:(
I had some files on a SD card and tried to ZIP a 56MB file using 7-Zip by right-clicking. I think by not specifying an output directory, it tried to create the ZIP file on the SD card. The process sat at 0% for about 90 seconds and I decided to click on cancel. Not only did it not compress the file, it decided to corrupt my SD card so now I can't read any file. It was a 2GB Sandisk and I had quite a few files. Hopefully I have a backup on a CD-R/DVD-R somewhere.
Friday, June 15, 2012
Thursday, June 14, 2012
ESL for Scammers
Speaking of email spam and scammers, I got this message from "USPS Services":
Huh? These scam email would work better if the English teachers in Nigeria were better qualified. :)
There was a 44k .rar file attached. Of course I didn't download and open the attachment. It probably contains Trojan.happili or some other virus from Vacations To Go.
Notification,
Our company’s courier couldn’t deliver your parcel.
Reason It’s not right the address of recipient.
LOCATION OF YOUR PARCEL:KnoxvilleFort
DELIVERY STATUS: sort order
SERVICE: Local Pickup
NUMBER OF YOUR ITEM:U619256320 NU
INSURANCE: No
Label is enclosed to the letter.
Print your label and show it at the post office.
An additional information:
If the parcel isn’t received within 30 working days our company will have the right to claim compensation from you for it's keeping in the amount of $16.95 for each day of keeping over limited time.
You can find the information about the procedure and conditions of parcels keeping in the nearest office.
Thank you for attention.
USPS Services.
Huh? These scam email would work better if the English teachers in Nigeria were better qualified. :)
There was a 44k .rar file attached. Of course I didn't download and open the attachment. It probably contains Trojan.happili or some other virus from Vacations To Go.
Trojan.happili and Vacations To Go
About a month ago I posted my experience with Trojan.happili and how it hijacked my mom's computer. One of the apparent beneficiary of the malware was Vacations To Go (VTG); all the links for Royal Caribbean Cruises ended up at their website. I wrote a letter to VTG's CEO and got no response. I also unsubscribed to their email newsletter a month ago but I'm still receiving them, personally signed by the CEO. I'm not even going to try to unsubscribe again since it seems like Vacations To Go has no sense of business ethics; I'll just have to block their entire domain from my email. What a bunch of scumbags.
Again, there's a chance that VTG wasn't involved, which means someone wrote a trojan that redirects links to benefit VTG without their knowledge. Yeah, right. You would think they would at least reply to my email. Now I'm doubly glad that I didn't book my cruse through VTG.
Some common sense business tips:
- don't use viruses to hijack your customer's computer
- don't sign your name to email newsletters then ignore customer replies
- don't continue spamming your customers after they unsubscribed from said spam
Again, there's a chance that VTG wasn't involved, which means someone wrote a trojan that redirects links to benefit VTG without their knowledge. Yeah, right. You would think they would at least reply to my email. Now I'm doubly glad that I didn't book my cruse through VTG.
Some common sense business tips:
- don't use viruses to hijack your customer's computer
- don't sign your name to email newsletters then ignore customer replies
- don't continue spamming your customers after they unsubscribed from said spam
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Third Culture Worship
You Love Me Still - Third Culture Worship
Irene is the lead singer in the video. I used to play bass for her when she led worship at NewSong NOC.
Friday, June 8, 2012
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Badwill
Goodwill basketball game cancelled. Is there anything such as "goodwill" with the CCP?
Wall Street Journal
Sigh... more lies. They were able to give Chen Guangcheng a passport in a few days, even sending someone to take his photo in the hospital. I guess anything is possible when you want an embarrassing situation swept under the rug.
This whole "dispute" is lame. Looking at a map, it's obvious that China is bullying their way into claiming someone else's territory; Scarborough Shoals is within 200 miles of the Philippines, which should be part of their EEZ.
There are some tiny uninhabited islands off the coast of Fujian. Maybe Philippines should go claim them as its territory. Stupid.
Wall Street Journal
Now, a Chinese basketball team has called off games with the Philippines, the Agence France-Presse reports. The Shanghai Sharks—the team partially owned by native son and basketball star Yao Ming—had been slated this month to play two games in Manila, but the team’s vice general manager has asked for an indefinite postponement of the games, an official with the Philippine Sports Commission told the AFP.
The games were organized last year by both governments as a way to promote friendly sport exchanges between the two nations. However since April, China and the Philippines have been embroiled in an ugly maritime standoff in the South China Sea over a collection of rocks, reefs and islands called the Scarborough Shoal. Both countries claim the shoal, known as Huangyan Island in Chinese, as their territory.
Warning signs have been percolating for some time that the fate of the so-called “goodwill” games might be on the rocks. Earlier last month, a Sharks spokesman said it was unclear whether the team would be able to play. “It’s not about our decision right now,” he told Chinese state media.
The Sharks told Philippines sports officials the players’ passports weren’t ready and therefore they couldn’t participate. A Philippines official said the commission was “surprised” by this, given that the players had plenty of time to prepare their papers, says AFP.
Sigh... more lies. They were able to give Chen Guangcheng a passport in a few days, even sending someone to take his photo in the hospital. I guess anything is possible when you want an embarrassing situation swept under the rug.
This whole "dispute" is lame. Looking at a map, it's obvious that China is bullying their way into claiming someone else's territory; Scarborough Shoals is within 200 miles of the Philippines, which should be part of their EEZ.
There are some tiny uninhabited islands off the coast of Fujian. Maybe Philippines should go claim them as its territory. Stupid.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Illegal Air Pollution
No, the pollution itself is not illegal. As often the case in China, disseminating information about pollution is illegal.
Xinhuanet
I'm going to call bullsh*t on the Vienna Convention nonsense. I read elsewhere that the Chinese government said foreign embassies can collect air pollution data for their staff but not publish on the Internet. Really? The Vienna Convention regulates Twitter tweets?! Also, let's see this "environmental protection regulation"... I'll bet none of the actual polluters are in trouble, especially those with government connections. Since Twitter is blocked in China (there's probably no laws being followed there either), the US embassy is technically not publishing PM2.5 data in China anyway.
Xinhuanet
BEIJING, June 5 (Xinhua) -- A foreign embassy's monitoring and issuing of air quality data in China is technically inaccurate and goes against international conventions and Chinese laws, an environment official said Tuesday in Beijing.
Vice Minister of Environmental Protection Wu Xiaoqing said to monitor air quality and release results, which involves the public interest, is the duty of the Chinese government.
"Some foreign embassies and consulates in China are monitoring air quality and publishing the results themselves. It is not in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, as well as environmental protection regulations of China," Wu told a press conference.
...
"According to international conventions, diplomats are obligated to respect and abide by the laws and regulations in their receiving states. In addition, they cannot interfere with the domestic issues of receiving states," said Wu.
I'm going to call bullsh*t on the Vienna Convention nonsense. I read elsewhere that the Chinese government said foreign embassies can collect air pollution data for their staff but not publish on the Internet. Really? The Vienna Convention regulates Twitter tweets?! Also, let's see this "environmental protection regulation"... I'll bet none of the actual polluters are in trouble, especially those with government connections. Since Twitter is blocked in China (there's probably no laws being followed there either), the US embassy is technically not publishing PM2.5 data in China anyway.
Monday, June 4, 2012
June 4th, 1989
In commemoration, here is the list of search terms blocked by Sina Weibo as reported in China Digital Times:
As of June 4, the following search terms are blocked on Weibo (not including the “search for user” function):
Individual Chinese characters:
fire (火): as in candle flame (烛火), torch (火炬), oil lamp (圣火)
candle (烛): as in [wax] candle (蜡烛), candlelight (烛光); Sina Weibo removed the candle emoticon over the weekend.
blood (血): as in bloody suppression (血腥镇压), bloody incident (流血事件)
people (民): as in People’s Liberation Army (人民解放军), democracy (民主)
movement (运): as in democracy movement (民运), student movement (学运)
move (动): as in student movement (如学生运动), memorial event (悼念活动), mobilize troops (出动军队)
government (政): as in Fang Zheng(方政), regimental commissar (团政委), one-party dictatorship (一党专政)
crush (碾): as in Fang Zheng‘s legs were crushed (方政被碾断双腿), crush and destroy (碾毁)
tǎn (坦): as in tank (坦克)
ceremony (祭): as in ceremony for Tiananmen victims (祭奠六四遇难者)
Numerals and Words Related to the Date of the Tiananmen Massacre:
8, 8 (八), eight (捌), eight: All forms of “eight” and other forms of the numbers below.
9, 9 (九), nine (玖), nine
6, 6 (六), six (陆), six
4, 4 (四), four (肆), four
23, 23 (廿三), 23 (二十三): Today is the 23rd anniversary of the massacre.
35, 35 (三十五): Netizens call today May 35th to get around the censors.
Other Related Terms:
anniversary (周年)
today (今天): searching for today’s date.
yesterday (昨天)
tomorrow (明天)
that year (那年): netizen code for 1989.
declaration (宣言): as in “Hunger Strike Declaration” (绝食宣言)
commemorate (纪念): commemorate 6.4 [as Tiananmen is frequently referred to] (纪念六四), Heroes Monument (英雄纪念碑), etc.
redress (平反): recall 6.4
Victoria Park (维园): An annual candlelight vigil is held in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park to remember the Tiananmen massacre.
park (公园)
recall (追思)
mourn (悼念): as in mourn 6.4
silent tribute (默哀)
evening event (晚会)
black clothes (黑衣): Netizens called for people to walk in the streets wearing black clothes to remember Tiananmen.
go into the street (上街)
never forget (勿忘): as in never forget 6.4 (勿忘六四), never forget the national calamity (勿忘国难)
never forget (毋忘): same as above
(Tian)anmen Mothers (（天）安门母亲)
Little Secretary (小秘书): as in the Sina Weibo “Little Secretary”
Twitter (推特): Chinese-language tweets tend to be democracy activists. During sensitive times, many share information about gatherings.
ism (主义): as in “overthrow socialism” (推翻社会主义)
autonomous (自治): as in “Peking University Student Government”（北大自治会）
Names of People Active in Tiananmen:
Bei Dao (北岛): On the eve of the Tiananmen Massacre, poet Bei Dao submitted a plea for political reform to the central government.
