New things of the last 3 days

What I've learnt during the last 3 days:
1. I am very weak at Guang Dong Mahjong now.
2. My Mahjong program is far from perfect.
3. Saturday was a good day (but I woke up at 4pm).
4. My guitar skills is so shit.
5. HN is very good at playing guitar, very smart, and has big ambition (the word ambitious may be negative, I really hope that someday he can achieve what he wants to do).
6. My fitness is among the worst in the team that I play football with every Sunday.
7. I thought Eason Chan (a very good Canton pop male singer) 's last album U87 was very good, but his new EP is even better. It'd probably be better if C Y Kong was involved in one or two songs. And Wyman Chan has some problems, his Cantonese lyrics is fraudless.
8. KC is very good at snooker. PF likes to talk rather than play at snooker clubs. But he told us some stories (and jokes) today, which some were very good. One of them is:

Once upon a time, there was a little bird, in a freezing cold forest, shivering. A cow walked by and shit on it. First the bird was disgusted, but then it began to feel the warmth from the shit. It became happy because it was no longer cold, so it started whistling, even though it was stuck in the shit and couldn't get out. Its whistling attracted the attention of a fox (or wolf, some cunning bad animal). The fox came to the bird and saw it stuck, so pulled it out from the shit. The bird was so happy, but after just a second, the fox ate the bird.

The story may sound stupid, but it has 3 morals:
a. People give you shit isn't always a bad thing.
b. When you get out from a poor situation to a better one, don't be too proud or excited.
c. Anyone "helps" you or gives you a hand doesn't always mean they are good to you.

There was another story similar to this, but I can't remember. Man, I have to stop drinking to get my good memory back!


9. I miss my bobo a lot.
10. I am very sleepy now. (sorry, just want to make it 10 things, haha)

*** of the day

People always say "You learn a new thing every day". So I am trying to start publishing any new thing that I learn on any particular day.

To start off, this is what I've learnt today:

A friend of our manager has the surname Elver.
Elver - a baby eel.
Definition from Wikipedia: wiki
Definition from Dictionary.com: here

Since this is the first day, let's have another new thing I've learnt today:

Facts about two branches of Islam - Sunni and Shiite:
The Islam religion was founded by Mohammed in the seventh century. In 622 he founded the first Islamic state, a theocracy in Medina, a city in western Saudi Arabia located north of Mecca. There are two branches of the religion he founded.

The Sunni branch believes that the first four caliphs--Mohammed's successors--rightfully took his place as the leaders of Muslims. They recognize the heirs of the four caliphs as legitimate religious leaders. These heirs ruled continuously in the Arab world until the break-up of the Ottoman Empire following the end of the First World War.

Shiites, in contrast, believe that only the heirs of the fourth caliph, Ali, are the legitimate successors of Mohammed. In 931 the Twelfth Imam disappeared. This was a seminal event in the history of Shiite Muslims. According to R. Scott Appleby, a professor of history at the University of Notre Dame, "Shiite Muslims, who are concentrated in Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon, [believe they] had suffered the loss of divinely guided political leadership" at the time of the Imam's disappearance. Not "until the ascendancy of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1978" did they believe that they had once again begun to live under the authority of a legitimate religious figure.


There's been conflicts between these two branches of Islam in Iraq, started by a suicide bomb that destroyed one of the most iconic Shrine. That's why a lovely lady in our team has gone on and searched for the above information for us.




Also today, NEW OF THE DAY

Have a nice weekend everyone.

From today's Guardian

This is so funny. It's related to my recent blog about smoking.

Charlie Brooker's column:

"I wholeheartedly support the notion of banning smoking everywhere, for one entirely selfish reason: I've recently quit and don't want to be tempted to start again. If no one else lights up around me, I won't follow suit. Which means I'll live longer. And that's all I care about. Sod freedom of choice for smokers. Sod their poxy so-called "human rights". This is me we're talking about here. ME.

Mind you, I'm not convinced a simple ban is going to cut it. I've got a far better idea - one that's firm, fair and pretty much final. It's based on a scheme I originally conceived as an alternative to London's congestion charge, and I offer it now, to the nation, free of charge.

