tiangotlost.blogspot.com

2010-12-14T17:39:00.000-07:00

Fish & Chips at Digger and Finch, Columbus, OH.

~Tian

Sent via a mobile device

2010-12-14T10:04:00.000-07:00

Lunch at Saica, Ann Arbor, MI.

~Tian

Sent via a mobile device

2010-12-14T09:44:00.000-07:00

Near University of Michigan.

~Tian

Sent via a mobile device

2010-12-14T09:34:00.001-07:00

Mobile test 1

~Tian

Sent via a mobile device

The Scorpion Wrangler

2010-05-02T13:30:00.003-07:00

Bark scorpion (Buthidae) is a common sight in Arizona. Many people would kill them either by force or with chemical spray, which would then lead to over-population of roaches and crickets.

The safest way to handle it is to scoop it into a glass container and relocate it. Using a small stick to pin the scorpion's body down would prevent it from striking with its stinger.

Grumpy Rich vs. Happy Rich

2010-04-28T13:31:00.002-07:00

Rich does not like to work in Food section at local Walgreen's.

Vulture Peak, Wickenburg, AZ

2010-04-24T18:51:00.005-07:00

Vulture Peak is located near Wickenburg, AZ. Trail is approximately 2.0 miles one-way to its upper saddle, and additional scrambling needed to reach its peak. Elevation gain is 1200 feet.

Trail head

Hedgehog Cacti (Echinocereus)

Vulture Peak

View of the valley

Orange colored desert flower

Yellow desert flower

Rock squirrel

A piece of Cholla cactus trying to hitch a ride with me.

The White Wyatt Cenac

2010-04-22T22:17:00.002-07:00

This is my buddy Jon, who has strong resemblance of Wyatt Cenac.

Barnhardt Trail, Tonto National Forest, Arizona

2010-04-18T14:58:00.004-07:00

Barnhardt Trail is located southwest of Payson, Arizona along SR87. The entire trail is approximately 6 miles one-way. There are two water falls at 3 miles in.

The wooden trail map at trail head does not indicate directional information, nor distance

Gopher snake, harmless

Cacti flowering

Water fall from afar

More cacti flowering

Small pool

Small lizard resting on a boulder

Water pool

Lunch

Mazatzal Mountain

Yellow flower

Layered rock formation

Wild flower

Ant hill

2010-04-13T17:08:00.002-07:00

My loot from International Migratory Bird Day at Nina Mason Pulliam Rio Salado Audubon Center last Saturday.

2010-04-13T14:01:00.001-07:00

"Check out my brown eye!"
"Oh my..."

2010-04-12T16:23:00.002-07:00

Watch out for that Gila monster!

Tonto Narrows Closed

2010-04-11T19:46:00.001-07:00

I tried to hike Tonto Narrows yesterday, but the gate is locked when I got there.

Later I found out from Charles Liu's (author of 60 Hikes within 60 Miles Phoenix) website:

As of early 2009, the trailhead for this hike is closed to public access due to recent conflicts between hikers and local ranchers. There are currently no established alternate access routes to Tonto Creek from the town of Gisela.

That is just too bad!

Kill the Dwarf, Twice

2010-02-27T14:57:00.000-07:00

In most American cities, there are always two distinctively different shopping malls. One is for White customers and the other for Blacks.

Similar to shopping malls, movies are also made especially catering to the taste of different ethnicity. (I for one never understood why Tyler Perry is so popular among the Black community.)

In 2007, Frank Oz directed an English comedy film called Death at a Funeral.

The same plot is then used in two additional movies:

Dwarf had a homosexual fling with deceased arrives at funeral to blackmail rest of the family, he gets accidental killed and dumped in casket, and problem solved.

Daddy Cool (Indian version) was made in 2009

Death at a Funeral (Black version) made in 2010:

where Peter Dinklage plays the same dwarf in both Black and White versions.

FarmVille Crop Chart Updated up to Level 36

2010-02-15T12:44:00.002-07:00

I have updated my FarmVille Crop Chart with crops accessible up to level 36. The optimal crops separated by harvest time are:

Blackberries

Ghost Chili

Sugar Cane

Green Tea

Onion

Coffee

Peas

Broccoli

Red Wheat

Water Melon

Update: There is no additional crop after level 36. The latest is Asparagus.

Ann Taylor LOFT

2009-12-22T21:24:00.000-07:00

Today I had the pleasure of visiting Ann Taylor LOFT in Chandler Fashion Square, while my significant other had to do gift returns.

(Here is a hint for everyone: it is a very bad idea to give and ask for clothing during holiday season, unless you can be as explicit as possible, like I wanted these Kuhl Hi-Low Cord Pants in 36x32" size and steel color from REI for US$60, which I got.)

As a guy at a woman's clothing store, the only thing I can do to kill time is to take photos of ridiculous looking over-priced clothing, and mock them here.

The Donkey Kong, extra useless pieces of fabric sewn on are homage to classic video game, where a large gorilla throws wooden barrels down the ramps.

The Neck Tumor, to create an illusion that goiter can be beautiful too, with right amount of fabric ball.

For the office and other business occasions.

The Crystal Meth, the best way to hide your drug evidence is in plain sight.

The Cinnabon, show your love for the stable food court snack at any American shopping mall, and hide your overgrown belly underneath it.

The Salmon, "take me down to the river, put me back in the water..."

FarmVille Crop Net Profit per Hour Chart

2009-12-22T20:27:00.000-07:00

Let's say you are playing FarmVille and you can't decide which crop to plant for the next harvest, or whether the crop you are about to plant is worthy the investment?

Worry no more, I have a chart for you.

This chart breaks down all crops available up to level 30 in terms of net profit per hour for each plot.

For example, you need a crop that harvests in one day, but you have got the following to choose:

Soybeans
Poinsettia (seasonal)
Red Tulips
Peppers
Sunflowers
Grapes

If you hate Soybeans because they remind you of yuppie vegetarians nagging you about carbon footprint, forget that then. Poinsettia is only seasonal, plus their pay out is only 126 coins per plot but you have to buy them at 45, that is not very good return on your money. Red Tulips and Peppers only have 8 coins per plot difference in return between the two. This is not a co-op, you will need money to make money. So, your best bet would be either Sunflowers or Grapes. Although Sunflowers may look to be a better choice because you will get 315 coins per plot, but you will have to invest 135 coin to start, the net profit after plow fee, you are only netting 165 per plot.

Grapes, 85 coins to invest, 270 coins in return, net profit 170 per plot, and that gives you a 7.4 coins per hour per plot return. (*one day in FarmVille is only 23 hours, not 24)

Here are the best crops in each harvesting time period:

4 hrs = Blackberries
6 hrs = Ghost Chili
8 hrs = Tomato
10 hrs = Green Tea
12 hrs = Carrots
16 hrs = Coffee
1 day = Grapes
2 days = Cabbage
3 days = Red Wheat
4 days = Watermelon

Ringtone / FarmVille Theme Song

2009-11-20T14:56:00.000-07:00

Who likes FarmVille?

Apparently many people. As of Nov. 2009, there are 63.7 million active users playing this real time simulation game.

I am one of them.

That is why I made this little ringtone to both annoy all the haters and inspire fellow farmers...

farmville.mp3

Fridge-Raider Strikes Again!

2009-11-12T14:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was turkey pesto wrap, today it is chicken pot pie!

Someone Stole Carol's Lunch

2009-11-11T15:28:00.000-07:00

Ringtone / Sinnerman by Nina Simone

2009-11-08T13:28:00.000-07:00

For a while now I have always used default ringtones in my Blackberry 8120, which is supplied by my work. The problem is when someone else in the office has same ringtone set on their phone, thus confusion ensues.

That is why I have created my own custom ringer:

sinnerman.mp3

The original song was by Nina Simone, where it has appeared in several films and product commercials. Most recognizable ones are The Thomas Crown Affair in 1999 and recently in HTC's "You" campaign commercial. I used Audacity trimmed down a remix version of the song by Felix da Housecat.

Feel free to use the song, and let me know you think or what is your current ringtone.

Patrick & Mikki's Trashy Neighbor

2009-09-27T16:53:00.000-07:00

For the longest time I have always thought the family that lives across the street from me were trashy.

According to local neighborhood gossip, for one, both husband and wife were drug addicts. Matter of fact, they met in a rehab center. Secondly, to supplement her drug habit, the wife used to be a prostitute. Last but not the least, the wife would have screaming matches with her one of her teenage daughters so loud that police were often needed to intervene.

That is nothing compared to my friend Patrick and Mikki's neighbor in Kent, WA. When I was visiting them in first week of August, I did not have an opportunity to fully appreciate just how trashy their neighbors were, so Patrick has forward me the following photo essay.

-----

So I have these special neighbors, and I try to explain their trashiness to friends and family on occasion but I just never feel like I am doing justice to the reality of their horribleness.

It all began when Mikki and I were looking at this house to rent. Wonderful house, wonderful cul-de-sac, wonderful landlord. On my first meeting with the landlord she mentioned that she didn't really know the people across the street on the non cul-de-sac side of things but she thought the woman was pregnant. Yay for us, a pregnant neighbor... Visions of built in grounds for association, shared babysitting, baby socializing, etc filled my head.

Then I met the neighbor woman; 8 months pregnant, ~35 years old with the look of a 55+ year old, barefoot in torn up booty shorts and a neon orange bikini top 2 sizes too large allowing 90+% of one boob to sag threateningly out the side, chain smoking cigarettes on her front lawn, sporting very impressive looking bilateral needle track scars from wrist to elbow and screaming bloody murder at someone inside the house. The gist of the argument was lost to the strings of haplessly combined profanity without actual content.

Later on at our house warming party we met her neighbor from the other side who asked in that "polite but fishing for true feelings" manner "have you met this family yet?" According to this neighbor (yes, hearsay) the house is a narcotics trafficking den and the woman in question runs a daytime business in which various streams of gentlemen callers visit the house for 15-60 minutes or so on a regular basis while the boyfriend is away at work. This neighbor believes there may be some ambiguous paternity involved.

So much for our hopes of neighborly baby socializing. Now, while the prostitution and drug claims are at that point just unsubstantiated gossip from another neighbor, certain independent confirmations have been forthcoming.....beginning of course with the bikini, smoking, screaming, needle track encounter. That and the several occasions of police officers showing up at their house at random hours and on 2 occasions inquiring of us whether we know anything about the occupants of that house or have seen "anything you'd like to comment on."

So today I am home sick from work with a cold Mikki was generous enough to give to both Jonathan and I this week, and our landlord just finished putting a waterproof sealant on our back yard fence after having done our beautiful deck yesterday. I decided to go outside and have a look at our newly sealed deck. Lo and behold our lovely neighbor woman is sitting in one of her fashionable ensembles on her front lawn underneath the mailbox with a lap full of mail and a mouth full of the glass pipe she is frantically sucking on and blowing large billowing clouds of pretty white smoke from. Now I did not ask her what was in this pipe but I am not putting my money on anything aromatherapy related.

At this point I ran into the house to get my camera and long lens, as I am sorely disappointed that I did not begin chronicling this walking tragedy during the chain smoking while pregnant phase of things. Alas by the time I returned the pipe had been retired from sight and did not make another appearance. The new activity was the opening a various envelopes each followed by alternating sobbing or muttered statements of "motherfucker, where is it." Meaning to be apparent forthcomingly. Having missed out on my intended photographic goal I was forced to settle for what I could get and I must admit, the photo I took does not perfectly capture the vacant glassy eyed expression, open mouthed drooling or full body trembling. I was also forced to put down the camera at this time and take up a less conspicuous presence on my deck due to the following interaction which began immediately after getting my representative photo.

In this story I will refer to the neighbor woman in question as "Crystal", her baby-daddy as "Cletus" and the fleeing gentleman caller in head to toe gangster style attire as "John". These monikers strike me as fitting plus I can't think of any friends I will offend by using their names and I have not actually bothered to learn the real names of my neighbors anyways.

Front door slams open

"Fuck this shit! I'm fucking out, I don't gotta take this fucking bullshit!" Exclaims John with exaggerated gesturing, stomping across the lawn and peeling out in his Cadillac with bumper sticker "Gangster fo Life"

Patrick quickly places camera on deck and retreats to observe from position of cover.

Cletus comes storming across lawn towards a now slightly less blurry eyed looking Crystal.

"Fuck you you fucking whore" Cletus squeals with glee, "Just because he fucking pays fo some of yo skanky ass fuckin pussy don't mean he gets to fuckin hang around all fucking day eating our fucking food and watching our fuckinig tv you nasty ass skank, why the fuck do you think I didn't even bother bringing the fucking groceries in from the car yet......at least now we can eat our own fucking food."

