A lesson of courtesy

If you are learning from Professor Sheriff Luk, programme director at Hong Kong Polytechnic University's Graduate School of Business, be careful, don't show too much courtesy to him.

Quoting from Mainlanders blast retail service:
"Staff at retail outlets are always told to be courteous and smile at their customers, but this is just too artificial," Luk said. "Sometimes mainland tourists would like to be treated as ordinary customers. Being patronising could be another kind of discrimination."
More quotes from an article in Apple Daily (Chinese):
"他 促 請 從 業 員 招 呼 客 人 時 ， 應 以 真 誠 的 態 度 相 待 。"

Is he too naive or something? How much sincerity could you expect from a salesperson?

Maybe he enjoys the publicity from such idiotic comments but it does no good to the reputation of the school/program.

Google's true color?

If you read Chinese, please check out this page from Google news HK If you read carefully, you will notice most news sources quoted by Google are pro-Beijing.

Now, do you think you'll be able to get unbiased search results from Google?

To be honest, I don't like Google since they started Gmail. Privacy concern is one thing (See Gmail is too creepy) Extra-hyping Gmail by making it invitation only is another. (That's why I have declined several invitations to open a Gmail account) IMO this company is about hype more than anything. Their co-founders couldn't even get their fact straight during interview with Playboy! It seems like they enjoy the fame too much and too eager to cash in.

We don't give a **** about you

I thought this is the "philosophy" of the customer service of most companies (especially the consumer electronic manufacturers and phone companies.) They are always very eager to talk to you when you order/add new services but showed a different face when asked for service. Don't you realize your call gets answered immediately for the former but you are always on hold for the latter?

Well, finally there is a "honest" company. See Customer Service with a Twist

Transformania

Which boy growing up in the 80s did not love the cartoon Transformer? It has cars and airplanes that transform into robots! (Still wonder why airplanes are bad while cars are good) Check out Tranformers: A History and also Japanese Transformers Cartoons Guide(similar info in Chinese) (if you enjoyed the Japanese version like I did. My friend used to ask me why there are 2 different versions and how they are related back when I was in high school and I was totally clueless. With this FAQ, finally the mystery is solved!)


My favourite character is the leader of the good guys (Autobots): Optimus Prime
His archrival is, of course, the leader of the bad guys (Decepticons): Megatron

Apparently this cartoon still has a lot of followers. I guess a lot of them is from my generation. So what's the appeal of it? A reviewer at Amazon sums it up the best: got to relive the childhood favorite!

BTW, 2004 marks the 20th anniversary of Transformers (yeah, that shows my age >:)

CRM does too much and knows too much

Does too much? See Albertsons Learns the Legal Dangers of CRM It's about Albertson's CRM system sending out letters to the customers who previously filled prescription there.

Knows too much? See Retail CRM: Does Data Create A Duty? It's about whether a company (in this case, Kroger's) is liable to inform their customers about recall when it stores customers contact and purchase info in CRM.

Now you know how tough the enterprise application business is!

914

Tomorrow is the day to Save Betamax and your right to recording technology.

Don't let the movie industry dictate what technology you could and could not use!

While I'm at it, I recommend you all check out DownhillBattle.org It is an organization against the greedy money sucking monsters a.k.a. music industry.

First NFL game for all of us

Falcons at 49ers 

At 3Com Park 
If you know me, you know I am a huge football fan. Football is the #1 sport for this sport junkie!

Well, you might be surprised that I've never been to a NFL game until now. (First time for my wife and daughter too!) IMO Football is one of the sports that is better seen on TV than in person 'coz the closeup camera makes it much easier to follow the ball and the ball carrier. Not to mention the great invention of computer generated Yellow first-down line shown on the screen these days. (Just realized some channels are showing a dark blue line of scrimmage as well)

Nevertheless, this game has changed my view, literally speaking. Watching the game in person gives me a complete view of everythings happen on the field. This makes game much more enjoyable. (Hey, a Cowboy fan like me could even enjoy a 49er game. See them getting beaten by Falcons was icing on the cake! BTW, 49ers' offense really look awful in the first 50 mins of the game with no TD. We left after Falcons scored another TD that resulted from turnover and up by 15 pts. Niners scored 2 TD after that and made it a real close game! They should probably have paid us to leave earlier :P ) That said. I still won't trade channel flipping away. The tix are so expensive. Spending the money on the TV package seems to be a better investment.

Thanks to my wife for the tix.

Another "invention" by Microsoft

We all hate to listen to commercials on radio, right? (Well, except when you're an advertiser) You can now say goodbye to them, thanks to Microsoft's latest invention: MSN Radio.

Sounds like magic huh? Well, what it actually does is playing the songs from the playlist of other radio stations and thus "mimic the sound" of those stations. See Microsoft creates static over new radio feature

Ultimate TV Junkie

I actually don't watch that much TV but I do like the ability to watch my favorite program wherever I prefer. I have been streaming TV signal through my PC and internet for a long time (using Windows Media Encoder, free download from Micro$oft) The only problem I have is inability to switch channel.

The previous route I have researched is to get a device (e.g. Ocelot) that connects to a PC and is able to learn and transmit IR signal. Then use a software like Mister House to control the device through a web server. Such device is not cheap though.

Apparently I'm not the only person in the world who wants to do this. This guy has posted a cheaper solution Tivo Project 101 His solution is based on "learning" by converting IR into audio. Then play back the audio file through a device like Griffin Total Remote Transmitter Module to transmit the IR signal.

Jinx...

