Basically I am not a 007 fan although gangsters films are in my collection. But I watched James Bond movies as an entertainment. Quantum of Solace has been on cinema for few weeks. Last time, I checked at Leicester square Odeon, all tickets had been sold out for the whole day. It was Saturday fortnight ago I think.
Yesterday I went to nearby O2 dome which is an entertainment complex, in which The Vue cinema forms part of it. Not too many people in the cinema. So no seat number required on the ticket. We could sit where ever we wanted. I bought my ticket from the machine. No need to enter PIN. I enjoyed movie while having popcorn with coca cola. (No pepsi available what I prefer). This 007 film is just average to me, but entertaining. At least I can talk about its good and bad things with my colleagues at work.

It was previously called Millennium dome located in south east London. Now it is O2 dome.

Aerial view

I took this picture last year.

The VUE

Area map

Ticket machine

I have never been beyond Bournemouth in south east England before. Yesterday, I went to Dorchester by train as I had an appointment. It was 6 hours trip in total from my work place in west Yorkshire. I bought a return ticket online for £115 in advance which was a standard one. After collecting the ticket at the station, I was waiting for 16:30 train. Well I left work a bit early. I saw many secondary students putting on different ancient costumes, waiting to go back to nearby towns. I overheard that they participated in a show ” Romeo and Juliet ” at their school. From Yorkshire to London, I took the National Express train line which has got power source for laptop and wifi access. I arrived the King Cross station at about 19:20, from where I took the tube to Waterloo. Too much crowded in Waterloo as usual. I quickly bought my supper which were a baguette and a cup of black Kenco. And then I took South West train to Dorset. My destination was DCH, Dorset County Hospital. It was mid night when I got to my over-night accommodation provided by hospital.

My route

My Kenco. Fortunately, no person next to me.

A gentle man working while travelling

I was also revising Jason’s Driver 2

On south west train

Hospital guide

Parking tariff at DCH

Apparently, I have been addicted to the internet as I visit websites without any particular reason once I come back from my work, spending over 5-6 hours a day. My laptop has been on 24/7. I never switch off my device as I hate Vista taking sometime when it is struggling with loading and shutting down. Having to live without internet access at home for about a couple of weeks meant I had got too much time to read books and to go out with real friends. It happened last month when I switched to a new service provider and I had to wait for sometime. Being offline has made me realized how much time I wasted on the internet.

I think about what I normally do online. First, I open Fire Fox, its homepage is Google. I click News. I scan if any interesting news. At that point, Twitterfox from right bottom corner shows up new tweets. I read the headings quickly. With the aid of Twitterfeed, we can know which blogger has posted new item. I click the link and open the blog pages. Well, It is a bit hard for me to read a long Burmese post with too much oriental philosophy. Just my weak point. They are good. So I close it and jump to another blogs. I would leave some comments if I want to do so. (My fav blogs are on Bravenet.com)

After blog surfing business finished, I would quickly visit some Burmese news media like Hittaing, Kitpyaing and Rebound 88. Basically they post bad news of Burma. Disappointing. Oh yes! you may say there is no good news in Burma. I have no idea at all. For instance, news of many thousands of Burmese living and settling in Singapore is good news, isn’t it? But they might claim Burma has been a victim of brain drain. Ok can you say a brain trained inside Burma can be a good brain at all? Doesn’t it need any further upgrade? Is there any world class higher education centre in Burma? What class of Brain can be built by those universities. Be realistic. If you have achieved a quality brain, you can help your people anytime you want whenever you live.

Ok, let’s move on. While surfing from one place to another, my contacts from Yahoo, gtalk, MSN and VZO might say hi, hiya, hullo, @, ~, #, ^ and so on. I would reply and enjoy chatting from a few minutes to over night , making me too much tired in the next morning. I am weak.

At the same time, I would be busy with checking new posts and photos and leaving rubbish comments on facebook where I have got nearly 100 friends, all of them I never meet in actual word. How stupid I am.

Moreover, I have been running some community and academic websites. I don’t earn any penny for them. But I am a hobbyist. So I enjoy updating things and changing templates. As I am crazy in photography despite having only a basic idea how to take a picture, I would be busy with editing and uploading photos I take whenever I go.

