Random Thoughts...

Jane Zhang at 2011 MAMA in Singapore

2012-02-12T21:03:00.000-08:00

I saw Jane in concert in Pasadena several years ago.

MAMA = Mnet Asian Music Awards. Lots of Koreans since Mnet is a Korean network. Jane won in the Best Asian Artist - China category. On her bio page, Mnet screws up twice:

- Jane was born in Chengdu, China
- Taiwan is not a province of China

Miryo Banned

2012-02-11T17:44:00.000-08:00

Soompi

Miryo’s solo debut track, “Dirty,” has been ruled “inappropriate for broadcasting” by MBC and KBS, it was reported on February 3. According to local reports, the Brown Eyed Girls’ rapper received a notice from the two broadcasters for the lyrics of the song, containing the word, “cross-eyed.” They said the word “cross-eyed” has negative connotations and could be perceived as a derogatory term for the disabled.

“We’ve decided to accept the rulings from broadcasters and change the lyrics of the song. But it will take some time to replace the word, so Miryo will sing a different song on KBS ‘Music Bank’ on February 3,” a representative for Miryo said. Miryo gave a performance of “Leggo” instead on “Music Bank.”

The controversial verse from “Dirty” reads, “Oh my, all these young girls, pretty girls are here…I see your eyes rolling, you might become ‘cross-eyed,’ watch out boy.”

Cross-eyed?! Wow, those Koreans are sensitive... almost as sensitive as the Chinese, who are "offended" and have their "feelings hurt" all the time. Interesting that SBS wasn't mentioned in the article.

If you watch the MV, Miryo says (in English) "What the fff..." and gives everyone two middle fingers. I hear lots of English swear words on music show performances. I guess ignorance (can't understand English) is bliss.

Kindle Fire

2012-02-11T11:39:00.000-08:00

After my ASUS Transformer fiasco, I went and bought a Kindle Fire. I guess I didn't do that much research other than the fact it cost more to make than what Amazon is selling it for... the cheap Chinese guy syndrome got me again.

Kindle Fire next to my iPad 2

I messed around with it for a few hours trying to set it up so my mom can watch K-dramas. You quickly find out that it's not a "normal" Android pad. Amazon, like Apple, has locked the system down so you have to get apps/content from Amazon. It won't let you install Android Market so I can't set up the Kindle Fire like my Samsung GalaxyS. Also, the hardware is slow. Not sure if it's the funky browser or a crappy CPU. The 7" form factor is easier to hold but small for browsing.

Well, you get what you pay for... it was sold as a Kindle (media player) instead of a full tablet. But since it was only $200, I guess I'll keep it. My powerstrip next to my bed is now full: table lamp, charger for Samsung phone, charger for iPhone 4, charger for iPad 2, and now charger for Kindle Fire. :)

==========

So you can install Android Market after all, but you have to root the Kindle Fire by installing the Android SDK, then install a whole bunch of stuff. I haven't even rooted by Samsung GalaxyS after 18 months so I'm not sure if I will do this.

Waterless Urinals

2012-02-06T18:03:00.000-08:00

We have these at work... definitely not odorless.

Daily Mail Online

Students at a high school in Boca Raton, Florida, must step over rivers of urine and endure the stench of rancid waste after a plan to bring 'green' waterless urinals into bathrooms backfired.

School officials at Spanish River High School thought they had found an environmentally-friendly, cost-saving solution for their bathrooms when they installed Falcon Waterfree urinals in their boys bathrooms.

But with no water moving through the school's copper pipes to flush the urine into the sewer system, the waste produced noxious gases that ate through the metal, leaving leaky pipes that allowed urine to drip into walls and flow onto floors.

Our solution? We have a guy that fill plastic jugs with water and pour it in the urinal each night.

SNSD Inside!

2012-02-05T22:51:00.000-08:00

Get into my core?! All my computers have Intel CPU's... none of that AMD stuff for me.

New desktop wallpaper! Probably not appropriate for work computer, even though it has an Intel i5 processor.

Dictator Supporters

2012-02-05T15:12:00.000-08:00

Once again, China is on the wrong side of history, supporting dictators who murder their own citizens rather than share power.

Los Angeles Times

A United Nations resolution that Washington and its allies called the best chance to stop Syria from sliding into full-fledged civil war went down to defeat, dashing hopes for a political settlement as death tolls soar in the strategically situated Arab nation.

Security Council vetoes by superpowers Russia and China on Saturday doomed the measure, which condemned a Syrian crackdown on dissent and backed an Arab League plan calling on President Bashar Assad to cede power.

Of course, this was expected from China. After all, the CCP supported Ghaddafi and they continue to support the crazy Kim's in North Korea. Dictators have to stick together in times of crisis.

Sistar - So Cool Choreography

2012-01-31T19:00:00.000-08:00

Oops. This has been out on Starship's YouTube channel for months. I forgot to post the link here.

Hopefully they will show up at KMF10 this April.

Miryo (BEG) Solo

2012-01-31T18:55:00.001-08:00

Miryo is the rapper from Brown Eyed Girls. She's the last one of the four to release a solo album.

Dirty - Miryo

Girls' Generation on David Letterman

2012-01-31T17:40:00.000-08:00

Got an email tip from Sweden(!) that SNSD will be performing on Letterman tonight. I wonder if they are going to talk to Dave... I hope the old pervert doesn't say or do anything embarrassing. I'll post (or link to) a video later.

=========

Here's a link to YouTube. Since they were at the very end and the Letterman show runs for 62 minutes, my 1 hour DVD recording cut off the last bit of their performance... :(

It was only one song and they sang in English. I guess the Letterman show is a big deal but I hope they didn't fly all the way from Korea just to do one song.

Resumes and Cover Letters

2012-01-30T15:26:00.000-08:00

Last month I received an email from my manager that was originally addressed to our CEO and included a resume. The resume was quite good for someone two years out of undergrad but I thought the email/cover letter was a bit too much. I'm no HR person but I've read hundreds (maybe over a thousand) of cover letters. Basically he said that he was "dedicated to finding a career in manned spaceflight" and that this was his "dream company". Anyway, my manager talked to him on the phone and I think we offered him a position last week. I just saw an email reply that turned down our offer. Supposedly a friend approached him with some other opportunity recently so he's going to pass on our "budding" finance organization, whatever that means.

The only reason I posted this was his cover letter sounded like he would kill his own mother to work here. Oh well, he's only 24 so there's lots of time to explore options. Maybe his next cover letter won't be filled with so many super-duper words.

State of the Union Lies

2012-01-30T10:12:00.000-08:00

I didn't listen to the State of the Union speech because like most political speeches, it would be full of lies and a total waste of time. However, I read some comments on the Internet and had to check for myself:

But in return, we need to change our tax code so that people like me, and an awful lot of members of Congress, pay our fair share of taxes.

Tax reform should follow the Buffett Rule. If you make more than $1 million a year, you should not pay less than 30 percent in taxes. And my Republican friend Tom Coburn is right: Washington should stop subsidizing millionaires. In fact, if you’re earning a million dollars a year, you shouldn’t get special tax subsidies or deductions. On the other hand, if you make under $250,000 a year, like 98 percent of American families, your taxes shouldn’t go up. You’re the ones struggling with rising costs and stagnant wages. You’re the ones who need relief.

Now, you can call this class warfare all you want. But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense.

What is fair? Taxes pay for government services. The ultimate "fairness" is to pay for what you use, i.e., usage fees instead of indiscriminate taxes. Small example: abolish taxes for national parks and increase the entrance fee to cover costs. Big example: have parents pay for the children's schooling costs instead of taxing all their childless neighbors. I'm not suggesting that these are good/bad ideas... of course, there is a role for government (national defense, public safety, etc) but there needs to be a robust discussion on how much is too much. Obama equates fairness as at least 30% if you make >$1M. Why 30%? Does 30% of everyone's life depend on the federal government? Why not make everyone pay 30%? We know half of America pays almost no federal income taxes. How is that fair?

The last part of the quote is a complete lie. Obama is confounding tax dollars paid and average tax rate on purpose, unless he is trying to tell us that the amount on line 61 of Warren Buffet's 1040 form is less than the amount found on his secretary's tax return. I read that Buffet paid ~17% on his taxes while supposedly his secretary paid ~36%. Since the median taxpayer paid only 12.8%, and the top marginal tax rate is only 35%, common sense suggests something is wrong. Buffet and his secretary should release their taxes since Obama is using them for political purposes.

More Taxes

2012-01-28T17:26:00.000-08:00

Luckily I went through some piles of old mail at home and found a tax bill from the City of Orange. They want $58 for a business license. I made $0 from my "home business"... yet the City of Orange feels entitles to some more of my money for providing nothing whatsoever in return.

For the next local election, I'm voting against all City of Orange incumbents.

Worship Hands

2012-01-26T01:38:00.001-08:00

Funny...

Working Late

2012-01-25T23:04:00.000-08:00

Dang it. It's 11pm and I'm still at work. I have a forecast due at 3pm tomorrow and the new tool we got is a PITA. As part of our Microsoft Dynamics AX implementation, we got Forecaster 7.0. I've been trying to set it up all week and have spent the last few days trying to load historical data plus new data. Sigh... next to SAP, it's got to be the most user process unfriendly software I've used. :(

Making Stuff Up

2012-01-25T22:01:00.000-08:00

As my three readers know, I don't like Obama. I like him even less (if that's possible) after receiving one of my W2's in the mail yesterday. Let's just say I could have bought a house in many parts of the US with the amount of federal taxes that was withheld, and my tax guy thinks I have to pay more on April 15th.

Anyway, no matter how much Obama acts like a wannabe socialist, he's nothing compared with Mao. Actually, no one can compare with Mao when it comes to mass murder... except maybe Stalin. Back on topic, I saw a webpage that pointed me to this at the Academy of Marxism/Chinese Academy of Social Sciences:

美国总统奥巴马对毛主席的惊人评价

什么是外交？外交就是内政，这两者绝不是两码事，不是。也就是说，一个国家，国民要使自己成为国家的主人，这种愿望是民主主义的根本。在这同时，大政方针，天下兴亡，匹夫有责。民众的政治责任感的强弱，也就在相应程度上决定了国家外交的强弱。在这个意义上，外交难道不就是内政吗？曾经有毛泽东这样的政治家，是好是坏历史会有说法。
　　作为一位没怎么出过国的政治家，他在中国获得了压倒性的支持后，在外交领域，他使中国在世界上的存在感变得非常卓着。曾经有一段时期，毛泽东毫不畏惧与我们美国对峙并一路走来。可见，执政党在自己的国内获得毫不含糊的支持，国民以天下为己任，在某些场合为了保家卫国、为了国家的未来，不惜付出些许代价，一个国家有了这样的力量，外交才会有根本的力量。国之力在民，民之力是外交之力、是外交最基本的原理。这是我对毛泽东的外交感触最深的地方。

Supposedly this is a translation of a speech by Obama where he praises Mao on foreign policy and defense. If you put the text through Google Translate, you get this gibberish:

What is diplomacy? diplomacy is domestic, both of which are not two different things, not the other words, a country nationals to make their own masters of the country, this desire is the root of democracy at the same time, major policies, rise and fall of every man's duty. the strength of people's sense of political responsibility, will determine the appropriate extent, the strength of the country's foreign in this sense, foreign affairs do not that it? there was Mao Zedong's politicians, is History will say good or bad.
　　How not been abroad as a statesman, he won a landslide in China's support in the diplomatic field, he makes the presence of China in the world with a sense of very Zhuo. There was a time, Mao Zedong without fear confrontation with the United States and along the way we are. Can be seen, the ruling party in their own country to obtain unequivocal support, national responsibility to the world, in some cases to defend the country, for the country's future, to pay a little at the price, a country with such a force, diplomacy will have a fundamental strength. State power in the people, the people's power is the power of diplomacy, is the most basic principles of diplomacy. This is my deepest thoughts and feelings of Mao Zedong's diplomatic areas.

What is the "Academy of Marxism" and why are they making up sh*t like this? This is so easy to disprove. Are Chinese netizens so lazy or brainwashed that they won't search for the original quote, if it exists? This is terribly inept propaganda... somebody needs to be fired or at least lose their ernai privileges.

Lena Park Calendar

2012-01-24T22:44:00.000-08:00

Freebie! Even though I missed Lena Park's concert in Pasadena, her sister was kind enough to give me some free stuff. In addition to the calendar, I got 2 women's medium t-shirts. Those will probably go to Sunny and Christine, who are now huge Lena fans due to I Am A Singer.

Cover + autograph

January

Does this mean people in Korea get Monday and Tuesday off for ~~Chinese~~Lunar New Year? I talked to Sindy last night and they get the whole week off in China.

