Woo Hoo! Sucks to be a Knicks fan!

Yup! I think that pretty much sums it up. Larry, Isiah, Steph, Stevie... GOOD LUCK and GOOD NIGHT!

What is your malfunction, Koizumi?

Dear Prime Minister Koizumi,

Why must you insist on making your neighbors mad? Do you enjoy pissing off Chinese and Korean people? Must you visit the war shrine that honors war criminals while you are still Prime Minister of Japan?

I know that you said you visit the shrine not as PM, but as a normal citizen. Surely you aren't so naive to believe that you can suddenly escape from the role of PM whenever you please. You claim that while you visit the shrine, you do not represent the people of Japan. Surely you aren't stupid enough to believe that the rest of the world isn't watching or paying attention to your every move while you visit the shrine.

Well let me be one of the hundreds of millons of people to tell you that you are hurting the relationship between your people and the rest of the world. You are especially hurting those people who were hurt by your ancestors less than a century ago; many whom are still alive today.

Here is my suggestion for you. It is very simple, and it won't cost you a thing. Move the war crimminals out of the shrine. I don't know how you're supposed to do that, and frankly I don't care. You being such a smart guy, I'm sure you'll be able to pull it off. Cut ties with the war crimminals before you cause even more trouble than you already have. Rest assured, you will still be able to visit your precious shrine.

On that note... you being such a bright fellow, I'm sure you've thought of my idea before. I'm sure you've surrounded yourself with intelligent people who have thought of, and suggested that you might consider this plan to soothe international relations. So what I don't understand is: why you haven't done it.

Prime Minister Koizumi, that leads me to ask you with the utmost sincerity: what is your malfunction?

Best regards,
IsThatABear dot com

Z Gundam III: Love is the Pulse of the Stars

The trailor to the third and final episode to Z Gundam A New Translation.

Kudos to Google Chat

I had my doubts about Google Chat. I actually never use programs like ICQ, AIM, MSN, or even Trillian anymore because I just don't have the time. I love how Google Chat is integrated into Gmail. It saves space, it saves memory, and it is perfect for me because I keep Gmail open all the time.

If this continues, Google will simply take over the world. We will be ruled by technology, and webtech will be ruled by Google. It is amazing how Google can take an existing idea and make it better.

Gmail: not only keeping email free, but giving users 1 gig of memory right off the bat was great. Gmail is no nonsense, and it doesn't waste time.

Google Maps: not only useful, but fun to use. Google Earth is like nothing we've ever seen.

Google Desktop, Picasa, Blogger... one great program after another, and they're all free.

Okay Google, you've got me. I'm a believer.

Japanese Foood

www.flickr.com

Immediate 0.1% Return

Today in the mail, I received this "promotional offer" from my bank, HSBC. All I had to do was deposit an additional HK$100,000 into my savings account. They would then reward me with a HK$100 coupon for ParkNShop, my local supermarket. The catch is that I need to keep that $100K in my account past the month of March. Hmm...

[sarcasm]How can I possibly pass up this deal! I get an immediate 0.1% return, and with all that money just sitting in my super low return savings account, I'll be a rich man in oh... err... 100 years![/sarcasm]

Okay, what the hell are they thinking? This "offer" works for no one. Most people in Hong Kong don't have $100K to throw around, so they wouldn't be able to even consider this. Those who do have that kind of money just lying around wouldn't give a second thought to a $100 supermarket coupon.

These people in marketing need to get their act together.

Let's plan for a ban!

The Hong Kong government has finally had the balls to push for a smoking ban scheduled to start in January 2007. As far as I know, all restaurants and bars that are open to minors will ban smoking. Naturally, places where minors are not allowed such as night clubs and discos will still allow smoking until a further ban in 2009. That's fine with me cause I never go to those places anyways. If all goes well, all the places that I do go to eat an drink will be smoke free.

It looks like they are still debating over this issue. I continue to find it unbelievable. I was watching part of the debate they were having on TV the other day:

There's the pro smoking ban side that mostly consists of doctors, health professionals, and rights groups. Their reasoning is pretty obvious. Second hand smoke kills the customer, and even more so, the employee. A workplace with second hand smoke is a hazardous work environment. A deeper issue is that the large number of lung cancer patients is costing a lot of money to treat. The numbers indeed show that a good portion of the patients are ex-workers from smokey restaurants or bars.

The other side that is against the smoking ban is made up of restaurant owners and employees. They worry that with the smoking ban in place, the will lose all their business and with that, their jobs. Yeah... uh-huh... its soooo obvious that once smoking is not allowed, smokers will stop going out to eat, stop getting massages, and stop consuming alcohol. I'm sure they'll all hide in their homes and puff away there out of bitterness, blah blah... Don't give me that shit.

Why is Hong Kong so behind in the times?! Can't we be a pioneer for once? It took us years to start using unleaded fuel. It took us forever before we started recycling. Hong Kong is one of the most modern cities in the world, yet it can't join the rest of the civilized world and ban such an ugly and outdated habit.

Cathay Pacific

I don't normally take Cathay, mainly because their prices are outrageous. This time I really had no choice since it was a Cathay vacation package...

First of all, who would want to take Cathay?

1. Their airline tickets cost nearly double that of their competition. Every time I try to book for flights from Hong Kong to Taiwan, the CX flights are in the $3000 range, while China and Eva are around $1500+.
   
2. Their mileage program is really stingy. You need a boatload of miles to get the shortest flights in economy. I'm not sure whether its easy to exchange the miles, cause I can never accumulate enough to actually trade them in.
3. Cathay is notorious in Asia for mistreating their employees. They are constantly getting sued by staff and former staff for one type of mistreatment or another.
   
4. The food sucks. Thanks to Betty, we got upgraded on the leg over to business class. Bigger seats, free champagne, but the same crappy food. Definitely sub-par compared to any other airline I've been on.
   

Then again... all the movies on Cathay are uncensored! Plenty of sex, nudity, violence, and foul language. Now I know why they cost so much. Cheers Cathay! Thanks for keeping me occupied throughout the flight.