Someone said long ago(maybe a famous author) hobby is one’s weak point. I would say many hobbies, many weak points. I am sure I need to cut down my time wasting on the internet. I work average 57 hours a week. When I calculate, I sleep about 40 hours a week and I surf the webs about 50 hours a week. That means it is only 21 hours left for other things, like cooking, showering, reading and going out.

Of course, I essentially need to use the internet for some purposes such as holiday package, shopping, booking tickets and on-line course. But I just leant that I have been wandering on the net without destination. The majority of knowledge obtained from those websites is not directly useful for my life and career. I believe I desperately need a detox for this internet addiction.

Technology is advancing quickly. At the same time, Google’s power is rising among the internet users, now starts to invade among mobile phone users. In the UK, iPhone was introduced a few years ago and it is available on O2 net work. Now T mobile has launched G1 Google phone. For me, receiving a couple of calls a day is my way of mobile phone usage. Of course, I would take photos some time for my blog. Not more than that. To surf the webs, the internet access is everywhere at work. At home, I have got a cable. When I drive, I use Tomtom. No mobile phone integrated Sat Nav needed for the time being. For pda, I have got HP iPAQ.

Maybe, I would consider iPhone if it comes with a better build-in camera resolution. Do I need all in one device? Maybe, later, not now.

on my way to London

Any way , here is a review about G1 Google phone on Times online.

My first impression when the G1 was released was that it was not going to be a iPhone killer, and further use of the first ever “Google phone” confirmed my suspicions. Still, it is clearly a smartphone in the same class as Apple’s iconic product. Despite a few niggles, it is quite impressive.

The main difference between the G1 and its competitors is the slide-out qwerty keyboard. This is a useful addition for anyone frustrated with tapping an unresponsive pane of glass. The keyboard buttons are quite small, though, so fast typing is not really possible. But it is more like using a BlackBerry than an iPhone.

Another useful addition is the “trackball”. You can use the touchscreen to scroll through webpages and click on icons, as with other similar devices, but every once in a while the links are two small for a big fat thumb to select easily. Faced with this problem on the iPhone, you can zoom in and out using the clever “pinch” motion on the touchscreen, but the G1’s zoom is much less cool and clunkier to use. The trackball is a neat way around that problem: when the touchscreen becomes frustrating, you can use the trackball instead. As with any device, the more you use it, the easier it becomes to navigate through web pages and documents.
Full article::

I saw her on this Sunday morning BBC1 programme. Her voice is classic and fantastic. When I checked with internet, I learnt that this 1980 year born, Katherine Jenkins is from Wales like, Charlotte Church. She is an award winning mezzo-soprano. Lately, she signed £5.8m record deal, which is a the biggest in classical music history.

One-stop-shop=Myanmar Cupid?

Obviously it is not true. But when I read about the fact the One-stop-shop is a forum for invitation user only, this made me remember Myanmar cupid forum which is also for an invitation user only. The well-known reason is that web site was not able to cope with the traffic demand. Some people said it is to prevent spammers.

Myanmar cupid was launched in early 2006. Well known founders are nick names Bagyi Toke and Love Mg Mg, now already retired. It used to be sexually orientated web site with many pornographic images and video links. The number of members had been ever rising with many on-line users 24 hour round. It also acts as one of the main information centres with many up-to-date secret news about Burma from  celebrities’ gossip to military general’s affair with actress.

In 2007, web site’s policy was changed. Pornography was restricted. No longer for new members. Later, it was absolutely changed to a social net work. But until now, many web users beleive that Myanmar cupid is porno site and it is for indecent people, which is not true. Up-to date and reliable news are available on Myanmar Cupid but it is now only for invitation members only.

Obviously, One-stop-shop is for fraudsters. On the other hand, Myanmar Cupid is for genuine news hunters. Not equal despite the same at the nature of access.

The web traffic on Alexa.com shows a downward trend in 2008

This is the news about online fruasters

A secret international website described as a “one-stop shop” for online fraudsters buying and selling stolen credit card details has been shut down after a series of raids around the globe, police said yesterday.

Nearly 60 people, including 11 in Britain, have been arrested in connection with the DarkMarket forum, which operated for almost three years selling personal data such as online banking details, as well as allowing criminals to exchange information about how to commit fraud.

