Dith Pran Dies At 65

From The Gothamist and The New York Times.

Taekwondo

Mom, this is especially for you.

(The video is about 1:27 minute long, the audio is kind of loud I think, maybe because I am using a pair of earphones to edit ....)

Just whipped up this short video using Windows Movie Maker. The original was shot using a Canon G3. I can't suck the video out using Vista as there is no driver for my old G3. Ubuntu is my friend, so it sucked out the AVI video OKAY. But unfortunately kino can't edit the AVI. So I just have to move the AVI back to my VISTA notebook over my wifi by dancing some samba and did some quick and dirty video editing on my notebook. The Windows Media Maker wasn't all that bad for what I tried to do, until I tried to render or what Windows call publish the video. I just clicked publish and the notebook started thinking ... then I went to take a shower. When I was done showering like 10 minutes later, it was still thinking and then I noticed the title bar says not responding. Good thing I saved the project first before publishing. The second time I tried to publish, it went okay but the only format I can publish to was WMV. I was like where is my mpeg? Anyway, Google is okay with wmv. So wmv it is. Enjoy.

MacBook Air Hacked

Again, I am reporting on other's reporting. MacBook Air was hacked. I was reading something about this hacking contest yesterday and back then none of the OS, Linux, Vista and OS X was hacked, and today when I was wandering online at 9to5, MacBook Air was hacked.

The hacker Charlie Miller was a former No Such Agency employee and a researcher. No wonder.

As reported here on Macworld and RoughlyDrafted.

Yet another MacBook Air story.

Subprime Debacle: Same Old Story

The subprime mortgage is just same old Wall Street story. You have greedy executives who want big fat bonus and will do anything to shore up the financial statements. You have the accountants and auditors who don't quite have the backbones are just too willing to go along with the management. The SOX is just a joke, it burdens the average rank and file type but it doesn't do anything, I mean anything good to curtail this kind of corporate recklessness or outright fraud. The SOX is simply designed so the accounting firms can get more billings for doing bullshit consulting jobs and makes sure the average cubicle office drone will do all these compliance bullshit works 12 hours a day non stop devoid of any life at all.

It's just revolting.

Inquiry Assails Accountants in Lender's Fall.

#7 Line Is The Second Cleanest

I take the number 7 train twice a day every work day of the week. Do I care about its cleanliness? Yes to a certain extent. What I care most is the frequency and reliability of the ride. The line just finished a month's worth of repair and maintenance, and hopefully things will even get better. Downtown Flushing is still expanding and I wonder if the #7 train has the capacity to handle this ever expanding immigrant town.

Shmutz Survery 2007.

Miscellaneous

Just got a Wii component cable from monoprice. Their service is good so I am a returned customer. I plugged the cable in and the screen does look better but not by a big margin.

Just came back from another office. Took a yellow cab to 53rd and 8th Ave. I normally don't take any yellow cab so this deserves a blog entry. The fare was 7.30, from Madison and 41st St. So it was $20 round trip. I am not exactly a people person but it's nice to have some face time with people I talk over the phone but never met. People are generally nice.

The weather is nice, it's almost 60.

I need to help out a friend in getting wifi using a notebook bought from Taiwan later in the day. UPDATE: I got it to work. I was asking where is the wifi, the box, the router, what's the name as in ESSID, those questions were met with a blank stare. Something I just take for granted. Plus it's Vista in Chinese. So I had a difficult time figuring what's going on. To make a long story short, I was there for an hour, make the wifi a little bit secured and let the notebook connect via wifi.

Ubuntu 8.04 Is Coming

Ubuntu 8.04 is coming to a computer near you.

Hillary Pants On Fire

Hillary Clinton gave an exciting but mendacious account of what happened to her when she traveled to Bosnia as First Lady in 2006. This is rather silly of her, why o why did she have to exaggerate the truth by saying that she had to dodge snipers' bullets while disembarking from the plane? You are no G.I. Jane? Now she has to grudgingly admit that she "misspoke." Hillary, I expect better from you.

Breaking: Ma Won Taiwan's Election

Pragmatic politics, not boneheaded nationalism, echo with the people in Taiwan. KMT's Hong Kong born, Harvard educated Ma Ying-jeou won the island's presidential election. The affable Ma is expected to form closer ties with the PRC than his DPP archrivals.

