Thanks to Scott for the link lead.

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• Russians in China - after 1950’s, Russians speak fluent Mandarin. ie. Harbin or Northern China.
• East Germany’s economy is still struggling to catch up with West Germany.
• Cars in Germany has to go through inspection every 2 years.
• Driving on the autobahn.  Roads are generally in good condition so it’s possible to speed up most of the time.  However, sometimes some folks from East Germany still drive crappy cars and usually stops at the on-ramp because they have slow cars. That just annoys other drivers with better cars.
• Need a tutor for your kid? How about 7 of them - one for each subject.  There’s even tutoring for toddler.

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1. No sweat. No effort.
2. Overweight/fat people can still play golf.
3. Too much reliance on equipment technology, such as graphite shafts, titanium head drivers, or multi-core golf balls.
4. It looks easy, and not physically demanding.
5. At 3 hours per round, it’s a very slow game.
6. Comedians such as George Carlin and Robin Williams make fun of golf.

I noted most of the people who criticize the game either never played the game before, or have played the game once and hated it.  If they’ve never been on the driving range or on the golf course before, how do they know it’s easy?  How do they know it’s not physically demanding to walk at least 6000 yards, under the beating sun (sometimes rain) to play 18 holes?  And for those who tried and ended up hating the game, did they learn correct fundamentals of the game?  Did they expect a 460cc Titanium drivers lets them hit 300 yards without a proper swing technique?   It’s not an easy game.   The professionals on TV make it look very easy.

These days, I can’t miss the name Tiger Woods. His day starts at 4am, working out and practicing on the driving range. On TV during tournaments, he shows off his sculpted upper body. I can see the strength of his golf shots: getting out of thick rough, hitting long drives, and making 600 yards Par 5 holes seem easy. In the US Open last June, even with excruciating pain in his left knee, he could still beat the best of them. Tiger’s an athlete. He’s a golfer.

You may say that’s just one guy from a bunch of other overweight and big bellied players on the Tour.  Others are setting the trend to be lean and mean.  Vijay Singh is a 45 years old golfer and he stays fit by working out and getting strong.  He’s just trying to keep up with his younger competitors like Adam Scott and Camilo Villegas.  Even Phil Mickelson was reportedly trying to lose weight and build stamina since 2007.

From the American Century Investment Celebrity Golf tournament last weekend, there is a quote from The Great One, Wayne Gretzsky, about the game:

It’s such a difficult sport. For those people who said golfers are not athletes, they must be crazy. This is one of the toughest sports in the world.

As an athlete himself, Wayne has much appreciation of the game of Golf as a sport.  Watch the interview video below and take his word for it.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnY90M_b0LU

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Center of Map

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Curry House Irvine - Editions: 9-10 15 17 19

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Bagels and Brew - Editions: 19

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Foothill Ranch - Editions: 8 14
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Kaju Soft Tofu Irvine
- Editions: 6 19

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Panera Bread - Editions: 18

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Spice Thai - Editions: 16

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The Fish Market Irvine Spectrum - Editions: 16

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Avilas el Ranchito - Editions: 14

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Lucille’s BBQ - Editions: 13

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Chick-Fil-A - Editions: 12

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Red Robin - Editions: 11

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Fukada Japanese Restaurant - Editions: 7

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Dove Canyon Country Club
- Editions: 5

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Benihana - Editions: 4

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China Garden - Editions: 3

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Pho 99 - Editions: 2

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Islands - Editions: 1

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Comparatively speaking, OC Fair is nicer and more fun than the San Diego County Fair. There was also more emphasis on food and fun.  The retailers’ booths were neatly hidden inside the buildings.  With no clutter of commercial signs, it felt more like an amusement park.

There are more games and rides, with a separate section for adults and kids.  My 3-year old daughter loved the kids’ rides.  She would go on them by herself, too.  My wife and I didn’t have to accompany her.  We took the cable car ride from the front to the back entrance of the fairgrounds.  It was a neat ride; we could see the entire fairground from end to end. 

At the Park Plaza, we stopped by to watch Kishin Daiko performing Taiko, or Japanese Drums. These guys (and girls) are incredible.  The rhythm of the drums is mesmerizing and awe inspiring.  One of the performer mentioned there’s a Taiko Drum Master for Playstation 2.  I want one also for the Wii!

The only gripe I had about the Fair was the expensive food and drinks.  We had roasted corn for $3.75, Great Western BBQ Sausage for $8.75, and small Dipping Dot ice cream for $3.50.  Good thing we brought our own water, otherwise it’s going to be another $2.50 for that!

Overall, we’re glad to have gone to the Fair.  We’re looking forward to visit it again, maybe in 2 weeks, or next year.

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• iPhone, Blackberry, or something else.  It all depends on the data plans.  With Blackberry and iPhone, unlimited data plan is almost necessary, and it’s not cheap.
• Going camping.  Can I do it?  You see, I’m not the outdoor-sy type, but I think I can do it.
• What good movies were released in the past 2 weeks?  Wall-E, Hancock, Wanted, Get Smart, and Kung-Fu Panda.
• The term “cougar”.  The word’s origin may have come from Vancouver.
• Oriental people: they all look the same.

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This time around, the methods have less dark motives, yet still clever, and more fun:

• Nintendo Wii Fit workout girl.  I really thought this was a genuine video done by ordinary people, but Shoemoney revealed otherwise.
• Mobile Phones Popcorn videos.  This one smelled like a hoax, but it raised a lot of questions; mostly: how and why.  The LA Times got the scoop that it was possibly done by cell phone headsets manufacturer(s).  Now, revealed on CNN, it was made by Cardo Systems to sell Bluetooth headsets.
• Faceless People.  This one is kinda creepy.  Daily Mail thought it may be a movie promotion.
• Ball Girl’s Incredible Catch.  Again, LA Times found out it’s a fake: a viral video produced by Gatorade.

