Hong Kong – Amazing Race/Place

Since coming back from a recent Hong Kong trip, it was fun to watch a little bit of the Hong Kong leg of The Amazing Race last night. Will write more about Hong Kong later.

Kazuhiro Soda’s PEACE won audience award at Tokyo Filmex

I am happy to report Kazuhiro Soda’s PEACE won the audience award at Tokyo Filmex. Here is a link to my review of documentary PEACE plus interview with director Kazuhiro Soda.

Video interview with Michael Lau (劉米高) Happy Crazy X’mas – Time Square 2010

Attended the wonderful 10th anniversary of Hong Kong local artist Michael Lau (劉米高) at Time Square. Here is my video interview with Michael. I hope you enjoy it as much as I in talking with Michael. (More photos here.)

Here is a video clip of the exhibit in motion.

P.S. Check out a video clip of HK singer/actress Gigi Leung (梁詠琪) at the opening.

Gigi Leung (梁詠琪) @ Michael Lau (劉米高) Happy Crazy Xmas – Time Square 2010

Attended the wonderful 10th anniversary of Hong Kong local artist Michael Lau (劉米高) at Time Square. Click here to see my video interview of Michael to talk about his art.

In the mean time here is a video clip of HK singer/actress Gigi Leung (梁詠琪) at the opening.

P.S. “Forward, Left, Right” – 前D，左，右 …

Best of the worst vanity plates

Photo Gallery: Best of the worst vanity plates – Some are groaners and some fall into the “too much information” category. Some make us laugh in spite of ourselves. We round up the best of the worst vanity plates… Nov 15, 2010 Calgary Herald

P.S. I think good vanity plates can be creative, expressive and sometimes cute. I use my vanity plates for branding purpose. I hope mine won’t qualify in the group of worst vanity plates. :)

P.P.S. In the above list, I think “WAS HIS” and “NRDYGRL” were kinda cute.

Aung San Suu Kyi

I am happy to see Aung San Suu Kyi was freed and able to talk to her supporters. Excerpt from CBC News,

“Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, speaking to supporters a day after she was released from years of house arrest, said she will continue to fight for human rights and the rule of law in military-ruled Burma.

[...] “If we want to get what we want, we have to do it in the right way; otherwise we will not achieve our goal, however noble or correct it may be,” she said.

Suu Kyi spent 15 of the past 21 years in detention without trial because of her opposition to military rule. She was allowed to leave her lakeside residence Saturday after a term lasting 7½ years.

She insisted she felt “no antagonism” toward those who kept her under house arrest and that she was “well treated.”

But she called on the military junta that has ruled Burma for 48 years to “treat the people well also.” Suu Kyi said the “basis of democratic freedom is freedom of speech” and urged supporters to “stand up for what is right.”

She ended her speech by saying one woman’s expression is not democracy. “We must walk together,” she told the crowd.”

From Toronto Star, for the record,

“She was steely, charming and wise.

On her first full day of freedom in more than seven years, democratic icon Aung Sang Suu Kyi made clear she was ready to resume the struggle for democracy inside Burma, but — she added skillfully — she was also ready for reconciliation and dialogue.

It was a clear sign that the charismatic leader, released on the weekend, is well aware of the fine line she’ll have to tread if she wants to keep the generals at bay and continue the fight for a democratic Burma.

Speaking to thousands of cheering supporters outside her party headquarters Sunday — and to reporters later at a news conference — Suu Kyi demonstrated beyond any doubt that she is back in the fray.

“I am for national reconciliation. I am for dialogue. Whatever authority I have, I will use it to that end,” she said. “I hope the people will support me.””

From the Nov 15th Globe and Mail editorial, for the record,

“The release of Ms. Suu Kyi from house arrest, under detention for 15 of the last 21 years, is more significant. She is by no means “free” – the military will still look for any legal means to silence and marginalize her. But her influence, as shown by the thousands gathered outside her house to greet her, is still great. if she proceeds judiciously, she may yet be able to use her popularity and authority to push for further relaxation of military rule.

