and we see his passion in his writing.

As time goes on, Kurt's farm gets bigger. It has more animals and more complex activities such as getting milk and butchering the cows for meat. From each expensive mistakes, Kurt got through it and enabled him to be a better farmer. He wanted to grow quality food so he also believed in giving quality fodder for his flocks. He also talk about some guides such as getting an A grade at a restaurant and how to obtain USDA licensing. Here we see a more business approach to a farm from Kurt. He wanted the farm to be sustainable and he did what he needed to do. Another interesting thing he did was to start a dinner on weekends. This combined his skills as a cook and a farmer. Using excess food to give a great dinner to your new clients is a really good idea since he loves cooking too. 

Overall, this is not just a story about a farmer or a cook. This is a story about a man with passion. We see how Kurt grows throughout the chapters. Making mistakes and learning from it and become a better man. In each chapter we see the problem he is in and then how he grows to become a true farmer. In the end, he is not just Kurt the farmer but also still Kurt the cook because when he grows to become a farmer he also grows to become a better cook. What I liked about this book is that it tells us how perseverance and commitment are the key to success.

If You Can't Find the Key to Success, Pick the Lock!

Lock-Picking 101

Photo Courtesy of https://blackbag.toool.nl

  

"On March 8, 1971, burglars took a lock-pick and a crowbar and broke into a FBI office in a suburb of Philadelphia, making off with nearly every document inside.They were never caught." (Mazzetti)

Lock-picking has an old history. Preceded with the invention of lock which dates back up to Ancient Assyria and Egypt, we can safely assume lock-picking skills are developed soon after. It has been misunderstood and unappreciated for a long time, being associated with criminals and overpriced locksmith!

But what if I say you can learn it in a day? I bet you would want to learn it. In recent years, we have heard so many stories about cyber security. People got their bank accounts compromised, their credit cards used, and even their Facebook accounts hacked. But forget about digital security if you don’t understand about physical security first. What’s scarier? People that can go to your Facebook account or people that can open your room in under a minute. This post is not an encouragement for you to illegally pick locks but to use it to legally save money when you are locked out or maybe save some of those little TSA locks when you forgot where the key is.

 

Introduction

Before we got to be a master of lock-picking, one must know something about locks and keys. How do keys open lock? In the pictures you will see a typical basic tumbler pin lock that you might see everywhere be it in your house or a typical store. The purpose of the key is to put all the blue pins in the shear line so that you unblock the way and therefore unlock it. The pictures below also shows you a more realistic depiction of the inside of a lock so that you may get a better visual on it.

Photo Courtesy of Google.com

Here we see an unlocked lock with a key inside. Notice that the blue pins are not aligned along the shear line, therefore blocking us from turning the key.

The picture below show that the blue pins are at the right place. This enables us to turn the key and unlock it.

Photo Courtesy of Google.com

To master the basics of lock-picking, you would need 3 things:

• Nerve
• Tools
• Practice 
  

Nerve

Nothing is more important than the will to even try. Most people think it is illegal to own a lock-picking tools but that’s a common misconception. It is not a criminal offense in most states to own a lock-picking tools unless you used it on something that does not belong to you of course. What I meant by nerve here is not only being brave to try but also having the nerve to resist temptation and not do something illegal. Spending time in prison for lock-picking is not funny, and definitely not what I intended when I wrote this article.

Tools

Having the necessary tools is probable the “key” to success. Forget all the things you saw on TV where all you need is a wire or hair pin to open a handcuff or a door. Picks come in different shapes and sizes. In most cases, the handle and tang are the same. You would want a handle that is comfortable and the tang that is thin enough to avoid bumping and ruining the key pins. The most important part of the pick is the tip. It has numerous designs and it has different strengths and weaknesses. Each design is a combination of ease of insertion, ease of withdrawal and the “feel” of interaction. Here the “feel” is when the tip touches the pins and you slowly move it to apply torque on the pins and try to put it in the shear line. Once you get all the pins in the right place, you would use the tension wrench which is in the third picture to turn the cylinder and unlock it.

Photo Courtesy of Google.com

I would recommend for beginners to buy the Southord PXS-14. That was the first one that I bought and it has all the basic tools you require to get the feeling of lock-picking. It comes with a leather package and the handles are comfortable and it also comes with a handy guide for beginners. There are more expensive tools like the pick gun which is an automated tool but I would not recommend it for beginners as to be really good with lock-picking you would need to really get the “feel”. This is hard to achieve using the guns.

Photo Courtesy of Google.com

The photo on the right shows  different types of picks. Each have their own strengths and weaknesses. The most common to use is the rake.

Photo Courtesy of Google.com

The photo on the left shows different types of tension wrench.

Practice

 

When I said you could learn it in a day, I was being serious. To lock-pick is to basically imitate what a key would do. Of course there are different types of locks and some of them are harder to lock-pick but then again practice makes perfect. Most of the time, you would encounter the basic tumbler pin lock and therefore I would recommend you to practice using these kind of locks. You can basically find these on Home Depot, Target, or Walmart. I would not recommend practicing on your doors as most of the time, your first lock would be the first one you will throw to the bin. Getting a new lock would also enable you to look at the design of the lock itself and give you an edge in getting that “feel” as you would also be able to see what’s going on as you move those picks.

