Siri The Eerie

I have to train Siri to understand Chinglish in order for her to work for me.

Once Upon A Time I Actually Wrote Something

http://writing.colostate.edu/textbooks/informedwriter/chapter5.pdf

The Sartorialist vs. The Style Rookie

What I fear most turns out to be true: The Sartorialist is a pompous prick.  The guy can't write and can't even use the ellipsis without looking clumsy. Basically he is a semi-illiterate.  But that's OKAY.  What is not OKAY, to me,  is his total arrogance and lack of good grace to acknowledge the success of a 15-year old.   Mr. Schuman is intensely original and hard working.  Like what Woody Allen says, being there is half of the success (actually it's more than half, it is eighty percent, "Eighty percent of success is showing up"); I give him that: for being there to take the pictures.  Other than that, he really doesn't have a lot up there photographically speaking; look at his editorial works or ad campaigns, the pictures look stunningly boring and aesthetically banal.  For him to pick on a 15-year old, I guess that just reflects pretty poorly on his part.  And to brag about how much money he makes from AA with that tone, that is just pure class.  If anybody reads anything Miss Gevinson has written, one (OKAY, at least me and myself) has to agree that she is original, smart and sharp for her age or any age for that matter.  And for him to slam her or her success being a conspiracy between her and the print media is just pure libel or extremely ill informed.  I mean The New Yorker has a profile on Miss Gevinson, all seven web pages for what is worth and they don't have one on Mr. Schuman the last I checked.

Tuesday Afternoon

Bostonian hand lasted Berwick Cordovan Oxford.

UPDATE 11/24/2011
I stand corrected.  It should be a pair of Bluchers.

Bike Racing

Crossing the finish line ...

Blundstone 550

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Here is my 5th Blundstones I think. And what's special about this is it isn't Made In Australia(MIA) anymore. And it never was for this model. For the 500 and 510, they were made in Australia when I bought them. They were one of the few shoes or boots that actually fit me and I like. This 550 is supposed to be an improvement over the 500/510 series, leather lined and extra insoles for additional padding or replacement. In terms of kip leather, from what I can recall, the MIA 500/510 leather is greasier. This 550, made in Vietnam, has more of a papery feel to it. Is it better, same or worse, I can't say objectively but I would say it's a touch worse off than before. The MIA 500/510 has no or minimum leather lining inside the boots. Minimum, because there is a thumb sized leather lining on the front pull. This 550 has more leather lining so it's supposed to be easier to put on and take off and more comfortable. Though the inside (or called vamp) near or in the toe box is not lined with leather but some sort of fabric which I of course have no idea what it is. I read somewhere that the sizing of the 550 is supposed to be slightly roomier than the 500/510, not that the latter is not roomy though. I think the 550 is at least as roomy as the 500/510, which is important for people who have full sized feet (read: wide, high-instep and meaty feet). Does it matter Blundstones aren't MIA anymore? I will leave it up to you. But I have a difficult time finding the country of origin for 550. When I wrote to Zappos, the good folks there cheerfully told me to contact Blundstone directly and I thought they could just open a box and see what it says, so much so for customer service. In the end I contacted Blundstone and someone told me that it was manufactured some where not in down under. And another seemingly knowledgeable eBay seller also confirms that. The official Blundstone rep went extra step to infer that I was disappointed to find out that it was no longer manufactured in Australia. You know maybe that's true too. But I guess if even the brand doesn't take great pride in where their products are manufactured by being upfront, they shouldn't expect their customers to be.  I just want the brand to take pride of its production partners themselves, whether they are in China, Vietnam or Thailand.

11/17/2018
I don't have a lot to update.  But I'd just like to add that it's almost common knowledge that the soles can turn into tofu or sort for I don't know why.  Apparently it didn't happen to all of my Blundstones during the time I wore them, which was like decades ago but I did have that experience.  I don't know if Blundstones ever cared to address them.  I don't know.

