Tuesday, June 28, 2005
New Internet Scam
I was trying to sell my 1.5 year old Dell Inspiron 1100, since I have bought a new Inspiron 2200 with a lot more memory and hopefully faster CPU. So I did thousands if not millions of people did, put an ad on Craig's List, and pray for a buyer to show up.
Surprisingly quickly, within 1/2 an hour of my ad, I got 'an interest buyer' with this message:
URGENTLY NEEDED Dell Inspiron 1100 Laptop/Celeron 2.3G/256MB/30GB/DVD+CDRW/14.1TFT
Soon after that, I got similar replies like:
Hello Sir,
I saw your item place on craigslist and i have being looking for this type of product for a long time for my business oiutfit, so i want to know if it is currently available for sales and i want to
know the actual price . So pls get back to me if you are willing to Transact with me.
Furthermore, I live in Alaska but i will be shipping it ternationaly to my boss whom the company send on a course adroad.
Moreover, i will be organising the payment through via POSTAL MONEY ORDER UPON DELIVERY. So please keep in touch.
Thanks,
There are just too much similarities between those replies, and THAT helped me a lot. This feels too much like the Nigeria Scam. What did I end up doing? I forward them to abuse@yahoo.com, and got this reply from Yahoo:
Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Mail.
In this particular case, we have taken appropriate action against the
Yahoo! account in question that was reported for fraudulent activities,
as per our Terms of Service (TOS).
Basically it means they were zapped.
Surprisingly quickly, within 1/2 an hour of my ad, I got 'an interest buyer' with this message:
URGENTLY NEEDED Dell Inspiron 1100 Laptop/Celeron 2.3G/256MB/30GB/DVD+CDRW/14.1TFT
Hello,
Am so glad to meet your items here on line,i hereby inquire to purchase your item if you are willing to ship to my client in African, i will be making payment via paypal,greenzap, or if there is any other method you will like me to use,i will like you to mail me your paypal account to effect the payment.And the total cost of the item including shipping cost to African, so i can make the payment immediately.
Regards.
Soon after that, I got similar replies like:
Hello Sir,
I saw your item place on craigslist and i have being looking for this type of product for a long time for my business oiutfit, so i want to know if it is currently available for sales and i want to
know the actual price . So pls get back to me if you are willing to Transact with me.
Furthermore, I live in Alaska but i will be shipping it ternationaly to my boss whom the company send on a course adroad.
Moreover, i will be organising the payment through via POSTAL MONEY ORDER UPON DELIVERY. So please keep in touch.
Thanks,
There are just too much similarities between those replies, and THAT helped me a lot. This feels too much like the Nigeria Scam. What did I end up doing? I forward them to abuse@yahoo.com, and got this reply from Yahoo:
Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Mail.
In this particular case, we have taken appropriate action against the
Yahoo! account in question that was reported for fraudulent activities,
as per our Terms of Service (TOS).
Basically it means they were zapped.
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Spam filtering
I have been getting lots of spam emails at work lately, much more than I got from my Yahoo address and my Gmail address. After talking to our NT support people, I got to appreciate a lot more on my 'free' email services provided by Yahoo and Google.
I had my yahoo email address for about 11 years now, and gmail for over a year. And I don't actively delete my spam folder, even though occasionally I visit that folder to make sure there are no victims (so far I have to say they both did a wonderful job).
As of today, I have 2403 mails in my Yahoo spam folder, and 1725 mails under my Gmail Spam label (Google's term, similar to folder, but much easier to use, instead of moving them, you simply label them), with many of them were forwarded from my failure isp email address.
I had my yahoo email address for about 11 years now, and gmail for over a year. And I don't actively delete my spam folder, even though occasionally I visit that folder to make sure there are no victims (so far I have to say they both did a wonderful job).
As of today, I have 2403 mails in my Yahoo spam folder, and 1725 mails under my Gmail Spam label (Google's term, similar to folder, but much easier to use, instead of moving them, you simply label them), with many of them were forwarded from my failure isp email address.
Thursday, June 09, 2005
Tabbed Browsing on IE
On MSN Search's weblog, it announced: "You asked for it, we told you it was coming and now it’s here! Happy to let you know Tabs are now available as part of the MSN Search Toolbar with Windows Desktop Search", then it went on to explain "how great tabbed browsing is".
