Eat of the day: Midnight truffle vs Chocolate Extreme Blizzard

If I have to pick an all time favorite dessert, it's gotta be Blizzard from Dairy Queen. And if I have to pick 1 flavor, it would be chocolate extreme (with brownie pieces, chocolate fudge......) Still, I have been looking forward to new flavors for a while. And I found it this week: a brand new flavor called "Midnight truffle." The funny thing is the poster of "Midnight truffle" looks very similar to chocolate extreme. I studied the ingredient carefully and it turns out the difference is the former has truffle while the latter has brownie. The rest is basically the same. And the winner is...... Midnight truffle!

Musician of the day: Tomonori Nishimura

I was looking for the music of the popular new age pianist Yukie Nishimura and ended up finding this album
Fritilaria
by Tomonori Nishimura. Interestingly this is also new age but at the other end of the spectrum, compared to Yukie's music.

I cannot find any info by Googling his name though. If you know more about this artist, please comment.

Tech of the day: FLAC and MP3FS

The company who owns the patents of MP3 is pushing a new format, MP3HD, which combines both losslessly compressed audio and the original (lossy) MP3 in a single file for backward compatibility (the lossy part is playable on all existing MP3 players) This idea was bashed heavily by Slashdotters. And they mentioned a very interesting alternative: rip your music to the lossless (and open source) FLAC format. Then mount the directory using MP3FS. The files will be "seen" as MP3 (transcoding is performed on the fly whenever the files are accessed) so they could be transferred to devices that could only play MP3. And you could play the FLAC files directly through applications like Foobar2000. No double-ripping and wasted storage!

Topic of the day: how to suppress freedom of speech effectively?

Learn the Hong Kong way: tell the protesters they won't get hired.

Here is the background: Hong Kong government is planning to subsidize companies to hire new HK college grads as interns. The monthly salary will be HK$4000 (~US$516.) This has caused an outrage in the college community because it artificially surpress the wages to a unreasonable level (I made HK$4000 per month as an intern 15 years ago. Does the government think there is no inflation for the last 15 years?) Some students are organising protests because they think the government is only doing this to drive down unemployment and make the officials look good. They would be better off without it.

Hong Kong legislator Priscilla Leung has made some comments about this (link to video in Cantonese) and drew heavy criticism by some HK bloggers. Those blog posts were titled "Leung says protesters won't get hired." Well, the whole context was that Leung worked in a college and was told by business owners not to recommend students who were protesting to them. So, it's not her who suggested to businesses not to hire protesters. Still, she did mention she was against the protests. She indeed suggsted students to accept the low wages for now and expect better things in the future.

BTW, Leung was backed by a church who was (in)famous for its anti-homosexual stance and in return she was against a proposed domestic violence victim protection law to include homosexuals.

Music of the day: Taranta, Estudio

I have not listen to much music during my trip. So of course I have to make up now that I'm back. Found this gem by the previously mentioned Lenny Breau in which you could hear clearly his classical influences:
Taranta.

While in the mood of classical, here is another beautiful track, written by Tarrega and performed by Liona Boyd:
Estudio in E. And it is easy enough that even I could play it (the TAB could be found in Fifty Easy Classical Guitar Solos)

Game of the week: Hong Kong Sevens

It was actually held last weekend and it is the biggest sports event in Hong Kong every year, which is interesting because rugby (or the seven men version of it) is far from the most popular sports in Hong Kong (that honor belongs to soccer) I think it does have its appeal: what other team sports tournaments that feature teams from 24 country could complete in a weekend?

Most importantly, Hong Kong won 2 big matches (against Portugal and Tonga, which was the eventual silver plate winner!) and was the only Asian team that qualified to play for the silver plate. (The top 8 of 24 teams played for the highest honor, silver cup, while the bottom 8 played for the silver bowl)

每週冷飯﹕安樂主義

摘自01年12月15號﹕

早一陣子從朋友處學到「安樂醒」這個新名詞﹕即是早上不用鬧鐘﹐順其自然地起床的意思。靈光一閃﹐覺得這種態度其實可在日常生活很多方面派上用場﹐為了實踐這個想法﹐筆者數月前和友人到加洲優山美地(Yosemite)搞了一個「安樂Camp」﹐包括以下活動﹕安樂行山(不設定任何目的地﹐略為疲倦立即折返)﹔安樂食(任意進食﹐隨時加料)﹔安樂飲(各適其式﹐可醉可不醉)﹔當然還有安樂醒﹐因為基本上整個行程並無特定節目﹐因此全無時間限制。至於安樂駕駛﹑隨意停車更不在話下﹗

