Author: edwinsetiadi

Donald Trump has just signed an executive order today, to undo Obama-era rules aimed at tackling global warming. With the US as the 2nd largest polluter in the world after China, this action means the 2 degree Celsius warming cap would likely to be breached, and would have direct negative impacts towards our planet.

2 degree Celsius rise is the benchmark set by the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit in 2009, and again in Paris Climate Change Conference on early December 2015, where the participating nations pledged to keep global warming (since the Industrial Age) under 2 degree Celsius, which already almost an impossible task to begin with.

Record breaking warming keep on occurring every month in the past 2 years, which includes the strongest El Niño in decades. According to the Met Office the record breaking El Niño confirmed that the world has already “reached the halfway point towards the arbitrary “threshold” of a 2 degree Celsius increase on pre-industrial levels judged to be potentially dangerous for climate change.”

The Met Office then elaborate, “[while] scientists estimate that around 2900 gigatons (a gigaton is 1 billion metric ton) of CO2 can be emitted into the atmosphere before the 2 degree Celsius threshold is likely to be breached, industrialised nations have already about 2000 gigatons which means that the world has used about two thirds of its 2 degree Celsius “budget” of fossil fuels.”

Furthermore, in 2011 a think tank in London called Carbon Tracker Initiative conducted a research which found that the oil, gas and coal reserves that are claimed by all fossil fuel companies represent 2,795 gigatons of carbon, which is 5 times the maximum size of carbon that can be burned between 2011 and 2049 (around 565 gigatons) in order for us to keep warming below 2 degree Celsius.

The problem is, those reserves represent roughly $27 trillion in value, more than 10 times the annual GDP of the United Kingdom, and to keep warming under 2 degree Celsius approximately 80% of that reserves should remain grounded and become useless assets in these fossil fuel companies’ book, and there’s no way that they will comply without a fight. The Obama-era rules were the attempt to curb the activities to extract fossil fuels, while the executive order signed by Trump, conversely, largely based on the quest for profit from these fossil fuels.

While we’re entering the possibility of breaching the 2 degree cap, a report by the World Bank warns that as things stand, if we don’t make any changes in the way the world operates (i.e. like the fossil fuel production), by the end of this century “we’re on track [even] for a 4 degree Celsius warmer world marked by heat waves, declining global food stocks, loss of ecosystems and biodiversity, and life threatening sea level rise.” The report also cautioned that “there is also no certainty that [our] adaptation to a 4 degree Celsius [warming] world is possible.”

As an illustration, while 2 degree Celsius warming could drown Pacific nations and the likes of Maldives, 4 degree Celsius warming would drown big cities like London and Dublin, cities that have huge river in the middle of it.

In her book This Changes Everything, Naomi Klein pointed out that currently the temperature have specifically increased by 0.8 degree Celsius, but this is already enough to create several alarming impacts, I may add, such as the El Niño and melting ice in West Antarctica, which could raise seas by 3 metres and cause a $43 trillion calamity, as scientists predict most of the ice will be gone in 2050.

Meanwhile, even at the current levels climate change can throw 100 million people into poverty, and can wipe out 50 years of global health gains. Scientists also concluded that currently [in this 0.8 degree warming world] the earth has already exceeded 4 out of the 9 limits for hospitable life, with many species labelled “the walking dead“, including the world’s oceans that are facing the biggest coral die-off in history, and perhaps most importantly, humans.

Nevertheless, scientists have also found that there’s indeed a direct link between the increase of CO2 level and the increase in thermal radiation heating earth’s surface. Proofing that human activities really caused accelerated global warming, and thus we can also curb it. Hence the 2 degree Celsius pledge in the climate summit theoretically still possible to be obtained.

But as of today this optimism dies off in the hand of Donald Trump, without him fully understands what he has done. We can visibly see the destruction global warming have made so far with only 0.8 degree warming, and thanks to Trump the 2 degree cap would likely to be breached, taking us towards the doomsday scenario of a 4 degree warming described by the World Bank.

One day humanity might look back at this moment as the beginning of the end in our battle to save the planet. What a dangerous human being this powerful idiot is.

Note: the majority of the facts and arguments I presented here have been posted before in 100 things I learned and did in 2015 no 63-68.

I hesitated for 2 days to post this pic, because I’m not that close with her, and the only 1 time I met her after graduating high school was 6 years ago, on a less-than-an-hour lunch.

