都是八卦惹的禍

樓下火警，多事的我當然下樓拜觀…
誰知將自己反鎖門外！
右圖為反鎖自己前十分鐘影的相

P.S. N82的影相功能原來不錯，夜景一樣清楚

Radiohead' album pricing

Ed Felton explains why Radiohead's new album may be a financial success despite the fact that 62% did not pay anything for the download

Boardgame news: the renewed TITAN map

Mike Doyle has posted, in his blog, the (unfinished) revised map of Valley Game's TITAN reprint.

無限泡泡紙………玩具………？

難道只要有像想力，甚麼都可以變成玩具？

日本BANDAI公司明天將推出超低能勁攪笑玩具：電動『無限泡泡紙』

全五色 各¥819

∞(むげん)プチプチ

via: 飯氣comment

隨意門(2) Half-Life and The Orange Box

曾推出知名FPS如Counter-Strike, Half-Life的Valve公司在十月會推出一個名為The Orange Box的5-in-1 combo。其中一個超爆笑的遊戲名為Portal。

Portal是一個以第一身觀點玩的puzzle game。在遊戲中你拿著一支『隨意門槍』打天下，這槍可射出一紅一藍兩個隨意門，由紅門走進去就會由藍門出來，倒轉亦然。到底有甚麼好玩？看這個官方trailer就可以明白。

不想等的話，其實Portal的前身是一個學生project的成品，名叫Narbacular Drop。在Nuclear Monkey Software就能免費下載。

隨意門(1) 創新科技

ITC的創新博覽會07剛完結。在博覽會會場出口有這樣一個投票活動…

題目：我最渴望的科技突破 (My Most Wanted Technology Breakthrough)

1. 家務機械人 (Domestic Robot)
2. 時光穿梭機 (Time Machine)
3. 隨身飛行器 (Portable Flying Gear)
4. 潔淨新能源 (New Clean Energy)
5. 民航太空船 (Civil Spaceship)
6. 隨身健康掃瞄系統 (Portable Health Scanning Equipment)
7. 空間轉移隨意門 (Instant Transit Gateway)
8. 夢境攝錄及控制器 (Dream Recording and Controlling Machine)
9. 容量無限大百寶袋 (Unlimited Capacity Bag)
10. 記憶錄像機 (Memory Recorder)

這個投票夠創新嗎？

Facebook Source Code Leaked

via: TechCrunch

『打風都幾好，可以早啲走。』

但佢講的時候，係六點半。八號風是兩點半掛

BBC: Stressful job link to depression

有研究指工作壓力與抑鬱症有關

高壓力工作是指：

• 工作不受員工控制
• 長時間工作
• 沒法推的deadline
• 工作量大

我中晒呀！你又中左幾多樣？

via: BBC News

Cheat Neutral 買賣不忠

包二奶的人有福了。只要付出2.5英磅，Cheat Neutral就會出糧給其他人讓他們替你付這你應付的責任。

Cheat Neutral 是一個明串Carbon neutral concept 的web site。(正確來說是串carbon offsetting)

看以下的十二分鐘短片就可明白

via: Greenpeace weblog

WiinRemote

原來有人寫了一個叫WiinRemote 的程式，可以經Bluetooth 將Wii Remote 連到Windows PC 上……

買Wii 的理由又多一個了。

除WiinRemote 外還有一個叫DarwiinRemote 的是給MacOS X 10.4的用家。
via: Hackszine

怪奇語錄之胸部大小

唔睇波的我都知有這個『呢球波一係入一係唔入』、『呢場波贏輸唔緊要，最緊要唔好輸』的講波界奇才黃興貴。

但原來還有另一個講波奇才：曾華倩。

食午飯睇都市閒情，曾華倩不知在做甚麼，只知忽然講了一句：「其實胸部大小唔係問題，最緊要夠標準。」

又只能 orz

Euro at historic high

From AFP:

Euro storms above 1.37 dollars for first time

LONDON (AFP) - The euro hit a record high of 1.3740 dollars on Tuesday as investors bought the single currency on prospects of higher eurozone interest rates and concerns about the health of the US economy.

