Wednesday, December 31, 2008

再也沒有



聖誕過得平靜。


之後,再沒有時間、再沒有心情、再沒有機會、再沒有了,於是只好不了了之。」 



Have a great 2009!

2008 has been okie for me. I had a relatively good year.

2009 is not going to be an easy year... we are not sure how soon the economy is picking back up, until then, there will continue to be struggles.

Be good, do the right things and have a great 2009!


Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Champions of the world



Easy like a Sunday morning, Manchester United were crowned champions of the world in Yokohama yesterday

This has been Rooney’s tournament and that much was confirmed when he was given the Golden Ball award for best player, for which he was presented with a car, although not one he would be seen dead driving. Not that Rooney is in need of modern transportation anyway, his best work, as ever, being done on Shanks’s pony and running more smoothly than any limousine. It was not just that he scored again, his third goal in the tournament despite featuring for only 108 minutes, or the sublime manner in which he did so. No, the most impressive element of Rooney’s display was the work he put in to ensure that United went global with their domination of the sport in the year 2008.

Rooney is a big-game player and while Ronaldo mugged for the cameras with his Silver Ball, awarded to the second-best player in the competition, he knows that on this occasion he was outshone. “After I’d had a shower, I looked at my phone and there was a text from a friend saying, ‘Congratulations, you’re a world champion’ and it hit me,” Rooney said. “We came to win it, and we did it.” He made it seem so simple; probably because it was."


Monday, December 22, 2008

Nice quote


“Only a life lived for others is worth living”

Year in Pictures 2008 [Times]



The border fence between the United States and Mexico stretches across the Arizona desert, part of a US project to slow illegal immigration.

In pursuit of his seventh gold medal, US Swimmer Michael Phelps (left) races Serbian Milorad Cavic in the 100M Butterfly. Phelps would push past his opponent in the final meter of the race, miraculously beating him by .01 second.

Hillary Clinton departs a campaign event in Nashua, New Hampshire.

Pope Benedict's Mass at Yankee Stadium is broadcast on a television in a bar in the Bronx.

British artist Damien Hirst is elevated above his workspace in Stroud, England. In September, an auction devoted exclusively to his work earned $198 million.

Emergency workers carry a wounded man out of a collapsed building in Mianyang, China, after it was destroyed by an earthquake in May.

A house is engulfed in flames as floodwaters and crashing waves inundate beach homes on Galveston Island as Hurricane Ike approaches the Texas Gulf Coast.


A tire burns atop a truck used as a makeshift roadblock in Kisumu, Kenya, after the town had been cleared of ethnic Kikuyus by armed mobs in January.

Congolese government forces stand guard along a road in the eastern Congo during renewed fighting in November.

A video of departing President George W. Bush plays at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Barack Obama is joined by his wife Michelle and aide Valerie Jarrett, among others, as he makes his way to a victory speech St. Paul, Minnesota. The speech would be his first after clinching his party's nomination in June.


Athletes competing in the men's road cycling event race past Tiananmen Square on the first day of the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.

Tibetan Buddhist monks are detained by Nepali police during a protest outside the Chinese consulate in Kathmandu, Nepal. Pro-Tibetain protests gathered intensity in the spring as the Beijing Summer Olympics grew near.

Women and children walk past a Shi'ite shrine in Baghdad's Karrada District. In 2008, life in many parts of Iraq regained a semblance of normality.

Technicians gather around the re-entry module holding three Chinese astronauts after its return from space. During their mission, the astronauts carried out China's first-ever spacewalk.
Parents hold portraits of their children, killed by the collapse of a primary school in the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan, China.

Friday, December 19, 2008

愛情 - 婚姻 - 外遇 - 生活

柏拉圖有一天問老師蘇格拉底什麼是愛情?

蘇格拉底叫他到麥田走一次,要不回頭地走,在途中要摘一棵最大最好的麥穗,但只可以摘一次。柏拉圖覺得很容易,充滿信心地出去,誰知過了半天他仍沒有回去。
最後,他垂頭喪氣出現在老師面前訴說空手而回的原因:「很難得看見一株看似不錯的,卻不知是不是最好,不得已,因為只可以摘一次,只好放棄,再看看有沒有更好的,到發現已經走到盡頭時,才發覺手上一棵麥穗也沒有。」
這時,蘇格拉底告訴他:「那就是愛情。」


柏拉圖有一天又問老師蘇格拉底什麼是婚姻?