I guess the reason for all this is to get my increasingly divided attention.  I don’t just watch TV in my living room, any more.  I don’t watch or read ads, any more.  In fact, I don’t really pay attention to the ads in front of me.  Unless they’re eye catching or personalized, I’m just going to ignore them.

So now, advertising goes by the power of recommendation.  Mob advertising, if you will.  When someone (or some people) recommends something to me, I feel it’s important to check it out.  Usually it’s a product, but now it can be the ad itself.

I must admit sneaky advertising sure makes it more interesting.  It also provides a great topic of conversation… or blog.

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• I get into it because I believe I have good taste.
• Sometimes I believe what I posted is not that good.
• I’m still looking for the special thing(s).
• I am going through a volume of work, making deadlines, even though I don’t get paid to do this.
• I must not give up.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hidvElQ0xE

Ira Glass is a host and producer of This American Life show.

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Honda does not have an official word on why a Civic Hybrid’s IMA (Integrated Motor Assist) battery might fail.  But a technical bulletin to service dealers suggested a similar problem with Honda’s first hybrid cars, the Insight, which used the same IMA technology.  The letter said modules controlling the battery charging mechanism, allowed overcharging.  However, repeated overcharging could cause overheating and reduce the life of the battery.  Combine that with the hot weather in places like California or Arizona, the battery would die even faster.

The letter might explain my situation.  For the past few weeks, there have been record high temperatures in Southern California.  I noticed my 2003 Civic Hybrid car’s IMA light came on and off, indicating a possible problem with the main engine battery.

Last week, I took the car to a local Honda dealer down the street and had them check it out.  They told me that it was possibly due to a false reading in the ECM (Electronic Control Module) device. This should also fix the issue I had with the Check Engine light reporting a catalytic converter failure.  They summarily reset both indicators and returned the car to me.  This Monday morning, the light came back on!  It looks like the ECM software update doesn’t fix anything.

In California, there is a warranty extension for the IMA battery to 10 years/150k miles.  However, this only applies to Civic Hybrids with SULEV (Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicles) specification.  For some odd reason, the State only gave my car a ULEV.  So I’m out of luck.

Now, I may not have a choice but to replace my IMA battery.  I called a few other dealers and they quoted me about $3000 to get a new one!   I can buy a lot of gas with that money! Or a down payment for a new car!

I don’t want to give up on my car just yet.  In the past few weeks, I watched the battery charge and MPG indicators.  I noticed I was down to 41 MPG on a full tank, or roughly 500 miles per 12 gallons. Even with the IMA battery poor condition,  I’m still getting a much better mileage than all economy/compact/sub-compact cars out there.   So it got me thinking:  Do I really need to replace the main battery?  My answer, at this point, is no.  The car is still drive-able and still saves a lot of fuel.

Some people suggested, after 5 years, the car’s life is at the end anyway, so it might better off for me to buy a new car.  It may be true in a cold climate cities when the car goes through adverse weather conditions and salted roads. In Southern California, the weather is moderate and mostly dry.  A well maintained car can last more than 10 years in this part of the country.  My last Civic was 8 years old when I had to trade it in for a larger car.  Similarly, I plan on using this Civic Hybrid, if it lets me, to go beyond 10 years, or at least until 2011 when my car pool lane HOV sticker expires.  There’s really no motivation for me to get rid of this car right now.

With the IMA battery still operational in a somewhat limited capacity, the car still getting a quite decent mileage and still in good condition, my hybrid car woe is not too bad. In the meantime, I think I’ll write to American Honda to petition a warranty exception for my car’s battery.  I’m hoping Honda has the sense to take care of me, one of their loyal customer. I’ll update this blog when (if) I get a word from them.

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Reception to this news is met with much skepticism. If Toshiba is trying to squeeze more pixels out of a standard DVD’s 480p resolution and label it as “the new high resolution format”, then it’s obviously over-reaching!  Toshiba is not the expert in viral marketing.  The rumors about Toshiba’s next project created more head shakes than head turns.  Maybe Toshiba had relied on the product to speak for itself in the past, but in today’s information hungry consumers, they expect more from the company’s marketing department.

Now it looks like Toshiba is venturing into Internet based rich content (possibly interactive) using the existing DVDs.  The idea has its merits, but there are questions that need to be answered:

1. Is it safe to assume everyone has Internet access?  If they do, will they have Ethernet or Wi-Fi installed so it can talk to the new DVD Download DL enabled players?  Geeks like me will have Wi-Fi available, but some (most?) folks will not.  This may change when Laptops and Ultra Portable PCs are becoming standard equipment in every household.
2. Does a regular DVD watcher really care about interactive Internet enabled extra contents?  Maybe when it’s available people will start using it.  “If you build it, they will come.”
3. Is it going to be cheap?  The reason HD-DVD became so popular during its last days was because the price actually went all the way down below $150.  Toshiba may use this strategy again.  Sony still has yet to learn this lesson.
4. What will happen to Multi-discs, Super Special Ultimate Edition, Fancy-boxed set DVDs?  All of the extras are usually included in the purchase.  DVDs will go back to 1 disc format, one version release, making it a simpler choice.

Then there’s the ever curious CH-DVD or Chinese HD-DVD standard that was also recently approved.  It’s basically HD-DVD for China and its market.  What market may that be?  Chinese made movies, such as from Hong Kong, Taiwan, or the mainland?  Or is it more towards the “free” variety?  Obviously Toshiba will not encourage piracy, but the way for mass adoption is always via underground.  Other such successful adoptions include MP3, DiVX, Xvid, and VCD.  It sure raises a lot of eye brows.

So are you ready for the next generation DVD experience?

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