Yuan Mu (袁木): Former State Council Information Office spokesman and apologist for the regime. In April 1989 he spoke with 45 students in 16 high schools.
Deng Liqun (邓力群): leftist influence within the Party
Chen Xitong (陈希同): then-mayor of Beijing. He recently said Tiananmen was an avoidable tragedy.
Yan Jiaqi (严家其): sociology student who went into exile in the U.S
Han Dongfang (韩东方): Capital Autonomous Workers Federation leader during Tiananmen
Feng Congde (封从德): retested
Zhai Weimin (翟伟民): major player in the Capital Autonomous Federation of University Students
Chen Ziming (陈子明): currently a contributing writer to Deutsche Welle’s “China Observer” column
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Twitter Phishing
Got an email about a direct message "from" Twitter that turned out to be a phishing scam. A friend's Twitter account was hacked (whatever that means) and was used to send out emails directing you to a fake Twitter page. I almost put my login and password but since I was already logged in to Twitter, I thought it was strange and double checked the URL. Turned out it was TVVIITER.COM:
Looks like the domain was registered in China just recently. What were they going to do when they steal my account? Tweet my 18 followers with more spam? Why are they doing this when Twitter is banned/blocked/censored in China... should be spamming Sina Weibo instead.
Whois Server Version 2.0
Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.
Domain Name: TVVIITER.COM
Registrar: XIN NET TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION
Whois Server: whois.paycenter.com.cn
Referral URL: http://www.xinnet.com
Name Server: NS11.XINCACHE.COM
Name Server: NS12.XINCACHE.COM
Status: ok
Updated Date: 10-may-2012
Creation Date: 10-may-2012
Expiration Date: 10-may-2013
Last update of whois database: Fri, 25 May 2012 03:24:21 UTC
Looks like the domain was registered in China just recently. What were they going to do when they steal my account? Tweet my 18 followers with more spam? Why are they doing this when Twitter is banned/blocked/censored in China... should be spamming Sina Weibo instead.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
hyp.o.crite
Daily Mail
Of course, this is nothing new. Check out how many private jets and huge limos are present at every UN/IPCC climate conference. If these alarmists are so worried about global warming, then they should change their own behavior first. Otherwise, it's just another excuse to control other people's lives and spend other people's money.
Reactions from fellow hypocrites?
Oh, he's written songs about it. That makes it okay then. If I tweet "CO2 is bad!" then I can keep driving my SUV?
He has been picked as an expert judge to help find the nation's next biggest superstar on hit TV show The Voice.
But when Will.i.am arrived at a climate change debate recently, he showed a shocking lack of judgement.
The 37-year-old Black Eyed Peas star arrived for the talk at Oxford University in his private helicopter.
Seemingly oblivious to the furore that it might cause, the pop star even tweeted pictures of the 'hip.hop.copter' when he landed.
According to the Daily Star, he then spent about an hour with Myles Allen - a leading climate expert - before heading off to carry the Olympic torch in Taunton.
His trip from London was a total of 286 miles and used 71.5 gallons of fuel, ploughing three-quarters of a tonne of CO2 into the atmosphere, which is the same as the average UK person produces in an entire month.
Of course, this is nothing new. Check out how many private jets and huge limos are present at every UN/IPCC climate conference. If these alarmists are so worried about global warming, then they should change their own behavior first. Otherwise, it's just another excuse to control other people's lives and spend other people's money.
Reactions from fellow hypocrites?
But his transportation to the event did not escape the attention of those at the university - or physics professor Mr Allen.
He said: 'The irony didn’t escape everybody. But he’s committed to the issues and he’s written songs about it.'
He added that a better understanding of the problems is probably more important than whether he travelled in the helicopter.
Oh, he's written songs about it. That makes it okay then. If I tweet "CO2 is bad!" then I can keep driving my SUV?
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Monday, May 21, 2012
Annular Eclipse 2012
For some reason, I didn't find out about the eclipse until Friday. We ended up at my friend's back yard in Palos Verdes which had a pretty unobstructed view west. There were seven of us in total and we had to share on pair of paper solar glasses with mylar lenses. I looked online for photography tips and got a bit freaked out. I know you're not supposed to look at the sun directly with the naked eye but I guess it can also burn out digital camera image sensors. People were recommending on using a very dark N400 neutral density filter which is about 9 F-stops but I only had a 3 F-stop 0.9D (N8) filter.
First attempt using program mode... didn't work that well.
After tinkering with the settings, I took off the UV filter, set the camera to manual focus, and set the aperture (F-40) and shutter speed (1/4000 sec) to let in as little light as possible. This was at 6:19pm.
Full-coverage (for Los Angeles anyway) at 6:39pm. There is still way too much light so the image is not sharp. I really needed a darker filter and a longer lens. This was taken with my Sony a55V using a zoom lens at 250mm. I had another zoom lens that can go to 300mm but I didn't have a filter for it. Unfortunately all three lenses I own has different filter diameters.
imageanchor="1" style="">
I also tried to take photos using my Panasonic DMC-TZ3 point-and-shoot with the mylar glasses placed in front of the lens. It was hard to hold and the camera had problems focusing.
One of my friends is an avid iPhone photographer so he also tried the mylar glasses. However, without optical zoom the image was way too small. My other friend was trying to take a picture of the iPhone screen at the same time so I took a photo of everyone.
I just ordered a cheapo variable neutral density filter that goes from N2 to N400. It appears to be two polarizing filters that rotate to let in variable amounts of light. It's not the same as a real N400 filter but it should work. I'm ready for the next eclipse visible in LA in 2071!
First attempt using program mode... didn't work that well.
After tinkering with the settings, I took off the UV filter, set the camera to manual focus, and set the aperture (F-40) and shutter speed (1/4000 sec) to let in as little light as possible. This was at 6:19pm.
Full-coverage (for Los Angeles anyway) at 6:39pm. There is still way too much light so the image is not sharp. I really needed a darker filter and a longer lens. This was taken with my Sony a55V using a zoom lens at 250mm. I had another zoom lens that can go to 300mm but I didn't have a filter for it. Unfortunately all three lenses I own has different filter diameters.
imageanchor="1" style="">
I also tried to take photos using my Panasonic DMC-TZ3 point-and-shoot with the mylar glasses placed in front of the lens. It was hard to hold and the camera had problems focusing.
One of my friends is an avid iPhone photographer so he also tried the mylar glasses. However, without optical zoom the image was way too small. My other friend was trying to take a picture of the iPhone screen at the same time so I took a photo of everyone.
I just ordered a cheapo variable neutral density filter that goes from N2 to N400. It appears to be two polarizing filters that rotate to let in variable amounts of light. It's not the same as a real N400 filter but it should work. I'm ready for the next eclipse visible in LA in 2071!
MBC K-pop Concert in San Francisco
I'm watching it live on YouTube though the video keeps stopping. It says there are 95k+ people watching right now... crazy. Sister is performing Alone... finally got to see them semi-live. Ugh, now I'm down to 240p...
The lineup is sooo much better than KMF last month since it's focused on K-pop:
- Super Junior
- Girls' Generation
- Wonder Girls
- KARA
- BEAST
- MBLAQ
- Sistar
- TVXQ
- f(x)
Even at 240p the video is not streaming properly. Probably didn't expect 100k viewers online.
==========
Hmm, viewer count seems to have stabilized at ~100k and the stream, now at 360p has been about 90% stable. Sistar performed 3 songs and now it's f(x). Krystal and Amber are speaking lots of English to the audience.
==========
Oh, I just remember that SMTown was this weekend in LA. That's why Super Junior, SNSD, and f(x) are in the US at once.
==========
KARA is up right now. They performed Lupin, talked for a bit (with Nicole translating), and now it's Mister and the butt dance!
BTW, Tiffany and Taeyeon of SNSD are MC's. Tiffany is speaking a lot of English, unlike at KMF where it was all Korean. The sound engineering also sounds a lot better; it sucked at KMF/Hollywood Bowl. Dang it, I wish I could have gone tonight. :(
Wonders Girls and SNSD are up next after BEAST.
The lineup is sooo much better than KMF last month since it's focused on K-pop:
- Super Junior
- Girls' Generation
- Wonder Girls
- KARA
- BEAST
- MBLAQ
- Sistar
- TVXQ
- f(x)
Even at 240p the video is not streaming properly. Probably didn't expect 100k viewers online.
==========
Hmm, viewer count seems to have stabilized at ~100k and the stream, now at 360p has been about 90% stable. Sistar performed 3 songs and now it's f(x). Krystal and Amber are speaking lots of English to the audience.
==========
Oh, I just remember that SMTown was this weekend in LA. That's why Super Junior, SNSD, and f(x) are in the US at once.
==========
KARA is up right now. They performed Lupin, talked for a bit (with Nicole translating), and now it's Mister and the butt dance!
BTW, Tiffany and Taeyeon of SNSD are MC's. Tiffany is speaking a lot of English, unlike at KMF where it was all Korean. The sound engineering also sounds a lot better; it sucked at KMF/Hollywood Bowl. Dang it, I wish I could have gone tonight. :(
Wonders Girls and SNSD are up next after BEAST.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
CCTV9 Jackass Doubles Down
Get Whitey, part 2
China Daily
Hmm, when I saw Yang Rui on CCTV9, I thought he was totally rude to his guests. Now he just shows that he is a thug and a coward. His lawsuit talk is just BS; if he has a case, then file the lawsuit. Those that whine about suing in public are attention whores. If Yang is so "devoted to international cultural exchange" then let him explain his "Melissa Chan is a bitch" and "foreigners = trash" comments instead of threatening his critics... but that's just how the CCP operates so I don't expect anything different from a party mouthpiece.
