Am I relying on Google too much?

This is what I gradually sensed and uncovered during putting myself into this Internet age - my ability of finding and utilising digital tools is probably much better than my dad, but when turning to initialising thoughts and traversing through logical steps before going to authorities for proofs, I am definitely worse than their generations.

The key is if you don't use it, you lose it over time. The reliance we have on the Internet makes us think less (my personal experience). It is no fault on Google or any other great Internet digital tools outta there, it is us and our surrounding environment that generates pressure on what we are assigned to achieve. We need to find a productive balance between thinking, actioning and productivity.

Haiti Is Owed

Philosophers are often criticized for not being pragmatic, especially when a disaster already stroke. We tend to deliberately ignore true causes for seemingly high ethical reasons. Here is Ted Rall talking about why Haiti is owed. By the way he is a popular American political cartoonist. Article can be found here –

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/14-13

But I think Ted overblamed the U.S. because in true history, it was the French having planting the seeds. I read a similar article by an Chinese writer couple of days ago, but thought his words despite being true proven by various history books will be rebuffed by the western media. Now nice to see someone from the opposite camp express the same view.

Why Does the U.S. Care About Haiti?

Since 12th of Jan, 2010, Haiti has been devastated by sever earthquakes. Among other countries, the U.S. has been the most active sending navy carriers and troops to the poor island nation. You wonder why besides the U.S. being a great democracy who values human rights?

Where is Cuba and where is Haiti? Maps do not lie. Stationing troops in Haiti will help America choke Cuba from two directions.

 Secondly, Haiti has been well-known for its wide plantation of coffee beans, sugar and indigo, very sought-after commodities in today's market and from a long run with BRIC increasing their appetite.

Why System.out.println("logging messages") is bad

It is university assignment standard to conduct logging, and it is bad.

- is always printed to output stream
- shows information in the console that is not relevant for the end user
- code must be deleted/commented out to disable output
- programmer must take care of formatting
- no filtering, everything is printed out
- unknown which part in the code generated the output

Man, I saw heaps of System.outs in an industry-renowned production system. So don't be surprised professional coders are still using the mechanism for logging. Sigh...

Google will leave China, Yes or No?

Either way, Google has to gain something for their decision and the true consequence can only emerge in the long run. Either decision has to be well contemplated. Claiming leaving just for the censorship seems too naive and in some aspects conspiratory. I would say they won't leave even though Chinese consumers are not giving them too much attention, only 30% of the market occupancy and that is shared with Yahoo and a few small players. It is long way behind Baidu.com.

But I have to admit I am a Google fan.

Experiencing Bali 2 - Ebony Wood

Chinese are fond of hard wood furniture and handcrafts and I am no exception. 紫檀（sandalwood) ，黑檀(ebony)， 黄花梨(rosewood) are the top three. They are high-dense timber but carvable with very fine details. Indonesia  is the heaven for shopping hardwood objects, be it furniture or a variety of handcraft. Nuh, I am not talking about the fleet of souvenir cats in various sizes. I am talking about the "real" wood crafts in ebony, Bali White, teak and croc wood.

Indonesia is renowned for its high-density hardwood. Bali's most famous local produce is teak, ideal for making hardwood furniture. My theory for God blessing tropical areas like Southeast Asia and Brazil for growing precious hard wood timber is Darwinism. Why? Only the species that are most adaptable to a particular environment survive and then thrive in the particular environment. Tropical climate is notorious for its choking humidity, rainy season and ferocious sunlight -- meaning only the hardest wood in a rainforest can survive this kind of weather.

MAS Village is 20 mins drive from Ubud and well-known for its hand-carved wooden artefacts. We bought a ebony wood God of Ganesha statue from an authorised display centre. Using our limited hardwood knowledge, we are pretty sure we have bought a genuine ebony object.  

Experiencing Bali 1

Three years my wife and I went to Phuket Thailand prior to me kicking off my tenure with CustomWare. Three down the track, needless to say, I have had a tremendous career with the company. Not only my technical competency advanced to a new level, but most importantly my people skills, managerial expertise and entrepreneurial flare has gone to a new high. The inspiration and mentorship

Upon my departure from CustomWare, my wife and I decided to spend two weeks in Bali before commencing on the new job. This time again, a tropical island that is extremely popular among international relaxation seekers. Given the experience with Phuket and CustomWare, hopefully my karma likes the combination of Bali and whatever venture I gotta take in the coming three years in my life.

We arrived in Bali hassle-free after 6 hours flight from Sydney. Given majority of the time was spent between Sydney and Darwin, Bali is really just at the door step of Northern Territory, about 1 hour flight from Darwin.

Had paid visa-on-arrival charge of 50 US for two of us, we got back a stack of Indonesia Ruphi as change. All of sudden, I realise, the country's main foreign reserve currency is the green paper. After the painful 1997 Aisa Financial Crisis, this thousand-island nation would do everything to increase their foreign reserve. Given the only people who are capable of turning a country into backruptcy are all living in the US, having the green paper as reserve currency is an inevitable choice. But hold on a sec, are you sure you don't want to stock some Chinese RMB?

Transfer arrangement from Destination Asia via Flight Centre was also flawless. Being greeted with a cold towel, the humidity outside the airport reminded us we are now around Equator.

We checked in The Villas Bali in Seminyak, a five-star property. Again, no good news or bad news, everything is as expected as it had taken place. The pool size is reasonably good for a one-bed villa. With paying average AUD 300 a day, we finally got a chance to enjoy some privacy in our own villa for at least, well, 7 nights.

There are many one-way lanes around Seminyak, Legian, and Kuta area. As a result, a short stroll from the map will likely take you 10 to 15 mins in a taxi. Of course, typical developing-country-style traffic jam can only add a layer of icing suger to this mismeasurement.

We went to a small eatery called Bamboo Corner for dinner. Map  shows the small rest. is located in Jalan Poppies I (Jalan means street in Indonesian). On a map from a seasoned traveller downloaded from the Internet also add a "helpful" comment to the location - Poppies I is a very narrow street. Wow, it is not only narrow, it is almost unnoticeable. It is as narrow as it can only allow one person to squeeze in. OK it can only allow a motorbike to squeeze in.

The food is extremely cheap but the quality is good. A variety of fruit juice they offer gives you a surreal impression that you are sipping fruit in liquid form. Among the varieties, mango juice is a must to order, so is avocado mixed with chocolate (yes, Indonesia is not only renowned for its Luwak coffee beans, but it is also a coco-producing nation). Main course? Try seafood basket and lobster plate. For merely 50,000 IDR (AUD 5.88), you have a fresh snapper, four shrimps, a handful of calamari, two or three soft-shell crabs, chips (well just to please westerner perhaps?), homemade lemon dipping source and a small serve salad. Mango juice, on the other hand, will cost you a fortune, 5000 IDR, yes, only 60 cents. What a bargain! Bali reassures me everything, goods and service, is overpriced in Australia, well if you ever lived in a developing country.