想深一層﹐「安樂主義」其實是和中國道家傳統一脈相承﹕無求﹑無為﹐在充滿矛盾和節奏急迫的現代社會﹐這個不失為一個取得平衡的生活態度﹐從個人層面可令人心平氣和﹐從社會層面更可能達致世界和平﹗各位朋友﹐不妨一試﹗

當年順其自然的生活實在令現在有兒有女的筆者感慨良多﹐所謂此一時彼一時﹕
1) 行山不可能設定任何目的地﹐小朋友略為疲倦立即折返。
2) 不能任意進食﹐小朋友食飽方為大前題。
3) 飲酒不可醉﹐否則無人照顧小朋友。
4) 早上不用鬧鐘﹐視乎小朋友何時要起床。
5) 開長途車必須將就小朋友的如廁時間表而停車。

想深一層﹐現在以安樂來形容生活倒是貼切﹐此樂不同彼樂﹐乃係天倫之樂也。

Magazine of the day: Audiophile (Hong Kong)

If there is such thing as audio equipment news junkie, I would be one. Even though I rarely buy any equipment, I just love reading the reviews or even the advertisements! Those gears always look interesting to me. One of my favourite magazine is Audiophile from Hong Kong. Most of the gears are so exotic (and not to mention, expensive) that I'll never own one. However, the March 2009 issue is an exception: it has a special on complete systems that are under HK$30k (~US$4k) Definitely a good read. I could see 2 trends in this mag:
1) more and more coverage of brands from China. After all, they make affordable gears and they know the taste of audiophiles in Hong Kong and China well.
2) even though most of the systems are still being used with CD players, some are taking PC/iPod into account. And I believe that is the future.

Topic of the day: future of music

I came across two music related stories on Slashdot:
1) An Israeli guy named Kutiman has created an album (or project if you will) named ThruYOU where all songs/videos are remixes of videos from YouTube. Here is one of his video:


2) 17 million people stopped buying CDs in 2008. Well, I am not one of them. I have bought less than 10 since 2005 when I started using Rhapsody. (Before that I used to buy ~1 every week) In any case, no one should be surprised since it is so much more convenient to buy from online stores like iTunes or just listen to highly personalizable streaming like Pandora or Last.fm.

What's more interesting is that there is a common theme in the responses to these stories: music these days sucks. (Someone even posted an audio file which contains 2 songs from Nickelback and they sound almost the same musically. Will talk more about this when I get a chance) And of course there are rebuttals, and they do have some points:
1) most people are "attached" to the music that they grew up with and thus dislike newer music.
2) even musicians that do not keep "pushing the envelope" can make good music. And I totally agree. The best example could be found in blues: a lot of blues musicians are still following the same "formula" that is almost 100 years old but as long as listeners could emotionally connect to them, they are good music. Music can be good for many different reasons.

Topic of the day: cheering for the team that beat yours

Cheering for the team that beat yours is true sportsmanship. Supporting them financially? That's yet another level higher! Here is the story: McClymonds High School from Oakland beat Monte Vista from Danville and advanced to the state championship, which is held in Sacremento (~2 hours away). Due to lack of funding, the team was not able to get there one day in advance and stay at a hotel overnight before the championship game.

Now this is the heartwarming part: People familiar with the area would know Danville is an affluent community. A Monte Vista parent heard about this and wanted to help so he organized fund raising and got enough money to cover McClymonds' cost of accommodation. And they also wanted to do it anonymously.

The story didn't end here though: Oakland's school district learned about this and asked McClymonds to return the money because the district do have enough money for that and would pay instead. Whether this has to do with saving face or not is up to your interpretation. Nevertheless, it is a happy ending.

