Our Old Boss Came

Date: 22 January, 2007 (Monday)

A new week again, hurried back to work. Nothing much special everything as usual. I saw J on a shuttle bus when I walked across the road just right in front of it. Well, whatever! Our old boss came, we had lunch together in chinese restaurant. He's older than our recent boss, he spoke quite slow. hehe..I think his temper is better than my boss. He brought us some snacks from Korea. That's pretty nice. I told Baron, I forgot an appointment with my freind earlier so I cancelled the meeting. Anyway we can make it any time later..haha..

Family Shopping Day

Date: 14 January, 2007 (Sunday)

After having lunch/tea in Chinese restaurant with my family we went to Time Square. We wanted to check out some clothings. haha...Crazy sale was everywhere. We walked around and spent quite pretty much time and finally my brother got 2 sweaters. We find that it's really not easy to get what we want! haha

Strighten My Hair

Date: 13 January, 2007 (Saturday)

Well I really sick of my curly hair as it's so messy and troublesome to take care. So I decided to strighten it. I just had it done in the hair salon I used to go before. It wasn't that crowded as last time I visited. But still pretty many people there. I guess they all wanted to have a new style before Lunar New Year. I just want my hair looks healthier and easier to take care. I didn't want it too stright. Well anyway the turn out is pretty ok. hehe

Crash Reveals Internet's Vulnerabilities

Date: 28 December, 2006 (Thursday)

Technological advances have made the internet such a ubiquitous presence that it has become a cliche to say it is hard to imagine life without it. But that scenario did almost come true on 27 December, when emails arrived only intermittently, web connections were down and search engines failed to scour.
The disruption stemmed from an earthquake that hit Taiwan on 26 December night, on the second anniversary of a far more powerful quake off Sumatra in Indonesia two years ago. Compared with the 2004 disaster that is believed to have killed 230000 people around the coastline of the Indian Ocean, the quake this week fortunately caused only two deaths.
But in knocking out a number of cables that from the information super highway that we have come to take for granted, 26 Dec quake unleashed a powerful impact of a different dimension. The breakdown in telecommunicatiosn that it caused was serious enough to create real problems to operations dependent on internet connectons. And with no clear indication of when repairs maybe finished, extensive hiccups to business and social life are likely to continue to be felt across the region.
Critically, financial data services provided by Reuters and Bloomberg were down in some countries. That brought many financial transactions, notably foreign currency dealings, to a halt. Companies that rely on dedicated cables to link their operations around the globe suddently realised that their contingency plans were not as effective as imagined, as they had failed to factor in the simultaneous severing of multiple cable links.
The internet was first conceived in the 1960s as a means of linking up computers to allow comupting power to be shared among reseaches hundreds of kilometres apart. The cold war between the west and the former Soviet Union was still raging then. A distinctive feature of the internet is that it is designed to withstand the gravest physical attack, such as a nucleear strike. This has been achieved by linking each point in the network using multiple paths throguth diffeent nodes. If any connection nodes between tow points fails, the transmitted data will automactically find an alternative route.
That was how it was supposed to work on 26 Dec. Alas, that was not to be. As several cables that criss-cross the sea floor of the region were down at the same time, the capacities of ones that remained operatonal were fully stretched in no time. There was an insufficient number of alternative nodes to enable the smooth rerouting of intenret traffic. As a result, serious congestion brought traffic to a standstill.
If nothing else, the turmoil should prompt us to think through the implications of a meltdown of the internet, the tool on which our so called knowledge economy has come to depend. As we become ever more reliant on the internet, it is important for us to plan for the eventuality that we might have to do without it.
One effect of the disintegration of cyberspace on 27 Dec should be appreciated, however. With instant messaging systems down, offices came alive as workers actually had to walk and talk to one another, instead of tapping messages even to those sitting nearby. The burst of physical activity and old fashioned verbal communication was a reminder that the internet ahs both the power to shrink physical distance as well as create virtual ones, with all thie implicatiosn for human ties. The internet is a supreme communication tool, we should put it to good use but stop it from commandeering us.