Particle Worship...(24/7)

Paid a worship-like visit to CERN in the morning, and existing from a further end of humanity, particle physics becomes another level of labyrinth from my knowledge and imagination. The 30-year project framework on proton collusion streams from a basic question of the beginning of the universe. The LHC, the super computer network, the curiosity of mankind, and the strategic positioning of the Switzerland, and here in CERN, there are clues for various perspectives from public governance to diplomatic policy, or from scientific research to visionary pursuit. The underground globe lies on a solid foundation of the next generation of know-how. We simply put our foot on the ground to pass through the process of questioning. A requiem to the debut 21st century.

Les Voitures...(16/8)

There are cars in the city, and the cars are where the people stay away from the pedestrians to travel horizontally and vertically on the map of the city...they are an enclosed area where the outside world appears to be closely away, a glass with two faces of the world. This is in fact an invention under the same category of the headphone to me. The device keeps me away literally from the outer world where I do not want to get too close to sometimes. City people need some space perhaps.
Under the same phenomenon, the cars are interesting objects to look at along the streets when I walk on the streets. They divide the roads into blocks of cubicles. We move and we share the same breathe of the city, but with a different medium, we sense a very different curve of the city. It is an interpretation of the Paris cinema on the projection of cubicles on the streets, we watch our day go by day, sometimes we miss something...
http://www.kodakgallery.fr/I.jsp?c=jiw1j59.43l9p3xp&x=0&y=-dmvch9

Re:Cent-Ly...(1/8)

The cooling down of robotic-like ventilation tears people apart, and the innocent insulation of oxygen space removes a common interest between people...Living at a corner of the labyrinth, I bright my capillary sense in every dawn with transparent breeze, and the morning is clean and friendly. Hours turn in my manner of preference and I re-engineer the need of bread and breathe. The clouds on top of me carry on their parade with deforming shapes and consciousness. My shadowplay waits. August is another month of mathematical counts. I reduce the supermarket-mode, and I let myself embrace into the dancing moments. Some animals turn into their dominant mode in the palace of summer, like what my mouse suggested. My leaping fingers sing in the herb. My understanding about the world imitates the respectful layout pattern of the bookshelf, and two members join the family since yesterday from the bookstore discounter. My bicycle never sails on the sea, neither do my will. Favours of the perfume spread around the spiral staircase, and the awakening cells always stick on the cover of the vehicles. Crashes end and the sun still shines. I leave the curtain marched the way it desires. All of me is a retro to the scent of the sleeping lilies.

Clone models...(26/7)

Why would the children be interested in the clone models?
The models were hand-sized figurines that had been "spiritualised" by the various bio-labs set up in the production headquarters. Each bio-lab was established with a theme of trait to be implanted to the models. It could be a capsule to transplant hatred and revenge to the models, or next to it, there was a pedagogic centre of ambition and motivation. With a re-engineered production process, the production cycle of a model reduced from 2 months to 8 days. This was appalling.
The models grew throughout the "visit" to these labs and their skin and facial expression changed. They carried memory, experience, pain and consciousness at last. They were put onto sales at the children stall. With a hype of consumerism, they went into the hands of the children rapidly. The city was irrigated with a moment of joy and upbeats. The models were under a transition into their new lives. Their knowledge and humanity were reinforced by the cohabitation with the families.
The bio-labs were extended.
Few queried the spiritual co-existence and contradiction between the species. There was likely equilibrium, perhaps, but surely wasn't there any attempt to normalise the crisis it needed to have concerning the confrontation it might happen. The atmosphere was religious and sci-fi in the lab. I met the architect and discussed with him. He wore a pair of glasses with bold frame in black. He was calm and sensationless. The story of robotics began but never ended. It could be another Blade Runner or Matrix. It is one of the many incidences occurring in one of the endless multi-worlds at a point of the timeline, if it was good enough for a measure.
I got it my dream last night...

