Hong Kong Waterfront,
originally uploaded by VinkoT.
Here is another example why Hong Kong’s waterfront is second to none. I can spend hours admiring the waterfront from the Tsim Sha Tsui broadwalk.
Technorati Tags: Hong Kong, night, waterfront
Interesting Incident At McD’s
I was at a McDonald’s restaurant earlier this afternoon as most of you know; if you read my previous entry.
I was standing behind two young kids at the counter making their selections for their Happy Meal toy. These two were just about 7 or 8 years old and they ordered one Happy Meal between the two of them.
McD’s Staff: gave the kids four choices of toys.
Little Boy: could not decide on the toy and looked to the little girl to make the choice.
Little Girl: point to a toy and the LB made the selection.
MS: announced the total to the kids.
LG: took out a $20.00 bill to pay for the meal.
MS: are you the older sister? Since he ordered and you paid.
LG: shook her head
I then comment from behind the two kids and said, “she is the girlfriend”. The McD’s staff replied, “Really?”, then he realized I was not with the kids and that I was just joking.
Are You a “Kidult”?
There is now a new term being coined and it is “Kidult”.
If you are in your 30s, young at heart and enjoys the activities that a child normally would then you are a “Kidult”.
These activities include collecting and playing with matchbox cars, collecting cartoon characters like Gundam and playing war games.
I admit I am a “Kidult”. Unfortunately, I have not indulge in my hobbies for over two years now.
All I can say is don’t do what I did and be a proud Kidult and enjoy life.
Window Dressing
It is about time that Hong Kong advertiser; or to be more exact window dressers, come up with some original ideas.
It is rare that any retail stores in Hong Kong takes the time to create a window display that is original, attractive and able to draw the passer-by into the store or at least stop and look.
This particular retailer used the pictured window display to set up two XBox game station for visitors to try a racing game that contains ads of the products that the store carries.
Some Popular Sayings
- Everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die.
- If everything is going your way, then you’re in the wrong lane.
- If Barbie is so popular then why do we have to buy her friends?
- I couldn’t repair your breaks so I made your horn louder.
- For Sale: parachute, only used once, never opened, small stain.
- Everyone have a photographic memory, some just don’t have film.
- Join the army, visit exotic places, meet interesting people and kill them.
- Never argue with a fool, people may not know the difference.
- Jealousy is all the fun you think they have.
- Cheer up! The worst is yet to come.
- They say hard work never hurts anybody, but why take a chance.
- Always borrow money from a pessimist, he never expects it back
Look Who’s Watching
Today I came across a photo of a smart design.
This is way better than the men’s washroom in Felix at the top of Peninsular Hotel, Hong Kong.
If anyone knows the exact location of this washroom please let me know.
Now I can think of a great version for the women bathroom. All I need to do is to convince someone to commission me to do it for them… any takers? I am serious, drop me a line.
I can really appreciate smart designs. Unfortunately, there are just not enough of them.
The “Geese” Effect
Why do groups of women speaking at the same time?
I am sure everyone has experienced this before. This phenomenon is most apparent with older women.
Although recently I encountered this with men. In one case it was a group of all men, which was a Podcast (“This Week in Tech”) and the other was a morning radio show on RTHK in Hong Kong.
I personally find this behaviour very annoying, since there are so many person speaking at the same time, making it very difficult to understand or hear any one conversation.
I call this phenomenon, the “Geese” effect. You know it sounds like a family of geese in a pond.
This “Geese” effect is also annoying when I am not involved in the conversation nor trying to listen to it. That is because when a group of individuals in the “geese” effect, are usually very loud and would be extremely interruptive if they were sitting over at the next table in Starbucks.
So a word to those individuals practicing the “geese” effect, please be considerate of your surroundings, and remember the saying:
“A fool chatters, while a wise man listens.“
Disasters Come in Threes?
WARNING: The following post may offend some readers.
I am sure many of you have heard of the saying “bad things come in threes”.
Whether you believe this superstition or not, sometimes this saying does seem to apply. Although, the number “three” may not be exact.
For example, when disasters occur they seem to happen in groups over a relatively short period of time. For the case of natural disasters: earthquakes, floods, forest fires, etc., scientists may explain these as related geological or environmental changes of the Earth. I may accept these scientific explanations.
When you examining derailments, airplane crashes and other human or mechanical factor related disasters, these are much more difficult to explain.
Over the years I have paid attention to airplane crashes and they do appear to happen in groups and within a relatively short period.
Take the first half of this year, from June 2 until today (past 75 days), there were 12 crashes with 412 fatalities out of the 801 persons on board. The worst one happened a few hours ago when a Colombian, West Caribbean Airways chartered MD-82 crashed in Venezuela from Panama to Martinique.
I pray for those friends of mine in the airline industry. May God go with you all.
Another Thing to Add to the ¥100 Store
What can you get for ¥100 in Japan? Well they have “¥100 Stores” like those “$1 Stores” in North America and “$10 Stores” in Hong Kong. They also have vending machines dotted the streets of Japan selling various things from cold drinks to hot noodles for ¥100 – ¥500. Now you can add a track from Ayumi Hamasaki’s latest album to that list.
Today Apple officially opened the iTunes Music Store (iTMS) for Japan with localized content and artists. Charging a price of ¥100 – ¥200 per song as compare to the 99¢ price tag they have on the iTMS-US. At this price point will it implies that tracks for the future iTMS-HK will cost HKD10.00? Hmm…
You can read my thoughts on this subject from my Weblog article on July 17, 2005. As anticipated then, all initial Japanese contents are from Avex, the Japanese based music publisher.
I hope iTMS will take a page from its launch in the UK and take over the rest of Asia like it did in Europe.
Along with today’s Apple announcement, Apple also announced that Nissan, Mazda and Daihatsu are joining BMW, MINI, smart, Alfa Romeo, Volvo, Volkswagen and Ferrari to include an iPod integration with their car stereos. I wonder why the American car manufactures are noticeably missing from this list.
Are Criminals Stupid?
The following is a quote from the US Non-immigrant Visa application form (DS-156)
Do you seek to enter the United States to engage in export control violations, subversive or terrorist activities, or any other unlawful purpose? Are you a member or representative of a terrorist organization as currently designated by the U.S. Secretary of State? Have you ever participated in persecutions directed by the Nazi government of Germany; or have you ever participated in genocide?
Will people who satisfy the above criteria actually going to answer truthfully? Even these “criminals” do, does the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actually thinks that these people will then send these answers in to the US ICE with their personal details, so that they can be arrested?
I know that majority of criminals are stupid, but this is a bit too presumptuous on the US ICE part.