2008-12-29

economic lesson of 2008

This article titled "The Worst Predictions About 2008" could be a warning to greed, or those who think they have tools to predict and play god:
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/dec2008/db20081224_028134.htm

I guess the market works because there are always people who think they could beat the system.
I wonder if any columnist or staff writer made any "way-off" during 2008 as well?

2008-12-28

graffiti - patriotism



as seen in Beijing. Patriotisme en plein air.

2008-12-27

Hôtel de glace 冰酒店


C'est la période à construire des hôtels de glace, au Québec, peut-être ailleurs aussi comme les pays scandinaves. Pékin, je pense qu'elle est assez froide, sauf que l'on est extrêmement sec ici. Là-bas, par contre, a reçu plein de neige. Les ouvriers préparent les dernières installations pour que l'hôtel soit prêt le 4 jan 2009. Pour des renseignements plus détaillés, lire un reportage sur le journal Le Jacques-Cartier. J'espère que le réchauffement planétaire ne dégèle pas la saison. Je me souviens un an le Canal Rideau avait des problèmes d'être gelé comme il fallait, ou plus dans un endroit un demi-monde à part à Hong Kong quand j'ai vécu en octobre 2008, le plus tiède dès les statistiques météorologiques sont disponibles! (photo crédit: robinhd on Flickr )

魁北克是世界上其中一個有冰酒店的地方。這陣子,技工們忙於“建筑”和準備酒店,因為一月四號便要開幕了。其實北京也是“夠冷”的地方,可是畢竟這邊氣候太乾了,所以不少河已經結冰了但我們還沒有冰酒店。我沒有去過東北過冬季,那邊既然有冰雕節的話,冰酒店也必定是生意之一咯!

2008-12-25

films européens, part ii

So the European Film Fest finally ended and I am posting a long entry regarding the films I watched. There are another 5 or 6 films that I missed because of scheduling or other constrains.

Premièrement, les films que j'ai vus:
“Matti”: Hell Is for Heroes - Finland « 马蒂 » - 芬兰
“Meli kai krasi” - Cypus « 蜂蜜与葡萄酒 » - 塞浦路斯
“Roming” - Czech Republic « 罗曼老爹 » - 捷克共和国
“Leo” - Sweden « 莱奥 » - 瑞典
“Le conseguenze dell'amore” / The Consequences of Love - Italia « 爱的结果 » - 意大利
“Langer licht” / Northern Light - The Netherlands « 北方之光 » - 荷兰
“Small engine repair” - Éire « 情难独奏 » - 爱尔兰

deuxièmement, the following I watched and recommend:
“Dot.com” - Portuguê « 网名之战 » - 葡萄牙
“Rigas sargi” / Defenders of Riga - Latvia « 里加保卫者 » - 拉脱维亚
“Útek do Budína” / Escape to Budapest - Slovakia « 逃往布达佩斯 » - 斯洛伐克
“The Last King of Scotland” - United Kingdom « 最后的苏格兰王 » - 英国
“Röövlirahnu Martin” / Matt the Cat - Estonia « 猫咪马特 » - 爱沙尼亚
“Nuits d’Arabie” / Arabian Nights - Luxembourg « 天方夜谭 » - 卢森堡
“Fehér tenyér” / White Palms - Hungary « 白手掌 » - 匈牙利
“Vier minuten” / Four minutes - Deustchland « 四分钟 » - 德国
“Man zkt vrouw” / Perfect match - België « 绝配 » - 比利时
“Welcome home” - Österreich « 欢迎回家 » - 奥地利
“Sztuczki” / Tricks - Poland « 追火车日记 » - 波兰

2008-12-22

聖誕與環保 Christmas and Environmental Protection


聖誕對於不是教徒的人,只是一個假日。看看環保團體如世界自然基金會香港分會說聖誕節的活動如大吃大喝可能加重二氧化碳排放

另一方面,維港璨爛燈飾甚至是一般大廈的裝飾,也用了很多能源雖然我們現在少用聖誕卡,少用木的聖誕樹,但是如果我們慶祝節日的時候也想想我們的生態足跡,也許能慢慢但肯定地向好的方面改變。