Missing Check

2012-01-24T22:35:00.000-08:00

Sigh... I wrote a check today to pay the trash bill and found that there is a check missing in the sequence. I looked in Quicken and online but couldn't find/remember what happened to check #13xx. I hope I didn't write a large check to someone. :(

Mitt Romney's Tax Return

2012-01-24T13:47:00.000-08:00

Mitt Romney's 2010 tax returns can be found at his campaign website. The important number, AGI, is $21.6M and it's all from interest/dividends/capital gains. I think I heard on the news that their effective tax rate is ~15% whereas I'm paying about 31%, same as Newt Gingrich.

This is okay with me. I think there is a good reason to have a lower capital gains tax rate since the investor already paid taxes to acquire the "capital" and the company generating "gains" on that capital is being taxed too. What I have a problem with is Obama's class-warfare crap, and the fact that Romney's tax return is 203 pages long.

Refurbished Electronics

2012-01-21T23:34:00.000-08:00

Since you can never have enough electronics, I bought a refurbished Asus Transformer tablet running Android 3.2. My thought was that I would configure it so my mom or dad can watch videos in their bedroom. Since Android supports Adobe Flash, there won't be as many problems with missing videos.

The unit arrived in a plain box. When I say plain, I mean no instructions and no documentation. WTF? It's supposed to have a 90 day warranty but there's nothing on paper. Great. After I unpacked it and plugged it in, I find that the battery won't charge. The battery was at 0% so it shut itself off after 3 minutes. I tried different USB power adapters to verify each component and everything seems to work. Then suddenly the unit decided to charge and got to ~81% before stopping. I can transfer files to/from my PC so the cable works. The power adapter will charge my iPad so the unit itself must be busted. It has stopped charging again and the battery is now down to 15%. If I unplug it, a warning message pops up telling me to plug it back in... but when I do, the charge indicator does not change and it continues to discharge. Strange.

Sigh... it looks like I will need to call Tiger Direct to return then item. Such a hassle... I'm not buying anything from Asus ever again.

==========

Spoke with Asus Tech Support and determined that the battery was busted in the tablet. The rep wanted me to send the unit in for repair. I told him that I only had it for 3 days and I'm not sending it in for repair. Fortunately Tiger Direct agreed to refund me the purchase so I have to make a trip to UPS and send the unit back.

Now I need to decide if I still want to buy the same unit (probably not) or try something else.

Megaupload

2012-01-20T22:35:00.000-08:00

Dang it. Now how am I supposed to retrieve files that I uploaded? If you do a WHOIS lookup on the domain name, this is what comes back:

Megaupload Limited
P.O. Box 28410
Gloucester Road Post Office
Wan Chai, Hong Kong 00000
HK

Are their servers based in the US? How can the DOJ shut down a foreign site... or it is only blocked in the US?

Phobos-Grunt

2012-01-17T18:36:00.000-08:00

Phobos-Grunt is a Russian space probe that was supposed to return samples from Phobos, one of the moons of Mars. However, it got stuck in LEO back in November and crashed in the Pacific Ocean (off Chile) on January 15th. I think a failed rocket engine burn prevented the probe to leave Earth orbit. Our CEO sent a link to a website that tracked the mission in great detail. Reading through the article, it's pretty clear that even though Russia is no longer a communist country, the poor management practices is still very much alive.

January 9

In an interview to the Izvestiya daily published on January 9, the head of the Russian space agency, Vladimir Popovkin finally admitted a number of critical flaws in the organization and design of the Phobos-Grunt mission, about which observers had warned all along and which the agency had vehemently denied in the past and attempted to punish the few journalists who had exposed these problems. At the same time, Popovkin defended the fateful decision to launch the spacecraft, portraying the current leadership of the agency as a hostage of bad decisions in the past.

"Phobos-Grunt was developed and built under conditions of limited funding, which predetermined risky technical decisions and made the whole mission problematic," Popovkin said, "We became hostages of these decisions, since we had been bound by agreements with the European Space Agency (ESA), whose instruments were onboard, and with Chinese colleagues, whose satellite we had committed to carry to Mars. In addition, the spacecraft was under construction for a very long time and warranties and operational lifetimes of many components were approaching their limits. If we missed the 2011 launch window for the flight to Mars, we simply had to throw away the spacecraft and write off five billion rubles of investments (into the project)."

It should be noted that numerous officials involved in the Phobos-Grunt project contradict Popovkin's statements about lack of funding for the project, at least in the past several years. Also, the most problematic part of the project and a likely culprit in its ultimate demise -- the flight control system, BKU -- was a result of engineering and management incompetence rather than funding. Finally, it is unlikely that agreements with ESA would prevent the delay of the mission from 2011, if the real status of the project was honestly communicated to international partners. Numerous international participants in the project repeatedly said that Russian space officials had assured them in the readiness of the spacecraft for launch in 2011. It is also obvious that replacing some out-of-warranty components would have been a much better decision than launching a doomed mission.

Yet, Popovkin went even further and repeated a really bizarre accusation which had been previously made by at least one high-ranking Russian military officer about the possible sabotage of the Phobos-Grunt mission by foreign powers, hence by the United States. "Today there is no clarity, why the propulsion unit onboard Phobos-Grunt failed to start, Popovkin told Izvestiya, "It is also unclear, why our satellites often have failures at the time when they fly out of range (of Russian ground control) where we don't see the vehicle and do not receive telemetry from it. There is no wish to accuse anybody, but today there are very powerful means of influence on spacecraft and the possibility of their use can not be excluded."

Huh? He thinks the US sabotaged the mission? That sounds a lot like China's Foreign Ministry... any protests or other dissent in China is caused by foreigners trying to overthrow the government.

Rented Room

2012-01-16T21:16:00.001-08:00

To save time, money, and grief, I rented a room from a church friend in Torrance. He bought a house a few months ago and decided to rent out his guest room to me. Since I'm keeping my house in Orange, I'm not bringing too much stuff here, and will probably go home mid-week to get mail and maybe food.

Coincidentally, he lives on the same street as Shirley's mom so I'm pretty familiar with the neighborhood.

Chef Hung

2012-01-15T22:05:00.000-08:00

Andy, Connie and I went to Diamond Plaza for dinner and we ended up at Chef Hung. It is a Taiwanese beef noodle place next to 85°C Cafe/Bakery. When we walked in at 5:30pm, the place was probably 75% full but there was no host/hostess. A bunch of customers, including us, stood around for 5 minutes before anyone came to seat us (actually hand out numbers). In the meantime, there was a verbal altercation between these two older fobby Chinese guys and one younger maybe-ABC guy about who was next in line. The younger guy was actually pretty rude; he ended up sitting next to us and was moody and rude to the waiter as well.

Anyway, I got the "famous" beef noodles. It was okay... nothing spectacular. The menus and place-mats made sure you know that "Chef Hung" won many beef noodle awards but I think my mom's version is better. Another issue was the prices. Maybe the rent is expensive in Diamond Plaza because the bowls of noodle weren't cheap. My medium sized bowl was ~$10. We ordered drinks and a few side dishes in addition to a main item; the bill came out to ~$50. If I had to give it a Yelp rating (forgot to do it while I was there), I'd give it 3.5 stars. Taking prices into consideration, I would probably drop it down to 2.5 stars.

There was a motorized bowl of noodles at the entrance of the restaurant. It was pretty cool... too bad there was no employees to seat us.

My $10 bowl of noodles. In addition to the bigger chunks of beef, they also had thin strips, kind of like the meat you get in a beef bowl at Yoshinoya. I've never seen this before, even in Taiwan.

Nothing to do with Chef Hung but upstairs in the plaza, there was a photo-sticker place. Not one machine but an entire store packed with machines. I took some of these kind of photos with Shirley a long long time ago.

==========

In contrast, $20/person got us AYCE Korean BBQ at Gen, near Newport and Main in Tustin. Mmm... I was not hungry for 24 hours afterwards.

Battery Life

2012-01-15T09:56:00.000-08:00

I think the new battery in the iPhone 3G is working. After charging, I left it on standby for about a day and then played a couple of videos. The old iPhone doesn't give battery remaining % but it looks like there's about 25% left. I think that's good enough for my nieces.

Do Not Remove

2012-01-13T23:43:00.000-08:00

It was only a few years ago that I was the only Apple person in my family. Recently however, my sister has taken a bite and now has two Apple computers, two Apple TV's, two iPhone 4's and an iPhone 3G that my nieces use like an iPod Touch. Anyway, the old iPhone 3G's battery is starting to fail so I brought it back home to replace the battery. How hard can it be?

Well, if you're not a nimble 13-year old farm girl from China working at Foxconn in Shenzhen, it's pretty hard. I did manage to swap out the 3.7V Li-ion polymer battery but it took awhile. Two electrical engineering degrees were not enough to overcome old age and very small screws and connectors.

Why yes, I did take photos:

Working iPhone 3G with battery replacement kit ($6.31 from Amazon). Note the time = 9:38pm.

Remove bottom two screws and remove LCD display. The "case cracking tool" was useless. I ended up using a suction cup to lift up the cover/display. Next disconnect connectors 1, 2, and 3, which were conveniently labelled.

Remove 7 tiny tiny screws. One was under the "Do not remove" sticker. Oh well... it's out of warranty anyway.

After removing the screws, disconnect connectors 4, 5, 6, also conveniently labelled, and unnumbered connector for the camera. Remove motherboard and finally see battery.

The battery was held down by double-sided tape. Remove old battery and replace with new battery. Connect and screw everything back. Look it still works. Again, note the time = 10:30pm. Took me almost an hour to do everything.

Final test: see if Land Before Time (Sydnie's favorite movie) still plays. Check!

Couple of thoughts. I've owned many Apple products from an old Apple II+ to a Mac Plus to a Mac mini plus several iPod/iPad/iPhones, and everything has been sealed up tight at the factory. Most product needed special tools to open the case, and you can't change the battery in mobile devices. My Samsung GalaxyS has a back cover and a battery change takes only 10 seconds, not close to an hour with the iPhone. Totally lame.

I am also lucky that I wasn't born in rural China. I would totally suck working at Foxconn assembling iPod/iPad/iPhones, unlike this factory girl:

iPhone girl

Seriously, if I had to do this 12 hours a day, six days a week, for $0.50/hour, I'd probably want to jump off a building too.

Occupy Portland

2012-01-13T23:15:00.000-08:00

Chapman Square

I took this during my Christmas trip to Portland. Like most other OWS related protests, this one came to nothing as well... other than a total waste of time and money, and a closure of public spaces.

Stupid.

Withdrawal Symptoms

2012-01-13T21:34:00.000-08:00

I've been working crazy hours for the past few days to try and complete a new report for the CEO. The meeting was scheduled for today at 11:30am and I was still making changes at 11:20am. Another finance director and I finally walked downstairs to the CEO's office and found that the meeting was cancelled. Evidently his schedule backed up and there was no time to reschedule today. Since I've been stressed out about the report for weeks (possible strike two!), it felt like I was coming off a drug high or something.

Other than the added risk of driving home at 1am while trying to stay awake, I'm okay with it. As a mentor said to me at the beginning of my finance career, "at least you got paid for doing it." Hmm... or was that just Tim after a long night of making slides at IM.

Urban Decay

2012-01-13T21:27:00.000-08:00

One of the issues with working so far from home is that I have to get gas all the time, or at least every 5 days. After work today, I stopped at a Shell gas station on Vermont and El Segundo. About halfway through my fill-up, I was approached by man with a bucket and squeegee who offered to wash my window. I politely declined. Interestingly, he gave me a confused look, as if everyone else accepted his offer (he was cleaning someone else's windshield previously). Was I supposed to say "okay"?

I was next approached by a anorexic woman with really bad teeth who asked if I wanted "movies"? Huh? I was unclear if she was offering to sell me DVD's (5 RMB?) or asking if I wanted a date to go to a movie theater. Obviously I was uninterested in both and just wanted to get out of there.

On my way home (70 minute commute on a Friday evening), I though about the experience. First, the gas station was pretty run down. There was an odor that's prevalent in poor neighborhoods, a combination of grease, sweat, and urine. The pumps were dirty too. There was also a lot of "extra" traffic with cars pulling in, not to buy gas but to shop(?) at the mini-mart. Strange.

At USC, I was approached all the time by homeless/poor asking for money. Since my work is basically in the same neighborhood (South Central LA), it's kind of expected. I'm just surprised that the Shell station allowed someone to basically camp out and solicit every customer. Probably the owners don't care.

Avoid Ghetto

2012-01-13T13:09:00.000-08:00

I can see how this feature would be useful, although entire neighborhoods would be "no walk zones" around my work.

CBS Seattle

Microsoft has been granted a patent for its “avoid ghetto” feature for GPS devices.