OK, so the congestion charge was supposed to reduce the number of cars in central London. Trouble is, it's far too complicated. There's cameras and traffic zones and text-message payment systems and blah blah blah. It costs a fortune. And you'd get better results if you replaced the whole thing with a sniper.

Yes, a sniper. Here's how it works: instead of charging people to drive through busy parts of town, you simply announce that you've paid a lone sniper to sneak around the city, hiding out on rooftops. Every month he'll blow the heads off several random motorists: a maximum of 10, say, and a minimum of five. You're free to drive where you like, as often as you please - but you're taking a calculated risk each time you do so.

You'd announce the scheme, and at first no one would believe you were serious. Indeed, you'd trade on that: perhaps nothing happens for the first couple of days. People carry on as normal. Then on day three: BAM BAM BAM. The sniper takes out not one, but THREE separate motorists, in different parts of the city. Shock, horror. Front-page news. Everyone's petrified. And the mayor simply goes on TV, shrugs his shoulders and says: "I told you so."

Bingo. You're looking at a reduction in traffic of at least 40%, overnight. Problem solved. And whenever people start getting complacent, you simply instruct the sniper to whack a celebrity or two, just to keep the story in the public eye.

Flawless. Yet the cretins in charge never tried it. Now they've got a second chance. They can use it to end smoking.

We'll need more than one sniper, of course, because we're covering the entire country. And they won't just be stationed on rooftops; they'll be going undercover, like Jack Bauer - following people into bars, pumping lead into their backs when they request change for the fag machine (we wouldn't ban fag machines - they're bait).

And we don't want any perceived "safe places" either. In the very first week, we should make a point of blasting the crap out of someone sparking up in a tent in the middle of Cumbria or something. Smokers need to realise there's nowhere to hide.

Let's change the warnings on the packs while we're about it. None of this wussy "Smoking Causes Cancer" nonsense. Just a sniper, in silhouette, and the words "HE IS WATCHING".

And once we're done with the smokers, we'll start on the fatties. That's right, blobster, I can see you. Just try reaching for that doughnut. Go ahead, punk. Make my day."

Please congratulate my bobo's 1.5 capture

She's passed blablabla test (halfly) and got a blablabla phone call.

I don't know whether she wants everybody to know, so blablabla. Ask her yourself if you want to find out. I am too happy to share it with you people.

On the other hand, this week has been miserable. I need somebody to help me, maybe myself.

Oh god, empty stomach + 1 bottle Beck's, I am drunk.

TopGear is Fantastic!

Guys, you're gonna miss this.

We always know that Topgear is an absolutely fabulous show. They even won the Emmy's (see here). Today, BBC 2 showed a winter Olympics special of Topgear.

Topgear did some crazy things with small cars before. They got some Toyota Aygo's to play a football game (see video in here, google video, no copyright problem I suppose). No Aygo broke down from that game. This time, as a winter special, they got 10 Suzuki Swifts to play ice hockey!!! And of course, because ice hockey is claimed to be the most violent sports, the cars did break down after unaccountable number of crashes. It was really hilarious.

Then they showed a race between a Mitsubishi Pro Evo III (or more) rally car, and the Norwegian National Bobsleigh team (what's bobsleigh?) down a hill. I think they showed this before. But what's interesting is, bobsleigh drivers encounter as much as 6G when they do bents. 6G?! More than in a F1?? One Norwegian team player has been player for 6 years and he's now 3cm shorter than when he started.

The best is yet to come. A human ski jumper normally comes down a 120-metre ramp, reaches speed of about 36mph and then starts flying. Can a mini makes a jump further than a human skiier?

Yes, they got a mini to do a jump, running down a 120-metre ramp. But in order to reach any distance close to the human (provided engine is definitely no-no in the air, because it's imbalance, I guess), pure gravity will not be enough as the car has huge air-resistance. So, they asked the Britsh blablabla Rocket society for some help. They added rockets to the back of the mini, trying to get to 80mph when it starts flying (don't know if the car actually made 80mph). And in order to keep the car straight when it runs down the ramp (no driver is in it, it would just be crazy), they added a pair of skis at the bottom, then dig tracks along the ramp.

It's all crazy stuff. And, sadly, the car didn't really fly far. But it was definitely brilliant stuff!!!

