pajero
(Spanish noun, masculine)
†
Jerk-off; jackoff; person who masturbates.1
So, we’ve got a masturbater’s car marketed here in the Philippines. How lovely. What was Mitsubishi thinking?
1 From http://www.notam02.no/~hcholm/altlang/ht/Spanish.2.html
Real Life Lessons from Games
I’ve been playing with video games since I was a kid (I’m part of the Family Computer generation). When I was younger, I used to play games that demanded optimum skills in finger dexterity and optical analysis. Now that I’m older, I’ve mellowed out so I don’t invest time trying to master Fighting game (Tekken) combos, First Person Shooter (like Quake) accuracy and Real-time strategy game Starcraft / Warcraft multi-tasking abilities. Instead, I’ve strategically chosen to go for games with more strategy and have a ‘PAUSE’ command so I can catch up with the pacing.
That’s why I’ve been enamored with Capitalism II and the Creative Assembly’s “Total War” franchise. Capitalism II (CII) is a business simulator that challenges players with goals (like dominating a certain industry, i.e. computers, or achieving a financial objective) in an economic environment. The current Total War franchise I’m playing is Rome: Total War (RTW), a game about the rise of Rome and her other competitors for control of the Mediterranean, North Africa and Asia Minor. RTW is filled with colorful factions from the Carthagians, Parthians, Macedonians, etc. that you can control to build an Empire.
Though both games may sound worlds apart, they actually are similar in terms of the skills you’ll develop along the way. Here’s what I’ve learned that I can apply in real life:
1. Focus – You can never spread yourself out lest you develop problems. In CII, it may mean more debt and (gasp!) a negative operating profit as you over-expand. In RTW, it could mean that your armies get divided and isolated, making them easy pickings for a rival!
2. Experience – As the leader, you have to have experience in handling contingencies, and the best way to do so is to voraciously learn whatever you can, even when you fail. This may necessitate the need to swallow your pride and lose territories just to experience a harsh lesson. It’s also important to obtain “2nd hand” experience through people, books, forums or other nexus of knowledge.
3. Organize – As your empire starts to form, organizational skills are a must to make the whole machinery work wonders. In RTW, this mean concentrating certain cities to produce better soldiers whilst other cities are geared for economic performance; in CII, you’ll have to develop a system (or formula) to thrive and grow amidst competition.
4. Manage – Don’t rely on god (or the computer) to do the moves for you! Check what needs to be checked all the time so you can adapt your plans then execute to achieve your goals. Experience and network come to play here. You cannot manage what you don’t know.
5. Profit – You can’t survive in business or in warfare when you can’t even make a decent dime. Manage yourself well and think how to make more value in what you’ve got. This means you’ll have to invest on the right things, like in RTW it may be a port, market or farm. In CII it means you’ll have to focus on your competitive advantages so you can capture markets without resorting to the detestable practice of price warfare.
6. Time your moves right – Pre-empting your opponent to have vantage point is what this skill amounts to. Experience, organizational and management ability is a must here so you can somehow predict what MAY occur. A misplaced army in RTW may cause you a lost territory since it takes turns to reach a point; a late product launching in CII may cause you problems in penetrating a market.
7. Network – As Lao Tzu said, “The people are the eyes and the ears of the wise.”1 In RTW, you’ll have to build up your spy and diplomatic (alliances) network to know what’s going on. You act only on what you know, so having an extensive nervous system will make you react better.
8. Invest in people – Lets face it, the only way for organizations to grow is through people. The less competent people you have, the less productive and less efficient your system is. Much like in the real world, the competition for talent is cut-throat – you can’t have enough good people! Remember, the initial “investments” involved may be visceral, but eventually all will pay for itself. And the cogs of your empire will run more smoothly. Your organization is as weak as its weakest link!
9. Be patient – Even in the game, my Rome wasn’t built in a day (yes, even how much I tried playing for more than 16 hours). Empires ebb and flow so just go with the tides and act accordingly. Remember the trilemma of management – fast, good or cheap; choose two, you can’t have three. Choose fast and good and it’s not cheap; choose fast and cheap, it’s not good.
10. Survive, thrive then conquer – For you to strike at your opponent, you must have a stable base from which you can coordinate your attacks. In RTW, it means a stable province relatively safe from enemy incursions; in CII it means a stable market with which you dominate in. From thereon, you expand to greater heights, but slowly.