Tabbed browsing is something I have been using for at least 3 years now, with various browser, Opera, and later Firefox. After a little research, it turned out that this was actually in place for over 5 years now.
Microsoft's answer to 'tabbed browsing' does not come without a price, it's not an IE upgrade, it's a plugin. You have to install the MSN Search Toolbar to get it.
So, has Microsft IE caught up on the latest browser technology? Sort of...
Tabbed browsing is something I have been using for at least 3 years now, with various browser, Opera, and later Firefox. After a little research, it turned out that this was actually in place for over 5 years now.
Microsoft's answer to 'tabbed browsing' does not come without a price, it's not an IE upgrade, it's a plugin. You have to install the MSN Search Toolbar to get it.
So, has Microsft IE caught up on the latest browser technology? Sort of...
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Taiwan - Beitou - ChuanTang Hotspring
Taiwan - Beitou - Hot Springs
北 投 (Beitou) is famous for its hot spring spa business. Half way up in the mountain, you will see lots of hot spring businesses, apparently the competition was tough. People in my hotel told me that prices among these hot springs can be wildly different, you can take a bath in some spas for as little as NT$150 (US$5), however, some of them could cost you an arm and leg, for example, the famous 春天酒店 (Spring City Resort), it's NT$800 (US$26) per use or NT$600 (US$19) per HOUR! depending on which setup you choose. And if you want to have dinner there, they will want your other arm and leg.
Taiwan - YangMingShan - Chinese Cultural University
This is Taipei Chinese Cultural University, I'd be feeling so lucky to be on top of YangMingShan, it's like you can meditate on top of a mountain all the time.
Taiwan - YangMingShan
YangMingShan is dominated by the Datun Volcanic Range. The area is rich in volcanic geology, with pyroclastic cones and bell-shaped volcanos, crater lakes, solfataras, and hot springs, not only making it another attraction to many tourists, but also it's a place visited by many local hotspring lovers.
This page in Chinese explains quite well all the hotsprings in Taiwan, including YangMingShan and Beitou.
Taiwan - YangMingShan - Front Gate
This is the famous YangMingShan, I was about to take a closer picture, but was blocked by the security guard "No! Can't go in! Stay there!"
So I had to 'stay in front of it' and take this picture. In case you don't read Chinese, the slogans on the board say:
"Love Taiwan, Protect our Home!"
"Loyal to ROC, Protect Tai(wan), Peng(hu), Jin(men), Ma(zhu)"
"All nation supports three Military Purchase Bills"
Reminds me of a doggerel that's popular in China:
不到北京，不知道官小；
不到东北，不知道自己胆小；
不到上海，不知道自己穿得不好；
不到深圳，不知道自己钱少；
不到台湾﹐不知道文革还在搞。
It's saying:
You won't know your rank, until you come to Beijing;
You won't know you are coward, until you come to Dongbei (NorthEast of China, known for gutsy people);
You won't know you are out of fashion, until you come to Shanghai;
You won't know you are pool, until you come to ShenZhen;
You won't know that Cultural Revolution is still going on, until you come to Taiwan.
There you go, Welcome to Taiwan, the 34th province of China, or the 51st state of United States, depending on how you look at it.
Taiwan - YangMingShan
I was quite naive to think that I could take public transportation, such as MRT, local buses to get to some good hotsprings in YangMingShan, and see some good scenes for the limited time I had in Taipei. I am glad I didn't do that, and I am glad that I was so fortunate to have a very warmhearted Taiwanese friend to take me around in YangMingShan. With its winding road, and tricky turns, I am not sure I would be able to get back to my hotel had I gone by myself, especially it was raining on and off that day.
There are companies providing tour service though, such as Edision Travel Service and Huei Fong Travel Service, with prices around NT$1,200/person for half a day to take you around YangMingShan National Park and Hotsprings.
Sunday, June 05, 2005
Jetlag
I guess I was too excited about my Taiwan trip, it's literally 11 days after the landing in SFO, somehow I still managed to wake up at 5 o'clock in the morning.
This was the first time I had good sleep on the airplane, two guys sitting by me seemed to know the stewardess, they moved to a separate isle right after boarding. Giving me the whole 3 seats at my disposal. I was able to sleep about 3+3+2 hours out of a whole 11-hour flight, the first time I have ever done so on long international flight, I even skipped the first meal.