"Fuck you, you fat ugly fuck. At least I make any money you worthless fat fucking loser." Retorts Crystal. "Where's the fucking unemployment check you worthless piece of shit? This is the second fucking week your broke ass hasn't gotten a fucking dime."

"You're fucking one to talk you fucking skanky ass crack whore.....you didn't get any fucking money today either because you just always let that piece of shit pay for it with ice." John remarks.

Crystal makes some deep guttural noises and retires to the house taking time to kick the car, punch Cletus and pull her sagging shorts back up over the top of her even more sagging buttocks.

Cletus makes several more remarks regarding whore, bitch, cunt, skank, hoochie, used up trash bag and then proceeds to the trunk of the car.

"That's fine," he calls to the now shut front door, "I'll just bring all the fucking food in all by myself but I'll be fucked if you're eating any of it. Maybe HE can fucking come by later with a hamburger for you next time he's got a fucking hard on."

At this point the coast is clear again for me to sneak up the camera and get a couple photos of Cletus for good measure and equal coverage.

So my birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks......would anyone like to buy me a nice camo wildlife photographic blind as a present. It will be well used. Perhaps I can keep a running blog on this and someday option the story as a movie script. I am kind of wondering at what point I have enough to perhaps make a call to Children's Services or the like. I really wish I had gotten that photo of her smoking the pipe.

Presented below are the unfortunately few photographs I was able to obtain without risk of being further involved in this little scenario that I would otherwise have enjoyed.

1) Crystal having freshly retired the "ice pipe" sobs audibly while searching for the golden unemployment check.

2) Maybe what you seek is in the mail cleverly hiding from you in the box.....

3) Following the, unfortunately photographically undocumented, interactions between Crystal, John, and Cletus Cletus empties the trunk of precious groceries in preparation of rejoining his honey-bunny within the residence.

4) Cletus makes his farewell and I acknowledge thanks for the opportunity to be sick today and bear witness to such glory.

PART 2

Correction......per the officer I just spoke with, Cletus is actually the woman's 18 YEAR OLD SON (I never can keep all the relationships over there straight). Also per the officer his father was one of her former "John's" and still lives there on occasion. I think that "John" from this story is perhaps the John-father of her new baby as she left with him on foot with him carrying the baby following Altercation Part II.

So while writing the first part of this note and submitting it, John showed up again. Crystal came out of the house and handed him the baby, then proceeding to call someone to scream obscenities without much discernible meaning while John held the infant. Cletus (now identified as Crystal's 18 year old son) exited the house again and screamed at her to get the fuck back in the house and shut the fuck up, but not before kicking John the fuck off their goddamn porch. To appreciate the true richness of the quality of humanity expressed here it is necessary to go back and re-read part one and now part 2, having been given the knowledge that Crystal is Cletus' mother and Celtus is Crystal's son.

Crystal - "Fuck you you fucking lowlife" and gets up to storm off.
Cletus - "where the fuck do you think you are going with the fucking baby you whore?" gets up to block her path at this point in the neighbors driveway.

John I have to say did a very good job of just standing quietly out of the way holding the baby. In this entire interaction I cannot specifically fault John for anything aside from his terribly poor choice of company.

Crystal to Cletus: "you better get the fuck out of my fucking way or I will fucking break you."

At this point dialogue ceases. Cletus steps in Crystal's way. Crystal punches Cletus (her son) in the face. Cletus grabs Crystal's (his mother's) wrists to hold her punches at bay. Crystal kicks Cletus....again....son.....

squarely in the crotch. Cletus throws Crystal to the pavement and stands on her hair. Crystal wrenches out of the hair hold and exits stage right with John following. John dutifully stood aside to observe the above interactions and act as baby-holder.

On the one hand, they are doing all of this in front of the 2 month old baby. On the other hand the baby is probably so incredibly drug damaged at birth that it will never fully comprehend the family it was born into. Either way I don't really see any silver lining to this shit stain on the breadth of human potential.

I have shared the photos I was able to take with the responding officer. He thanks me for the photos and will mention them in his report but since I did not photograph the actual drug use or physical harm being caused to the child he cannot make arrests from my contribution. Both mother and son deny any physical altercation and without one of them making a claim of domestic abuse he does not have that legal mandate or right to make arrests. This is his 3rd time visiting them this month he reports. He is tired of coming. He suggests that if I can obtain a photo of mom holding the baby while smoking crack, or some such other evidence he would be absolutely elated to come with "a bus and put every last occupant of that house on it."

And now for your continued entertainment.....

5) John, having returned from his brief sojourn, exits the house with baby......screams of impending excitement are heard emanating from within the lair.

6) Crystal begins her phone rant.....baby squeals in excitement.

7) WASSSSSSSSSSSSUP!!!!!!!!

8) But John I'm not sure I WANT to sell my baby for an ounce of blow!!!!

9) But momma....I done told you this is the neighbor's driveway and the neighbor's Plymouth.....we aint supposed to fist fight here no more.

10) whateva boy.....I do what I wants!!!

But momma you knows how it embarrasses me so when you makes my butt crack hang all out.

11) Peekaboo baby!!!!!! Where's your mommy. Peekaboo.......MOMMY FUCKING SEES YOU BITCH!!!!!!!! And as soon as your brother lets go Mommy's gonna FUCKING CUT YOU.

2x Telephoto Lens from Digital Concepts is Horrible

2009-08-15T19:14:00.000-07:00

If you are ever tempted to purchase a 2x Telephoto lens as an add-on to Canon Powershot S5 IS, then don't get the one from Digital Concepts. Better yet, save up money and get one from Canon.

Recently I was browsing through Amazon.com and looking for telephoto lens for my Canon Powershot S5 IS. One particular from Digital Concepts was for sale via D B Roth for $24.99 plus shipping cost. Meanwhile, Canon TC-DC58B lens is $103.96.

After I received the lens from D. B. Roth, the test shot result with new lens was horrible.

In this shot above, without using the new lens, fiber from background's fabric is uniform and in focus through out the photo.

With the new lens addition, only center part of the photo is in focus and outer area is very blurry. It gets worse as further away from the center.

Update: The quality of this lens is so bad that the seller, D B Roth, has refund my money in full without even wanting it back!

from: DB Roth (dbroth.cs@gmail.com)
to: Tian
date: Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 1:45 PM
subjectRe: Return Request / Amazon Order # 002-4431303-xxxxxxx

Dear Customer,

We are sorry to hear about this issue. Please discard of the item as we have now issued a full refund back to your account.

Kind regards

Michael
DB ROTH

Pillows at Steinmart

2009-07-25T10:46:00.000-07:00

Cylindrical & spherical pillows at Steinmart.

Sunset Point Glory Holes' Glory

2009-07-07T19:36:00.000-07:00

Several years ago, the Latvian told me about Sunset Point rest area on interstate highway 17 between Flagstaff and Phoenix.

Despite its porno-esque name, it does offer a nice scenic view. It has been open since 1970, and on April 25th, 2009, Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) reopened it to public after one year and $5.2 millions worth of renovation.

So, why so much work needed to be done at this location?

Apparently Sunset Point rest area is a notorious meet-up site for homosexual men to engage anonymous sexual activities. The problem is so bad that all toilet stall's dividers had glory holes drilled through them.

Two images below were taken on Sept. 21st, 2007, just before the renovation started.

Whenever ADOT repair crew put a patch on one glory hole, gay men would drill another, as if these were homosexuals from Army Corp of Engineers.

The newly renovated restroom design has lowered toilet dividers to approximately 4.5 feet high, therefore defecator's head & upper body is exposed. Instead of sheet metal dividers, the new ones are made of solid concrete that is 6 inches thick.

Even with these two counter measures to prevent gay men from having anonymous suckie-suckie in the restrooms, some are starting to bluntly trolling in the rest area's parking lot.

I present you Homo-Rolla (Photos taken on Jun. 27th, 2009):

After a long drive to get there, legs are not the only things he will be stretching.

As he slowly passes by each cargo trucks, he would peek in and to see if anyone is interested for a homo-rolla-ride.

Fireworks at Gallup, NM

2009-06-28T14:45:00.000-07:00

It has been five years since I last drove to Gallup, NM to purchase fireworks. The Latvian and I left Phoenix, Arizona bright and early to make this 10-hour round trip pilgrimage to New Mexico. It was during the same trip five years ago that inspired me to start HanziSmatter.com.

We stopped in Bubba's Fireworks stand, which is a giant tent located in a dirt lot just north of King Dragon Chinese Buffet on Highway 491.

What is interesting about fireworks is that all of them are made in China. Even the patriotic American tanks in Stars and Stripes:

And World War III may start right here on the folding tables between China and US:

Some of the packaging are just mundane, like this Widow Maker:

Excalibur:

and National Treasure:

some are humorous and sliding towards the offensive side:

Can You Handle It? shows a large Black woman with her hair in curlers jumping out of a burning building while three firemen with looks of horror on their faces trying to catch her.

One Bad Mother-in-Law illustrates the harmonious family of a stereotypical White trailer trash.

500 Gram exploits urban blacks on low-rider bicycles displaying their assault rifles. The front man appears to have strong resemblance of Easy-E from N.W.A., Niggaz With Attitude.

Hustler, Warning: shoots flaming balls. Get it? Flaming balls.

My personal favorites are fireworks shaped to be beer mugs and bottles to entice idiots to hold them in hands:

and same time the warning labels tells them not to:

And little suicide packs from boys and girls:

What Boys are Made of, with matching What Girls Want:

Even Britney Spears is endorsing them:

Nothing says Perfect Silence than after you have blown your ear drums:

HOWTO: Optimize The Daily Show Embedded Videos

2009-06-14T17:06:00.000-07:00

One thing I am annoyed about The Daily Show embedded video option is its restriction on video's size.

For example, Boing Boing recently posted about Jason Jones visiting the New York Times on their site using the default HTML code supplied by The Daily Show/Comedy Central.

The width of Boing Boing's main column is set to 500 pixels, however the video does not fully utilize this space, rather it leaves a rectangular void.

The problem is caused by the video's default width & height setting within its HTML code, which is set at 360x301 pixels.

Also, most of the HTML code supplied is irrelevant and has nothing do to with video's function.

To optimize this, only HTML code needed is within the embed tags.

By changing the values in width & height fields, video is able to fulfill maximum column width.

In this case, the video's size increased to 400x335 pixels from its original 360x301 pixels:

Mullet at Last Chance

2009-05-30T18:05:00.000-07:00

Last Chance is a dump store specializing in selling rejected merchandise from high-end retailers at much lower prices.

Of course with lowered prices, the clientele's fashion sense is also lowered.

Geese Trapping at Chaparral Park

2009-05-28T20:22:00.000-07:00

I volunteered yesterday (as well as last week at McCormick Ranch) to help Arizona Game and Fish Department and City of Scottsdale to trap Canada Geese at Chaparral Park.

This is part of urban avian study sponsored by State of Arizona including Arizona State University, Game & Fish Department, and City of Scottsdale. By learning about the movements and population growth of the urban geese, park staff will be able to determine the most effective way to manage their presence in Scottsdale parks. These geese were first trapped, neckbands and ankle bracelets with serial numbers attached, then released.

First we lured geese into traps (which I personally helped to build) with bread like what Mike Rabe of Game & Fish Dept. is doing here.

then volunteers would push them into one of the traps placed on grassy area

Once a group of geese are inside the trap, four panels are secured with plastic zip-ties. Each panel barricade is made from two pieces of 10 ft long 1/2" diameter electric conduits bent into 6.5 x 4 ft rectangular frame with fishing net lashed in between.

Some of the geese stayed on Chaparral Lake's island needed some encouragement from volunteers in kayaks.

Once the geese have been round-up, the banding process is fairly fast.

First, determine the goose's sex by squeezing its butt ("Is that a goose in your lap or are you just happy to see me?")

Second, attach neckband, ankle bracelet, and record tracking information,

Then let them go,

Some domestic geese were at a wrong place at a wrong time and they were released without any tags.

No animals were harmed during this and previous trapping.

Photo album links:
Geese round up at Chaparral Park (Flickr & Picasa)
Geese round up at McCormick Ranch (Flickr & Picasa)

He went to Jared and got disappointed

2009-05-11T09:42:00.000-07:00

Dear Jared, The Gallera of Jewelry,

My first visit to your store yesterday, May 10th 2009, at Casa Paloma Shopping Center in Chandler, AZ was absolutely disappointing.

I arrived at the store about 1:30pm with an ESQ watch that needed battery replacement. Although the store is practically empty (5 customers including myself), the sales representative did not want to replace the battery then. Instead he wanted me to leave the watch for two days or go else where.

And elsewhere I went.

Keep in mind; this is not the first watch I owned. In the past, I have observed repairmen replaced watch batteries within minutes, certainly not "two days"!

