Bulent Mourad

“ You’re born into this world with nothing and when you die you have nothing. I know it sounds depressing but it is not. Actually, it can set you free. Material things are nice, but they are just things. Focus on the love for your family and friends and all the wonderful memories. If someone told you today that you only had three months to live, you would not be caught up into all this stuff. I know that not being able to pay your bills, losing your house, car, etc., can be overwhelming, but it is just stuff. I have sat by many patients’ bedsides when they were dying and they never mentioned bills or money or material things. They wanted to know if I could call their family or to tell their family and friends that they loved them. They wanted their family and friends to be with them. I enjoy nice things but if I would lose it tomorrow, I know that I would be OK as long as I had my family and friends.

— http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30058079/

One thing I’m not understanding is why banks continue to foreclose on millions of homes. I’m no expert in banking systems, but this is the way I see it. A family gets a mortgage, and buys a house. When the family is unable to make the payments, the bank takes their house. The bank then just sits on the house. They don’t rent it, they don’t repair it, they don’t demolish it, they just wait until someone offers to buy it. This is basically what created the credit crisis. I won’t go into the details on that. If you want an explanation, check out this great video on it: http://crisisofcredit.com

The way I see it, continuing to foreclose on these homes is probably one of the stupidest things a bank can do at this time. The only thing they do with these homes is put them on the market for sale. No one wants to/can buy these homes, because the bank doesn’t lend out money so families can buy said homes. So the banks are just sitting there with nothing to do with millions of homes. A solution to this would be to lighten up on the foreclosures. Give the homeowners a chance to at least make whatever payment they can on the mortgage! Just lighten up at least during this severe reccession. Some revenue is better than a house sitting there losing value everyday, right?

The best video I’ve come across today. It’s so true. I’m still blown away that 2000 songs can fit into my iPod touch which has the thickness of a pencil. 10 years ago I had to lug around a cd player with a bunch of CDs.

What does $1 trillion look like?

“ Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

— Mark Twain

In a recession, tech gadgets become a luxury (CNN link)

It’s interesting how a recession can effect an industry so drastically. Imagine if we never got in this recession and the economy kept growing. Our consumer products could have probably been 10 years ahead of what we have today.

What Facebook is for.

Consequently, he had about five minutes left to live, not more. He said those five minutes seemed like an endless time to him, an enormous wealth…The ignorance of and loathing for this new thing that would be and would come presently were terrible; yet he said that nothing was more oppressive for him at that moment than the constant thought: “What if I were not to die! What if life were given back to me—what infinity! And it would all be mine! Then I’d turn each minute into a whole age, I’d lose nothing, I’d reckon up every minute separately, I’d not nothing be wasted!”

-Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Idiot

This is from the iDie iPhone app. I don’t know why I downloaded it. The app tells me I’ve already lived 25% of my life. But coupled with this quote, it helps you see life as the precious thing it is.

Well this is my blog. Here you’ll find me rambling on about the meaning of the universe, or simply of a crazy new website I’ve found.

I’m also on Twitter ALOT. My username is @bulentm