But yet I’m pretty bumped out that she’s gone, without knowing why. And then I realise something just now.

Everyone have 24 hours a day, from jobless and homeless people to presidents and billionaires. We don’t have time but we make time, time to do what’s required, and time left to do what’s important for us. And as we grow older, our priorities change and grow with us. Some become busy with their small family, some travel the world, some got caught up at work, and most of us got new friends and colleagues along the way.

The death of an old friend is a cruel reminder, of the time we have half-wasted being busy doing these grown up stuff.

And now I actually regret not making more time to spend with someone I never really knew.

R.I.P. Agnes.

“Philosophy 100 Essential Thinkers” by Philip Stokes

In its most basic function, philosophy is essentially a battle of ideas. With that in mind, this book neatly spotted some of history’s best philosophers in a cronological order, and gives us the big picture on the battle of ideas.

Out of the 100 in the book we find the usual bunch of philosophers such as Plato, Kant, Kierkegaard, and Descartes, mixed it with those who develop their philosophy from their vocation like Darwin, Keynes, Lenin, Einstein, and Freud, with a lot of important – but relatively unknown to the general public – thinkers such as Ernst Mach, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Michel Foucault also arguing their theories.

The book explains the ideas of each philosopher in a concise manner, explains how or why they think like that and what happened in their lives that eventually shaped those ideas, and also highlighted who influences whom and who despises whom.

More interestingly, the book brilliantly construct the battle of ideas in such a way that as if the philosophers were all having a passionate debate in the same room.

Just as it were in real life, the arguments are messy, sometimes illogical, but ultimately vital to the development of philosophical thoughts into what we all believe in today’s society.

“The Game Theorist’s Guide to Parenting: How the science of strategic thinking can help you deal with the toughest negotiators you know — your kids” by Paul Raeburn and Kevin Zollman

I initially bought and read this book because I love behavioural economics, and I’m intrigued by the idea of using game theory as a strategy to raise my kids.

But to my delightful surprise, the book covers more grounds than just parenting. The authors give the widest range of examples from the fascinating world of game theory, and can somehow directly put them in the context of parenting.

Even for those who are not looking for a parenting guide can still immensely enjoy the book, as its tools can also be applicable in other types of relationships.

It is hugely entertaining, often funny, and most importantly the theories work very effectively.

“How to win friends and influence people” by Dale Carnegie

I used to be this incredibly positive person growing up, never criticise and can always see the good side of people. Then something happened in 2005, harsh reality sets in, series of failures and many rejections changed me. Once had a quite promising future, the downturn made me look like a joke, the silent judgement made me bitter and the confrontational insults sank me.

Then I crawl myself out from the abyss using my angry energy. I altered my life to finance and never look back, and all the things I’ve earned since then – albeit still relatively nothing, and still a long ongoing process – are achieved by being tough. I became disciplined, incredibly efficient and wasted no time.

That took some toll on my behaviour towards others. I increasingly have no time for small talks and getting to know new people. Placing the highest priority on truth, I became a frank talker, always speaking up my mind, and often directly correcting people when they’re wrong.

But perhaps most significantly I constantly expect 100% from people, the way I push myself to always be on 100% alert. When they fail to do so I got angry and never fail to criticise, just as I would’ve done harshly to myself (hey that angry energy works out for me, surely it can work on everyone?)

After a while, I secretly hate who I’ve become, that easily irritated person. But then I can’t possibly begin to let the truth unspoken, to tolerate the tiniest mistakes or 0.001 second of lateness, or all the unfairness I see regularly in front of my eyes. I’ve tried, so damn hard, to tolerate but to no avail.

Then I accidentally found the book “How to win friends and influence others” by Dale Carnegie.

16 million copies sold since 1930s and it’s not difficult to see why. Based on years of research and countless social experiments, the thesis that Dale Carnegie is presenting in the book is not merely a theory but a proven success first through his lectures and sessions, which then expanded vastly to become this book.

The writing style delightfully use 1930s tone and slangs, with an easy to read language. The content itself is very condensed, very rich with wisdom and very straight forward down to business. Indeed, every sentence is a gem, every paragraph is inspirational, and every chapter is life changing. They are heartwarming to read and each page literally filled me with enthusiastic energy.

