Stumbled upon this video the other day at Vimeo. Kind of interesting to see how Toronto was seen through the eyes of a German tourist, in just 4 minutes and 37 seconds.
Honourable mentions include TTC, Tim Hortons, and Niagara Falls (in February), but make sure you don’t miss out on the joyfully dancing girls in the snow outside ROM (at 00:38).
So who the heck is Liu Xiaobo, whom the ruling elites in China are so afraid of, like he’s some kind of flood (“hongshui”) or beast (“mengshou”)? To be honest, it’s NOT whether what Liu advocated (democracy or whatever) was good or bad for the country or its people, it’s the sheer act of speaking one’s mind without the fear of being persecuted that matters.
The truth is, Liu Xiaobo is just another “shusheng” (intellectual) caught on the wrong side of politics (“lunzheng”). In a perfect world, freedom of speech should be a universal right; but even in the real world, is it necessary to kill the chicken (in order to scare off the monkey)?
What’s really amazing is that, instead of downplaying this whole embarrassing episode, the Chinese officials decided to respond in a high-profile manner (at least diplomatically), not knowing that their clearly “developing” judiciary would then be subject to another round of scrutiny under the spotlight.
To be fair, it takes time to change and reform, and the Chinese government has been doing a hell of a good job over the last 20 years (since that fateful summer of 1989), by successfully waking up a sleeping dragon (something that was long overdue since the Hundred Days Reform of 1898). But then again, it takes A LOT of courage to speak up (especially when you knew your life would be ruined); and speaking up against what’s wrong is the first step to change and reform. It would only make sense if the ruling party embraces dissent as part of their “internal auditing”, instead of curbing people’s enthusiasm.
CIRA finally released 32,940 expired .CA domain names (from 064027125627.ca to zzx.ca), after more than a couple of unexpected, last-minute cancellations since October 12, when they belatedly embraced EPP (Extensible Provisioning Protocol).
For those who still don’t get it (politicians in particular, like when Sarah Thomson talked about her “Bike City” as if it was something remotely relevant), Toronto is REALLY fed up (AND the people have already spoken, when they elected Rob Ford on October 25).
To be fair, Transit City would be a visionary concept, IF we were living in the 1950s, or for less crowded places like Nice (pronounced as “niece”) or Lucerne. But the cold, hard truth is that, Toronto is home to more than 2.5 MILLION people, and it would be unrealistic to rely on some retro-futuristic street cars to move them around.
Yes, there are budgetary constraints; but instead of writing off any subway expansion as expensive, perhaps we should also look beyond Yonge and Dundas, and learn from other world-class cities like Shanghai and Delhi, especially when it comes to project financing.
And no, it’s not even about politics.
Inspired at least partly by the infamous police state during G20 Toronto 2010, You Say Party releases a new music video shot on location in India, and according to director Sean Wainsteim reflects the kind of discomfort associated when armed forces casually invade the civilian domain.
Finally decided on using Sandbox (collaboratively by Scott Wallick and Andy Skelton) for WordPress. No, it’s not my original design, but I just love it how it brings out not only text but also pictures via a minimalist vehicle.
Nameslave is pending re-launch in November 2010. Yes, it will be a work in progress, with both its content and form (a.k.a. design) undergoing some fine-tuning down the road. Hopefully, it will not be too annoying. :)
Just got an email from GoDaddy early this morning, saying that my credit card was already charged for another year of their auction membership. Luckily, it’s just $4.99, which I would take as giving it to some panhandlers (beggars).
Thinking back, it was when I bought an expiring domain from their “aftermarket” (tdnam.com) that they trickily included that membership when I checked out. Yes, it’s my bad to be not alertive enough, knowing that I am dealing with GoDaddy. Should have deleted my credit card record there and changed my renewal setting instead of leaving it to its default.
Sent them a support ticket, but no, I’m not even asking for a refund, because it’s clearly a trick that I fell for, and they have some fine prints to cover their … back. What I asked was to delete my credit card info from their record and never to bill be again EVER; and last but not least, to delete all my accounts with them.
By the way, I HAD to send them a ticket, because I was not even able to delete my payment method after logging in (saying it was being linked to whatever something).
Now tell me, how on earth could I recommend a registrar like this?
I haven’t logged into Network Solutions for years. Today I did, trying to transfer away a domain for one of my clients who has paid for their “penalty” 5 years in advance. I unlocked the domain there; and as an organized person, I also updated my email, phone number as well as my password and “secret question”.
Now, about 20 minutes after I initiated the transfer at OpenSRS, I got an email from NetSol with the subject “Unable to Process Your Domain Transfer Request”, because that domain “has been locked due to potentially suspicious activity in your account”. My blood pressure immediately went up.
You could have guessed that by suspicious activity, they are referring to my updating of contact info and password. It turns out (after wasting another 8 minutes on the phone) that any such change within 7 days of a transfer request will be flagged, and the domain locked for 30 days. So consider this a warning, for those who still go with Network Solutions. I have not bought a single domain there for more than 5 years, even with my $7.95 transfer and $11.99 new registration pricing.
I’m not sure if it’s my Gold VIP status (those who are stupid enough to have spent $1,500 with them; and I have spent way more than that on just 1 single day), but I was told that security lock will be removed in a couple of business days. I’m glad that I kind of foresee such little tricks, and have decided to start the ball almost 2 months ahead. No, I don’t buy that it’s for the good of the registrant (owner). I hate transfer-unfriendly registrars.
With 10 years of history, 9 locations throughout the GTA, and a decent website (at ilfornello.com), so I thought Il Fornello was a well managed restaurant chain. WRONG!
I went to their Richmond Hill location yesterday (Saturday) for their weekend buffet brunch. And although their published hours start at 11:30 AM, their door was locked as of 11:35 AM. Fine, it’s only 5 minutes, so I went to the nearby Chapters/Indigo for a quick browse. Not really that nearby, had to drive a block away. And when I turned around their corners, I could clearly see staffers inside, probably preparing for the opening.
I returned at 11:55 AM, and guess what? The door was still locked! Now you may think they have not updated their hours on their corporate website, and they actually open at noon instead. NO! I called on Friday and specifically asked for their weekend buffet brunch AND confirmed when it started (at 11:30 AM). After all, it’s BRUNCH, which means breakfast + lunch.
I didn’t have their phone number at hand, so I went back home (fortunately, it’s only 5 minutes away), and got it from the web. Called them, and was told they were opened A COUPLE OF MINUTES AGO.
Whether I still went there, or if their food is good is not the question here. Their management sucks. I don’t blame the kitchen staff who were late in preparing the food for the brunch, I won’t even blame the other waiters who showed up late. It’s the MANAGER‘s fault. HE (or she) should be reprimanded. If a restaurant cannot even open its door for a weekend brunch at noon (i.e. more than half an hour late), they better cancel that for good. And if the corporate head office was not able to maintain a high level of service quality, they should rethink operating at so many locations.
By the way, this is probably NOT an isolated incident, because when I called, there was no apology, and that staffer sounded like it’s no big deal. ;p