So with Christmas around the corner, do you think about the carbon emission increased, indirectly of the extra food or products consumed? For example the CO2 emission from shipping some exortic delicacy across the Pacific Ocean? For Hong Kong, I guess it is the lightings - from the skycrapers dotting both sides of the Victoria Harbour to just ordinary residential or commercial buildings in your neck of the woods. We better catch up before the whole of China has that kind of light pollution like in Hong Kong. You don't believe it? The pics in this post are taken in Beijing, and these installations are growing everywhere.

Extra: my enviromentally unrelated blog entry on Christmas.

2008-12-18

北區再(不可持續地)發展?

在網上看見關於相關新界發展的新聞,我問問自己政府是不是從天星、皇后碼頭到現在甚麼也沒有學到。政府似乎要把粉嶺、古洞等地方持續開發,難道要整過香港連一點樹木都沒有才罷手?
相關文章:
古洞北發展區 地皮潛力厚
新界東北三區冀速上馬
這樣創造就業絕對不是可持續發展!

2008-12-17

Ciclo Colombiano


So I was supposed to watch another film in the European Film Fest. However there were so many people that by the time I arrived all the free passes were gone. I put my name down on the waiting list but went immediately instead to the 3rd Colombian Film Season (dunno really how to translate into English, well you can see the logo attached).

It was a film, quite harliriously titled La ministra inmoral (Immoral Minister). Its elements were quite sterotypically South American - sexy women, casanova type men, sex, violence, etc. I thought I was watching soap on Telemundo back in New York City hahaha. The representative (probably from the Colombian Embassy) was very courteous and spoke Mandarin. What foreigners who worked long enough in Beijing would NOT speak Mandarin anyways? They don't want to be uncool hahaha. With the screenings, it is a good way for Beijingers to get a glims of the country literally half a world away, though the imageries and perceptions might be distorted a little.

我們從未是現代的? jamais été moderne?


我昨天去了一個法國哲學家 Bruno Latour 的講座。他曾經於一九九一出版的一本名叫 Nous n’avons jamais été modernes《我們從未是現代的》的書。我感興趣是因為講座裏談到哲學、人類學、自然科學和社會科學的問題。其實這樣的文化討論多半不能解決時下社會上如金融危機、環境污染等等眾多問題。可是如果我們在生活水平提高的同時心理上、道德上也是充實的嗎?老實說這問題不但是飛快發展的中國要考慮的議題,亦是西方國家、企業和公民不能回避的問題。 (photo credit: chelseacharliwhite)

So another conference I attended, this tme with a professor at the famous Sciences Po . It was an interesting talk because the speaker had training in philosophy and did research on anthropology and has been looking at the intersection of the above disciplines with science. It really brings back to my days of taking philosophy courses at Stony Brook. The topic is strange for me, for I ain't no academic nor am I well-read in philosophy. I hardly scratched the surface of that field as an undergrad. However, if only people interested and who understand this kinda difficult discourse can put it in layman's terms for the general public, perhaps it would just able to help lessen or prevent some of the messes coming out of the current financial crisis, such as the massive Ponzi-styled fraud, of all people, a former director of NASDAQ Bernard Madoff... yikes! It reminds me of Henry George too, do we REALLY have progess, then why do we still have poverty?


Donc le professeur Latour a parlé beaucoup de choses: la nature, la culture, l'anthropologie, etc. etc. et bien sûr de la modérnisation. Un pointe qui m'attire est qu'il a dit que les Français aiment la mondialisation, mais lorsque tout le monde est maintenant vraiement connecté, cela rend plusieurs gens mal à l'aise. L'ère de mondialisation, une situtation qui bouge et on n'a pas le dernier mot sur ce sujet-là encore! (photo crédit: jmarty)

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