Music of the day: Revelation by Joe Satriani

This song was voted by Guitar Player's reader as the "Best guitar solo on an album released in 2008." If you think about it, there are tons of guitar solo from albums released in 2008, it is really a honor to win that award. And if you listen to that track, you will know why. I guess the more appropriate description would have been best guitar instrumental track. It is vintage Satch: great melody and full of energy yet sounded fresh enough to differentiate from his old stuff.

BTW, the rest of the awards are not as interesting: so many repeat winners. For example, Pat Metheny and Joe Bonamasa won both 2008 and 2009 in the jazz and blues category, respectively.

Topic of the day: AIG bonuses

As a taxpayer myself, there is no way for me to be happy about AIG employees receiving big bonuses even though the company needed taxpayer's money to bail it out. On the other hand, I have my reservation about the way politicians are dealing with this.

First of all, some politicians are just exploiting this to earn more votes at the next election. Don't be fooled by them.

Secondly, AIG defended by saying some bonuses were given because of contractual obligations so some politicians are suggesting to pass law to invalidate those contracts. IMO it is dangerous considering it is done retroactively. Imagine your own contract with your employer. Is it OK to change the terms without your consent? You probably don't think so. Of course, this is just my layman's way of looking at contracts. A lot of legal experts think otherwise. And they do have a point. After all, aren't insurance companies the best at making use of the fineprints in order NOT to honor contracts? Our government lawyer might be able to do the same thing!

I remember President Obama had problems with bonuses given to employees of Wall Street firms earlier as well. And I disagree at that time too. Bonuses being a substantial part of the compensation was the culture of Wall Street. I felt quite personal about it because when I worked there, my guaranteed bonus was ~20% of my salary. That was the reason why I would accept the lower salary. Can you imagine being denied that much of your total compensation?

Topic of the day: some people are (too) sensitive

Here is the story: a guy who works for a PR firm was visiting his client Fedex in Memphis. Regarding the city, he posted this via Twitter:

True confession but I’m in one of those towns where I scratch my head and say I would die if I had to live here!

Then someone from Fedex learned about this and wrote a letter to his higher-up at Fedex to complain about this Tweet.

I think I won't be too happy if someone thinks my home town sucks but I won't react this way either. Seems too sensitive to me. This blogger seems to agree. Of course you would hear a lot of comments about being careful with what you tweet but this blogger has a good explanation: it is easy to take Tweet out of context.

Maybe I have offended some Fedex-er by writing this post already. Ooops.

每週冷飯﹕想做百萬富翁嗎﹖

摘自01年7月1號﹕

"Who Wants to be a Millionaire?"在美國推出以來收視一直高踞不下﹐最近新登陸香港亦掀起一陣熱潮﹐實有橫掃千軍之勢﹐歸根究底﹐都是金錢的誘惑吧﹗

上星期加州彩票累積獎金再創新高﹐達一億四千萬美元﹐頓時成為城中熱門話題﹐人人大發富翁夢﹐結果由一位已退休的聖荷西居民一票獨得﹗認真幸運﹗

讀了蘇師父的「厄運、好運與自我實踐預言 」一文﹐不禁莞薾。其實筆者除了贊成「自我實踐預言(Self-fulfilling prophecy)論」之外﹐還贊成「人生零和論」﹕每個人一生的大大小小厄運和好運的際遇加起來大致互相抵消﹐佔別人多少便宜也會被別人佔回多少便宜。

有人也許會問﹕「我一向倒霉﹐怎算零和﹖」又會說﹕「某某如此富有﹐相信沒有多少行厄運的日子吧﹗」其實這個正反映人們只會記得自己吃虧之事﹐卻忘掉自己佔便宜之時﹔相反地﹐對別人則只看到風光的一面﹐忽視其風光背後的辛酸。最近香港金融管理局長任志剛先生接受訪問﹐其年薪雖達九百萬港元(一美元等於七點八
港元)﹐但他表示他不是一個快樂的人。又記得年前美國某電視台做了一個探討彩票巨獎得獎人的特輯﹐發現好幾位得獎人中獎後生活並不好過﹕或者是不懂得處理突如其來的財富而走上頹廢荒唐自毀之路﹐或者是引來一大堆對其身家垂涎的親朋戚友﹐以至終日提心吊膽﹐需要隱性埋名斷六親。「塞翁得馬﹐焉知非禍﹖」