And I just went to the Blundstone USA site.  Again, the site makes no mention where the boots are made, so there you have it.  If you think the quality is the same or better, say it out with pride.  I stopped wearing Blundstones because they just don't fit me that well now.  I still remember the time I bought them online via eBay from a seller from Australia.  I got a toy koala bear with it too.  The seller had since been gone for a long time.

Nikon 1 in Vomit Pink

Pepto-Bismol should make it their house camera.

Gotta have it.

from dcwatch via nikonrumors.

Nikon Lens Super-quite[sic] Autofocus - 1 Nikkor VR 10-100mm

1 Nikkor VR 10-100mm f/4.5-5.6 PD-ZOOM


Snipped from Nikon-Europe

It is super-quite[sic].  Despite the super superlative.  It's still quite, meaning not really there yet.  So be prepared to manual focus.  Or simply buy a manual focus lens on eBay or Craigslist.  If you want quiet autofocusing you have to get the STM lenses.  All other lenses that have the Stepping Motor (STM) are written as super-quiet.  Though I don't understand why Nikon put the (STM) after "Stepping" instead of "Stepping Motor."

UPDATE: 12/30/2011
It's still "super-quite."  It looks like that's the correct way to say it as Nikon Europe has no problem with it.  Or they think the lens will be so short lived or nobody is buying or researching it so why bother correcting it. Bravo.

Apple Picking

These are scanned by yours truly using the state of the art crappy Epson Perfection V500 Photo running the iScan software on a AMD64 Ubuntu 11.04 machine.

220 FUJI RDP III PROVIA 100F.  I should have bought more of these.
Notice all the dust.  Scanning film is a pain.  And I am such a masochist.

Apple Picking

Randolph Engineering and American Optical

On the front, Randolph Engineering.  Back then they didn't need big logo.

In the back, the AO Original Pilot.

 Randolph Engineering bridge size emboss on lower bridge

Randolph arm, or bayonet, both left and right bears the same emboss.  In fact, there is no left or right, that's why one (left) arm's emboss appears upside down.

 AO right arm or bayonet from the eye facing side.

 AO left arm or bayonet from the eye facing side.

AO emboss on the upper bridge.

All shots are on tripod.  Unfortunately the arm shots were handheld, meaning, I held the arms of the glasses to move it back and forth in front of the lens to get to minimum focus distance.  Anyway, not the sharpest because of minute handshake.

People are demanding I make a comparison so here they are.  I thought I lost the AO but I actually had it misplaced.  This AO 57-20 is steel color and I have another newer AO pair that is smaller and in gold colored, 55-20 AO on the bridge, minus the USA emboss, on the right arm it says AO Eyewear, Inc.  no USA either.  So I am not sure if AO is still made in the USA, actually with just USA doesn't mean it's manufactured in the USA anyway.

Having lunch with my F-1

Canon F-1 Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android

120 Film

and a 220 too. Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android

hp Compaq 6910p

Whenever a model has a p I have a good laugh, I am just juvenile. I upgraded this notebook to Windows 7 Professional, er, strictly speaking, I didn't actually do the upgrade, some Jack did it some time ago, and I am happy to report that he fixed the falling off blue nipple thingy in the middle and the stuck key. So he is the man.

Not too long ago, that's a about a few weeks ago, I noticed the hard drive was overheat most of the time and the fan was spinning like crazy. Loud and crazy. Yesterday I was thinking to upgrade the BIOS. I did a search and was able to locate and download the BIOS. It was surprisingly easy and painless. That is there is no floppy disk, no USB drive, you just did everything within Windows. The instruction could be a little better. It made no mention to Windows 7 at all, though, I went ahead anyway thinking Windows 7 is pretty much just marketing as much as it's an upgrade compared to Vista. I know there is some difference at least the Cisco VPN works so much better in Windows 7 than in Vista. Anyway, the new BIOS seem to have calmed down the harddrive, I can actually put my wrist on the wrist rest where the harddrive is and the fan, though spinning is no where near the decibels it cranked out before. So that's surprising in a very good way.  Let's see how long it can stay this way. Plus after the Win 7 upgrade, the SD drive is totally able to read my humble 8 gb sd card, which it failed to read when on Vista, that led me to believe it was really a driver issue not a hardware issue. I thought the overheat would lead me to dumping it but I guess I will have to keep it for longer now that it's cool and quiet, i.e. relative to the hot and loud before.

