Today is the missus' birthday. In celebration of this momentous occasion, a haiku:
Married for six years
known for over a decade
Recall when we met
Black suit and black dress
also long flowing black hair
still fresh in my mind
Bright yellow t-shirt
and blue denim dungarees
meeting outside work
Although mood was right
in dimly lit restaurant
not first date as such
Hence too soon to kiss
and meeting was all too brief
still the spark was born
When the prince beckoned
there followed declarations
though Egypt would wait
A hug not bear like
an exchange of nervous words
a kiss most tender
Sincere wish that all Your heart's desires come true on This happy birthday
Hugs and kisses from He who will always be near Your love, jokemeister
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Gerry in Disneyland - part dos
Some more pictures of Gerry in Disneyland.
Inside Disneyland are some old cars and buses (which actually work). The idea is that you can get on the bus and go for a short ride down Main Street. While one of the buses was parked, we jumped on board and managed to get several good pictures inside. This is one of Gerry driving the bus.
And a rare family picture. The bus driver was quite old but you can see from this picture that he was quite hip in terms of knowing how to take a good photo!
Gerry also took a ride on Dumbo the flying elephant for the second time. This is us just having got on the elephant.
And this is what Gerry did all through the ride - constant up and down!
Inside Disneyland are some old cars and buses (which actually work). The idea is that you can get on the bus and go for a short ride down Main Street. While one of the buses was parked, we jumped on board and managed to get several good pictures inside. This is one of Gerry driving the bus.
And a rare family picture. The bus driver was quite old but you can see from this picture that he was quite hip in terms of knowing how to take a good photo!
Gerry also took a ride on Dumbo the flying elephant for the second time. This is us just having got on the elephant.
And this is what Gerry did all through the ride - constant up and down!
The marching band they have in Disneyland is also quite good. The guys are always very friendly and willing to pose for photos (well, they are in Disneyland!).
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Gerry in Disneyland - part uno
We don't take as many pictures of Gerry as we used to. As a result, we made a concerted effort over the weekend to take Gerry to Disneyland for the main purpose of getting some new photo's.
This is the first time that Gerry rode on the Dumbo ride (which he really enjoyed). What's great about this ride is that the elephant has a switch in the middle that allows you to move the elephant up or down. Naturally, we spent the entire ride constantly going up and down as Gerry played with the switch!
Love this picture - particularly cos he is now starting to look more like me!
We also took a ride on the Autopia car. Quite good fun. The ride itself is an electric car for which you control the gas and the steering. In the middle of the road is a barrier which prevents you from going too far astray. Nevertheless, it was a good opportunity to let Gerry pretend to drive a car.
This is the first time that Gerry rode on the Dumbo ride (which he really enjoyed). What's great about this ride is that the elephant has a switch in the middle that allows you to move the elephant up or down. Naturally, we spent the entire ride constantly going up and down as Gerry played with the switch!
Love this picture - particularly cos he is now starting to look more like me!
We also took a ride on the Autopia car. Quite good fun. The ride itself is an electric car for which you control the gas and the steering. In the middle of the road is a barrier which prevents you from going too far astray. Nevertheless, it was a good opportunity to let Gerry pretend to drive a car.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Minibonds
And the minibonds saga in Hong Kong takes another twist as Legco voted to invoke special powers to investigate the Lehman Brothers minibonds saga. If you don't know what the minibonds saga is, then you can probably forgo the rest of this post. Or you could search for it on google - up to you, ya know?
Looking around at other blogs, I think this Singaporean dude sums up my view the best. I basically agree with most of what he says (isn't it great when I can point you to other people who share my view but are much more eloquent than I - saves me so much work!!). The one thing where I don't fully agree is with regard to the uncles and aunties.
On some level, I can kinda sympathise with all the uncles and aunties who bought minibonds and lost all their savings. Regardless of their own culpability, its tough to suddenly have little or no money (esp considering the current economic climate). But throughout this whole sordid affair, one question keeps popping up in my mind - how much responsibility should these uncles and aunties bear for investing in minibonds?