A GPS device is used to find shortcuts and avoid traffic, but Microsoft’s patent states that a route can be plotted for pedestrians to avoid an “unsafe neighborhood or being in an open area that is subject to harsh temperatures.”

Created for mobile phones, the technology uses the latest crime statistics and weather data and includes them when calculating a route.

Price Discrimination

2012-01-12T13:05:00.000-08:00

I saw this on my cousin's FB page so I checked online at Target's website:

White doll = $9.99

African American doll = $5.99

I don't think this is a big deal. The two dolls look identical (other than fabric color) so the manufacturing cost should be the same. There's no reason for Target to discount one over the other unless 1) there is no demand for the 2nd doll or 2) the manufacturer offered the 2nd doll at a lower price... probably reason #1. Although, the FB post was a photo taken at a retail store. Does Target have uniform pricing across all stores and online?

BTW, I checked and didn't see a yellow Asian doll. Also, notice the 1st doll just said White while the 2nd one was specifically labelled African American. Is there no politically correct term for White? Caucasian? European American? What if you're from South Africa (like Charize Theron)... what doll do you buy?

(South) African American

dontmovetochina.com

2012-01-12T11:16:00.000-08:00

This blog only has one post. The author basically give all the reasons not to go to China. I've thought about this often and I agree. Even though I speak Mandarin pretty fluently (so does millions of Chinese people) and have a MBA degree (probably so does millions of Chinese people), I really don't have any competitive advantages (I'm not white) in looking for a job in China. Sure I can teach English but that does not pay very well, and most Western companies don't care if you speak English with an accent... money talks.

The reality is that the majority of foreigners coming to China fail – they do not get lucky and they leave with very little to show for their time. At the end of the day, foreigners in China are constantly swimming upstream, working much harder than s/he would in the west and accomplishing less. Communication will be harder, even assuming that one is fluent in Chinese. Unlike the US, where immigrants can succeed mightily, opening their own business in many cases, China is not an immigration driven society. It is not very open to foreigners and even hostile to their success. This goes for all non-Chinese people: China is equally as uninterested in a white girl or African American guy who just graduated from Harvard Business School, Yale Law, or the like. Even people with the best degrees who come here to make their fortune will often end up simply studying Chinese language at some university in Beijing.

The author does mention that his target audience is young people. If your company sends you to China with an expat package, then life is good. Otherwise you can try starting your own company in China... but unless you're well connected or willing to payoff everyone, that's not an easy option. Right, Leon?

Not Irvine

2012-01-12T02:12:00.000-08:00

I just got home from work (1:45am); I had to stay late to work on a project... CEO wants to know what every person is doing by week. Only problem is that we have ~1600 employees. Anyway, I walked out of the building at ~1am and our parking lot is across a major street. While waiting for the signal to change, I was approached by a homeless (so they claim) couple. The woman was white and the guy was Hispanic, and he had a puppy (pit bull) inside his jacket. They wanted to sell me the dog for $300 so they can get a place to stay. Huh? Sensing my confusion and lack of interest, they asked for some change instead. To avoid potential complications, I gave them the change I had in my pocket, hoping that the iPad2 I was holding didn't attract too much attention.

Sigh... definitely not in Irvine anymore.

Tricorder

2012-01-11T07:42:00.000-08:00

Qualcomm is funding a $10M X PRIZE for developing a medical tricorder (from Star Trek) that can diagnose a set of 15 diseases.

The Qualcomm Tricorder X PRIZE is a $10 million global competition to stimulate innovation and integration of precision diagnostic technologies, making reliable health diagnoses available directly to "health consumers" in their homes.

The dire need for improvements in health and healthcare in the U.S. has captured the attention of government, industry, and private citizens for years. But a viable solution has yet evaded one of the most technologically advanced, educated and prosperous nations on the globe. Integrated diagnostic technology, once available on a consumer mobile device that is easy to use, will allow individuals to incorporate health knowledge and decision-making into their daily lives.

Advances in fields such as artificial intelligence, wireless sensing, imaging diagnostics, lab-on-a-chip, and molecular biology will enable better choices in when, where, and how individuals receive care, thus making healthcare more convenient, affordable, and accessible. The winner will be the team whose technology most accurately diagnoses a set of diseases independent of a healthcare professional or facility, and that provides the best consumer user experience with their device.

I guess that's cool but why Qualcomm? They're a communications chip (and IP) company. $10M is pocket change for them but I'm sure they're banking on some sort of financial return. Does the final winner ($7M prize) get to keep their IP or does Qualcomm have a claim? Qualcomm got into a IP licensing dispute with Broadcom that took years to litigate but ended up having to pay Broadcom ~$800M.

==========

Another thought... what if the diagnosis is wrong and the consumer makes a medical decision based on the incorrect information? I'm assuming that the tricorder/device is not going to dispense medication and you will need to go to a real doctor for diagnosis/treatment. However, doctors/hospitals have medical malpractice insurance; will the eventual hardware/software companies willing to take the legal risks?

One of the goals of the X PRIZE is "facilitate necessary partnerships and regulatory pathways required for this major transformation." I guess that means finding people in government to change existing medical liability laws. Qualcomm better start a fund now to fight the inevitable legal battles with ATLA (American Trial Lawyers Association).

More Beijing "Fog"

2012-01-10T13:49:00.000-08:00

AFP (via Google)

More than 150 flights to and from Beijing were cancelled or delayed on Tuesday as a thick cloud of acrid smog shrouded the city, with US figures saying the pollution was so bad it was off the scale.

The national meteorological centre said the Chinese capital had been hit by thick fog that reduced visibility to as little as 200 metres (650 feet) in some parts of the city, while official data judged air quality to be "good".

But the US embassy, which has its own pollution measuring system, said on its Twitter feed that the concentration of the smallest, most dangerous particles in the air was "beyond index" for most of the morning.

...

Authorities in Beijing said last month they had met their target of "blue sky" days for 2011, with 274 days of "grade one or two" air quality compared with 252 days in 2010.

But the state-run China Daily has said that if PM2.5 were used as China's main standard, only 20 percent of Chinese cities would be rated as having satisfactory air quality, against the current 80 percent.

In my limited China travel, I've experienced worse air pollution in Chengdu. Each time I go, the entire city smells like smoke. I think it's only due to good luck that I haven't experienced crazy bad air in Beijing.

Asia Society has a site (Room With A View) that has daily photos of the Beijing sky.

Bank Hold

2012-01-09T20:37:00.000-08:00

Chase (and WaMu before it) seems to hold deposits at random. I deposited a check a couple of weeks ago and Chase put a 7 day hold on it. I just got a letter today saying that they're extending the hold for another week. When I talked to the CSR, the reason they gave me over the phone was different than what was in the letter. While the check is on hold, I can't transfer the money out to a higher interest account so I was stuck getting 0.1% or something.

The lame thing is that I deposited the same check amount (and same payer) in September without any problems. That deposit was to my checking account. This time I deposited to my savings account which had lots of transactions with dollar amounts larger than this check (I had to sell my employee options when I quit Broadcom). I guess this is the way it is with big banks. I'm probably more of a hassle for them since I never bounce checks and don't use any of their other services... no fees.

The CSR put me on hold for 10 minutes and came back to tell me they cleared the hold. At least the check didn't bounce.

==========

Now I find out that the check went through on the day I made the deposit (Dec 30) but Chase wanted to hold it until Jan 11.

Excel Monster

2012-01-09T16:56:00.000-08:00

I have created an Excel file that has 175,635 rows of data. It contains all the clock in/out data for work orders for the past six months. Now I'll need to do a VLOOKUP to assign a project code to each transaction. Maybe it's time to take it into Access or something.

==========

VLOOKUP takes about 2 minutes to refresh. Definitely need to do something different.

What do magpies and bears have in common?

2012-01-09T14:15:00.000-08:00

They mourned Kim Jong-il's death. I want random animals to mourn me when I die.

Reuters

The passing of North Korean strongman Kim Jong-il has been marked by plunging temperatures, mourning bears and now, according to North Korean state media, by flocks of magpies.

Kim, who died in December aged 69 years after 17 years running the world's most reclusive state, was reputed to be able to control the weather, as well as to have scored a miraculous 38 under par round of golf.

"At around 17:30 on December 19, 2011, hundreds of magpies appeared from nowhere and hovered over a statue of President Kim Il Sung on Changdok School campus in Mangyongdae District, clattering as if they were telling him the sad news," state news agency KCNA reported on Monday.

...

KCNA reported last week that a family of bears who usually hibernate through the fierce Korean winter had been seen lamenting Kim Jong-il's death.

"The bears, believed to be a mother and cubs, were staying on the road, crying woefully," it said.

Mythmaking for Kim Jong-un, believed to be in his late 20s, has already started. He is portrayed as the spitting image of his grandfather and has been dubbed the "genius of geniuses" in military affairs despite having no known military experience.

Mythmaking... first time I've heard of that word.

GPS Battle 2.0

2012-01-09T09:13:00.000-08:00

On the way to work this morning, I turned on navigation apps on both smartphones:

- iPhone 4: Waze (also available on Android)
- GalaxyS/Vibrant: Google Navigation

Initially, both said that the drive would be ~1 hour from home to work. However, the two routes were different. Waze wanted me to take 22-405-110 while Google Nav said 22-5-605(?)-105. Before I left the house, I checked traffic on Google Maps and the best route looked like 22-405-605-91-110 instead. BTW, you never want to be on the 5 freeway between 91 and 605 at any time, both directions, especially during rush hour.

Anyway, when I ignored the 5 freeway exit and continued on 22 freeway, Google Navigation started rerouting. However, instead of telling me to continue on 22 west, it wanted me to exit, go back on 22 east, and take 5 north. It did this at each exit (Haster, Brookhurst, Euclid, etc) and the ETA grew longer and longer. Even worse, when I finally got on the 605 freeway, Google Nav told me to then take 91 east. East?! The ETA at the time was 1 hour and 10 minutes, but when I took 91 west instead, it rerouted again (correctly this time) and the ETA dropped to 35 minutes. Weird... it's okay today since I know the way to work but a bit scary if I have to rely on it when I'm lost.

Both these apps are free; Google Nav came with Google Maps on Android and Waze was a free download but has ads (sometimes). Next time I'll bring along an old Garmin nav unit and my mom's new Magellan standalone nav to see if any of them agree.

UCLA Basketball

2012-01-08T14:19:00.000-08:00

When I was at UCLA, I think I attended almost every home basketball game. During my freshman year, both Reggie Miller and Pooh Richardson was on the team coached by Walt Hazzard, but they only made it to the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament. After Reggie Miller graduated, the team did not make the playoffs in the following year and Walt Hazzard was replaced with Jim Harrick. They did better under Harrick, finally winning the Championship in 1994-1995.

Anyway, after graduation, I watched a few games on TV but never attended another game live until last night. Tim gave me a ticket (thanks Tim!) to the UCLA vs. ASU game at Honda Center. I didn't know that Pauley Pavilion was under construction/renovation this season, and UCLA home games are being played at both the Sports Arena (USC now plays at the Galen Center) and Honda Center.

Our seats were in a general admission area in the 400-sections at both ends. It was a bit confusing since the tickets only said section GA1.

UCLA was down by a lot during the beginning but caught up by half-time to take a 3 point lead.

During half-time, they had three students go down and try to make 4 shots within 30 seconds to win prizes. The first guy only made the layup, and second guy made the free throw (underhand style). The third student was a girl and she hit the 3-pointer at the very last second. I did this before at Pauley Pavilion as a student and I bricked the layup. Back then, there was no timer... any missed shot would disqualify you. I did get a six-pack of Coke which I passed around to my friends. That was quickly confiscated since we weren't allowed to have food/drinks. It was quite embarassing.

It must take a lot of effort to transport everyone (team, coaches, cheerleaders, band, students) to LA/Anaheim for each home game. Cheerleaders still look the same as before though their uniforms look skimpier.

The second half was a blowout by UCLA. I think there was a 10 minute stretch that ASU didn't score any points. The final score was 75-58 but could have been higher as UCLA missed a lot of free-throws.

Four "home" games will be held this season at Honda Center. I wonder if Henry is a UCLA basketball fan (his box looked like it was dark last night) and how much he charges UCLA for each game.

New Favorite Korean TV Show

2012-01-06T23:32:00.000-08:00

No, not Invincible Youth 2, even though Bora (Sistar) is on the show. I watched the first 2 episodes and didn't enjoy it as much as season 1. Instead, I've been watching a show called Running Man. It started as a survival competition show where they lock the cast in a location (mall, stadium, museum, etc) and they perform different missions to get out before dawn. Over time, the show has added more types of challenges and variety. It's pretty popular in South Korea and I think they're on episode 76 already.

