The Gloating Chinese 幸灾乐祸的中国人

香港人和中国人为九名香港游客在马尼拉人质危机中丧生感到悲痛和愤怒。他们谴责菲律宾政府和警员未能保护人质的安全。但是，有一批无同情心的港人和大陆人却幸灾乐祸。请点击以下的图片以放大它们。。。

Hong Kong people and Chinese express their grief and anger following the killing of nine Hong Kong tourists in a hostage tragedy in Manila. They condemned Filipino government and cops for their failure to protect the hostages.

However, there was a small group of Hongkongese and Chinese Mainlanders who were more than happy to see their fellows being killed in the Philippines. Click to enlarge the snapshots below to learn more about these uncompassionate Chinese…

Milker Tsui: 港人死嗮都好！唔駛香港地方咁迫窄..

(It would be great if all Hong Kong people die. Hong Kong won’t be so crowded…)

陈雅倩 Alicia: 好失望咯，以为D香港人真系死嗮…

(I am very disappointed. I thought all those Hong Kong people really die…)

Mandykkhi: 一点都不同情香港人

(I don’t feel a bit sorry for Hong Kong people.)

上朝拜海: 香港的穷鬼们去什么菲律宾

(Why did the poor bastards of Hong Kong go to the Philippines?)

刘我都快: 好啊，香港的活该，我要放鞭炮！

(Great！They deserve it. I want to burn fire crackers!)

Note:

Facebook上的是香港人，其他是大陆人。

Those on Facebook are Hongkongese. The rest are Mainlanders.

Source of the images

A Lesson on Canon Picture Styles

Blogger Witch recently posted photos of her trip – with hubby Saucer – to Australia. In one instance, she posted two nearly identical shots of Lake Mulwawa – one taken with her Lumix LX3 pocket camera, and the other one taken with Saucer’s Canon DSLR 500D. Witch asked, “Which is nicer?” Apparently she was hinting that the Lumix shot was better, which I agree.

But this is not to say that the Canon 500D is inherently inferior to the cheaper Lumix. Canon DSLR, by default settings, tend to have lower color saturation. This is great for portrait, not so great for landscape. (Nikon DSLR, on the other hand, usually have higher color saturation.) There are workarounds, such as editing the pictures with Photoshop. There is a simpler way though, that is, by applying appropriate Picture Styles.

Newer Canon DSLR has a couple of built-in Picture Styles, such as Standard, Portrait and Landscape. There are additional Picture Styles which can be downloaded from Canon’s official site or third-party sites. Here, I will demonstrate the use of Picture Styles to alter a picture.

This is a picture taken in Bukit Tinggi (Berjaya Hills). Picture Style is set to Standard:

Standard Picture Style

Next, I change the Picture Style to Landscape. Landscape Picture Style increases the saturation of blue and green. Note how the color of the sky has changed:

Landscape Picture Style

Next, I change the Picture Style to RDP III. This is a Picture Style which tries to mimic the film of the same name. It was created by an unknown photographer, who generously shares it:

RDP III Picture Style

Now back to the picture taken by Witch (or Saucer) using the Canon 500D. I believe Landscape or RDP III Picture Style should yield better results…

Note: Nikon has something similar called Picture Control.

Just Graduated

After years of struggle, I finally completed my MBA study...

Biz & Tech Talk

I have started a new blog specifically on business and technology-related matter. The inaugural post is:

Green Packet and the future of WiMAX

Do pay a visit

Biz & Tech Talk

Android Phones – alternatives to iPhone

Apple iPhone is the must-have of every gadget lover. Or, as I put it in my earlier post, it is the LV of smart phone. Bloggers Foongpc and Witch both recommend it. Nonetheless, iPhone is not the only choice for potential smart phone buyers. As I stroll through KLCC last week, I saw a Maxis booth selling HTC Wildfire and HTC Desire, two of many flavors of Android-based phones.

For the uninitiated, Android is a mobile operating system developed by Google. A number of phone makers make Android phones. They include HTC, Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson. You may be surprised to learn that Android phones actually outsold iPhone in the second quarter of 2010. (Apple should pick up more sales in 3Q though, following its launch of iPhone 4 in June.) Singaporean blogger Leon is one Android phone user.

Both Foongpc and Witch noted that the apps of iPhone as one of its major selling points. Android phones also enjoy a wide range of apps – not as many as iPhone, but should satisfy a casual user like me.

So, if I were to get a smart phone now, which one should I pick? iPhone is certainly tempting. But if everyone else is flocking to iPhone, I may want to buck the trend…

Two Android phones sold in Malaysia – HTC Desire & Samsung Galaxy S

Ban or No Ban

My company recently instituted partial ban of Internet access at workplace by blocking sites which were deemed ‘unproductive’. These included Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Photobucket, online games sites and P2P (peer-to-peer) sites.

Banning of Internet access at workplace is hardly new. Employees abusing company resources is a known fact. But is banning Internet access, or blocking of certain sites, a solution?

For a start, YouTube may not be as unproductive as some may think. Many product demonstrations are now on the popular video sharing site. Facebook, with the ubiquitous ‘Like’ button, is a great marketing tool. (Imagine that if you ‘like’ a product, all your 1,288 friends will be notified.) These sites, when put to good use, can be extremely beneficial to all businesses. And I don’t think it is wise for the management to tell us:

OK, now we have advertised on Facebook. We will lift the ban for one hour. All of you please go to ‘like’ our products.