BTW, many sources claim that Yang Rui's daughter either lives or studies in the US. Does that make her "foreign trash" too? What would he say if a US TV news anchor called his daughter a "bitch" and advocate kicking her out of the country?
China Daily
A Chinese broadcaster tonight said he is considering legal action against a blogger who accused him of being a xenophobe for comments he made on Sina Weibo.
Yang Rui, who hosts Dialogue, an English-language show on CCTV News, said Charlie Custer, editor of China Geeks, had "damaged his reputation."
...
In response, Custer, a blogger from the United States who is fluent in Mandarin, launched an online campaign calling for the Dialogue host to be fired.
"These vicious lies do not represent the vast majority of foreign citizens in China," Custer wrote on Sina Weibo. As of Sunday night, the post had been forwarded 3,600 times.
Custer declined to comment when contacted by China Daily.
"His remarks are nothing but libel against a sincere and conscientious host who has been devoted to international cultural exchanges for 13 years," Yang said in a telephone interview.
Hmm, when I saw Yang Rui on CCTV9, I thought he was totally rude to his guests. Now he just shows that he is a thug and a coward. His lawsuit talk is just BS; if he has a case, then file the lawsuit. Those that whine about suing in public are attention whores. If Yang is so "devoted to international cultural exchange" then let him explain his "Melissa Chan is a bitch" and "foreigners = trash" comments instead of threatening his critics... but that's just how the CCP operates so I don't expect anything different from a party mouthpiece.
BTW, many sources claim that Yang Rui's daughter either lives or studies in the US. Does that make her "foreign trash" too? What would he say if a US TV news anchor called his daughter a "bitch" and advocate kicking her out of the country?
Friday, May 18, 2012
Get Whitey!
Wall Street Journal
This is the original posting in Chinese:
This is just so weird. His job is to interview foreigners yet this is how he views his guests?! This is the problem with a totalitarian dictatorship... people parroting the party line for political reasons often go overboard in their "support" of the government. Does he really feel this way or is he sucking up to his political bosses. Either way, I wouldn't want to appear on his show (I know, he wasn't going to ask me anyway).
Let see, I've dated two Chinese girls in China, pulled out my Blackberry so I can use Google Maps w/GPS, converted some US money to RMB, and tried to ask about Liu Xiaobo after he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Hmm, that must make me "foreign trash" even though I get treated as local trash when I'm in China.
==========
Looking at the English translation of his Weibo post, I see the words "foreign bitch" in reference to Al-Jazeera's Beijing bureau; he must be talking about Melissa Chan. I looked up 泼妇 in Google Translate (bitch) and Nciku (shrew; vixen) and it seems to be properly translated. How unprofessional. She was obviously kicked out because the CCP didn't like her reporting embarrassing stories, and unlike Yang Rui, doesn't take orders from they party's propaganda department.
With a surge of anti-foreigner bile rising in Beijing, one might expect a prominent Chinese TV personality whose job it is to interview foreigners to weigh in with a few calming words.
One would be dead wrong.
In a rather perplexing move this week, Chinese Central Television host Yang Rui added a dose of poison to an already vitriolic debate about the behavior of foreigners in the Chinese capital by posting a message online in which he accused foreign spies in the city of pursuing Chinese women to cover up their activities, blamed Western residents for encouraging Chinese people to move abroad and appeared to take a certain vulgar delight in the recent expulsion of al-Jazeera correspondent Melissa Chan.
A full translation of the message, posted Wednesday to his verified account on popular Twitter-like microblogging service Sina Weibo:
The Public Security Bureau wants to clean out the foreign trash: To arrest foreign thugs and protect innocent girls, they need to concentrate on the disaster zones in [student district] Wudaokou and [drinking district] Sanlitun. Cut off the foreign snake heads. People who can’t find jobs in the U.S. and Europe come to China to grab our money, engage in human trafficking and spread deceitful lies to encourage emigration. Foreign spies seek out Chinese girls to mask their espionage and pretend to be tourists while compiling maps and GPS data for Japan, Korea and the West. We kicked out that foreign bitch and closed Al-Jazeera’s Beijing bureau. We should shut up those who demonize China and send them packing.
This is the original posting in Chinese:
公安部要清扫洋垃圾：抓洋流氓，保护无知少女，五道口和三里屯是重灾区；斩首洋蛇头，美欧失业者来中国圈钱，贩卖人口，妖言惑众鼓励移民；识别洋间谍，找个中国女人同居，职业是搜集情报，以游客为名义为日本韩国和美欧测绘地图，完善GPS；赶走洋泼妇，关闭半岛电视台驻京办，让妖魔化中国的闭嘴滚蛋
This is just so weird. His job is to interview foreigners yet this is how he views his guests?! This is the problem with a totalitarian dictatorship... people parroting the party line for political reasons often go overboard in their "support" of the government. Does he really feel this way or is he sucking up to his political bosses. Either way, I wouldn't want to appear on his show (I know, he wasn't going to ask me anyway).
Let see, I've dated two Chinese girls in China, pulled out my Blackberry so I can use Google Maps w/GPS, converted some US money to RMB, and tried to ask about Liu Xiaobo after he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Hmm, that must make me "foreign trash" even though I get treated as local trash when I'm in China.
==========
Looking at the English translation of his Weibo post, I see the words "foreign bitch" in reference to Al-Jazeera's Beijing bureau; he must be talking about Melissa Chan. I looked up 泼妇 in Google Translate (bitch) and Nciku (shrew; vixen) and it seems to be properly translated. How unprofessional. She was obviously kicked out because the CCP didn't like her reporting embarrassing stories, and unlike Yang Rui, doesn't take orders from they party's propaganda department.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Korean Bond
Mascara - Violet
Kinda reminds me of Bond. Hot chicks in short skirts playing classical instruments. No trumpet though...
Explosive - Bond
I saw Bond live at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood many moons ago. We got there late so we had to sit at the very back but it was still pretty cool.
Friday, May 11, 2012
Sistar on Google+
Even I don't do much online (other than post random stuff on my blog), I have an account on almost all social media sites. When I saw Sistar members have accounts on Google+, I added them to my circle: all 4 members plus the Sistar official Google+ account. Since I can't read Hangul/Korean, it's mostly to see photos or video links.
A few days ago, I got an email from Google+ that I was added to other people's circles. It turned out to be Kang Ji Hyeon (Soyou) and Yoon Bora. I didn't even know Soyou's real name until the email. I was exited until I saw Soyou had 1600+ people in her circle... it's probably an intern at Starship Entertainment adding people and ghost-posting stuff for them.
Kang Ji Hyeon
I hope they will show up to KMF 11 next year.
Alone [MV] - Sistar
Lead Me + Alone - Sistar
I like Lead Me better than Alone. Too bad they're promoting Alone so they're not performing Lead Me anymore.
A few days ago, I got an email from Google+ that I was added to other people's circles. It turned out to be Kang Ji Hyeon (Soyou) and Yoon Bora. I didn't even know Soyou's real name until the email. I was exited until I saw Soyou had 1600+ people in her circle... it's probably an intern at Starship Entertainment adding people and ghost-posting stuff for them.
Kang Ji Hyeon
I hope they will show up to KMF 11 next year.
Alone [MV] - Sistar
Lead Me + Alone - Sistar
I like Lead Me better than Alone. Too bad they're promoting Alone so they're not performing Lead Me anymore.
Ass U Me
Media in China is a farce. When you read any newspaper editorial, you need to remember that it's the communist party speaking. Don't be fooled into thinking that there's any analysis or independent thinking behind the words.
Global Times
Sigh... so much misinformation is such a short editorial. Why the scary quotes around "forced out of China"? In order to work in China, you need a visa. If the government does rejects your visa renewal, and refuse to issue any visas to your organization, then they've effectively forced you out of the country. What if the US refuses to give visas to any Xinhua reporters? GT would be the first to whine about the US forcing Chinese reporters out of the country.
Again, if you remember that the same people who forced Melissa Chan out of the country are the same ones that "wrote" the editorial, you see how stupid it sound. Here's my summary of the editorial:
Looking back, I think it's just as well that things didn't work out with Sindy. Both her parents and her uncle are CCP members. Even though her uncle told me he joined for work promotion, her dad is a pretty hardcore commie.
==========
If you think I'm too harsh, read this article from Caixin Online:
Global Times
China refused to extend the press credentials and visa of Melissa Chan, English correspondent of the Arabic-language news network Al-Jazeera in Beijing, and hasn't allowed the channel to find someone to replace her. The news network said that its Beijing bureau was "forced out of China." Foreign media claimed that Melissa Chan was the first accredited foreign journalist to be expelled from China since 1998.
...
China didn't give a specific reason for expelling the reporter. This ambiguity cannot be criticized. According to foreign journalist sources here in Beijing, Melissa Chan holds an aggressive political stance. According to foreign reports, she has a tense relationship with the management authorities of foreign correspondents. She has produced some programs which are intolerable for China.
...
According to some Chinese people who work or used to work in foreign media bureaus, it is common practice for some foreign journalists to just piece together materials based on their presuppositions when reporting on China. If a foreign reporter cannot stay in China, we can only assume that he or she has done something cross the line.
Sigh... so much misinformation is such a short editorial. Why the scary quotes around "forced out of China"? In order to work in China, you need a visa. If the government does rejects your visa renewal, and refuse to issue any visas to your organization, then they've effectively forced you out of the country. What if the US refuses to give visas to any Xinhua reporters? GT would be the first to whine about the US forcing Chinese reporters out of the country.
Again, if you remember that the same people who forced Melissa Chan out of the country are the same ones that "wrote" the editorial, you see how stupid it sound. Here's my summary of the editorial:
We refused to extend the press credentials and visa of Melissa Chan because she does not follow our instructions on what to report. Some of her reporting exposes things that we don't want anyone to know about. We don't want to give you s reason for forcing her out of China so you just have to trust us since we're never wrong. Remember that all of you will have to renew your visas in the future.
Looking back, I think it's just as well that things didn't work out with Sindy. Both her parents and her uncle are CCP members. Even though her uncle told me he joined for work promotion, her dad is a pretty hardcore commie.
