GZ Expat, Part II

Happy May Day

It's a sunny May Day morning here in GZ.  I've been busy setting up the new laptop we purchased and a colleague hand carried back from Oregon for us.  Again...I've covered this...but, electronics are cheaper in the USA than here...across the board.

The laptop is an HP DV6000.  So far, so good.  But, it came with Vista.  And, thus far, I am not impressed.  I guess Microsoft is trying as hard as they can to get people to buy Mac's.  The system is fast...but, holy crap, there are so many more restrictions on what you can and cannot do.  Here is the short list...

1. Hotmail (Microsoft's OWN online email system) does not work with Vista.  They do not allow 3rd party programs to access the account.  I like to use Thunderbird...but no go.  The only way to access the email account is online...and none of our addresses are online.
   
   1. UPDATE:  I upgraded my Hotmail account to this new Windows Live Mail...looks great online, but you cannot do a think with it offline.  Once I switched it, it stopped working with Thunderbird on our XP computers as well. 
      
      1. Update...again.  Cancelled the Windows Live Mail and gave them a piece of my mind too.  Once I cancelled it...the old Hotmail worked with Thunderbird again.
2. Music...I purchased a load of music through Microsofts old music provider; MSN Music.  They have since dumped that in favor of Zune.  I copied over a load of music I had on disc...fired up WMP and then tried to find the licenses for the music I already own.  I got an error message...'the website you are attempting to view is no longer available.'  Thanks guys...  Still trying to see if they download...not sure how long it takes. 
   1. UPDATE:  After spending about and hour trying to figure this out, I sent an email to MS Support and immediately received an email back requesting I get on the chat and try and fix the problem.  One hour later, the problem was semi-resolved.  Most of my music was back, but not all of it. 
      
      1. I've got to think I am not the only one who has had this problem as the fix seemed rather routine and the knew exactly what to do to get me out of the problem.  Gotta love DRM, eh?  How much money do the record companies spend to defend it...and how much do software companies spend to repair it?  You'd think they would all realize the waste of it all.
3. Zipped files...I tried to unzip a couple of old files to load on to the machine and kept getting windows messages that said 'the file potentially has a virus.'  Not that it does or did (I scanned with Norton)...but it potentially had one.  Ahem.
4. Built in camera...Vista says it is being used by another program (doesn't tell me WHICH program, so it won't work with MSN Messenger at the moment.  UPDATE:  Figured this out...

I've just gotten Firefox set up and most of the other files loaded on.  I still haven't discovered nearly everything I can with it.  One thing I can say nicely about Vista is smoother running...and programs do come up a bit faster.  But, do you think that has anything to do with the 2gig of RAM or the Intel Core Duo  T5500 processor?  Maybe?  Ya Think?

And to show you what a masochist I am...I am trying to figure out all these computer issues AND watch Game 3 at the same time.  What was Luongo thinking on that clearout move in the first?