L-R: Lee Kwangsoo, Kim Jongkook, Yoo Jaesuk, Song Jihyo, Ji Sukjin, Ha-ha, Gary

Workplace Harassment...

2012-01-06T19:20:00.000-08:00

... training.

Nothing better than 2 hours of online harassment training on a Friday evening. I have to do these every two years.

Current hypothetical scenario to evaluate:

Connie:
Listen, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about. It's kind of embarrassing....

Um, every Monday I get this e-mail--actually, everyone in our group gets it--from Matthew. It's his way of reminding us all to check out his blog. He calls it something like "Naked Man in a Big Town."

First time, I did check it out. But what he's writing there is actually pretty disturbing. The whole thing's basically a laundry list of all the women he's, um, "been with," and well... let's just say there's waaay too much information. Major over-sharing violation. He's even posted some photos!

Some of his posts are actually about women who work here. Not sure what they think, but if I were them, I'd be mortified.

Of course, I never went back to his site, but every Monday there's that stupid e-mail reminder about his blog. It's really kinda gross.

In my opinion, someone needs to deal with this.

Ha ha... photos?! I'd fire the the guy; that's some serious lack of common sense and good judgement. Needless to say, I don't send e-mail to my staff pointing them to this blog. Don't want them to know that I'm an "effective weapon of Satan" and all. Seriously, this is why I don't want staff. Since the org structure at Broadcom was pretty flat, I only had at most three people to deal with. I only have one now but about to get another one in two weeks. My sister has 70+ people reporting to her... I can't imagine dealing with HR issues for that many people.

==========

BTW, the correct answer is "contact HR or senior management" in all cases.

KMF 10

2012-01-05T16:49:00.000-08:00

Korea Times Music Festival will be held on April 28th (2012). Tickets go on sale on January 21st but no artist details yet.

I missed the concert last year (Baek Ji Young, Sistar, Secret) due to a business/personal trip to Singapore/Beijing. I doubt I will be traveling this year (different job/no Chinese GF) so maybe I can attend the concert.

Communism ≠ Chinese Culture

2012-01-03T14:32:00.000-08:00

New York Times

President Hu Jintao has said that China must strengthen its cultural production to defend against the West’s assault on the country’s culture and ideology, according to an essay in a Communist Party policy magazine published this week. The publication of Mr. Hu’s words signaled that a new major policy initiative announced last October would continue well into 2012.

The essay, which was signed by Mr. Hu and based on a speech he gave in October, drew a sharp line between the cultures of the West and China and effectively said the two sides were engaged in an escalating war. It was published in Seeking Truth, a magazine that evolved from a publication founded by Mao as a platform for establishing Communist Party principles.

“We must clearly see that international hostile forces are intensifying the strategic plot of westernizing and dividing China, and ideological and cultural fields are the focal areas of their long-term infiltration,” Mr. Hu said, according to a translation by Reuters.

“We should deeply understand the seriousness and complexity of the ideological struggle, always sound the alarms and remain vigilant, and take forceful measures to be on guard and respond,” he added.

Hu Jintao is full of crap. There is nothing "Western" or anti-Chinese with wanting a political voice and to be able to choose your own government. China has a long history and only the last 60 years has it been ruled by the CCP mafia. Culture changes and adapts; socialism and Marxism is also "foreign" to China yet the CCP constantly equates communism with being Chinese.

“The overall strength of Chinese culture and its international influence is not commensurate with China’s international status,” Mr. Hu said in his essay, according to another translation.

“The international culture of the West is strong while we are weak,” he added.

People aren't stupid. The culture/entertainment industry is global and very competitive. Why would I spend money on propaganda BS when there are thousands of other choices? Movies and singers from Hong Kong and Taiwan do quite well internationally. The problem is not Chinese culture but rather with censorship of creativity. Hu Jintao knows this... which makes his comments even more disingenuous and disgusting.

Happy New Year

2012-01-02T11:25:00.000-08:00

There was no traffic on the way to work this morning since most people had the day off. Normally when a holiday falls on a Saturday/Sunday, you get the closest Friday/Monday off. Not us. I think it's because we got "extra" days off for Christmas.

The 42 mile drive took about 40 minutes. I set the cruise control at ~75 mph and zoned out... twice. For a few minutes on the 5 freeway and again on the 91 freeway, I found myself suddenly wondering where I was, and unable to remember the past few miles. I wasn't tired or anything... I had some K-pop on the stereo and was thinking about some random stuff. Scary.

K-pop Girls

2012-01-01T19:05:00.000-08:00

Run The World - Beyonce [2011 SBS Gayo Daejun]

I read that some Korean netizens complained that this segment was too slutty or something. They're crazy... I think it's awesome. BTW, Fei is Chinese... the rest are Korean.

I wonder if they know when the lyrics say "Who run this motha?" that there's an implied word afterwards?

Chinese Laundromat

2012-01-01T17:52:00.000-08:00

I've been playing L.A. Noire recently. The game is set in Los Angeles during the late 40's and you play a police detective solving crimes. The game is really good. It is published by Rockstar Games, the same company that did Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption.

The one thing I did notice was that there are a lot of stereotypes. I'm not sure if that's how society was like 60 years ago but almost all the male characters are wife-beaters and many of the white characters are totally racist. One of the cases/storyline also brought me to a laundromat (Superior Laundry) and the owner is Chinese. Sigh...

The Story

2012-01-01T17:43:00.000-08:00

The Story is a radio program produced by American Public Radio. I hear it a lot on KPCC when I drive home from work. On Friday, the topic was 2011: A Year Of Protest. The rest of the show was okay but when they did the segment on OWS, I found myself swearing at the retard they interviewed (about 2/3rd the way through). He has a college degree but is unemployed, and has been sleeping in a tent at the protest. During the interview, it came out that he studied German Studies in college and has ~$120k of outstanding loans. Unsurprisingly, he has been unable to find a regular job. The interviewer (Dick Gordon) gave him a few opportunities to take some responsibility for his predicament but the "protester" never did. Instead, he blamed everyone and everything but himself, and of course he wants the government to "fix" things.

Call me heartless or whatever, but I have zero sympathy. The guy said he went to college because you were "supposed" to, and he went to a liberal arts college to find himself. That's all fine and good but I'll bet he never worked part-time and was probably drunk the entire time. His 4 (or 5) year party ended with $120k of debt and an useless degree. The responsible thing to do is to admit he screwed up, get whatever job he can to repay the loan, then move on with his life. Instead, he joins OWS and wants to continue to live on other people's hard work. The OWS people are living in a fantasy. They're protesting against a system that made it possible for them to sit around and do nothing for a few months. Imagine if they tried to pull that stunt in China. If you look at their actual "governance", with all the retarded working groups and the human megaphone (I hate that too), there is zero chance that any of them can manage anything except talk.

Lure of Chinese Tuition Squeezes Out Asian-American Students

2011-12-29T11:47:00.000-08:00

Bloomberg

The University of California system, rocked by budget cuts, is enrolling record numbers of out-of-state and international students, who pay almost twice that of in-state residents. Among those being squeezed out: high-achieving Asian-Americans, many of them children of immigrants, who for decades flocked to the state’s elite public colleges to move up the economic ladder.

In 2009, University of California administrators told the San Diego campus to reduce its number of in-state freshmen by 500 to about 3,400 and fill the spots with out-of-state and international students, said Mae Brown, the school’s admissions director. California residents pay $13,234 in annual tuition while nonresidents pay $22,878.

As a result, almost 200 freshmen from China enrolled in 2011, up from 16 in 2009, a 12-fold increase. At the same time, the number of Asian-American Californians enrolled fell 29 percent to 1,230, from 1,723 in 2009. The 2009 figure is from the UC system’s office because San Diego didn’t have it available.

Boy, I'm glad I went to UCLA while the state still had some money and there weren't that many foreign students from China. BTW, someone needs to tell the admissions people that "rich kids from China" <> Chinese-Americans.

The Troll Returns

2011-12-29T10:32:00.000-08:00

So after a year, my personal troll is back:

Publish your phone number and address and we can talk about this in person. Or are you just a bitter, attention-hungry, effective weapon of Satan, coward?

Sigh... maybe this person gets bored after Christmas and needs to harass me about something that happened 2.5 years ago. I've been called a lot of names before, most by this same troll in the comments, but "effective weapon of Satan" has got to be the best yet. Maybe the commenter wants my address so he/she can lead a mob with torches and pitchforks to my house or something... hopefully Internet troll won't turn into psycho stalker.

Another Psycho

2011-12-19T17:49:00.000-08:00

Great.

Wall Street Journal Asia

The portrait of Kim Jong Eun that emerges in his U.S. profile is that of a young man who, despite years of education in the West, is steeped in his father's cult of personality and may be even more mercurial and merciless, officials said.

A senior U.S. official said intelligence analysts believe, for instance, that Kim Jung Eun "tortured small animals" when he was a youth. "He has a violent streak and that's worrisome," a senior U.S. official said, summing up the U.S. assessments.

Tortured small animals?! Seriously? Are there still small animals in North Korea? I thought they were all eaten by the starving population during the perpetual famine of the past few decades.

White Monkey

2011-12-19T11:48:00.000-08:00

ChengduLiving

Performing in China: Confessions of a White Monkey

In China, the image of white skin still pays dividends. Especially dancing white people.

Promoters for real estate opening parties spend tens of thousands of RMB to set the stage for potential homeowners. Magicians and mini-skirt wearing violin players are commonplace, but none earn even close as much as the coveted Anglo-Saxon musician/clown. The “White Monkey,” as some call the foreign performer, is the ultimate showpiece for any Grand Opening, be it for a multi-billion RMB high-tech zone or an apartment villa in the cabbage-picking boondocks.

I admit sometimes I'm jealous. I speak decent Chinese and have a bunch of college degrees from UCLA/USC. That should open a lot of doors in China but because I am Chinese and can blend in (sometimes), I am not treated like a laowai, which limits opportunities for me in China.

Kim Jong-Il is Dead

2011-12-19T10:21:00.000-08:00

Good.

Latest SNSD

2011-12-13T18:02:00.000-08:00

The Boys - SNSD

I think this has been out for awhile too. It was posted by SM Entertainment on Oct 18 and it has over 23 million hits in <2 months.

Afterschool Subgroups

2011-12-13T13:45:00.000-08:00

Red

Night Into The Sky - Afterschool Red
Kahi, Jungah, Nana, and Uee

and Blue

Wonder Boy - Afterschool Blue
Juyeon, Raina, Lizzy, and new girl

I like the "Red" subgroup better. The two songs came out in July while I was in Beijing so I don't think I put up a post. Bekah (member from Hawaii) is not in either group; I think she's taking a break or something.

==========

New girl is a beast on guitar. Too bad they just wiggle and sing.

Occupy Wall Street Class

2011-12-11T21:19:00.001-08:00

NYU charges ~$20,000 per term for tuition or $40k per year. If you take courses by the unit, then they charge you ~$1,200/unit. I heard on the radio that NYU was going to offer a class about the Occupy Wall Street "movement" and thought it was a joke, but it looks like it's true.

CBS New York

Don’t understand the Occupy Wall Street movement? Now, you can learn all about it.

New York University says it plans to offer two classes next semester on Occupy Wall Street through the school’s Department of Social and Cultural Analysis.

It will be called: “Why Occupy Wall Street? The History and Politics of Debt and Finance.”

Another professor will be teaching a graduate-level seminar on the demonstration.

How ironic. I thought one of the things OWS was whining about was student loans. Some of the college-educated protesters were unemployed and unable to repay their loans. Inevitably, you find out they studied something totally useless, like a degree from the NYU Department of Social and Cultural Analysis for example. I couldn't find the course in NYU's catalog (too new?) but most classes were 4 units, which means the OWS course will cost ~$5,000 while providing zero value on a resume.

My unsolicited advice? If your degree is has the words "social justice" in it somewhere, use your last free elective and enroll in an intro finance class. It may be too late to do anything about the $250,000 wasted on your Ivy League education, but at least you will understand why TANSTAAFL (there ain't no such thing as a free lunch).

Go home. Get a job. Pay your loans.

==========

Even though I'm basically talking to myself on this blog (it's therapeutic), I want to clarify that crony capitalism is bad. I believe Bush and Obama should not have bailed out banks and GM/Chrysler. Let them go bankrupt, reorganize, and the market will sort it out. Where I disagree with OWS is that they're just a bunch of protesters with no solutions. Don't like the system? Then get behind a candidate and get him/her elected to office. All these pointless "occupations" are basically making everyone poorer by disrupting business and commerce. Instead of creating wealth, let's destroy wealth and get rid of the wealth gap the socialist/communist way.

Friday Night Traffic + New Lens

2011-12-09T19:46:00.001-08:00

It took me about an hour to get home tonight, which is not too bad for Friday at 6:30pm.