Interested in fostering greater links with neighbouring China and India, the ruling junta doesn’t want Myanmar to be seen as a pariah state, even if it doesn’t want to give up its power either. The government embarked on a round of massive privatization earlier this year, selling assets such as gold mines and hydroelectric resources to various generals, a move which created internal commercial rivals, and could weaken those in power in the long run.

The opposition should ready itself to take advantage of any emerging internal divisions – as well as any overtures for reform, however weak.”

Robert Louis Stevenson 160th Birthday – Treasure Island FlyingWord iPad app

Thanks to Google, we learned that today is the 160th birthday of Robert Louis Stevenson.

Well, as it happened, a few days ago, I posted my FlyingWord Treasure Island iPad app review and my interview with Joe Weber FlyingWord CEO about their Treasure Island iPad app. Check them out.

Nov 15 Update: Here is a link to the Treasure Island app on iTune.

Remembering

Today, I am remembering Nichola Goddard, Andy Eykelenboom, and all those who sacrificed & those who are still sacrificing for our freedoms & way of life. I am also remembering Calgary Herald reporter Michelle Lang.

- Canada’s war dead honoured, CBC News

Ai Weiwei, 100 million sunflower seeds, house arrest

Ai Weiwei

I first learned about Ai Weiwei when I saw him worked on the Bird’s Nest project.

Sunflower Seeds – 100 million sunflower seeds

And I am totally amazed by Ai Weiwei’s 100 million Sunflower Seeds at Tate and would love to see it. (Flickr photos here, here, here, here, and the warning) Here is an excerpt from Guardian (emphasis added),

It turns out that each seed is in fact a unique porcelain replica, hand-painted in Jingdezhen and fired at 1,300 degrees. Some 1,600 artisans worked for two years to make 100 million husks with a combined weight of 150 tonnes: a mass project, its collective spirit now abroad in London. The imagination runs fast from millions of tiny painted sculptures to thoughts of dismally repetitive labour.

Ai Weiwei chose sunflower seeds because they were a source of food and comfort during the famines under Mao; Jingdezhen was the porcelain capital of Imperial China; 100 million is five times the population of Beijing. Individual and mass, mass production and craftsmanship, eastern food, western consumption: associations inevitably form, but they are not – for me, at least – occasioned by the work itself.

There is the art; there are the facts; they converge in the artist’s eloquent statements, available in many different forms on the web (tate.org.uk/go/aww). But no matter how crucial the political context, I am glad I experienced the poetry of Sunflower Seeds first, with all its subtle nuances, before the wall-texts with their crushing insistence on statistics. Art – particularly this art, so open to all interpretations – cannot be read like data.

Ai Weiwei: Sunflower seeds – Created by Tate (highly recommended)

Check out the many videos of vistors’ questions and videos answered by Ai Weiwei.

I love these questions:

- Do you think one individual has enough power to change and make revolution?

- Will work like Sunflower Seeds be exhibited in your life time?

And questions here, here, here, here, and here. Addressing the prohibition of walking on the seeds. We might even be able to buy some seeds (don’t know how yet).

Ai Weiwei House Arrest

- Chinese artist Ai Weiwei under house arrest – Activist barred from attending razing of his new Shanghai studio, CBC News

- Supporters party for artist Ai Weiwei – Hundreds gather at Shanghai studio before demolition, CBC News

- Ai Weiwei supporters gather for party at condemned studio – China artist Ai Weiwei refuses to cancel party despite being under house arrest 650 miles away in Beijing

Dec 7, 2010 Update: The following is a BBC Chinese news report posted Oct 14, 2010

Ai Weiwei: Sunflower Seeds – Tate documentary

I love the Tate documentary of Ai Weiwei: Sunflower seeds. Good art and good documentary make you think, make you question, and make you want to understand more.

I am a sentimental man at times and I got a bit emotional watching the Tate documentary, thinking about the plight of people living/working in Jingdezhen (景德鎮), Chinese people in general, and the Chinese political and economics systems.

See “Ai Weiwei, 100 million sunflower seeds, house arrest” for more.

More stills from documentary.

Joe Weber FlyingWord CEO interview – “Treasure Island” iPad app

The following are video clips of my Skype video interview with Joe Weber, CEO and co-founder of FlyingWord, to talk about their Treasure Island iPad app based on the classic Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. (beautifully narrated for about 7 hours)

Also check out my FlyingWord “Treasure Island” iPad app review.