The Forbidden Fruit for Information...(16/1)

A funny article by David Needle was released on Internet.com Daily recently (http://www.internetnews.com/ent-news/article.php/3577496). He talked about the the 'Funny Path to Today's Apple', and yes, it's quite funny...I guess the author is a fans of Apple and Steve Jobs. True, the history and development of Apple has been dramatic and innovative. I admire the CEO a lot how he could have turned the business into a sexy and trendy one. He is an architect, a designer and a businessman, and he catches the breath of consumers which makes him a successful one. Looking back to the debut of Apple when it first released LISA (Local Integrated Software Architecture) in 1982, it just commenced the computer era. It's DOS or Windows who echoed its move and began our information stage. Apple marketed its Macintosh wave shortly after LISA. If you look again to the ad campaign of Apple Mac in 1984 (http://www.uriah.com/apple-qt/1984.html, of course this is in Quicktime format), you would see the kind of futuristic declaration was so sci-fi and gothic. It did have an expressive sensation of people becoming the slave of the computer. Perhaps the ad had impacted quite some thereafter famous film makers.
As Steve said, '...Apple was founded on April fools day in 1976. We thought that was funny at the time...'. Simply be funny and innovative. You may be successful.

p.s. the script of the 1984 campaign is worthwhile reviewing again...
'Today, we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directives. We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology. Where each worker may bloom secure from the pests of contradictory and confusing truths. Our Unification of Thoughts is more powerful a weapon than any fleet or army on earth. We are one people, with one will, one resolve, one cause. Our enemies shall talk themselves to death and we will bury them with their own confusion. We shall prevail! '

Wiki-topia...(12/1)

I see this another blossom on Internet, Wikipedia. Ranked the 37th most popular website on Internet by Alexa, the non-profit making online encyclopedia demonstrates a classic common property model in this information era. To me, the website is one of the major sources of research I get used to...Established since 2001, the portal has developed in a rapid pace to cover most of the research topics, granted itself a representative online library comparable to other charging competitors like Britannica. Of course, it is yet a search engine portal like Google or Yahoo. However, the spirit of open source and its application to knowledge database can be viewed as a great invention after we enter the Internet world a decade ago. Open source is a widely applied model for software development, and with an ideal utopian or communist philosophy, the sharing of information among people offers a perfect nation for large scale knowledge management. The effectiveness of sharing has already been revealed in previous cases like Napster or BT. There is an article on the latest Wharton e-newsletter talking the accuracy of shared information like Wikipedia. A few legal cases recently doubt the appropriateness of open source information. Indeed, the free content on the virtual world has always been something that needs special attention. When I see the recent development of yahoo hk on blog community, everyone can be a writer (content provider). The quality of web content really varies. The model of Wikipedia falls into an economics lesson about defining property right as well as enforcement of control to vandalism (externality). Wharton talks about the rating system for content providers similar to that of eBay or e-business portals. I, personally, do not think it would really work. All in all, it appears that an ordinary content provider to this portal needs not provide any identity or be liable to inaccurate information. The submission does not equal to a bonus or revenue generation. Perhaps this is just an evidence to show the discrepancy between utopia and reality. Something I agree much with Wharton is that a research should not rely solely on one source, especially when this source is content posted on Internet that lacks a sense of authorised recognition. But at the same time, isn't this a kind of enjoyment to browse on Internet? This is something which we would not have ever experienced within a library building before.
(Also refer to "Can Wikipedia Survive Its Own Success?" on http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1361.cfm )

Salon du Meuble a Paris...(9/1)

Salon du meuble a Paris (or the Paris Furniture Fair) has long been reputable as one of the most developed furniture fairs in the region. With about 700 exhibitors this year, the show took place during the last few days at the fairground at Porte de Versailles...Design comes first, and the metropole section of the show should have attracted me the most in the show. I always like the European interior design and decorative arts. The way this show organiser presented the exhibits in this section of the show was simple but magnificent. Colour-contrasted, atmospherically harmonised, funny annotated illustrations, magnifying use of the open space, uniqueness of furniture character etc...these are all the impression I got after the visit. The overall image of the Show may perhaps be less representative than Maisons et Objets, but certainly I did find my cells inspired after walking in-between the aisles covered with the red carpet.


As one of the focuses in this occasion, there was a pavilion of Nippon Design, and right, the 'Designed in Japan' is another magic display I need to admire. Clean and playful, and a central table displayed their innovative design and decoration from the brochettes of snack food to the artificial candle lights that can be put out by mouth, the mini-motorbike to the modern spiralling drawer...cool!