links for 2007-05-01

• Filler in animal feed is open secret in China - International Herald Tribune
  For years, producers of animal feed all over China have secretly supplemented their feed with the substance, called melamine, a cheap additive that looks like protein in tests, even though it does not provide any nutritional benefits, according to melamin
  (tags: china food health)
• China in Transition: Cartoon Channel Cancellation Received Mixed Reactions
  The parents complained that their children spent too much time, including sleep and homework hours, watching the cartoon channel, a subsidiary of Hunan Satellite TV and available in about a dozen Chinese cities.
  (tags: china television)
• Michael Yon : Online Magazine » Blog Archive » Desires of the Human Heart, Part II
  There were many family members around, and though the men were happy to see us, they seemed skeptical that we are going to stay, voicing concerns that our soldiers have come there before, but not stuck around. (GZE2 - Great photo blog...)
  (tags: iraq waronterror blogs)
• Michael J. Totten: The View from the North
  Colonel Salahdin spoke to us about his experience as an anti-Baathist guerilla fighter during Saddam Hussein’s genocidal Anfal Campaign – when 200,000 people were killed and more than 5,000 villages were destroyed.
  (tags: iraq waronterror blogs)
• Atlas Shrugs: CONFESSIONS OF A SANDMONKEYSANDMONKEY TALKS TO ATLAS
  Any kind of democratic reform in the country [Egypt] for the past 3 years has been rolled back specifically because there is no more pressure coming from Washington anymore.
  (tags: blogs egypt)
• Slogans with Chinese characteristics
  武装抗税是非法行为。 Armed resistance to taxation is illegal.
  (tags: china propoganda)
• Channelnewsasia.com: China is Biggest Expionage Threat To Canada
  China ranked at the top of its list of more than a dozen countries believed to be spying on Canada (GZE2 - Not only Canada...)
  (tags: canada china politics)
• Scotsman.com Sport - Motorsport - Formula One - Mansell cites luck and Mercedes for rise of Hamilton
  "Lewis has lucked into a fabulous car," Mansell told website www.sportasylum.com. "Mercedes must be very relieved they have a competitive car this year. McLaren is a fantastic race team that has many, many championship wins with great drivers. "What Lewis
  (tags: cars formula1)

links for 2007-04-30

• Captain's Quarters: Good News In Anbar
  Anbar Province, long the lawless heartland of the tenacious Sunni Arab resistance, is undergoing a surprising transformation. Violence is ebbing in many areas, shops and schools are reopening, police forces are growing and the insurgency appears to be in
  (tags: waronterror iraq)

Game 3...ughghgh

These early mornings in uncomfortable chairs is starting to take its toll on me...and the Canucks too.  I broke all the superstitious rituals I started on Saturday morning...no beer...no stogies...no patio listening.  It's a workday, what can I say.

Canucks drop a thriller game three to the Ducks...here's hoping for a better Wednesday morning!!

POST GAME NEWS CONFERENCE:

Reporter:  Can you give us an update on Rory Fitzpatrick?

Vigneault:  He's not feeling well.

The media need to realize that the injury situation for the Canucks...'it is, what it is.'

links for 2007-04-29

• Canucks even series against Ducks in 2nd OT
  Cowan's marker at 7:49 of double overtime on Friday lifted the visiting Vancouver Canucks to a 2-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks, and tied their NHL Western Conference semifinal at a game each.
  (tags: canucks)
• EastSouthWestNorth: China Top Brand and Nazi SS Logos
  On April 24, the magazine's Hong Kong correspondent Austin Rarmzy posted an essay at The China Blog about how he thought that the logo for "China Top Brand" resembled that of the Nazi Waffen-SS troops.
  (tags: chinaeconomy business china)
• lgf: Big Fish Was 7/7 Mastermind
  Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, a former major in Saddam Hussein’s army, was apprehended as he tried to enter Iraq from Iran and was transferred this week to the “high-value detainee programme” at Guantanamo Bay.
  (tags: waronterror iraq uk)
• Is China's love compass pointing south? [angrychineseblogger.blog-city.com]
  According to figures presented to a reproductive health symposium in Hangzhou earlier this month, fertility levels in China have declines alarmingly over the last few decades, leading to 1 in 10 Chinese couples now being affected by infertility.
  (tags: china)
• Michael J. Totten: Sandmonkey Shut Down
  Hosni Mubarak's Egyptian police state is supposedly "moderate," and allegedly an American ally.
  (tags: blogs egypt)
• Tech.view | Criminalising the consumer | Economist.com
  Belatedly, music executives have come to realise that DRM simply doesn’t work. It is supposed to stop unauthorised copying, but no copy-protection system has yet been devised that cannot be easily defeated. All it does is make life difficult for paying
  (tags: tech music copyright)

Rantings of a Sandmonkey: Done

Another great voice is being silenced by the intimidation of its own government...

