This year is full of historic dates for China, just a quick look and you will be amazed:

• January – 30^th anniversary of the start of economic reforms launched by Deng Xiaoping and 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the PRC and the United States.
• February – 20^th anniversary since the demise of the late Panchen Lama
• March – 50^th anniversary of the Tibet uprising that led to the exile of Dalai Lama ever since
• April – 20^th anniversary of the death of Party Secretary Hu Yaobang
• May – 90^th anniversary of May 4^th movement
• June – 20^th anniversary of the suppression of the student demonstration in Tiananmen Square
• October – 60^th anniversary of foundation of the People’s Republic of China

What do all these anniversaries translate to? Frosted with the current threat of slowing economic growth, factory closures and the rising unemployment rate, it would definitely mean an unusually testing year to the Government to maintain social order.

The Government will tend to be more cautious with an increase in internal military operations, an increase in overall security concerns, and a continuation of the current difficulties for foreigners in obtaining visas. Expect more complaints by journalists and netizens on the Giant Fire Wall (Feel blessed if you can still read this post now!) and difficulties to find information they need while the Government has to keep a lid of potentially explosive events with these anniversaries.

Do you know what is “astroturfing”? AstroTurf refers to the bright green artificial grass used in sports stadium, and “astroturfing” refers to imitating or faking popular grassroots opinion or behaviour. Motorola probably knows this word too well now with the recent post in Boing Boing: Motorola, could you please tell your viral marketer to get out of our comments?

Have been using Picasa for over two years now. I first spotted a professional photographer used it to do some minor touch-up right after my event, and gave me a thumbs-up when I asked what program it is. It is indeed useful since PR people like me will always ask for photos right after the function is over (or they will not be allowed to leave the door, haha). I tried it out and basically got latched onto this simple yet great program ever since.

Just got upgraded to Picasa 3.0 and glad to find that a number of new features are added. I like the neat interface with improved editing and sharing options. The share option can help users to upload photos online and email links of your Picasa web album to friends. The photo organizer also automatically detects faces and corrects the red eye in the photos. The latest version also adds in a movie maker function which allows you to make some basic video with stills. However, avoid importing too many images to Picasa at one time because it eats a lot of memory and would bring a clear performance impact.

I fell in love with this movie as soon as I watched the trailor.

Synecdoche, New York (pronounced as si-’nek-duh-kee, meaning part for whole or vice versa). A Charlie Kaufman’s film.

The soundtrack is also something that you cannot miss.

A line shared by my yoga master when I had the lesson this evening, quoted from Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth. Mighty words.

A wonderful phase of travel is planning.

So now, I am back to enjoy this life’s great little pleasure. Reading blogs, searching website, exploring upcoming events and gathering all the travel tips. The expectation of travel can be as good as the real thing. (smile)

Hmmm, I start to imagine how great it will be to ride on an icebreaker on the Sea of Okhotsk… and at the same time, praying that the yen will go weaker…

When gleams of sunshine swim through the leaves d’or, with breeze gently caressing its passers-by, I know that my favourite season has slipped in. Autumn.

I like autumn because it means the season of chestnuts, an authentic ambrosia which can be presented in many different ways but all of them delicious: chestnut soup, chestnut cake and of course roasted chestnuts that pervade the street of the center with its smell when autumn is commencing.

When the world outside is cold and blue, I treat myself with a taste of warm chestnut soup, with the music of Piana. It eases my mind whenever I feel unsettled. Like today.

Hong Kong legislators are flocking to Sichuan these days on a tour organized by the government, to persuade them to approve the government’s proposed multibillion-dollar donation towards reconstruction after the earthquake.

The central government has pledged 70 billion yuan for reconstruction of the area. Nineteen provinces and cities have been ordered to provide the equivalent of 1 per cent of annual fiscal revenue for three years. Under this formula, Guangdong will have to give 9.5 billion yuan over the three years, and Hong Kong would pay HK$10.2 billion over three years. But theoretically, under the “one country, two systems” formula, the order does not apply to Hong Kong.

The HK government is trying hard to facilitate the tour, even those not-so-welcomed democrats are given one-time entry permits. However, as most of the lawmakers say, the government is not presenting a detailed plan on how those donation will be used.

It makes me wonder, even companies doing CSR these days know that philanthrophy is not the only and the best way to benefit a community, so the government should know better than this right? What is important is to create long-term value and to become involved in the local community by the companies or through charitable organizations. Also companies usually identify the areas in society where their help would be relevant. Preferably, these should be closely related interests within the companies’ areas of activity. By the same token, the Hong Kong government should have thought about all these before pushing ahead with the donation.

The government should shake off the worry of political embarrassment if our aid is less than other provinces. The amount should be reasonable. And they should think practically and see what is the best way to reach the people affected, so that those money will not go to other “unknown causes”. Maybe it is more efficient to do it through NGOs like Red Cross, Médecins Sans Frontières and the United Nations? At least the lawmakers do not have to scratch their heads to see if the donation appears to breach Article 106 of the Basic Law.

A rainbow was placed in the sky when the flood subsided, that’s what we read from the Bible. It means hope and end of sorrow. It is also a new move on digital corporate social responsibility.

Add a rainbow to your MSN signature today and show your care! MSN China has started an MSN Messenger campaign to allow MSN users to express their blessings for Sichuan earthquake victims and support to the ongoing rescue efforts. Participation in the campaign only requires adding an “(R)” before your MSN Messenger screen-name.

For every user putting the rainbow icon on, MSN China will donate RMB 0.1 for schools rebuilding in Sichuan / Wenchuan earthquake disaster area. As the headline of the web page says, “We do it all for our children”.

… “I think I should tell you a few things. I don’t think I’m ready for a real relationship right now.” He says this not to Mirabelle but to the air, as though he is just discovering a truth about himself and accidentally speaking it aloud.

… Understanding. For Ray Porter, that is good. She absolutely knows that this will never be long term. He goes on: “But I love seeing you and I want to keep seeing you.”

“I do too”, says Mirabelle. Mirabelle believes that he has told her that he is bordering on falling in love with her, and Ray believes she understands that he isn’t going to be anybody’s boyfriend.

…So now they have had the Conversation. What neither of them understands is that these conversations are meaningless. They are meaningless to the sayer and they are meaningless to the hearer. The sayer believes they are heard, and the hearer believes they are never said.

… Some nights, alone, he thinks of her, and some nights, alone, she thinks of him. Some nights these thoughts, occur at the same objective moment, and Ray and Mirabelle are connected without ever knowing it. One night, he will think of her as he looks into the eyes of someone else, searching for the qualities that Mirabelle defined for him…

…But Mirabelle now feeling the warmth of her first reciprocal love has broken away from him and as Jeremy offers her more of his heart Mirabelle offers equal parts of herself in return.

…At this point Jeremy surpassed Ray Porter as a lover of Mirabelle because what he offers her is tender and true.

…As Ray Porter watches Mirabelle walk away he feels a loss. How is it possible he thinks, to miss a woman whom he kept at a distance so that when she was gone he would not miss her. Only then does he realize that how wanting part of her and not all of her had hurt them both. And how he cannot justify his actions except that well… it was life.

From the novella Shopgirl by Steve Martin