The British pound also hit a 26-year high of 2.0275 dollars ahead of a crucial speech by US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, while on Monday the euro had reached a record peak of 168.51 yen.

"In America no-one is above law"

In the US, George Bush has invoked "executive privilege" against a subpoena on the fired judges case, issued by Congress for Sara Taylor.
On this issue, Democrat Patrick Leahy said, "increasingly, the president and vice president feel they are above the law - in America no-one is above law"

In France, Nicolas Sarkozy refused to mass pardon prisoners. "Since when has the right to a pardon been used as a way of managing prisons?" is what he said.

讀醫不是救人嗎？

關於早前的炸彈事件，英政府拘捕八人。八人全是受僱NHS的醫生、醫學生及醫生家人。

如果醫生會竟想『投考』成為恐怖分子，那是誰的錯？
買單程機票走佬確是可疑，但…英政府會否攪錯了？

恐怖的是恐怖分子還是反恐法？那麼多恐怖分子，有多少是依宗教、種族入罪的反恐法造出來的？

來自：Yahoo! News / AP British terror probe focuses on doctors

相關資料：
AFP: Doctors rounded up over British bombs plot
BBC: Who are the car bomb suspects?

食麥當勞學英文

甚麼是deliciously succulent?

The Bourne Ultimatum

今年是第三集年？蜘蛛俠，魔盜王，史力加之後是講失憶特務Jason Bourne 的The Bourne Ultimatum。

香港好像也會同日上映！

七月中開始可在Google玩Search for Bourne遊戲

The Trouble With Love Is

As told by Kelly Clarkson, the first American Idol,

The trouble with love is
It can tear you up inside
Make your heart believe a lie
It's stronger than your pride

另，原來Kelly Clarkson 新碟My December 出了。
在official web site聽了兩首，感覺不錯，不像Avril Lavigne、Fall Out Boy、Gwen Stefani 等全部07年大倒退。加上封面影得不錯，買得過。

更新：買左喇買左喇！88蚊

麥當勞無飲管之迷；糖朝貴到離奇之迷

今天晚飯是麥當勞。
買完一個魚柳包餐＋可樂，按飲管發覺兩個都冇野。啊原來係無飲管日…
我對賣包姐姐問了一個無知問題：「無飲管日真係無飲管架？」佢好似冇我咁好氣，求其答左個係。

上網睇原來大家鬧左兩個星期啦！咁我又見到甚麽呢？其實平常唔記得拎或懶的話都會就咁飲，但我比較好奇的係，其他人點處理這個問題？

看看四周，有四個客人正在飲緊野。其中飲汽水的人為零，每人手上拎住的都係有飲管的奶昔。

到底麥當勞做咁多野係咪為左賣多啲『高增值』飲品如奶茶或奶昔呢？
到底麥當勞有沒有多賣奶昔？

　＊　＊　＊　＊　＊

是日宵夜是樓下茶記，牛肉粥連叉燒腸$21
糖朝的一個叉燒腸賣$28，炸兩$25

點解糖朝咁貴都咁多人食呢？
點解我又會去食呢？

任天堂有幾厲害

兩年升四倍

厲害到上左路透社新聞：Nintendo briefly outstrips Sony in market value

今天任天堂股價最高時市值高於SONY，曾成為日本市值第十大。
另報導又提到Wii跟NDS的銷售數字都比Sony的PS3跟PSP要好（以倍計）

任天堂收市價¥45100，P/E率33倍
Sony收市價為¥6460，P/E率51倍

via: Yahoo! News

One day, your computer will be a big-ass table...

Microsoft Surface
Watch the trailer

The Matrix has come. For real.

