Category: Things I don’t quite understand
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Whilst having Dim Sum today I watched the lady at the next table carefully cleaning all the cups, bowls and chopsticks (using the tea and hot water provided by the restaurant). The problem is that once you notice people doing this you can’t help but observe that most people who do this (and many restaurant…
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When I searched on Google for Jack Ma I got this: Jack Ma Chinese business magnate Ma Xiaohui is an erhu player and composer from Shanghai, People’s Republic of China. She is one China’s few first-class traditional artists embracing an international career. Wikipedia
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In the fine tradition of technology that is “designed” to do random things for no good reason at all. Ladies and Gentlemen, Spotify Connect – playing music on another device. Why would I want my mobile phone to start playing music from my computer? It’s not big, it’s not clever and please stop it.
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Google Play now offer e-books in Hong Kong (from Tech in Asia). That’s the good news. The bad news is that I can’t find a way to get it to display books in English only, so it’s a frustrating experience. As ever, not all titles are available, and whereas Amazon has a reasonable idea what…
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Buy an iPhone, iPad, or iPod in Hong Kong and you will pay no more than the US price – so they are cheaper here because Hong Kong has no sales tax. But try to buy a Nexus 7 and you will pay 20% more, because they are all “parallel imports”. English books are usually…
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Amazon now have a “Kindle Daily Deal”: one title at a reduced price, usually at $0.99 or $1.99, for exactly 24 hours. So far, so good. Except for readers outside the United States. Sometimes the title is simply not available, which is quite annoying, and sometimes we are allowed to buy it – but only…
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If you ask for a "doggy bag" at the end of your delicious Cantonese meal, the chances are that the waiter (or maybe one of the diners) will pick up a pair of chopsticks, turn them around, and use them to put the food into the take-away container. OK, so you’ve probably avoided getting someone…
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I see that the government is auctioning off more ‘vanity plates’. Is there any better way of saying "I am a plonker" than paying good money to have your own personalized number plate? Not that I’m complaining – as a taxpayer, I have to approve, and as a bonus it always gives me a laugh…
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Apple have announced that it is now possible to run Windows XP on an Intel-based Mac. The question is why anyone would want to do that… Windows XP is the best operating system Microsoft have produced (so far), but when you can run it on any old PC you buy, why pay a premium for…
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It seems to be a well-established tradition in Hong Kong that when you sit down at the table in a restaurant you use hot tea to wash the cups, bowls and chopsticks. The theory is that the water has been boiled, so it is safe. Well, maybe, but what about the people who wash the…
Ordinary Gweilo 