My recent experience lead me to think this particular sales representative did not care about his action and how it would affect Jared's reputation either, therefore why is he still employed?

I would suggest an addendum to your over-hyped jiggle of "he went to Jared":

"and got disappointed".

Sincerely,

Tian

Update: May 14, 2009 -

Watch case wrench = $7.50 (including shipping from Micro-tools)

Type 371 battery = $4.31 (including tax at local Walgreens)

Never have to deal with Jared, The Galleria of Jewelry = PRICELESS!

----------

from: jaredcr@jewels.com
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Mon, May 11, 2009 at 9:51 AM
subjectRe: RQST00002019411 ; Jared.com - Contact Customer Relations

Thank you for visiting our Jared Galleria of Jewelry web site. Your message has been received and will be forwarded to our Customer Relations Representatives for response. We look forward to assisting you with your request.

You can simply reply to this Email, and your reply will automatically be associated with this request, RQST00002019411.

Sincerely,

Jared Galleria of Jewelry
Customer Relations

----------

from: jaredcr@jewels.com
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Mon, May 11, 2009 at 3:52 PM
subjectRe: RQST00002019411

Your customer service representative is: Elizabeth Whitehair
Summary: WATCH BATTERY

Dear Tian,

I would like to thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding your need for a battery replacement. Our goal is to exceed our customers' expectations, and I appreciate the opportunity to respond when there is a concern.

A copy of your complaint will be forwarded on to the Store Management as well as the District Manager for this particular location. I apologize for the inconvenience that you experienced and hope that you will allow us to provide you the service you deserve in the future.

If there is anything else I can do for you, please feel free to contact me via email.

Sincerely,
Elizabeth Whitehair
Customer Relations

As Advertised at Target

2009-05-10T12:01:00.000-07:00

New and exciting savings at Target for this week only!

Save $0.09 on IAMS adult cat food, regular priced at $14.09!

Come on, Target!

We would expect this kind of shit from Wal-Mart. $0.09 off from $14.09 is not even 1% saving. Why do you even bother to waste money by price out ads and shelf labels?

Chop Fooey

2009-04-25T23:10:00.000-07:00

Mental Floss magazine, May-June 2009 issue, Page 19

This really makes me want to find out where Pu Pu Platter comes from and what is that "pow" in Kung Pow Chicken...

Ghost Character U+38F8

2009-04-15T23:33:00.000-07:00

John D. Cook at The Endeavour wrote a piece about how to shorten URL by using unicode. In one particular example, the unicode happened to be 38F8 and this is what appeared:

http://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=38F8

Although Unihan.org has catalogged this character into its database, there aren't additional linguistic information.

Characters likes these are known as "ghost characters", where they only exist basing on unicode algrithm but not used in linguistic sense.

Matter of fact, Unihan Grid Index has many of these:

http://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=3403

http://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=351B

http://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=360F

http://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=208D5

Friendface

2009-04-11T11:55:00.000-07:00

I used this clip to test Flickr's video upload feature, where users can upload videos size up to 150 MB and 90 seconds in length. It was intro to Channel 4's The IT Crowd (season 3, episode 5) mocking the popular social networking site, Facebook.

Since the show's broadcast is only limited to UK, full episodes are not available on its website (unless users use an UK proxy). Channel4 did post bits and pieces of its show in YouTube.

The best resource I have found to download episodes is to use Vuze & PeerGuardian. PeerGuardian is especially useful for protecting users' privacy when downloading.

LG W1952TQ Monitor Drivers

2009-04-10T19:29:00.000-07:00

I recently purchased a LG W1952TQ monitor to replace my aging 17" ViewSonic. This monitor was on sale at Fry's Electronics for $149.99, while Amazon.com was selling it for $189.89 and $159.99 at Newegg.com.

Although the monitor did come with a CD, I was surprised to find the actual driver files themselves are not available for download from LG's website. Unless the user would also install LG's forteManager 3.xx, which is just another bloatware.

lg_w1952tq.zip

In the linked zip file above, it contains three essential driver files for W1952TQ:

W9152.CAT
W1952.ICM
W1952.INF

Remember kids, a bloatware-free PC is a happy PC.

Iron Man vs. Bruce Lee

2009-03-25T18:54:00.000-07:00

Regardless of who wins, one thing is for sure: French-Canadian filmmaker Patrick Boivin, the man behind this short clip, sure knows how to make an excellent stop motion animation!

Squeal Happy Whores

2009-03-23T18:33:00.000-07:00

This is definitely safe for work.

It is PG Porn by James Gunn, which ironically does sound like an actual porn star's stage name.

"For people who love everything about Porn... except the sex."

Office Supply Truck Prank

2009-03-22T11:50:00.000-07:00

Gatorland, Orlando, Florida

2009-03-15T08:26:00.000-07:00

I spent last week in Orlando, Florida.

One place I visited was Gatorland, and it was awesome. First of all, to truly represent its tackiness, the main entrance is an exaggerated concrete alligator head.

My favorite alligators are Mr. Stumpy:

and Mr. Nub:

I like to think if Mr. Stumpy was human, he probably will be loitering around freeway exits with a cardboard sign saying "veteran, please help, god bless". Where Mr. Nub lost his arm in a ridiculous arm-wrestling mishap.

During one of Gatorland's shows, the resident alligator wrestler Johnny fooled around with one so-ever tame alligator:

From his facial expression as if he is thinking: "This is all fucked up. I can't believe I have doing this for those god damn tourists. This gator's breath is terrible. What the fuck does it eat all day?"

Later Johnny pretended he was Britney Spears in 2001 MTV award by posing with an albino boa:

Terrible Hotel, Days Inn (Kirkman & International)

2009-03-14T14:46:00.000-07:00

Dear Travelocity,

During my recent trip to Orlando, I was extremely disappointed with the hotel (Days Inn, 5858 International Dr., Orlando, FL 32819).

To illustrate my point, I have attached a photo of the room I stayed in, #538.

As you can see, there is a piece of carpet has been burnt from the floor in the shape of an iron, yet the hotel did nothing about it. This shows you the quality of hotel your company chose to do business with.

Secondly, the WIFI did not work at all. When I first contacted hotel's front desk, they informed be that WIFI signal is not strong due to my room's location and suggested me to come to the lobby. When I did get there, the WIFI is still nonexistent. After two days of this, I have finally gave up and walk across the street to La Quinta Inn.

Please forward my comment to Days Inn corporate office.

If you or Days Inn would like to discuss this in person, I am available via mobile phone at ###-###-####.

Regards,

Tian

HOWTO: Samsung SCH-u740 Contacts Backup

2008-11-26T17:13:00.000-07:00

In the past I have written about how to unlock Samsung SCH-u700 (Gleam) and SCH-u740 (Alias) to load ringtones into them. Recently I was contacted by reader Matt M. regarding how to backup contacts from Samsung SCH-u740.

Verizon Wireless's Backup Assistant is charging customers $1.99 plus tax per month to have the ability to backup their contacts. That is approximately $50 they are fleecing off from each customer after a two-year contract.

As of right now, Bitpim 1.0.6 has yet support contacts transfer for Samsung SCH-u740 (as least when I tried it).

However, Samsung has a handy little tool called Samsung Contacts Copier, which its only purpose is to backup mobile phone's contacts. It is absolutely free and works with most Samsung mobile phones.

The version I used is 1.2.2.6.

The Backup option transfers all contacts from a Samsung mobile phone to a .pbo file (phonebook data file), which can be opened with spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel.

The Restore function has the ability to let user to choose which contacts to be transfered back into the mobile phone:

It takes a few minutes to backup all your contacts and save yourself $50.

"Antispyware-review.biz" Scareware Removal

2008-10-05T17:32:00.000-07:00

It started last Friday where my notebook computer would randomly pop up Windows Security Alert messages about trojan spyware.

Figure 1 - Scareware pop-upmessage masquerades itself as legitimate Windows Security Alert with warning about "Trojan-Clicker.Win32.Tiny.h"

Figure 2 - Scareware pop-upmessage masquerades itself as legitimate Windows Security Alert with warning about "Trojan-Spy.HTML.Bankfraud.dq"

Figure 3 - Scareware pop-upmessage masquerades itself as legitimate Windows Security Alert with warning about "Trojan-Spy.Win32.GreenScreen"

Figure 4 - Scareware pop-upmessage masquerades itself as legitimate Windows Security Alert with warning about "Trojan-Spy.Win32.KeyLogger.aa"

At first glance, these messages appeared legitimate with technical information and its graphical interface consistent with most Microsoft Windows.

However, when the "Enable Protection" button is clicked, it hijacks user's web browser to a website, www.antispyware-review.biz, which sells rogue software PC Antispy & PC Clean Pro.

Figure 5 - www.antispyware-review.com sells rogue software PC Antispy & PC Clean Pro

Removal:

In this case, there were three new startup processes in the registry "HKCU:run" which I have never seen before, nor I could find any information on them:

Figure 6 - "apien", "O94r7l940x", & "enwin" are spyware lingering in registry as automatic startup

With help from CCleaner, I was able to remove these registry entries and prevent them from starting. Additionally, I used Spybot Search & Destroy to scan & immunize the system.

Talk Like A Pirate Day 2008

2008-09-19T16:02:00.000-07:00

Talk Like a Pirate Day 2008

Is SolarCity's SolarLease Right for You?

2008-09-08T19:30:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine emailed me a few days ago about SolarCity's SolarLease program. Instead of purchasing solar panels upfront, SolarCity offers a leasing option would only charge an initial fee of $1,000 and rest are paid off in potential electric bill savings.

In a local news broadcast, SolarCity claimed it would save customers about 20% of their current monthly electric bill. Assuming customers could pay the initial $1,000 downpayment and their monthly bill must be $150 or higher to see the savings.

According to SolarLease Calculator from SolarCity's website, the 20% saving claim is correct if the customers are using APS (Arizona Public Service Company) as their utility provider seen in Figure 1.

Figure 1 - APS customer's potential saving if switched to SolarCity

Figure 2 - SRP customer's potential saving if switched to SolarCity

However it is not true for SRP (Salt River Project) customers.

In figure 2, it shows SRP customers would need to spend a monthly average of $800 on their electric bill before SolarCity's program would save them any money.

Matter of fact even at that rate, SRP customers will never recoup their initial investment even after 15 years!

There are other limitations about SolarCity's program, such as customer's credit score must be higher than 720, and it only serves small territories along Oregon, California & Arizona.

SolarCity's SolarLease is a nice concept, however it is not for everyone, definitely not for SRP customers.

For now, let us all hope it would not turn into like the ZAP car hype.

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro is Great!

2008-09-05T18:27:00.000-07:00

For over two years, I have been using Cooler Master's Hyper48 as CPU cooler for my Intel Prescott 3.6 GHz. Although it does a good job of cooling the CPU, one thing really bugged me was its loud noise. Since its fan is pulse-width modulation (PWM) controlled by mainboard's BIOS, whenever the CPU load increases, so does the noise.

A few days ago I saw Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro on sale at newegg.com for US$24.99 including shipping, so I gave it a try.

The improvement was amazing!

Figure 1. BIOS screen of PC operating with Cooler Master Hyper48

With the ambient temperature at 29C, PC operating with Cooler Master Hyper48 is showing CPU temperature at 44C and fan speed at approximately 2400RPM. The noise level is at 31.7 dBA.

Figure 2. BIOS screen of PC operating with Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro

After replacing the CPU cooler with Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro, the CPU temperature dropped to 41C and its fan speed to 1500RPM. Keep in mind both CPU coolers use 92mm diameter fans. The noise level has significantly reduced thanks to slower fan speed.

Figure 3. Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro suspends its fan from heatsink body to reduce noise caused by vibration

Figure 4. Cooler Master's Hyper48 clips its fan onto heatsink body where smallest vibration could be amplified into a loud rattle

There are three areas of improvement I saw between Cooler Master's Hyper48 versus Arctic Cooling's Freezer 7 Pro.

First, Arctic Cooling used rubber tips to suspend the fan away from the heatsink body. Any noise-causing vibration coming from the fan would be minimized by these four little rubble tips. Less vibration equals less noise.

Cooler Master's Hyper48 clips its fan onto heatsink body via an aluminum clip. Even the smallest fan vibration is amplified into a loud rattle.

Secondly are the fans' bearings. Arctic Cooling uses ceramic bearings, which produces very small friction between shaft and housing. Cooler Master uses traditional steel rifle bearing (also known as plain bearing), where the shaft grinds on its bushings. Although rifle bearing is much cheaper to produce, Hyper48 is about average US$40 retail and Freezer 7 Pro is US$25.