Here are part 1 of my interview with Joe.

Part 2

Part 3

Here is a promotional clip of FlyingWord’s Treasure Island,

iPad app review: FlyingWord’s “Treasure Island”

The following is a review of the pre-release version of FlyingWord Treasure Island iPad app. And I will post my video interview with Joe Weber, CEO and co-founder of FlyingWord, later.

***

Apple iPad app: “Treasure Island” by FlyingWord based on the classic Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Price: $7.99

Launch date: Nov 13, 2010

Promotional clip of FlyingWord’s Treasure Island

Star Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Pros

- Lively and very engaging narration of the original full-length classic Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. (beautifully narrated for about 7 hours)

- Excellent music and sound effects at the right places.

- Historical original Treasure Island illustrations by N. C. Wyeth and Walter Paget.

- Nicely rendered 2D illustrations into “3D projections”, camera angle controllable by readers. [Note: the 3D here is not real Avatar 3D, but closer to what Ken Burns does with his "layers" of photos in a scene.]

- Some of the pages have objects for readers to play with. For sure to check out the cannon. (These objects have “physics engines” behind them to allow users to move them around.)

Cons

- The initial version of the app has a few bugs that I’ve reported to FlyingWord.

-The app has problems waking up from “sleep” or “auto-lock” modes. Narration fails to restart gracefully. In a few instances, waking up after sleep actually tripped the narration and it got stuck in repeating a word/sound.

- If the reader flip to a page where part of the text in the paragraph is in the previous page, the narration will read from the text in the previous page. This result can be very confusing for the readers as they may not know this is the “expected behaviour”. To me, readers may expect when flipping to a new page, the narration will match the text she/he reads on the page.

- Many of the objects are a bit too small and difficult to control.
+ e.g. in the breakfast scene (bottle is ok, but the egg, plate, and sword are difficult to manipulate)
+ in the scene with the apple barrel, the barrel can be easily moved but the apples are not controllable even though the readers will likely spend time to try to move it. It may be more enjoyable if the apples are made bigger and controllable by readers like the barrel.

- This one is technical. Currently, the space outside of the edges of the 2D to 3D projections are blank (set to black space). I think it will look nicer and gives a more immersive experience if the whole background are filled and readers won’t see black space around the edges of the original 2D frames.

Comments:

As discussed in the Pros section, the narration is lively and very engaging and I really love it. At the same time, the app may have been a bit ambitious in using the full-length original Treasure Island in its launch version. The good news is that an abridged free update will be released in a few weeks after the initial launch. To me, the abridged version with shorter audio (~1.5 hour long) and text will be a nicer fit for kids who will appreciate the physics engines games and 2D-to-3D effects more.

To write this review, I also found and checked out a LibriVox free audio book version of Treasure Island on the app store and it has the original text and the audio is reasonably good but definitely not as exciting/engaging as FlyingWord‘s version.

Coming Soon

FlyingWord‘s next book is ‘Twas the night before Christmas (tentative price: about $4.99).

Magic Moment

The following photos were taken few days ago during the magic hour (in particular, the magic moment 08:16). The photos reminds me of the show “24” where every season it had an episode shot during the beautiful magic hour.

Alberta Liberal Party – What’s the Soviet-style difference?

Many people love the game “What’s the difference? HD” on iPad where you are presented with two very similar but different photos and you score points by finding the differences.

In real life, I consider  doctoring of public photos a serious lack of judgement (or put it bluntly, a serious mistake). Someone in the Alberta Liberal Party needs to explain and apologize immediately for the photo doctoring pointed out by Don Braid’s “Dave Taylor Vanishes, Soviet-style“.

The Alberta government needs its opposition parties working hard to hold the government accountable. It saddens me to see mistake like this distracting focus from more important issues.

On a personal note, I take doctoring of photos seriously, especially since reading about the 2006 Reuters Beirut doctored photos incident (BBC, Wikipedia).

P.S. Whether Alberta Liberal Party leader David Swann knows about this photo doctoring or not, David is the leader and need to get this mistake fixed asap (removing the doctored photo immediately and replace with a new photo when ready).

