becoming

Home desktop’s harddrive was toasted last night! Just like that! Not even a proper goodbye! It will take a while for me to restore the system (I am also crossing my fingers that my Seagate backup drive is working properly!).

The best way to reach me for the next few days (at least before I head back to HK) will be by the ancient old method —

The device they call “phone”.

I just couldn’t stop laughing when I read this:

I-touch同時還具有繁、簡中文手寫輸入能，方便各年齡段的基督徒使用。不僅如此，在有Wi-fi網路的情況下，它還可直接進入Youtube，免費下載、播放相關視頻資訊。除此以外，它還具有天氣預報、日曆、計算器、記事本等豐富的能，可謂是基督徒個人靈修、生活與工作的好幫手。

現在磐石福音書房為回應全美10月12日的牧師節發起了「愛牧行動」，鼓勵教會購買I-touch產品作為獻給牧者的精美愛心禮物，同時書房還配有精品禮盒與購書優惠券，歡迎各教會來電查詢。

I can’t help but wonder, “Wow, who would have fall for THAT?”

And for the record — I am a pastor, and I don’t need a iTouch. In fact, if you buy me one, I will use it for anything except those mentioned above. And I will be so busy playing with my new toy, that I will have even less time reading my bible, meditating God’s words, doing visitation, planning my sermon… etc.

Oh, isn’t it suppose to help me on those? Oops…

It’s better than nothing at all:

The National Do Not Call List (DNCL) gives consumers a choice about whether to receive telemarketing calls. The National DNCL Rules introduce new responsibilities for Canada’s telemarketers.

[link]

Le Projet Triangle by Herzog & de Meuron:

Architects Herzog & de Meuron, the guys who brought you the “bird’s nest” in China, have unveiled their design for a triangular building in the Porte de Versailles area of Paris, France. Completion is planned for 2014.

[dezeen.com]

From time to time, I will suggest some events and/or happenings in various places that might be of your interest. I have added a seperate page “Events & Happenings“, so you can view them within the next 13-week period, together with link to the original post.

Yes, we all know about the “I’m a PC, and I’m a Mac ” anti-Microsoft ads launched by Apple for quite some time. I first wrote about how Apple changed from the cult that was once being proud to be marginalized, to become another totalitarian rule back in 2007.

And when you are cornered, stereotyped and labeled with the look and feel of John Hodgman, what do you do? You react. And Microsoft first trial of counterstrike was a complete disaster. The Seinfield-Gates series is ambiguous, and nobody knows what they are talking about.

But the great change of seats occurred with the recent “I am a PC” ads. The PC users are now victimized, and one by one they are coming out and tell you that they are nothing like Hodgman. The once-victim mac users are now portrayed as the new non-tolerated sect which demands that everyone MUST look like Justin Long in order to be cool and casual kinda guy.

The message is clear and to the point: don’t you dare stereotype us. At the end, who cares about which platform is stable and which is more user-friendly and productive and powerful? It is all about politically-correctness. Are you telling me that if I do not look like Justin Long, then I am cool no more? Don’t cry like a baby now, you asked for it.

Oh, by the way, who is Justin Long? Did the Mac ads make him famous? Nope. But it did make John Hodgman a star. Why? Because what Long depicts is not innovation, but an average user, who knows jack about how things work, but pretend to be hype and cool based on what the mac allows him/her to do. Long lacks personality and character, he follows the crowd — and that’s a big no-no in a world where diversity reigns supreme.

That’s more like it, PC.

Conference 回來，心久久未能平復。

我們「想當然」的北美生活，對比他人，從來都自知幸福，卻不能想象是如此幸福。

當然，這樣的會議，一堆又一堆的數字，是必然的衝了又來。

數字不是問題，

問題是，

為何發生在自己的國家就不可以，發生在別人之地卻無慟於衷？

然而

我不內疚，

不內疚不代表不慚愧，

不內疚，

因為我知道內疚只會花光我僅有的氣力，

吸乾我的衝動，

世界不會因為內疚而改變，

The world will change only when the good people do something.

Something.

—————-
links:
International Justice Mission
World Vision
Masai For Africa
Make Poverty History
Absolute Leadership Development

and did I mention it’s free?

Oosah is a simple, easy-to-use, but feature rich “Web 2.0” content hosting site. We give you one spot on the Web where you can manage all of your digital media content – photos, videos, and music/audio files. It is designed to be easy enough for novice users to use, while at the same time providing features that even the advanced user can appreciate. Oosah is a fully Web-based application, there is no Oosah application or code that you need to download or install on your Mac or PC.

Basic Oosah membership is free. It provides a user with a predefined amount of storage space for their content. Currently this amount is 1 terabyte.

[link: oosah via lifehacker]