Figure 5. Gigabyte GA-8S661FXM-775 mainboard with Cooler Master Hyper48

Figure 6. Same mainboard with Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro

There are also differences in heatsinks. Six heat pipes were used in Freezer 7 Pro, where only four in Hyper48. Hyper48 is over 820 grams in weight, however since copper's density (8.96 g*cm^-3) is higher than aluminum (2.70 g*cm^-3), the excess weight did not increase cooling fins' surface area (heatsink: 105x94x70 mm; fin area: 2,200 cm^2). Freezer 7 Pro used aluminum fins to both cut weight down to 520 grams and increased cooling fins surface area (heatsink: 104x58x126.5 mm; fin area: 4,700 cm^2). For convection cooling, more heat dissipating area is better.

In conclusion, Arctic Cooling's Freezer 7 Pro is much quieter than Cooler Master's Hyper48. It also provided better cooling at much lower cost, which is a good news for consumers.

Dear PC World, Is 43.2% Good Enough?

2008-08-30T13:03:00.000-07:00

Dear PC World magazine,

I was at my local Border's bookstore today and saw your latest issue. However after briefly browsing through it, I have noticed there is a significant amount of full-page advertisements.

Not including the front and back cover pages, I have jotted down this actual content list with their starting page number :

5 - Content list
8 - Credits
11 - Techlog
13 - PCW Forum
18 - Forward
41 - Consumer Watch
47 - Business Center
53 - Security Alert
60 - Reviews & Ratings
82 - Main Article, Get the Most Out of Your Laptop
95 - Article, Stay in Sync
105 - The Best TV on the Web
116 - Here's How
131 - Magazine Contact Information
132 - Full Disclosure

Now let's count the number of full-page ads shall we?

Pages 1-4, 6-7, 9-12, 14-17, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 31, 33-40, 43-46, 49, 51-52, 55, 57-59, 65, 67, 73, 75, 79-81, 89, 91, 93, 99, 101, 103-104, 109, 111, 113-115, 123, 125-130.

That does not even include the half-page ads like on pages 68-71 & 76-77:

Out of 132 printable pages, the total number of advertisement is 72 pages. That only left readers with 60 content pages.

If we subtract pages 5 (content list), 8 (credits), & 131 (magazine contact information), the end result is actually 57 pages.

I don't know about you, but 57 out of 132 is only 43.2%. If you are a student, that is definitely an "F" on your report card.

Just like the Reviews & Ratings section in your own magazine, what would you do with a product that only scored 43.2%? Would you recommend it to someone else?

I don't think so.

Jackie Chan's Hong Kong Hideout

2008-07-20T09:53:00.000-07:00

When MTV's Cribs interview celebrities in U.S. about their residences, most of them would boast about their private entertainment room, numerous luxury vehicles with over-sized wheels, & other superficial wealth.

Jackie Chan on other hand decided to be as low key as possible in Hong Kong. Living in an old factory building with rusty roller gate as entrance, the world famous movie star's ride is a Mitsubishi Lancer EVO, & enjoys collecting tea sets & wine.

Following the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, Chan donated ¥10 million (925K Euros) to help those in need. In addidtion, he is planning to make a film about the Chinese earthquake to raise money for survivors. In June 2006, he announced the donation of half his assets to charity (HK$500 million or 40.5 million Euros) upon his death, citing his admiration of the effort made by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates to help those in need.

Suburban Exploration: Foreclosed House in Chandler, Arizona

2008-05-11T20:58:00.000-07:00

We all know there is a housing crisis in U.S., but how exactly is a typical foreclosed house look like?

Today I visited a foreclosed property priced by the bank for US$136,000 near Jupiter & Rush in Chandler, Arizona.

Closet door took a heavy beating.

Bedrooms are covered with trash and there are smell of feces & urine.

More trash.

and more...

It is sad to say this bathroom door with only one fist hole is the least damaged of all doors.

ID tag of what I assume is the former owner.

Backyard with trash.

Busted window.

MS Outlook Hyperlink Annoyance

2008-05-11T10:18:00.000-07:00

If you ever have to work with Microsoft Outlook, you would know how annoying some of its features are or lack of.

For a while, my Outlook would not open any hyperlinks sent through emails.

The error message popped up does not provide any specific information regarding the reason or how to rectify the situation. All it does is to add more frustration on the user.

"This operation has been canceled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your system administrator."

It turns out there were no restrictions that prevented hyperlinks from opening, rather a registry issue.

After upgraded Internet Explorer 6 to IE7, one little registry setting is either corrupted or missing.

HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Classes\htmlfile\shell\open\command

To fix this, IE must be set as the default web browser first,

Open IE>Tools>Internet Options>Programs tab>Default web browser>Make default button

I then quickly set Mozilla Firefox as my default web browser after that.

By the way, the link I was trying to open in China Success Stories was very interesting read. I would highly recommend it.

Canon Powershot S1 IS Recalled Due to Image Sensor Failure

2008-05-03T12:21:00.000-07:00

Recently, a Canon Powershot S1 IS I have purchased three years ago started to have some image issues.

Instead of photos, purple streaks have appeared:

I first checked Canon's website for repair estimate,

Then I did a search for "Canon Powershot S1 IS recall", found it has been recalled by Canon regardless of warranty status.

From Canon's site:

Service Notice: CCD Image Sensor Advisory (Updated 10/31/2006)

PowerShot S1 IS

This Service Notice will update Canon U.S.A., Inc.'s previous CCD Image Sensor Advisory, dated October 6, 2005.

It has come to our attention that the vendor-supplied CCD image sensor used in certain Canon digital cameras and digital video camcorders may cause the following malfunction: When the product is used in recording or playback mode, the LCD screen and/or electronic viewfinder may exhibit either a distorted image or no image at all. While reports of this malfunction have been rare in the United States, we have determined that it may occur if the product is exposed to hot and humid environments.

Notice of Additional Affected Products:
As a result of our continuing investigation of this malfunction, we have determined that the 11 models listed below, in addition to the 16 models listed in our Service Notice concerning this malfunction, dated October 6, 2005, may be affected.

Affected products:
- Camcorders: ZR60, ZR65 MC, ZR70 MC, ZR80, ZR85, ZR90, ELURA 40 MC, ELURA 50
- Digital Cameras A60, A70, A75, A300, A310, S230, SD100, SD110, A40(*), A80(*), A85(*), A95(*), S1 IS(*), S60(*), S200(*), S330(*), S400(*), S410(*), S500(*)
*Models added as of Oct.31, 2006

Malfunction:
It has been confirmed that the connecting parts of the internal wiring of the CCD used in affected products may become disconnected, especially if the affected products are stored or used in high-temperature and high-humidity environments. If this occurs, the signal is not output from the CCD normally in Shooting Mode, which may cause a distorted image or the absence of an image. This malfunction can be confirmed on the LCD monitor screen during shooting. The same malfunction also appears on the recorded image.

Canon's Response:
Effective immediately, and regardless of warranty status, Canon will repair, free of charge, the products listed above exhibiting the above-mentioned malfunction if Canon determines that the malfunction is caused by the CCD image sensor. Canon will also cover the cost of shipping and handling in connection with this repair.

U.S. residents are kindly directed to contact the Canon Customer Support Center for further assistance at 1-800-828-4040. Support hours are Monday thru Friday - 8:00 AM to 12:00 midnight; and Saturday 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM (all times EST). Alternatively, if electronic support is preferred, please send your email to carecenter@cits.canon.com This information is for residents of the United States of America and Puerto Rico only.

If you do not reside in the USA or Puerto Rico, please contact the Canon Customer Support Center in your region.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused by this issue, and appreciate your understanding in this matter. Thank you for your support and patronage of Canon products.

I called the number & my camera will be repaired free of charge, even shipping will be covered by Canon.

Update: Since Canon Powershot S1 IS has been discontinued, Canon sent me a Powershot S5 IS as replacement!

Ghetto Siphon Coffee

2008-04-26T14:10:00.000-07:00

Several months ago I read an article in New York Times about a $20,000 Japanese siphon bar at Blue Bottle Cafe in San Francisco.

A siphon bar or vacuum coffee maker uses vapor pressure & vacuum force to brew coffee. Many believes this would give coffee a cleaner, crisp, rich & smooth taste.

As a coffee aficionado myself, I believe the attraction to siphoned coffee is purely based on placebo effect.

To prove my point, I have built my own vacuum coffee maker for using only a moka pot & a glass salt shaker. Of course, you can also purchase a Bodum Santos for less than $100, but where is the fun in that?

My total cost was much lower than $20,000. Granted, I did not have fancy glass globe as the water reservoir.

After filling moka pot's boiler with water, I placed empty salt shaker over the top & coffee ground around it.

Heat.

Similar to regular siphon coffee maker, water has expanded after heating & traveled upward into the upper chamber.

After removing the moka pot away from heat source, brewed coffee siphons back into lower chamber as it cools.

Voila! Now you can also enjoy the same kaleidoscopic beverage all the pretentious hipsters are raging about.

Would You Pay to Watch an Infomercial?

2008-04-22T17:12:00.000-07:00

Five fellow colleagues and I attended a what supposedly to be time management seminar today, however it turned out to be a seven hours long infomerical.

It was presented by National Seminars Group, a division of Rockhurst University Continuing Education Center, Inc.

For the entire day (9am to 3:30pm), the speaker has spent a maximum of two hours going through the topics in the workbook. Even with that, very little time was spend on covering time management. Rest of the time, he strongly suggested audience to purchase supplemental material, such as books & CDs. I actually felt like I was attending a pyramid scheme meeting.

Here are somethings that bothered me the most from my seminar experience:

1. Random "facts from studies" & " studies have shown" without clarifying the context. These so-called "facts from studies" only benefited his sales of supplemental material. He never explained why findings from other studies were wrong or incorrect.

2. Chitty & chatty, lack of clear objective, talking in circles. It is good to use scenarios to engage audience. When the seminar speaker start to pull out social & culture cliche to fill the time, he is wasting my valuable time.

3. Lost of Creditability. At one point while trying to hype up his sales pitch, he actually said: "these materials are only available through us, you can't get them from Amazon.com..." Which is a complete LIE! As a test, I found not only the books are available & one of the books, Lifescripts, was actually 35% cheaper at Amazon.com.

HOWTO: Samsung Gleam (SCH-u700) Ringtone Unlock

2008-03-08T16:30:00.000-07:00

Since the current version of BitPim (1.0.5) does not yet support Samsung Gleam SCH-u700, the easiest way of uploading ringtones is via QPST version 2.7 build 215, an USB cable & corresponding software driver.

After USB driver has been successfully installed, the PC's Device Manager will display Samsung related additions under Modems, Ports, & Universal Bus Controllers.

In this case, COM4 is used for connecting SCH-u700 with PC.

First step is to open QPST's Configuration:

Under Ports tab, use Add New Port button to select the communication port assigned to the mobile phone. Otherwise, it should automatically show the port enabled & associated with phone (SURF6550-ZRF6500 NAND16) via USB.

Under Active Phones tab, it will also display similar information as in Ports tab. However, the Phone Number displayed here is not the mobile's number to receive phone calls (aka. Mobile Device Number), rather its Mobile Identification Number. ESN is the phone's Electronic Serial Number, similar to the Media Access Control address (aka. MAC) of a PC's Network Interface Card.

After selecting EFS Explorer, which is QPST's Graphic User Interface (GUI) used to transfer files between PC & mobile phone,

it will once again confirm Phone Selection:

To add ringtones to Samsung Gleam SCH-u700, simply drag & drop the desired audio files into

/brew/mod/19920/ringtones/

In this case, theme songs from Stargate SG1 (SG1.mp3) & Atlantis (SGA.mp3) were used.

Restart the phone when prompted.

My Busted Tee from Bustedtees.com

2007-12-27T17:56:00.000-07:00

The following is my personal experience with Bustedtees.com as a first time customer.

On Nov. 29th, 2007, I placed an order with Bustedtees.com. It was a "You have died of dysentery" tee, in reference to an old computer game called Oregon Trail. I wanted to give this tee as a Christmas present to someone, who is addicted to this game when she was a child.

A week later, the shirt arrived with an unnecessary vent hole under the shirt's left arm.

I promptly contacted the company via email to inform them of my damaged shirt and request for exchange. An email from JenW states that someone will contact me within one business day.

The following Tuesday, Dec. 11th, I received an email from Valerie Palmer showing my replacement shirt had been ordered and would be shipped to me via U.S. Postal Service.

Another week went by, after which I called Bustedtees via the number posted on their website (877-287-8333) asking about the shirt's status. The young lady I spoke to told me it should be here on Friday Dec. 21st. I thought to myself, "great, it will still be here before Christmas."

But, it did not arrive.

Christmas came and went.

I called again yesterday and was told "we don't know what happened to the order. I see the original order from Nov. 29th, but as for the replacement one, it seems no one has done anything with it. When the customer service department people are back from their holidays, someone will contact you either via email or phone."

