Connexions? We have connections (bis)

Hmm . . . On second thoughts, the slow connection speeds may be because of that Saddam snuff movie. Who knows how many people on a little island in the South China Sea and Hong Kong are watching it?

Mister B? He's giving the death Pron a miss, thank you very much.

Instead, he'll take the word of that little boy in Heart of Darkness: "Mistah Kurtz -- he dead."

And re-test broadband speed, tomorrow: 1 January 2007.

(This post is further to this previous post.)

News Year's Eve? New Year's Day? Anyday!

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Look to this day,
For it is life,
The very life of life.
In its brief course lie all
The realities and verities of existence,
The bliss of growth,
The splendour of action,
The glory of power --

For yesterday is but a dream,
and tomorrow is only a vision,
But today, well lived,
Makes every yesterday a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well, therefore, to this day.
Sanskrit proverb

Dear reader, whoever you are, wherever you are . . . Thanks!

Connexions? We have connections

Connexions? Noun, chiefly British.
Hey-ho: dictionary/thesaurus

Whatever. Looks like Ye Olde Internet web access on a liitle island in the South China Sea is back to "Access all Areas".

However, Mister Bijou is accustomed to DSL broadband at high speeds (averaging 2133kbps on a 3 Mbit/s connection) thanks to his finely-tuned machine. PCCW Netvigator is currently delivering speeds at a trifle over a (dial-up) 56kbps.

Mustn't grumble, et cetera.

For broadband speed tests, google.

Van Morrison: Sweet Thing

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

Last one of the year. What's it to be? Sweet Thing, from the album Astral Weeks. Van Morrison. Nice video, too.

The vid will, however, take an inordinate amount of time to load for those experiencing post-earthquake telecom disorder: youtube

Xinhua's in-house style guide?

Most every mainstream media organization -- be it print, radio, TV, Internet -- has its own in-house style guide.

As the UK's Guardian newspaper explains:

Such guides provide a degree of uniformity in how things are spelt, written and reported.

Guardian online: A-Z style guide

Elsewhere, ESWN has translated into English what purports to be an in-house guide for mainland China's Xinhua. ESWN prefaces the translation as follows:

Warning: The following is a translation of what is purported to be an Xinhua news agency internal list of banned terms for its editorial departments, domestic and international bureaus. There is no guarantee that this is authentic. If this was fabricated, then the person must have studied Xinhua very, very carefully in order to deduce these rules and regulations. Minimallly, the author is an insider.

The phrase "banned terms" is ESWN's translation, presumably, of the original Chinese. Is the guide genuine? Whatever it is, the "Xinhua news agency internal list of banned terms" proves to be an interesting, mostly pleasantly surprising, and revealing read: ESWN

Mister Bijou can also recommend: The Economist (magazine's) Style Guide, which is based on its own in-house manual: amazon

Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein, a CIA-asset from 1959 to 1991, was hung "by the neck until dead" somewhere in Baghdad at just before 6am this morning.

President of Iraq from 16 July 1979, Saddam was a brutal, murderous dictator until he was quickly deposed following the US-led invasion of Iraq that began 9 April 2003.

Fortunately for some, Saddam went to his grave carrying with him many secrets. Most especially, details of the workings of what had been a positive and supportive relationship with a string of US governments over a forty-year period. Saddam was America's man in the region. He was one of the many dictators about whom US government officials could say: "He may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of bitch".

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein greets Donald Rumsfeld, then special envoy of President Ronald Reagan, in Baghdad on December 20, 1983.

That is, until Saddam became more of a liability than an asset.

For an overview of Saddam Hussein's relationship with the US . . . Thanks for the Memories (sung by Bing Crosby): bushwack

For those who care, Mister Bijou is against capital punishment. So it goes.

Hong Kong: The connection has timed out

After Tuesday's undersea earthquake off southern Taiwan, IDD phone services were very quickly re-established. Email, too. But for Internet users in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, and a little island in the South China Sea, accessing web sites hosted on Ye Olde Internet outside of one's respective home base has usually achieved the following:

The connection has timed out

Locally, PCCW and Hutchison Global Communications, the two largest telecom companies herabouts, have focused firstly on their business dedicated-line users. No surprise there. But even for residential users, things are marginally better today than they were yesterday: one percent is now five percent successful connections.

Six of the seven undersea data cables that serve Hong Kong are kaput. Four mainland China undersea cables are also kaput. It takes till Tuesday for the cable ships from Singapore and somewhere else to reach the damage zone, before they can even begin the task of repairing one cable and then another.

Even with IDD running and email tickety-boo, Mister Bijou wonders how this communication breakdown will impact on the just-in-time manufacturing output of the Pearl River Delta. Hey! Perhaps they'll eventually have to shut up shop and we will be graced with a New Year that debuts smog-free.

