Archive for the 'Thoughts' Category

The web means the end of forgetting

Published on 2 September 2010 in Net and Thoughts. 0 Comments

An interesting and inspiring article on how the social media has changed our lives. “Gossip is no longer the resource of the idle and of the vicious but has become a trade.”

Maybe just a decade ago people were still trying to fake their identities when they chatted with strangers through ICQ or MSN. Now people are willing to voluntary all their information, including whereabouts, moods, feelings, relationship status etc. to friends or anyone on the internet. These info stays on the net forever and ever… And so what can we do when some people or some companies use these public information against us? Can laws help us prevent it? Or can technology does the trick and delete our silly or impulsive comments from the servers?

Or perhaps the best and only solution is for us to shut ourselves from these social media?  Even if I deactivate all my social media accounts, I cannot prevent others from posting my photos or gossiping about me. We are all trapped in this web x.0 world and we must all play the game, willingly or not. It’s a weird world we have developed.   

 

A song for England’s defeat

Published on 29 June 2010 in Thoughts. 0 Comments

Listen to BBC radio 5’s song lamenting England’s defeat by Germany at World Cup 2010.

Blame the referee. Blame the Premier League. Blame Capello. Blame everything and everyone.

Those who believe that if the disallowed goal was counted England would have won are just too naive.

Why not just face the reality, admit your deficiency, swallow the bitterness, and move on?  

 

Happy 2010

Published on 31 December 2009 in Thoughts. 0 Comments

 

Even BBC doesn’t know whether we should pronounce the new year as “two thousand and ten” or “twenty ten”. But that shouldn’t affect us from celebrating the coming of yet another wonderful year. I wish everyone a very happy and healthy 2010.

As usual I made a number of new year resolutions, one of them being “read more books!”. I hope this is going to materialise…

 

Christmas aftermath

Published on 28 December 2009 in Life and Thoughts. 1 Comment

Christmas to non-Christians like me is nothing more than a nice to have festive season when uncontrolled shopping and eating are excused. After three days of jolly parties and drinking it’s no surprising that many people, including me, suffer from post-holiday syndrome and become exhausted and sick.

Apart from my health, there are of course other aftermaths to deal with, such as:

  • a fridge full of party foods like ham and cheese and snakcs, which no one wants to eat anymore;
  • a kitchen full of empty and semi-empty wine and champagne bottles;
  • a couple of useless items one gets from the routine rubbish gift exchange at parties; and
  • photos sent around by friends which may end up on the most evil social websites…

What am I going to do? Nothing at the moment, becos I’m now busy planning my New Year parties!!! 

 

Smile, Michael Jackson

Published on 8 July 2009 in Music and Thoughts. 2 Comments

Will you smile now, our king of pop

When you are finally free from suffering and scrutiny

When you are no longer subject to judgment because of your looks and behaviour

When your forgotten music and dancing talent once again conquer the world

Will you smile now, dear king

When you see millions of fans around the world mourning for you

When you know so many friends are crying for you

Will you smile

And wonder where they were when you needed them most

Ikea furniture

Published on 4 January 2009 in Germany, Hong Kong and Thoughts. 0 Comments

Recently I moved to a new apartment. And of course I visited one of the world’s most famous brands, Ikea, to shop for furniture. After spending hours in that maze-like shop, I finally bought some shelves. And knowing too well of my own limitations, I have requested to have Ikea staff to come and assemble the shelves for me at an extra fee. My male cousins, not surprisingly, scolded me for wasting money as “they could have done the assembling for me”.

Are men really good at assembling furniture? According to DPA (Deutsche Presse-Agentur), the head of the German division of Ikea, says the company’s male customers have a bad track record compared to its female clients when it comes to putting furniture together. “Men never look at the instruction leaflet and have the most problems when assembling our furniture because they think they can do it without help.” Women, on the other hand, study the instructions and are methodical when it comes to getting the job done. “A woman will neatly lay out all the screws while a man will throw them in a pile. Something always goes missing then.”

I guess these days men are no longer dependable on things that they are “traditionally” good at. I am convinced that the extra assembly fee I paid to Ikea is worth it.

 

 

Milan Kundera: did he do it?

Published on 12 November 2008 in Europe, Thoughts and Whatever. 1 Comment

I was too busy last month to follow up on Kundera’s scandal until today when I finished reading most of the reports. 

What’s the scandal? To put it briefly, a Czech magazine called Respekt published a police document dated in 1950 which revealed that a person called Milan Kundera had informed on Miloslav Dvoracek, who later served 14 years of hard labour after being uncovered as spy. The story was much more complicated and involved many other people, please look it up on the internet if you are interested.

The police report, at least the paper, proved to be authentic. But are the contents real? Kundera broke his long-time silence by denying fiercely against this accusation. Eleven renowned writers have come to his defence too. But no one could explain why Kundera’s name was on the report, at least those who could have are now dead or cannot speak anymore.

Is Kundera really innocent or is he just trying to hold on to his moral throne?? I want to believe in him and hope he’s not the second Guenter Grass.

小天才

Published on 12 October 2008 in Thoughts. 2 Comments

剛剛在麥當勞午膳，旁邊坐著一個八，九歲左右的男孩，他在翻閱一本英文生物教科書。我以為他在看圖畫，但他卻很認真地做筆記。我覺得很意外，心想即使國際學校小學也不會有生物課吧？後來他的食物來了，他把書收起，我看到了封面，mama mia, 那是Certificate Level Biology!

社會上好像越來越多讀書型的小天才，何時才有第2個莫札特呢？

A blue dream…

Published on 9 October 2008 in Thoughts. 0 Comments

We went inside an old-style bar with blue wood walls. You were wearing thick black-rim glasses.

We entered into a small room and sat down. A friend joined us, but I can’t recall who he was.

We had some argument. I left the room.

I wandered around the bar. The walls were very high and blue, ornated with old photos.

I tried to go back to you. But I only saw two men in that small room. You were gone.

Suddenly I realised all the customers were different, although the place was the same.

I was like being transferred to a different time zone, or a place which resembled exactly the bar I went in.

I went to the far end of the building, and discovered a long, dark wooden staircase, blocked by extension.

It sounded quiet down there, but still I decided to go ahead.

At the end of the staircase there was a big hall, with sporadic tables and a few people.

You and the friend were sitting at the back of the hall. We reunited.

I told you about my experience. The friend exclaimed something. I woke up.

I don’t know what the dream means. I don’t really care.

All I remember are the blue walls.

The bright, warm blue walls.

悶新聞

Published on 29 September 2008 in Thoughts and Whatever. 0 Comments

近月中美2國dominate了報紙7成版面, 中有奧運奶粉神7, 美有Palin Lehman AIG, 香港只有那可笑的Legco election & 自由黨失勢 &股市上落。悶。

唯有轉看花邊新聞。德國有2則較吸引, 一是北極熊Knut的訓練員猝死 (真令人傷感, 當然少不了有陰謀論), 另一是Commerzbank會推出有香味的信用卡。香的信用卡會多些人用嗎?