MIT出版的Technology Review雜誌報導，Microsoft Research開發以人腦與電腦『連線』運作。

利用電腦分析人腦的腦電圖，電腦可以短時間內進行圖片辨析！

不知甚麼時候電影Matrix的影節會在現實出現？

Human-Aided Computing: Microsoft researchers are trying to harness untapped brain power.

光榮之家，光榮小熊

後樓梯發現沒人要的可愛小熊一隻。是誰這麼恨心…

光榮小熊


特寫

何韻詩出道作：光榮之家

"effective technological measures"

Circumvention of CSS (Content Scramble System, not Cascading Style Sheets) is legal in Finland, because.......... Finnish law only protects against effective DRM, and "CSS-defeating tools are so widely available" that it is no longer considered effective.

The devil is indeed in the details.

via: Freedom to Tinker

悼：ZARD主音坂井泉水意外身故

同事告知ZARD主音坂井泉水於2007年5月27日意外身故。高中與大學期間，ZARD的歌都是我經常聽的。家中還有ZARD的大碟、single十多張，惜近年覺得她的歌out，一年都聽不了一次。


坂井泉水，原名蒲池幸子，生於1967年二月六日，也就是剛四十歲了。年輕時做過racing queen也拍過露點寫真。九十年代的日本八卦雜誌有登過當年的相片，家中好像也有一本這樣的雜誌。九十年代『從良』組成樂隊ZARD，但其他成員的相片在十多張大碟裡只有兩張，明顯只賣女主音。較為港人認識的歌曲有SLAM DUNK動畫版片尾曲MY FRIEND以及幾隻保礦力廣告歌。

她最hit的歌應算揺れる想い吧，不過負けないで比較好聽，所以…以下是ZARD的負けないで，請細心欣賞。

Stainless Steel Playing Cards (!!)

Someone made a deck of stainless steel playing cards, which you can purchase at £195 (HK$3000)

via: Yehuda

StarCraft 2: "Hell, it's about time"

今年是StarCraft年：首先是FFG的Starcraft: the Board Game預定今年推出。其次是Blizzard的StarCraft 2終於有聲啦！雖然發售日還沒有，但有screenshot總好過甚麼都沒有…又要儲錢買新display card了。右圖是本周新圖之一。

亞里士多德…有多得？

原來兩千多年前他說過這樣的一句話…

All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind.

在通宵工作的晚上特別有意義。

電話繩

到最後我還是敗了一條不論跟我還是跟電話都絕不相襯的Wedgwood電話繩…

亞妹同居一周年記念

一年了一年了！

當時的她是這樣的

現在的她是這樣的

自備廁紙：這是甚麼頭條？

美聯的top headlines有點搞笑…公廁不供應廁紙也有

Visitors Told: Bring Own Toilet Paper

WALKERSVILLE, Md. (AP) -- Bring your own toilet paper if you're visiting a park in Walkersville. Last week, vandals set some paper on fire in a men's bathroom at the Walkersville Community Park.

On Monday, Town Manager Gloria Long Rollins announced that all paper products have been removed from bathrooms at the town's four parks.

Hand dryers will replace paper towels and visitors will have to bring their own TP, Rollins said.

The measure is part of an effort to combat vandalism, graffiti and drug use in the parks, she said.

First McDonalds ad: the hamburger happy clown

聽說是史上第一個老麥廣告…

薩拉熱窩的羅密歐與茱麗葉與孤兒

薩拉熱窩孤兒院大火，美聯新聞說最少三男兩女死亡，最少十七嬰兒受傷，另有一護士救人時面及手被燒傷。

via:
AP: 5 Babies Die in Bosnian Orphanage Fire
BBC: Deadly fire in Bosnia orphanage

以下是鄭秀文的超舊歌以及相關舊聞：

Thomas Jefferson once said...

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.
Never spend your money before you have it.

via the Quotations Page

同我傾計係咪可以回到過去？

Professor Xemit explains time travel through boredom

The evil empire expands...