蘇格拉底叫他到彬樹林走一次,要不回頭地走,在途中要取一棵最好、最適合用來當聖誕樹用的樹材,但只可以取一次。
柏拉圖有了上回的教訓,充滿信心地出去,半天之後,他一身疲憊地拖了一棵看起來直挺、翠綠,卻有點稀疏的杉樹。
蘇格拉底問他:「這就是最好的樹材嗎?」
柏拉圖回答老師:「因為只可以取一棵,好不容易看見一棵看似不錯的,但又發現時間、體力已經快不夠用了,也不管是不是最好的,所以就拿回來了。」
這時,蘇格拉底告訴他:「那就是婚姻。」


柏拉圖又有一天又問老師蘇格拉底什麼是外遇?

蘇格拉底還是叫他到樹林走一次,可以來回走,在途中要取一支最好看的花。
柏拉圖又充滿信心地出去,兩個小時之後,他精神抖擻地帶回了一支顏色豔麗但稍稍焉掉的花。
蘇格拉底問他:「這就是最好的花嗎?」
柏拉圖回答老師:「我找了兩小時,發覺這是最盛開最美麗的花,但我採下帶回來的路上,它就逐漸枯萎下來。」
這時,蘇格拉底告訴他:「那就是外遇。」


又有一天又問老師蘇格拉底什麼是生活?

蘇格拉底還是叫他到樹林走一次,可以來回走,在途中要取一支最好看的花。
柏拉圖有了以前的教訓,又充滿信心地出去,過了三天三夜,他也沒有回來。蘇格拉底只好走進樹林裡去找他,最後發現柏拉圖已在樹林裡露營紮寨。
蘇格拉底問他:「你找著最好看的花麼?」
柏拉圖指著邊上的一朵花說:「這就是最好看的花嗎。」
蘇格拉底問:「為什麼不把它帶出去呢?」
柏拉圖回答老師:「我如果把它摘下來,它馬上就枯萎。即使我不摘它,它也遲早會枯。所以我趁它還盛開的時候,住在它邊上。等它凋謝的時候,再找下一朵。這已經是我找著的第二朵最好看的花。」
這時,蘇格拉底告訴他:「你已經懂得生活的真諦了。」

Mitsubishi i-EV - I hope it is available soon!





Until recently, we've regarded electric cars as something of an aside, as environmental conscience-salving oddities for those wanting to shout the loudest about their green credentials. In most cases that's meant severe compromises. But Mitsubishi will soon be launching a proper, battery powered four-seater in the UK. We've driven it, and it's not just a good electric car, but a great small car in its own right.

In the Metal

If you think you've seen the Mitsubishi i-EV before then you'd be right. The i-EV looks exactly the same as the i car upon which it's based. Okay, not exactly; the stickered up examples we tested aren't representative of the single colour un-liveried version you'll be able to buy next year, but it's the same car under the plug and cable decals. So it's a space-efficient wheel in each corner shape that's designed to fit within Japan's K-car dimension limitations. That makes for a tall but wide shape, which will seat four adults in surprising comfort.

The only visual difference between the i-EV you'll be able to buy in the showroom over its three-cylinder petrol relative are the absence of an exhaust pipe, and two filler caps - one on each side for either quick or trickle charging. Inside, it's all pretty conventional too. Look a bit closer at the automatic transmission though and there are 'Eco' and 'B' settings and the instruments contain a power usage dial in place of a conventional rev-counter.

What you get for your Money

Mitsubishi has created a city car that's fully crash tested and can seat four in comfort. There's some luggage room too; indeed Mitsubishi's packaging of the i-EV is very clever. The batteries sit under the floor and the inverter, motor and other electrical gubbins are positioned around the back axle. It is a hugely space efficient bit of packaging that demonstrates both the cleverness of the standard i car's layout and how far ahead of the competition Mitsubishi is with its electric car.