P.P.S. Personally, I like David Swann and think he is an honest good man. But I think Don Braid is a fair man and makes a good point so I am unwilling and unable to let this lapse in judgment goes by.

Congrats Brett Wilson and Paul Fedak (Calgary’s Top 10 New Mavericks & Top 40 under 40)

Congrats to Brett and Paul!

- W. Brett Wilson, Calgary’s Top 10 New Mavericks. Here is an excerpt,

“It’s resulted in Wilson, a father of three, being one of the driving forces behind Brandaid, an initiative supporting microbusinesses in the developing world.

The group, which includes Oscar-winning filmmaker Paul Haggis, was involved in a recent initiative that saw Macy’s department store contract out work to 200 Haitian artisans to create unique artworks for sale at 25 U.S. Macy’s stores, creating full-time jobs in a country ravaged by the 2009 earthquake.

Wilson has also visited Afghanistan, where he recently went into business with a woman who pitched him an idea on the CBC show Dragon’s Den.

“I made a deal with a woman who is bringing orange blossom oil out of Afghanistan, turning that into perfume,” he says. “Our current byline is Perfume, Not Poppies.”"

- Dr. Paul Fedak, Top 40 under 40. (with video) Here is an excerpt,

“Fedak performs 140 heart surgeries a year, has made 73 contributions to leading biomedical journals and is a well-known researcher pioneering cutting-edge techniques to treat a variety of heart problems. “I want to develop new therapies and translate that from the lab into real life,” he says.

One of Fedak’s most recent innovations is Kryptonite sternal-closure, a technique that uses a type of bone glue dubbed “Kryptonite” to close the breastbone after it has been opened to perform heart surgery. The previous procedure, which has been around for 40 to 50 years, uses metal wires like twist ties to bring the breastbone back together.”

[note: see my previous entries about Paul and Kryptonite] [HT Libin Institute]

Alice Schroeder, Warren Buffett’s Biographer, Simoleon Sense interview

The following are links and excerpts of a very insightful 6 part interview series of Alice Schroeder, author of Warren Buffett’s biography “The Snowball“, by Miguel Barbosa (Simoleon Sense). It is long, detailed and highly recommended. [HT Alice]

Simoleon Sense Interviews Warren Buffett’s Biographer, Alice Schroeder

- Part 1: The Forging of A Skeptic – From Accountant to Buffett’s Voice on Wall St. Here is an interesting excerpt,

Alice: [...] At the time my former boss and mentor, Denny Beresford, was Chairman of the FASB (Financial Accounting Standards Board, the standard-setter for U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). He knew I was considering leaving Ernst & Young and suggested that I come work for the FASB. I took that job thinking that it would be intellectually challenging, analytical, and involve plenty of speaking and writing.

At the FASB,I was assigned, essentially by being next in line as the most recent arrival there, to a dreaded project, which was to oversee the issuance of some of the most important new accounting regulations for U.S. insurers in 20 or so years.

Nobody on the staff wanted to work on these. The insurance industry had been fighting ferociously for more than a decade to keep them from getting passed, and with a lot of success. [...]

I got assigned to this project by chance, but I fell in love with the industry within a couple of weeks.

The main topic was SFAS 113, Accounting and Reporting for Reinsurance of Short-Duration and Long-Duration Contracts; I also went on to complete EITF 93-6, Accounting for Multiple-Year Retrospectively Rated Contracts; and, EITF 93-14, Accounting for Multiple-Year Retrospectively Rated Insurance Contracts by Insurance Enterprises and Other Enterprises.

Their titles are a mouthful, but essentially they all eliminate deceptive accounting practices in which reinsurance contracts were created specifically not to indemnify risk, but to shuffle or smooth earnings around from one accounting period to another – or artificially inflate an insurance company’s reported capital reserve one way or another.

If these rules passed, some companies and segments of the reinsurance industry would be losing their most profitable products, at least on a risk-adjusted basis. Conceptually, these deals were a very effective form of leveraging capital at very low, and even no, risk. They were very similar to the type of securitizations that got Enron in trouble. Not surprisingly, Wall Street also was starting to dabble in the business.

