It's just too wet...

I possess an amazing body. It is so amazing that it starts to annoy me by this time of my life.

Of course I am talking about my ability of perspiration. This summer, the distance between my usual air-conditioned rooms and buildings increased so much, that by the time I finally get into one of them, my shirt are already medium well-done by my disgusting body fluid. The salty water spouts out from my body whenever they see the chance, which is abundant at every corner after my happiness: like the heavenly swimming pool I go at lunch time is companied by the hellish changing room, the beautiful campus I am now working at has to be reached from a crowded burning tunnel. So, I developed this fear at first, fear of still air, fear of shirt, fear of unsettlement but the fear itself is even more unsettling. The only thing can balance it back, is moving to the opposite, to the other extreme.

This is my body, I can't stop sweating. I already accepted this heart-breaking truth since I was 18. But now, I have to fight back! I train! I train to embrace the sensation of the ultimate cold! I train to enjoy the calmness of freezing air, let it touches the skin and bones.

The comfortableness is never the solution, we live in and by the conflicts.

My thoughts on the issues of "靚模"

There were some discussions on facebook about the over dramatization of the news of young models here in Hong Kong.

Basically, these young models "le mo" are hot both on the news and in person. You can see them everywhere, on tv, in newspaper, magazines, and on the streets. You can get much of it everyday from here. The news and publications about these models are touching some of the moral bottom line of the traditional value in Hong Kong. Then the discussion went hot as well, about how moral standards has been lowered by the models, how this will harm our younger generation.

I have much of thoughts by my own as well:

First, I think there's no obvious difference between young models and the older generation, even no difference between them and most artists nowadays. Most of female artists in HK were and are selling their sexuality and their idol effects, the only difference is the younger ones are selling it directly, and older ones were wrapped in something else which no one would buy if only by itself like singing or acting. They basically are the same. The reason we got pissed is they are not covering it :P

Second, there is a huge market for exhibitionists and voyeurs, and whenever there is a market, people sell and people buy. We can argue if the market itself is healthy or not, but I see no point of it. Just like horse racing, you see a number of newspapers, magazines, even tv channels are in this "news" business, but we don't judge them as "unhealthy". I guess it's because we don't really care. Horse racing itself is not much of a moral issue. Maybe we care a little about the health of the gambler, but they are all old news, and as a culture, we accept horse racing gambling.

So, it comes back to the point that if selling sexiness is healthy or not. As a post colonial city, it is a big deal. We accepted the whole bunch of western values regards reason, human rights and democracy, but in the bones we are still chinese. The day to day value which are pasted from older generation is very traditional and Confucian. After we dealt with all the wars of the values, it came to this, morality of sex. Nobody knows how to take it. A lot of us went with the western value, they see it as westerners, treat it lightly sometime heartlessly. But most of us still don't know what to do with it. That's why the question of "Do we have to have love to have sex?" still out there and confusing most of us.

Anyway, what I am saying is, why the "Le Mo" question is so hot: my thought is it is because we had a long history of taboos of sex, and now we see the cutting edge of sexiness on the news. We can't deal with it. Some of us got excited, some of us got panicked, and some sons of us came :P The concern for the next generation is the main topic. But in my opinion, I think the next generation will deal with it much better than us, or they already dealing it much better than us. They won't panic in front of sexiness, they grow up with pornography, just like their western counterparts, they won't judge others simply because their sexual appearance, nor by their sexual orientation or any other traditional bias.

Ok, but what do we do with it if we don't want any of these happen? I don't blame the media, and I don't think there should be any more regulation for them on this issue, since Hong Kong already got the obscene articles tribunal. If the population can not take it anymore, complains will rule the legco in no time, and there will be a law to forbid this like it in India or China. This is how the moralities clash with each other in the ultimate. Like how legco ruled out the smoker's rights, when the traditional value flooding back, through legislation, we can purge the immoral Le Mos.

Sorry, enough of this ranting, let's just relax, sit back, enjoy the show.

The Next Big Feature Of Google Image Search

Simple, user provide an image, or an image URL, then Google search the similar images by its similar image algorithm. This feature is much needed, and very useful. Only thing left is I am not sure how this will affect copyright or privacy.

There are countless times you don't know who the person is in the photo, or which building it is, or a specified product but no name or tag on it. Similar image search can do just that, then link you to some web page.