Anyway, all of the above is mindful that Tuesday's Taiwan earthquake occurred on the second anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami. That whatever inconvenience there is hereabouts, is nothing compared to what the people caught up in that 2004 tsunami suffered.

Eye | Land | View

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Commerce and conversation on the waterfront

Next time Mister Bijou is in the vicinity, he will use fill-in flash to lighten things up a tad. Live and learn . . . Anyway, those wicker trays with mounds of mysterious dried stuff, yes, they sit on inverted plastic stools. Neat idea, eh?

Eye | Land | View

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blue laundry

Hong Kong: Earthquake . . . update on the impact on Hong Kong telecomunications

The following is an update by the (Hong Kong Government) Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) as at 11am today (December 28) on the impact on external telecommunication services due to the earthquake near Taiwan on December 26: info.gov.hk

Of note:

Latest Service Status:
Operators have implemented contingency plans and arrange re-routing of the traffic via all other cables which are still in service. At present, voice call services including IDD calls and roaming calls to most of the countries/territories except for Taiwan have nearly resumed normal. However, Internet access to overseas web sites is still congested.

Repairing Status:
Two submarine cable maintenance ships from Singapore and the Philippines are on the way to the scene. Three more ships will depart today.

In general, it requires about five to seven days to repair the cables. However, due to the earthquake, the seabed may have been damaged and there may be further earthquakes that will affect the maintenance work.

Ends/Thursday, December 28, 2006
Issued at HKT 12:39

According to RTHK, Hong Kong is served by seven undersea cables, six have been knocked out.

Update. Oh, the latest OFTA report confirms six out seven . . .

Hong Kong: Earthquake. . . Netvigator?

Statement about the impact on telecommunications of the Taiwan earthquake already from (among others) Hong Kong's Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) and Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank (HSBC).

Here is the statement on the front page Hong Kong's largest Internet service provider, PCCW's Netvigator:

[This Space Intentionally Left Blank]

Yeah, Mister Bijou previously mentioned it in a previous post: "Nothing whatsover, however, on the front page of Hong Kong biggest ISP Netvigator, except the usual service promotions. No surprise there, though."

But Mister B thought it deserved its own dedicated post.

Oh, and Wikipedia is inaccessible. Time to go to bed.


Update. Please read Comments.
Thank you.

Hong Kong: Earthquake . . .HSBC online banking services

HSBC Online Services:

Customers may experience problems in accessing online services

Following the recent earthquake near Taiwan yesterday evening (December 26), submarine cables that serve phone and other telecommunications needs such as the Internet for residential and corporate customers in Hong Kong have experienced significant disruptions. Under this situation, customers may encounter difficulty in accessing Business Internet Banking, HSBCnet and eReceivable Finance services. Our own efforts and efforts of our third-party suppliers will continue until all services are fully restored.

If you encounter delays in using online services and have urgent or critical transactions today, please submit your instructions through alternative means. Should you require any assistance, please call our service hotline on 2748-8222.

I suppose a little island in the South China Sea's three ATMs belonging to HSBC are working, aren't they? That's something to discover after the sun comes up.

Hong Kong: Earthquake . . . OFTA statement

(Hong Kong's) OFTA Statement on Telecommunications Services Affected by Submarine Cable Damages Caused by Earthquakes near Taiwan:

In response to public and media enquiries about external telecommunications services after the earthquakes near Taiwan last night, the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) confirmed today (December 27, Wednesday) that external telecommunications services in Hong Kong, including Internet access to overseas websites, IDD calls and roaming calls had been affected by the earthquakes.

"Due to a series of earthquakes south-southeast of Gaoxiong, Taiwan at around 1226 UTC on 26 December 2006, a number of submarine cables passing over the earthquake region were damaged. According to the reports submitted to OFTA by operators, telecommunications users have been facing severe congestion in a number of external services," said an OFTA spokesperson.

Because of the extent of the damages, the congestion is expected to continue for a few days. The operators are now taking emergency measures to maximize the throughput of the existing facilities and using alternative routings to pass the traffic through other directions.

"Operators of the submarine cables have also arranged urgent repairs of the damaged cables. It is expected that some of the submarine cables will take at least five days to repair. OFTA has been liaising closely with all external telecommunications service operators and monitoring the progress," added the spokesperson.

She also advised the general public to minimize non-essential Internet access to overseas websites and not to repeat making non-urgent overseas calls immediately after failures on the call attempts.

Office of the Telecommunications Authority
27 December 2006

Nothing whatsover, however, on the front page of Hong Kong biggest ISP Netvigator, except the usual service promotions. No surprise there, though.