各位朋友﹐如果能抱持「零和論」這種態度面對人生﹐遇到不如意的事情也不用忿忿不平﹐因為將來會有好運的事來抵消嘛﹐我想這樣會活得快樂一點。

現在看來這個所謂「零和論」難免有點阿Q﹐尤其是在當今金融海嘯下破財或失業的人士﹐恐怕不易如此豁達。至於不快樂的任局長﹐在今年退下的消息甚囂塵土﹐不知會否因此更快樂﹖而"Who Wants to be a Millionaire?"再度成為話題﹐皆因奧斯卡得獎電影Slumdog Millionaire正是以這個遊戲的印度版為題材。

Tech of the day: to become a salesperson, learn photoshop first

According to LAPTOP magazine, some office depot employees confessed that they would take the original price tag of a clearance item (e.g. laptop), photoshop it to a higher price with the difference being the price of extended warranty and present the modified price tag to shopper pretending they are throwing in the extended warranty for free.

Why would they do it? Well, the margin on laptops are very low while that of extended warranty are very high. I personally had horrible experience with extended warranty sold by another store. And it's quite typical: first you have to go through phone support that put you on hold. Then the phone support will ask you to do numerous meaningless steps, in my case, including reinstalling the OS! Finally hopefully they would agree to have you mail in the laptop for repair. The repair work done on my laptop was just lousy. I can't imagine it is done by a highly paid technician who took his time to complete the work. Since that experience I decided I would only buy extended warranty from the manufacturers directly. In fact, the one provided by Apple is so good that it is one of the reasons I recommend Apple to my friends who are not computer hobbyists.

BTW, there is another article about sales lying to customers that items were out-of-stock if they refused to buy extended warranty. And one advice by that magazine is: customers could lie and said they want the warranty so that the salesperson would take the goods to the register. Then cancel the warranty last minute before they pay. Isn't it sad?

Topic of the day: Pope's take on condom and AIDS

I guess no one could deny Pope Benedict is a lightning rod: his recent take, condom not being the solution to the AIDS problem in Africa, has caused yet another controversy. The WHO certainly disagree.

I do think the media has exaggerated a bit. It is no different from what the Vatican has always been preaching: not having sex is a better way to avoid AIDS.

No doubt about that. The problem is: most human are merely mortal and could not resist temptation even if they want to! So it is still better to promote and get people to use condom than not.

Topic of the day: President Obama and his NCAA tourney picks

Not sure if Mr. Obama is the first President who goes public with his picks but the first thing that come to my mind is: how would the religious/conservative groups react to this? Will they accuse him of promoting gambling? Don't get me wrong: there is nothing more popular than picking the NCAA tourney bracket for sports fan, especially for a basketball fan like Mr. Obama. I can't wait to see how good his picks are!

Topic of the day: Kong Girls

Today I'm writing yet another topic about internet culture. Kong is a popular shorthand in Hong Kong for, well, obviously, Hong Kong! However, Kong Girls doesn't refer to Hong Kong girls in general. Instead, it refers to a class of Hong Kong girls with some common (and bad) characters/habits, e.g. greedy, brand name worshiping, over-aggressively dieting. self-centered....... Check out this special report video:



It brings back some good memory of mine! Around 8 years ago a bunch of unmarried guy friends and myself formed a group and it all started with conversations about bad experiences with Kong girls!

Topic of the day: Grass-Mud Horse vs River Crab

This is a recently created "legend" from China and it is quickly spreading in the Chinese online community (and out of it too) in a viral fashion. Earlier this year there was a campaign to censor content deemed indecent on the internet, which was criticized as an act to suppress free speech. The story was created as a challenge to the authority: can they censor an innocent sounding story like this? In Chinese, grass-mud horse sounds like the famous F-word while river crab sounds like harmony. It's not hard to see what the story actually mean beneath the surface. The term harmony is misused in China. It's more like intolerance to differences in opinions. Check out the video below. The lyric is explained in great details.

Game of the day: Cuba vs Mexico

You all know that I am a huge baseball and football fan (you could tell by the hats I wear) I always feel empty between Superbowl and the opening day of the baseball season! Not this year though 'coz we have World Baseball Classic. There are not many MLBer on these 2 teams but it was still fun to watch. What worries me the most was the attendance seems quite low. I hope they will still play in 4 years.