The 57-year old Ma will be inaugurated into office on May 20, ending DPP's Chen Shui-bian 8-year's rule on the island.

Lunch With The Greek

Just came back from lunch at Kellari. That was pretty heavy for lunch. The place is nice, big dining area serving authentic Greek or Hellenic cuisine. Well at least the wait staff speak Greek, so that's authentic to me. The food was good, but I won't say excellent. Three people for $175, so $210 after tips.... Oh well, after too much Hop Won and Japanese fast food, a change of venue is merited.

Shots From Sid Sweet

My friend has better things to do, so I do this for him. Pictures shot on location in Hong Kong.

Dow Ups 420.41

In response to Fed's 75-point rate cut, the Dow is having yet another Viagra moment, closing the day up 420.41. In the short-term this is definitely good news, but in the longer term is it going to work? I am no pundit in rescuing the economy. Basically, the US financial system collapsed in 2007 and we just found out in early 2008 and experiencing the pain now. Is the rate cut, like Bloomberg had said earlier to Bush's tax credit, akin to giving a drink to an alcoholic? The answer is yes I am afraid.

MacBook Air: To Dive For

Charlie Rose, TV interviewer and gadget freak would rather dive on the street than subject his beloved MacBook Air to any harm. Well done, Charlie.

Yet another wacky MacBook Air story.

As reported by Engadget and TechCrunch.

NYC Is Falling Apart

New York City is falling apart ....

Buildings are collapsing, the financial market is in a tailspin and the dollar is not the dollar it used to be. Seems like the good time is over and the end is near. With no time to waste, I am going to get myself a Wii and a Nikon D3 with the Nikkor 28~70. Or not.

But we still have St. Patrick's Day, a day the Irish and the rest of us celebrate and get drunk.

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

UPDATE
I was pretty happy with St. Patrick's Day until I needed to cross 5th Avenue. I waited in line for some 15 minutes just to cross the Avenue. No New Yorkers like to wait. The parade was just testing my patience.

Breaking: Bear Sold For $2 A Share

JP Morgan Chase snapped up Bear Stearns at bargain basement price: a shocking $2 a share. The subprime mortgage fallout is so bad that it isn't funny anymore.

Weekend

Last week I got myself a hp 6910p with Windows vista business. Now I can live dangerously. Windows Vista is not the monster I envisioned.

Went to a Korean BBQ place near Murray Hill LIRR station. First time we went to a restaurant there. I didn't even know that area that well at all. The place seems authentic with a mostly Korean clientele. We ordered a couple of ribs $24.50 each and some tofu dish $11. Good thing we didn't order three portions of the ribs like the waitress suggested because it would definitely be too much for us.

I am heading to IHOP now.

Weekend Fodder

Eliot Spitzer, guilty of male perfidy and sanctimony, resigned from the post of New York Governor.

Tibetans just got a crazy spokeperson. Emboldened by berserk Icelandic singer Bjork's battle cry, Tibetans are taking it to the streets to demand independence from China. Not to be outdone by Bjork, American gigolo turned Buddhist Richard Gere threatens to boycott the Beijing Olympics if China mishandles.

Tang Wei of Lust Caution fame just got banned in the Chinese media. Apparently her no hold bar performance is too hot for the old men to handle. Unilever which hires Tang as a spokeperson for its Pond's brand stands to lose some money, like in the neighborhood of $800,000. Good job muddling international business.

Another week, another sub-prime mortgage crisis. Bear Stearns is on life support.

The gloves are off. Cathy Horyn vs. Giorgio Armani and Michael Reichmann vs. Ken Rockwell.

Speakeasy says I am connected at 3021kbps and 487kbps, at least in the mornings, some of the time. But most of the time, the downstream is more like less than 1000mbps.

You know you are cheaper than a call girl if you make less than $800 an hour. Another reason to feel depressed. The seven diamonds ones make like $5000 an hour. Kristen is in the $1000 an hour range. I heard Client #9 hardly needed an hour but then they don't prorate.

Hong Kong is now just 12 hours ahead of New York City.

Dpreview On D300

Finally, D300 review is up where it belongs. The long anticipated D300 review is up here and is written by none other than founder Phil Askey. The D3 review is still presumably being worked on. And we will just have to wait. I have a feeling that it would be out soon.

