This story from Madame Chiang reminded me of a visit me and a mate got from the police just before I moved to HK.

A couple of young policemen knocked on our door and asked to come in. They were going house-to-house asking where everyone was at 10pm the night before as there had apparently been an axe murder outside our house. Nice area.

Mate: “We were in the gym, sweating like rapists.”
Me: “Er, mate ….. yes we were in the gym downstairs.”

Few more questions and then:

Copper: “Is that a Playstation 2?”
Me: “Yes.” …. wondering where this was going …..
Copper: “Can I have a go?”

They stayed for about half an hour, then thought they had better be off. A few minutes after they left, another knock on the door, one of the coppers …. back for his helmet!

Me: “Glad to see we’re in good hands!”

Can 9 Million Skype Users Be Wrong?

The software has the capability of automatically updating and upgrading itself, allowing it to acquire new features at any time—potentially without the permission of the user. The software uses a secret protocol; all communications are encrypted. And Skype Technologies does its engineering in Tallinn, Estonia, has some business operations in London and registers its website in Amsterdam.

If I were going to write an information warfare thriller with a theme based on Invasion of the Body Snatchers, this is certainly where I would start.

Have you noticed anything a little ‘Hello Sailor’ about the Merrill Lynch logo?

More here.

Switch things off!

Appliances on standby pump one million tons of carbon into the atmosphere. Wasted energy of appliances on standby could power 400,000 homes. Up to 85 per cent of power used by a video recorder is consumed on standby. Government says Britain would save 240,000 tons of C02 emissions by switching off televisions

Smart pills?

Ampakines work by boosting the activity of glutamate, a key neurotransmitter that makes it easier to learn and encode memory. They change the rules about what it takes to create a memory, and how strong those memories can be

I miss D & B.

I’m under the weather - developed a bit of a cold since Wednesday, so decided to spend today wrapped up on the sofa re-watching Living With Lions and The Lions - Up Close And Personal.

The weather here is HK is awful - it’s been raining for pretty much all of this month and today we had the red rain warning.

The weather in NZ my help The Lions. Maybe. The selection certainly isn’t, if you ask me. Wilkinson not on song and out of position, ahead of Henson, and moving of Josh Lewsey from full-back. All strange to me, but we will see tomorrow.

Anyway.

Mad pilots.

Big table.