==========
If you think I'm too harsh, read this article from Caixin Online:
A bad hair day for a provincial official has attracted great buzz on the internet. Wen Yongdong is a representative of Bijie County in Guiyang, capital of the southwestern province of Guizhou. The tranquility of his life suddenly ended on March 24 when a heavy object smashed the roof of a car in an office parking lot. No one was hurt, but it prompted the local TV station to cover this "impact" story. When a reporter asked Wen for an interview, he blurted out: "You are a journalist and you are a mouthpiece of the party. Are you serving the people or serving the party?"
When the audio tape and the transcript were posted on the internet, the outrage was instant. Outlets controlled by the Communist Party of China media went into overdrive to condemn this "either or" choice. The politically correct line has always been that the party is for the people; serving the party and serving the people are one and the same. By driving a wedge between the two, Wen committed the grossest error. The jeers in the blogosphere focus on the assumptions behind Wen's outburst and what was revealed in this moment of truth.
Wen thought he was the party and the journalist must act in his interest. For this petty bureaucrat , asserting the people's right to know is nonsense.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Trojan.happili
My sister and I have been talking about booking an Alaska cruise instead of a family trip to Asia this fall. After I got home today, I called her up on FaceTime to coordinate searching/booking. We originally were going with Disney Cruises for my nieces but they were really expensive. After asking around a bit, we decided to try Royal Caribbean.
Using my mom's computer, I searched for "royal caribbean" and it returned a bunch of links. Since RCL is a huge company, the first few links were at www.royalcaribbean.com. When I clicked on the link, it redirected me to www.vacationstogo.com. I've been getting their email newsletters (voluntarily) for many years so I recognize the website immediately. I tried this several times and each time I was redirected and could not even go back to previous pages. Somehow I was able to get to the RCL site and Costco using a different browser and we booked our cruise for August.
Afterwards, I ran Malwarebytes and it found a Trojan.happili infection. After cleaning and rebooting, the RCL search links worked fine. Of course, this pissed me off. I was actually going to use Vacations To Go to book my cruise but I ended up going through Costco. The CEO of VTG signed his email newsletters personally so I sent him a terse email telling him how unappreciative I am about him hijacking my computer. After reading about the Trojan some more, I'm not 100% sure that VTG willing used this despicable advertising practice... they can't be that stupid, right? Let's see how he responds.
Using my mom's computer, I searched for "royal caribbean" and it returned a bunch of links. Since RCL is a huge company, the first few links were at www.royalcaribbean.com. When I clicked on the link, it redirected me to www.vacationstogo.com. I've been getting their email newsletters (voluntarily) for many years so I recognize the website immediately. I tried this several times and each time I was redirected and could not even go back to previous pages. Somehow I was able to get to the RCL site and Costco using a different browser and we booked our cruise for August.
Afterwards, I ran Malwarebytes and it found a Trojan.happili infection. After cleaning and rebooting, the RCL search links worked fine. Of course, this pissed me off. I was actually going to use Vacations To Go to book my cruise but I ended up going through Costco. The CEO of VTG signed his email newsletters personally so I sent him a terse email telling him how unappreciative I am about him hijacking my computer. After reading about the Trojan some more, I'm not 100% sure that VTG willing used this despicable advertising practice... they can't be that stupid, right? Let's see how he responds.
I’ve been receiving your newsletter for many years and today I finally booked my first cruise. However, it was not with your company because you used a Trojan to hijack my browser. I can tolerate spam emails but infecting your potential customer’s computers for profit is disgusting and bad for business.
To research an Alaskan cruise, I Googled “royal caribbean” and many links were returned. The first one said “Royal Caribbean Cruises – Official Site” with an URL of www.RoyalCaribbean.com. When I clicked on the link however, it brought me to your website www.vacationstogo.com. I tried this several times and got the same result. After scanning my computer for virus/spyware and finding/removing Trojan.happili, the Royal Caribbean link took me to the official RCL site. Until yesterday, I would have considered using your company to book my first cruise but I ended up booking two balcony staterooms through Costco. Your prices may or may not be less, but that becomes irrelevant once you or your proxy infected and hijacked my computer.
I hope you reconsider your advertising strategy. Until then, I’m recommending all my friends and family to stay away from your website.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Squeezing Blood Out of a Turnip
Hong Lei = turnip
Voice of America
至于你信不信，我反正信了
Why do they even bother with going through the motions of holding a press conference?
Voice of America
Chinese Official Questioned About Al Jazeera Reporter's Expulsion
Q: I just want to know whether the expulsion of Melissa Chan should be seen as a warning to other journalists operating in China?
Hong Lei: “I have just answered relevant questions. On the issue of foreign journalists our policies and moves are easy to see. We will continue to provide convenience for foreign journalists reporting in China and we welcome foreign journalists to report in China. At the same time we need to stress that foreign journalists should abide by Chinese laws and regulations, as well as professional ethics of journalists while reporting in China.”
Q: Under what circumstances will Al Jazeera be given press credentials and visas for a new reporter?
Hong Lei: “The Beijing branch of Al Jazeera is still functioning normally.”
Q: So if there is a new correspondent for Al Jazeera will you give them a visa?
Hong Lei: “We will process relevant procedure in accordance with laws and regulations.”
Q: Can you tell us who made the decision to deny Ms. Chan, was it the Foreign Ministry or another department?
Hong Lei: “We deal with relevant matter in accordance with law.”
Q: Can you give us any specifics on why Melissa Chan was expelled from the country because there is a lot of confusion here and unless you’re more specific about it it’s very difficult for us to get a picture of exactly what’s going on.
Hong Lei: “I have already answered this question.”
Q: I think the main concern of the journalists is that the Chinese government, you use the issue of visa as a way to censor journalists’ work in China. Is this a precedent of how the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will behave in the future?
Hong Lei: “I have stressed that China welcomes foreign journalists to report in China and we have also provided convenience to foreign journalists in reporting objectively in China. I think you have been in China for several years and are very clear about this. At the same time I want to stress that foreign journalists should abide by Chinese laws and regulations while reporting in China.”
Q: What could the Chinese government say if a Chinese journalist was expelled from a foreign country?
Hong Lei: “I want to point out that the Chinese government will follow strictly relevant regulations in dealing with foreign journalists.”
Q: Chinese laws and regulations are written down, so even if we don’t know which ones Melissa is accused of violating we know what they say. No where as I know is the Chinese government’s conception of journalistic ethics written down. How can we judge whether our behavior is consistent with Chinese conception of journalist ethics, and can you offer us guidance as to what that conception looks like?
Hong Lei: “I think our policies and laws regarding foreign journalists is very clear. In your work and exchanges with us we have briefed you on relevant Chinese laws and regulations which is also the basis for your work in China. With regard to relevant issue I think relevant media and journalists are clear about that.”
Q: What would the Chinese government say to accusations that it is censoring foreign media with the expulsion of Melissa Chan?
Hong Lei: “I have pointed out China follows relevant laws and regulations in dealing with relevant journalists. I think relevant media and journalists are very clear about what kind of roles and regulations they have broken.”
Q: Where can we see those regulations because we are having some problem in finding which law and regulation was broken. So where can I check the regulation if I want to see some number or article was broken according to Chinese law?
Hong Lei: “I think have answered the relevant question.”
至于你信不信，我反正信了
Why do they even bother with going through the motions of holding a press conference?
Monday, May 7, 2012
GigaPan
I found this cool website where people upload huge photos that have been stitched together from lots of small photos. Each resulting montage can have gigapixel sized images. The website is hosting these photos so they can advertise/sell these auto-stepping camera mounts that simplifies the task of taking hundreds or thousands of photos required to make a stitched photo.
I want to try this at Imperial Hill using my camera. The only issue is that planes are always taking off and landing at LAX and any movement through the FOV will cause problems when stitching the images together. I guess I'll have to shoot fast. I'm thinking I can get 15 across and 3 down for 45 photos. If there's 33% overlap, then I'll have 15 x 3 x 2/3 x 16.7MP or a ~500MP photo when I'm done.
I want to try this at Imperial Hill using my camera. The only issue is that planes are always taking off and landing at LAX and any movement through the FOV will cause problems when stitching the images together. I guess I'll have to shoot fast. I'm thinking I can get 15 across and 3 down for 45 photos. If there's 33% overlap, then I'll have 15 x 3 x 2/3 x 16.7MP or a ~500MP photo when I'm done.
Sistar Short Skirt
Sigh... not sure why they keep putting them in such short skirts. Hyorin is really talented so it kinda cheapens their abilities by putting the focus on their bodies instead of vocals/dancing. In addition, I thought they always wore safety pants on stage; not sure what happened at 1:15 in the video.
This is why I like BEG's (Brown Eyed Girls) old stuff. They aren't jumping around half-nekked and don't have crazy zombie make-up.
Brown Eyed Girls on YHY's Love Letter, Part 1
Brown Eyed Girls on YHY's Love Letter, Part 2
This is why I like BEG's (Brown Eyed Girls) old stuff. They aren't jumping around half-nekked and don't have crazy zombie make-up.
Brown Eyed Girls on YHY's Love Letter, Part 1
Brown Eyed Girls on YHY's Love Letter, Part 2
Saturday, May 5, 2012
TBIT Construction Progress
As I complained many times in the past, the international terminal (Tom Bradley) at LAX is an embarrassment. The airports I've been to in Asia (Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, and even Beijing) are so much better. I guess a lot of people have complained so they've been renovating and adding on to the terminal. It's nicer inside than before but the terminal is still too small (too few gates) so construction goes on.
Since I bought my Sony a55 camera, I've been going to Imperial Hill near LAX to take photos. Here are two of the TBIT construction:
10/16/2011
4/8/2012
In six month's time, it looks like they added some roofing material, though there are less cranes. Maybe there's more progress on the inside. This is what the terminal is supposed to look like when it's done:
It's a bit confusing since I've seen other drawings with an additional "terminal" west of this one connected by a train(?). This would give TBIT a lot more gates; the drawing above doesn't seem to add much, if at all. I don't see any construction evidence of the 2nd additional building though.