Today is going to be the day that I've been dreading for quite sometime now. Today is the day I walk away from this blog. Done. Finished.

Read the entire post.  It is sad to say goodbye to a great blogger.  And to say goodbye to a blogger because he feels threatened is even worse...I'd rather say goodbye to a blogger because they are bored.

Take Care, Sandmonkey...

Changing the Luck

I'm trying to change up the luck.  Messing with the routine to try and spur the Canucks to victory.   Superstitious?  M'eh...not really.  But, you gotta do what you gotta do.

1. Listening to the game on the patio...outside.  Change of scenery.
2. Opened a beer.  Yeah, its only 10:30am...but, I needed to try something different.  And, I figured connecting with my Canuck fan brethren worldwide with a cold one was in order...

Go Canucks!!

UPDATE:  Two beers and one stogie later...we are 1-1 in OT.  Go Canucks (again)!!

UPDATE II:  Another beer and stogie...and its still 1-1 after one OT.  Time to take off my shorts and put them on my head.

UPDATE III:  The Bra-barian!!!  Get your bra's off...Jeff Cowan scores the game winner!!!!  Tai-Tai has thrown hers over my head!!!  WOOOO!!

links for 2007-04-28

• Arrest warrant for Gere issued over public kiss - International Herald Tribune
  Gere's embrace and kiss of actress Shilpa Shetty sparked several noisy demonstrations by hard-line Hindu groups and a flurry of legal complaints, which ended with a judge in the northwestern city of Jaipur issuing an arrest warrant for the two stars for v
  (tags: india news)
• Olympics: Taiwan rejects Beijing's torch relay plan - International Herald Tribune
  Taiwan said the torch should go on to another country rather than Chinese territory.
  (tags: taiwan china olympics)
• Boing Boing: The Rats of Spring: "Evil Hamsters," a child's poem
  (tags: humor)
• Pub Philosopher: Now that's what I call prison
  Perhaps Japan locks up fewer people then the UK because most would-be criminals are shit-scared of going to prison.
  (tags: japan asia)

The Guinness Shamrock

I've downed many a Guinness in my time.  Always served best draught in a pub, I've always wondered about the shamrock that appears on the head of some pints I have ordered.

During my recent trip into Hong Kong to have my eye gouged out, I convalesced in the local Irish pub with a pint of Kilkenny (figured the Guinness would be too strong for the eye at that time).  I bellied up to the bar, which I usually don't do because I have the family with me.  So, I had the treat of chatting with the bartender a little and watching what they do behind the bar. 

In GZ at the local pub, sometimes we are treated to a small shamrock in the head of the pint.  Cute...and a decent selling point to a moronic foreigner like me.  I always thought it was done with a mold...you know...a sort of cookie cutter thing that they just set on top of the pint prior to serving it.  Well, how wrong could one be!  As I sat at the bar, I watched as the tender drew the three leaved clover into the head with the final pour (by moving the glass in the shape of the clover as the beer poured).  Damn...and I thought I new everything there was to know about serving a pint of Guinness

After a little research, I find that the practice is somewhat well known...and not particularly loved by the people that love Guinness the most.  Because, quite frankly, the logo for Guinness is a harp and not a shamrock.  But, its a bit more difficult to draw a harp than a clover leaf.

links for 2007-04-27

• In Hong Kong, no looking back at Britain - International Herald Tribune
  But while Prince Charles came for the return of Hong Kong in 1997, the Chinese government has pointedly not invited leaders from Britain or any other country to attend the 10th anniversary celebrations. President Hu Jintao of China is expected to preside
  (tags: uk hongkong china)
• ThreatsWatch.Org: RapidRecon: Liebermann Jolts Senate Debate On Iraq
  And yet, now, just as President Bush has come around—just as he has recognized the mistakes his administration has made, and the need to focus on basic security in Iraq, and to install a new secretary of defense and a new commander in Iraq—now his cri
  (tags: waronterror iraq politics bush)