58bits - Other

On my way back to Bangkok after a long weekend in Hong Kong.

Was very lucky with the weather and had a great trip. Saw most of the major site - including the The Big Buddha,  a trip up the tram to the peak, a visit to Stanley Market and Repulse Bay plus plenty of shopping and other sites. I was really impressed.

Hard to tell from just a weekend but I'd rank HK as a pretty good place to live. Pics are here...

If I could design the future of social networking it would look like this...

I'd have a platform... some kind of service or software platform, from within which I could blog, twitter, chat and link to the people I know. I'd be able to choose exactly what information I wished to publish and when, and whether that information was published to just my friends, or to the world.

I'd be able to host the platform anywhere I choose. I could pay for it, or it might be free. If I paid for it - I'd want total control over where and how any advertising was allowed from within or outside the platform.

Imagine taking the best of LinkedIn, a decent blogging engine, something twitterish, a good chat client, a good media sharing platform for photos and videos. Add a pinch of social bookmarking - and wrapping all of that up into a very cool platform that I can use to represent me and those I choose to interact with in the online world. A sort of Bittorrent-ish, Groove-ish application for society. Goodbye MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger and Skype, goodbye to all of the walled garden social networking sites - and hello to my own little neighborhood in cyberspace.

The end of walled gardens like Facebook and other social networking sites is actively being discussed. What's missing is the glue in standards and software to bring together an alternative. The big guys like Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo want to try and grab on to this and hold on to it for its obvious potential in targeted marketing and advertising revenue.

I hope that doesn't happen. I hope we're each able to grab on to it, to control it and to use it to build new communities and socially meaningful ways of communicating with the world.

If you've never lived in a tropical climate before - there are a few things people need to warn you about. Firstly, I live in a small apartment (well the apartment is large - but it's a small building) and the landlord and us tenants don't really like to spray insecticides. We prefer to try and keep the place clean in order to keep the invertebrate population down.

It adds a new dimension to 'snacking' and keeping the place tidy. Drop just a few crumbs of that chocolate chunk cookie on the floor - and you're in big trouble. The main offenders are small red ants. When they show I know it because a bite from one of those tiny buggers gives me a lump the size of a golf ball. I remember once in Phuket - they were in the hotel I was staying in - or to be more precise - in the walls of the hotel - and crawling out from behind the towel rack in the bathroom. I grabbed a towel (as you do) after a shower and started to dry myself off and ouch. I won't go into any more details except to say I was pretty worried for about 24 hours.

And then there's the cute little gecko house lizards. These are actually good guys to have around since they eat bugs and insects; except when they crawl into the back of your computer and die. The smell is awful. Took me ages to figure out where it was coming from :-)

Ok - I admit it - I love Doritos - especially cheese flavored Doritos. I know they don't exactly fall into the category of health food - but I could eat a bag a day no problem.

There's a trick to getting Doritos here though (here in Bangkok). Local supermarkets do sell Doritos - but they seem to come in batches - and then disappear for a few weeks. So... I buy a LOT of them when they're here - enough to last until the next wave arrive. I was sort of hopping that some clever stock or inventory management system of the bigger supermarkets would have figured this out - and order more Doritos (ala Walmart), but it hasn't worked, and I'm sure when I hit the Dorito jackpot - there are a lot of unhappy Dorrito lovers here trying to work out where all the Doritos have gone.

I've been wanting to blog about this one for a while now.

Like a lot of Canadians that aren't from Quebec (i.e. any of the other nine provinces and two territories), we're all taught French at primary school; for me at least from grade five to eight. Of course the entire country prints all its product labels in French and English and all the road signs and government communication are bilingual as well. Why? Well that's a whole 'nother thing. The main thing however is that there's really no practical reason for speaking French in Canada, unless you live in Quebec. So unless you're from one of those families that either a) really encourages their kids to learn another language because they believe it will enrich their lives, or b) they're snobs - and dropping a little French in polite company is the best way to confirm their snob standing - then you will forget your French - if you actually remembered any in the first place - the minute you stop studying.

Then I moved to the UK. Ok I wasn't 'exactly' forced to learn another language. But I was in for a surprise. The subtleties (or perhaps better described as the brutality) of English slang, idiom and the vernacular took some getting used to. I began to see the important connection between language and culture. For the most part though - the main visual queues that I'd grown up with still worked. If someone smiled it probably meant they were happy. If they frowned or grimaced - something was up.

Then I moved to SE Asia spending most of my time in Thailand (although frequently visiting most of the other countries in the region including China). And this is when it started to get interesting. Not only did it take a long time to figure out the basics - but the subtleties took even longer.

Thai is part of the Tai-Kadai family of languages (formerly classified as part of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages). It's mono-syllabic and tonal - which means if I write the word - 'kaow' (phonetically) but pronounce it with five different tones (high, mid, low, rising, falling) - I get five different words (rice, enter, news, white and hill). Tones are a great vocabulary multiplier when you're running out of monosyllabic words. Once you can hear (and speak) the tones - within even a modest vocabulary - things start to open up. If you're lucky enough to be in the right environment, or around long enough to move on from the basics - then it gets really interesting. (Picture above: Talking to the monks at Wat Yai Chaimongkon in Ayuttahya.)

Thai is a language rich in character attributes. You can describe someone's nature, behavior, and habits - in just a few words - and those around you will either nod in agreement - or disagree and exchange their own short character describing phrases. Thai is an incredibly polite language - with degrees of politeness to suit many different situations, typically based on the authority, seniority, or age of the person you are communicating with.

I couldn't sum up Thai society in a blog post (even assuming I was qualified) - however what has really amazed me is the way in which their language and culture seem to match perfectly (which I doubt will surprise any social anthropologists, or experts on Thai custom and culture). Thais are witty and humorous, and not being overly serious matters a lot.

