Having so many labor problems, no wonder multinational companies are leaving France on the first sight of trouble. Wipro is an Indian company, the only reason buying overseas hi-tech firm is to learn their technology. After they learn everything, there is no reason keeping the France operation. Wage is much cheaper in India.
How to build a small table (part 2)
After eight week of wood working class, I have built my first table. After going through all the steps and trouble from raw lumber to a finished furniture, I appreciate all different kinds of furniture made available by modern manufacturing process. I can’t imagine how much time it will take if I have to build all my furniture myself. The cost of the wood and tools I bought plus my time, cost a lot more than the price I pay at a furniture store for a similar table.
Due to the lack of cost efficiency, I probably won’t take up wood working as a hobby, but I must confess that seeing the finishing product gives me a sense of satisfaction. I think wood working is a must-have skill for the man of the house, it the basic of home maintenance. My wood working skill also gives me better eyes in telling the quality of furniture. If I need a piece of unique special purpose furniture that is ridiculously expensive, I know I can always build it myself.
Here is the second half of my table building experience. Please see part 1 for steps 1 to 11.
12. Sand the table top to make it a really smooth surface
13. Glue the legs, sides and back pieces. Hold the shape with bar cramps.
14. Drill packet hole for mounting the top and bottom
15. Screw in the bottom piece
16. The table frame is finish
17. Cut the groove for the drawer bottom.
18. Assemble the draw with counter sink screws
19. Counter sink screws sinks into the wood to leave a flush surface
20. Cut wood plugs to cover the counter sink holes
21. Glue the plug, saw off the top and sand it flat.
22. Fasten the drawer rail with counter sink screw
23. Fasten the drawer front with bubble screw and washer
24. Slide in the drawer and the table is done!
Here is some lessons I learn what not to do in wood working
1. Don’t put much force onto the power screw driver, otherwise the wood will crack
2. Don’t drill too close to the edge or using a too large drill head, otherwise the wood will crack
3. Don’t twist the drill, otherwise the drill bit will snap.
Google 411
Whenever I used 411 to look up the phone number I need, I always feel being ripped off by the telephone company. The information is free out there on the internet, yet my mobile carrier charges me 50 cents for each call. Now, I don’t have to up with my frustration with the 411 operators anymore, here it comes the Google 411.
Call 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411), you are greeted with a computer voice asking for the business or phone number you are looking for. You simply say the location and business name, Google will redirect your call to the destination. No more long distance fee if you are trying to call a business out of town. Google 411 supports all US and Canada numbers but it only works in English. I tried calling my office with Google 411, it works like a charm. It can even understand my not so perfect Chinese-accented English. If you are calling form a smart phone, you can even ask Google 411 send you a map of the number you looked up.
I wonder how Google is making money off from this great service. It does not have any advertisement at the moment, but I think people won’t mind listening to a few seconds of advertisement before getting the number. I read a bit more about Google 411 and it turns out totally not what I expected it to be. Google has no intention to make any money from this service, they are not even consider selling advertisement. The service is a giant experiment to build a huge phoneme database to train their super voice recognition system. What else is better than giving a free service and get all sorts of people with different accents call and leave you their voice?
My Olympic Experience
I did not welcome the Olympic Games in the beginning. I worried about the tourist flooding the city and curse the Olympics cuts my ski season shorts. I never watch much Olympic Games, not even the 2008 Beijing Olympic. Before February 16, it seems Olympics is none of my business.
It turns out the Olympic Games is a huge success and somehow I caught the Olympic fever. I was glued to TV every night watching events highlights, cheering for Canadian (and Chinese) athletes. All those winter sports seems so boring in the past to watch suddenly becomes interesting. When a Canadian is fighting for a place in the podium, tense atmosphere got me and I shared the excitement. I watched Olympics with colleagues in the cafeteria at work during lunch. For some high stake events, I slack off a bit and watched the CTV online broadcast in the afternoon using my laptop while trying to get some work done at the background. We even book a meeting room to watch preliminary hockey games together when the Canadian team is playing.
The city is full of Olympic spirit and the Games indeed brings people closer with each other. I went to downtown twice to experience the Olympic events. I lined up for 5 hours just to hold the gold medal. Everyone in the city becomes more friendly and open. Strangers whom don’t look at each other in normal days now talks to each other. The Olympic seems universal catalyst to begin a conversation. Everyone has something to say about the Games.