Breaking: Spitzer ...

Resigning
Resigns

According to the NY Times, aides of the governor say the governor will resign this morning.

Look like Spitzer is no Bill, couldn't pull off a Hillary: staying in office and salvage his marriage, at least not the former. A New York tragedy.

David A Patterson, Lt. Governor, will be sworn in, becoming the first black and legally blind governor of New York State.

UPDATE: 11:54AM 3/12/2008
With his wife of 21 years, Silda, on his side, Spitzer announces his resignation citing personal failings. What a remarkable woman.

Tang Wei Is Blacklisted

I heard Tang Wei is being blacklisted and for what? I don't fucking know.

And why I blog this? Because I just fucking can.

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MacBook Air Belongs To The Garbage

Steven Levy's wife puts the MacBook Air where it belongs: the garbage. As reported via 9to5, Newsweek reporter Steven Levy's wife might have thrown away his husband's MacBook Air inadvertently (or subconsciously so) together with his coffee table clutter like old stacks of The New York Times. Levy says the MacBook Air was on loan from Apple for review and Newsweek is going to pick up the $1,800 tab, chump change.

Best MacBook Air story though.

Dow Ups 416.66

In a nod to a rejuvenated economy, (like some governor is paying $5,500 an hour for some high-priced call girl) the Dow is getting a hard-on today, closing up more than 400 points.

Or is it because the Fed says it's going to inject some $200 billions into the subprime infected financial markets? Like if you screw up really really bad the Fed is coming in to save your ass. That's what happened.

Or Wall Street is simply celebrating the downfall of its archenemy Eliot Spitzer?

Spitzer Expected To Resign

It all began inauspiciously in a rather mundane Monday afternoon when The New York Times broke the news that New York governor Eliot Spitzer is involved in an online prostitution ring.

Then everything goes downhill.

The hard charging steamroller held a news conference later that afternoon with his wife of 21 years on his side. He characterized it rather arrogantly as a private matter and apologized to his family and the public.

Later we learned that he maybe paying for sex in the range of $800 to $1,000 an hour or even $5,500 an hour, or whatever. The point is he is having some designer expensive fuck that not any John, Dick or Harry can afford. Not only were they expensive, they are going to be costly: his career and his marriage. One also wonders what a hooker has to do to earn that kind of money. According to reports and government affidavit, Spitzer is one of those "difficult" clients, though Kristen, the one he booked on Feb 13 to travel from New York all the way to Washington thought otherwise. Upon learning the news, all the hookers in the Washington D.C. area are pretty disappointed and feel slighted by the (soon to the ex) governor of New York. On the other hand, New York call girls are thrilled to know that the governor practices the "I LOVE NEW YORK" mantra on the road. Meanwhile, environmental group Greenpeace weighs in and vehemently objects the carbon footprint of the governor's perfidy.

Political foes and the Wall Street are unsympathetic to the governor's fall.

The governor is expected to resign or face impeachment.

Untitled

iPhone Goes Enterprise

"Ummm, this feeeeels good."

Hug it out. The rule of engagement: with ass sticking out and no touching of other's crotch.

Paul Sakuma/Associated Press, picture taken from nytimes.com

Just as expected, iPhone is getting into your enterprise. Your backoffice is going to support your iPhone in June if they so choose.

Meanwhile, Apple's stock price is still hovering around $120. Wall Street is not too excited.

Youtube Wednesday.

This is a non video video with Cantonese dialog. The audio is not worksafe if you work in a Cantonese speaking environment. Good sound quality. Good for training purposes. Must listen for telemarketers.

A lively cordial if you minus the curse words exchange between a telemarketer and his prospect. The prospect has some strong opinion on his present telco. It's all fun.

Everybody Talks About It, But Nobody Is Doing It

According to Durex, America's State of Sexual Well Being is weak. Only 53% of the respondents are having sex weekly, which actually puts us way ahead of Japan's 34%. The horniest nation award goes to Greece.

Breaking: McCain Wins GOP Nomination

No country for old men? Not true. Senator McCain wins the GOP nomination. Huckabee acknowledges defeat and is delivering his long winded concession speech.

CNN projection as at 9.34PM Eastern Time:-
Clinton wins in Rhode Island.