You are special

As we go through life we touch the lives of others, and we become special to those others. Don't let your feelings get in the way of their specialness.

Please Don't Spam

When people hear the word "spam" in relation to email, they probably think about "Viagra", "Enlargement", or "Fast-moving Stocks".

However, there is another form of spam, one that is often sent innocently but naively by people who might be reading this very page. Such people mean no harm, and might even think they are being helpful without realizing that they are actually causing problems for others.

Picture this. You receive an email called "God is an artist" in which someone claims that the images are all natural formations and prove that God is an artist.

A few days later, you receive another email called "God is an artist", and you notice that it is from one of the recipients of the previous email who has just blindly forwarded the message to you.

Annoying, isn't it? I think so, and that is why I would like to note a few things here.

• When you receive an email claiming something, please verify it before passing it on.
  
• If it's something unusual like "God is an artist", you can check out the details at Snopes, a treasure chest of urban legends.
  
• If it's a virus warning, then verify it at an anti-virus vendor's website first. Personally, I go to Symantec, the makers of Norton Anti-virus.
  
• If you've checked that everything is genuine, take a moment and think about your recipients. Will this benefit them, or merely clog up their mailbox?
  
• If you decide it should definitely be forwarded to everyone in your address book, then please check the original list of recipients to see if any of them are in your address book. If they are, they've already received it and don't need to see another copy.
  
• After weeding out unnecessary recipients, the next step is to strip away all the previous email addresses from the body of the message so that the recipients don't have to wade through 1001 lines of "To", "From", "Date", and "Subject" before getting to the main content of the message.
  
• Finally, put all your intended recipients in the BCC field, and then email the message to yourself. That way, you protect the identity of your recipients who may not wish to have their email address made known to everyone else, and you spare them the need to scroll down the long list of recipients before coming to the content of the message.

And if you think it's too much trouble to do all that just to forward a message, then maybe the message isn't that worthy of being forwarded after all.

Interesting things I've seen on the train

Here in Hong Kong, our underground rail system is called the MTR, which stands for Mass Transit Railway (not to be confused with Singapore's MRT). Occasionally I will see something on the train that makes me think, "I wish I had my camera with me".

I was on my way to work when this pretty young lady boarded. I stood there with my book in hand (I'm always reading or writing on the train) and glancing at her now and then. And whatever pleasant thoughts going through my head suddenly vanished as she stuck her finger up her nose and started digging!

Whenever possible, I stand at the very end of the train, be it front or back. There I was with my Reader's Digest(R) in hand when Mr. Macho strode on and leaned against the opposite door. Tight jeans, black singlet, sneakers, and shades. He was muscular and trim, so his attire was appropriate. I paid him no further attention and returned to my book. A few stops later, he got ready to alight, and ... what have we here? A small Hello Kitty dangling from his belt loop at the back. I hope it was something his girlfriend sneaked on and not something he likes to decorate his macho self with.

People in Hong Kong have this thing about rushing. The train will sound a warning in the form of beeps before the doors close, indicating that passengers should stand back from the doors. Those not already aboard take this as a signal to sprint across the platform to try and slip betwen the closing doors. If it weren't so dangerous, it would be comical. On one occasion when the train was packed, this idiot came charging down the escalator and raced for the nearest open door - one that I was near. There were two men standing right by the door and they both held up their hands to keep the idiot from crashing into them. The result was that he slid right past and only just managed to avoid smacking into the side of the train. After all that rushing, he had to wait for the next train anyway. BTW, trains arrive once every 90 seconds during peak periods.

The train seats are metal benches designed for six people to sit on. I had the misfortune to be seated next to a punk who thought it would be funny to lay down across the entire length. My temper being what it was in those days, I was ready to grab him by the collar and throw him off the train if he touched me. Turns out I didn't need to do anything of the sort because a policeman came on board, took one look at the non-Chinese character splayed across the seat and asked in perfect English, "Are you alright?" Before the fool could answer, the officer grabbed him by the scruf of his shirt and dragged him off the train.

I should mention that Hong Kong's population is mostly Chinese, with Cantonese being the main language. To hear the officer's excellent English was music to my ears.

Isaac Asimov - my fave author

The late Isaac Asimov was a prolific writer, having penned close to 500 books before his passing in 1992. The Good Doctor wrote fiction and fact, about anything that he cared to tackle. He was also unashamedly unmodest, but in such a loveable good-natured teddy-bear way that it was difficult to dislike him for it. When he wasn't writing, he was sleeping, I think. Here's a quote from one of his books.

"Well, it may be that you're not a writer. It's no disgrace. You can always go on to take up some slightly inferior profession like surgery or the presidency of the United States".
- Isaac Asimov
From "GOLD: The Final Science Fiction Collection" published by
HarperCollins Publishers 1995.
ISBN 0 00 224621 X

ME FIRST!

I used to think that Hong Kong was unique in its selfishness, but I came across this little bit of news while going through old emails last night.

Remember "Tickle Me Elmo" and the Cabbage Patch dolls? Remember how people fought tooth and nail to acquire them? And now, they're available for pennies at thrift stores.

So here's something that people in HK have in common with those in the USA, and many other places, I'm sure.

To quote part of that old email:
The "Me-First / I'm-More-Important-Than-You" attitude demands that you have the first whatever. Once you've gotten it, and shown it off to all and sundry, and convinced at least one other person of your importance, you can then throw it out so that thrift store owners can pick it up and sell it again.

24 years in radio

I started at Commercial Radio in October 1976, left a couple of times only to return, then made my final exit in the summer of 2000 to join Outblaze.

This was originally posted on March 19th, 2005.  Four years later - March 2009 - I would once again return to Commercial Radio as a weekend news sub-editor. That place truly is my second home.

The English-language service broadcasts on AM864.  You can listen online via:
http://www.881903.com/Resourse/VideoPlayback/res/am_local.asx

A beginning

It's 4:52 here in Hong Kong (GMT +8) and this is my first attempt at blogging.