- Part 2: A Behind The Scenes Look At Wall St & Morgan Stanley. Here is an interesting excerpt,

Alice: [...] So what is it like to be an analyst…When I started at Oppie it was very free form. Analysts used their judgment. Over time, as I moved through the different firms, especially Morgan Stanley, more and more requirements arose. There were things you had to write every time you published on a company. The financial models became standardized. Like any other business, the more you standardize something, the more you stamp out creativity.

Jeff Skoll: Making movies that make change

It is nice to learn more about Jeff Skoll‘s Participant Productions. In the TED video ”Making movies that make change“, we hear Skoll talks about Participant.

Bernanke defends QE2 (Quantitative Easing 2)

For the record, in the words of Fed Chairman Bernanke.

What the Fed did and why: supporting the recovery and sustaining price stability (emphasis added)
By Ben S. Bernanke
Thursday, November 4, 2010;

Two years have passed since the worst financial crisis since the 1930s dealt a body blow to the world economy. Working with policymakers at home and abroad, the Federal Reserve responded with strong and creative measures to help stabilize the financial system and the economy. Among the Fed’s responses was a dramatic easing of monetary policy – reducing short-term interest rates nearly to zero. The Fed also purchased more than a trillion dollars’ worth of Treasury securities and U.S.-backed mortgage-related securities, which helped reduce longer-term interest rates, such as those for mortgages and corporate bonds. These steps helped end the economic free fall and set the stage for a resumption of economic growth in mid-2009.

Notwithstanding the progress that has been made, when the Fed’s monetary policymaking committee – the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) – met this week to review the economic situation, we could hardly be satisfied. The Federal Reserve’s objectives – its dual mandate, set by Congress – are to promote a high level of employment and low, stable inflation. Unfortunately, the job market remains quite weak; the national unemployment rate is nearly 10 percent, a large number of people can find only part-time work,

Richard Branson talks space tourism

Check out CBC Connect’s video of Richard Branson talks with CBC’s Mark Kelley about his latest venture, space tourism. Fun to watch. Highly recommended.

Here is a promotional clip from Virgin Galactic.

Virgin Galactic – Milestones to Space

P.S. I have admired Richard Branson for a long time and Virgin Group has been one of my admired companies for years now.

Qantas grounds Airbus A380

Luckily there were no fatalities or injuries but this is serious bad news for Qantas, Airbus, Rolls-Royce and the A380. The ATSB has started a full investigation on this incident.

- ABC News from Australia with extensive videos and interview of Qantas CEO, “Qantas grounds A380s after engine failure“. Here is an excerpt from the report,

“Qantas says it is suspending the airline’s flagship A380 fleet until it is confident the planes are safe.

Passengers say they heard two loud bangs when an engine failed on board this morning’s flight from Singapore to Sydney.

The airline says flight QF32, with 433 passengers and 26 crew aboard, made an emergency landing at Changi Airport and all on board are safe and well.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce says the airline, the manufacturers and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) will investigate the incident.

He says the engine failure is unprecedented on board an A380.

“This is absolutely the first issue that’s occurred, with this engine failure; as I said it’s a significant engine failure,” he said.

“As a precaution we’re suspending the flights of the A380 aircraft until we’re we’re comfortable that we understand the reasons of this, and comfortable that we can operate the aircraft again.“

- CNN News with video, “What caused engine to fail on one of world’s largest planes?“

- CBC News with video, “Qantas grounds A380 jets after engine failure“

- MarketWatch with video, “Qantas to suspend all A380 flights – Decision comes after engine failure after takeoff in Singapore“

- UK Telegraph, “Qantas A380 Airbus emergency is third scare for superjumbo“

- WSJ Blog (with YouTube clip of Rainman), “Qantas’ A380 Engine Failure: Remembering ‘Rainman’“

Note: According to imdb Rainman’s trivia “Barry Levinson admitted that Ray’s comment about Qantas being the only aircraft company to never have had a fatal crash was made up, and that he didn’t know if this was true. In reality, Qantas has had eight crashes, all prior to the making of the film, but they were all propeller-driven planes, not jets.”

Qantas Airbus A380 escapes crash, lands with burned out engine