405 South near Seal Beach

I also got a new lens for my Sony a55. I already have the 18mm-250mm kit lens so I got a fixed length 50mm f/1.8 lens. I really wanted the 50mm f/1.4 lens but it was $400; this one is only $150. I'm going to try and take more photos with this lens; without zoom, I think it will force me to compose my shots with more forethought.

Tax & Spend & Lies

2011-12-07T14:43:00.001-08:00

Surprise! Jerry Brown (Democrat) wants to raise taxes. His proposal raises both the sales tax by 0.5% and state income taxes by 2% for individuals making $250k. The current rate is already 9.55% and since the progressive ramp is so steep in California, I end up paying the 9% rate for most of my income. It's unclear whether the 2% adder is marginal or applies to the entire AGI for each taxpayer.

Here's a question to those OWS protesters. I pay a bit over 30% (marginal rate is higher) for federal taxes over the past few years. So if you add together federal taxes, state taxes, sales taxes, social security taxes, and Medicare taxes, it's ~56% of my income. Is that enough for you wannabe socialists? Should the government take 90%? What about the ~50% that don't pay any taxes? Is that fair?

Also, I hate the way Jerry Brown justifies the tax. We all know that California is in deep sh*t since the liberals in charge can't control spending... gotta keep taxing the minority to buy votes from the majority.

KPCC

Brown says both tax hikes, scheduled to end within five years, would generate an extra $7 billion for the state to prevent deeper cuts to schools, universities and public safety.

That would free up some state money California could use to shore up social services and support for public universities.

Lame. Money is fungible. There is nothing else but political rhetoric which ties these tax dollars to education. If funding schools and universities is important, then cut something else. The state of California spent nearly $160 billion last year (2010); I'm sure politicians can find more savings if they have the courage.

Delivery status not updated

2011-12-06T13:11:00.001-08:00

My latest Amazon order was shipped in two parts via USPS. On their "Track & Confirm" page, I entered the tracking numbers and both said "Delivery status not updated" from last night. Both packages were previously show as "Out for delivery". I asked my dad, who was a mail carrier and clerk in the USPS for many years, and he said that the regular carrier also delivered small packages. It's weird that the packages are out for delivery yet we did not receive anything, even though first class letter mail was delivered as normal.

I hope this is not part of some cost saving initiative to skimp on package tracking. UPS and FedEx do a much better job of tracking their packages.

Federal Way, WA is not that far from California. I think this would have taken only two days via UPS ground.

Telemarketing Scam?

2011-12-05T10:22:00.001-08:00

I've been getting a lot of calls from a phone number in Arizona: 602-358-0068. After doing a Google search, I came up with this website (Coalition For Energy Savings). I finally answered a call from them today and they were trying to get more info on my utility spending. The lead-in was that they can save me 50% on my bills but then they ask how much I spend on electricity and gas. Anyway, it appears their goal is to send contractors to your house to sell you energy efficiency additions to your house. From their website:

OUR MISSION

At CES, we work hand in hand with local, certified, and licensed contractors to analyze the energy efficiency of your home, which then allows them to custom design a whole home energy efficiency package to reduce consumption---thus saving you money. These licensed and certified contractors will help you every step of the way in accessing government funds and rebate programs to allow you to enjoy these products and technologies and save money every month on your utility bills.

If they can get you government grants and rebates, that may not be a bad thing. However, they have a "Stories" page on their website with 2 testimonials. The included photos looked too professional so I did a Google image search... yup, stock photography! I told the caller that I was at work and to call later. After seeing the fake photos, there's no way I'm picking up any more calls from them.

Half The Sky and Chinese Government Spending

2011-12-01T12:38:00.001-08:00

I've been supporting a charity called Half The Sky for several years. They support funding and training of full-time helpers for China's orphanages. Arguably this is something that the Chinese government should take more responsibility for. Anyway, I'm supporting a helper who takes care of a toddler boy who is missing his right forearm. HTS partners with various orphanages; while the Chinese government provides facilities and workers, HTS is supported by donations.

It's time to renew support ($600/year) but reading all the news about corruption and government abuse in China, it makes it very hard to make the decision. Money is fungible... if I donate to help fund social service in China, that leave more money for the Chinese government to hire internal security to beat up political prisoners, buy gifts for their bosses or ernais with tax money, or even invest in their space program that may eventually cause me to lose my job. The reality though is that most of the Chinese government doesn't give a sh*t about the smallest and weakest citizens, and the orphanages will remain underfunded. Sigh...

Latest news:

发扬越来越聪明可爱了，他模仿能力很强，教他说什么，他就会跟着学，比如叫阿姨、妈妈、爸爸他就会跟着学，我亲亲他的小脸蛋，他也会亲亲我的脸，我教他欢迎和再见，他会用他的左手拍打他的右臂表示欢迎。唱儿歌的时候，发扬能够跟着我一起合唱，还会跟着节奏打拍子呢。他喜欢鲜艳的玩具和带有响声的玩，听见玩具发出响声，他会专备的去听，然后跟着节奏打拍子。发扬现在能独立行走了，虽然走的不是很稳，容易摔跤，但是摔倒后他会立即站起来继续走。

他喜欢到活动室玩，看见木马他会立即走过去，用左手握着手把，用右臂支撑着做好，然后把左脚抬起来，右脚点起来，坐在上面前腰后仰的，边摇边发出笑声来，发扬嘴喜欢到户外活动，看见五颜六色的花草，他会用手轻轻地抚摸它们一下，然后拉着我的手对我说：“妈妈，花。”发扬喜欢到儿儿乐园玩滑梯，看见楼梯就向上爬，我牵着他的手，叫他把一只脚一只脚的抬起来上楼梯，就这样一梯一梯的伤，发扬走的满头大汗，但是他还是没有放弃，我一边牵着他一边给他加油：“发扬，加油，加油。”听了我的鼓励，发扬走的更起劲的，终于走上了楼梯，发扬站在楼梯上开怀大笑。

Translated (from Half The Sky):

Fayang is smarter and smarter. He has a great capacity to imitate our behaviors. He follows us and learned to call aunt, mum and dad. When I kiss his cheek, he will kiss back. I taught him to say hello and goodbye, he will clap his right hand with his left hand to welcome others to the room. When we sing the children's song, Fayang can join in the chorus and clap to the music. Fayang can walk by himself though not steadily and falls sometimes. He stands up immediately after he falls and keeps walking again.

He likes playing in the activity room. He will walk to the rocking horse at the sight of it. He sits on it by holding the handlebar with his left hand and supporting himself with his right hand. Then he raises his left foot and stomps his right foot, and laughs as he shakes his body with the movements of the rocking horse. Outdoor activities are his favorite. Once seeing the colorful flowers, Fayang will touch them and pull me to see it, saying "Mum, flower". He likes the slide in the children's playground. He will go upstairs at the sight of the slide. Taking hold of his hand, I teach him to go up the flights of the stairs step by step. He does not give up. I take him by his hand and encourage him with the words, "Fayang, come on! Come on!" Hearing the encouragement, Fayang tries his best to climb the stairs and finally he finishes the climbing, he bursts out in laughter at the top.

Sigh...

Category 2 Hurricane

2011-12-01T12:31:00.001-08:00

I heard on the news driving into work that gusts as high as 100 mph were recorded on Mount Wilson last night. That's equivalent to a category 2 hurricane. A lot of schools were closed throughout the San Gabriel Valley and in the Pasadena area today due to downed trees and power lines. Strangely, there was almost no wind down in Orange County. It was quite windy when I left work (Hawthorne) last night but nothing when I got home (Orange).

LAX is operating normally today (flights landing/departing east to west) despite the Santa Ana winds.

Good Riddance

2011-11-30T12:46:00.001-08:00

LA Times

City crews were busy surveying the damage to the park surrounding City Hall, and erecting fences and concrete barriers around the block, hours after police evicted hundreds of Occupy L.A. protesters.

At 7 a.m., dozens of tents were still on the City Hall south lawn, collapsed and surrounded by the debris and belongings that were abruptly abandoned in the wake of the raid -- books, luggage, mattresses, folding chairs, miniature chalkboards, canned goods and jars of instant coffee. Not far from a newly installed security fence, static interspersed with music came from a small portable radio.

Peter Sanders, a spokesman for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, said it would take eight to 10 hours to clean up the South Lawn.

Wind Advisary

2011-11-29T18:02:00.001-08:00

I heard on the news this morning that there will be very high winds this Thursday and Friday.

Examiner.com

Currently the watch covers Los Angeles and Ventura county mountain areas. A high wind watch is a precursor to an actual advisory or warning. Because of the potential magnitude of this event, Southern California travelers should be attentive to and monitor the developing situation. Extreme atmospheric pressure differences resulting in winds as high as 70 mph. or more are a good possibility from Thursday morning Dec. 1st through late Friday, Dec. 2nd.

70 mph?! Not driving the SUV to work. Normally we get these Santa Ana winds during fall season though not typically 70 mph. These winds typically blow from east to west (towards the ocean), maybe flights at LAX will have to land in reverse flow again.

==========

Looks like all the wind activity is north of the San Bernardino mountains... not much down in the populated areas.

Korean Airlines to Las Vegas

2011-11-29T17:53:00.001-08:00

I saw a tweet that Sistar was returning to Korea from Las Vegas on KE006. It looks like Korean Airlines has three direct flights per week from Seoul/Inchon to Las Vegas. I thought all the Asians are gambling in Macau now.

TwitCasting K-pop

2011-11-25T21:25:00.001-08:00

Since I traveled to Canada yesterday, I was unable to attend the K-pop Masters concert in Vegas tonight. I did find a link to someone livecasting the event on TwitCasting. He/she is offline right now, trying to conserve battery so they can cast Brown Eyed Girls. I just "watched" GN.A perform Top Girl; the audio was pretty good though the video was really bad, probably due to slow upload bandwidth.

Amazing technology...

SNA and ORD

2011-11-25T17:11:00.001-08:00

I brought my new camera with me to Toronto and I took some plane photos (surprise!) at places other than LAX. It took 13 hours to get to Toronto (door-to-door) on Wednesday and about the same to get back today.

John Wayne Airport (SNA)

N835UA - United Airlines Airbus A-319

N530UA - United Airlines Boeing 757-200

N23721 - United Airlines Boeing 737-700

N125MX - Evektor Aerotechnik Sportstar Max (?)

N714CB - Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700

Chicago O'Hare Airport (ORD)

Connecting tunnel in Terminal 1 to reach 2nd set of United gates. This was oddly familiar though I can't remember transiting in ORD on United before. I practically never fly on United but because of flights on other Star Alliance carriers (Air Canada/All Nippon Airways), I had enough miles to get to Toronto on Wednesday.

N76504 - Continental Airlines Boeing 737-800 (this one hasn't been painted with "United" yet)

N199UA - United Airlines Boeing 747-400 (just landed from Hong Kong)

N983CA - United Express Canadair Regional Jet CRJ-200

N951TW - American Airlines McDonnell Douglas MD-83

Naked Travel

2011-11-23T08:11:00.001-08:00

Sort of. I'm at John Wayne Airport traveling to Toronto via San Francisco. This is the first time in many years (10?) that I'm not carrying a computer. Instead, I only have my iPad, which I'm using to post this (free wifi at JWA). Since this is a short trip (1 day, 2 nights), I won't be doing any work anyway. It is much harder to type on a touchscreen though... and I can't post any photos from my DSLR since there is no SD card reader.

==========

It appears that I'm on an Airbus A319 for both legs of my flight. For some reason I thought I was on a CJR-700 from SNA to SFO.

==========

Dang it. My flight is delayed 90 minutes. Good thing I have a ~3 hour layover in SFO. Hopefully my next flight won't be delayed too. Hmm, what to do for 2 hours in JWA...

2011 Billboard K-pop Masters Concert

2011-11-18T19:10:00.001-08:00

Next Friday in Vegas... both Sistar and Brown Eyed Girls. I really want to go.

Official Website

Tesla Model S

2011-11-16T00:48:00.001-08:00

On a tour of several satellite buildings at work this afternoon, we walked through the Tesla Design Center that is right behind our main building. In the main building space, there were several full sized clay models being sculpted. I thought the Model S was finalized so I wasn't sure what they were working on. In the other area of the building, there was a beta version of the Model S Signature (not sure what that means). It had a California manufacturer's plate and the Tesla guy said they drive it to PR events. The huge center console display was pretty cool but I wasn't too impressed with the two jump seats in the back. It's a "seven" seat car like Bret's Porsche 911 is a "four" seat car.

No photos... though there are many on the Internet already.

Who is Chen Guangcheng 陳光誠

2011-11-14T10:28:00.001-08:00

From Seeing Red in China

Please read... it will only take a few minutes.