Urban Legends

I don't know when these kinds of urban legends would end--I perversely hope they would never end as I find them entertaining, I guess for as long as stupid people live.  I still got emails telling me how racist Tommy Hilfiger is and we should all boycott buying his rags.  I mean I don't know for a fact whether the dude is racist or not.  But the episode described is pure urban legend.  You look at its ads, at least the guy, yeah I know the guy sold his company some time ago to some Hong Kong dude, use a rainbow colors of dudes to sell his stuff, if not for political correct reason at least for good marketing reason or at least care enough to have the politically correct facade.  You look at other high end or not so high end brands at the moment it's all white out.  I don't mean to be overly sensitive or politically correct but recently I think some lifestyle brands have really gone too far, not that I can afford any of their crap anyway.

And then you have the Facebook legend, claiming that you would lose your photos right to advertisers.  Number 1, I am not worried as you know I don't look like Brad Pitt....  Yeah, go ahead protect your pictures as if.

Hurricane Irene

Compared to last year's nameless storm, this Irene is really an non event, at least on my block, not that I am complaining.  The wind is still blowing but the rain has stopped.  Even my basement is dry so that's good.  There are debris, mainly sprigs and fallen tree branches, on the street from the howling wind the night before but that is pretty much it.  Water and power are running normal.  Reporting live from the storm center.

Halved Fig

This fig together with many of its brethren (or should I say sisters?) trespassed to our backyard.  The punishment is severe and swift.  Beheaded, halved and devoured.

Poor Menswear Gets You No Chicks

Wearing an ill fitting suit like that, any sensible, mildly superficial chick won't fall for you.

Reblogged and picture from Edwin Hu  I am so lame I can't even do a proper reblog.  Original picture from cover of the current August 20 Economist, the weekly English magazine, er I mean newspaper ....

Hurricane Irene

This is the Hurricane Irene storm center, for all the news that is not fit to print.

Irene is said, depending on who you ask, to bring 5 to 10 inches of water to the New York metro area.  So don't worry about buying bottled water, you will get plenty of them.

MTA finally got some legitimate reason to shut down its lines, all of them.  Instead of the perennial tired "signal problems,"  they now have hurricane Irene.  It sounds so much more convincing and ominous.

So far it has been pretty quiet before the storm.  There has been some light showers but really nothing to write home about.  It's hot and humid outside.

Hurricane Irene

Category 32 hurricane Irene is going to bear down on New York some time in the weekend.  I don't remember the last time any hurricane hit the city.  When I was in Hong Kong like many decades ago, typhoon was a constant but not so here in NYC.  Anyway.  I guess things will be OKAY.  I am boarding up the windows, loading up my bunker with months long supplies of food, drinking water and Japanese shrimp crackers, and yes ammunition for my handguns and shotguns too just in case NYC sinks into chaos and lawlessness like what happened across the pond.

I am going to test my Bean Gore Tex wading jacket see how it does under the wrath of Irene.  Will keep you posted.

Blundstones

Time to say goodbye. Friday is garbage night.  So it's time.  I will definitely chuck the black ones, the soles are just disintegrating badly.  The brown ones are better so perhaps I will just keep them around. Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android note: I found out there is some chatter on the sole disintegration, somewhere it says it's called hydrolysis.  For me, the sole didn't get bad until many years of wear so it wasn't exactly a big problem.  But I hate if and when it happens say within the first couple of years or months--that's what I read.  Yeah, this sole turning into cheese is disappointing.  If not because of this, the soles definitely can last a few more years.  When I wore them, I wore them every day.  Of course, Blundstone says nothing to clarify one way or another.

Port Jefferson Marina

Didn't know about the quake until heard it from the radio driving back on 347 on LI. Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android

Port Jefferson Marina

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Dia: Beacon

Fishkill Farms

Drive-in

Drive in

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America Unsolved Mystery

I am forever intrigued by who actually took the pictures of Cindy Sherman.

