First, two bits of “meta.”  Maybe all of this should be sorted out into separate posts, it probably defies all SEO theory, but that’s me for ya.

Do you have a mobile phone?  Try Hongkietown on your phone’s browser.  I’ve installed a plugin that gives the blog a different interface on mobile phones – for each post the title, date, categories and number of comments.  It loads really fast.

Archives – some people in the past have mentioned to me that they archived my old blog.  I thought I had, too, but in going through things this weekend, I noticed there are some big gaps in the April – June 2006 period.  If any of you do have archives and would be willing to send to me, I’d be grateful.

Sitting here listening to The Complete Tony Bennett / Bill Evans Recordings. I’m sure there are other recordings of this caliber out there that aren’t coming to mind, but this remains a relatively unique experience – the pairing of one of the all-time best pop singers with one of the all-time best jazz pianists – and just voice and piano, no band, no orchestra, purity.  You can focus in on Bennett’s amazing tone and phrasing or Evans’ keyboards – not just succinct and meaningful solos but the way his accompaniment loops under and around Bennett, complementing the singing rather than distracting from it.  This collection features their two albums together (1973 and 1977) along with various alternate takes.

iTunes – sigh.  If you wanna buy something on iTunes or even download a free update for an iPhone app, of course you’ve gotta enter your account ID and password.  And there’s a check box for “remember my password.”  And it simply doesn’t work.  iTunes almost always asks for my password – even for the free stuff – even during the same session.  This used to work fine before Version 9.  I’m on 9.0.2.25 at the moment, still waiting for them to fix this.

I’m feeling a bit frustrated today.  My car has now been for sale for two months and no serious nibbles at all.  Ads are currently on European Motors’ web site (and they’ve put some text ads in the SCMP), GeoXpat and Car8.com.  Good photos (and it’s a sharp looking car, convertible with 19 inch wheels, front back & side body kits) and an asking price well within the current market range.  Conventional wisdom has it that no one’s interested because the car is white.   Actually I didn’t want a white car either, but when I was shopping this was the only BMW 330 convertible I could find within my price range.  Any suggestions for other web sites to try?  If there’s no movement by the end of the year, I’m going to have to start taking it around to used car dealers and will have to settle for significantly less than I’d get via private sale.   Yes, I’ve had my share of problems with it, but it’s running well these days, been recently serviced, lots of parts replaced, etc.   As I said, feeling frustrated.

Someone sent me an invite for Google Wave and I accepted.  But I confess, I haven’t paid any attention to it up till now and I have no idea what to do with it.

The SCMP reports today that a new study by scientists in Norway has determined that Hong Kong’s per capita carbon footprint is the 2nd highest in the world (Luxembourg “wins”).  28 percent of HK’s 29 tons per capita comes from clothing, especially leather goods, imported from the mainland – much of which is simply passing through Hong Kong on its way to some other place.  The fact that Hong Kong is relatively small and that most goods used here are imported also factors in heavily.  One of the authors of the paper says that a key way that Hong Kong could reduce emissions would be to “ensure that it is supplied by clean power sources.”

In a related article, a survey finds that 70% of HK people believe that the government lacks commitment to improving air quality.  The big question is, who are those other 30% and what drugs are they taking?   And 90% of those polled thought that Hong Kong’s air quality is “poor” – again, who are those other 10%?

What’s a “snakehead”?  Another article in the SCMP today notes that, “police detained eight South Asian illegal immigrants off Sai Kung yesterday,” and then goes on to say, “they raced after the speedboat that had dumped the immigrants there, nabbing a 26-year-old mainland snakehead.”  No definition of the term is given in the article. Ah, Wikipedia says it’s a type of Chinese gang involved in human smuggling.  Guess I should have known that.