牛人广告

Fake LV Bag Banned on eBay

eBay was ruled to pay ~$40 million Euro for allowing the sale of counterfeit goods on its site.  I'm sure this fake bag is also banned.

A New BMW Model - 740i With All Terrain Four Wheel Drive

Smart Glue Advertisement?

I wouldn't stand below that car.

Girls, good luck!

Great Flight Attendant With Six Hands

Only available from First Class of @#%() airline!

I think she's on PTO today

Play PS2 on a Toilet in a Mall

Just a weird combination of everything - Play PlayStation 2 on a toilet in public.

How To Watch Porn in Public Places

"Bikepool"

Is $4+/gallon gas too expensive? Then "bikepool" with friends!

Fly's Picture

Interesting shots at good timing.

Happy Canada Day!

I just realized tomorrow is July 1st - Canada Day.

Happy Birthday Canada!  Proud to be a Canadian!

黄家驹逝世15周年纪念日

在ChinaRen看到的消息:

1993年6月30日，华语乐坛顶级摇滚乐队Beyond的灵魂人物――黄家驹, 在日本去世。15年后的6月30日，是家驹逝世15周年纪念日。为了怀念家驹，重温当年的光辉岁月，中国国际广播电台怀旧金曲频道联合ChinaRen社区将在6月30日全天直播"真的爱你，永远的beyond"特别节目，欢迎喜欢家驹和支持Beyond的朋友收听，并以回帖留言及录音的方式参与节目互动，把你对家驹的怀念，对Beyond的热爱表达出来收听、参与聊天室互动地址：http://gb.cri.cn/radio/oldies.htm

现在是美国西部时间6/30号的上午, 应该是国内7/1日凌晨, 看来我已经错过了... =(

时间过得好快, 还是一样喜欢Beyond的歌曲...

An Open Letter to Steve Jobs from Canadians

The funny thing about Canada is although Canada is very close to the U.S. (and being the No.1 export partner), everything in Canada is jacked up on price (not to mention the 15% retail tax in Ontario).  Despite the weakening dollar, Canadians still pay a ridiculous price compared with Americans on merchandises.  And that includes the upcoming 3G iPhone.

Finally, Canadians get their iPhone, but it comes with a hefty price tage: a $75 monthly plan with a mandatory 3-year contract, 100 text messages, 300 weekday minutes, and a 750MB cap on 3G usage.

An angry Canadian wrote an open letter to Steve Jobs asking for help.  Will Jobs care?  Only time will tell.  To date, nearly 6,000 Canadian consumers have signed up for this letter.

Go Digg it!

全世界的电源插头有几种

答案是十三种.

好在现在笔记本电脑的电源一般都可以接收110-240V交流点，所以出差去大陆和台湾问题不大.

不过除了电压不同, 插头的形状是最让人头大的. 去香港和新加坡要 TYPE G的插头. 记得我住过的台湾酒店熨斗还有在用 TYPE I的.

出门在外, 一定要准备好电源插头转换器, 否则出去买会很麻烦.

Wall-E Tops Box Office

No surprise, "Wall-E" tops box office weekend ranking with $62.5 million.

It was sold out on Friday evening at the AMC near our place.

Very nice movie.  I was amazed by the quality of the image and how fast Pixart (Disney) is advancing their technology.

Definitely recommend for seeing it.

Kung Fu Panda - A Very Good Movie

My wife and I watched Kung Fun Panda last night.  We really liked it and laughed through the entire movie.

Highly recommend for everyone to watch.  I'd say it's for younger audience, but not too childish either.

We will be watching Wall E tomorrow and looking forward to it!

Microwaved Game Boy Still Works

Amazing "Made in Japan" quality?

Today's the Last Day for Bill Gates Working at Microsoft

Yes, today is 6/27/2008.  Officially, Bill Gates will step out of his Microsoft's office and work on his foundation 100% full time.