Nestle to buy Gerber for $5.5 billion

Nestle SA, the world's biggest food and drink company, said Thursday it will buy Gerber Products Co. from pharmaceutical maker Novartis SA for $5.5 billion, giving it the largest share of the global baby food market.

Robotic fleas and tiny rubber bands

Robotic Fleas Spring into Action
A nine micron think silicone rubber band could allow a 7mm robotic flea to jump 20cm, report says. The current prototype can only kick, but not jump and land safely, though.

四月一日愚人節之我家小貓跳樓了

四月一日是我幫家裡亞妹起的生日。而在這個一歲生日的第一天，我九點沒到就被一聲怪叫吵醒…
原來昨晚窗沒關好，早上亞妹在一聲慘叫之下跳下去了………

還好我家算低層，驚動管理處與樓下兩家人後，花了半小時就將她完好救回來。

由二十米高跳下去但全無傷痕、洗白白後的亞妹

28 Weeks Later... "We've lost control. Kill everyone."

28 Weeks Later的trailer有得睇喇！
續28 Days Later的故事，六個月後軍方終將整個倫敦消毒完畢。正當大家重回家園，又再發現染病的人…

Dilbert: the Board Game

Dilbert會否被拍成真人電影就不知道，不過原來有boardgame的。在Dilbert: the Board Game裡你是Dilbert, Alice, Wally, Asok等其中一人。目的很簡單，只要成為最『快樂』的一個就可以了！每回合都有新的痛苦project派發給你，大家則想辦法將project殺掉。而老細搵你當然掉頭走啦！

via: Boardgame News

有關1897年的兩條問題

原來1897年是宋美齡出生之年。同年有兩間公司成立。一間賣書，另一間賣藥。兩間分別是甚麼公司？估中有獎。

Transformers 3D Battle-Card Game

三月二十日公佈的消息：孩之寶旗下的Wizards of the Coast 將於六月推出變形金剛collectible game

via: GamingReport.com

"important implications for implementation of malaria control"

People used to import "natural" predators for pest control. Now American scientists are going one huge step forward. They want to introduce artificial pests for disease control. Just how will they deal with the super-mosquitoes after malaria become history? Will they introduce genetically modified, mosquito-resistant human?

US scientists create mosquito resistant to malaria

US researchers have created genetically-modified mosquitoes resistant to a malaria parasite, raising the possibility of one day stopping the spread of the disease, a new study says.

The genetically-engineered mosquitoes outbred natural mosquitoes when fed malaria-infected blood from mice, according to the study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Source: AFP / Yahoo! News

Life for Rent

I've always thought
that I would love to live by the sea
To travel the world alone
and live more simply
I have no idea what's happened to that dream
Cos there's really nothing left here to stop me

買puzzle最忌甚麼？

就是買些太難砌而砌不完沒法放回盒裡的…

月前去日本買了幾盒玩具。其中一盒是包裝精美的明治Black Chocolate Puzzle。今天終於拿來玩。可惜我跟Alias的Sidney Bristol不一樣，是一個沒有空間感的人。倒出來後竟不能將其放回原位……

Asok the intern

From Dilbert's "the Characters": Asok, pronounced ah-shook, was introduced to satisfy the hordes of interns who wrote to request their own character. Asok is brilliant, but as an intern he is immensely naive about the cruelties and politics of the business world. His name is a common one in India (but usually spelled Ashok).

And now, how can *I* set my priorities?

知我者莫若Dilbert

Scott Adams可會是我公司的同事？

我們的annual dinner


You'll be in charge of this project...