Moreover, Carnegie presents his thesis not as a countering argument against our existing views, but as a way to see the views from different angles and a whole new level of understanding, and back them with so many stories from history and [1930s] current affairs. He can tell like 10 different stories to make just 1 point, stories which can somehow merge together into one related chapter. He also quoted many books and relevant quotations from many great people.

It is very inspiring to read how great people control their behaviour and empowering their surroundings, people like Theodore Roosevelt, Martin Luther King Jr., John D Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Charles Dickens, Charles Schwab, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Napoleon Bonaparte, and many “ordinary individuals” with great stories to tell. I learn a lot in particular from the way Benjamin Franklin change his opinionated self into a master in diplomacy, and the way Abraham Lincoln handle his anger from past failures, which I feel directly related with my case.

Eventually, like many of the people giving reviews, this book has indeed changed the way I interact with people and has made the quality of my life instantly better. I’m starting to be back to my old self, start pleasantly talking with strangers, have a better control over my emotions, and perhaps most fundamentally in my eyes those many idiots have suddenly become those struggling people who have fundamental desire to feel important. Criticisms towards others have been reduced, while the sincere praises increased as well as the focus on their interests.

All in all, this is the fastest book I read so far cover to cover, and the easiest to make a review on. It is also the book that I highlighted the most up to a point that I began to think that it’s pointless highlighting them because I would’ve highlighted the whole book. It’s not hard to see why this book is such a hit for 80 years running, without a doubt one of the best I’ve ever read.

Key takeaways:

1 Nobody likes to be criticised. People rarely feel that they are wrong, and if criticised will usually try to justify themselves and be defensive, and ended up further damaging the task.

2 Feeling of importance: “If you tell me how you get your feeling of importance, I’ll tell you what you are. That determines your character. That is the most significant thing about you.” Lack of appreciation, therefore, is one of the main cause of damaged relationship. Lesson: give honest and sincere appreciation on others.

3 “So the only way on earth to influence other people is to talk about what they want and show them how to get it.”

4 “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”

5 “…. the average person is more interested in his or her own name than in all the other names on earth put together. Remember that name and call it easily, and you have paid a subtle and very effective compliment. But forget it or misspell it—and you have placed yourself at a sharp disadvantage.”

6 Talk in terms of the other person’s interests. “So if you aspire to be a good conversationalist, be an attentive listener. To be interesting, be interested. Ask questions that other persons will enjoy answering. Encourage them to talk about themselves and their accomplishments.”

7 “There is one all-important law of human conduct. If we obey that law, we shall almost never get into trouble. In fact, that law, if obeyed, will bring us countless friends and constant happiness. But the very instant we break the law, we shall get into endless trouble. The law is this: Always make the other person feel important.”

8 Make the other person feel important, and do it sincerely.

9 “You can’t win an argument. You can’t because if you lose it, you lose it; and if you win it, you lose it. Why? Well, suppose you triumph over the other man and shoot his argument full of holes and prove that he is non compos mentis. Then what? You will feel fine. But what about him? You have made him feel inferior. You have hurt his pride. He will resent your triumph. And… A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.”

10 “If you tell them they are wrong, do you make them want to agree with you? Never! For you have struck a direct blow at their intelligence, judgment, pride and self-respect. That will make them want to strike back. It is difficult, under even the most benign conditions, to change people’s minds. So why make it harder? Why handicap yourself? If you are going to prove anything, don’t let anybody know it. Do it so subtly, so adroitly, that no one will feel that you are doing it.”

11 “Few people are logical. Most of us are prejudiced and biased. Most of us are blighted with preconceived notions, with jealousy, suspicion, fear, envy and pride. And most citizens don’t want to change their minds about their religion or their haircut or communism or their favorite movie star.”

12 “I am convinced now that nothing good is accomplished and a lot of damage can be done if you tell a person straight out that he or she is wrong. You only succeed in stripping that person of self-dignity and making yourself an unwelcome part of any discussion.”

13 “Any fool can try to defend his or her mistakes—and most fools do—but it raises one above the herd and gives one a feeling of nobility and exultation to admit one’s mistakes.”

I want my kids to live in a future where ethnicity won’t be a determinant factor, religion won’t be a political tool, and their country is in harmony with diversity.