In the meantime, the young man I was speaking with, "Jason", offered to place another order & over-night the shirt to me via UPS.

Once again, the shirt did not show up as promised.

Using their live chat option, I was surprised to receive confirmation by "Jorge M" that none of my orders were found even though the order had supposedly been placed just the previous day.

After I sent them an email complaining about the terrible experience I had, I got a reply that is nothing more than some customer service lip service.

I understand perhaps my order was neglected among other holiday shopping orders. However, waiting two weeks for a replacement order while being misled with false promises is unacceptable.

As a first time customer of Bustedtees, my recent purchasing experience is giving me doubts regarding my personal as well as my friends' future business with their service.

Perhaps for next year, I should switch my holiday celebration to Kwanzaa. At least I will know my local grocery store will not have a problem of replacing ears of corn for me.

Update: Dec. 28, 2007 - Bustedtees has a store front in Amazon.com and selling the exact same shirt for $1 less. Although the shipping charge is $1 more, so there is no saving. What is good about purchasing via Amazon.com is its customer reviews, which Bustedtees' website is lacking. Instead of getting pointless response like "I do apologize for the inconvenience. I have forwarded your concerns to our corporate office and you should be contacted back as soon as possible", customers can leave comments about their experience on the same page in Amazon.com and forewarn others of any potential problem.

I wish I have read Sarah in Tampa's post "Busted Tees Stole My Money" on Nov. 29 before I placed my order.

I called Chase Bank this morning to retract my original credit card payment for that damaged shirt. In the meantime, I have found Zach Klein & Jakob Lodwick in Flickr. Klein & Lodwick are two of several partners in Connected Ventures, which owns Bustedtees. In a short email, I pointed them to this entry regarding my recent experience with Bustedtees. Hopefully their underlings would get the hint of stop ignoring customers with legitimate issues.

Update: Dec. 29, 2007 - This is the latest reply I have received from Bustedtees. "Brandy G" has once again assured me that my issue will be forwarded to the appropriate department & they will contact me back as soon as possible.

Valerie P. has left some comments yesterday. According to her, the particular shirt I wanted is on backorder. However, no one from Bustedtees or SureShip, its fulfillment company, has ever contacted me directly, especially when I have been calling & emailing them every week.

Update: Jan. 2, 2008 - Josh Mohrer (josh@bustedtees.com) has emailed me as well as leaving a comment here to inform those who had the similar experience as I did to contact him directly. Plus, he is going to send me a replacement shirt free of charge once it is available.

Update: Jan. 4, 2008 - Some parts of Josh’s email have raised more concerns & needed clarification.

1. "I unfortunately am only learning of this situation today [Jan. 2, 2008]." In the email sent out by Valerie Palmer on Dec. 11th, it clearly showed Josh was copied on the matter.

2. "I see that a new order was put through for you with Next Day Air. When you purchased the shirt, the site should have said the item was back ordered." Actually I was on the phone with Jason in person when the order was placed. If it was back ordered, shouldn't Jason see that on his computer & inform me then?

3. "We served about 25,000 customers this holiday season, and I imagine several hundred has a similar experience as you." Several hundred could be three or nine hundred. Out of 25,000 customers, that is a dissatisfaction rate of 1.2 to 3.6%. Does that seem a bit high comparing to other apparel retailers?

Recently I told my experience to my friend Steve Hall, who manages a website called Adrants.com that focuses on business management & advertisement. We don’t know if Bustedtees has genuinely learned a lesson about customer service & supply chain management. Or, giving away a free t-shirt is just PR damage control.

Update: Jan. 15, 2008 - I received a replacement shirt from Bustedtees yesterday. Based on my experience with Bustedtees as a first time customer, I have decided not to purchase from them ever again.

Kevin Rudd, Can You Really Speak Mandarin?

2007-09-30T18:30:00.000-07:00

Kevin Rudd, the leader of federal Australian Labor Party, was recently caught by Julian Morrow at a press conference for faking his Chinese ability.

video

I personally was impressed by Julian Morrow's accurate mandarin pronunciation as well as the usage of slang term "smart ass".

Wired magazine, you have so much to learn!

Simon Pegg & David Schwimmer as Call Center Monkeys

2007-09-15T19:43:00.000-07:00

The Big Nothing is a dark comedy about three people tried to blackmail a local Catholic Reverend about his secret sexual fetish.

One of the humorous scenes is the following where Simon Pegg & David Schwimmer are working as customer service representatives.

video

HOWTO: Samsung SCH-u740 Ringtone Unlock

2007-09-11T11:23:00.000-07:00

I personally think selling & buying ringtones is a rip-off, especially when the mobile phone is equipped with a memory card slot for loading additional media files. However it is a common practice among mobile phone providers. The phone companies would often lock the phones t0 prevent them from getting ringtones freely.

Recently I got a Samsung SCH-u740 from Verizon Wireless. It is preloaded with ten ringtones which none of them I liked. At least I should be thankful they were not those moronic classical music ringtones. Like many other mobile phones, additional ringtones can only be purchased via its online store.

Using an USB cable (Samsung PCB200BBEB) with software drivers (Samsung Mobile USB 4.40.7.0), BitPim (http://www.bitpim.org/), and a PC, I was able to unlock the phone and load my own ringtones.

As of right now, there is no dedicated setting for u740 within BitPim version 1.0.1 or test release 1.0.2.2007082. Therefore the phone is connected as “Other CDMA phone”.

The phone’s file system is similar to any operating system. Ringtones are stored in a directory located at

/brew/mod/mr

In my case, I loaded a remix version of the theme song from The IT Crowd (UK version, not the upcoming American shite!). MrInfo.db is a database file to let the phone know there are additional ringtones available for use and locations of the ringtone files. To generate the database file, just reboot the phone either via BitPim or manually.

One thing I found interesting was the dates of these files. Notice they are marked as “11/20/80”? Certainly it does not mean we are living in the 1980’s (or do we?).

The default line in MrInfo.db ends with “|0|0”. For example, in my case it originally shows

/ff/brew/mod/mr/the_it_crowd_remix.mp3|0|0

It needs to be changed to “|0|3” like this

Use Notepad to change it and save back into the phone.

Reboot the phone once more, you are done.

Repeat the same process if you want to load more ringtones & enjoy.

Update: Mar. 23, 2008 - BitPim 1.0.5 supports Samsung SCH-u740:

To view directories within Filesystem, be sure to check View Filesystem under View:

Samsung SCH-u740 from Verizon Wireless

2007-09-07T14:52:00.000-07:00

It has been almost two years since I got my LG VX5200 from Verizon Wireless. Although it was a reliable phone, it did have some issues. For one, the speaker vents kept collecting dust particles and precisely pack them underneath the phone’s external display.

Earlier this week I celebrated my Labor Day off by visiting my local Verizon Wireless store and try to wheel-and-deal my way to a new phone. For long time, I have been eyeing the Samsung SCH-u740, which is retailing at $400 without contract.

At the store, it is sold as a package deal of $129.99 with 2-yrs contract. The package includes the phone, Bluetooth kit, car charger, & a carrying case. I asked Drew, the sales person, what each of these accessories cost and their mark up. He said the package price is 40% of items if they were sold separately.

I told Drew that I personally don’t care about Bluetooth kit, car charger, and the carrying case, especially when I could purchase them much cheaper at an online retailer like Amazon.com. Drew tried to compromise by throw in an additional 1GB MicroSD memory card, which is priced at $34.99 at Verizon’s store.

$34.99 for one 1GB MicroSD card?! I have got them for $5.25 each from Amazon.com.

Eventually Drew caved in deducted $80 from the $129.99 and since I am a returning customer, I got additional $50 mail-in rebate. I only had to pay the 8.2% sales tax and got my Samsung SCH-u740 for $4.10.

Comparing with my BlackBerry 8100 from T-Mobile, Samsung SCH-u740 has some good features:

1. Full QWERTY keyboard - At first I was little concerned about cramming all the buttons in such small area, but after using it, I was pleasantly surprised by how great the buttons worked. Also, some special characters can be accessed by press-hold the corresponding button.

2. Music Player - There are three dedicated touch-sensitive buttons on the exterior where it can be easily accessed. The memory card slot is on the exterior (BlackBerry’s is hidden under the battery compartment).

3. Web Access - Comparing with T-Mobile’s EDGE network, Verizon’s EV network is a little faster.

4. Camera - Both the BlackBerry and u740 have a 1.3MP camera with maximum resolution of 1280x960 pixels. However, u740 also has video recording capability.

To be fair, BlackBerry 8100 also some features that u740 lacked:

1. The Pearl - Using the little trackball instead of pushing through navigation buttons made scrolling screens & menus much faster and easier.

2. Charging & Earphone Ports - BlackBerry uses the standard mini-USB connection to charge the device, send & retrieve data files, and a dedicated 2.5mm jack for earphones. While the u740 relies on a 20-pin adaptor.

3. Email & Calendar - Since BlackBerry was designed as a mobile office device (or electronic leash, depending on how you use it) for people on the run, it is much accommodating with modern office needs.

4. Ringtones & Media - BlackBerry allows MP3 set as ringtones easily without the cumbersome process u740 needed (purchase ringtones from Verizon online store, or hack it with BitPim & USB cable). BlackBerry’s built-in media player supports more file formats.

Both phones have its’ own advantages & disadvantages and I am very happy with both of them. I am also happy that I did not chuck $600 on an iPhone and get boned like these Apple-whores.

Related: Samsung SCH-u740 Ringtone Unlock

Wired Magazine - Does anyone here speak English?

2007-08-05T18:11:00.000-07:00

I was reading August 2007 issue of Wired magazine on my flight from Chicago to Montreal today.

In page 117, there is a small piece about "Say 3 essential sentences, phonetically, in French, Spanish, and Mandarin".

Although the Mandarin phonetics for the first two sentences are correct, the last one is not.

"Yo ren hway shooah jong gooah hwa mah?"
有人會說中國話嗎？

Actually means "does anyone here speaks Chinese?"

The correct sentence should be (in pinyin):

yǒu rén huì shuō yīng guó huà ma?

有人會說英國話嗎？

Update: Aug. 5, 2007 - Emailed Wired magazine (rants@wired.com) regarding the error, I don't know if they will do anything about it.

Update: Aug. 16, 2007 - Wired emailed me back stating they are considering to publish my letter either in print or on their website.

Update: Sep. 30, 2007 - Wired magazine has printed a correction in their Oct. 2007 issue.

$41K for 7000 Points

2007-07-28T11:55:00.000-07:00

Two years ago, I attended a tour at a local golf resort. It turned out to be a sales seminar for timeshare. In exchange for two hours of my time, I was compensated with a $125 Costco gift card.

Even though the tour should have been only 90 minutes, but the sales people were dragging on while trying to make a hard sell. When I started to point out the mathematical errors in their brochures in front of other clients, I was quickly whisked away by the sales people. I have never thought they would invite me back again and try to sell me the same vacation package.

Apparently I was wrong.

Two weeks ago, I received a phone call from Shell Vacations Club. Youngman on the phone was polite, informed me that they would like to have me retour the facility, and this time I will be compensated for $150 Visa Card.

Sure, I will attend your tour. Why not? After all, they are the ones paying me and they probably already know I would not buy.

I personally do not belong to any vacation club, nor own any timeshare. I don’t have any strong feeling regarding the matter, but what I do find interesting is their sales process, plus I consider myself some of an economics geek.

I arrived on site promptly last Saturday morning. After signing in, a gentleman named Jay introduced himself to me and we went sat down to chit chat in a very casual manner. For next hour or so, Jay wanted to know about my travel habit.

Since summer of 2004, I have spent two weeks in Costa Rica, a few days in Germany, two months in Austria, two weeks in Montreal, and a week in Vancouver, plus several weeks here and there within US, I have logged some serious mileage on my passport and frequent flyer programs.

“What do you know about vacations club programs?” Jay had a sparkle in his eyes and presented me laminated sheet with a price table. “Let’s say you spend on average of $100 per night, after twenty weeks including tax and inflation, you are looking at about $42000.”

That is a lot of money.

However, I have always gotten great deals through various travel websites and rarely paid $100 per night. When I was in Costa Rica, I paid $70 (or $40 in cash per night, the good ol’ cash only discount) per night in a beautiful villa; I even had a maid to personally cook breakfast and do laundry for me. Just to be fair, due to weak American dollar to Euro conversion rate, I could never have the similar luxury when I am in West Europe.

Jay says Shell Vacations Club has hundreds of locations over the world, but when I told him my top destination is Easter Island. There is no affiliated resort there. How disappointing. But, there are some resorts in Guatemala.