Since I bought my Sony a55 camera, I've been going to Imperial Hill near LAX to take photos. Here are two of the TBIT construction:
10/16/2011
4/8/2012
In six month's time, it looks like they added some roofing material, though there are less cranes. Maybe there's more progress on the inside. This is what the terminal is supposed to look like when it's done:
It's a bit confusing since I've seen other drawings with an additional "terminal" west of this one connected by a train(?). This would give TBIT a lot more gates; the drawing above doesn't seem to add much, if at all. I don't see any construction evidence of the 2nd additional building though.
Neighborhood Permit Parking Program
I received a letter in the mail from our city's Public Works Department. They've been asked to implement a Neighborhood Parking Permit Program for a few streets near my house. Typically they do this on residential streets near busy commercial areas, or near paid parking lots to reduce the supply of free parking. I live in a very residential area so I wasn't sure why this was necessary at first.
Looking at a map of the area, I think the reason is because of the nearby Peters Canyon Reservoir. There are hiking trails and horse trails in the reservoir area and the small (paid) parking lot fills up fast on weekends. There's no parking on the streets bordering the reservoir so I'm guessing people are parking wherever on small residential streets.
I don't live in the circled area but last weekend the street in front of my house was full of parked cars. I didn't see any neighbors holding an event so it was probably related to overflow parking at the reservoir, or people too cheap to pay the parking fee.
The only other significant item in the letter was that "the City Traffic Commission's decisions are final unless appealed." However, it will cost you money to appeal the decision and applications for appeal requires a $500 deposit. $500?! Don't we pay their salaries out of our property taxes and my !@#$% business license fee? What a scam... I wish I could get extra salary for working on projects at work.
Looking at a map of the area, I think the reason is because of the nearby Peters Canyon Reservoir. There are hiking trails and horse trails in the reservoir area and the small (paid) parking lot fills up fast on weekends. There's no parking on the streets bordering the reservoir so I'm guessing people are parking wherever on small residential streets.
I don't live in the circled area but last weekend the street in front of my house was full of parked cars. I didn't see any neighbors holding an event so it was probably related to overflow parking at the reservoir, or people too cheap to pay the parking fee.
The only other significant item in the letter was that "the City Traffic Commission's decisions are final unless appealed." However, it will cost you money to appeal the decision and applications for appeal requires a $500 deposit. $500?! Don't we pay their salaries out of our property taxes and my !@#$% business license fee? What a scam... I wish I could get extra salary for working on projects at work.
Friday, May 4, 2012
Aggressive Driving
This is the 2nd day in a row that I noticed a white Infiniti G35 Coupe driving aggressively on Crenshaw Blvd. He (I checked) drives north on Crenshaw then turns right on 190th Street. In the short distance from Sepulveda Blvd to 190th St, he changes lanes 10+ times, weaving in and out of traffic. Since it's rush hour, there's not much difference between the lanes so I'm not sure what is the point.
At the Sepulveda Blvd intersection, Crenshaw expands to 4 lanes but the right lane ends right after the intersection, and you have to merge left to stay on Crenshaw. Both days, Mr. G35 has jumped into the right lane before the intersection then squeeze back into the 3rd lane on the next block, slowing down everyone behind him. I hate selfish jerks that drive like that.
At the Sepulveda Blvd intersection, Crenshaw expands to 4 lanes but the right lane ends right after the intersection, and you have to merge left to stay on Crenshaw. Both days, Mr. G35 has jumped into the right lane before the intersection then squeeze back into the 3rd lane on the next block, slowing down everyone behind him. I hate selfish jerks that drive like that.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Atlas V - AEHF-2 (Updated)
Since we're not launching until May 7th at the earliest, ULA moved up their Atlas V launch to today. One of our internal webcams is pointed in that direction:
Atlas V on LC41 (Launch Complex)
Here is an old map of Cape Canaveral. We launch from LC40.
More photos can be found here. They have a pretty launch tower.
==========
Launched today (Friday 5/4/12) at 11:42am PDT. Here is a view from our livecam on a lightning tower at LC40 (~1.5 miles away):
Atlas V on LC41 (Launch Complex)
Here is an old map of Cape Canaveral. We launch from LC40.
More photos can be found here. They have a pretty launch tower.
==========
Launched today (Friday 5/4/12) at 11:42am PDT. Here is a view from our livecam on a lightning tower at LC40 (~1.5 miles away):
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
State Department FAIL
I hope I'm wrong but it looks like Obama, Clinton, and the US State Department just handed back Chen Guangchen back to CCP thugs for more torture and illegal detention. I guess the US Embassy is not safe... perhaps I should be traveling on my Canadian passport next time I go to China.
AP
Lame. Everyone was complaining about China sending North Korean refugees back across the border to certain torture or death. Now the Obama is doing the same thing. They rejected Wang Lujin's asylum request because Biden didn't want to complicate his meeting with Xi Jinping; did Clinton just do the same with Chen Guangchen?
I think the Foreign Ministry meant to say, "How did he escape after we spent millions of RMB guarding him?"
AP
A blind activist said Wednesday that U.S. officials told him that Chinese authorities would have beaten his wife to death had he not left the American Embassy, where he sought sanctuary after fleeing persecution by local officials in his rural town.
A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, denied that the administration had passed on to Chen Guangcheng any threat of violence to his family, but did say that Chen was told that if he stayed in the embassy indefinitely, his family would be returned to their home province.
A shaken Chen, speaking from the hospital room where he was taken after leaving the embassy Wednesday, also said that U.S. officials told him Chinese authorities would send his family back home if he stayed inside. But he added that, at one point, the U.S. officials told him his wife would be beaten to death.
"They said if I don't leave they would take my children and family back to Shandong," Chen told The Associated Press. He said he heard the death threat from an American official whom he could not identify.
Lame. Everyone was complaining about China sending North Korean refugees back across the border to certain torture or death. Now the Obama is doing the same thing. They rejected Wang Lujin's asylum request because Biden didn't want to complicate his meeting with Xi Jinping; did Clinton just do the same with Chen Guangchen?
Clinton had said in a statement earlier in the day that Chen's exit from the embassy "reflected his choices and our values" and said the U.S. would monitor the assurances Beijing gave.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry demanded that the U.S. apologize for harboring Chen, investigate how he got into the embassy and hold those responsible accountable.
"What the U.S. side has done has interfered in the domestic affairs of China, and the Chinese side will never accept it," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said in a statement.
Both sides were eager to resolve Chen's case to clear the way for talks on a U.S.-China agenda crowded with disagreements over trade imbalances, North Korea and Syria. With Chen out of the way, Clinton, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and their Chinese counterparts would be able to focus on the original purpose of their two-day talks starting Thursday: building trust between the world's superpower and its up-and-coming rival.
I think the Foreign Ministry meant to say, "How did he escape after we spent millions of RMB guarding him?"
Vistaprint Spam
As an ex-engineering nerd, I have lots of email accounts (does anyone remember the free dialup email accounts from Juno?). I signed up for a Yahoo accounts early but moved on to Hotmail (before MSFT) and Gmail. Unfortunately, I used my Yahoo email as my Apple ID way back and since iTunes Store is such a PITA, I'm stuck with the old account. All this means is that I don't use the Yahoo account for anything else other than my Apple ID, and all the emails I receive are from iTunes Store.
So, a few weeks ago I started getting emails from a company called Vistaprint. As I mentioned before, I haven't used my Yahoo email to send anything for many years. Either they found my email from early Internet archives or Apple is selling out its customers. Anyway, at the bottom of the email, there's the obligatory "Unsubscribe" link.
If you click the link, it brings you to this page:
Huh? Typically when I click on the unsubscribe link/button on most other spam-type email, it simply unsubscribes (hopefully) me. Here it asks for my email (they have it already!) and an account password. Obviously I don't have one, and if you click on the "No, I am a new customer" button, it asks you to sign up. WTF? I have to create an account to unsubscribe to spam email?!
Of course, this seems a bit fishy so I Googled "Vistaprint" + "spam" and got lots of hits. Nice. I guess there's no way to unsubscribe from their spam since I'm not going to create an account and give them more info. I'll add them to the spam filter on my Yahoo account but that probably will not block their irritating emails when I check email from my iOS devices.
If any of my 3 readers receive email from Vistaprint, just delete it or add them to your spam filter. If you need printing services, check out Wet Ink Printing. I know the owner and he's a good guy.
So, a few weeks ago I started getting emails from a company called Vistaprint. As I mentioned before, I haven't used my Yahoo email to send anything for many years. Either they found my email from early Internet archives or Apple is selling out its customers. Anyway, at the bottom of the email, there's the obligatory "Unsubscribe" link.
If you click the link, it brings you to this page:
Huh? Typically when I click on the unsubscribe link/button on most other spam-type email, it simply unsubscribes (hopefully) me. Here it asks for my email (they have it already!) and an account password. Obviously I don't have one, and if you click on the "No, I am a new customer" button, it asks you to sign up. WTF? I have to create an account to unsubscribe to spam email?!
Of course, this seems a bit fishy so I Googled "Vistaprint" + "spam" and got lots of hits. Nice. I guess there's no way to unsubscribe from their spam since I'm not going to create an account and give them more info. I'll add them to the spam filter on my Yahoo account but that probably will not block their irritating emails when I check email from my iOS devices.
If any of my 3 readers receive email from Vistaprint, just delete it or add them to your spam filter. If you need printing services, check out Wet Ink Printing. I know the owner and he's a good guy.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Amazon Shipping Charges (Updated)
I buy a lot of stuff from Amazon since it's convenient and sometimes you save a few dollars. When I had problems with the SSD drive install, I ordered a data transfer kit that cost ~$20. Since you get free shipping for orders over $25, I added a cheapo Bluetooth keyboard for my iPad that cost only ~$16. Anyway, when I successfully cloned my boot SSD, I didn't need the cable/software so I tried to cancel my Amazon order.
