JamesJJ's blog: /
Sat, 07 Jan 2012
Happy New Year - 2012
I've seen lots of new places in the last six months and met new friends. Now it's a whole new year! Wish everyone happiness for 2012.
[Posted in “/yay”, 2012-01-07 21:25, perma-link]
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Wed, 22 Dec 2010
Taiwan - A brief video introduction
This is the first clip of five produced by a group of Taiwanese exchange students studying in the Czech Republic in 2009. The set are a nice introduction to Taiwan for non-Taiwanese, you can view all of the clips here.
[Posted in “/taiwan”, 2010-12-22 23:36, perma-link]
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Tue, 04 May 2010
The Heartbeat of Taiwan
台灣的心跳聲
Taiwan's Shanghai World Expo 2010 theme song ^__^
。。。為什麼我在英國？
[Posted in “/taiwan”, 2010-05-04 21:37, perma-link]
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Sun, 21 Mar 2010
Tiger New Year in Taiwan
台灣的小孩很可愛
♥ Just ordered milk-tea in 嘉義...
小朋友： 你是外國人嗎？
阿胖： 對， 我是外國人。
小朋友 ［大叫］： 哥哥， 這裡有外國人ㄟ！！！ 快來看。
小朋友： 為什麼你用我們的錢？
阿胖：因為這個要台幣。英鎊不可以買珍珠奶茶！
♥ Bouncing along on the bus from 新埔 back to 輔仁大學 and a little voice in the middle of the bus says...
小朋友：爸爸，他很胖因為他的爸爸是多啦A夢嗎？
爸爸： 不是！ 外國人通常比我們大！
阿胖： XDDDDDD!
♥ I didn't break it...
小朋友：老闆，這個壞掉了！ 。。。 老闆，好了沒？
[Posted in “/taiwan”, 2010-03-21 11:12, perma-link]
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Sun, 26 Jul 2009
Remembering and typing...
I noticed an article "Barcodes are the next big IT thing" as I was reading the paper - "the next big IT thing" doesn't particularly inspire (isn't everything), but on this occasion I think the idea might have a hope.
The article, originally from The Guardian describes the use of a 2D barcode as a device readable web link or phone number. Nearly everyone in the UK has a mobile phone with a camera - you don't need to program in a phone number or URL again, just point your phone's camera at the business card / poster / TV screen / web page and your phone picks up the number or URL and saves it to your address book or opens the web link - lovely! There are so many times I've taken a quick snap of a poster or similar, just to record the phone number, or web address at the bottom. The 2D barcode link allows you to capture the link information you need in a useful format.
Apparently, these 2D barcode links have become very popular in Japan. The reason for this seems two-fold. Firstly Japanese mobile phones (and maybe Japanese users) are much more Internet capable than those available in the UK, so people really use their phones for web browsing more. Secondly, the phone manufacturers seem to have been able to agree on a barcode standard and pre-load phones with the necessary software. These latter points may be the show stoppers in the European market.
I loaded up my Nokia E65 with the free software from get.beetagg.com, created a few 'QR' 2D barcodes from quickqr.com and tried it out. It worked perfectly every time I pointed the phone at the QR. Interested? Get the software yourself, and see what you think:
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[Posted in “/IT”, 2009-07-26 13:30, perma-link]
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Sun, 01 Mar 2009
Lost to the puppies...
在台灣我認識我的朋友包子先生。今年二月我的好朋友聿泊去看包子先生。他們本來都會來英國。台灣到Frankfurt沒問題， Frankfurt到Heathrow也OK，但是在Heathrow有一個大問題！Heathrow的條子狗們嗅到包子先生 （他很香！）。警方們突襲 >"< 包子先生死了。。。 條子狗們把他吃了。Waaaaaa！
Well, it will be ok: 希望有一天我可以在台灣認識包子先生的弟弟。。。
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[Posted in “/crying”, 2009-03-01 21:04, perma-link]
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Mon, 26 Jan 2009
Happy Lunar New Year
新年快樂
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[Posted in “/fluff”, 2009-01-26 11:34, perma-link]
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Tue, 18 Nov 2008
Taiwan Wild Strawberries
On the 22nd of March 2008, Ma Ying-Jeou of the Kuomintang Party (KMT) became President of Taiwan. President Ma's election brought an end to an eight year period of rule by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). In very brief synopsis, the DPP is part of the "pan-Green" segment of Taiwan. Those who are "green" broadly favour a move towards open international recognition of Taiwanese independence (...from The People's Republic of China. Currently, Taiwan is de-facto independent, but exists in a 'status-quo' whereby its independence is not widely officially recognised by other nations). The "pan-Blue" segment, led by the KMT, is broadly "pro-China", favouring some variety of unification between Taiwan and the PRC in the future. The situation in Taiwan is internationally important for a variety of reasons, including local stability in the Asia-Pacific region, US commitments to Taiwan and the Taiwan-USA-China triangle of political leverage which affects China's role in international diplomacy (for example regarding the Nuclear status of North Korea) amongst other things, in addition to Taiwan's international trade (the largest shares of which are with the US and China).