U-Haul Tank Filled With Water

With gasoline prices soar, more consumers are showing their greedy and bad behaviors when renting vehicles.  U-Haul is reporting that some customers used up the tank of gas and refill it with water.  The damage is at least $2000 per vehicle!

It feels funny to me just how stupid/dumb these customers are as their driver's license and credit card information is typically stored before U-Haul letting them drive the truck off the lot.  So what the hell were they thinking?!

Also, more people are experiencing troubles with gas thieves as people steal gas from parked vehicles.  This reminds me that many American vehicles do not have a gas-gate lock for cost reduction.  It might be a good cost reduction move when gas is less than $2 per gallon.  But desperation creates more crimes and now the American vehicles may scare the potential customers away without the gas-gate lock.

Water Vapor Found From Mars Soil

Yes, there is water on Mars!  The questions is, is there life on Mars?

A New York Times article says scientists find water vapor in Mars soil as NASA's Phoenix Mars lander did some soil analysis and found water vapor from the  alkaline soil composition with a pH level around 8 to 9.  That's a little too much for human skin, but it would be a habitable place for plants like asparagus.  Details is available at here.

Serial Speeder Caught by Speed Cameras 22 Times in 45 Days

A Las Vegas-based serial speeder was caught by Speed Cameras 22 times in less than two months on Arizona's Loop 101 driving a Mustang.

The driver was arrested at her parents' home in Scottsdale last Friday.

No pity for crazy and irresponsible teenagers.

China vs. US on Resource Demand

An interesting slide from Seeking Alpha talking about the Growth of Global Economy with concentrations on U.S. vs. World.

All the resource suppliers are done well these days because China is doing crazy constructions in the last a few years.

I don't think this trend would cool down after the Olympic because China still has many cities and populations need newer housing and economical growth.

Bill Gates Had Trouble with Windows XP Too!

Again straight from Gizmodo, although I have to say this is one of the BEST blog post/email I've ever read - A leaked email from Microsoft documents Bill's frustration and experience from trying to download and install MovieMaker.  And like Gizmodo's Mark said, "we're realizing more by the day how much we'll miss the guy."  I do and I will miss Bill Gates.

For one thing I'm really happy (and feel relieved) and excited though - I'm NOT the only person who keeps whining and complaining about Windows' stupidity!  And guess what, Bill Gates had the same frustration and similar experience as I did!  I feel I want to kiss him on the forehead and thank him for realizing how much pain that an average user has to deal with everyday to "use" Windows as part of their productive life.

I copy and paste the email as below:

From: Bill Gates
Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2003 10:05 AM
To: Jim Allchin
Cc: Chris Jones (WINDOWS); Bharat Shah (NT); Joe Peterson; Will Poole; Brian Valentine; Anoop Gupta (RESEARCH)
Subject: Windows Usability Systematic degradation flame

I am quite disappointed at how Windows Usability has been going backwards and the program management groups don't drive usability issues.

Let me give you my experience from yesterday.

I decided to download (Moviemaker) and buy the Digital Plus pack ... so I went to Microsoft.com. They have a download place so I went there.

The first 5 times I used the site it timed out while trying to bring up the download page. Then after an 8 second delay I got it to come up.

This site is so slow it is unusable.

It wasn't in the top 5 so I expanded the other 45.

These 45 names are totally confusing. These names make stuff like: C:\Documents and Settings\billg\My Documents\My Pictures seem clear.

They are not filtered by the system ... and so many of the things are strange.

I tried scoping to Media stuff. Still no moviemaker. I typed in movie. Nothing. I typed in movie maker. Nothing.

So I gave up and sent mail to Amir saying - where is this Moviemaker download? Does it exist?

So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated.

They told me to go to the main page search button and type movie maker (not moviemaker!).

I tried that. The site was pathetically slow but after 6 seconds of waiting up it came.

I thought for sure now I would see a button to just go do the download.

In fact it is more like a puzzle that you get to solve. It told me to go to Windows Update and do a bunch of incantations.

