Just got back from a 10-day business trip to Taiwan and Korea. Besides work, it was a chance to meet up with NK in Taipei, who had just moved to there... (Hey N, funny, how it was easier to find time to meet up in Taiwan than it was in Vancouver!!) At the end of the work week, I went down to Hsin Chiu with L&S, to meet up with KK. We then headed down south to Kenting. KK's got a great little summary of our travels on his blog, so i'll spare all the details. All i can say is that besides the fact that I got s--t on by a bird, and having to watch a guy on a train throw up his dinner on the floor -- we all had a blast. From the 3hr uphill ride on bikes along the coastal road, the 40min ride DOWN the coastal road, standing mere inches away from the edge of sheer rock cliffs, nearly being blown away by gusting winds from an approacing typhoon, frolicking on the beach, and to strolling the streets of Kenting at night....it was a most memorable weekend. Southern Taiwan has got some amazing scenary. If Taiwan could only spend a little more to make the place more tourist friendly by putting more multi-lingual signs and maps, they could make a killing with overseas tourists. Then again....it might be better to keep the place a bit of a secret...
I also stopped in Seoul, South Korea to visit customers, and managed to find some time to see the sights in and around Seoul. The Koreans really like their palaces... here are some pics:
18 October 2004
16 September 2004
Farenhype 9/11
Time for a political rant...
For all its factual shortcomings, I found Farenheit 9/11 to be a brilliant piece of film-making in that Michael Moore took his opinion by the horns and turned it into an entertaining and persuasive form of info-tainment. Yah, he's a little extreme, but why can't his critics see that he's doing that on purpose!!! Good films take viewers to an extreme...sometimes stretching the truth. Moore's not the first one to do that!! Moore must be laughing in his pants (all the way to the bank). He must love it when the ultra-conservative types go out in the media and trash his film. Why? Cuz more people talk about, and more people want to go see it. Geez...if the right-wingers are trying to keep people from watching this film, they're doing quite the opposite.
To the credit of the right-wing, Bush fans of the world, they're fighting back. Farenhype 9/11, Dave Kopel, this blog and site, are all attempts to disprove Moore's film. Wow...freedom of speech at its best. Gotta love America, eh?
On another note, the 10-year assault weapons ban in the US is about to expire. Many say it didn't have much effect cuz it had loopholes that let gun manufacturers just change the name of the gun or make cosmetic changes so that a weapon didn't fit the "assault" category. At the very least the ban could have been reinstated to close the loopholes. The opponents of the weapons ban, always cite the 2nd amendment -- the right to bear arms. But somehow, i think that the founding fathers 200+ years ago didn't have AK-47 and machine guns in their minds when they came up with it.
For all its factual shortcomings, I found Farenheit 9/11 to be a brilliant piece of film-making in that Michael Moore took his opinion by the horns and turned it into an entertaining and persuasive form of info-tainment. Yah, he's a little extreme, but why can't his critics see that he's doing that on purpose!!! Good films take viewers to an extreme...sometimes stretching the truth. Moore's not the first one to do that!! Moore must be laughing in his pants (all the way to the bank). He must love it when the ultra-conservative types go out in the media and trash his film. Why? Cuz more people talk about, and more people want to go see it. Geez...if the right-wingers are trying to keep people from watching this film, they're doing quite the opposite.
To the credit of the right-wing, Bush fans of the world, they're fighting back. Farenhype 9/11, Dave Kopel, this blog and site, are all attempts to disprove Moore's film. Wow...freedom of speech at its best. Gotta love America, eh?
On another note, the 10-year assault weapons ban in the US is about to expire. Many say it didn't have much effect cuz it had loopholes that let gun manufacturers just change the name of the gun or make cosmetic changes so that a weapon didn't fit the "assault" category. At the very least the ban could have been reinstated to close the loopholes. The opponents of the weapons ban, always cite the 2nd amendment -- the right to bear arms. But somehow, i think that the founding fathers 200+ years ago didn't have AK-47 and machine guns in their minds when they came up with it.
10 September 2004
Thoughts on a dreary, wet, grey friday
Argghh..i hate software debugging. I've spent the last week working on a problem, and have made very little progress. It doesn't help when the core software your application is built on is a beta version (read 'buggy!'). I get so frustrated because the debugging tools are not visual. I need to see little icons showing my different tasks, and how everything is connected. I'm a visual person, dammit!! ;-)
I guess the highlight of the week is that my boss moved to a different department, and now i'm offically reporting to a VP now. Can that be considered a promotion? I'm moving up in the corporate ladder! hahaha. not.
Caught the first episode of the Apprentice last night...its about the only 'intelligent reality show I'll watch, other than Survivor. The characters seem pretty entertaining....and I think putting the crew to work at the big corporations could be interesting--lots of free labour for them, i suppose. I still can't believe the guys team came up with that Crustacean Nation toy for Toys-R-Us.
Alright...time to get the Banana bread out of the oven.
I guess the highlight of the week is that my boss moved to a different department, and now i'm offically reporting to a VP now. Can that be considered a promotion? I'm moving up in the corporate ladder! hahaha. not.
Caught the first episode of the Apprentice last night...its about the only 'intelligent reality show I'll watch, other than Survivor. The characters seem pretty entertaining....and I think putting the crew to work at the big corporations could be interesting--lots of free labour for them, i suppose. I still can't believe the guys team came up with that Crustacean Nation toy for Toys-R-Us.
Alright...time to get the Banana bread out of the oven.
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