Well, Amazon came back and said they were able to cancel the data transfer kit but was unable to do anything about the Bluetooth keyboard. Since the order is now only $16, they added back a $8.50 shipping charge. The BT keyboard only weighs ~1/2 pound so the charge seemed ridiculously high, and I would never have ordered it if it would cost me ~$25. I think if Amazon was unable to cancel the entire order, they should have let me choose between continuing with the original order, or approved the revised order with the crazy high shipping charge. In this case, I probably would have kept the original order since I may need the USB-SATA cable in the future. Also, I don't know their order fulfillment process but not sure why they couldn't cancel an order that didn't ship until three days later. Lame.
Anyway, I wrote a short email message to Amazon to see what they would do for me. I probably ordered a couple thousand dollars of stuff from them in the past six months (my Sony a55 kit was >$1000) but not sure if that makes me a customer they want to keep.
==========
Wow, Amazon replied within 25 minutes and credited the shipping charges. I sent the email at 4:30am so they must have CSRs in India or something.
Well, Amazon came back and said they were able to cancel the data transfer kit but was unable to do anything about the Bluetooth keyboard. Since the order is now only $16, they added back a $8.50 shipping charge. The BT keyboard only weighs ~1/2 pound so the charge seemed ridiculously high, and I would never have ordered it if it would cost me ~$25. I think if Amazon was unable to cancel the entire order, they should have let me choose between continuing with the original order, or approved the revised order with the crazy high shipping charge. In this case, I probably would have kept the original order since I may need the USB-SATA cable in the future. Also, I don't know their order fulfillment process but not sure why they couldn't cancel an order that didn't ship until three days later. Lame.
Anyway, I wrote a short email message to Amazon to see what they would do for me. I probably ordered a couple thousand dollars of stuff from them in the past six months (my Sony a55 kit was >$1000) but not sure if that makes me a customer they want to keep.
==========
Wow, Amazon replied within 25 minutes and credited the shipping charges. I sent the email at 4:30am so they must have CSRs in India or something.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Permanent Campaign
Daily Mail
Barack Obama has already held more re-election fundraising events than every elected president since Richard Nixon combined, according to figures to be published in a new book.
Obama is also the only president in the past 35 years to visit every electoral battleground state in his first year of office.
The figures, contained a in a new book called The Rise of the President’s Permanent Campaign by Brendan J. Doherty, due to be published by University Press of Kansas in July, give statistical backing to the notion that Obama is more preoccupied with being re-elected than any other commander-in-chief of modern times.
Doherty, who has compiled statistics about presidential travel and fundraising going back to President Jimmy Carter in 1977, found that Obama had held 104 fundraisers by March 6th this year, compared to 94 held by Presidents Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush Snr, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush combined.
I guess the upside is that while he's out campaigning, he's not raising taxes or redistributing wealth. At this point, I don't even care who will be the Republican nominee; I'm voting for him/her/it over Obama, though my vote won't even matter on the crazy Left Coast.
KMF 10 Summary
I just got home from KMF 10 after carpooling back to work then dropping my friend off at his house. Even though I went with more people this year, it wasn't as good as KMF 7 nor KMF8. I had thought that since this was the 10th KMF concert, they would plan ahead and book more performers. I'm a huge fan of Lena Park and Brown Eyed Girls so at least I got to see them live.
My seat this year was not as good as before so photos suck a bit; I should have waited until the final week to buy tickets as lots of people were disappointed in the lineup and offered up much better seats at the same price that I paid ($70 for section F1). I also haven't figured out how to shoot at night with my new DSLR and the girl in front of me waving "thunder sticks" (what dumbass decided to hand those things out at a concert) kept messing up the camera's auto-focus. :(
Leon and I met a couple of friends at my work and we carpooled together. The first thing we saw was a MBLAQ fan group group photo. We would end up hearing them (and thousands of teenage girls) screaming & yelling all night.
Banner near security checkpoint. I'm not sure how effective they were but an old white guy checked my backpack twice (it only contained a jacket and my DSLR camera). Leon was carrying all the food.
Hollywood Bowl before the concert. We got there around 5pm and had time to eat almost all the food I bought from Mituswa and SMart (Korean market in Torrance).
Kim Tae Woo singing the Korean national anthem. The kids in the back sang Star Bangled Banner right before him.
MCs for the concert: Narsha from Brown Eyed Girls and Son Ho Young from G.O.D. He was the MC at KMF 7 as well. My Korean friend Sunny said he was a terrible MC... kept saying the most stupid things and repeating himself over-and-over.
The first performer was a group called Arirang. It turned out they're from China and all their songs were in Chinese, but I couldn't understand what they were singing anyway.
The ubiquitous and irritating "thunder sticks" that everyone had. I thought those were only used to distract visiting teams from making free throws.
Lee Yong. Sunny knew some of his songs from the 80's while she was in middle/high school. He said that he's been performing for 31 years and this was the largest audience and the loudest welcome. He was okay.
Woohoo! Lena Park! After MBLAQ and Brown Eyed Girls, I think she was the next most popular performer. I know her younger sister from church. She was going to try to take us to see Lena after the concert but she got sick and never made it to Hollywood Bowl. :(
Vincent - Lena Park
Bobby Kim. He did a couple of solo songs then brought a couple more guys + backup dancers on stage. I think together they're called Buga Kingz. I really hate it when people use "z" in place of "s" to seem cool or something.
Every KMF I've been to has a live band performance and this year it was Love & Peace. Once again, Sunny said she's heard of their songs before. The lead singer was an old guy... they were also just OK, though their lead guitarist was pretty good.
Intermission
After intermission, the first performer was Kim Kyung Ho. He was definitely a heavy rocker, very different from all the other performers. During his songs, he would swing his head around with hair flying everywhere... it was pretty cool!
The main event... for me anyway... Brown Eyed Girls! They did two songs from their newest album Sixth Sense. Miryo spoke a lot of English and they finished with Abracadabra (of course!).
Abracadabra - Brown Eyed Girls
Narsha... pretty
Next up was an old guy, Nam Jin. Sunny said this was for the grandpas in the audience. Didn't like his songs... they did sound a lot like old Chinese songs though.
Light sticks. Red ones were from Verizon.
MBLAQ. I don't know any of their songs but they were sure popular with the teenage girls, who seemed to be screaming during their entire set. I don't get it. Are you there to hear/see them perform? One of the members, Lee Joon, was on Season 2 of Star Golden Bell... the rest I don't know too well.
The final performers were members of G.O.D. First up was Kim Tae Woo.
Love Rain - Kim Tae Woo
Followed by Son Ho Young. It seems like he performs at KMF almost every year. His profile says he was born in New Jersey... his English was pretty bad though.
All 4 members of G.O.D.
Sigh... once again, I was not too impressed with the lineup, except for Lena Park and Brown Eyed Girls. I think I'm also still upset that I missed seeing Sistar last year. It's going to take a lot of girl groups to get me to go next year. :)
My seat this year was not as good as before so photos suck a bit; I should have waited until the final week to buy tickets as lots of people were disappointed in the lineup and offered up much better seats at the same price that I paid ($70 for section F1). I also haven't figured out how to shoot at night with my new DSLR and the girl in front of me waving "thunder sticks" (what dumbass decided to hand those things out at a concert) kept messing up the camera's auto-focus. :(
Leon and I met a couple of friends at my work and we carpooled together. The first thing we saw was a MBLAQ fan group group photo. We would end up hearing them (and thousands of teenage girls) screaming & yelling all night.
Banner near security checkpoint. I'm not sure how effective they were but an old white guy checked my backpack twice (it only contained a jacket and my DSLR camera). Leon was carrying all the food.
Hollywood Bowl before the concert. We got there around 5pm and had time to eat almost all the food I bought from Mituswa and SMart (Korean market in Torrance).
Kim Tae Woo singing the Korean national anthem. The kids in the back sang Star Bangled Banner right before him.
MCs for the concert: Narsha from Brown Eyed Girls and Son Ho Young from G.O.D. He was the MC at KMF 7 as well. My Korean friend Sunny said he was a terrible MC... kept saying the most stupid things and repeating himself over-and-over.
The first performer was a group called Arirang. It turned out they're from China and all their songs were in Chinese, but I couldn't understand what they were singing anyway.
The ubiquitous and irritating "thunder sticks" that everyone had. I thought those were only used to distract visiting teams from making free throws.
Lee Yong. Sunny knew some of his songs from the 80's while she was in middle/high school. He said that he's been performing for 31 years and this was the largest audience and the loudest welcome. He was okay.
Woohoo! Lena Park! After MBLAQ and Brown Eyed Girls, I think she was the next most popular performer. I know her younger sister from church. She was going to try to take us to see Lena after the concert but she got sick and never made it to Hollywood Bowl. :(
Vincent - Lena Park
Bobby Kim. He did a couple of solo songs then brought a couple more guys + backup dancers on stage. I think together they're called Buga Kingz. I really hate it when people use "z" in place of "s" to seem cool or something.
Every KMF I've been to has a live band performance and this year it was Love & Peace. Once again, Sunny said she's heard of their songs before. The lead singer was an old guy... they were also just OK, though their lead guitarist was pretty good.
Intermission
After intermission, the first performer was Kim Kyung Ho. He was definitely a heavy rocker, very different from all the other performers. During his songs, he would swing his head around with hair flying everywhere... it was pretty cool!
The main event... for me anyway... Brown Eyed Girls! They did two songs from their newest album Sixth Sense. Miryo spoke a lot of English and they finished with Abracadabra (of course!).
Abracadabra - Brown Eyed Girls
Narsha... pretty
Next up was an old guy, Nam Jin. Sunny said this was for the grandpas in the audience. Didn't like his songs... they did sound a lot like old Chinese songs though.
Light sticks. Red ones were from Verizon.
MBLAQ. I don't know any of their songs but they were sure popular with the teenage girls, who seemed to be screaming during their entire set. I don't get it. Are you there to hear/see them perform? One of the members, Lee Joon, was on Season 2 of Star Golden Bell... the rest I don't know too well.