Hong Kong: Earthquake -- on-line is mostly off-line

Websites hosted in Hong Kong are working, as is to be expected. Those include Hong Kong Government, Hong Kong Observatory and Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK). Also up and running is "do no evil" google.

And -- as you can see -- yours truly, Mister Bijou, whose blog is hosted by google on one of its (who-knows-where?) server farms.

But google is currently not much good for anything, except to look at. It is unscientific, I know, but Mister Bijou research shows that ninety-nine percent of all links are currently inaccessible via google search and google news.

Direct links? You want some examples? Well, the BBC website is very, very slow. The Guardian front page comes up, eventually. But click on anything on the Guardian's front page and nothing returns. New York Times? Forget it!

Is anyone out there in the outside world able to access Hong Kong websites? For instance, Hong Kong Observatory.

Ah, well, the international bankers, stock traders, accountants, manufacturers, money makers and other wallahs based in Hong Kong are now severely disabled and screaming to high heaven. Which means it should not take too long for data transmissions and normal service "to be resumed as soon as possible" . . . money talks.

Hong Kong: Earthquake affects on-line life

That earthquake off the southeastern coast of Taiwan last night damaged the at least six transnational (or more) sea-bed internet pipes to North America.

Since much of the data traffic to and from a little island in the South China Sea is routed via Hong Kong and North America -- yes, even traffic to UK and Europe -- accessing much of the on-line world is very slow or and most is plain inaccessible.

Email seems to be OK. But life on-line is currently severely curtailed. See you later!

Hong Kong: Earthquake

Radio Television Hong Kong reports:

A pair of powerful earthquakes off the coast of Taiwan sparked warnings of a destructive tsunami possibly hitting the Philippines yesterday evening, but the expected waves did not materialise. The Hong Kong Observatory said the first quake, measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale, occurred at 8:28 pm., and that its epicentre was over the Luzon Strait, about 97 kilometres south-southeast of Gaoxiong. A second quake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale was recorded about nine minutes after the first. The quakes were felt by many people in southern China and Hong Kong. Several listeners called RTHK to say they had felt a tremor at around 8:37, and the effect was also noticed by at least two RTHK staff members in Broadcasting House.

Broadcasting House? That's Kowloonside, a world away. Ha! The shock waves must have finally dissipated there. For Mister Bijou on a little island in the South China Sea at around 8:37 pm, the earth neither shuddered, shimmied nor shook, earthquakes or other tremblers nothwithstanding.

Eye | Land | View

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On a little island in the South China Sea, for good or ill, there are small but significant Roman Catholic and various Evangelical congregations.

Christmas Eve? Several separate groups of carol singers, one after the other, doing mostly the same songs in Cantonese and English, in the square for ten or fifteen minutes before moving on elsewhere. Later, at the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass, the Catholic church is packed to overflowing with Filipino domestic helpers.

The Evangelicals, on the other hand, draw their support from within the local population and like to parade around the island. Christmas Day evening, they did a major procession along the waterfront: a fairy-light train featuring Father Christmas.

Mister Bijou's Christmas? Some wonderful presents followed by a great Christmas lunch on the roof at Mike, Wai-fong and Charlie's. As usual, there were a dozen or us and the sun shone. Brill!

Hong Kong: I Ching, Book of Changes

Whoops, a day late.

Hexagram 30, 離 Li / The Clinging, Fire -> Hexagram 7, 師 Shih / The Army
Source: afpc

James Brown R.I.P.

Damn.

For Mister Bijou, there were two James Browns: one who did the funk stuff such as Night Train, Papa's Got A Brand New Bag, Say it Loud -- I'm Black and I'm Proud, I Got You (I Feel Good). The other JB did ballads, mostly in the early 1960s late 1950s. Emotion tuggers such as Please, Please, Please, Try Me, It's a Man's Man's Man's World (1966).

JB's funk stuff laid the templates for much that followed and has since been sampled to death. But (apart from the above-mentioned standouts) much of his music had a sameyness, one song sounded much like another on record to Mister B's ear. Though live, live, James Brown was just sensational. And mighty good too pounding out of a real good club sound system.

But the ballads, oh, the ballads. Mister B long ago saw a film of JB at the Apollo, his rendition of Please, Please, Please was, how to say, once seen, never forgotten.

Anyway, here is JB One and Two, accompanied by British soulsinger Joss Stone. The clip is brill:



JB, thanks.

Eye | Land | View

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Late afternoon, sitting out on the public ferry pier. The old lady in the foreground is the one who caught my eye. It was only after Mister Bijou got home he saw the woman in the background. Who is she? No idea.