June 21, 2009
June 9, 2009
The One With AF 447
Telling debris has been found. There is no mistake about it, quashing all speculation on the whereabouts of the crash site. The distinctive red- and blue-striped stabilizer from the tail of the Air France Airbus A330-200 has been recovered.
From www.nytimes.com.
June 8, 2009
The One With The Foolishness And Randomness
Now reading: Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
June 6, 2009
The One With Daegu (대구, 大邱)
Decided to stay in Daegu for a good part of my business trip this time, and Novotel City Center was a pleasant surprise. Despite the travelling time to the fatory being extended from 10mins to 50mins, Daegu Novotel was way better than Gumi Century that it justified the 5-fold increase in travelling time.
May 9, 2009
The One With Gyeongju (경주, 慶州)
So business trip aside, Jun drove us from Gumi (구미, 龜尾) to Gyeongju (경주, 慶州) on Friday night. It didn’t really seem far but at 160km/h, the 90min journey made Gyeongju look near.
The capital city of Korea’s Silla Kingdom for over 1,000 years, this cultural capital has been described as the Korean equivalent of the Incan capital Cuzco in Peru and is supposedly full of archeological surprises.
View from Hilton Gyeongju.
May 5, 2009
May 3, 2009
The One With The 庐山瀑布
I’m still here.
I vividly remember learning this way back when I was in HBS in Pri 5 (or was it Pri 6?) and to date, it still remains as my favourite poem from Li Bai.
望庐山瀑布 – 李白
日照香炉生紫烟
遥看瀑布挂前川
飞流直下三千尺
疑是银河落九天
From Wikipedia.org
April 9, 2009
The One With Shibuya (渋谷)
Only in Japan.
Nice aerial video of the Sakuras in Tokyo, taken by the Asahi helicopter.
March 29, 2009
The One With The Motivational Posters
Teachers Promote Proper Schoolgirl Skirt Length Poster. And about time too. It’s way overdue…
Japan, Nihon, Nippon, Jipangu, Yamato. A superb read on why Japan is called Japan. And why my Japanese colleagues shout “ニッポン” instead of “ニホン” when we watch the Japanese national socer team play.
Signs of Spring. The bittery winter is over.
How China sees the world. And how the world should see China.
Homer Simpson Motivational Posters.
March 15, 2009
The One With More Gumi Bears
Back to work in Gumi after the weekend getaway in Busan. More work also meant more food.
Chinese food.
March 14, 2009
The One With The A380
Just something interesting that I read recently.
“SINCE the summer, the yen has shot up against all major currencies. It is now 23.2% higher than last year’s low-point against the dollar, 46.7% higher against the euro, and 65% up against the tumbling pound. Manufacturers are screaming. Japanese exports are down by over a third compared with a year ago, and carmakers and electronics firms are slashing production and jobs. On February 2nd the Keidanren, a big-business club, declared the value of the yen, at under ¥90 to the dollar, to be manufacturers’ most critical problem. They were, it said, “crying out” for the government to weaken the yen, either alone or in league with other countries.
They may cry in vain. In trade-weighted terms the currency is not overvalued by historical standards (see chart). A long undervaluation has merely corrected itself. The exporters driving Japan’s recovery from 2002-07 made two false assumptions as they built new capacity: that American consumers would always buy Asian exports, and that ¥100-120 to the dollar was the sustainable long-term rate. Both were chimeras.”
From www.economist.com
Yeah I took the A380 a couple of months back when returning to Tokyo from Singapore.
From widebodyaircraft.nl
March 12, 2009
The One With Kafunsho (花粉症)
The pollen allergy or Kafunsho (花粉症) season is here again.
Apparently, the allergy hits its peak twice, resembling the two humps of a Bactrian Camel. The cedar pollens first wreck havoc, peaking in early March before their cypress counterparts take over and peak in late March.
From yahoo.weather.co.jp
February 25, 2009
The One With The Weekend At Busan’s (2 of 2)
So Robin offered to take us around on Sunday. First stop: Haeundae (해운대/海雲臺), whose beach is apparently regarded as one of the finest beaches in the world, particularly its great night view, beautiful coast line, white sand, green pine trees, hot spring, and five star hotels. The bitterly cold winds did not deter us to going to Haeundae but we stopped short of going the beach, it is winter afterall, and we supposed there wouldn’t be many eye-candies on beaches during winter.
February 21, 2009
The One With The Weekend At Busan’s (1 of 2)
TGIF, our supplier kindly offered to drive us down to Busan, a 2 hour drive away from Gumi. My second time in Busan, a more decent stay this time. A year-and-a-half ago, I was here only for barely half a day. This time round, I was more determined to make it a more memorable one.
Busan Lotte Hotel, undeniably a class above Gumi Century. It is quite an old hotel. The fact that my hotel room key was not an access card but a heavy, bulky iron one bore testimony to that.
February 19, 2009
The One With The Gumi Bears
Gumi (구미), 2 hours by KTX from Seoul, 3 hours by a slower train. It’s the equivalent of the various Nozomi (のぞみ), Hikari (ひかり) and Kodama (こだま) shinks in Japan. The 3-hour one was our natural choice coz we would never have been able to wake up for the 9am KTX. Bleah.
Holy cow, check out the Hanja for Gumi:
龜尾.
I’ll never be able to write that!
Robin and Jun, our all-too-hospitable hosts-cum-suppliers were there at Gumi station to pick us up, complete with their 3.5l Hyuandai Equus.
February 18, 2009
The One Where It All Starts With Seoul
The coveted ANA flight took me from Tokyo Haneda to Seoul Gimpo in less than 2.5 hours, not even enough to finish watching one movie.
February 13, 2009
The One With Where It Looks Bleak
So Jyvaskyla will be closed and Salo will reduce operations eh. So it had come to this.
What 3.6 Million Jobs Lost Over 13 Months Looks Like.
“This chart compares the job loss so far in this recession to job losses in the 1990-1991 recession and the 2001 recession – showing how dramatic and unprecedented the job loss over the last 13 months has been. Over the last 13 months, our economy has lost a total of 3.6 million jobs – and continuing job losses in the next few months are predicted.”
From time.com
From time.com
February 11, 2009
February 10, 2009
The One With Calvin & Hobbes
I chanced upon some great comics on satire for the current economic recession and the ensuing bailout policies a couple of weeks back but I can’t seem to find it now. but while I try to dig it out, here’s a reasonably good one for the time being.
Dilbert’s still my favourite. Meh.
February 5, 2009
The One With The Squash Game
Recent revival of my interest in squash saw me buying a new racquet, only to realise that my old 8-year-old racquet still serves me pretty well.