Part 1 - A celebration of life on his 40th birthday
Part 2 - Fighting forced abortion and his trial
Part 3 - From a small prison to a big prison

From Part 2:

Confinement, Escape, Kidnapping, Beating, Imprisonment, Isolation

Beginning August 11, 2005, Chen Guangcheng and his wife were confined in their home and watched by dozens of people scattered around the area. In the night of August 25, Chen Guangcheng managed to slip out in the dark, shake off guards running after him, and eventually arrive in Beijing, but not without taking detours through Shanghai and Nanjing.

In the afternoon of September 6, 2005, six men who claimed to be Public Security officers, without showing any ID or legal documents, seized Chen Guangcheng and took him away in a Santana sedan (license plate 鲁B13237) in front of three witnesses, including a Chinese lawyer and Philip Pan of Washington Post.

Badly beaten in the car, that night he was taken back to Yinan County to a hotel room. On the morning of September 7, Liu Jie (刘杰), the head of Linyi Public Security Bureau paid him a visit. “It is enough to give you a five-year sentence just for being interviewed by Washington Post. Another interview, you’ll get ten years!” He then suggested that Chen Guangcheng withdraw from exposing the abuses. Chen refused.

After a 26-hour hunger strike, he was sent home, but was under close watch and not allowed to leave. In the following days his telephone was disconnected, computer removed, and cell phone signal disrupted. No outsiders were allowed to go into his house. He was completely cut off from the outside world.

From this time to early 2006, rights lawyers and other friends and activists, mostly from Beijing, visited Linyi hoping to meet Chen Guangcheng, but were beaten and turned away. Villagers who protested Chen’s confinement or who tried to help the visitors were repeatedly beaten and detained. More international media outlets reported what was happening in Dong Shi Gu, and human rights organizations called for his release. Chen Guangcheng himself was beaten several times, as was his wife.

On March 11, 2006, Chen Guangcheng and two others were arrested. By then he had already been under house arrest for 197 days.

On June 11, 90 days after Chen Guangcheng was held incommunicado without authorization, his wife received a notice of criminal detention issued by Yinan County Public Security Bureau for allegedly “gathering crowds to obstruct traffic” and “destruction of property.”

By then his wife had written letters to Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao, Chinese President and Prime Minister respectively, and UN Secretary General Annan, pleading for justice. After Chen Guangcheng was formally detained, she wrote to Deng Pufang, the son of Deng Xiaoping and Chairman of China’s Disabled Persons’ Federation.

To publicize Chen Guangcheng’s case, lawyers, scholars and friends in Beijing planned a press conference on June 16, and Chen’s mother and son were to attend. But the press conference had to be cancelled, because every single organizer had been called on, followed or confined by authorities in Beijing that day. Most shockingly, Cheng Guangcheng’s mother and his toddler son were kidnapped outside Teng Biao’s apartment building by ten unidentified men and spirited away in a van without a license plate. They were brought back to Yinan to the home of one of Chen Guangcheng’s brothers.

Chen’s lawyers were allowed to meet with him in the Yinan detention center. They were later prevented by thugs from visiting Yuan Weijing, Chen’s wife, to discuss the case. While in his hotel room, Li Jinsong (李劲松), one of Chen’s defense lawyers, received telephone threats from an unidentified man. “Have you lived enough? Have you?” The man menaced repeatedly.

In Beijing, national security personnel called on the lawyers and activists; while in Linyi, Chen Guangcheng’s lawyers were followed, threatened, beaten on the street by unidentified thugs, had their camera smashed and their cars overturned.

LAX Reverse Flow

2011-11-11T13:18:00.001-08:00

I went out to lunch today and saw that the planes taking-off and landing at LAX were going the other way, i.e, headed east. Normally due to wind direction, runways 24/25 are used (east to west) instead of 6/7. Too bad I don't have my camera (waiting for a new camera backpack) today; it would be interesting to see landings at Imperial Hill and take-offs at In'n'Out.

I looked online and could not find any real-time notifications on when (and why) this happens. It seems to be a pretty rare event.

I guess I can "watch" the planes land on FlightAware and tell which direction they're headed.

Thursday Traffic

2011-11-10T18:10:00.001-08:00

Dang it. I thought I could go home a bit earlier and have dinner at a "normal" time... i.e., before 9pm. However, looking at Google Maps traffic, there seems to be more red than green on the map. I guess I'll hang out here for another hour to see if traffic improves. Thursday night appears to be the worst traffic night for my ride home.

21 and Over

2011-11-01T12:09:00.000-07:00

From the director of The Hangover and The Hangover Part II, 21 and Over is another stereotypical "buddy" comedy movie. Here is the description from Variety magazine:

Miles Teller ("Footloose"), Justin Chon ("The Twilight Saga"), Skylar Astin ("Taking Woodstock") and Sarah Wright ("The House Bunny") star in the pic, which follows two childhood friends who drag their straight-arrow buddy out to celebrate his 21st birthday the night before an important medical school interview, in an evening of debauchery that spirals out of control. But when one beer leads to another, the evening spirals into a wild misadventure of debauchery that none of them will ever forget.

Yawn... sound terribly boring. Anyway, the interesting (to me anyway) part of this story is that they're filming part of the movie in Linyi, China. Looking at the brief blurb above, I don't see how a scene in China fits into the story, but who says crappy movies need a logical plot. More importantly, Linyi has been in the news lately due to Chen Guangchen. From Wikipedia:

Chen Guangcheng (born November 12, 1971) is a blind civil rights activist in the People's Republic of China who drew international attention to human rights issues in rural areas. He was placed under house arrest from September 2005 to March 2006 after talking to Time magazine about the forced abortion cases he investigated in Linyi Prefecture, Shandong Province. Authorities formally arrested him in June 2006 for destruction of property and assembling a crowd to disrupt traffic. During his trial, Chen's lawyers were forbidden access to the court, leaving him without a proper defender. On August 24, 2006, Chen was sentenced to four years and three months for "damaging property and organizing a mob to disturb traffic."

Chen was released from prison on September 8, 2010 after serving his full sentence, but remains under "ruanjin" or soft detention at his home in Dongshigu. Chen and his wife were reportedly beaten shortly after a human rights group released a video of their home under intense police surveillance on February 9, 2011.

I'm not sure what the movie producers were thinking. Chen Guangcheng's story is not small local news; it has been featured on TIME, BBC, New York Times (often), NPR, and lots of other "Western" media. Relativity Media for its part, seems to be quite happy with the Chinese arrangement:

Joining Mandeville Films’ David Hoberman (The Fighter) and Todd Lieberman (The Fighter), are producers on the film, Andy Yan of SAIF and Hugo Shong of IDG. The Relativity and Sky Land production is being made in association with Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Produced (Limitless). In addition to previous footage shot in Seattle, Washington, filming locations include Linyi, a city in the south of Shandong province. Principal photography on scenes in China began shooting in Linyi on October 26, 2011.

Party Secretary of Linyi Municipal Committee of the Chinese Party of Communism (CPC), Zhang Shajun, whose position is directly above the Mayor, said “Linyi is a beautiful city and we welcome international filmmakers to come to Linyi to make beautiful worldwide films, and particularly welcome my good friend Ryan Kavanaugh and his great company Relativity to be shooting in our historic city. We promise to provide the best service possible in order to help make the movie successful worldwide.”

This will mark the first of many projects that Relativity plans to shoot and do post-production work on in China.

Keeping lots of thugs around to intimidate and beat up visitors to an entire village is costly. I read that there are up to 300 "guards" and they get paid ~RMB 100 per day. With other expenses, that's probably RMB 1M per month. I don't know whether a small city like Linyi has that kind of discretionary budget but some cash from a "Hollywood" movie production company will sure come in handy. Just wondering how well the movie will do once it's linked to illegal detention and torture of a blind human rights lawyer. Probably not good.

From Charlie Custer at ChinaGeeks:

So, what should you do? I’m no expert, but let me help you weigh the options here. You can either piss off the American media and whatever percentage of your audience chooses to pay attention, or you can piss off some government leaders who are giving you a great deal on shooting your hilarious movie so long as you keep quiet about how they’re using your money to hold a blind man hostage.

Personally, I’d say leave Linyi. Like, tomorrow. Or hey, even today! It certainly seems like the moral choice, and I don’t understand why you’d want to shoot an American buddy comedy in China anyway (well, except for because of this).

We know you’re aware of the issue (see image). And while I understand the “no comment” response — you probably need some time to get your ducks in a row — please be aware that people are not just going to forget about this if you choose to do nothing. People haven’t forgotten about Chen and his family, and even though they’re beaten and robbed, people keep trying to visit him. Relativity Media needs to seriously consider which side of that equation it wants to be on.

Because maybe it’s just my sense of humor, but holding an innocent blind man and his family in their house, beating and robbing well-intentioned net users trying to visit him, and then lying about it to the world does not sound like a great premise for a hilarious buddy comedy. And every day you’re in Linyi shooting 21 and Over, you’re funding that, too, whether you want to be or not.

Do the right thing here.

Airliners.net

2011-11-01T04:39:00.000-07:00

I uploaded a photo to Airlines.net a few days ago. They have lots of great photos of just about every airplane. I found out after uploading that all photo submissions are moderated which keeps out the crappy or mundane shots... I have lots of those. :)

My photo is still stuck in the moderation queue. It's probably the most unique shot I have so hopefully it gets posted.

Singapore Airlines A-380 landing at LAX

How to say nothing in 500 words or less...

2011-11-01T04:28:00.000-07:00

Global Times, one of the many English "news" sites run by the Chinese communist government, has an article regarding the terrible air quality in Beijing/China. Instead of talking about the real issues: dangerous levels of air pollutants and improper monitoring standards, it talks about politics.

Since the problem cannot be solved quickly, a consensus is needed. The government should play a key role. Local governments usually leave the impression of "playing down bad news" among the public, which makes many people exaggerate the gap between their feelings with the government's figures.

It is probably the same reason why the monitoring standard of the US Embassy is emphasized by netizens. That means local governments need to establish absolute authority over monitoring pollution without concealing information. If they are defeated by foreign embassies in this regard, they will lose more than just authority in monitoring air quality.

Heh, how is the CCP going to accomplish this?! Their entire political system is based on concealing information from the public.

==========

I guess I've been lucky though. Each time I've been to Beijing, the weather has be either mostly clear, very windy, or raining. I have not experience anything close to "crazy bad" air, though a mysterious "fog" did roll in during the afternoon on our visit to the Olympic Park in 2008.

Occupy Wall Street = Monty Python

2011-10-31T13:30:00.001-07:00

Sandy Lam in Concert

2011-10-30T10:15:00.001-07:00

After attending the Jacky Cheung concert last year and enjoying it more than I thought I would, I want to go to this concert too. Unfortunately, I'll be in Portland so probably won't be able to make it to Vegas on Christmas Eve. Hotel prices are going to be crazy expensive too.

More LAX at Night

2011-10-28T23:58:00.000-07:00

To pass the time while I waited for Leon to clear immigration, I sat and watched planes again. Even though it was too dark to take photos, I tried.

Long line of planes arriving at LAX. It's much easier to see them at night.

A Quantas A-380 parked at gate 101. Did LAX retrofit this gate to handle double-decker planes?

30 second wide-angle shot of LAX. One plane took-off while another one landed during the exposure time.

A Gaggle of A-380s

2011-10-22T23:14:00.000-07:00

There are three Airbus A-380s in the photo. The big blue one is flight KE18 (Korean Airlines) taking-off for Incheon/Seoul. Right behind it, flight SQ12 (Singapore Airlines) just arrived from Narita/Tokyo and is pulling into gate 123, the only double-decker gate at LAX. If you look carefully, right behind the SQ A-380, you can see a red tail fin. That should be flight QF11 (Quantas Airways) that arrived from Sydney at 9:45am this morning.

According to Wikipedia, there are only 7 operators currently using the A-380. In addition to the three above (Singapore, Korean, Quantas), the list includes Air France, Emirates, Lufthansa, and China Southern. Hmm... my friends from Guangzhou all hate taking China Southern (only direct flight to/from LAX). Does this just mean more unhappy and/or rude Chinese people on each flight?

SQ12 mentioned above landing at LAX

==========

I also saw a few Boeing 747s today. There are a lot more of them in service than the A-380s but they're still pretty impressive close up.

Evergreen flight 802 from Anchorage... probably a freight flight even though there are lots of windows on the main deck.

Polar Air flight 214, also from Anchorage. This is definitely a freighter since there are no windows other than on the top deck.