And when I thought that was all, more still to come. According to them, there hasn't been any human being, doing such a ski jump with a snowmobile. And, the stig did it. WTF, these people are crazy!!!

See some pictures here.

Please stop smoking

Just been reading a news article in MingPao about how a 23 year-old girl and her boyfriend went out to the street and restaurant, asking people to stop smoking. The two of them used to be heavy smokers, until last year Valentine's day when the girl was diagnosed with 3rd Phase pharyngeal cancer (or nasopharyngeal carcinoma, 鼻咽癌). Because she is so young, there are a lot of side-effects from the treatments she'd had. After suffering for 1 year, in this year's Valentine's day, they've decided to come out and advertise how dangerous smoking is.

My close friends all know that I hate this whole idea of smoking. Nowadays, people are more aware of poisonous substance in their food, no matter how light the poison is (e.g. 孔雀石綠). But even though everyone knows smoking kills, people still smoke, in front of their partners, even when they're with their children. Do they not know the effects to the children? According to ash.org.uk, "Non-smokers who are exposed to passive smoking in the home, have a 25 per cent increased risk of heart disease and lung cancer."

Firstly I really don't understand why people smoke. I have never tried, so perhaps you'd say I don't know how good smoking feels. But it kills! In the UK alone, 114,000 people die from smoking-triggered diseases every year.

I totally agree with banning smoking in public area like restaurants and shopping malls, or have some area disignated for smokers. But the primary target is still to ask the smokers not to behave selfishly and think of others'. Please think of the results of passive smoker (if you don't care about the effects of direct smoking) when you smoke in front of your friends, family, children, or, all other people.


2 x man, 2 x beer, 1 x keyboard, 1 x song.

People say smoking and drinking both bring happiness, or relieve pressure. The main difference between these two is that drinking does not affect other people, as long as the drinker does not misbehave when he's drunk.

(a bit of Chinese blog here, sorry for those who can't read)
剛剛在聽梁漢文的《廢城故事》、《新聞女郎》和整張《十號》大碟，不得不服"夕爺"的詞。雖然他大多的作品都是情情塔塔，但從《新聞女郎》可以看到這位高手怎樣把時事融合到男女關係中。
還記得Red 03我也有作品：

《七一》
曲：tummy
詞：tummy
編：?年隊band

面上的汗 訴說著不安 站在街上 繼續捍衛理想
喚著口號 不懼風霜 烈日之下 拍翼來陪伴上路

我不要 帶著問號 你不要逼我

這個香港的經典 要用萬人上演 歷盡艱苦緞練
迫不得已 要換人話事 難道你想試
雙失中的我 擔心聽朝點過
每秒在磋跎 這剎那你在何方



google logo for the winter Olympics

What does it take to stir up the world?

Cartoons featuring Prophet Muhammad (a key character in Islam) has resulted in anger from the Muslim community in different parts of the world. The incident started in September last year when a Danish paper published the cartoons. It triggered small protests within Denmark. Then more papers in continental Europe re-published the cartoons last month for various reasons, and that started the much-bigger problems. See here for more details.

This is very very sad to see the trouble created by a very small group (or just one) cartoonists and the newspaper editors. Their argument of these actions were to support the freedom of speech / expression. But what is freedom of expression? I am totally allowed by law to say right in someone's face "You're a d**k!", but it doesn't mean that I am right, I am a hero, or I am supporting freedom of expression. That's purely stupidity, asking for conflicts, trouble and to be beaten up.

Power of media vs Responsibility of media
In the world with freedom of speech, media has the responsibility of delivering information to population e.g. traffic updates, political issues and live scores. In developed countries, media also plays a very important role of monitoring public and private sectors. This includes exposing faults in governments and corruptions within companies. In free market, these media are profit driven, and therefore mostly deliver the news from the view of majority population.

However, in a world where there's no majority, every piece of news could result in anger from opposition.

Nowadays, with the help of internet and similar technology, words and pictures can reach 970 million people across the globe (representing 15.2% of world population, People's Daily Online) within hours, at least theoretically. When this power is used in good courses, it can hugely increase our qualities of living. For example you can understand what I think by reading my blog, I can search what causes a particular bug in Java, or find the cheapest flight ticket to fly home. It has saved a lot of our time, diminished the distant between people, and allow knowledge to be tranferred and exchanged with ease.