This struck me as completely odd. Why should I have to go somewhere else and do a scan to download moviemaker?

So I went to Windows update. Windows Update decides I need to download a bunch of controls. (Not) just once but multiple times where I get to see weird dialog boxes.

Doesn't Windows update know some key to talk to Windows?

Then I did the scan. This took quite some time and I was told it was critical for me to download 17megs of stuff.

This is after I was told we were doing delta patches to things but instead just to get 6 things that are labeled in the SCARIEST possible way I had to download 17meg.

So I did the download. That part was fast. Then it wanted to do an install. This took 6 minutes and the machine was so slow I couldn't use it for anything else during this time.

What the heck is going on during those 6 minutes? That is crazy. This is after the download was finished.

Then it told me to reboot my machine. Why should I do that? I reboot every night — why should I reboot at that time?

So I did the reboot because it INSISTED on it. Of course that meant completely getting rid of all my Outlook state.

So I got back up and running and went to Windows Updale again. I forgot why I was in Windows Update at all since all I wanted was to get Moviemaker.

So I went back to Microsoft.com and looked at the instructions. I have to click on a folder called WindowsXP. Why should I do that? Windows Update knows I am on Windows XP.

What does it mean to have to click on that folder? So I get a bunch of confusing stuff but sure enough one of them is Moviemaker.

So I do the download. The download is fast but the Install takes many minutes. Amazing how slow this thing is.

At some point I get told I need to go get Windows Media Series 9 to download.

So I decide I will go do that. This time I get dialogs saying things like "Open" or "Save". No guidance in the instructions which to do. I have no clue which to do.

The download is fast and the install takes 7 minutes for this thing.

So now I think I am going to have Moviemaker. I go to my add/remove programs place to make sure it is there.

It is not there.

What is there? The following garbage is there. Microsoft Autoupdate Exclusive test package, Microsoft Autoupdate Reboot test package, Microsoft Autoupdate testpackage1. Microsoft AUtoupdate testpackage2, Microsoft Autoupdate Test package3.

Someone decided to trash the one part of Windows that was usable? The file system is no longer usable. The registry is not usable. This program listing was one sane place but now it is all crapped up.

But that is just the start of the crap. Later I have listed things like Windows XP Hotfix see Q329048 for more information. What is Q329048? Why are these series of patches listed here? Some of the patches just things like Q810655 instead of saying see Q329048 for more information.

What an absolute mess.

Moviemaker is just not there at all.

So I give up on Moviemaker and decide to download the Digital Plus Package.

I get told I need to go enter a bunch of information about myself.

I enter it all in and because it decides I have mistyped something I have to try again. Of course it has cleared out most of what I typed.

I try (typing) the right stuff in 5 times and it just keeps clearing things out for me to type them in again.

So after more than an hour of craziness and making my programs list garbage and being scared and seeing that Microsoft.com is a terrible website I haven't run Moviemaker and I haven't got the plus package.

The lack of attention to usability represented by these experiences blows my mind. I thought we had reached a low with Windows Network places or the messages I get when I try to use 802.11. (don't you just love that root certificate message?)

When I really get to use the stuff I am sure I will have more feedback.

A Skyscraper Self-Rotates on Every Floor

Straight from Gizmodo - This one is pretty amazing:

Italian architect David Fisher is building his first skyscraper, the Dynamic Tower, and it happens to be one of the most ambitious construction plans since the Pyramid of Khufu. Every floor of the 80-story self-powered building rotates according to voice command, and nearly the entire structure of the $700 million building is pre-fabbed.

 

The rotation takes up to 3 hours (so you're not always spilling your coffee), and gets power from photovoltaic solar cells and 79 wind turbines, one located between each floor. The system is meant to create enough energy to power to the entire tower and still have juice to spare for some surrounding buildings. According to Fisher, two of these $700 million futuristic scrapers are planned so far, one each in Dubai and Moscow. They will be built using a truly radical technique. 

How Tiger Swims

I'd be freaked out if I happen to be outside of that aquarium...