I want them to live in a world where grass-root people-power prevail against the funding of corrupted political dynasties, where work ethics and results are more appreciated than deceptions and lies, where the best man/woman wins because of their capabilities not based on their connections or political endorsements.

I want my kids to feel safe, not terrorised by their own religion. I want them to see the examples that their religion is indeed sacred and peaceful, even highly sophisticated just like in the times of the Golden Age.

I want them to grow up in a clean and efficient environment, where the leaders are fair and transparent, and the government facilities and services are 1st class.

And I’m giving my kids this future. Starting with giving my 1 vote to the right person today. Insya Allah.

It’s just infuriating to see agama kita yang suci disalah gunakan untuk objective yang kotor dan nggak Islami. Segitu nggak capable nya kah sampe harus pake black campaign untuk ngalahin lawan politik?

Jadi Muhammadiyah, NU dan MUI tidak mendukung aksi 112 hari ini http://m.tribunnews.com/nasional/2017/02/10/kapolri-muhammad-nu-dan-mui-tidak-dukung-aksi-112

Dan Dewan Masjid juga serukan masjid jangan dijadikan tempat kegiatan politik https://m.detik.com/news/berita/3419788/dewan-masjid-serukan-masjid-tak-dijadikan-tempat-kegiatan-politik

GNPF MUI sendiri membantah kalo 112 itu aksi terkait pilkada, “kami ini mau beribadah, mau silahturahmi…” http://m.viva.co.id/berita/metro/880886-gerakan-pengawal-fatwa-mui-bantah-aksi-112-terkait-pilkada

Tapi nyata nya sembari jalan mereka bawa spanduk-spanduk kayak yang bertuliskan “haram pilih pemimpin kafir” http://m.cnnindonesia.com/nasional/20170211082406-20-192797/massa-anti-ahok-mulai-berdatangan-ke-masjid-istiqlal

Anies-Sandi dan AHY pun juga ikut dateng, beserta beberapa politisi partai-partai pendukung mereka https://m.tempo.co/read/news/2017/02/11/078845405/anies-sandi-dan-agus-hadir-dalam-aksi-112-di-masjid-istiqlal

Dan massa aksi 112 diajak untuk bersumpah untuk memilih gubernur Muslim http://m.metrotvnews.com/news/peristiwa/9K57LWRb-massa-aksi-112-disumpah-menangkan-gubernur-muslim

Kalo ini bukan aksi terkait pilkada, jadi ini apa?

Padahal kita rabu besok bukan mau memilih orang untuk jadi penguasa kita atau pemimpin agama, tapi kita mau milih orang yang kerja untuk kita, yang kita gaji dari pajak kita untuk atur kota kita.

Dan kalo emang tetep mau bawa-bawa agama, siapa yang bilang nggak boleh milih pemimpin non-Muslim? http://www.nu.or.id/post/read/63567/memilih-pemimpin-non-muslim-bolehkah

I’m not saying that harus pilih no 2, siapapun yang mau milih no 1 atau no 3 silahkan banget. Tapi tolong jangan bawa-bawa agama untuk urusan politik, that’s very low.

But still, people only see what they want to see, mau diomongin kayak apa juga nggak bakal ngefek. So, semoga silahturahmi-silahturahmi kayak gini, yang mendoakan NKRI, bisa terjadi terus ya setelah pilkada selesai. Nggak ada hubungannya sama politik kan?

“The Reckoning: Financial accountability and the rise and fall of nations” by Jacob Soll

This book tells the greatest stories on the evolution of accounting. All of the crucial people, all of the manipulation and missed opportunities were all told in an engaging style of writing, while slowly describing most of the functions of accounting. An observant reader with no prior accounting knowledge would eventually understand the basics of bookkeeping while learning who initiate the law and why he initiated it.

The book is filled with stories of men like Luca Pacioli, whom considered as the father of accounting. He argued that the merchants is the key figure in a republic, because they “could count, calculate and manage abundances and war, famine and pestilence” and because “they were disciplined and vigilant managers of both business and government.”

There’s also Robert Walpole, the First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Britain’s first Prime Minister that was probably the original Robin Hood, due to his reputation as a wily master of state finance.

And then there’s Frederick Winslow Taylor, whom revolutionized the industrial and labour efficiency, and inspired the making of Harvard Business School, inspired Henry Ford, interested by Stalin and Lenin, and admired by Hitler.