The Taiwan Wild Strawberries Movement began as a group of student's gathering peacefully outside the Offices of the Government in Taipei on November 6th, 2008. Their protest is primarily against a law which limits citizens ability to peacefully group or parade in their own country. Since the 6th, more "Strawberries" have grouped at Universities throughout Taiwan (Taipei, Hsinchu, Taichung, Chiayi, Tainan & Kaohsiung). Essentially, the Strawberries seek true freedom of speech and the continuation of democracy in Taiwan.
Some may say that the actions of the Strawberries are politically motivated. Whilst many may favour the "green" point of view, there are many "blue" Strawberries, and as stated in their initial protest statement they gathered independently from any political support, motivation or organisation. Perhaps their intent is best summarised by the following video, "The voice of Wild Berries":
The English lyrics to the song are as follows:
I have opened my eyes
and have withstood the aches of awakening
I opened up my arms to feel the breeze coming from all directions
and shook off the stinging pains of your control
I was not wrapped in cotton wool
so please save the insincere compassion
I could never understand your hypocrisy
and will always remain true to myself
(refrain)
*we have dreams and ideals
we have a few things to say
after you have betrayed yourselves
please do not also sell us out
we have dreams and ideals
we have a few things to say
as you broke all your promises
we chose to rise and join this sit-in*
silence does not represent acquiescence
nor does peace indicate acceptance
your arrogance has once again burned us
and this time we will no longer remain silent
More information about the Strawberries and their aims is available on the Taiwan Wild Strawberries Movement web site in English, and on 野草莓運動 (the Official site in Mandarin). There has also been extensive press coverage by the Taipei Times, the China Post and various other web sites. If you feel moved, you can support the Strawberries by signing this petition.
Finally, if you are wondering where the name "Wild Strawberries" comes from, "Strawberries" is a term originally used by older Taiwanese to describe the younger generations born in the '80s and after. The label was given because of the perceived softness of the younger generation compared to the hardship that older people had endured. The "Wild" refers to the Wild Lily student movement of 1990.
[Posted in “/taiwan”, 2008-11-18 19:47, perma-link]
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Fri, 31 Oct 2008
Crazy eyes
I have always had eyes that work independently, and I primarily use my left eye. This is my excuse for my terrible performance when playing ball games. When I was young I had an operation to correct a squint and ever since then I had annual / biannual checkups at a local optometrist - I was always told by vision was fine.
The checkups seem to have lapsed since I moved to Bristol. Anyway, last thursday I had an eye test... "Right eye first, read the letters"... 'A N K Z F P R K (or what ever they were)'... "Ok, now your left eye"... 'A N K ... Oh! Umm'... [bigger letters] 'X Y ... Eak, still can't read them'... [giant letters] L Y R ... ⌈Yikes, I really cant read those!⌋
So on goes the frame-rack thing that lets the optician slot in lenses at will. A few lenses go in, a few questions with a lens on a stick, then even more lenses get racked up - by now I'm feeling distinctly like a Borg >"<. Back to the letters - Wow, which I can now read perfectly!
And so, I'm told I would have much better vision in the eye I use primarily if I had glasses. As the optician brought me back upstairs from the examination room the Specsavers machine sprung into action... I was assigned a sales person and found myself being shown frames to choose from. STOP! All too fast... well, I was about to, but on the other hand, being able to see better immediately made sense too.
So here we go:
I'm happy - I really can see much better now... And of course they make me look even more suave & professional computer nerdy... XD
[Posted in “/fluff”, 2008-10-31 23:41, perma-link]
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Tue, 28 Oct 2008
You are being watched...
Last week one of the guys at work said there was an Eagle Owl living in a tree just down the road... I went looking a couple of times, but couldn't find him/her. Then on Sunday afternoon a passing stranger pointed him/her out, up in a tree watching me. By then it was dusk and too dark for a photo, but I went back on Monday and managed a little clearer view:
For a clearer picture, my colleague Paul, took a much more beautiful photo of the owl last week.
[Posted in “/fluff”, 2008-10-28 14:18, perma-link]
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