When I pointed out to him that when traveling through Central and South American countries, since American dollars are much stronger there, there is no need to spend $100 per night. He then countered with “my friends were kidnapped in Guatemala and held hostage for days. You know what they have in Guatemala? They have militiamen walking around in the streets with machineguns…”

After a short promotional film showing happy vacations club members telling how great the program is, coincidentally, a couple at next table some how changed their mind after the film and decide to purchase a vacations club package. This has brought great excitement to the room, champagnes bottle was out to toast their giant leap into the next level of vacation bliss.

If I sign up today and for today only, for $41,000, I could purchase a package of 7000 points. If I don’t the lump sum of money, I am pre-approved with their finance department for a down payment of $4,239.90 and monthly payment of $660.58 for next ten years at interest rate of 17.65%. Oh, by the way, there is an annual maintenance fee of $1,300. Also, the point’s value of nightly stays varies depending on resort’s location and travel season.

I told Jay I am not interested based on the following:

1. The price is too high to justify its value.
2. There are too many unknown factors about the points system.
3. It is insane to make a $41,000 financial decision just after one hour of sales talk.

No problem, Jay thanked me for my time and called over a young lady. Right away, this reminded me of desperate car salesmen using the “let me see if I can get you a better deal” trick by dragging in their sales manager to negotiation table trick.

The young lady claims she understood my concern regarding the price, and quickly threw some number together on a sheet of paper.

“How about if we can get you a package of 2,500 points at $13,000, but I am going to throw in an extra of 6,000 points for free to get you try this out? How does that sound?”

I smell some thing fishy and it is not coming from the smoked salmon on the breakfast buffet table.

Once again, the young lady and Jay thanked me and asked Kurt to get my prize for me. And Kurt tried to sell me another package more points at even lower price. I am still not interested.

Finally they gave up and had someone from their accounting department to give me a mail-in voucher for $150 Visa gift card.

While waiting for the voucher to be printed, I saw a couple with “Not Qualified” written on their application. Poor suckers, they actually wanted to sign up.

Update: My buddy Matt said when he was in Las Vegas and he attended a similar thing, one couple in the group was talking really loud. The husband did not want to buy, however the wife eventually convinced him of how great it was and they eventually did buy. It turned out they were hired actors planted in the group to hype sales.

42 MPG Experimental Vehicle

2007-07-01T16:58:00.000-07:00

I was driving on US60 just east of Apache Junction and saw this strange vehicle.

The owner has chopped most of his mid 1980s model of Toyota Corolla off to increase the vehicle's gas mileage. On both fenders, he has written "42 MPG Experimental" in black markers.

Vancouver, Canada, ey!

2007-06-24T20:27:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month, I spent a week in the lovely city of Vancouver, Canada.

Reasons for the trip were,

1. I was bored of the desert scene, aka. Arizona,

2. I am a big fan of the X-files and Stargate SG1, which both were filmed in British Columbia.

I have posted most of my Vancouver photos in Flickr.com, however the following are some more interesting ones.

For those of you have flew to U.S. or away from U.S., I am sure you have dealt with TSA. Regardless how some of their rules and regulations are a bit ridiculous, they are the first line of defense against those democracy-hating terrorists.

That is why I was confused about how they confiscate all liquids & gels or anything that could be used as weapon, yet these sewing kits along with scissors are readily available at airport shops, especially after TSA checkpoint:

My flight with United Airlines from Los Angeles to Vancouver was delayed for over an hour due to a malfunctioning toilet water pump.

While the ground crew tried to fix it, we sat in the plane waiting. Eventually the crew decided to hand out bottled water to passengers and use them to flush after each toilet visit. At least this solution is better than Continental's, where brown liquid flowed down the aisle.

At English Bay, I saw this couple:

The man on the mobile phone is wearing some netting type of clothing. I titled this photo as "Old Fisherman with his Catch".

Perhaps he is on the phone with Disney:

"Yo Disney? My friend and I have got a great script for you. Instead of some hot redhead mermaid, how about a mid-aged dude likes to wear old fishnet? Did I mention he is got a sidekick too? A fisherman!"

Are you interested in join a secret society? Perhaps the Freemasons? How about Chinese Freemasons? If you are in the Vancouver's Chinatown area, they are recruiting.

You should also bring some reptile jerky to share with fellow members.

Here is the difference between typical North American breakfast food:

Scrambled eggs, fried potato cubes, toast, & sausages. (CA$9.00)

And Chinese breakfast food:

Curry chicken triangles dusted with sesame seeds & caramel glaze, spare ribs stewed in black beans sauce, steamed buns stuffed with barbecue pork, & steamed shark fin dumplings. (CA$9.00)

At Lynn Canyon, besides the wonderful view, I also loved their blunt & graphic warning message boards along with the anecdote stories:

Who says condoms are not bio-degradable? Obviously this one I found in Mt. Seymour did:

Don't worry, that was not mine. Plus, I am a "pack it in & pack it out" type of person.

While I was preparing to leave Vancouver, I had a difficult time to figure out when and where my flight was thanks to this monitor busy displaying "The page cannot be displayed" error message:

Rattlesnake in a Can

2007-06-17T10:17:00.000-07:00

I was in San Pedro River Nature Preserve of Southern Arizona yesterday with friends from the Nature Conservancy & Arizona Game & Fish department.

Around 8pm or so, we started to hear a rattling sound periodically. Then, we discovered this little guy:

I have also made a short film documenting the capture & release of this young rattlesnake.

rattlesnakeinacan.wmv

Bono "What a Knob I am"

2007-05-24T07:03:00.000-07:00

I personally do not like U2's frontman, Bono, or should I call him by his real name - Paul David Hewson. He has became too "preachy" over the years as his fame status slowly elevates, while completely left the other band members in the dark.

bonospoof.wmv by the Chasers

Although his face was on several humanitarian campaign posters, many of his own practices are questionable, if not, unethical.

For one, he moved his multi-million euro song catalogue from Ireland to Netherlands to avoid paying taxes, thus leaving his homeland (which he is so ever proud of...) with greater tax burdens.

Secondly, he signed a petition along with 4500 other artists trying to increase the limitation on music copyrights from 50 to 95 years.

Last by not the least, he accepts awards from politicians and governments that he also criticizes.

"Bus Four Eyes" Bullies 82-yr-old Man in Hong Kong

2007-05-06T10:07:00.000-07:00

My friend Randall has posted about a bully refuses to let an 82-yr-old man to sit in an empty seat on a Hong Kong bus, because he wanted his shopping bags to have a comfortable ride.

YouTube or busfoureyes.wmv (12.3 MB)

The six and half minutes long video titled "巴士四眼仔欺負82歲老翁", or in English "Bus Four Eyes Bullies 82-yr-old Man", has been viewed over 288,000 times in YouTube.

It starts with a passenger asking the old man what is going on, and he explains he would like to sit in the empty seat, however the young man refuses to let him do so, because his shopping bags are there. Eventually as everyone cheers, the bus' driver asks the young man to leave the bus, where he is met by Hong Kong Police officers and cited for uncivil behavior.

After viewing video, I do agree the young man is a prick. On the other hand, like Randall commented, "the true problem is the selfishness of everyone else on the bus. Had someone simply stood up and offered the old man a seat, this incident never would have happened."

Hoax - Chinese Counterfeit Eggs

2007-05-04T12:19:00.000-07:00

When some major news media outlet gets suckered into publish hoax stories as real ones, we all get a good chuckle. After all, part of true journalism is to check and verify all the facts are correct before sending it off.

But, what about when a prominent user supported website publishs a fake story, especially when the site's main objective is to inform public of scams & hoaxes?

Recently on May 4, 2007, Ben Popken of Consumerist.com posted a story about counterfeit eggs from China.

http://consumerist.com/consumer/food/how-to-make-a-counterfeit-egg-china-style-257693.php

Yes, that is correct, counterfeit eggs.

I know China is making many of world's counterfeit goods, from DVDs to luxury hand bags, but this story is a hoax.

This is one of those stories that a group of friends thought it would be fun to post a fake story on the internet and see how many people it would fool, then forgot about it (similar to the John Seigenthaler Sr. vs. Wikipedia story).

Matter of fact, Xeni Jardin and I have already talked about it when she posted the story in April of 2006 on Boingboing.net. It attracted so much attention, Xeni had to later write in red "And if you believe all of this, please visit this eBay auction I'm hosting for a live unicorn" to inform readers that the story was fake.

The objective of counterfeit is to make something at very low price and sell it at a higher price. However, in the counterfeit eggs' story, it went through great detail about how these supposedly fake eggs are made. I would be surprised if the counterfeiters could break even after the time & money cost invested to make such kind of eggs.

To further prove my point this story is fake, I contacted my friend John Pasden of Sinosplice.com, who is currently working/studying in China, about grocery prices in Shanghai. He happily scanned a copy of current newspaper ad from Carrefour:

http://flickr.com/photos/jpasden/167801640/in/set-72157594166759853/

A carton of 15 eggs is 9.90 Chinese Yuan, at the exchange rate of 7.706 Yuan per 1 US Dollar, it is only $1.285. Each egg is about 8.6 cents.

For anyone actually went through and read the original finding from The Internet Journal of Toxicology, "bullshit alarm bell" should sound off when the study is sponsored by one "Queers Network Research" in Hong Kong. Of course, no such organization exists and phone numbers listed are bogus as well. Five of 14 references in the article are from author listed as "unknown".

I understand things in China are cheap, but I highly doubt counterfeiters would go through the tedious process just to make fake eggs. After all, luxury hand bags and DVDs could turn a much faster buck.

After reading all this, I should once again remind everyone that:

Just because something is posted on the internet, it does not mean it is actually true.

I don't have a problem with the story Consumerist.com linked if it was indeed true and reported by a credible scientific organization, ie. CDC or JAMA, with reliable references.

However I do have a problem with people post stories without verifying its legitimacy, especially internet hoaxes and urban legends.

I have been a long time reader of Consumerist.com and truly value the information it provides. However, by posting this story without adding comments like "smells fishy, but anything is possible", or "those clever Chinese people, what will they think up next", it gives this hoax more strength to be passed on.

To certain point, this is almost like Consumerist.com is jumping onto a major news bandwagon after the pet food recall.

Update: May 4, 2007 - Reader Robert J. writes:

Tian,

Thanks for calling BS on the "counterfeit eggs" article. It smelled fishy, but I couldn't find any reputable sources that specifically debunked it. There are a few additional pieces of information that you might want to highlight:

1. The "journal" it was published in, "The Internet Journal of Toxicology," is itself rather sketchy. It's not a serious peer-reviewed, academic, printed journal. Instead, it's just an "internet journal" that a veterinary doctor from Mosul, Iraq (!) put up on the web a few years ago. Some of the articles might be legitimate, but this doesn't speak well for the article's veracity. It appears they'll publish just about anything.

http://www.ispub.com/ostia/index.php?xmlFilePath=journals/ijto/front.xml

2. The author of the "counterfeit eggs" story, Alexander Tse-Yan Lee, wrote a total of four separate articles for the same journal, including the "soy sauce from human hair" article. They were all published in the same edition of that journal. All of these articles are variations on the same "scary/fake foods from China" meme.

http://web.archive.org/web/20060426231600/www.ispub.com/ostia/index.php?xmlFilePath=journals/ijto/archives.xml

3. All four articles, including the "counterfeit eggs" story, were later deleted from the journal's website. It is only available through the Internet Archives (which Consumerist linked to). However, I counldn't find any explanation from the journal about why they were deleted. Compare the above link (from the archives) to the below link (the current website):

http://www.ispub.com/ostia/index.php?xmlFilePath=journals/ijto/archives.xml

Thanks again.

Robert J.

Update: May 5, 2007 - Ben Popken posted an update on Consumerist.com calling the story about Chinese counterfeit eggs a possible hoax.

Update: May 8, 2007 - Robert J. and I are both very curious about why there are two similar articles about food related tampering from China are written by one "Alexander Tse-Yan Lee". One article is about the fake eggs and other was about soy sauce made from human hair.

Both articles were originally published on the Internet Journal of Toxicology, and then later removed from the site without any explanation. Matter of fact, the only places these two articles still existing are on various bloggers' sites and Archive.org.

To get to the bottom of this, Robert J. contacted the Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Fouad Kasim Mohammad, of the Internet Journal of Toxicology for some answers. (42.7 KB pdf)

Dr. Mohammad replies:

"The articles I supervised the review process upon them were not acceptable for publication. They were briefly published online by mistake by the publication staff; thereafter withdrawn."

So there you have it, everyone.

On a personal note, I don't want to sound like an ass or anything, but personally I would trust publications that have editors who are based in Western Europe or US than let's say a country that is currently torn in civil war.

Robert J. also agrees:

"I'm just astonished that so many people reported these stories on their blogs, etc., as 'fact' without using any critical thinking. It makes me very depressed about the state of the Internet, when otherwise good websites like Consumerist will write articles along the line of 'OMG! Fake Eggs! Fake Soy Sauce!' without considering the source."