A steaming pile of failure

TIROL雛祭り特別版朱古力

チロルチョコ株式会社新出了女兒節特別版朱古力套裝，在吉之島就可買到！只要將草莓味朱古力的包裝紙打開，還可以用那塊三色朱古力來扮菱餅。

衰貓！你響度做咩呀？！

望咩呀望

自從晚上被死小孩嚇過之後膽細了很多。今天返工又有驚嚇事！行樓梯時忽覺有非人的目光射來，抬頭一看原來是家樓下的小貓不知如何爬了幾層水管來嚇我！
花了十分鐘想將她拿下來，不過最後圖中衰貓像蜘蛛俠一樣由水管逃走了。

細路

如果你一個人住在幾十年舊樓。夜媽媽返屋企，電梯開門有個細路彈出來大聲喊住要搵媽媽。問佢媽媽響邊佢指住空無一人的電梯…你會以為自己撞鬼嗎？

我立即同管理處講，見到管理員抱起個細路先敢返上樓…行樓梯。

"Help"

Which of the following statements are grammatically correct? For those which are correct, what are their meanings? (No I do not have the answer.)

1. Help.
2. Help with something.
3. Help to something.
4. Help do something.
5. Help to do something.
6. Help doing something.
7. Help to doing something.
8. Help somebody.
9. Help somebody with something.
10. Help somebody to something.
11. Help somebody do something.
12. Help somebody to do something.
13. Help somebody doing something.
14. Help somebody to doing something.

新版大富翁

大富翁又出新版了！今次的六款其中一款是不用banker的"Monopoly Electronic Banking Edition"。用計數機跟扣數咭，很高貴。
註：上圖是在about.com偷的

This is St Valentine's Day

And it is 2AM.

How misanthropic are you?

You Are 67% Misanthropic

Here's the truth: Most people suck. You are just lucky enough to know it. You're not ready to go live alone in a cave - but you're getting there.

How Misanthropic Are You?

Yes, I am only 67% misanthropic.

"one single master"

On the 43rd Munich Conference on Security Policy, Putin was quoted saying: "What is a unipolar world? No matter how we beautify this term it means one single center of power, one single center of force and one single master."

"[The U.S.] are permanently teaching Russia about democracy. But those who teach us, for some reason don't really want to study it themselves."

Reuters: Putin accuses U.S. of bid to force will on world
AFP: Putin hits out at US global dominance

"What will your job do to you?"

Age-o-Matic tells you what will happen.

via: Reuters news from Yahoo!

"That's how I knew this story would break my heart"

by Aimee Mann

P.S. According to Wikipedia Aimee Mann really has an anchor tattoo.

"We're in jail, dude"

Joy at direct hit turns to horror

World's champion exporter

According to AFP, China will be the world's biggest exporter by 2008. At 300 billion US dollars a year, China is already the number one exporter of electronics goods.

China set to become world's champion exporter in 2008: trade body

"The dead don't eat lunch either"

一日之計在於晨

美味早餐，盛惠廿八

And Satan invented cable television with remote control

Dr John Crippen's In the beginning... is an interesting read!

In the beginning, God covered the earth with broccoli, cabbage, red peppers and all kinds of vegetables, so Man would live long. Resenting God's Bountiful gifts, Satan created dairy ice creams and said "Do you want hot fudge with that?" and Man said "Yes" and Woman said "I'll have one too, please, with chocolate chips!"

信佛、吃素

八卦的我很喜歡吃飯時偷聽身旁不認識的人說話。星期五晚在美食廣場吃飯聽到對面一男一女在談佛學、殺生的問題。女的一句說話引起我的好奇心：「如果信佛為 甚麼不能吃素呢？一個月只兩天（指初一、十五）。」男的邊吃著他的韓式雞肉飯，邊回應說即使他不吃這飯，雞還是要死。女的看來有點語塞，只說兩者有關連， 吃肉的行動已種了因，如果找某某大師就能詳細解譯。

從經濟的方式看，買雞肉是增加雞肉的需求，所以也會令更多雞被殺。另一方面看也可以說幾個吃飯的人夾錢買兇殺雞。其實儀式上的素食有甚麼意義呢？初一十五吃素但其他日子大魚大肉，真能積德嗎？