The final performers were members of G.O.D. First up was Kim Tae Woo.
Love Rain - Kim Tae Woo
Followed by Son Ho Young. It seems like he performs at KMF almost every year. His profile says he was born in New Jersey... his English was pretty bad though.
All 4 members of G.O.D.
Sigh... once again, I was not too impressed with the lineup, except for Lena Park and Brown Eyed Girls. I think I'm also still upset that I missed seeing Sistar last year. It's going to take a lot of girl groups to get me to go next year. :)
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Upgrading SSD
When I purchased my build-to-order desktop PC, they were giving out free 30GB Kingston SSDs. I thought I could speed up my computer by using the SSD as the primary boot disk and buying a large conventional HDD (2TB) to store programs and data. 30GB should be enough for just Windows 7, right? Right?
I soon found out that 30 GB was not enough. Even though I installed everything I could (whenever I was given the option) on the secondary drive, I found myself running out of room on the 30GB SSD. For the past month, I've been averaging ~1GB free. Windows 7 seems to eat up free space each time there's an update, which seems like every week. I finally admitted the problem and bought a 120GB SSD from Crucial/Amazon for ~$140. I looked through the documentation online and it looked like an easy upgrade. After all, I was just copying data from one disk to another... how hard can it be?
I thought the SSD came with a data transfer kit (USB to SATA cable + software) but when the packaged arrived, it only had the disk drive... no cable, no software. I cracked open the computer case and could not find any free SATA connectors. I ended up unplugging my DVD-ROM and attached the new SSD drive. Anyway, it took a few tries and a lot of Googling but I managed to clone the original 30GB boot disk. I initially used a free program, EASEUS Partition Manager, but it created 3 partitions and the main partition was not aligned for a SSD. I read some more and tried a different software called Clonezilla which involved creating a boot CD and lots of restarts. It managed to clone the original SSD but left a 90GB unallocated partition which I fixed with Windows Disk Management. It wasn't too hard but the whole process took me ~3 hours. In the midst of all this, I got fed up and ordered the $20 cable/software kit that I thought I was getting; hopefully I can cancel that order with Amazon.
Since I have a small case, there's not much room. I haven't figured out how to remove the original SSD drive so the new one will just have to hang outside the case for now.
Woohoo, C: drive is no longer red! It took Windows 7 only one reboot to suck up another 3GB. When I was fixing the partition size, it said that there was 92GB free. Right after reboot, it said there was only 89GB free. There's probably a % disk size process in the background or something. Sigh... hopefully this will last longer than 12 months.
I soon found out that 30 GB was not enough. Even though I installed everything I could (whenever I was given the option) on the secondary drive, I found myself running out of room on the 30GB SSD. For the past month, I've been averaging ~1GB free. Windows 7 seems to eat up free space each time there's an update, which seems like every week. I finally admitted the problem and bought a 120GB SSD from Crucial/Amazon for ~$140. I looked through the documentation online and it looked like an easy upgrade. After all, I was just copying data from one disk to another... how hard can it be?
I thought the SSD came with a data transfer kit (USB to SATA cable + software) but when the packaged arrived, it only had the disk drive... no cable, no software. I cracked open the computer case and could not find any free SATA connectors. I ended up unplugging my DVD-ROM and attached the new SSD drive. Anyway, it took a few tries and a lot of Googling but I managed to clone the original 30GB boot disk. I initially used a free program, EASEUS Partition Manager, but it created 3 partitions and the main partition was not aligned for a SSD. I read some more and tried a different software called Clonezilla which involved creating a boot CD and lots of restarts. It managed to clone the original SSD but left a 90GB unallocated partition which I fixed with Windows Disk Management. It wasn't too hard but the whole process took me ~3 hours. In the midst of all this, I got fed up and ordered the $20 cable/software kit that I thought I was getting; hopefully I can cancel that order with Amazon.
Since I have a small case, there's not much room. I haven't figured out how to remove the original SSD drive so the new one will just have to hang outside the case for now.
Woohoo, C: drive is no longer red! It took Windows 7 only one reboot to suck up another 3GB. When I was fixing the partition size, it said that there was 92GB free. Right after reboot, it said there was only 89GB free. There's probably a % disk size process in the background or something. Sigh... hopefully this will last longer than 12 months.
Sindy and KMF
It just occurred to me that two years ago, I went to KMF 8 with Leon right after my blind date with Sindy. At the time, I thought about taking her to the concert but thought it would be kinda weird... hanging out with someone you don't know that well for 6 hours while not understanding anything being said around you.
Last year, when all my favorite K-pop artists (Sistar, Secret, IU, Baek Ji Young) at KMF 9, I was in Beijing visiting Sindy after a business trip to Singapore.
This year for KMF 10, it's me and Leon again. :( Oh well, at least I'll get to see Brown Eyed Girls and maybe get to meet Lena Park in person after the concert.
Last year, when all my favorite K-pop artists (Sistar, Secret, IU, Baek Ji Young) at KMF 9, I was in Beijing visiting Sindy after a business trip to Singapore.
This year for KMF 10, it's me and Leon again. :( Oh well, at least I'll get to see Brown Eyed Girls and maybe get to meet Lena Park in person after the concert.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Tablo and Psychotic Netizens
I saw a link to this article on a friend's Facebook page. It recounts the story about crazy Koreans cyberstalking Daniel Lee, aka Tablo from Epik High. Just last week I watched a recent episode of Strong Heart on YouTube and Tablo referred to this dark period of his life, though I didn't know the full back story until I read the article.
Wired
Crazy sh*t. I'm not a big hip-hop fan but I like Epik High and Tablo; I actually bought their Epilogue album on iTunes. I think I have a soft spot for Westernized Asians going back to their home country to try and make a living (e.g., Tiffany and Jessica from SNSD, Nicole from KARA, etc). After traveling through China with Leon as PMI's acting CFO, I can relate the the challenges of looking like a local but not really understanding what's going on 100%.
Anyway, after reading the article, I blame the asshole cousin. Even though he insists he is not jealous, his comments show that he is totally narcissistic, and bitter that his younger cousin is more successful. Whatever happened to "blood is thicker than water?" Your family is supposed to stick by you... but I guess since they know you so well, when your family turns on you, it's many times worse then coming from a stranger. Tablo fans should "human flesh search" (Chinese Netizen term) his cousin, Seungmin Cho... just kidding.
Run (from Epilogue) - Epik High
==========
Commentary from Fever's End, Tablo's solo album released after the events in the Wired article
Wired
But then, at the height of the group’s fame, the comments sections of articles about Epik High started filling up with anonymous messages accusing Lee of lying about his Stanford diploma. In May 2010 an antifan club formed and quickly attracted tens of thousands of members who accused him of stealing someone’s identity, dodging the draft, and faking passports, diplomas, and transcripts. The accusations were accompanied by supposed evidence supplied by the online masses, who also produced slick YouTube attack videos. It was a full-fledged backlash.
By that summer, Lee’s alleged fraud had become one of Korea’s top news items. Death threats streamed in, and Lee found himself accosted by angry people on the street. Since his face was so recognizable, he became a virtual prisoner in his Seoul apartment. In a matter of weeks, he went from being one of the most beloved figures in the country to one of the most reviled.
Crazy sh*t. I'm not a big hip-hop fan but I like Epik High and Tablo; I actually bought their Epilogue album on iTunes. I think I have a soft spot for Westernized Asians going back to their home country to try and make a living (e.g., Tiffany and Jessica from SNSD, Nicole from KARA, etc). After traveling through China with Leon as PMI's acting CFO, I can relate the the challenges of looking like a local but not really understanding what's going on 100%.
Anyway, after reading the article, I blame the asshole cousin. Even though he insists he is not jealous, his comments show that he is totally narcissistic, and bitter that his younger cousin is more successful. Whatever happened to "blood is thicker than water?" Your family is supposed to stick by you... but I guess since they know you so well, when your family turns on you, it's many times worse then coming from a stranger. Tablo fans should "human flesh search" (Chinese Netizen term) his cousin, Seungmin Cho... just kidding.
Run (from Epilogue) - Epik High
==========
Commentary from Fever's End, Tablo's solo album released after the events in the Wired article
Ferrari? No, I Drive A Porsche
The ugly one no less...
AFP
Aww, did mommy's law firm money buy him the Porsche too? Looks like he thinks he has military plates on his Porsche. Three tickets in six months... how many points does it take to have your license suspended in Massachusetts anyway?
This brings up another random thought about justice in China:
- Chen Guangchen: become a lawyer; defend peasants from forced abortion and sterilization; gets arrested, tortured, and put in indefinite house arrest surrounded by thugs; six-year old daughter forced to stay home and watch parents being beaten
- Gu Kailai: become a lawyer; use princeling status and husband's guanxi to amass corrupt fortune; live a life of privilege and luxury while husband arrests, tortures, and executes business and political rivals; sends son to expensive private schools in UK and US, along with expensive condos and sports cars
Embarrassing. Makes me want to tell people I'm Taiwanese instead of Chinese... almost.
AFP
The son of a disgraced Chinese leader Bo Xilai received three traffic tickets while driving a Porsche in the United States, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Bo Guagua, son of the ousted Communist Party chief at the center of a widening corruption scandal, had earlier this week sought to downplay his allegedly lavish lifestyle as a student at Harvard University.
The 24-year-old notably denied reports that he drove a Ferrari.
But the Journal, citing police records, said he was driving a black Porsche when he was cited for allegedly running stop signs in December 2010 and May 2011 -- once at 2:20 am -- and for speeding in February 2011.
The newspaper identified the car as a 2011 Porsche Panamera registered to someone at his address in Cambridge, Massachusetts, saying the car sells for around $80,000.
Aww, did mommy's law firm money buy him the Porsche too? Looks like he thinks he has military plates on his Porsche. Three tickets in six months... how many points does it take to have your license suspended in Massachusetts anyway?
