The girl with the dragon tattoo (or something)
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Eye | Land | View
It's the 15th night of the seventh month in the traditional Chinese calendar: Hungry Ghost Festival.
Time to light some incense and burn paper offerings.
Manila hostage debacle
Philippine police say hostage rescue team ill-prepared: reuters
Other than that . . . what else is there to say except: condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of those who lost their lives in Manila.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Hong Kong vs. Pakistan flood
Nifty, huh? To see what the Pakistan flood area would look like elsewhere on the planet, punch in the town/city of your choice: BBC Dimensions
Also: The Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Charlie Chaplin: Modern Times
For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.
Chaplin and Paulette Goddard set off down the road to Happy Destiny . . .
Chaplin and Paulette Goddard set off down the road to Happy Destiny . . .
Friday, August 20, 2010
Pakistan: A Lifetime, Washed Away
Read this poignant article by Daniyal Mueendin and you may want to reach for a donation button: NYT
Here' s a couple:
Hong Kong msf donation online
Oxfam Hong Kong donation online
By the way, Hong Kong Government's Disaster Relief Fund has in the last couple of months approved grants for flood relief in Gansu province, China of approximately HK$22.33 million and is now seeking to provide a further HK$50 million.
To date, the Disaster Relief Fund has approved grants for relief in Pakistan of HK$5.3 million.
Now the impulse to aid "compatriots' is understandable.
But given the fact at leasteight million 15+ million Pakistanis are now wholly destitute, that many find themselves with little or no shelter, hungry, bereft of a safe supply of drinking water while vulnerable to water-borne diseases, that five million dollars is not going to go very far.
These are at leasteight million 15+ million people who have lost homes, chattels, property, and loved ones. Their infrastructure has been washed away and they are saddled with what is, in the main, a venal, corrupt, incompetent political class.
Eight million Fifteen plus million people are living among ruins, their own lives ruined. So, perhaps the DRF could look at quickly increasing the amount of money it is feeding to relief agencies who are on the ground in Pakistan.
Yes?
Here' s a couple:
Hong Kong msf donation online
Oxfam Hong Kong donation online
By the way, Hong Kong Government's Disaster Relief Fund has in the last couple of months approved grants for flood relief in Gansu province, China of approximately HK$22.33 million and is now seeking to provide a further HK$50 million.
To date, the Disaster Relief Fund has approved grants for relief in Pakistan of HK$5.3 million.
Now the impulse to aid "compatriots' is understandable.
But given the fact at least
These are at least
"The loss of property, however, is catastrophic. It is as if a neutron bomb exploded overhead, but instead of killing the people and leaving their houses intact, it piled trees upon the houses and swept away the villages and crops and animals, leaving the people alive."
Yes?
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
Lifestyles of the Rich and Tyrannical
An occasional series.
South China Morning Post's edition on Sunday featured a front cover photo of the corrupt, brutal and murderously ruthless president of the broken country of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe.
Watched over by some of his own barrel-chested goons as well as sharply-dressed members of the Hong Kong Police VIP Protection Unit, Mugabe was apparently buying some shoes in a store in Harbour Centre, Tsim Sha Tsui.
The shopping tour followed a visit to Beijing for "talks" and Shanghai for the World Expo.
No mention of where he is staying, but probably it's a five-star hotel rather than the high-end property at House No 3, JC Castle, 18 Shan Tong Road, Tai Po. The house is one in in a development put together by the also unsavoury entertainment/property/darkside tycoon Albert Yeung.
Mugabe is reported to have paid HK$45.24 million (US$5.8m) in June, 2008 for the house in the New Territories. A daughter Bona is studying accountancy at City University of Hong Kong.
Mugabe is reported to be paid US$58,000 per year as president.
No mention in the SCMP of Mugabe's wife, "Gucci" Grace. Perhaps she's keeping a low profile. One wonders why. She was, after all, let off the hook by the Hong Kong Government last year after she decked a British photographer.
Mugabe and "Gucci" Grace are among a number of high-level Zimbabweans who are persona non grata in the EU and US.
But the world is wide and Mugabe is welcome in places like China and Hong Kong.
The author W Somerset Maugham once characterised the principality of Monaco on the Côte d'Azur as a "sunny place for shady people".
Mugabe's visit to Hong Kong, a place that has its own undoubted advantages and charms, is a reminder that it too is, among other things, also a sunny place for shady people.
South China Morning Post's edition on Sunday featured a front cover photo of the corrupt, brutal and murderously ruthless president of the broken country of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe.
Watched over by some of his own barrel-chested goons as well as sharply-dressed members of the Hong Kong Police VIP Protection Unit, Mugabe was apparently buying some shoes in a store in Harbour Centre, Tsim Sha Tsui.
The shopping tour followed a visit to Beijing for "talks" and Shanghai for the World Expo.
No mention of where he is staying, but probably it's a five-star hotel rather than the high-end property at House No 3, JC Castle, 18 Shan Tong Road, Tai Po. The house is one in in a development put together by the also unsavoury entertainment/property/darkside tycoon Albert Yeung.
Mugabe is reported to have paid HK$45.24 million (US$5.8m) in June, 2008 for the house in the New Territories. A daughter Bona is studying accountancy at City University of Hong Kong.
Mugabe is reported to be paid US$58,000 per year as president.
No mention in the SCMP of Mugabe's wife, "Gucci" Grace. Perhaps she's keeping a low profile. One wonders why. She was, after all, let off the hook by the Hong Kong Government last year after she decked a British photographer.
Mugabe and "Gucci" Grace are among a number of high-level Zimbabweans who are persona non grata in the EU and US.
But the world is wide and Mugabe is welcome in places like China and Hong Kong.
The author W Somerset Maugham once characterised the principality of Monaco on the Côte d'Azur as a "sunny place for shady people".
Mugabe's visit to Hong Kong, a place that has its own undoubted advantages and charms, is a reminder that it too is, among other things, also a sunny place for shady people.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Roger Ebert: Traveler to the undiscovere'd country
American film critic Roger Ebert on Christopher Hitchens, illness, medicine, religion, and death: Roger Ebert
Ebert's title "Traveler to the undiscovere'd country" is inspired, of course, by a couple of lines in Hamlet's famous soliloquy in William Shakespeare's play The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: Act III, Scene I
Ebert's title "Traveler to the undiscovere'd country" is inspired, of course, by a couple of lines in Hamlet's famous soliloquy in William Shakespeare's play The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: Act III, Scene I
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Monday, August 09, 2010
Saturday, August 07, 2010
Thursday, August 05, 2010
Sunglasses + syphilis
Who knew there was a connection between sunglasses and syphilis?
Mister B didn't.
But all is revealed . . . thanks to this great article about sunglasses (ancient and modern) in The Economist's lifestyle magazine: intelligent life
Mister B didn't.
But all is revealed . . . thanks to this great article about sunglasses (ancient and modern) in The Economist's lifestyle magazine: intelligent life
Sunday, August 01, 2010
Not Dark Yet
There have been no posts this past week because Mister B's trusty little camera (a Canon G7) has started having focusing problems, and so has Mister B.
Currently, both problems have no easy solutions.
Still, it's not dark yet.
For the meantime, posts are liable to be episodic at best.
Best wishes and thanks to you all.
Currently, both problems have no easy solutions.
Still, it's not dark yet.
For the meantime, posts are liable to be episodic at best.
Best wishes and thanks to you all.
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