Egregious Mistake?

Oh no, we can't afford to have another September 11 in 2011.  What an egregious mistake.  I think I will love the original Polaroid pictures better.  But I am open to like.

EDIT:  OKAY, maybe it's just confusing ... "FACES OF GROUND ZERO, PORTRAITURE OF THE HEROES OF SEPTEMBER 11, 2011"  The "2011" just refers to the present exhibit not part of a date.  That's the only way that makes sense.  But you really have to go the extra mile to interpret it.



via Nikonrumors.com

Fiebing's and Obenauf's

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I pretend I own a horse or a  stable of them ....  I like their smell.

Reconditioned

Previously ...

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Russell Moccasin

Men's Oxford 300-SV

I applied some Pecard Leather lotion on the shoes, soles included before I even wear them. The Pecard smells fantastic. See the common theme, I begin to like leather lotion or preserve kind of smell. Some considers Russell Moccasin on a par with English Church's ... I don't know but I think the material is definitely good but the craftmanship can be of a higher standard, you can call it rustic but I guess you can also call it sloppy. But overall I am happy. Now Church's is totally expensive. I think Prada bought Church's if I am not mistaken. Straight from the horse's mouth. I even like how they spell words wrong. Just shows how un-elitist they are, just endearing ...

Our finest oxford, stylish 4-eyelet design, with straight line quarter. Best grade Spainish[sic] Calf Grain in rich Royal Oak or Black color. Hand sewn toe seams; leather lined quarters; double oak soles and rubber heels. Heel counters.

Restoring my boots and boat shoes

Finally I amassed the basic essentials to "restore" my decade old boots and shoes.  My Georgia boots leather has been pretty much bone dry and on the verge of cracking if I were to leave them as is.  The Timberlands would probably join their deceased brethren in shoes heaven.

My weapons of choice for this minor restoration project are soap and lotion.  It seemed simple enough but I had to wait for 6 months before I got them in the mail.  I cleaned the shoes with soap, let them dry and then applied the lotion.  Structurally the shoes are fine so it's not exactly a restoration other than reconditioning the leather.

Fiebing's Glycerine Saddle Soap.

I gingerly opened the packaging paper box and cut opened the plastic wrap.  And there was this pristine rectangular bar of soap, in all its translucent 7 oz. orange glory.  I wet a piece of rag salvaged from a flannel bed sheet, rubbed it against the soap and then rubbed it against the shoes.  The lather wasn't particularly rich in part I guess I didn't really work it.  But I felt like it was good enough.  The soap had a very pleasant clean smell that's similar to that of my shaving soap, probably both are glycerine based with no scent added.  Even though it says no scent added but I still smell something clean.  Maybe next time I can use this saddle soap to shave.  Or maybe not.  I did this soapy thing late at night and I left the shoes and boots dry overnight in the basement where it's nice and cool.

I thought soap would normally dry out the leather.  But I guess the answer is it really depends on the type of soap.  For glycerine soap, it actually restores the leather and makes it supple.  Good stuff.

Obenauf's Heavy Duty LP

Once the shoes were dry, I applied a coat of this stuff to the leather.  I read that it doesn't have any scent but holy moley I think it has some natural scent that is light and appealing, almost like honey if honey has a smell.  Maybe not artificial scent but it definitely carries some pleasant honey like smell.  My fingers were all smooth, water repellent and smelled fantastic after applying Obenauf's to the shoes.  Yes, I used my bare hand to apply the Obenauf's, showing a lot of love to my old shoes.  I may just apply another coat.

I love my shoes and they love me back (the same cannot be said in other relationships).