McDonald Reprise...(26/12)

I want to write about McDonald, though I am not thinking of talking about consumerism, globalisation nor bio-genetic food...In Paris, there is not much intention for one to go into McDonald. The price of a meal is not extraordinarily cheap, and the restaurant is not that hygiene and decent. The meal does not have much difference with others in this world. There is another better local option named Quick which I would prefer more if I have to choose. So, unlike the kind of city life in Hong Kong, there is far less opportunity to taste the Big Mac Meal or a chocolate sundae. Something that we can hardly argue is that the nutrition of French cuisine is good and the way of eating brings another evidence about the quality of life in France. So I have been keeping away from McDonald for months. Then I recall how I filled in my stomach in Hong Kong when I used to order a "big" meal in the chain before I felt like eating a proper meal. City life is sometimes incredible. We live though. The point of the thought is not a matter of change of eating taste but rather a rethinking of the city loss that a compass on its own may not be sufficient to aid...lose again, go find then.

p.s. The photo of the two characters above was taken outside a McDonald by the sea. It is a colourful feature and after long time, I have not seen such a "primitive" and "natural" image of the restaurant. I remember that once I went to a McDonald with my family when I was three or four. The only memory of the occasion is a sensation of passion and peace, but this kind of tresurable impression, like the much rest, may have lost in this world but only somewhere in my mind.

The Strength of Performative Ties...(8/9)

In the recent issue of Knowledge @ Wharton, Sheen S. Levine shared his research on "performative ties", one way of how the staff acquires knowledge in the organisation and strengthens one's competitive advantage. The research looked into MNCs including Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Company and IBM. The way people look for information can be surprisingly effective when they "talk to strangers", meaning colleagues or contacts that they do not have regular contact...the study falls into the field of organisation structure and knowledge management. To me, the same is equally important in the scope of community and clans. In the modern world, we claim that our present way of communication is far more diversified and "accessable" between people, and with the impact of Internet and email, the game of performative ties does alter a lot. What we did not have before...from basic email to online chatroom, ICQ, Messengers, VOIP, SMS, MMS, sharewares, blogs, online community (has read about the virtual marriage society in China yesterday...) provide us not only all new forms of information and knowledge, but also different forms of performative ties, and definitely I see that these kinds of channel need a much lower transaction cost. Think about when we were young, what did we do? We wrote letters, we collected stamps, we had penfriends, we spent time on the old style art-deco telephone; we encountered expensive bills for overseas calls interrupted by the dizzy voices. How does we improve, or at least adapt, with the new method of performative ties? This is an interesting question. We have more close friends from all over the world, and the spirit of distance transcends the status it used to be. However, our perspective to the world and the demand to human network and web alter as well. This is cultural change, not only to commerce but sociology. People will tell you that blog makes business, chatroom gains profit, VOIP is the nowadays killing application or MMS is not only an orange no more. What we can say is we are in a dynamic world, and the way to find a life in the society can be somewhat more challenging, yet interesting...

Climax...(3/7)

Finally grasped the last chance to watch the exhibition on global warming at Cite des Sciences & de l'Industrie in the 19th arrondisement...The exhibition lasted until July 3.
A bit disappointed by the scale and coverage of the exhibition...I found that the display was actually very brief and yet informative. There was a elementary introduction of the situation of global warming; major sources of CO2 emission as well as its recommended means to tackle the problem such as installing solar absorption plate in Sahara; building windmills in coastal areas etc. to replace the sole reliance of fossil energy for human. There were two screening rooms in the exhibition area producing a graphical presentation of the topic, yet impressive. The most interesting part of the exhibition is the Forum session. There were video clips of interviews with ten experts of the subject discussing issues like the advantages of global warming; the responsibility / liability of global warming in developed and developing countries respectively; alternatives to fossil energy; feasibility of nuclear energy etc. Without offering too much evidence and data back-up, the debates still offered some insights to the issue.
Interestingly, I recognise more that global warming is not a question of science or technology but more a social issue (perhaps an economics topics relating to comparative advantage and externality too). With the continuous development of globalisation, preferences and options between boundaries are getting more and more confronting. The recent incidence of objection to the referendum of EU Constitution is already an obvious example. G8 is another concern to the world now. Inevitably, global warming would be a big problem that the world has yet seriously faced with. A consensus is difficult to reach at the moment. The Kyoto consent has yet been fully implemented by US. Well, the problem of excessive CO2 emission is not only caused by the developing countries like China (of course this is a headache to be seriously tackled before it's getting too late), but also the developed countries, in particular the US. Something worthnoting is that household consumption produces significant emission of CO2, and this speeds up the global warming process. There is a proposal in UK to introduce a CO2 consumption quota for every citizen, and I see this an idea that cannot easily be legislated and implemented, but fruitfully discussable at present.
An impressive figure about France is that around 80% of energy consumed within the country is now generated by nuclear power. The figure massively outcasts that of other developed countries where nuclear power may contribute only about 17% of the total energy generated. The mature development of nuclear power of France partly explains why the G8 considers to build the ITER plant in France instead of Japan, not to mention other political reasons.

