Back from CNY trip

Just back from my Chinese New Year trip to Malacca.

So, in the 4 days without a decent 1.5 mbps Internet line, what has transpired? I'm still trying to catch up on the drink from the proverbial firehose (as if there can be any decent catching up). In no particular order, so far, I've learnt that :

... Prince Charles is going to marry Camilla (yeah, so what. I don't have a category called "Entertainment", that's what's what).

... the Towering Inferno just become reality in Spain (yeah, I'm that old enough to even remember such an ancient movie). File under Musings? Hmm.

... a new super-strain of the HIV virus is floating around. The conspiracy folks are gonna have a field day, and hmm I really do have to wonder if things like this pop out of the jungle. The Musings category really ought to be called "Miscellaneous" ...

... no big surprise, clothes dryers are huge energy hogs. I mean, you run these things for half an hour maybe more, at full power, which is anywhere from 2-5 KW and upward, at least a few times a week? These days, it's hot enough that we should consider using Mark 1.0 solar power. /Energy. And in related news ...

... the first day of the Chinese New Year, Wed 9 Feb 2005, was the hottest day in Singapore in 15 years /Env - how's that for global warming and climate change, folks? It was so damn hot, the temperature went over 30 degC indoors. Darn. Fortunately I have long ago insisted that all long-distance trips take place at night - no point getting free scorching sunburn and lots of KWh we can't use.

... as for attempting to grab some of that free solar energy, there's a company called SolarMission that's going to build a 1-km high, 200MW "solar tower" power plant that's able to generate electricity even at night. One wonders, will it be more than hot air? And what's the EROEI on something like that? If it equals or beats nuclear, post-peak Saudi Arabia may be going to be exporting energy not so much as oil but as electricity from its deserts to Europe or maybe Africa.

... Carly Fiorina, the CEO of HP, is now ex-CEO of HP. Reportedly ousted by HP's board of directors. It was even rumoured that an internal email was going around saying "Dingdong, the witch is dead" or something to that effect. Who knows, *shrug* this search phrase may just be the thing to take over from "All Your Base Are Belong To Us". Does Carly care? Nope, not with a severance package of at least $21 million or perhaps as much as $42 million. Nowadays, apparently one can earn good money by simply being at the top, whether you do a good job - or not.

... as for fame and fortune, well, what do I know, I sold too early. A stock that, if I had held on just a little bit longer, tripled in price. So I've learnt my lesson, I'll (probably) hold on to the doublers, and see where they go (they could jolly well go down as well as up you know). I'm not gonna tell you what it is, do your own darn research lol (such as "how to profit from peak oil", kidding lol) Nowhere near $21 million though, I'll be happy to scrunge up the $21K for a downpayment for something like ...

... the 2006 Honda Civic, the Si (Asian - SiR) version of which debuted at the Chicago Auto Show past couple of days back, and promptly plastered all over vtec.net ("Honda Civic Si Concept Makes World Debut at Chicago Auto Show"), ("2006 Honda Civic Si Concept"), ("Several Civic Si Concept Photos from the Chicago Auto Show") and here and there. There'll even be a hybrid version that puts together a K20-class engine and IMA that ought to be a good performance challenge to some of those *ahem* slightly underpowered hybrids out there (the Prius, and Honda's own current Civic Hybrid and Insight). Goes under /Tech.

So, there. Just some of the blog entries that *should* have been posted in the past few days.

As for the trip? Let's just say I won't be breaking any new fuel economy records this time round. The traffic especially on the way back was incredible. Endless stream of red lights in front, endless stream of dazzling high-beam lights at the back. 50 km/h at stretches along roads where the crazier folks usually might have been easily been doing 150. I hear they're planning for "growth" there too, the Malaysian North-South Highway is going to expand from 4-lanes to 6-lanes at certain stretches. What can a "peaker" like myself say to that? Ha!

(2005-02-13 23:04:40 SGT) [Musings] Permalink

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