Untitled

Some flowers

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Lunch sky

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The Grandmasters

Now I'm still a bit confused with the use plural on the word master but if imdb is any indication, then it's more than one grandmaster, probably two or half a dozen, who knows? The trailer doesn't seem all that promising. First there is this cognitive dissonance between what I see and what I hear. It doesn't sound like Tony Leung talking in Mandarin at all. Or it just means a voice over? Plus I always think the tag line is lame very lame. I get what it's trying to say "all it matters is being the last man standing" but it just totally reduces Kung Fu to street fighting. The minute long trailer is reminiscent of the Matrix finale, down to the green cast. I just hope WKW and his team can bring something new to the genre.  Maybe I am asking too much.

Icecream sundae

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Best wash

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Finedge Ostiso

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Nikon: Out of This World Camera

From NikonRumor comment by David Teltschik http://nikonrumors.com/2011/07/29/more-on-the-white-housing-nasa-uses-on-their-nikon-cameras.aspx/#comment-148302

5th and 42nd

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Hasselblad 500C/M

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Wow

I know Newegg got everything.  The cheapest one goes for $9.99 but with $5.99 shipping.

Ektachrome 64

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月亮代表我的心 - 鄧麗君

Mid Week In Review

Wendi Murdoch stole the spot light in the phone hacking hearing not only by her long black hair and fitted jacket but by her quick tiger claw too.  She leaped to her husband's defense by swinging a tiger claw at an assailant who tried to throw a shaving cream pie to the seemingly senile Murdoch senior.  Most other people at the hearing were so shell shocked by the sudden cream pie attack that they could utter only What or WTF, including James Murdoch who is forever seen flinchingly dumb-founded mouth ajar in repeat slo mo on TV.  Only Wendi Murdoch had the good sense and reflex to give the best defense she knew how: striking back head on at the assailant.  Ang Lee was quoted saying he would have cast Wendi Murdoch to star in the Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was she not too busy home wrecking and gold digging.

While China press was given carte blanche to report, in glee, the News Corporation phone hacking scandal, showcasing how corrupted the English press, law enforcement and politics and by extension Western civilization is, disaster struck home.  Whenever there is disaster there is scandal, or so it seems in China particularly.  A high speed train collision this past Saturday resulted in 39 deaths, hundreds of injuries, and plenty of questions unanswered.  The official explanation was lightning.  But nobody believed that or that was the whole truth.  Immediately after the crash, people started to question the rescue effort given way to the priority to resume service, corruption leading to shoddy design and construction and the cover-up of the true cause of the train crash.  Three rail officials were fired while news conference scheduled was cancelled without explanation.  High speed train technology is generally considered safe as in Europe and Japan; there has been no fatality reported in Japan since its inception in the 1960s.  The billions dollar high speed rail is a pet project of the government and a source of national pride, at least for some, has now turned into a disaster and an embarrassment.

Talking about train crash, Amy Winehouse lived a life alternating between brilliance and of a train wreck, but mostly train wreck, died at the age of 27.  The cause of death is as yet unexplained but many people would have attributed it to ill health due to years of drug and alcohol abuse.  Her second and last album "Back to Black" released in 2006 gained critical  and commercial success on both sides of the Atlantic.  Her death I would say eclipsed the passing of her fellow country man, a man with certain last name and pedigree, Lucian Freud, arguably one of the greatest modern portrait painters.  I almost couldn't believe his death as there has been scantily coverage of the painter's passing.  At some point I just thought I read it wrong.  But yes, he was dead at 88.

More deaths and terror happened in one of the world's greenest and most livable cities, Oslo Norway.  Mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik bombed and shot people to death.  In all, 8 people died in the bombing in Oslo and 68 people were shot dead in Utoeya, an island about 25 miles from Oslo by car.  Breivik admitted the killings but pleaded not guilty, essentially claiming what he did was necessary ("imperfect necessity") to save Norway and Europe from "Islamification."  Breivik is probably a secret admirer of Ted Kaczynski, aka the unabomber, or his work or both as he copied the latter's work without giving proper credit in his own 1500-page manifesto "2083 - A European Declaration of Independence."  This makes him a plagiarist in addition to being a mass murderer.  Bad very bad.

Flower

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Fire hydrant

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Service Change

It should read Service Screw Up, We Foul Up, but never ever Service Change.

Expired 120

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Sunflower

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