Green Ideas

I think it has a lot to do with our attitude towards saving our environment. Take it seriously and practice the green way like there is no tomorrow.

Perhaps, start with something easy!

Eat Less Processed Food

• less packaging
• less chemical
• more healthy
  

Eat Local

• less transportation

Eat Seasonal

• less greenhouse (those temperature monitored)

Eat Organic

• less chemical

Eat Less Meat

• livestock are responsible for 18% of GHG emissions; a larger share than transport, according to the UN Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO)

Use white vinegar and baking soda for domestic cleaning tasks than their chemical counterparts

Walk More!

Outdoor Exercises

• less time on treadmills in an air-conditioned gym with lots of TVs and lights on

Turn off idle appliances

Drink Tap Water!

• Hong Kong enjoys one of the safest water supplies in the world.
• Just make sure the plumbing system at your building is properly maintained.
• If you must, get one of the domestic filter like Brita, just remember to change the filters as advised.
  

Use Less Cosmetics Products

Re-Use that nice microwave-safe plastic box from your take-out lunch or dinner leftover

Better yet, pack your own lunch and minimize waste by consuming the leftover in the fridge before they turn bad.

Perhaps we can achieve power saving through new technologies, from domestic to industrial:

• Save 70% on Electricity and See the Results with SmartUSB-programmable Power Strip
• The SkyMine Process - Mineralization of CO2 as Carbonate Compounds

Have a Greener Life!

Charles.

Personal View - MS vs Other Technologies

I was having this conversation with a colleague (Anthony) and came up with this analogy:

"it's like you can kill someone with a piece of rock (MS), they are everywhere but not very effective...

Or you can hire a blacksmith (expert in other technologies) to make you a super sharp sword and cut whoever you are after (the problem and requirement) in half...

Better yet, with a blacksmith, you can add spikes and a chain later on (more flexible enhancements)... or if you prefer, you can spend time perfecting your skills at stone crafting..."

Blog it for a good laugh :)

Documentary - Super Size Me (2004)

This one is a classic. As quoted:

"Super Size Me" is one man's journey into the world of weight gain, health problems and fast food.

More like a real-life experiment. Morgan Spurlock put himself on a strict McDonald's diet by having 3 meals a day for 30 days, all at McDonald's, in order to determine the real-life effect and relationship between high-calorie processed fast food and his own health.

The result was so SCARY!

He gained approximately 30 pounds, increased his body fat content by 7%, and I am not even going to mention his blood test results... The side-effects that he showed in this documentary includes shortness of breath, fluctuating moods, addictions and nausea, etc.

I have heard about this documentary for a long time, and finally have a chance to see it. I was never really a big fan of fast food as I do prefer fresh ingredients, I enjoy cooking and I do not like my food too salty or too sweet. But I do crave for French Fries and ketchup once in a while, a Sausage & Egg McMuffin and an icy Coke won't hurt my feelings.

Now, I totally STAY AWAY from it!

I even go the extra mile in asking all my friends to quit it as I would ask them to quit smoking. It's nothing but a delicious poison! Not that it will kill you, but if you do not do, say, thrice as much exercise to cope with the excess calories (only 1 aspect of the side effect), you put yourself into serious risk of, say for example, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, and obesity. This is how serious it is!!!

This documentary is available online here. Highly Recommended!

Quick Dinner - Stir Fried Udon

Got home way past dinner time... wanted to have something tasty yet quick...

Filled my non-stick wok with water... cranked the heat up...

While it was heating up, I ran my carrot through the shredder, chopped up some cabbage, minced a glove of garlic and took my leftover grounded chicken out from the fridge.

Water was boiling. I dumped 2 packs of cheap instant udon (Japanese noodles, the white thick ones) in, waited till they were loose, poured all into a strainer.

Medium fire, a little bit of oil (I like grapeseed oil), dumped all the garlic, veggie and leftover in.

Smelled good... the udon went in next... stirred... and the special sauce!

Not so special though... BBQ EEL SAUCE (less than HKD 20 a bottle in the supermarket)... perfect for stir-fry and microwave reheating of BBQ Pork (fork-grill, aka cha-siu).

Added that in and... DONE!

Less than 15 mins! Smells good and taste good!

You just don't have to sacrifice taste for time... and it takes care of my leftover too!

Rack of Lamb

When it comes to FOOD, I am very serious.

I was hungry after a long day, and it happened that I got this amazing rack of lamb lying around in my fridge feeling lonely... hm... great!

So I turned the knob of my oven to 205/400 degree C/F and while it was heating up, I roughly chopped up some carrots (I like it skin on) and celery into small chunks (the lamb takes roughly 30 mins... bit size cooks faster...), rubbed them with extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, and a sprig of thyme, dumped it all in my oven-safe pan and popped it into the oven.

I needed to season the lamb a bit... perhaps a little more than the usual salt and pepper... so I made a rub (I think it can be used as a marinade too):

• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• pinch of coriander seed
• pinch of fennel seed
• good pinch of freshly grounded black pepper
• good pinch of sea salt (or kosher)
• capers, chopped, roughly the same amount as the garlic
• 1 teaspoon of whole-grain mustard
• 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of black olive paste (I can eat the whole jar like ice cream)

Dumped all into my "Flavour Shaker", a few good shakes later, and I was giving my rack of lamb a massage and aroma therapy.

When the oven was hot enough, I just put my rack of lamb (now to the sauna) on top of the veggie...

Waited 15 mins...

Turned the knob to 180/350 degree C/F...

Another 15 mins... (medium, I like pink inside)

Done!

I also popped my leftover baguette into the oven in the last 5 minutes (sprinkled with a few drops of water...)

With the leftover prosciutto, balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil, a grapefruit (any kind of fruit in the summer is the best dessert), I was having a 3-course gourmet meal in less than 1 hour!

Oh... and I got this Pinot Noir from New Zealand... those bottled not with corks but screwcaps... perfect!

What a night~

SharePoint 2003 Site Migration

Another trick that I learn...

Most of the time, simply "Save as Template" (including content) the whole site or specific document library/ list and choose that saved template when you create a new site/ list/ document library will do just fine.

But I have had problems/ errors with "Save as Template" because of FrontPage modified (non-standard) aspx pages... This is the workaround:

1. In FrontPage, Tools -> Server -> Backup
2. Save your Source site as an .fwp file
3. At your "desired" location, create your Destination Site
4. Give it a title... URL...
5. When SharePoint asks you to choose a Template, close IE
6. In FrontPage, open the Destination site you just created
7. Tools -> Server -> Restore
8. Almost Done... now you have to manually add the permission back in IE :)

Alternatively, you can try using Tools -> Packages -> Import/ Export though I haven't tried it myself...

Have fun!

FireFox 3

Downloaded FF3 last night and enjoying it :)

I can say that I made history with FF for the following:

• Most attempts to access a site in 24 hours
• Most failed attempts to download a 7.1 Mb browser
• Most number of user to witness a site update
• along with... Most Downloads in 24 hours!!!
  

Some interesting add-ons:
G-Space
CoolIris Previews
Del.icio.us
ScreenGrab!

Not bad! Not bad!

Some Nice Quotes

William Shakespeare: Be great in act, as you have been in thought.

Clam: Hm… Just do it!?

Mahatma Gandhi: Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

Clam: So I guess I am not happy…

Plato: Never discourage anyone... who continually makes progress, no matter how slow.

Clam: Hey Boss! Read this!

Albert Einstein: Imagination is more important than knowledge...

Clam: How about Knowledge Management vs Imagination Management?

Albert Einstein: Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.

Clam: I am with you, Al…