But the best feature for me got to be the detailed stories of the great historical figures and how they use accounting as one of their success formula, From Cosimo de Medici, the Sun King and his finance minister Jean-Babtise Colbert, to Benjamin Franklin, to the founders of PriceWaterhouse, Ernst & Young, and McKinsey.

Indeed, the book directly highlights how the discipline level of bookkeeping slowly became the core foundation for a businesses and/or nations, and can eventually make or break an empire. I never knew that accountants have such a central role in the world, as the impartial referee between business and government dedicated to numbers and orders.

The author can also delightfully relate all the activities of the men who made and shaped the Renaissance, into the many paintings about them. And explains the paintings’ rich back stories, the intentions, and even experts’ interpretations of them.

It’s not easy researching how the big names in history deal with their accounting books. But yet the author can manage to find credible references for it and re-tell the facts in a good flow of writing that turn this “boring subject” into a very interesting narrative. 5 stars.

“Zero Zero Zero: look at cocaine and all you see is powder. Look through cocaine and you see the world” by Roberto Saviano

Criminal organisations are much bigger than we can ever possibly thought. They are the firm structure in a broken society, one of the main reasons a lot of African countries have not collapsed yet. Their laundered money comprised of nearly 1/3 of liquidity during the 2008 financial crisis, and practically became the safety net that kept the global economy from collapsing.

Moreover, criminal organisations are also the direct reasons for some of the political changes occurring in the world, such as the killings of many politicians in Mexico, the forced regime changes in Colombia, or the imprisonment of Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko after a failed gas deal with Russia (which involved the Russian mafijas).

And in the veins of the global criminal network lies 1 commodity that is vital for the movement of the underground economy: cocaine.

In 2012 Apple became the most valuable company (by market capitalisation) ever listed on the New York Stock Exchange, thanks to the launch of iPhone 5 and iPad mini. Its stock price jump by 67% in just one year, meaning that if you had invested $1000 in the beginning of 2012, by the end of the year you would have a whopping $1670. However, by comparison, if you had invested $1000 in cocaine in the beginning of 2012, after a year you would get a phenomenal return of $182,000. And this is why cocaine play a central role in the criminal underworld.

This book is truly a masterpiece, an essential read if you want to know the complete picture of the world. It grasps and analyses the inner structure of multiple criminal organisations around the world – from the Colombian cartels, the Mexican cartels, the Italian mafias (including the largest criminal organisation ‘nrangdheta), to the Russian mafijas and their eastern European counterparts – and their dealings with cocaine.

It gives a very detailed accounts on the sophisticated trade routes and the importance of the skills of the logistics guys. And it also tell the stories on the creative ways smugglers carry their stash, including swallowing them with a condom, or hide their cocaine in paintings, statues, fake pineapple, can of squid, even children’s books and artificial breasts.

Furthermore, the author went to some great length to research everything there is about the industry, including visiting the distributors of cocaine and coming down to the streets to meet several pushers, and he vividly describes the gruesome details on the nasty effects of cocaine, which is very sobering.

He also reveals seemingly all the names of the biggest fishes in the industry, all down to the smallest details like how they torture their enemies and back stab each others, which has angered the criminal underworld and endangering him up to a point that he ended up needing protection 24/7.

With that in mind, this is quite possibly the most violent book I’ve ever read, a horrific reality on the real state of the world. A Mexican drug queen Sandra Ávila Beltrán repeatedly said “the world is disgusting”, and after reading this book from cover to cover I eventually get what she means, her world certainly looks very dark indeed.

Attack-dog Rizieq kena counter 11 kasus, Antasari bebas, Emirsyah Satar ditangkep, Patrialis Akbar ditangkep, dan link yg nyambungin pardon kasus GTIS ke mastermind kasus Ahok tinggal kurang hubungin 1 phone call away.

Sekarang kesan nya kyk sang istri tetep nggak mau ktemu utk dengerin penjelasan si suami yang kegep sering selingkuh, instead dia sikat satu per satu selingkuhan nya dan kumpulin semua bukti dari orang2 sekitar suami utk langsung kenain pasal 284 KUHP.

Ya gimana dia nggak jadi [extra] baper? His face and body language says it all kemarin, nyesel dan takut. If you don’t want to get burned, then don’t play with fire in the first place.