Because of that, the first night and the first day at work seemed to be quite good, then after that, it was all downhill for me, 3am, 4am, 5am... By the time I remembered my expired Melatonin, my jetlag was for sure almost passed. Maybe I will remember that next time.
This was the first time I had good sleep on the airplane, two guys sitting by me seemed to know the stewardess, they moved to a separate isle right after boarding. Giving me the whole 3 seats at my disposal. I was able to sleep about 3+3+2 hours out of a whole 11-hour flight, the first time I have ever done so on long international flight, I even skipped the first meal.
Because of that, the first night and the first day at work seemed to be quite good, then after that, it was all downhill for me, 3am, 4am, 5am... By the time I remembered my expired Melatonin, my jetlag was for sure almost passed. Maybe I will remember that next time.
Thursday, June 02, 2005
李敖原来就是聊
李敖的拼音是 li'ao, 不小心就会看成是liao，‘聊’是也。这也难怪，这个名字非他莫属。那神聊也是给他安排的，应是‘神李敖’。
其实中文里这种容易混淆的拼音并不很 多，有名的也就是‘西安’要写成 xi'an，而已。 不过依此类推, 李安 li'an也可以是‘联’或‘恋’或‘炼’了。那我干脆叫“齐安” （qi'an）好了，那不就成了‘钱’了吗？或者叫惕安 ti'an，就成了‘天’了，哈哈，有姓‘惕’的吗？
其实中文里这种容易混淆的拼音并不很 多，有名的也就是‘西安’要写成 xi'an，而已。 不过依此类推, 李安 li'an也可以是‘联’或‘恋’或‘炼’了。那我干脆叫“齐安” （qi'an）好了，那不就成了‘钱’了吗？或者叫惕安 ti'an，就成了‘天’了，哈哈，有姓‘惕’的吗？
What would we do if we go to heaven
We will be watching some kind of video tapes with God of what he did all these 1000s of years, no, 100s of 1000s of years, oh, no, there is no time concept there, we have all the time we need, just keep watching the tapes, no, it's not even tapes, they would be DVDs, no, they would not even be DVDs, they would be much better than DVDs; they would be 3-D, no, they would be even better than 3-D, they would just be real happening. Then our heavenly father would be explaining to us one by one: This was how much hurt this person got from you; this was why she didn't keep that commitment she made to you; this was how you could do better; this was what I liked about you so much that I gave you that reward.....
I will look forward to that day with my creator...
I will look forward to that day with my creator...
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Taiwan - Taipei 101 - Bird's eye view
Taiwan - Taipei 101 - Sun YaNational Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Halltsen Memorial Hall
Taiwan - Taipei 101 - Buildings around it
Taipei International Convention Center on the left-top corner, Taipei World Trade Center (big cyan building on the bottom-left) and Hyatt Hotel on the bottom-right corner.
Taiwan - Taipei 101 - Fastest elevator in the world, captured !
According to numerous articles on the internet, like this one, Taipei 101's Toshiba-made elevator holds the current Guinness World Records for Fastest Elevator, it's certified at a maximum speed of 1010 m/minute (60.6 kilometers per hour), and I was really lucky to be able to capture that without knowing. My camera has an recharge cycle of about 4-5 seconds after each flash, and you can see in this picture, at about floor 57, it reached its full speed, and that's only about 20 seconds. It finally reached the Observation Decks in 37 seconds.
It was indeed amazingly fast, and relatively stable, with only slight shaking during the course, you can probably see it from the picture as well, I did not use flash in this picture, as I did in the previous picture, which turned out overexposed.
Taiwan - Taipei 101 - Observatory Decks
Taiwan - Taipei 101 - Interior
The interior of Taipei 101 is also very elegantly designed, the warm orange tone of the lights give a warm ambience to the whole shopping area. The open designs and somewhat irregular shapes of openings give you a great perspective of its space. Of course you only see high-end stores there, which does not stimulate much of my purchasing will, but hay, that's just me (oh, and you may notice quite a few people on the picture that were like me), I am sure they got enough business to open a store there.
Taiwan - Taipei 101
It's quite challenging to take a great picture of the whole Taipei 101, especially with my limited 'point and shoot' digicam. This is just a picture with the lower floors to get an idea of some details and decor.
One thing I noticed (and very annoying) was, the underground garage is right by the main entrance, and there are 2-3 guys with uniforms organizing the traffic, they were using a whistle (similar to the ones you hear all the time at some San Francisco hotels to summon cab drivers) combined with hand gestures. So walking on the overpass from New York, New York to Taipei 101, about 1/2 miles away, you just heard the noisy whistling all the time.