This power, on the other hand, has provided a cheap and fast channel for different organizations to spread out their messages. Media is a good example. With the ability to reach millions of people every day, it doesn't take much effort for media to stir up the world. No media (or no individual) is neutral. Every single media has their own specialities and opinions, which in most cases are determined by the editor and the bosses.

Conflicts between people start from disagreeing each other's thoughts. Every individual thinks differently, because of different social backgrounds, education, cultures, and, of course, religions. Conflicts begin when people don't want to accept other's opionion. When these conflicts are incited further by media, conflicts become hatred, and extended from between individuals, to groups of people thinking similarly.

This time, the conflict started in Denmark, where Muslims are minority. But with the help of internet and supports from other European newspapers, the information has reached the Middle East and east Asia, where Muslims are undoubtedly the majority.

Religious difference => no peace
From interviews with Lebanese on BBC website, it can easily be seen that most population didn't intend to do any sort of destruction to embassies, or violent protests. However due to complicated political and religious situation in this particular city, it was relatively easy for some trouble makers (believed to be linked with Syrian government) to stir up destructive conflicts. Sadly, this just gives another wrong impression to the rest of the world.

This particular example of Lebanon has shown how an originally peaceful religion can be turned to an excuse of violence. These similar excuses were used by extremists to
carry out attacks, in order to achieve other goals. This may include George W Bush and other so called terrorists.

I believe Islam and Christianity are originally peaceful and do not advocate wars. From my understanding, God would like to see its belivers to love each other. Does Bible say when someone attack your people, you should send out an army to destroy their country? And steal the oil?

Religious divisions can be dated back to hundreds of years ago, the Crusade. (I don't know too much details about this part of the history, because I was always sleeping and playing in history lessons.) Until now, many wars are the results of difference in religions (either directly or indirectly), claiming millions of lives.

Antitheism
If different religions can't live together in one world, what's the point of having a religion? I've read articles written from Christians, saying antitheists do not have targets in their lives, work for nothing etc. But, if antitheism brings peace, why not?

Oh, I am really tired now. I am glad if you read this far. But, as a note, this article is by no means intending to offend any one in the planet. Everything in the article (and in this blog) is purely my own thoughts. Feel free to say I'm stupid who doesn't understand anything. I just want to share my thoughts with my friends and family.

Please correct me if I am wrong by leaving comments in here.

Not even 1 number!!!

Euro Millions 3 Feb 2006. Ray didn't even get 1 single number correct. Guess I'll work harder for 4167 years to earn 125 million euros.


A silly boy trying out 3 pairs of goggles of his rich manager (which one look good?). This manager is now on his second skiing trips within two weeks. Still earning thousands of pounds while he's skiing. Crazy. The tall slim man behind is the French boss.


Saw this eye-catching VolksWagen van on our way back to office today lunch time.

Chinese new year week

Last Sunday was Chinese new year. Hopefully I can spend my next Chinese new year with my loved ones, and have some enjoyable meals. On this year's new year day, I ate out with JS in a French restaurant in Angel. Thank him for stopping me being alone on new year's day.

Then I arranged a dinner in Imperial China in China Town for my colleagues. Surprisingly, many of them brought their other halves as well. Although it reminds me of my bobo, it was fun knowing their partners.

A colleague is leaving the team, found another job. She is a really nice person to work / play with, and everyone in the office will miss her. Wish her all the best in the future.

Have spent a lot of money since pay-day, on dinners mostly. So I bought a ticket of Euro Millions, which the jackpot is 125million Euros. If someone gets this, it'll be the biggest ever lottery jackpot won in the world. I am not a greedy person, 1million will be very enough.

Google's fun. A couple of months ago, if you type "failure" (without the quotes) and press I'm feeling lucky, it would take you straight to George W Bush's website. Now it's directly you to Michael Moore's website, which is fine, but just not as funny. But, if you search "french victories" in google.co.uk, you will be surprised by its searching hints. I'll let you guys to try. We had a good laugh with our French boss.