Lufthansa flight 456 from Frankfurt

LAX at Night

2011-10-20T22:13:00.000-07:00

Warning: may be boring

The tripod I ordered from Amazon arrived last night so I went to Imperial Hill after work today to try out night shots. The sky was overcast so there was lots of refracted(?) light. Since the runway was not lit up, you could hardly see the planes anyway. I was really trying out the P/A/S/M setting on the camera to see if I could take decent pictures at night.

250mm 10 second exposure at f/13

90mm 5 second exposure at f/8
The long white streak was a plane taking off through my FOV during the 5s exposure

China Daily Chutzpah

2011-10-20T11:20:00.000-07:00

China Daily

Isn't that a serious concern for journalists, whose primary responsibility is to speak for the voiceless in their society?

It is a shame that most so-called mainstream media outlets have miserably failed to inform the public over the past two weeks.

Wow. Chinese "journalist" criticizes US media. It says he's based in New York but the story he writes appears to come straight from the propaganda department in Beijing.

Here's an experiment for Mr. Chen. It's been a month since OWS protests started. Go ask random New Yorkers and see how many has heard about it from "mainstream" media outlets. Now go back to China and ask random Beijingers if they know who won the Nobel Peace Prize last year. It's been a year... has Xinhua or CCTV "informed the public" in China?

This is the problem with the CCP and modern China. There is no sense of morality... instead, whatever gets you more money or power is right. That's why Mr. Chen can write nonsense like this day after day because it gets him a cushy posting in New York. This is also partially why 18 people walked by a bleeding and dying toddler in Foshan because helping her won't gain them anything.

I think I would go crazy if I had to live in China.

Running Man Episode 61

2011-10-18T13:38:00.000-07:00

For this episode of 런닝맨 (Running Man), they are in China. I just started watching the parts on YouTube. I'm surprised they got permission to film in Beijing with all the running around they have to do.

Part 1

Part 2

The first stop is the Great Wall at Mutianyu; I thought they would go to Badaling but it's probably too crowded for their games. Too bad they weren't there when my family and I visited. I could have met Kang Jiyoung of KARA!

Mutianyu Great Wall with almost no tourists in Sept 2009

Luckily they didn't try to film the episode during China's National Day holiday. Can't run when 1.3 billion people are crammed in one place. [Ministry of Tofu]

Air China 983

2011-10-17T20:25:00.000-07:00

Air China Boeing 747 (flight 983) from Beijing landing at LAX on Sunday. About 8 months ago I picked up Sindy from this flight. It was her third and probably final trip to LA.

Tintin Movie

2011-10-17T20:18:00.000-07:00

Yay! I love Tintin. I have all the Tintin comics and even a couple in French that I bought in a Paris bookstore. Let's hope the movie doesn't suck.

Most of the books are in the small, three-per-volume format. I did read most of them in the large format while working at the Mississauga Library.

French... for some reason, when I bought these I thought I could read French. Nope.

Wasn't I just here last week?!

2011-10-16T21:12:00.000-07:00

Sitting around waiting for the next airplane to take-off or land is kind of exciting. You never know what will show up on the runway, even though the flight schedule is all over the Internet. There were a lot of plane spotters on Imperial Hill today. I think the goal is to write down the tail number of each plane though I don't know what they do with the info. Is there a website where everyone keys what planes they saw?

Earlier this afternoon, I tried to find other locations to take photos of LAX, especially on the north side of the runways. I drove west on Imperial Highway, north on Pershing Drive, then east on Westchester Parkway; there were No Stopping signs posted on all streets. On the map, it appears there are a bunch of side streets just north of Westchester Parkway but looking closer on Google Maps, all of them are blocked off by fences. Is this because of 9/11? I ended up driving around the Century/Sepulveda area a couple times before parking outside of the In-n-Out on Sepulveda and Westchester. The place was packed but fortunately, there is a tiny park next door and there were lots of people hanging out. It was just like any neighborhood park but every few minutes, a jet would roar by and land on runway 24R.

B-18717 Boeing 747-409F (China Airlines 5108 TPE-LAX)
When I first got to the park, I heard people yell, "A big one is coming!" I then realized they were referring to an incoming plane, I quickly got out my camera (with the 18-250mm lens) and snapped of a few photos.

Not sure if this park has a name... I think everyone just calls it the In-n-Out Park. That guy lying down seems to have been there for a long time.

Three American Eagle Embraer jets landed one after another. Since Terminal 4 is on the "other" side of LAX, I think all these plane have to taxi around the west end of the airport to get to their gates.

N209UA Boeing 777-222ER (United Airlines 878 PVG-LAX)

With the sun low in the southwest, it's hard to get anything once the plane passes the park, and definitely no take-off photos from here.

N524VA Airbus A-319-112 (Virgin America 932 SFO-LAX)
Virgin must have registered "Virgin America" in the US since the tail number starts with "N" (USA) instead of "G" (UK).

Southwest! Since SWA is in Terminal 1, I have not seen any planes up close from Imperial Hill. The photo is a bit blurry so I can't make out the tail number but this appears to be flight 1982 from Austin. The plane is a Boeing 737-300... I think SWA only flies 737s.

HB-JMD Airbus A-340-313X (Swissair 40 ZRH-LAX)

HL7420 Boeing 747-48E (Asiana Airlines 966 ICN-LAX)

This is the Asiana 747 freighter (no passenger windows) again. I like this shot... it reminds me of a scene from Ghost in the Shell.

Instead of going home, I figured that since I was here, I may as well go to Imperial Hill and take some more shots... since every other flight seems to be an American/Delta/United 757, I'll ignore those for now.

By the time I drove under the runway on Sepulveda and arrived at Imperial Hill, the Asiana 747 had taxied around to the south side of LAX to get to it's "home" near Terminal 8.

N120AK Bombardier Global Express (GC Air LAX-SJC)
Pretty

N908SW Bombardier CRJ2 (Skywest 6288 LAX-MRY)
MRY = Monterey. I was wondering how much the fare was... the same flight next Sunday would cost $239 one way on United Express (same plane).

HL7498 Boeing 747-4B5 (Korean Airlines)
They were moving the plane from TBIT to the remote gate area so I'm not sure which flight it was. Korean Air bought A-380s from Airbus; hopefully they will operate them on the Incheon-LA route.

4T94101... wait, that's not a plane.

F-OSUN Airbus A-340-313X (Air Tahiti Nui 7 LAX-FAA)
FAA = Faa'a International Airport in Papeete, French Polynesia

N262DG Cessna T303
This small twin propeller plane was flying over LAX. It looked really far away... I was surprised that I can read the "tail" number in the photo.

HL7756 Boeing 777-28EER (Asiana Airlines)
This was also being towed to the remote gate area, probably to open up a gate at TBIT for another incoming flight.

9V-SGE Airbus A-340- 541 (Singapore Airlines 38 SIN-LAX)
This is the all-business-class flight from Singapore to Los Angeles... 16.5 hours non-stop and one-way ticket costs ~SGD6000. Not sure how much that is in US dollars but it's expensive.

I tried out the panorama mode on my Sony a55 camera. You press the shutter button and move the camera slowly to the right. The camera is taking lots of photos and stitching it together automatically... pretty cool, but the camera makes an awful racket when it's taking the photo. Final output is 8192 x 1856 pixels (shrunk down here to only 800 pixels wide).

Anonymous readers getting bored? Just ~~five~~six more to go...

N563SW Embraer EMB-120 (Skywest 6338 LAX-SAN)
Wow, airfare for the same flight next Sunday is $460.

N864GA McDonnell Douglas MD-81 (Allegiant 378 LAX-EUG)

N452PA Boeing 747-46NF (Polar Air Cargo 214 - CVG-LAX)
CVG = Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport. I guess they ran out of room on the Ohio side and put the airport in Kentucky.

JA716A Boeing 777-281ER (All Nippon Airways 1006 HND-LAX)
I was all excited when I saw a big ANA jet, thinking it was the new Boeing 787... but it turned out to be a regular 777-200ER. Coincidentally, this is the same flight I took from Tokyo to LA on my last trip to Beijing.

I couldn't get the tail number but this is a old McDonnell Douglas DC-10. I don't think there are any passenger carrying DC-10s left. FedEx usually flies a MD-11 on this Memphis to LA route so I'm lucky to have seen (part of) the DC-10.

G-CIVF Boeing 747-436 (British Airways 282 LAX-LHR)
For some reason, it took forever for this flight to taxi to the end of the runway and take-off. There were several of us waiting to see this jumbo jet take-off before leaving Imperial Hill.

Samsung TV + PS3

2011-10-14T21:47:00.000-07:00

We bought a new TV last weekend from Costco. They had the Samsung 55" LED TV (non-3D) with a Blu-ray DVD player for $1500. The TV is pretty nice though I really wanted the 8000 series TV. Anyway, I tried to hook up my old fat 80GB PS3 to it and found out that the Samsung TV does not support 1280 x 720 mode (720p). Even though I set the PS3 to display 1920 x 1080, some games are not full HD and the box switches the HDMI output resolution down. On my old Vizio 42" TV, it displays everything without drama. Even the cheap ($130) Acer 21" LCD monitor I using for my PS3 works fine but the expensive new big TV just gives me a resolution error. How lame is that. It also doesn't like my dad's old KTV/DVD player. Once again, the composite video output works on all our other TVs but not on the Samsung. Finally, the audio out on the TV (I have it hooked up to an old Yamaha Dolby Pro Logic receiver/amp) only has 2 channel stereo signal so all the encoded surround data is lost.

I'm a bit disappointed that the detailed specs on the TV don't mention any of these missing features. Not being able to play non-1080p games really sucks. I've googled all over looking for a solution but have not found anything yet. Samsung needs to release a firmware update, though I'm not optimistic since the issue has been around for a few years and they have a lousy track record of updating the Android OS on their smartphones. Overall though, the picture quality is awesome, much better than my old Vizio so I guess we'll keep it.

More OWS Thoughts

2011-10-13T10:39:00.000-07:00

I heard and interview with some Occupy xxx people in Boston on NPR this morning. First, my political bias is more right than left so I'm not inclined to be sympathetic to their demands... even if they had one. What irked me this morning was their constant socialist, anti-corporate whining. To get their message out about how evil corporations are destroying society, they send out tweets on the Apple notebook computers and shoot videos to post on YouTube. Hello?! Do you think those things were invented/produced by a bunch of hippie on a commune?

Of course, the guy they interviewed was unemployed and probably got all his electronic gadgets from his parents. Did they work for any of these evil corporations? They also talk about their "village" like some kind of utopia where everyone volunteers their time and energy, and decisions are made in a general assembly twice a day. Sounds good on paper but as we learned to ask in business school (does having a MBA make me evil too?), does it scale? Can we have the entire population sit around and do nothing but meet all day?

If all this sounds vaguely familiar, it's because this experiment has been done before... it's called communism. Let's see how this works. Eventually the "village" will discover that some people have to do work or they will all starve. The leaders of the "leaderless village" or "people's republic" will start making rules and giving orders. Mysteriously, the people making the rules will be exempt from doing work and if anyone complains, they will be branded as "running dogs of the capitalist imperialists" and thrown in jail. Finally every villager becomes poorer except for the new leaders and their friends but no one knows because the Internet and mass media has long been restricted and only propaganda and filtered news is allowed. Did I miss anything?

Another thing that bothers me (there are lots) is the media coverage of OWS and all lefty protests. I'm not a Tea Party person but I agree with their call for less government spending. I'm not the 1% that the OWS bitches about all the time but I may be in the 10% of people that pay 70% of all the taxes. Anyway, media coverage of Tea Party protests have been mainly negative even though they're mostly peaceful, yet the OWS protests are getting favorable coverage even though there's pervasive references to violence and anarchy.

Don't they know the first people that will be thrown in jail in the "new society" will be journalists?

A Quote for the Occupy Wall Street Clowns

2011-10-12T15:37:00.001-07:00

Property is the fruit of labor...property is desirable...is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.

- Abraham Lincoln, March 21, 1864

More Airplanes

2011-10-09T22:38:00.000-07:00

Uh-oh, I think I'm addicted. I didn't have anything planned after church today so I went back to El Segundo to take more photos. This time I used the Tamron 70-300mm zoom lens that I bought for our older Sony a100 DSLR. At full zoom, the lens has an aperture of f/5.6, which is slightly better than my Sony lens: f/6.3 at 250mm max zoom. Similar to Friday afternoon, there were lots of people hanging out on Imperial Hill. This time it seems like there were more plane-spotters than photographers.

Since Imperial Hill is on the south side of LAX, the planes taking-off and landing are primarily from terminals 4 through 7. That is why most of the photos have planes from American (terminal 4), Delta (terminal 5), and United (terminals 6 and 7). Also, planes using the southern gates at TBIT (international terminal) also use runways 7/25.