Nice shots though!

Propose Using Taipei 101

No, it's not cheap to propose using the (currently) tallest building in the world, the Taipei 101.

This one was done on 2007-6-6. Unfortunately I was not in Taipei to see it.

Not Your Average Zoo Trip!

What a relaxing ride!

I didn't know Superman needs to ride a subway

Does he have to pay for the ticket?

What I have to say about Bill Gates

There was just so many news lately discussing the last day of Bill Gates working at Microsoft. So what I have to say about Bill Gates? -  I will always remember this name, Bill Gates, even after many years, if someone mentions "Bill Gates" to me, I will remember.

Bill Gates is a far cry to be my idol, because he's not really damn cool.  Maybe he's just a nerd with a good business sense that helped him make tons of money - so much that he literally became the richest man in the world!  But none of these is important, what important to me is that he influenced my life, and many people on this planet's lives.  The technologies his company (i.e. Microsoft) invented, Windows, Office, Xbox360, just to name a few, dramatically changed how people interact with machines and with each other.  The productivity impact and the behavior impacts will forever be written as a Chapter in Human society's natural history.

If Bill Gates represents Microsoft, and Microsoft presents the front end software technologies in America (or the world), then Bill Gates also represents part of my American Dream.  The technology aspect of my "American" view starts with Intel's 386, then 486, then the "Pentium" (which was THE representation of PC generations back then).  Of course, Windows quickly came alone with that goofy "Start" button, and it changed everything as the PCs moving into Windows 95/NT, 2000, ME, XP and (the controversial) Vista...

Disregard what I like and dislike about Microsoft's products, I have lot of respect for Bill Gates.  As he steps out of his office at Microsoft on June 30, 2008, I think he will be missed by many who like technologies and enjoyed his (right and wrong) visions and offerings over the years.  I'm sure he will always be the idol for some young and bright kids who drop out of Harvard for starting own business.  There will always be new "Bill Gates like" people as the human society advance.  But these "Bill Gates like" people do not pop up every year - Bill will always be Bill, and he will be remembered because he sets the bench mark for all future software startup companies, and those who thrive on improving and advancing technologies to create an impact to this world.

Too bad I didn't go to CES this year to attend Bill Gates' last keynote (I probably wouldn't be able to get a ticket to his keynote anyways).  I hope he will do well with his new full-time job, although it feels much different when he's not in the same office...


Thank you, Bill, for everything!  And good luck to you!

First Episode of Top Gear Season 11 is out!

The first episode of Top Gear Season 11 is out! (BTW, Top Gear is the BEST Automotive TV Show ever.)

You can watch the full episode at AutoBlog, and check out why a Toyota Prius can have worse MPG than a BMW M3.

Finger nails that keep sex offender away!

No caption

This is why Apple's new iMac keyboard is getting popular - because it leaves little imprint on you face!

How Some Chinese People Buy Cars in China

This is definitely true in smaller towns of China when financial systems have not yet fully accepted and implemented.

World Record - 1,911 Coke-Mentos Explosions

What happens when 1,499 Belgian students at Turiba University create 1,911 simultaneous Coke-Mentos explosions? They set the World Record.

See the video and picture below for details.

今年高考打满分(70分)的作文 - 命题<<他们>>

他们

在城市尽头，没有繁华的街市，闪亮的霓虹；在城市的尽头，只有破旧的棚户区，有饱经生活风霜的生命；在城市的尽头，有他们这样一群人。

让我怎样称呼他们？外来务工人员子女？农民子弟？亦或是农民工二代？不，我不想用这些冰冷的名字称呼他们，我多想叫着他们带着泥土气的乳名，拉着他们的小手，走近他们的生活……