As the great Uesugi Kenshin once said, “I never knew about winning from beginning to end, but only about not being behind in a situation.”2 I’ve learned that I can never predict the future, only control a certain environment to survive and thrive in. Even in RTW have different outcome every time – The Macedonians may just get wiped out or the Gauls might decide I’m a far easier prey.
I think there’s a certain pattern to everything, even in the dialectic of history, and it’s up to us to use that pattern as a vantage point from which we’ll progress. Timing, ones skills and abilities, and sheer luck plays a big role. As Polybius said, “In war we must always leave room for strokes of fortune, and accidents that cannot be foreseen.” And, indeed, these petty little happenstances do add up to make the magic of living.
Now, shall we start our own Real-World Empire?
1 I’ll be honest; I can’t remember who said this. I’m thinking it may be Confucius’ saying in the Analects. Or Lao Tzu at Tao Te Ching. Or some other philosopher. Help is gladly appreciated.
2 http://users.tkk.fi/~renko/hag2.html
Nobody is driven in to war by ignorance, and no one who thinks he will gain anything from it is deterred by fear. - Hermocrates of Syracuse 1
I came across that saying early one morning when playing The Creative Assembly’s Rome: Total War®, and immediately, the connection to the saying was simply too striking on the supposed “misinformation” (or ignorance) propagated by the US Government upon the world.
In war, truth is the first casualty. - Aeschylus 1
In time of war, when truth is so precious, it must be attended by a bodyguard of lies. - Winston Churchill 2
And a bodyguard isn’t enough. Try the entire government machinery.
In Iraq, after the nationalization of most oil companies, the West, which was regarded as hostile by Saddam Hussein, decided to hand out contracts to France, Russia, China and elsewhere. Now that Saddam was kicked out by the GIs, a new “Constitution” was written (Oohh, guess who?) that accommodated “foreign capital” much more easily. And guess which foreign capital’s going to get their dirty hands on? Oil Companies.
With the world’s second largest proven reserve (at 112.5 billion bbl6 at 2005 estimate), Iraq is only pumping out 2.2 million bbl/day at 2005 estimate5.
Compared to Russia, which only has 74.4 billion bbl (2005 est) but producing 9.4 million bbl/day (2005 est.) 4.
Saudi Arabia, the great big Gorilla in the oil world, produces 9.475 million bbl/day (2005 est.) but has a proven reserve of 262.7 billion bbl (2006 est.)3! Talk about Iraq under-producing!
So, with a whetted appetite for a relatively untapped resource in such a huge region, the promise for profits can’t be stressed enough. As Vincent Ferraro mentioned,” …And American control over Iraq gives it the ability to use oil contracts to influence the conduct of other states: The Iraqi oil contract awarded to Mitsubishi the day after the Japanese agreed to send troops to Iraq is a dramatic example of how such power can be used.”7
With so much at stake – oil price and political stability – there’s simply too compelling a reason to go after Iraq. Oh, and it’s to vindicate Daddy Bush’s image too (he was considered a political wimp)
1 http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rome:_Total_War
2 http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill
3 https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/sa.html
4 https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/rs.html
5 https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/iz.html
6 One barrel of US petroleum = 158.987 295 6 liter
7 http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/courant.htm
My motel door creaked when you opened it
like that ancient gate at the central park,
and inside you drowned me with your raunchy scent,
rushing through as perfume at outdoor dark,
embracing me with winds—strong and mighty–
and sweeping me to the beckons of lust,
thereupon we were in our arms entwined
under the playful caress of prodding gusts,
but we, so lost in our wine and smoke
are trapped in the passions of our thrusts,
and like twin fountains from heaven forged
our passions gushed from unmistakable trust;
But nary a glimpse was paid for the debt,
when you left the quiet park to forget.
–> An old poem, dated On Feb 22 5:17 AM 2005. First attempt at Erotic poetry. Don’t know if I succeeded.
Just being nostalgic and remembered my old site.
Rosas
Severed limb of mortal stay,
do please peer into immemorial past
of uncouth youth, ominous rebellions,
and placid acceptance from harsh truths
Just like the tale of a thorny rose who lived.
A day at a time, a moment for me to cry
to see just how meaningless this all is.
And what for? And why so? To live?
To live indeed!
To crawl from the soggy soil
and out to a glorious shining
To my tenacious insurgency to my prickers
Then down to the acceptance of my doom.
What was it for?
— An old poem I made. Wow, never throught I can be THAT negative!