My thought on private construction at Sai Wan

There are 2 aspect of this issue: First, why are we so angry about it? Because we have the concept of property and we all hate rich people to occupy "our" property. Second, it's about the environment, another hot area of these days. Anything remotely relates to it will be debated or opposed.

But, I don't see there are strong reasons to forbid such action.

Because: 1st, we are living the world of capitalism, protection of private property is the golden rule of this system. You can't stop someone from doing something just because he is rich. Try to imagine, if some poor family will be relocated from the city into Sai Wan, there wouldn't be such a fuzz about it. Indeed, look at Long Ke, the beach just next to Sai Wan, there's this drug rehabilitation center, which is bigger than the site in Sai Wan, I think nobody said anything when it's built, and nobody is saying anything that it destroyed their view right now. Look at the dams all over Hong Kong, has anyone said anything about them? All of the water reservation facilities occupy park sites, and destroy some environment. Anyone mentioned it? And You can have a look at other locations near Sai Wan area, government facilities like Chong Hing Water Sports Center, and other fishing outposts, all occupy sites, but nobody would argue if they destroys the environment.

So, I think the biggest reason for so many people aroused to this issue is: we hate the rich!

And talk about environment. I've been to Sai Wan for countless times, the site is not as big as most others think. The area was marshland/sand beach before(not many trees), just like the drug rehabilitation center. And it does not cut or occupy the river (Actually the small river is seasonal river, currently it's very big and wide, and I guess it won't disappear for a long time). I am not saying the construction won't affect the environment, but from my point of view, the effect can be minimum.

The fishing village is almost totally abandoned, except several stores which are serving the hikers. The environmental issues are more pressing there. Most bungalows are abandoned, leaving trash and other stuff all around. But of cause, they are private property, we can do nothing either.

I do think the improper treatment of the site and heartless construction can damage the environment. But I think our focus should be to urge the government to legislate the environmental construction regulation, not forbidding the construction. The reason? Not because it's not affecting the environment, but because it's PRIVATE property. Once government got the power to forbid acquiring/selling private property, who knows what else will they do next time.

So, I am not against the construction on the site. But I do have some suggestions to turn the construction into environmental positive:

1, Like I said, there has to be regulations to force environmental friendly construction. The current movement can urge the government to legislate it.

2, Government can tax the new land owner for environment protection, or, I think it's better, force the land owner to protect the environment by themselves, like clean the beach, maintain the river. I think they can do much better than the government, since it's their own land.

3. Tourism is flourishing in Sai Kung area, I believe more and more visitors will come into this area. To be honest, as a hiker, I see more damage done by hikers, tourists and visitors than the locals. As point 2, I believe there should be more protectors than destroyers, or at least with more power. Where to recruit them? I see no volunteers can do better works than shop owners. Like some did in other parts of Hong Kong, modern shops, stores, training centers, surfing schools should be able to contribute more to the environment while keeping the local economy growing.

My point is, unless the government use its power to seize the lands owned by the villagers, and turn them into the country park, we have to deal with how to use these lands. And when outdoor activities continue to be popular, there will be more and more visitors, the environment protecting responsibilities will fall upon the government, and they can not and would not do much good on it. I believe the private owners can actually do much better, as long as we have the law to enforce it.

Space Elevator

We heard this in science fictions, but there is a company is actually doing it! Check out their website: http://www.liftport.com/. On the top of the page, it states that their target is to have it launched in 2031. 21 years to go!

Here's the wiki page about space elevator.
And here's their video of a test lift to 1000 feet:

Testing

Test test

Apple vs. Adobe

I gave this issue an serious thought, and found the only strategy for Adobe to win this war is to pull Photoshop along with the CS Creative Suite out of Mac ;)

Google History Maps

The next major update for Google Maps is adding timeline to the map, so you can slide the line back to the past and see the historical maps with ancient city and ancient borders.

The Greatest Article Ever Published on Global Times:

Whitelist

China will soon adopt the "whitelist" system for its internet. It means you will only be able to access web sites registered with the Chinese government. So by default, if you setup a site within or without of China, your site will be blocked, unless you go to the Chinese registration system. I could not imagine a Hungarian blogger or anyone else will be willing to go through all the hassle to just get visibility inside China. Information, despite its increasing value for this world, will be received much later or not at all for my fellow Chinese people.

This act, by far, can only be compared to the "Closed Door Policy" in Qing Dynasty, which leaded to the humiliation in recent history. In my life, I haven't been shocked by any political or economical incident like this.