The papers are full of sob stories from illiterate uncles and aunties who lost their life savings. If they were illiterate, why on Earth were they investing in the first place? I mean, its not like they had any chance of really understanding what they were investing in (and heaven forbid we actually expect people to understand what they are spending their life savings on!!).
But here's the thing. Part of the reason they don't understand what they are buying is because they have no interest in understanding (in essence, I think the willful ignorance argument applies equally to them). All they are worried about is missing out on an easy opportunity to make money. A lot of HK people (and I include the uncles and aunties in this) are terrified of missing the boat. So instead of evaluating what they want and what they should do, they just assume that if someone else bought it, it must be a good thing.
"This complete stranger I met during lunch bought some minibonds. It must be a really good investment! Lets cash in as well. Wait! If we put all our life savings into minibonds then we can earn an even bigger return and be even richer. Hoorah!!"
Another cause for consolation is the fraud angle. Were the mini-bonds misrepresented by unscrupulous salesmen? I'm sure that in many cases, they were. Of course, we don't know the extent to which they were mis-sold - was it fraud or just the usual hyperbole of salesmen? Obviously, if it was fraud, then the usual legal recourse should apply.
However, the point is that, as an investor, you really need to understand what you are investing in regardless of your age and literacy. And if you don't understand the product (perfectly understandable considering the complexity of modern financial products), then you really shouldn't be investing in that product at all.
Let me repeat that - if you don't understand the product, you shouldn't be investing in that product at all.
Looking around at other blogs, I think this Singaporean dude sums up my view the best. I basically agree with most of what he says (isn't it great when I can point you to other people who share my view but are much more eloquent than I - saves me so much work!!). The one thing where I don't fully agree is with regard to the uncles and aunties.
On some level, I can kinda sympathise with all the uncles and aunties who bought minibonds and lost all their savings. Regardless of their own culpability, its tough to suddenly have little or no money (esp considering the current economic climate). But throughout this whole sordid affair, one question keeps popping up in my mind - how much responsibility should these uncles and aunties bear for investing in minibonds?
The papers are full of sob stories from illiterate uncles and aunties who lost their life savings. If they were illiterate, why on Earth were they investing in the first place? I mean, its not like they had any chance of really understanding what they were investing in (and heaven forbid we actually expect people to understand what they are spending their life savings on!!).
But here's the thing. Part of the reason they don't understand what they are buying is because they have no interest in understanding (in essence, I think the willful ignorance argument applies equally to them). All they are worried about is missing out on an easy opportunity to make money. A lot of HK people (and I include the uncles and aunties in this) are terrified of missing the boat. So instead of evaluating what they want and what they should do, they just assume that if someone else bought it, it must be a good thing.
"This complete stranger I met during lunch bought some minibonds. It must be a really good investment! Lets cash in as well. Wait! If we put all our life savings into minibonds then we can earn an even bigger return and be even richer. Hoorah!!"
Another cause for consolation is the fraud angle. Were the mini-bonds misrepresented by unscrupulous salesmen? I'm sure that in many cases, they were. Of course, we don't know the extent to which they were mis-sold - was it fraud or just the usual hyperbole of salesmen? Obviously, if it was fraud, then the usual legal recourse should apply.
However, the point is that, as an investor, you really need to understand what you are investing in regardless of your age and literacy. And if you don't understand the product (perfectly understandable considering the complexity of modern financial products), then you really shouldn't be investing in that product at all.
Let me repeat that - if you don't understand the product, you shouldn't be investing in that product at all.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Prop 8 sucks
Another post about the foibles of the US of A (Why am I spending so much time on US websites if I constantly pour derision on them? Because I can't read Chinese which kinda limits me to UK and US websites!).
Proposition 8 is a controversial issue for which you can find more details here (wikipedia - the font of all knowledge!). As usual, summary below.
