Ordinary Gweilo

It's not big and it's not clever, it's just a Brit in Hong Kong writing (mainly) about Hong Kong

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Month: Mar 2007

  • Just give me your important personal information please…

    Earlier this week I was reading this article (A con as big as the Ritz (part 1) part 2) from The Guardian about Elliot Castro, who managed to extract a lot of money from other people’s credit cards: I knew you needed a range of security information to back up any significant purchase on a…

  • Another way to do it

    Following on from the discussion about the BB Box, and how to get video from a computer to a TV, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it is possible to put about an hour of high-definition video on to a CD and play it on a DVD player (I think it has to be…

  • Box of tricks

    I don’t quite understand the point of this BB Box (SCMP registration required): Hong Kong Broadband Network, the city’s smallest fixed-line operator, aims to increase its customers’ use of broadband with the launch of its BB Box service, which brings computer multimedia files to a user’s television screen, according to chairman Ricky Wong Wai-kay. The service,…

  • Superficial changes

    Yesterday I rushed out to buy my copy of the new re-designed SCMP, but somehow it has take me until now to find anything to say about. What’s the point of re-designing a newspaper if you aren’t going to change the contents?  Actually, they haven’t really re-designed it  – all they have done is introduce a new…

  • Counted out

    One thing I find slightly strange about (English language) Hong Kong blogs is that you very rarely get anything even approaching controversy, let alone any feuds, between bloggers.  Perhaps this is because there aren’t that many of us, and that most people steer clear of politics.  One exception is Roland Soong’s ESWN.  I’ve mentioned this…

  • Re-arranging the deckchairs

    More strange goings-on at what is variously described as "the world’s most profitable newspaper" (is it?), "Asia’s leading newspaper" (it isn’t) and by other epithets that are a little less kind. Yes, it’s the South China Morning Post (SCMP). A few months ago the editor (Fanny Fung) departed, and last night the SCMP announced that…

  • Tell me it isn’t true

    If this (from a letter in the SCMP) is true, it’s scandalous: Hundreds die needlessly as the city’s bureaucrats dither I have just completed a two-year term as a member of the public liaison group for the Hong Kong fire and ambulance services. It was a rewarding experience, which I strongly encourage others to consider. As a non-speaker…

  • More, more, more

    Some more Hong Kong blogs: joyceyland and Learning Cantonese are both in English, but Digital Voodoo Hongkong Weblog is in German. Oh, and there’s Hong Kong or bust and Marcus’ blog (shouldn’t that be Marcus’s blog?), and probably a few dozen more that I have overlooked.

  • Signs of the Zodiac: the pig

    From a rather splendid calendar I have been given.  This is about the pig: Character: Noble and chivalrous.  Your friends will be lifelong, yet you are prone to marital stress.  Avoid other pigs.  Marry a rabbit or a sheep Career: You easily get into arguments with your colleagues, yet you always win.  You should keep…

  • In praise of…Podcasts

    The BBC say that Podcasts are not as popular as the hype might make you believe.  That may well be true, and it certainly wouldn’t be the first Internet phenomenon to suffer that fate, but I am a big fan – up to a point. The BBC has embarked on a fairly ambitious Podcast trial,…