I hope this won't jinx Lefty: Report: Mickelson, Titleist part ways

Remember what happened to Tiger after he dumped Titleist for Nike! I know my next club won't be from Nike for sure...

Offoffshoring

Just when people are talking about US jobs offshore-outsourced to India, this pops up: Jobs Outsourced to Indian Firms May Not Go to India

Does this make you feel better? (or worse...)

Anti-hero

Please DO NOT WATCH the movie "Hero"! It is basically propaganda disguised with martial art packaging. Just look at how much the Chinese government has endorsed the movie and you know what I'm talking about. This movie praises the brutal totalitarian Emperor Qin. I'd expect this comes from the Communist Party but really disappointed that it comes from Zhang Yimou's movie.

Zhang Yimou, the director, is selling out, IMO. It's hard to remember this is the guy who used to make movies that criticize the backwardness of Chinese villages and injustice done to the people. In fact, the Chinese government used to censor his movie for exposing the dark side of the country to outside.

Maybe the crave for power has changed Zhang. Now the government rewards his "conversion" by putting him in charge of 2008 Beijing Olympic ceremonies, a big step forward for a showbiz guy. I gotta admit this is hard to resist.

Here is another reason to boycott this movie. Quoting from Joseph Kahn "Film on Ruthless Dynasty Delights China's Leaders" The New York Times January 2, 2003:
"In an interview with B International, a Hong Kong- based magazine, [Tony] Leung said he applauded the message of 'peace and human kindness' in Hero, then reflected on the Beijing government's suppression of the democracy movement 13 years ago. 'During the June 4 incident, I didn't join any demonstrations, because what the Chinese government did was right to maintain stability, which was good for everybody,' he was quoted as saying. Mr. Leung later said that his comments had been taken out of context and that he was speaking from the perspective of his character in the film. 'My interest is in making movies, not politics,' he said."

Other reviews:
Fighting for Peace (and Art Films), Zhang Yimou on "Hero" (incl. interview)
Hidden dragon
Zhang Yimou's Hero The Temptations of Fascism
Martial Arts Worldwide Network's review

A true hero will never condone oppression.

When in doubt, don't sing

This is quoted from Camp Site Director Leslie Shanders. Why? See The birds may sing, but campers can't unless they pay up.

Let's blame it on capitalism (or maybe it's just greed?) Scouts can't sing "God Bless America" in camp any more unless they pay ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers). That's sad sad sad... (BTW, we were wrong when we camped and sang "Happy Birthday" at Yosemite. That's copyrighted too.)

Hey, maybe ASCAP did a good thing by encouraging everyone to write their own songs! More motivations for creativity!

[Update]It turns out the story was from 1996 and there was a followup: ASCAP Changes Its Tune; Never Intended to Collect Fees for Scouts' Campfire Songs, Group Says. Please read the 2nd part of the above link.

I wonder that was a truly sincere intention or merely a reaction when ASCAP saw the outrage against them.

Canadian inventions

In the spirit of rooting for the "underdogs", I would like to recommend this page about Canadian inventions

This is how I found out basketball was actually invented by a Canadian (while he was in US)

It's not fair! (take II)

This happened at Olympic Marathon: Brazilian Vanderlei de Lima was attacked by one Irish "priest" Cornelius Horan, three miles from the finish line. At that time he was the leader but at the end he could only take bronze. The attack had certainly disrupted his rhythm.

Too bad the security wasn't able to prevent idiots like Horan from damaging the race.

Olympic Gymnastic Controversy

Let me ask you a question. Which one would you wanna be remembered as:
a) the guy who is not supposed to win the gold medal but got it because of scoring error
b) the guy who gives back the gold medal he should not have won

Which guy has genuine sportsmanship?
The choice is pretty obvious to me. Of course Paul Hamm thinks otherwise.

[Update] Please check out the comments, which presents a different point of view. I gotta admit he knows the story/background much deeper than I do. One thing we both agree though: FIG, the sports governing body who messed up the scoring, is the real "bad guy."

Flashmob Opera

Gotta admit promoting music using the flashmob concept is a smart idea. See Music to the masses: BBC plans opera by stealth

When are we going to have flashmob Tai Chi?

Fallacy of the day

Quoting from Movie Industry Sues More DVD Chip Makers on Piracy:
"The CSS license pact has aided the success of DVDs because it has provided protection against illegal copying to copyright owners of movies, television shows and other content sold on DVD."

Gimme a break! DVD became successful because:
- easy to navigate
- higher quality
- marketing, marketing and marketing (Movies on VHS were never displayed as prominently as DVD Movies today in record stores and electronics stores)

It has absolutely nothing to do with copy protection, which has been available on VHS long time ago! Anyone interested in "illegally copying" DVD enough would have found out how to break the so-called protection anyway.

[Update] Let's face it: copy-protection is made to be broken. Here is another example: How to Un-DRM your Un-DRM'd iTunes 4.6 Songs

Outsourcing CEO: take 2

Carly may not be too happy when she read this article: Jobs and the Resurgent Economy Outsourcing CEOs, especially after her company announced bad results.

Well, what goes around comes around. Carly: remember you said, "There is no job that is America's God-given right anymore..." (see Outsourcing can build a safer world, Fiorina says BTW, this was the 2nd time I heard such ridiculous argument from CEO )

Ultimate Sports Junkie Sunday

I'm flipping between the following programs now:
- olympic soccer
- olympic boxing
- olympic basketball
- PGA championship
- A's baseball
- NFL Preseason

What a great day! Gotta love living in US :D Now I wish I have 6 TV...