他 们从小生长在故乡的青山绿水中，纯洁的灵魂在田野里抽穗拔节。在山野的风中，他们奔跑着，憧憬着。风从田野中吹过，吹进了城市，为了生计，为了未来，他们 跟从父母来到了城市，在城市的尽头扎下了根。于是习惯了青山绿水的双眸第一次触碰到了高楼大厦、车水马龙。他们不知道怎样穿过六车道的马路，小小的手指怎 么也数不清写字楼的层数。繁华的现代文明不曾给他们带来任何快乐，这一次，却在心上烙下了深深的痕迹。

他们背起书包，小心翼翼地融入城市的生活。可是却在"城市人"异样的眼光中，第一次明白了户口与暂住证的区别。他们都是父母心头的宝啊！却过早地承担了不属于这个年龄的负担。

放学回家，他们做好简单的晚饭，父母还在工地或菜场上劳作；午夜醒来，泪眼中城里的星空没有家乡的明亮；悄悄许愿，希望明天他们的打工子弟小学不会因交不出电费而被查封……

然而，在他们日益长高的身体上，我看到了他们的成长。记得一位记者问一个打工子弟学校的孩子，学成后是否会回到家乡时，小姑娘毫不犹豫地说：当然，一定回去！那一刻，我差点落下泪来，为他们的成长。

记得那年春晚他们稚气的宣言："我们的学校很小，但我们的成绩不差""我们不和城里的孩子比爸爸""北京的2008，也是我们的2008！"他们逐渐成熟，告别昨天的羞怯，开始迎接新的一天。

虽然，他们还在为不多的学费而苦恼；虽然，学校还是交不上水电费；虽然，还有好多体制还不够完善……虽然有好多个"虽然"，但是，只有一个"但是"就足够了，已经有好多视线转向他们，他们正在茁壮地成长。

太阳从地平线上升起，照亮了城市的尽头，照亮了他们的生活。

他们，终将会成为我们。

阅卷老师点评：

满分作文有五大优点，首先，作文将民工子女的生存状态很真实地描绘出来，从农村到城市经历的不自然、不适应，再到他们心态的逐渐成熟，让人感受到一个真实存 在的群体；其次，作文的文字很流畅，可以看出考生具有一定的阅读积累，但是并无炫耀，恰如其分地表现了自己的情感和视野，文字和主题很匹配；第三，总体上 看作文表达了作者对同龄人的同情、关注和企盼，言为心声，也正是作文题目要求的体现；第四，这篇文章的描写非常细腻，"小小的手指怎么也数不清写字楼的层 数"；最后，文章关键还写出农民工子女的变化,"他们，终将会成为我们"，考生没有一味抱怨，写出了变化和希望。

七月的无奈

又要到七月了, 很多学子各部奔四方, 进入新的学校, 进入新的工作岗位. 也意味着分离的时刻.  校友录最近推出<<再回首, 我的大学>>节目, 感兴趣的朋友可以到这里听自己喜欢的歌曲.

想想自己大学毕业的时候只忙着找工作了, 也没有象国内大学生那样地疯狂吃喝一顿. 不过提到校园生活倒让我想起一首叫<<七月>>的歌, 很好听.

那一年的寒风中,我化了很浓的妆
第一次牵你的手啊,却装作老练的模样
我等你说,等你说我漂亮
哦,真的,我真的很想

又一年的夜色中,你遮住星星的光
第一次吻我的脸啊,多少有些惊慌
你等我说,说我是你唯一的港
 哦,真的,我真的很想

七月的无奈,我们尽量不去想
你说你的山,我说我的水乡
七月的无奈,我们尽量不去讲
哦,真的,也许真的很傻

那一年的大雪中,你轻轻敲我的窗
告诉我你堆的雪人,很像很像我的模样
你等我说,说我真的感动啊
哦,真的,我真的很想

那一年的大雨中,我倚在你的肩上
让雨水渐渐洗去,两情很真的脸庞
我等你说,说你爱的好疯狂
哦,真的,我真的很想
 
七月的无奈,我们尽量不去想
你说你的山,我说我的水乡
七月的无奈,我们尽量不去讲
哦,真的,七月真的很长

中国的汽油和电费涨价咯

因为全球原油价格上涨和中国能源需求的增加, 中国政府终于决定要给燃油加价了. (因为地震的原因)除了四川省之外, 其他所有省份的汽油, 柴油和电费都有上调.