The fact that my employer is in IT industry further complicates the matter. Just the other day, a co-worker of mine was doing a ‘stress test’ through the means of YouTube video-download and P2P movie-download.

Internet ban at workplace also has unwanted impacts in human resource development. Why, do you think, is Google so creative? This is because the Internet search giant gives considerable freedom to its staff.

So, should employers block access to those seemingly unproductive web sites? There are no hard-and-fast rules, but this is my suggestion to the management:

If you want your staff to be efficient, ban is an option.

If you want your staff to be creative, then do not ban.

P/S I may get a smart phone to circumvent the ban.

Detective Conan

In the last few weeks, I have been watching Japanese anime Detective Conan (名探偵コナン).

This is a story about a high school detective who, after being poisoned, transform into a kid. Since then, he has taken the name of Edokawa Konan (江戶川コナン). As you might be aware, the character is named after the author of Sherlock Holmes.

Detective Conan runs over hundreds of episodes. In one episode, The Last Wizard of the Century, Konan/Conan was going after a female assassin. The assassin always shot her victims at their right eyes. When our hero finally confronted her, she again pointed her gun at his right eye. She had only one bullet left, and she didn’t realize that Konan was wearing bullet-proof glasses…

There are a few interesting things which I observe…

When I was a kid, my favorite manga was Doraemon. In this story, Nobita and his pals played baseball, which was considered the national past time of Japan. Detective Conan, on the other hand, plays soccer.

In every episode, towards the end of the theme song, we see Konan pointing his finger forward, and uttering, with full of confidence, “There is only one truth.” (See the picture above.) In the real Japanese society which values conformity, a person who speaks with such confidence will probably be viewed with suspicion. But really, as the Land of the ‘Setting’ Sun sinks into decades-long slump, what they need is leaders with strong character.

Photography – Men vs. Women

攝影 – 男vs.女

香港U Magazine訪問了女攝影師，fillens.net的Jenny。Jenny在訪談中提到男生和女生玩攝影之大不同。以下是摘要：

如果你有留意，男生攝影，會把作品放上Forum，請大家評價、評分。女生較少這樣做，通常只會放上Facebook或者Blog。女生們要的不是技術上的意見或器材情報，而是一個分享的空間。。。

[男人]只會荼毒奶買好貴好貴的器材，傾向用某幾種牌子同着重技術。女生玩攝影，不一定需要這些，較着重感覺甚至留意一些微小無如相機帶、袋等。。。

（fillens.net之Jenny）

Jenny也認為女性所喜愛的題材包括了寵物、BB（嬰孩）、食物，花和自己的影子。

你贊同Jenny的看法嗎？

= = =

Hong Kong’s U Magazine interviewed Jenny, lady photographer of fillens.net. Jenny mentioned about differences between male and female shutterbugs. Here is the excerpt of the interview:

If you pay attention, you will notice that male photographers often upload their works to forum, and invite friends to comment and rate. Female photographers hardly do that. Instead, they prefer to upload their photos to Facebook or blogs. Females do not want opinions regarding techniques or news of gears. What they want is a space for sharing…

Men like to persuade you into buying gears which are very, very expensive. They are inclined to use several brands of gears, and emphasize techniques. Females do not necessarily need these. Instead, they are more into feelings, even pay attention to such little things like camera straps and bags…

(Jenny of fillens.net)

Jenny also believed that themes favored by ladies include pets, baby, food, flower and their own shadow.

Do you agree with Jenny?

It’s more than Specs

Which smart phone should you buy?

Blogger Tekkaus recommends Nokia E72. He compares the specifications of Nokia E72 and iPhone side-by-side, and concludes that the former is a better phone. But before I drill deeper into this issue, let me digress a bit…

A couple of years ago, I was searching for a backpack for my DSLR camera. I narrowed my choice to two – Tamrac Adventure 7 and Crumpler Sinking Barge. Tamrac was more practical, with lots of pockets to store accessories, but Crumpler was more stylish.

Tamrac – practical but boring

Crumpler – colorful and youthful

There is another issue with Tamrac: If I were to take out the camera, I must first lay down the bag on the floor. Imagine if I were shooting at a muddy place… With Crumpler, I could access the camera while the bag is still on my shoulder.

In the end, I got a Crumpler…

When you are buying a car, what factors do you consider? Price, dimensions, engine capacity, fuel economy… and of course physical design. You want a cool-looking car, don’t you?

Now back to the question of smart phone choice. Specifications-wise, iPhone may not be the best. But it is elegant. And many iPhone users have reported that the phone is intuitive and easy to use. (Disclaimer: I don’t own an iPhone.) These qualities are not easily quantifiable, but they are the factors potential buyers would consider.

Specs are not everything…

Girl in Cheongsam

One week after I photography a model in kimono, I took part in another similar event. This time, the model wore cheongsam (a.k.a. qipao 旗袍). The organizer even brought a guzheng (古筝), a type of music instrument originated in China. The venue was Sau Seng Lum Exhibition Centre in Puchong. Here are a few shots for sharing…

This is a challenging shot: The hall was slightly dark, but it was sunny outside the window. I was unable to get the exposure right. The model is “playing” guzheng in this picture…

Can you spot her name?