後來兩人的話題轉到六道輪迴。女生說殺生是作惡，曱甴也有生命，如果你是它你也不想被人踩死。男生狡辨：「如果我是它，可能也想早點被殺可以早日投生做人！」他還說既然我要殺死曱甴也是註定，就沒有甚麼問題。兩人還提到很多問題，如大家都不吃肉就不會有戰爭等等。我也慢慢的吃，直到他們吃完。其間有幾次想插咀但努力壓止了找死的欲望。

以我的有限佛學知識，說眾生皆有佛性但六道中人最有條件成佛，可見佛教跟其他宗教一樣，也是以人為中心。老鼠曱甴沒有文字，無法得知有前世因果，當然也不會有早死能重新做人的想法。既然輪迴不是人所定明，也無法知道曱甴先生的刑期是否被殺五十八次就能重新做人，也不能說讓它早死是好事了。

佛家要大家各自修成正果，這種『出世』的態度又能如何阻止戰爭？以殺人的方式救人是否種善因？我就無法答了。


看日曆，星期五剛是十二月初八

如果你吃素…

你會吃經改造的雞造出來的藥嗎?

Engineered chickens make cancer drugs

A team at the institute that cloned Dolly the sheep have made a genetically engineered chicken that produces cancer drugs in its eggs. [...] Many human therapeutic proteins are produced in industrial bioreactors, but setting up such systems is both time-consuming and expensive. [...] Scientists have been trying to find good ways to turn animals into factories instead. [...] The researchers have now bred several hundred chickens that can produce the desired proteins.

今時今日，咁既服務態度

精警對白引客人一笑都不錯！咁既服務態度又如何？

有人會邊賣邊唱歌…

傳說某四仔店：(調寄Jingle Bells) DVD, DVD, DVDVD!
尖沙咀某茶餐廳：(調寄Old McDonald Had a Farm) 兩個都係涷奶茶，邊位飲～架？

間中也聽到不同溫度的笑話

尖沙咀某茶餐廳：(客人：唔該想要餐具) 咁你要中國兵器定西洋兵器呢？筷子就中國人發明既，刀叉呢啲野就西洋人發明既！
鰂魚涌某麵店：(幫客人落單後) 你今次既消費係十七蚊，加五蚊。(數分鐘後) 我有責任提醒你，你叫呢個餐加五蚊可以要冷熱飲品。 (另一個客人叫魚蛋麵) 我質疑你個麵係粗麵定麵！

"Do you support the President's stance on Kyrgyzstan?"

In fact, most Americans would even support a war against a country they've never heard of.

Murder. Deplorable. Investigation. Arrest. Murders.

Tuesday, 2nd January

Deplorable
"Frankly, to get this kind of recorded messages coming out is totally unacceptable and I think whoever is involved and responsible for it should be ashamed of themselves.", John Prescott, Deputy prime minister, said on BBC Radio regarding the mobile video.

Investigation
Iraq’s Shiite-led government said Tuesday that it had ordered an investigation into the abusive behavior at the execution of Saddam Hussein.

Wednesday, 3rd January

Arrest
The person believed to have recorded Saddam Hussein's raucous execution on a cell phone camera was arrested.
"Yes, we would have [done things differently]. But that's not our decision," said Major General William Caldwell, a U.S. military spokesman.

Thursday, 4th January

More Murders
Two of Saddam Hussein's comrades, Barzan Ibrahim and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, will be hanged later today.


Yelling "Go to hell" is acceptable. Spreading the footage of it is abusive and deplorable. It's like the French Revolution without a Guillotine. The Iraqi government scored 5 points taking Saddam's head. Who will win in this game?

* photo from German edition of Guillotine (Wizards of the Coast, 1998). Taken without permission.

"This whole execution is about justice"

Hiwa Osman, an adviser for the Iraqi president, told the BBC after a second mobile video was in wide circulation. Is it justice, or an abuse of justice?

You can read more about Saddam Hussein's last moments on BBC.