In California, the supreme court previously had a decision that recognised same-sex marriages as being a fundamental right. This was a fantastic decision for which the judges deserve full praise. Subsequent to this, lots of gay people have tied the knot in California (the most prominent being George Takei - also known as Captain Sulu of Star Trek fame). Although I never blogged about it, this was one of the rare things for which I felt the Americans could be truly proud (the other being the fact that they elected a Black president!!).
Unfortunately, the course of US politics is never easy. Subsequent to the court ruling, Prop 8 was introduced which would add to the consitution the line "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California". In other words, they would get around the precedent court case by changing the law itself.
Prop 8 was passed by a majority vote of 52.5%.
Obviously, those in support of prop 8 have various reasons (excuses?) to support it. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any definitive source with all the reasons in support (the official line, albeit brief, seems to be available at this site) but the best way to find out is to run a search for proposition 8 using Google's blog search and read about the various reasons people have posted for supporting prop 8 (you can also read all the blogs posts opposing prop 8 at the same time).
I don't really want to cover all the various points in this blog post as it would make the post too long. To be honest, there are plenty of other blog posts with similar views to my own and which make a case to oppose prop 8 much more eloquently than I could (and yes, I think its shameful that the black community, which voted 70% in favour of prop 8, is being targeted for racial abuse as a result of this).
Personally, after having read several blogs in support of prop 8, I can't help but come to one conclusion - Bullshit. Regardless of how you cut the cake or how you justify the decision, the end result is always the same - voting for prop 8 is a vote for non-equality.
Proposition 8 is a controversial issue for which you can find more details here (wikipedia - the font of all knowledge!). As usual, summary below.
In California, the supreme court previously had a decision that recognised same-sex marriages as being a fundamental right. This was a fantastic decision for which the judges deserve full praise. Subsequent to this, lots of gay people have tied the knot in California (the most prominent being George Takei - also known as Captain Sulu of Star Trek fame). Although I never blogged about it, this was one of the rare things for which I felt the Americans could be truly proud (the other being the fact that they elected a Black president!!).
Unfortunately, the course of US politics is never easy. Subsequent to the court ruling, Prop 8 was introduced which would add to the consitution the line "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California". In other words, they would get around the precedent court case by changing the law itself.
Prop 8 was passed by a majority vote of 52.5%.
Obviously, those in support of prop 8 have various reasons (excuses?) to support it. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any definitive source with all the reasons in support (the official line, albeit brief, seems to be available at this site) but the best way to find out is to run a search for proposition 8 using Google's blog search and read about the various reasons people have posted for supporting prop 8 (you can also read all the blogs posts opposing prop 8 at the same time).
I don't really want to cover all the various points in this blog post as it would make the post too long. To be honest, there are plenty of other blog posts with similar views to my own and which make a case to oppose prop 8 much more eloquently than I could (and yes, I think its shameful that the black community, which voted 70% in favour of prop 8, is being targeted for racial abuse as a result of this).
Personally, after having read several blogs in support of prop 8, I can't help but come to one conclusion - Bullshit. Regardless of how you cut the cake or how you justify the decision, the end result is always the same - voting for prop 8 is a vote for non-equality.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Obama - A New Hope
Well, as expected, Obama won the election. I've mentioned before that I'm anti-McCain so obviously, I think this is a good thing.
In celebration of this moment, I would just like to send my congratulations to Mr. Obama and share this wonderful campaign video with you.
In celebration of this moment, I would just like to send my congratulations to Mr. Obama and share this wonderful campaign video with you.
Monday, November 3, 2008
How not to translate road signs
I'm back!!
After a brief hiatus from blogging, due to various reasons which I'll go into in a later post (maybe), I am now back in business.
However, after such a long gap, lets start with something simple to get me rolling. And what could be more simpler than a link to someone elses work!
The story speaks for itself really.
:)
via: boingboing.net
After a brief hiatus from blogging, due to various reasons which I'll go into in a later post (maybe), I am now back in business.
However, after such a long gap, lets start with something simple to get me rolling. And what could be more simpler than a link to someone elses work!
The story speaks for itself really.
:)
via: boingboing.net
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