Low Budget German Game Show

2007-05-02T15:16:00.000-07:00

I have always find game shows in general are very boring. However, this low budget German game show caught my eyes.

It featured something that most American game shows don't have - female host with star-shape pasties covered tits.

video (recorded it with panasonic dmc-tz1)

Even with a barely naked woman hyped on who-knows-what, I got bored after less than a minute of watching it.

Aussie Landmarks

2007-04-30T09:42:00.000-07:00

The gang at Chaser's War on Everything really love to pick on gullible Americans. This time, they showed some of the world's most famous landmarks to random Americans to see if they would know the difference.

video

This man got convinced that the leaning tower of Pisa was actually a replica of the "Leaning Tower of Perth".

video

"That is the Great Wall of China, but China is just a town outside of Darwin."

The best part was this man:

video

He got convinced that not only Taj Mahal is located in Australia, but it was Steve Irwin's old residence and he used to keep live crocodiles in the rectangular pool.

Maidult in Passau, Germany

2007-04-29T06:57:00.000-07:00

I have been in Oberösterreich (Upper Austria) for about a week now. I was in Austria last November and December, where I went to Fucking & Oberfucking, as well as Vienna and Salzburg.

Several friends of mine here have been raving about "Maidult" in Passau, Germany, to me ever since I first stepped off from the plane. (By the way, Lufthansa flights are SO much better than United Airlines or USAirways.)

Maidult in English means something like "Festival of May". It is very similar to the well-known Oktoberfest, but smaller and it's held in late April and early May every year.

The best sign during my visit to Maidult was this one:

Price Waterhouse Coopers' Dancing Auditors

2007-04-13T23:42:00.000-07:00

Who says bean-counters don’t know how to have fun? If you have seen Stranger than Fiction, then you would know what I am talking about. Or the music video of Ethan Chandler doing a cover of U2’s One at the merger announcement between Bank of America and MBNA .

video (boingboing.net, consumerist.com & stereogum.com)

Perhaps they were inspired by Chandler, but a group of auditors from Price Waterhouse Coopers' Beijing branch decided to show off their own talent during one of their company gatherings.

video (shanghaiist.com)

I am interested to see if David Cross would make a cover video of these dancing auditors as he did with Chandler’s performance.

video (consumerist.com & stereogum.com)

"I've Got Vibrating Balls"

2007-04-10T20:42:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago, I was having dinner with a group of friends. During dinner conversation, one of them, Mike, mentioned that he recently went to see his doctor about an interesting problem he is having.

According to him, when he touches an object that is vibrating at a specific frequency, his testicles would swell up. This happens especially when he is using a belt sander. However, the vibration from his motorcycle has no effect on him. His doctor could not come up with a treatment or suggestion.

We all accused him of lying then laughed at him and gave him the nicknames of "Mike Big Balls" and "Mike Tender Nuts".

video & mirror

I did not think much about Mike's problem until last week when I watched some deleted scenes from the movie Trust the Man, where the main character Tom (David Duchovny) had similar problem!

The Easter Bunny Hates You

2007-04-08T00:15:00.000-07:00

videos: Windows media 4.87 MB or mirror

Have you ever wondered about how Easter Bunny spends its spare time when it is not Easter?

Smacking someone with billiard ball in a sock is my personal favorite part of the video. I think stuffing a dead fetus in a sock would also do the trick.

Mr. Farty Pants

2007-04-02T17:33:00.000-07:00

I was doing some reading at my local bookstore and this guy decides to sneak one off.

It was quiet enough that no one noticed it except me, sitting about six feet away.

About fifteen seconds after he farted, he looked around to see if anyone has noticed it, that is when our eyes met.

He quickly turned away and sunk down like a turtle hiding in its shell.

Evolving Homer

2007-03-29T18:25:00.000-07:00

video

Broken Toilet Stall Sign

2007-03-25T21:13:00.000-07:00

One would think people working at a bookstore would know how to spell "broken" & "toilet" correctly...

I'll Sue Ya, Subprime Mortgage Lending Companies

2007-03-22T18:50:00.000-07:00

As a long time fan of Consumerist.com, I always enjoyed the “David vs. Goliath”-esque stories about how individual consumers can empower themselves to fight against the poor treatment from Corp-America. However, there are times where I tend to think the consumer themselves are to be blamed for what happened.

video

In recent news, subprime mortgages are the topics of choice. So many people are getting burned by lending companies going under due to lack of repayment funds. Many of people got their loans approved by inflating their net income with or without direct intervention from the loan officers.

I personally don’t feel bad for these people.

To get approved for renting an apartment, the total net household monthly income must be three times higher than the monthly rent. In other words, if an apartment’s rent is $950 per month, you should at least make $2,850 after tax each month. Some management companies would require higher monthly pay vs. rent ratios. If you don’t have enough income, you can’t afford it. That is simple math.

In the land of “pre-approved, no credit check, no down payment, interest free till X year”, it is very tempting to get that satisfaction of instant gratification. However, it is really the consumers’ responsibility to do some reality check themselves. Even a fifth grader would be able to tell you: if your income is lower than your spending, you will be broke very soon.

But, I am not worried about these borrowers that felt they have been “duped”, because there is another thing that America is great at – Law suits.

Consume less. Share more. Enjoy life.

2007-03-11T19:09:00.000-07:00

And don't forget to buy a lottery ticket.

Pat Robertson: Plastic Surgery Gives People "Oriental Eyes"

2007-02-24T11:22:00.000-07:00

Through media, we often hear about how some Asians would get plastic surgery to make them appear with Caucasian-like facial features.

Videos: Quicktime or Windows Media

According to Pat Robertson,

"[Westerners] they got the eyes like they're Oriental, and, you know, it's all pulled. So, make sure you do it right. But -- it's -- that's one way you can go, but it'll cost you five or six thousand dollars probably."

I personally doubt (at least I hope) Robertson had any intentional racist motive when he made the comment.

However, when he physically elongated his eyes to illustrate his point, that is when he has crossed the line. Especially when he is suggesting as if having "oriental eyes" is some kind defect that one should be ashamed of, thus "make sure you do it right."

Julian Morrow Reports

2007-01-23T19:07:00.000-07:00

Julian Morrow is an Australian comedian, part of a satirical television comedy series Chaser’s War on Everything.

Before Chaser’s War on Everything, it was called CNNNN or "Chaser NoN-stop News Network", which satirized American news channels CNN and Fox News.

video: 20.8 MB windows media

In this segment, Julian travels through US trying to discredit the stereotype of “Americans are stupid, knowing nothing about the world”.

However, the spliced video clip proved otherwise.

American comedian Jay Leno also has similar segment on his show called “Jaywalking”.

Toilet Paper From Sulfur Island

2007-01-17T17:17:00.000-07:00

I find this poster for Clint Eastwood's latest film "Letters from Iwo Jima" very amusing. Obviously the title is written in Japanese given the hiragana in the middle, however...

硫黃島, or Iwo Jima, means "Sulfur Island".
手紙 means "mail/letter" in Japanese. However, it means "toilet paper" in Chinese.

I sincerely hope the marketing people for this film would take this tip into consideration.

Related: Wrong Anthem, By Gum

Vacation in Austria

2007-01-07T00:34:00.000-07:00

I spent the entire last month vacationing in Austria. I mostly traveling through Upper Austria between Vienna and Salzburg. The following are some photos I took during my travel.

The border between Germany and Austria is wide open. There are no border guards, except a small sign telling you that you are entering another country.

For 6.99 Euros, young boys in Austria can practice safe shaving with this kit:

I saw these Skinhead and Neo-Nazi graffiti scribbled on a couple of park benches near Germany-Austria border:

The trip to Austria is not complete without visiting the Town of Fucking, and it is fucking beautiful:

and Oberfucking, or Upper-Fucking:

The word "Schmuck" means "jewelry" in German, "idiot" in American slang, and "foreskin" in Yiddish. Thus, I always laugh when I see a "schmuck" shop sign.

If you thought the Japanese had some strange ingredients on their pizzas, but Austrian are not too far behind with their creations:

Corn Only

Corn and Ham

Tuna fish and Onion

Teletubbies, or Telechubbies, are selling mobile phones

Dildo accessory for Apple iPod for those who really wanted the full experience. (This product was featured in Gizmodo)

These two gargoyles looked like they were talking on mobile phones:

Police talking to fur protesters near Stephenplatz in Vienna. Normal people can't afford fur, and rich people don't really care about the cruel extraction process, thus the protest is pointless.

more of them in Salzburg:

"Arian" and "Aryan" are just one letter difference, however they sound the same on the phone. I am curious if Hotel Arian get any foreign visitors, or they just assume it is "Whites-Only".

The Japanese restaurant's sign literally says "Sushi, Tattoo, Fresh fish". ( 刺身 means "sashimi" in Japanese and "tattoo" in Chinese.)

At the Salzburg Fortress' Torture Museum, my personal favorite of all torture instruments is the Pear of Anguish.

It is inserted into a person's vaginal, anal, or oral cavity. As the key slowly turns, four blades would expand outward.

Mask of Humiliation

Finger Clamps

The Ol' Spiky, aka. Chastity Belt. I love the heart-shaped anal hole.

Scenes of Torture

The sculpture is titled "Cloth of Peace", but to me, it looked like Anubis from Stargate SG-1.

John Safran vs. The Mormons

2006-11-20T19:20:00.000-07:00

video: windows media or quicktime

Like many people, John Safran likes to enjoy his Saturday mornings peacefully at home. Unfortunately, his Saturday mornings were often disrupted by religious door-knockers, especially the Mormons or members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS). Thus, John decided to turn the table around by knocking on the Mormons’ doors and see how they would react when he preaches to them about the book of Origin of Species and Atheism.

Urban Sprinting

2006-11-14T18:00:00.000-07:00

video: windows media

In this undated episode of Balls of Steel, Neg has created a new form of sport called "Urban Sprinting".

The rules are simple:

1. Find a shop with a security guard (or rent-a-cop)
2. Set off the shop's alarm with only with the anti-theft tag, not the actual merchandise (that would be shoplifting)
3. Run towards the nearest burger bar and see how long the security guard will chase you
4. Celebrate the victory with some "...fucking chicken nuggets"

In 2005, Tom Cruise was promoting his film War of Worlds in London, Balls of Steel's lead man squirted him with a water pistol, which Cruise was not happy about. The incident gave the show an enormous publicity boost.

No More Dummy Rummy

2006-11-09T21:47:00.000-07:00

Donald Rumsfeld, aka. Dummy Rummy, has resigned as of Nov. 8, 2006.

Here is a collection of memorable moments of him as the Defense Secretary of United States. (video: windows media)

Kazakhstan Greatest Country in The World

2006-11-05T20:40:00.000-07:00

(Click here to sing along with Kazakhstan's National Anthem)

Kazakhstan greatest country in the world
all other countries are run by little girls
Kazakhstan number one exporter of potassium
other countries have inferior potassium

Kazakhstan home of Tinshein swimming pool
it's length thirty meter and with six meter
filteration system a marvel to behold
it remove 80 percent of human solid waste

Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan you very nice place
from plains of Tarashek to northern fence of Jewtown
Kazakhstan friend of all except Uzbekistan
they very nosey people with bone in their brain

Kazakhstan industry best in the world
we incented toffee and trouse belt
Kazakhstan's prostitutes cleanest in the region
except of course Turkmenistan's

Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan you very nice place
from plains of Tarashek to norther fence of Jewtown
come grasp the might phenis of our leader
from junction with the testes to tip of its face!

After watching the film - Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, which obviously was meant to be a mock-cumentry, I was surprised by how much of what Borat (aka. Sacha Baron Cohen) said and represented about Kazakhstan were true.

According to Eric Weiner's article in Slate.com, Kazakhstan does have a problem with prostitution.

In the 1990s, Kazakhstan was a big exporter of prostitutes, and human trafficking was a problem. Now, given wealth amassed from the oil boom, prostitutes are even more popular, and the country is importing them, as well. Every evening, one street in Almaty is packed with prostitutes looking for customers, and newspapers devote pages of classified ads to "massage girls."

Although Kazakhstan does not have "Shurik" (Borat described it as "shoot dogs in a field and have a party"), but Buzkashi is a legitimate sport.

Buzkashi (literally "grabbing the dead goat"). In this popular game (a precursor to polo), players on horseback try to control the "ball"—the headless carcass of a goat or sheep. Then they have a party.

In the film, Borat called the nation of Uzbekistan as "assholes", that is true. Many Kazakhs dislike the Uzbeks, and the two nations have squabbled over territory in the past.

Tip Jar - The Book

2006-11-04T18:48:00.000-07:00

I was delighted to receive an email yesterday from Dr. David Sutton of Southern Illinois University.