Taiwan - Taipei 101 - Architecture
The design of Taipei 101 borrows heavily from Chinese culture. Both the building’s interior and exterior incorporate the Chinese pagoda form and the shape of bamboo flowers. The lucky number eight, which means blooming or success, is represented by the eight clearly delineated exterior sections of the building.
Taiwan - Taipei 101 - The tallest building in the world (for now)
Taipei 101 has 101 stories above ground, hence the name. Many people don't know it also has 5 stories underground. So it's actually Taipei 106.
The building holds the records for:
- Ground to structural top: 508 m (1667 ft), a record formerly held by the Petronas Twin Towers at 452 m (1483ft).
- Ground to roof: 448 m (1470 ft). Formerly held by the Sears Tower (442 m = 1454ft)
- Ground to highest occupied floor: 438 m (1437 ft). Formerly held by the Sears Tower.
Taipei 101 does look very very impressive, not only because it's the world's tallest building, not only because it's built on an island known for frequent earthquakes, but also because there were literally not many high-rises around it, it feels much higher than what it is.
- There is a fault line just 660 feet from this tower, but the designers aren’t worried about it, saying it hasn’t been active in 45,000 years.
- The building’s spire is 60 feet tall.
- Like many buildings its size, Taipei 101 has a tuned mass dampener to counteract swaying caused by earthquakes, wind, typhoons, and other causes. It is a massive solid steel ball about 60 feet tall, hanging from cables on the 87th floor of the building.
- The foundation of the building is more than 250 feet deep.
- September, 2002 – Five people are killed when an earthquake shakes two cranes loose from the building.
- 18 October, 2003 – The spire is raised into place, making this the tallest building in the world.
- 21 November, 2003 – Pieces of metal fall from the roof of the skyscraper, hitting two people walking below, smashing car windshields, and littering an elementary school playground.
- 25 December, 2004 - The daredevil known as "Spiderman" climbs the outside of the building. Alain Robert scaled the building as a publicity stunt during the building's official opening week. He normally is arrested for doing such stunts illegally, but this time he was recruited. He also normally doesn't have any safety gear. This time he had a rope.
Taiwan - Shilin - 钓虾，现钓现吃
This is a quite unique business in the market, it lets you pay NT$10 for a small hook, and try to fish shrimp, the hook is not that tightly connected to the stick, so occasionally you will fail, and lose the hook, there goes another NT$10.
But if you are lucky, you get a fresh shrimp, they will BBQ it right there for you.
Taiwan - Shilin - Miles of delicious food, but ...
There are at least 6x5 alleys like this, with about 3-5 stalls on each block. I didn't actually eat anything that night, even though I purposedly did not have dinner while I was at Taipei 101, anticipating great food at Shilin Night market. The food here was pretty good, except for one thing that really got me - 'stinky toufu'. The market was enclosed under a roof, with probably 50% of the stalls serving 'stinky toufu', you can imagine the smell in the whole market.
Taiwan - Shilin - All sorts of fried food
Fried egg-n-oyster (one of the most famous Taiwan tidbits, called 蚵仔煎）, fried squid, fried rice noodle, fried egg-n-scallop, fried egg-n-shrimp. NT$30 is about US$1
Taiwan - Shilin - 大饼包小饼
Literally 大饼包小饼 means 'big cake wraps small cake', so it's "cake inside cake", the outside is a flour wrapper, inside is a fried sweet rice cake with all sorts of fillings, as listed in the picture, you can have choice of peanut, taro, seasame, red bean paste, dates paste, coconut as sweet fillings, or curry, spice, crispy, taro, peanut, black pepper as salty fillings. The inner cake is fried, and it's hot when you eat them.
Oh, right, you must have noticed the numbers, 4 of these will only cost you NT$100, which is about US$3.3
Taiwan - Shilin - Absolutely Cook-to-order
Taiwan - Shilin - Shilin Night Market seen from MRT
First impression of 士林夜市 (Shilin Night Market) from MRT (台北捷运), this was about 9pm on the second night I was in Taipei, all you can see now is miles of traffic jam, and loud horns from cars, and most likely motorcycles. Even though many people take MRT, traffic is still very bad, maybe more so at night than during the day, because ...
Taipei is created for the night life!