Guides and Links

There are plenty of resources online that will give you a better understanding and mastery of lock-picking. Here are some:

For Tools:

• https://www.southord.com
• https://www.lockpickshop.com
• http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2/179-0675355-6678817?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=lockpick 

For Beginner Guides:

• https://securitysnobs.com/Types-Of-Locks.html
• http://www.artofmanliness.com/2014/11/19/how-to-pick-a-lock-pin-tumbler-locks/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI7Lx-73lU0
• https://www.youtube.com/user/LocksmithArmy      

For Advanced Guides:

• https://www.youtube.com/user/LocksmithArmy
• http://www.lock-picking.org/lock-picks.html
• http://www.capricorn.org/~akira/home/lockpick/ 

 

  I wish you happy picking!

 

 

Works Cited

  

Mazzetti, Mark. "Burglars Who Took On F.B.I. Abandon Shadows." The New York Times. The New York Times, 06 Jan. 2014. Web. 14 Feb. 2016. 

"Greg Miller's Guide to Lock Picking for Beginners." Greg Miller's Guide to Lock Picking for Beginners. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2016.

"How to Pick a Lock | The Art of Manliness." The Art of Manliness. N.p., 19 Nov. 2014. Web. 14 Feb. 2016.   

"The Document Which Used To Be Called The MIT Lockpicking Guide." The Document Which Was Formerly Called The MIT Guide to Lockpicking. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2016. 


 

If you can’t find the key to success, pick the lock

Introduction

Lock-picking has an old history. Preceded with the invention of lock which dates back up to Ancient Assyria and Egypt, we can safely assume lock-picking skills are developed soon after. It has been misunderstood and unappreciated for a long time, being associated with criminals and overpriced locksmith!

But what if I say you can learn it in a day? I bet you would want to learn it. In recent years, we have heard so many stories about cyber security. People got their bank accounts compromised, their credit cards used, and even their Facebook accounts hacked. But forget about digital security if you don’t understand about physical security first. What’s scarier? People that can go to your Facebook account or people that can open your room in under a minute. This post is not an encouragement for you to illegally pick locks but to use it to legally save money when you are locked out or maybe save some of those little TSA locks when you forgot where the key is.

To really master the basics of lock-picking, you would need 3 things:

• Nerve
• Tools
• Practice

Before we got to be a master of lock-picking, one must know something about locks and keys. In the pictures you will see a typical basic tumbler pin lock that you might see everywhere. The purpose of the key is to put all the blue pins in the shear line so that you unblock the way. The pictures below it shows you a more realistic depiction of the inside of a lock.

Nerve

Nothing is more important than the will to even try. Lock-picking is not for the faint hearted, it is for the chosen few who dares to walk its path. Most people think it is illegal to own a lock-picking tools but that’s a common misconception. It is not a criminal offence in most states to own a lock-picking tools unless you used it on something that does not belong to you of course. What I meant by nerve here is not only being brave to try but also having the nerve in your brain not to do something illegal. Spending time in prison for lock-picking is not funny, and definitely not what I intended when I wrote this article.

Tools

Having the necessary tools is probable the “key” to success. Forget all the things you saw on TV where all you need is a wire or hair pin to open a handcuff. Picks come in different shapes and sizes. In most cases, the handle and tang are the same. You would want a handle that is comfortable and the tang that is thin enough to avoid bumping and ruining the key pins. The most important part of the pick is the tip. It has numerous designs and it has different strengths and weaknesses. Each design is a combination of ease of insertion, ease of withdrawal and the “feel” of interaction. Here the “feel” is when the tip touches the pins and you slowly move it to apply torque on the pins. Once you get all the pins in the right place, you would use the torque wrench which is in the third picture to turn the cylinder and unlock it.

I would recommend for beginners to buy the Southord PXS-14. That was the first one that I bought and it has all the basic tools you require to get the feeling of lock-picking. It comes with a leather package and the handles are comfortable and it also comes with a handy guide for beginners. Of course there are more expensive and better tools like the pick gun which is an automated tool. I would not recommend it for beginners as to be really good with lock-picking you would need to really get the “feel”. This is hard to achieve using the guns.

Practice

When I said you could learn it in a day, I was being serious. To lock-pick is to basically imitate what a key would do. Of course there are different types of locks and some of them are harder to lock-pick but then again practice makes perfect. Most of the time, you would encounter the basic tumbler pin lock and therefore I would recommend you to practice using these kind of locks. You can basically find these on Home Depot, Target, or Walmart. I would not recommend practicing on your doors as most of the time, your first lock would be the first one you will throw to the bin. Getting a new lock would also enable you to look at the design of the lock itself and give you an edge in getting that “feel” as you would also be able to see what’s going on as you move those picks.

Guides and Links

There are plenty of resources online that will give you a better understanding and mastery of lock-picking. Here are some:

For Tools:

• https://www.southord.com/
• https://www.lockpickshop.com
• http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2/179-0675355-6678817?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=lockpick

For Beginner Guides:

• https://securitysnobs.com/Types-Of-Locks.html
• http://www.artofmanliness.com/2014/11/19/how-to-pick-a-lock-pin-tumbler-locks/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI7Lx-73lU0
• https://www.youtube.com/user/LocksmithArmy

For Advanced Guides:

• http://www.capricorn.org/~akira/home/lockpick/
• https://www.youtube.com/user/LocksmithArmy
• http://www.lock-picking.org/lock-picks.html

I hope you guys enjoy this article.