Dr. Sutton is an anthropology professor and currently working on a book being published by Berg Publishers about the anthropology of tipping. He asked me if he could use one of my photos in his book, with proper acknowledgment of course.

I have been taking photos of tip jar signs for over a year now. There are many people post photos of tip jars in Flickr, I have started my own little group of tip jar signs, cleverly named “tip jar sign”. So far there are 13 members, including myself. I don’t particularly care about the tip jars themselves, but only the notes attached to them to draw customers’ attention.

Besides the one that will be used in Dr. Sutton’s book, two of my other favorites are

“Tip Me, I’m A Pirate” which I took on Sept. 19, 2005 – Talk Like a Pirate Day

And “God Saves a Kitten” which is a parody of the parody of “Every time you masturbate, God kills a kitten”.

Montreal, Canada

2006-10-28T14:55:00.000-07:00

For last two weeks I was in Montreal, Canada.

The first interesting product placement I noticed was in my hotel's vending machine:

Perhaps a closer look?

Next to the vending machine above was this beer vending machine:

Thanks to Montreal's Japanese Garden, you can also dress up your flat with labels from Sake bottles. 乾杯!

The garden also do not like Adidas:

In order to enter for this contest to win a trip for two to Italy, you must have basic math skills to solve the problem. I did got the correct answer (it is -2), then I read the fine print about this offer is only valid for Quebec residents.

There is a variety of american airline that can take you there. There is abundance of cheap flights, that make everyone go airlines. The alaskan airlines offer discounts every 2 months, and so do the ata airlines.

Aleksey Vayner's Resume

2006-10-10T21:22:00.000-07:00

videos: veoh & wmv

At first, I thought this video was a parody of some sort, but it is not.

This video is part of Yale student Aleksey Vayner’s resume he sent out to potential employers. Since then, it has been circulating among firms of Wall Street financial sector as well as on various websites as a laughing stock.

The almost seven minutes long video showed Vayner weight lifting, playing tennis, ballroom dancing, and smashes several stacked bricks, while he speaks in monotone about “If you're going to work, work. If you're going to train, train. If you're going to dance, then dance, but do it with passion.”

In his 11-page long written resume, he also claimed to the CEO of his own investment firm (then why did he need employment elsewhere?), has knowledge of Chinese medicine, published a book about the Holocaust titled “Women’s Silent Tears”, one of four people qualified to handle nuclear waste in Connecticut, has been previously employed by both the CIA and mafia, and last but not the least, he gave tennis lessons to Harrison Ford.

Of course, idiots like Vayner would never expect employers to do background checks.

All his claims were false. He even plagiarized his own mission statement from another firm.

(more)

Are you REALLY interested in Diskeeper?

2006-10-03T14:01:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago I downloaded a copy of Diskeeper from their website and gave it a try. Ever since then, I have been getting emails from Diskeeper’s sales person.

www.diskeeper.com

At first I thought, “Wow, how nice of them. They actually care about their customers.”

A few days later, I ran into a problem. Diskeeper was not running and gave me the message of “diskeeper can not initialize”. I called their tech support after went through all the methods in their knowledge base.

They did not have any idea about how to fix it.

Eventually I figured it out myself. Due to a software glitch either in Microsoft Windows XP or Diskeeper, the Windows’ Page File size was set to zero instead of a correct value.

Last Friday, I got another pestering email from Diskeeper’s sales person. I assumed this person was having a bad day when the second sentence in his email was:

“To tell you the truth when I look at the data you left on the Download I don't feel that your particularly interested in Diskeeper for purchase but it is my job to contact you and make sure that the product performed to you satisfaction.”

Here is my reply (I have blackened out his contact information in the pdf file, since he apologized in second email):

Dear Diskeeper Sales Person,

Thank you for all your emails.

Frankly, I am quite annoyed with the way you have been pestering me regarding the demo copy or copies of Diskeeper software I have downloaded. I understand it is part of your job to keep a close contact with potential clients, especially after we have downloaded demo copies of your software. But, when someone does not reply to your inquires, most likely there are three reasons:

1. We are no longer interested in your product. Perhaps your competitors have offered us better deals, or we have found other solutions.

2. We are busy with other projects, replying to your inquire has the lowest priority on our to-do list. If we get really annoyed, a quick "no" reply would only take few seconds.

3. Getting bombarded with "I am just checking in" emails have made your sales-pitch seem desperate, thus forces us to delay our decisions until further evaluation.

When I filled in my contact information in Diskeeper's download page, I did it as professional courtesy. However I did not expect pestering emails like the ones you have sent. They almost sounded like a dumped ex-girlfriend/boyfriend seeking reunification. Clearly we can see who did the actual "dumping".

I am certain that you are a much better sales person than I could ever be, but I thought I would share some tips with you:

1. Don't ever pin the customer into a corner. In sales, when the customer is pinned between making a decision of buying or not buying, unnecessary pressure would push the customer to choose No. The golden rule of sales – The person who has money still in his pocket has the absolute power.

2. Offer alternatives from competitors. This concept may sound dumb, but in practice it is very effective. Since Diskeeper is not the only software out there that does disk defragmentation, in the emails you sent out, you should include information on your competitors' products. Show the customer the weak points and strong points between your product and others. When in doubt, think Progressive, the auto
insurance company.

3. Don't abuse the potential customer contact information. Having a place for customers to filling their contact information is a good way to monitor and collect sales data, but it is a double-edged sword. People communicate with each other fast and often. Many successful businesses are based on the principle of "Word-of-Mouth" advertising. In today's digital age, it is "Word-of-Email" or "Word-of-Blog". Any thing negative or positive about company or product will be public within minutes.

I think I have said enough, or more than what you wanted to hear.

Before I end this, I would like to reply to your original questions. Diskeeper is a good product. There was one instance where I could not run it due to a "diskeeper can not be initialized" error. I have contacted Diskeeper's tech support, but I did not get prompt response. After search on the web, I discovered there is a glitch in either Diskeeper or Microsoft Windows 2000/XP, where the Page File size has changed to zero.

Sincerely,

Tian

Ninja or Pirate

2006-09-23T09:54:00.000-07:00

I took this photo at a local coffee shop on Sept. 19, 2006.

Talk Like A Pirate Day

Related: Ninja Loves Pirate

I want to be a teacher, not!

2006-09-15T12:04:00.000-07:00

I have two close friends who are teachers at two local public schools. One is teaching 8th graders, and the other is teaching high school. Often I would catch glimpse of their work lives through some the stories they share with me.

Both of them have several special-education students in their classrooms as part of an American education program called “Inclusion”. The idea behind “Inclusion” was that if special-education students are integrated into regular classrooms, maybe they will not feel so out of place, other kids would get to know them better, thus less harassment. Keep in mind, some of these special-education students are accompanied with an adult tutor (or keeper) at all times.

That idea looked great on paper, but in practice, it is a freaking disaster.

One of the most infamous stories is one special-education student attending at a local high school has to walk around with both of his hands raised above his head. It looks like he is surrendering on a battle field during WWII, while his keeper follows him around.

The reason for that is because if his hands were not elevated, he would then slip them into his pants and masturbates continuously.

My other friend who teaches 8th graders showed me some of the apology letters she has collected from last year. Although English is not my native language and I have always thought my English grammar is terrible, yet I am amazed by how poorly educated these 8th graders are.

One kid can't even spell words like "whole", "again", "disrespect", "throw", "kicked" correctly.

The Video About Fake Video iPod

2006-09-13T14:57:00.000-07:00

video

Everytime I hear some news hype about Apple's latest product, I am reminded of this video. It was released to the internet earlier this year by a clever prankster showing how he has fooled all major news sources.

New Al Qaeda Recruitment Method

2006-09-08T22:02:00.000-07:00

video

What would happen if the Islamic terrorist organization, Al Qaeda, would recruit for its new members in the same fashion as the Mormons?

Chaser's Report on Religious Shows

2006-09-03T13:55:00.000-07:00

video

I am tired of staying up until the wee hours of the morning, hoping to catch a glimpse of good old Jesus-praising on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, yet disappointed by greedy televangelists and their money begging tactics. Sometimes, they simply do not make any sense what so ever.

Apparently, I am not the only one that has felt this way. Chas and Julian have also noticed this odd trend.

The Yes Men Strikes Again

2006-08-30T12:08:00.000-07:00

Television is one form of media where people get their information from. When reporters are too lazy to do any actual journalistic work, not just filling in the 5-W’s (Who, What, When, Where, Why), we then get stories like this one from CNN about an imposter who fooled Louisiana officials.

video

In CNN’s story, the person in question is only known as “Rene Oswin”. He is really Jacques Servin, also known as Andy Bichlbaum. He is a former employee of Maxis, who was fired after secretly adding code into the game SimCopter, which would cause sprites of males in swimming trunks kissing each other to appear on certain dates. This was not discovered until after the game had been released.

video

Rene, Jacques, or Andy is part of The Yes Men group. The stunt he did in Louisiana is not the first time. My personal favorite is the one when they gave a talk posing as spokespersons for World Trade Organization and McDonald’s.

video

HOWTO: Convert DivX Videos for iPod and Other Formats

2006-08-28T14:54:00.000-07:00

DivX has recently launched its new video sharing site - Stage6. Unlike YouTube, where its videos are small, grainy, and FLV based, Stage6’s videos with .divx file extension are large, smooth, and DivX/AVI based. One other difference is YouTube’s videos can’t be downloaded directly without aid from other tools .

Using the video posted in Stage6 titled “The Loop: Too Much Video Game Violence” as an example,

video

the following is the steps needed for converting a DivX video into other formats, including the iPod's m4v format. Keep in mind, there may be other ways of doing this.

First, install DivX codec and download video from Stage6. In this case, the video file is named 1005720.divx and it is about 64 MB. Since most Audio/Video softwares are unable to understand the .divx file extension, and DivX was derived from .avi file format, change the file name to 1005720.avi.

At this point, video editing softwares like Sony Vegas or CinemaForge can render the original video clip into other formats. For iPod use, the video should be .m4v format with display dimension of 320x240 pixels.

The easiest way to make video compatible for iPod is with Apple’s QuickTime Pro. However, QuickTime does not recognize video encoded with DivX codec.

Using Sony Vegas or CinemaForge, first render video file into .mov format, then use QuickTime Pro to export the iPod compatible .m4v video file.

Update: Jodix's Free iPod Video Converter can convert avi file encoded with DivX directly to mp4 for iPod.

Jiffy Lube Scam

2006-08-28T12:17:00.000-07:00

Los Angeles based news station KNBC did several hidden camera investigations about automotive maintenance chain, Jiffy Lube, and found several of its shops would take customers’ money without perform the services that were paid for.

video

According to the report, Jiffy Lube has been busted in 2003 for fraud, yet the same problem still continues.

Jiffy Lube did react to KNBC’s report with an email stating it is “taking aggressive steps to stop the fraud” and hoping customers would give Jiffy Lube “one more chance”.

I love how Jiffy Lube sends out a “fluffgram” to show their sincerity as if consumers are idiots.

I doubt I have ever been scammed by Jiffy Lube, but after watching this report, I would never take my car to get serviced there.

Adventurous Diner

2006-08-24T21:37:00.000-07:00

video

It seems many Chinese restaurants I have visited in America, most of them would have two sets of menus or two sections. One section has dishes only for the Chinese native, and the other is for everyone else.

It is common knowledge among the Chinese that most non-Chinese would not enjoy traditional Chinese dishes. To be honest, I have never heard nor tasted “Lemon Chicken”, or “Sweet and Sour Pork” until I came to the States.

The gang at Australian comedy show, Chaser’s War on Everything, has done a fantastic job of pointing this fact out with a neat little clip called “Adventurous Diner”.

Snakes in a Theater

2006-08-22T23:36:00.000-07:00

video

Local news reported about the muthafuc*ing poisonous snakes found in a muthafuc*ing movie theater tonight.

No More Stargate SG-1?

2006-08-22T11:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I read on Gateworld.net that one of my favorite Sci-Fi series (perhaps the only Sci-Fi series) Stargate SG-1 will be cancelled after its 10th season.

Frankly, I stopped watching it continuously after season 8 when Richard Dean Anderson (Col. Jack O’Neill) has left the show. Similar to the X-Files, when one of the original characters left the show, it will not going to be the same.

In Stargate SG-1’s 200th episode titled cleverly “200”, Richard Dean Anderson did reappear in the show as General O’Neill. The best part was the puppets, which reminded me of Team America.

video

video

video

I guess this is the end for Stargate SG-1, or is it?

Since Sci-Fi fans were able to bring Firefly/Serenity and Dr. Daniel Jackson back onto the screens big and small, will Stargate SG-1 be resurrected in a later time?