When you've begun to master a language in another culture (especially as different as those are from West and East) - and are able to start pushing back a little and probe more, you begin to understand what people mean, what's important to them, and what they are thinking. And that's just amazing. It gives you a totally new frame of reference from which to compare where you've come from, to where you are now.

Ok - second attempt, this time from Dabs.com. What an amazing camera; built-in neutral density filter if you want a wide aperture in bright light settings, auto ISO settings, image stabilizer, fully manual including focus and a great macro setting. 12.1 million pixels and overall picture quality that's pretty darn close to a professional SLR all from a camera that you can still attach to your belt. I'm a happy camper...

I doubt I'm generating enough traffic on the site yet for this to have the effect I'd love it to - but you never know...

A friend of a friend was passing through Bangkok a week ago - and we'd arranged to meet for dinner, as well as enjoy the beginning of the Songkran Festival.

Just the other day I received an email thanking me for dinner and a fun evening out. However the rest of the email included a description that I've heard time and time again about a really unpleasant experience with Tuk Tuk drivers in Bangkok.

My friend's friend had been told repeatedly by Tuk Tuk drivers that the temple she wanted to visit was closed - and was then dragged off to the closest Gem shop in an effort to pry her hard earned currency from her hands - and for the Tuk Tuk driver to receive a handsome commission in the process. So on her last day in Bangkok - instead of a pleasant cultural experience - she'd got the usual Tuk Tuk con.

Don't use them. They may be cute to look at and an icon of Bangkok - but they're dangerous (just plain unsafe to ride in) and will fleece you for two to three times the price of a taxis as well as do their level best to ruin your plans for the day.

58 was the order number I was given for the first smoothie I ever ordered in China. When my order came up the guy shouted 'wu shur ba!', 'wu shur ba!' (58 in Chinese). I shouted back 'wu shur ba!' and collected my smoothie. I couldn't stop saying it for a while after that. Everywhere I went I kept saying  'wu shur ba!'  Obviously my friends in Shanghai thought I was mental. =8-)

Either that or it was the shortest, easiest to remember and available domain name I could come up with as a moniker for my mini-blogosphere.

You choose.

Born in Mississauga, went to high-school in Markham and college in Toronto. Grew up with a very 'Canadian' view of the world.

Spent a few years after graduation working in a laboratory as a research assistant (doing terrible things to cute little Chinese Hamsters) before it began to occur to me that working in Biology might not be for me. I spent a year working for IBM on a short term manufacturing contract in preparation for what I thought was going to be a year-out in Europe.

I flew to the UK in 1990 - September 17th to be precise (it was a dark and rainy night... lightening was everywhere).

Between travels (and while temping in an office in Stockport) I was offered my first job in IT - thanks to a kind gentleman named David Medcalf.  (My 'geekish' tendancies had not gone unnoticed). After 18 months on a help-desk at RoMEC, I accepted an offer to work for VNU publications - which meant that after a culturally educational stay in the North of England - I was now headed for the big city of London.

I helped to build editorial and publishing systems at VNU - which was a great way to get to know more about publishing, networks, Apple Macs and the journalist scene in London. In 1994 I moved over to Macmillan Publishers. Macmillan was probably my biggest break in IT. The office I started in on the Fulham Road was still using carbon paper and typewriters (this was 1994!). I was given a lot of freedom at Macmillan- free to succeed and fail. It was a formative five years and I'm grateful for the experience. In 1999 I decided to take another year-out to travel, spending the majority of my time in Asia.

In 2001 I joined a startup venture in Bangkok; an online, rights managed stock photography agency - which turned into the 'business experience of a lifetime'. It was tough going - and I learned a lot about business and people in the process.

In 2005 I was back in the UK working for Datapharm Publishers Ltd. A great assignment and a good bunch of people.

I've since started a MSc in Information Security at RHUL - which has turned out to be brilliant so far... and after that who knows what next...

Feel very lucky to have lived, travelled and worked across three continents. It's been an adventure to say the least.

If you've made it this far... and want a more formal introduction - then my CV is at http://www.abouch.com

'Per Ardua Ad Astra'

… well at least my version of a short consumer report.

I fly long-haul at least once a year. On the last trip I borrowed a set of noise cancellation headphones from a friend. Noise cancellation headphones contain a little battery powered receiver, usually in the headphone cord near your chest. It picks-up constant ambient sound noise and generates an inverse signal that cancels out a large portion of the ambient background noise. You don’t actually have to be listening to anything for them to work. Great when you want to sleep.

My friends set were a pair of Sennheiser PXC 250 – they were ok – although the regular headphone style is a little cumbersome. I was hoping to find a set of earbud-style noise cancellation headphones for my next trip in a week’s time. I normally do just enough research on the web before making any electronic consumer purchases to be ready and armed to shop and compare. And most times when I’ve failed to do that I’ve paid the price. Sadly this occasion was no exception. While in the local shopping center yesterday I came across a set of Philips SBC HN060 Active noise canceling headphones - earbud-style – and so I thought what the heck – time was limited – I picked them up.

First disappointment was that the battery supplied had leaked and was unusable (fortunately not inside the headphone battery pack). Second BIG disappointment was the sound quality. I have a really great set of Sony MDR-EX71 earbud style headphones (in my diminishing collection of Sony gear) and they are the best I’ve used to date – sound quality is excellent – good range and good low frequency response. The Philips active noise canceling headphones sounded tinny and weak. In fact the overall impression of poor manufactured quality and poor sound quality meant that this was a mistaken purchase for sure.

Although a little over a year old – here’s a good CNET review of noise cancellation headphones. Will be looking for the Sony set soon.