This brings up another random thought about justice in China:
- Chen Guangchen: become a lawyer; defend peasants from forced abortion and sterilization; gets arrested, tortured, and put in indefinite house arrest surrounded by thugs; six-year old daughter forced to stay home and watch parents being beaten
- Gu Kailai: become a lawyer; use princeling status and husband's guanxi to amass corrupt fortune; live a life of privilege and luxury while husband arrests, tortures, and executes business and political rivals; sends son to expensive private schools in UK and US, along with expensive condos and sports cars
Embarrassing. Makes me want to tell people I'm Taiwanese instead of Chinese... almost.
Fake Panchen Lama Speaks
WSJ China Realtime Report
Wow... sometimes even I'm shocked at the naked hypocrisy of the CCP. It's not enough that a bunch of atheist thugs "disappeared" the chosen Panchen Lama and his entire family, and replaced him with a shanzai version. Now they have him going around parroting the party line about corruption and greed. Crazy.
The whole reason this guy "is" the Panchen Lama is because of CCP's greed and hunger for power. China is occupying Tibet simply to enrich the communist party and to keep the fenqing/nationalists in check. All that talk about serfdom and freeing the Tibetans from oppression is total crap. From his name (Gyaltsen Norbu), I'm guessing he is Tibetan... really, how does he sleep at night knowing he's betraying his religion and contributing to the destruction of his culture? And for what? A pat on the head from Hu Jingtao? So he can live in relative luxury while speaking out against it? Ugh, he's no better than Bo Xilai... disgusting.
Gyaltsen Norbu = Judas Iscariot
When Gyaltsen Norbu, the youth selected by Beijing as the second-highest leader in Tibetan Buddhism, made an appearance at the Labrang Monastery in northwest China last year, foreigners were warned to get out of town and armed guards roamed the streets. On Thursday, though, the 22-year-old Panchen Lama — dismissed as an interloper by many Tibetans — gave a very public, and relatively uneventful, keynote speech before hundreds of monks, nuns and scholars in Hong Kong.
In his first appearance outside the Chinese mainland, a crimson-clad Norbu bowed before a relic said to be a 2,500-year-old vestige of the skull of Buddha and read a prepared speech. Buddhist teachings are the “sweet dew that ends human suffering and is a way to promote world peace,” said Norbu, who also inveighed against the corrupting influence of greed and “materialist technology.”
Wow... sometimes even I'm shocked at the naked hypocrisy of the CCP. It's not enough that a bunch of atheist thugs "disappeared" the chosen Panchen Lama and his entire family, and replaced him with a shanzai version. Now they have him going around parroting the party line about corruption and greed. Crazy.
The whole reason this guy "is" the Panchen Lama is because of CCP's greed and hunger for power. China is occupying Tibet simply to enrich the communist party and to keep the fenqing/nationalists in check. All that talk about serfdom and freeing the Tibetans from oppression is total crap. From his name (Gyaltsen Norbu), I'm guessing he is Tibetan... really, how does he sleep at night knowing he's betraying his religion and contributing to the destruction of his culture? And for what? A pat on the head from Hu Jingtao? So he can live in relative luxury while speaking out against it? Ugh, he's no better than Bo Xilai... disgusting.
Gyaltsen Norbu = Judas Iscariot
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Blackout!
So if the blackout lasted twice as long and I owned a Nissan Leaf, I wouldn't be able to drive to work the next day. Umm... okay.
Southern California Edison Baseline
I posted something about electricity sticker shock a few years ago when I first moved into our house. It all has to do with their usage baseline scam. Now that Edison forced a smart meter on us, the pricing scam is more evident.
Back when I was still living in an one-bedroom apartment, my monthly usage baseline was over 600 KWH. This is important because usage within baseline is only ~13 cents per KWH. When my parents moved in to an adjacent one-bedroom apartment, together we could use 1200+ KWH per month at the lowest rate. However, once we moved into our current house, the usage baseline drops to <300 KWH. So instead of paying ~13 cents, I'm forced to pay double. We are using less electricity than before (for both apartments) but we're paying more.
My parents are in Canada for the past few days and since I'm staying in Torrance during the week, there is no one at home. With the smart meter installed, I can go online and view hourly usage data. Here is the chart for April 23rd:
The only items on in the house should be two refrigerators, two computers (with one in sleep mode), and some minor stuff (cable modem, router, cordless phones, alarm clocks, etc). I downloaded the numerical data and it adds up to 12.08 KWH. I looked at historical usage and this is probably the lowest daily usage ever. Our baseline is now 267 KWH per month so just keeping our food fresh and streaming videos online puts us over baseline. So when you hear people say electricity is only 13 cents per KWH in Southern California, they're either ignorant or liars.
Since I live in a house, I expect Obama to say that I'm still not "paying my fair share." He probably wants me to pay more so everyone living in an apartment can have free electricity and vote for him.
==========
After looking at Edison's ratescam structure, it also discourages me to buy an electric car. If I opt for a combined plan, there are only two tiers with the second tier being much more than the regular residential plan. I can remain on the current rate plan, but since I'm in already in tier 4, I'll end up paying 30 cents per KWH to charge an electric car. The best option is to get another meter and charge after 9pm, but some houses can't support another meter, and you probably have to spend thousands of dollars on wiring upgrades. That rate is 12 cents per KWH.
Let's try the math again for a Nissan Leaf. EPA tests gives an average range of 73 miles for its 24 KWH battery pack, which works out to ~4 cents per mile. A comparable gasoline car (Nissan Versa) can get ~30 MPG, which works out to ~14 cents per mile. Assume we save 10 cents per mile, it will take 250,000 miles to make up the difference between the Leaf ($35,000 + $2000? for 2nd meter + charger) and the Versa ($12,000). Can I even drive a Leaf for that long? The battery warranty is only for 100,000 miles. Even if I drive 25k miles per year, that's a 10 year payback period. Do I want to drive a clown car for 10 years?!
If we count in the $7500 federal tax credit, then the payback mileage drops to 175,000 miles, still way above the battery warranty. OTOH, if I can't install a 2nd electricity meter and have to pay 30 cents per KWH, then the cost differential drops to ~4 cents per mile, then the payback is 437,500 miles, even with the tax credit.
Back when I was still living in an one-bedroom apartment, my monthly usage baseline was over 600 KWH. This is important because usage within baseline is only ~13 cents per KWH. When my parents moved in to an adjacent one-bedroom apartment, together we could use 1200+ KWH per month at the lowest rate. However, once we moved into our current house, the usage baseline drops to <300 KWH. So instead of paying ~13 cents, I'm forced to pay double. We are using less electricity than before (for both apartments) but we're paying more.
My parents are in Canada for the past few days and since I'm staying in Torrance during the week, there is no one at home. With the smart meter installed, I can go online and view hourly usage data. Here is the chart for April 23rd:
The only items on in the house should be two refrigerators, two computers (with one in sleep mode), and some minor stuff (cable modem, router, cordless phones, alarm clocks, etc). I downloaded the numerical data and it adds up to 12.08 KWH. I looked at historical usage and this is probably the lowest daily usage ever. Our baseline is now 267 KWH per month so just keeping our food fresh and streaming videos online puts us over baseline. So when you hear people say electricity is only 13 cents per KWH in Southern California, they're either ignorant or liars.
Since I live in a house, I expect Obama to say that I'm still not "paying my fair share." He probably wants me to pay more so everyone living in an apartment can have free electricity and vote for him.
==========
After looking at Edison's rate
Let's try the math again for a Nissan Leaf. EPA tests gives an average range of 73 miles for its 24 KWH battery pack, which works out to ~4 cents per mile. A comparable gasoline car (Nissan Versa) can get ~30 MPG, which works out to ~14 cents per mile. Assume we save 10 cents per mile, it will take 250,000 miles to make up the difference between the Leaf ($35,000 + $2000? for 2nd meter + charger) and the Versa ($12,000). Can I even drive a Leaf for that long? The battery warranty is only for 100,000 miles. Even if I drive 25k miles per year, that's a 10 year payback period. Do I want to drive a clown car for 10 years?!
If we count in the $7500 federal tax credit, then the payback mileage drops to 175,000 miles, still way above the battery warranty. OTOH, if I can't install a 2nd electricity meter and have to pay 30 cents per KWH, then the cost differential drops to ~4 cents per mile, then the payback is 437,500 miles, even with the tax credit.
Monday, April 23, 2012
What Is There in the Darkroom?
I saw this YouTube video while flipping through Flipboard on my iPad:
The idea is to use your DSLR in manual mode, set the aperture at f/5.6, and take a series of four 1 second exposure shots of the "static" on your screen.
Here is my result:
The results are not as good as shown in the related YouTube video where they "reveal" the hidden images. I played the original video on a 21" Acer LCD display; maybe it's better on an old CRT. Still... it's pretty cool.
I also found this website today about HDR photography. There are some pretty stunning photos but all post-processed using the magic of Photoshop. I read through the tutorials and I want to try out some of the techniques, even though my Sony a55 only takes 3 shots (some cameras take 9 shots) when using the auto exposure brackets. However, it does have an Auto-HDR feature which uses the camera to combine the 3 exposures into one and avoids Photoshop altogether.
The idea is to use your DSLR in manual mode, set the aperture at f/5.6, and take a series of four 1 second exposure shots of the "static" on your screen.
Here is my result:
The results are not as good as shown in the related YouTube video where they "reveal" the hidden images. I played the original video on a 21" Acer LCD display; maybe it's better on an old CRT. Still... it's pretty cool.
I also found this website today about HDR photography. There are some pretty stunning photos but all post-processed using the magic of Photoshop. I read through the tutorials and I want to try out some of the techniques, even though my Sony a55 only takes 3 shots (some cameras take 9 shots) when using the auto exposure brackets. However, it does have an Auto-HDR feature which uses the camera to combine the 3 exposures into one and avoids Photoshop altogether.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Final Fantasy XIII
Ugh, finally finished the main story line for FF XIII (defeating Orphan). The save file says the total play time was 052:59:42.
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