Blog will change your business...(26/4)

extracted from Business Week:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_18/b3931001_mz001.htm?campaign_id=nws_europ_apr26&link_position=link1

Yes, this is an interesting article and with the establishment of Blog community, everything becomes possible...this is the power of the Internet perhaps, a way which people can communicate more, but at the same time, this could be a medium to produce massive influence to the crowd...faire attention!!

法 德 西 俄 合 建 網 上 圖 書 館 ...(19/3, apple daily)

法 國 總 統 希 拉 克 說 過 ： 「 美 國 文 化 要 抹 煞 其 他 文 化 ！ 」 為 「 反 擊 」 美 國 文 化 侵 略 ， 他 決 定 聯 同 德 國 、 西 班 牙 和 俄 羅 斯 力 量 設 立 「 歐 洲 虛 擬 圖 書 館 」 ， 將 歐 洲 文 學 作 品 放 上 網 。 觸 發 希 拉 克 展 開 這 條 法 國 文 化 新 戰 線 ， 是 美 國 互 聯 網 搜 尋 器 Google 正 進 行 Google Print 計 劃 ， 將 一 千 五 百 萬 本 英 語 書 籍 內 容 放 上 網 。 希 拉 克 周 三 已 下 令 法 國 文 化 部 和 國 家 圖 書 館 進 行 類 似 計 劃 對 抗 。 法 國 擔 心 Google Print 透 過 操 英 語 者 的 見 解 ， 為 全 世 界 「 洗 腦 」 。 國 家 圖 書 館 館 長 讓 納 尼 說 ： 「 我 們 面 對 的 挑 戰 ， 是 美 國 正 企 圖 影 響 下 一 代 如 何 理 解 這 個 世 界 。 」 希 拉 克 周 五 在 巴 黎 與 德 國 總 理 施 羅 德 、 西 班 牙 首 相 薩 帕 特 羅 和 俄 羅 斯 總 統 普 京 舉 行 峰 會 時 ， 正 式 提 出 設 立 「 歐 洲 虛 擬 圖 書 館 」 ， 預 料 要 五 年 時 間 完 成 。 他 以 往 亦 提 出 成 立 法 語 電 視 新 聞 網 絡 ， 對 抗 美 國 有 線 新 聞 網 絡 （ CNN ） 和 英 國 廣 播 公 司 （ BBC ） 的 英 語 媒 體 壟 斷 傳 媒 。

Internet connection - an era of slavery? ...(18/3)

Finally I have fixed the Internet connection at home with the service of NOOS. But the connection is really unstable which I can manage to successfully get online once every ten times...dun really get through the problem of the configuration and of course I am lucky to have accessed to my page again now. Thanks for reading. These are just pieces of news and observations and thoughts of me that have totally no connection with you, just like the Internet service here in front of me...maybe there are occasions that we are sharing the same kind of thought, or sometimes not. Well, when some people begin to query the democratic system they are long pursuing of now...perhaps it's not a bad idea to voice out yourself, in a way perhaps other can accept, or at least not to confront with you...the World is a bit chaotic from my point of view now...this may be a way how it evolves, but sometimes we should have taken a short break and well think again of what we are looking for...

French turn up the volume for TVs and hi-fi sets ...(17/3)

'About one-fifth of all French families are expected to be purchasers of TV sets and hi-fi systems in 2005, with Paris, Strasbourg and Lille showing particular promise as consumer centres for these goods. Large chain stores are the usual avenue for sales....'
(extracted from http://www.tdctrade.com/imn/)