London Revisited

So I visited London again. This time for no reason at all! Theoretically the client has request my presence during launch but it isn't justified in the first place I do not need to be present there physically when there is the internet. Oh well, so the project is delayed again and I just wanted to spend opportunity to do one more walk around.

So I headed for the Buckingham Palace! Not in some remote place but right in middle of London, reachable by the Underground (trains). Yes I saw the famous long black furry hat soldiers marching. A giant building but with crumbling walls. It isn't a castle. There are streets and streets of classic stone buildings all over at uniform height.

Headed for some shopping place on Regents street. London makes Michigan Ave look very pale. At high end stores I only see wealthy Chinese shoppers and even the sales speak to them in Chinese. Now only wealthy Chinese can afford these ridiculously expensive (probably Chinese made) products.

I especially liked the Hamley's toy store. Makes the biggest Toy-R-Us you have seen look pale. I do not know of any big toy stores in Chicago. There are floors of toys and MANY enthusiastic sales people demoing the toys. Not very cheap but everything in London seems so expensive. It is celebrating 255 years. Yes, two hundred fifty five. How old is the United States? London still have a few bookstores. Guess Amazon didn't kill them all yet. But I do not see coffee shop within.

As I have notice before. No half-and-half in Europe. Whole or Skim milk with your coffee, or just black.

Suddenly the tune "London bridge is falling down" came to mind... ah, accessible by train too! Let's go there! The bridge itself is actually not so elaborate but the Tower Bridge next to it is. There is a giant WARSHIP for display.

Unfortunately "Chinatown" did not come to mind until after my day of walking... should have went there to see. Yes, google map street view can take you there. But I want to see what kind of food they serve, hear what language they speak, perhaps talk to a couple people. Oh well.

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre is still around. But unfortunately didn't come to mind either. Hey I didn't know I get to travel around for 1 day.

Now, the most famous dish at London is "Fish-and-chips", which is fried fish fillet and fries. I had some. Tasted just like here. They call fries "chips". What do they call real potato chips? They call it "crisps". I think "crisp" is probably a better term for it.

Now, what about "porridge"? In some Chinese restaurants, it is refer to the tasty morning rice soup. I decided to spend a few pounds to find out. Oh it is oatmeal! Would not have spent that pounds on that if I know.

Finally, on the road there are lots of speed cameras, well those are everywhere else too. But look a that sign

It is the old original camera! They don't use that to capture speeders don't they?

Disappointed at Volkswagen

I thought only evil Chinese business do bad things like plastic infant formulas and other fake goods... I would never thought Volkswagon would cheat on the emission tests. See http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/volkswagen-ceo-resigns-martin-winterkorn_5602bf8ae4b00310edf95e0f.

I was a proud owner of a Volkswagen in 2001, bought it just months before 9/11, but I probably didn't take care of it real well.. I did not feed it with the most expensive gasoline... it was more expensive to get it fixed when it has problems. That car is probably junked by now after it was cheaply traded in... I knew a Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla is cheaper and probably last longer.... but I wanted something more admirable but not quite the envy-inviting BMW or Lexus. Oh well. I guess Volkswagen's brand name is now damaged quite a bit. But whose fault is it? The CEO?

This is probably tip of iceberg of more lies out there.

My next car is not likely to be VW...ever. Too big and consumes too much gas and too expensive to keep, and too dishonest adds to this list.

Please, get to know the Constitution

So a candidate say some unintelligent things (again). http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/22/politics/ben-carson-religious-beliefs-muslim/

"NBC's Chuck Todd asked Carson, "Do you believe that Islam is consistent with the Constitution?" "No, I do not," Carson responded. "I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that."

READ THAT CONSTITUTION. There is absolutely no such religion requirement for ANY post. That Constitution is actually a SHORT document. Less complex than your typical contract when you bought your house. Much simpler than the surgeon's manual I supposed. The Constitution is INTENDED to be simple because the juicy details ought to go to the states. The founding fathers intentionally don't want religion to have anything to do with the Constitution.... and that is a GOOD thing.

Now is there a Muslim running for president? I am not so sure about that.

It is very disappointing that the first place and second place Republican candidate (both outsiders) keep saying things that a real leader shouldn't do. It is just unfortunate.

Looking like the presidency will fall to the Democrats again. And if Joe Biden is to run, my question is why not enter earlier? I predict Hillary victory unless that email server thing really bring her down.

Google's new logo

Before/After

Rationale
It is scalable. Oh the old one wasn't? and they haven't changed it for 15 years or so (but so what?).
http://www.fastcodesign.com/3050613/googles-new-logo-is-its-biggest-update-in-16-years

My take:
I like the original.

Plastic Bag Ban

Plastic bags are hard to find these days. There is a Plastic Bag Ban in Chicago since August 1. Now, not that plastic bag are totally prohibited as pure evil. Just grocery stores and department stores give you paper or some other things instead... if you call your favorite restaurant to order things you still get your food in plastic bags. The idea is: use that re-usable bag and save the environment! Certainly good intention. But is it working?

Now without plastic bags what are you going to use for your various garbage cans around your house? How do you pack your lunch? How do dog owners pick up their dog stuff? If you have to buy bags what environmental difference does that make? Your wallet just hurts more. It already hurts you when grocery stores need to pay more for paper bags and their customers (you) will eventually pay for.

Also, see this: http://www.bagtheban.com/multimedia/item/the-truth-about-plastic-bags.

It says grocery bag requires 70% less energy to make than paper bag and takes 7 trucks to carry them for same number of grocery bags.

Now when I go to Panda Express I have to lie to say "to go" even if I eat "for here" in order to take the plastic bag home for collecting garbage at home.

So I think... reward is better than ban. Give people 5 or 10 cents credit if they bring in re-usable bag may be better incentive.. and I think, someone should come up with better bags that is more environmental friendly.