长春的出租车起价费已经维持>10年的RMB5记录了, 看来不久也要跳一跳了. 应该说在中国生活最惨的就是这些用体力换收入的人了.

北京公布几个月内的交通管制法

今天WSJ报道北京公布了为奥运会而实行的交通管制法规. 单号牌照的汽车只能隔一天才能上路.

估计在奥运会开幕式前期还要发两颗导弹到天上去散开云雾防止降雨.

On Friday, Beijing's downtown noon skies were a dull grey and smelled faintly of smoke. Chinese readings rated air quality Level 3, or "slightly polluted," which is still on the higher end of readings usually recorded. Three weeks earlier on May 28 Beijing notched an unprecedented Level IV, or "Poor" pollution reading.

我只是希望那些去参加比赛的运动员不要因为北京的气候和污染而感冒和影响成绩...

Google Street-View Car Got a Ticket

This one is funny.  Google's Street-View Prius got a ticket.

Don't speeding when you drive a Prius - your mileage still goes down even with the electric motor assistance!

Not sure if the guy "expensed" the ticket at Google. =)

Why I didn't like Game 6 of the NBA Final

Ok, I need to start by saying I'm not a fan of the Lakers.  I'm not even a fan of the Celtics.  But this has nothing to do with my dislike of last night's Game 6 NBA final.

Put it simply, the game sucked.

I'm a consumer, a viewer, a person to be entertained, but I didn't get any of the excitement I expected from the game!  Long gone those "beat-the-buzzer-jump-shot" from Michael Jordan, or a super-hero's "3-point-play" within the last 2-min that changes the dynamics of the game.  The Eastern and Western teams of the NBA create such a big gap in terms of performance difference that it was not even a great final series.  I want to see a close-matched game, or a game that was only determined by the last 24-second game play, or maybe Overtime.  I want it to be non-predictable - Come on, everyone knows the final was over last night after the 2nd quarter!  I want to sit on my coach, chew the potato chips and watch those stupid KIA Motor and E-Trade commercials and get excited when someone made a touch 3-point jump shot!

Kobe was even more disappointing as a MVP of the regular season, just like how Houston Rockets sucked to the bottom with two All-Star (Yao and T-Mac).  So the NBA is not as good and entertaining as it used to be.  David Stern knows better, and he was smart not to comment that the Celtics was "the world's champion" because they were not (he used to say that at every Championship ceremony).   The US Dream Team lost pathetically in the last Olympics and the US basketball is no longer the world's best game.

I feel sad because I am a fan of the NBA.  They keep running the commercial says NBA is where amazing happens, but there was nothing amazing in last night's Game 6. Nothing!  I fell asleep in 3rd quarter and woke up at the end of the 4th just watch the celebration, and how KG cried and said he was on top of the world.

KG (and Paul and Allen), congratulations to you!  You are at the top of the world with a NBA Championship, only that "top of the world" is sinking and losing its altitude...

So what happened to those games I loved?!

IE给FF送到蛋糕?!

ars technica说微软的IE TEAM 给Firefox TEAM送了一个大蛋糕庆祝FF3.0版的公布. 虽然说微软应该算是好心, 可是我总是有"黄鼠狼给鸡拜年"的感觉.

刚刚下载了FF3.0, 运行还不错, 除了小处不同, 还没有发现很大不同. GOOGLE TOOLBAR要升级, 但也没什么不同.

Cool advertisement images

Creative thinking!

Firefox 3.0 is coming!

Kids - Firefox 3.0 will be officially released at 10:00AMPDT on June 17, 2008.

Mozilla is planning on a Guinness World Record attempt for the most software downloads in a day.

It is said to be 2x faster than FF 2.0 and 7x faster than Internet Explorer...Just go get it!