Some interesting planes I saw today (not going to post all the 737s and 757s):

Frontier 414 LAX-DEN (Airbus A319-111)
Is that an otter on the tailfin?!

Skywest 6372 LAX-SBA (Embraer EMB-120ER)
This plane was busy today too: Palm Springs - LAX - Palm Springs - LAX - Santa Barbara - LAX - San Luis County - LAX - Palomar

American 137 LHR-LAX (Boeing 777-223ER)

Asiana 204 ICN-LAX (Boeing 777-28EER)

China Airlines 5107 LAX-SFO (Boeing 747-409F)
This is a China Airlines freighter headed for San Francisco and probably to Taipei afterwards.

Skywest 4464 LAS-LAX (Embraer CRJ-900)
It appears that Skywest operates flights for both Delta Connections and United Express... and they paint their planes to match.

Air Tahiti Nui 7 CDG-LAX (Airbus A340-313X)
CDG = Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris

Spirit 411 LAS-LAX (Airbus A319-132)

Lufthansa 457 LAX-FRA (Boeing 747-400)

Bombardier Challenger 604

American 183 LAX-PVG (Boeing 777-223ER)
I thought I stood around so long that that flight AA137 from London was ready to fly to Shanghai already... but it was a different plane (different tail numbers). The older American Airlines 777-200s look different from the Asiana 777-200 I saw earlier and definitely shorter than the Cathay Pacific 777-300s.

Horizon 602 LTO-LAX (de Havilland Dash 8-400)
LTO = Loreto International Airport in Baja California Sur, Mexico

Cathay Pacific 882 HKG-LAX (Boeing 777-367ER)
I'm guessing this is CX882 which should have landed much earlier. I think they're moving it to the remote gate area to free up space at TBIT. This plane should fly back to HKG later tonight.

Gulfstream G-V owned by Lockheed Martin Corporation
The last two companies I worked at did not have corporate jets but all the founders (at both companies) had their own personal jets.

China Airlines 5 LAX-TPE (Boeing 747-409)
I only got a few shots while it was leaving the gate. I tried to take a video of the take-off but I screwed up so I didn't get photos or videos at all.

British Airways 283 LHR-LAX (Boeing 747-400)
It was landing on the northern runways at LAX, probably runway 24R. It's a different plane from the one on Friday; you can see the big oneworld logo painted on the side of this one.

Lunch Hobby

2011-10-07T21:39:00.000-07:00

Since I work close to LAX, I brought my new camera (Sony a55V w/18-250mm lens) to Imperial Hill during lunch to take some photos. Imperial Hill is near the corner of Imperial Highway and Main Street in El Segundo. There is a tiny observation area with benches and mounted telescopes for people who want to watch planes taking off. I got there around 1:30pm and there were quite a few people with binoculars and cameras with huge telephoto lenses. Some people were taking notes... not sure what that's about. Plane spotting?

Here are some planes I saw:

CO 1256 LAX-IAH (Boeing 737-800)

BA 237 LHR-LAX (Boeing 747-400)

K4 368 LAX-HNL (Boeing 747-200)
I've never heard of Kalitta Air before

AA 3037 LAX-SAN (Embraer ERJ-135)

DL 1934 LAX-JFK (Boeing 757-200)

UA 843 LAX-ORD (Boeing 757-200)

CX 882 HKG-LAX (Boeing 777-300ER)
I've been on this flight once before. Typically I come back from HKG on CX880 which arrives at ~9pm.

DL 2204 LAX-SLC (Boeing 757-200)
Wide shot of the south side of LAX. Delta flight is small plane on upper left of photo.

AA 2446 LAX-ORD (Boeing 757-200)
I never realized that US carriers operate so many Boeing 757s. I think I've only been on this type of plane once, from LAX to IAD (Dulles Airport). Three most common planes I've been on are Boeing 777s, Boeing 737s, and Airbus A320s.

.
DL 1719 DTW-LAX (Boeing 757-200)
Another Boeing 757! This plane was busy today; it flew 4 times for a total of 10+ hours: Minneapolis/St. Paul to Detroit to Los Angeles back to Minneapolis/St, Paul and finally Denver.

Since I had to pick up Leon from LAX last night, I stopped to take some pictures at Imperial Hill at ~9pm. It was too dark to see individual planes clearly.

My work is actually right next to Hawthorne Municipal Airport. I know our CEO sometimes fly in/out in his Dassult Falcon 900 jet but it's mostly small prop planes. I must have caught some kind of rush hour since I saw 4 planes land in ~7 minutes. The FlightAware website only shows 1 of the 4 arrivals in its activity log for HHR. Maybe they don't have to file flight plans for some flights?

Cessina Skyhawk

Cessina Citation CJ2

Beechcraft Duchess

Another Cessna Skyhawk

SMS Scam Part II

2011-10-06T09:23:00.000-07:00

I dug up all my T-mobile bills for the past few months and found that this Pure Crush Flirt scam (yes, I'm 100% sure it's a scam) has billed me since June and the next bill still has this $9.99. I called T-mobile back again to check on these other charges and a different CSR told me they couldn't do anything about it since I already got a credit, but they could put a block on this 3rd party charge. Strage... the other CSR told me that they removed 2 $9.99 charges and a block has been already put in place. All she was willing to do for me was to give me the phone number of the scammer (1-800-416-6129) so I can waste more time calling them myself.

I then asked how much it would cost me to terminate my agreement and got forwarded to a "specialist" who deals with angry customers. I gave him my story and told him I was pissed off because: a) T-mobile allows scammers to bill their customers and take a cut of the fees; b) T-mobile was unwilling to reverse these fraudulent charges; and c) the first CSR misled me into thinking all was taken care off when she didn't even put a block on future scam charges. He obviously did not want to answer how or if they vet their outside partners and gave me some attitude when I pressed him on this issue. Anyway, after going back-and-forth for 5 minutes, he went away for 60 seconds and came back to tell me that all 4 $9.99 charges have been credited back to my account. I asked why the first 2 CSRs were unable/unwilling to help me and I had to threaten to cancel my account before getting results. He gave me some story that I was a good customer, blah, blah, blah... but I guess the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

So hopefully I'll get a $40 credit on my next bill but I'm not optimistic. I'm guessing I have to call T-mobile again before this is fully resolved. I'm also pretty sure they won't credit all the individual scam text messages (I have no text plan so they cost me $0.20 each) but I'll probably let that go. I ended up stopping EasyPay (auto-payment) so I'll be forced to open each bill and check for fraudulent phone charges since it's obvious T-mobile has no interest in protecting their customers.

If I have to call them again on this case, I'll definitely change phone vendors when my contract is up, unless T-mobile merges with AT&T but their customer service experience is probably not any better.

When We Left Earth

2011-10-01T21:35:00.000-07:00

I borrowed the set of DVD by Discovery Channel from work. It's the story about NASA's manned missions to space. I watched it on TV awhile ago but DVDs are much better. Anyway, the 3rd (out of 4) DVD dealt with the Space Shuttle and ISS. One of the people they interviewed extensively was Ken Bowersox. He flew on 4 shuttle missions and stayed 5-1/2 months on the ISS. They weren't supposed to stay that long however; while Expedition 6 was at the ISS, the shuttle Columbia exploded on re-entry. With the shuttle program grounded, Ken and his crew had to come back on a Soyuz.

Anyway, he sits a few rows away from me at work. I'd imagine he would have some good stories.

SMS Scam

2011-10-01T21:22:00.000-07:00

The problem with autopay is that I don't check my bills regularly. As long as I have some money in my account, all my bills are paid on-time. Tonight, I finally looked at my T-mobile bill and noticed a lot of text messages and a "premium" plan on my mom's phone line. Since I don't have a text plan, each incoming text costs me $0.20. My mom has been deleting the spam messages, not knowing that we get charged for them.

I called T-mobile customer service and they quickly removed the text message charges and the monthly "subscription" fee of $9.99. After some Googling on the text description (71528 and Directtoconsumer), it turns out to be a "service" that sends you text messages regarding all sorts of useless crap. I think what was charged to my bill was some sort of flirting tips or equally inane junk text. Seriously, what's my mom going to do with that?!

The company name associated with the text number is Pure Crush Flirting Alerts Subscription. I'm pretty sure it's a scam... i.e., they randomly charge people's phone accounts hoping that they wouldn't notice. Seriously, why can't these a$$holes get real jobs and contribute to society? With Internet access everywhere, who would pay $10 for useless crap sent to their phones? The major phone carriers are probably in on the scam as well since they get a cut of the billing. Lame.

Sony Rewards Inflation

2011-09-26T16:13:00.000-07:00

I just got this email from Sony:

Dear Sony Rewards Member:

Effective October 8, 2011, the rate of points required when requesting a statement credit for a Sony product purchased on your Sony CardSMor PlayStation® Card is changing. We will now credit your Sony Card or PlayStation Card account at a rate of $1 for every 115 reward points deducted from your Sony Rewards account.

So basically they just increased the cost of redemption by 15%. Dang it... I was just considering to buy a new Sony a55 DSLR camera. I'll have to do it in the next 10 days I guess.

Wardrobe Malfunction

2011-09-21T19:04:00.000-07:00

(not what you think)

fast forward to 0:42

New Brown Eyed Girls

2011-09-19T13:36:00.001-07:00

Back on this side of the GFW, new single from Brown Eyed Girls...

Chinese TV

2011-09-19T13:24:00.000-07:00

One reason I probably couldn't live in China is the lack of good TV programming. I understand there are cultural differences but I can't find anything good to watch. CCTV9 is a total waste of time and the rest of the channels typically shows historical dramas or anti-Japanese dramas. There are only two channels that I found something decent to watch: Hunan TV and Jiangsu TV. Hunan TV shows a lot of Korean dramas and also the popular Super Girl singing shows; Jiangsu TV shows the dating game where 24 girls decide whether they want to go out with male contestants. Good stuff.

Super Girl has gotten into trouble with government censors (SARFT) before since they allow viewers to vote on the contest winners and we know how the CCP views voting and any display of democracy. Anyway, it looks like Super Girl is in trouble again.

BBC News

Chinese regulators have told a TV station to stop broadcasting a popular talent show called Super Girl.

The authorities say the programme is too long - although many suspect other reasons.

Hunan Satellite Television, which makes the programme, said it would air shows that promote moral ethics and public safety instead.

Chinese officials often ban programmes they think are too vulgar or not suitable.

The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) told the Hunan station that Super Girl broke time rules for this kind of show.

They should be no more than 90 minutes long, but episodes of Super Girl - in which women of all ages compete in a singing contest - can last more than three hours.

But a senior employee at the station told the BBC that regulators were jealous of the popularity and financial success of Super Girl.

"It is widely believed that the real reason for the ban is that Hunan TV's talent programmes have been extremely popular," she said.

"Sometimes its audience can exceed that of the national broadcaster, something that causes unhappiness in SARFT. It's all down to interests."

Some also suggest that the programme was too low-brow or in bad taste - a reason often given by regulators for banning a programme

Too long?! Why don't they show it over two episodes then. Weird.

Hunan Satellite Television said it would abide by the regulators' decision to ban Super Girl next year and would instead show more uplifting programmes.

"The channel will air programmes that promote moral ethics and public safety, and provide practical information for housework," Li Hao, the station's deputy editor-in-chief, was quoted as saying.

Wow, gripping television... moral ethics, public safety, and practical information for housework. I'll bet that will spike the ratings.

High Speed Internet

2011-09-12T12:17:00.001-07:00

Through wifi on my work notebook computer

Monday Morning Traffic

2011-09-12T08:56:00.000-07:00

Since I don't have any meetings this morning, I thought I would go into work a bit later to avoid traffic. Well... it's not working out. It's ~9am and this is what I see in Google Maps. I am in Orange and need to get to Hawthorne. If I leave now, I'll probably get there ~11am. :(

==========

I ended up getting gas on the way to work. The gas station is about 5 minutes down the street. I left the gas station at 9:30am and got to work by 10:20am.

Fantasy Football - Pre-week 1

2011-09-08T16:37:00.000-07:00

I joined a fantasy football league at work with 12 people. We held our live draft last week and of course, I got the last pick. Here is my (lame) team in drafted order:

RB - Maurice Jones-Drew (UCLA!)
WR - Andre Johnson
QB - Eli Manning
TE - Antonio Gates
RB - Felix Jones
WR - Santonio Holmes
RB - Brandon Jacobs
QB - Joe Flacco
DEF - NY Giants
K - Garrett Hartley (out for week 1)
RB - LaDainian Tomlinson
WR - Braylon Edwards
RB - Ronnie Brown
WR - Jordy Nelson
DEF - Houston (traded for K - David Akers)

I'm playing against my manager this week. He has both Arian Foster and Peyton Manning; they're both out this week. Yay!