I watched the hockey semi-final and final at a local pub. I wanted to watch it in downtown with the crowd in front of the big TV but I am turned off by the traffic and long line up. The hockey game connects everyone in the pub together. People smile at each others’ Canada goodies and we make waves during game. When there are a full room of people cheering for the same team with me, I really feel like Canada is where I belong. The mood of the whole pub is controlled by what is happening in the TV. When Canada is leading 2-0, we are all yelling and cheering. When the US tie Canada 20 seconds before the end of game, everyone is dead silence. When Crosby score the golden goal, everyone gets loud and give high fives to anyone. It’s a weird scene that the whole pub sing O Canada after we won the game full of enjoyment.
We have spent $1.67 billion to host the Olympic Games, we won’t know whether we can will break even or not. However, Canada won 13 gold medals and 25 medals in total and we gave the world a really good show. I don’t the Economical return of the Games, but it definitely raise the morale of the country and united the Canadian identity. Regardless of your background, your colour, everyone in Canada is together with Team Canada striving to win the hockey game. This is the most watched hockey game ever in Canada history, probably in the world too.
小狗懶擦鞋 – 彭志銘
相信沒有人不懂說粗口﹐可是懂說粗口並不是真正的懂得粗口。大部份人包括我自己﹐講粗口不過是鸚鵡學舌﹐對粗口的意義不求什甚解﹐甚至講錯粗口也不自知。粗口從來不能登上大雅之堂﹐讀書人總是以粗口為恥﹐更枉論把粗口視為語言學術來研究立著。次文化堂社長彭志銘﹐本著文化無分貴賤皆有價值的精神﹐寫成「小狗懶擦鞋」一書﹐研究和記錄香港粗口文化﹐讓我們知道講粗口也要講得好也是一門學問。
「小狗懶擦鞋」書名是取自粵語五個主要粗口字的諧音﹐是彭志銘報紙的專欄結集成書。雖然此書並非嚴緊學術著作﹐但參考資料豐富研究取材多樣花﹐內容並不比學術論文遜色。書本除了講解那五個粗口字的正寫和語法外﹐還邏列很多疑似和粗口變種的語句﹐追溯每個語句的來龍去脈。粗口通常以性為題材一定不雅﹐但不雅粗鄙的語句不一定是粗口﹐書中亦為厘清一般人對粗口的誤解。除了言語文化的冷知識性外﹐書後附錄有幾篇評論政府文化政策的文章﹐指出政府思想潔癖奉粗必禁的荒謬﹐可以說從社會文化的角度去為粗口平反。
書本的每篇文章也精彩獨特﹐就算讀者不認同講粗口的行為﹐讀此書也可以幫助我們理解語言和文化的演變﹐思考為什麼粗口字會成為不雅禁語﹐而我們要另創新語句去表達原來的意思呢。一般人以為門字部的那五個字便是粗口字﹐原來那是香港的自創字﹐粗口的正字源遠流長﹐可以從古藉文獻中找到記載﹐可惜電腦字庫沒有那些字﹐沒有辨法把粗口的正字打出來。
原本粗口字是形容性交和生殖器官的字﹐可是因成為罵人常用說話而淪髒話粗口。每個粗口字也有不同意義﹐“門小”是動詞﹐“門西”是女陰相信小孩也懂。但男性生殖器原來可以細分為三個字﹐“門九”是陰莖﹐“門七”是春袋﹐兩者加起來稱之為“門能”﹐我說了這麼多年粗口也不知道。知道七和九的分別﹐才明白罵人戇九和笨七的精妙所在。不應舉而舉為之戇九﹐應舉而不舉為之笨七。至於後來戇居便是從來因避諱而產生的諧音詞﹐罵人戇居其實是說粗口。
除了粗口外本書也為很多視為不雅的俗語平反。有些人視屎忽二字為不雅﹐原來屎窟才是正寫﹐窟者洞也﹐原來是言簡意賅的古語。至於常常聽到的仆街﹐躝癱﹐冚家鏟﹐並不粗口因為與性無關﹐只是對別人的惡毒咒罵。仆街正寫是仆街死﹐咒罵他人在街上猝死。躝癱是咒罵他人四肢殘癈﹐冚家鏟則是咒罵他人全家也死掉。很多疑似粗口只是轉借粗口字的諧音﹐但有些類粗口的俗語﹐卻要在香港文化背景下才來會明白﹐例如死仔包的包是古時殮葬的方法﹐爛大門的歇後語是唔頂唔得﹐俾人食左隻豬則是出自古代婚禮金豬回門﹐扑野的扑源自妓女打麻雀。這些看似無聊的典故﹐讀起來十分有趣。至少現在我講粗口時﹐知道自己到底在講什麼﹐不用再人云亦云了。