The money bit remains something of a sticking point though. It might only cost 45 pence to charge the i-EV's battery overnight but it is prohibitively expensive to buy for all but the wealthiest environmentally aware drivers. Like all new technology the i-EV will become cheaper as numbers produced increase, but the first 200 or so that are coming to the UK will be out of reach for most. Mitsubishi hasn't put a sticker price on it yet and leasing is currently the likeliest option to ownership. Individuals - or more likely companies - would pay around £750 a month for the privilege of being an early adopter of Mitsubishi's green machine.

Driving it

Mitsubishi specifically points out that the i-EV is meant to be a town car. That explains its paltry sounding 80-100 mile range on a single charge. However, most commutes are well under that and it's possible to plug it into a domestic outlet for a top-up while you're at work should you need to. What is essential for electric cars to really succeed is that they have to drive much like the conventional cars we're all used to. And that's exactly what the i-EV does. Get in, touch an immobiliser key and turn the 'ignition'. Nothing much happens except the dash lighting up. Pop it into drive and pull away - with the faint whirring of the electric motor as accompaniment.

Unlike some electric rivals, Mitsubishi has managed to limit the torque delivery from take off to aid smoothness. So there's no lightning, traction-breaking take-off, and being rear-wheel drive the steering is uncorrupted by what torque is being transferred to the road. It's brisk, the i-EV's 0-62mph time of 13 seconds actually faster than its petrol relative, so it is more than quick enough to cope with the cut and thrust of city traffic while its dimensions allow you to exploit the smallest of gaps with ease.

There's nothing unusual in the way it drives. Pop it in drive - or if you're crawling in slow traffic into Eco where it reduces the power from 47kW to 18kW to increase battery life - and drive it like you would any city car. If it's hilly then the B mode increases the regenerative effect from coasting, allowing more free energy to be scavenged on the move. It rides well, steers sharply and has nicely weighted steering. Out of town it'll reach 87mph if you could do so legally, so the i-EV does not feel out of its depth on the open road despite its city focus. Drive it on fast roads and you'll get through the battery pretty quickly though.

Worth Noting

Charging that battery takes around 6-7 hours via a regular three-pin outlet in the UK. So plug it in while you're at work, or overnight at home. A full charge should cost around 45 pence. Quick, 20-minute, 80% charges are possible via a vending machine-sized charging station, but they won't be too handy for UK consumers as they're all currently based in Japan. The maximum range is 80-100 miles, but in reality it's around half that if, like on our drive, it's cold and the heater, lights and everything else is on. That's still enough to cope with the average daily commute.

Summary

A proper production electric offering from an established, recognised car maker has been a long time coming. But that's exactly what Mitsubishi will be offering from next year. There remain some issues - purchase costs primarily - but as production numbers increase and the technology is cheaper to build then prices will inevitably fall. Range will also grow as battery technology improves, as will the speed of charging. Unlike the numerous electric cars turning up at motor shows the i-EV has been properly crash tested and has a network of existing dealers that will be able to service it. A bold step in the right direction, the i-EV underlines that the dawn of the electric car really is here. And it'll be in Mitsubishi showrooms next year.

Kyle Fortune - 18 Dec 2008

*Source: http://www.carenthusiast.com/reviews.html?mode=article&id=3180

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Some wise words

Everyone 
IS A Potential Winner

Some People
Are Disguised
As Losers,

Don't Let 
Their Appearances 
Fool You.

*

*from the book of "The one minute manager"


Monday, December 1, 2008

invincibility

"Sometimes it's strange in the game," conceded Arsène Wenger. "We went 49 games unbeaten but, when we lost the first one, we couldn't win for the next five. A kind of charisma goes when you have a long record then you lose it. It is as if you've taken the players up Everest, then brought them down, then told them they have to climb up again. Sometimes they don't want to do it."

Rooney hits 100th goal against City!!!


Manchester United's Wayne Rooney celebrates his first half strike - the only goal of the Manchester derby and the 100th goal of his club career.