The site, which could only be accessed by invitation, sold passwords to social networking and online email sites and electronic hardware. It was closed down on Thursday night after undercover FBI officers infiltrated it and spent nearly two years identifying the key users. The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), which led the UK arm of the operation, called DarkMarket “one of the most pernicious online criminal forums in the world”. Source

This picture attracted me. What Daniel Craig was doing on someone? When I checked properly, it is from Quantum of Solace  which is the 22nd James Bond film due for release in the United Kingdom on 31 October 2008 and in North America on 14 November.

In the real world, I think the British MI6 is what I rarely heard , compared with CIA. But Bond’s films are still acceptable among film lovers in the world.

This is the preview on youtube.

A few years ago, the researcher claimed that a long hour mobile phone use could cause nerve and brain damage. Now again, that device will harm the skin in the form of allergy when it contacts with skin.

Mobile phones ’cause skin rash’

Mobile phones users are developing rashes on their faces and ears caused by an allergic reaction to the nickel on handsets, skin experts warn.

The British Association of Dermatologists said the phenomenon is being seen in people who spend long periods of time on the phone.

Nickel is often found in the handset casing or buttons.

The BAD said women who reacted to nickel in jewellery were at a higher risk of a rash from their phones.

Full story on BBC news

According to the news, Britain has been planning to cut immigration as the jobless number is rising. So we has a plan to come and work in the UK, it is good idea to come. It would be the last minute.

You may know this week I am on holidays, that means free from seeing dying people. I am in London. Nice weather outside just before chilly and gloomy winter coming, so I went out with my friend yesterday late afternoon. Our destination was uncertain until we were on Jubilee line.

Later we decided to go to Harrods where we had so called “the best soup in London”, costing us £16.20 total. It reminds me 21st street rice porridge from Yangon China town. Interestingly, the taste was more or less the same.

Chicken soup £8.20

The Harrods looks like a museum for me, rather than a super store, crowded with European tourists who were taking photos and doing window shopping. Basically many items are for super rich people, despite a full range of consumer products available, ranging from vegetables, perfumes, designer’s clothes to electronics and furnitures. I also saw the Harrods financial service.

Harrods at Knight bridge, London

A shoulder bag with price tag £1750

Dodi and Diana memorial on the lower ground floor (You may be aware that Harrods’ owner’s son Dodi was a lover of Diana. They are killed in fatal car crash in France. It’s a tragedy)

Some vegetables available in Harrods. Ma Mi will like it.

From there, we took the tube to the Bond street, going to Dabenham store, the place where I normally buy Thomas Nash shirts. Nice ones with reasonable price. A few year back, I found out that that brand is good for me. Other brands I buy are Maine and Redherring. Fortunately, from blue cross, size 16 Thomas Nash shirts were for only £5 . Their original price was £22. £30 Redherring was only £10. I just took the opportunity.

After that, we walked along the busy Oxford street where we felt hungry. So we popped into a sushi bar at off Oxford street . Sushi pots were on conveyor belt. We also ordered a bottle of Chardonnay. Bill showed £44 at the end. My friend expressed that I was thinking again and again to buy a shirt, chasing a final discount, but for food, I spend too much with ease. I have no idea. It just happens.

Moving Sushi

According to the news, Papua New Guinea will remain one of the most corrupt pacific countries. In east Asia, Burma and in middle east, Iraq are at the bottom of the list of most corrupted countries. Civil servants corrupt by saying their salary is quite low.

Malaysia’s score in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) has not improved this year. The country’s ranking declined to 47 out of 180 countries in 2008, compared to 36 out of 91 countries in 2001 and 43 out of 179 countries in 2007. Source. Thailand has risen from 84th to 80th in the rankings. Source

The UK had dropped from a score of 8.4 out of 10 to 7.7 out of 10 in the last 12 months - the first time it has ever fallen below 8. That means the score put the UK joint 16th on the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), alongside Ireland but one place above the USA. Denmark, Sweden and New Zealand were judged to have the lowest levels of corruption on a score of 9.3, followed by Singapore on 9.2 and Finland and Switzerland on 9.0. Somalia was bottom of the list with a score of 1.0, with Burma and Iraq on 1.3, Haiti on 1.4 and Afghanistan on 1.5. (Source).

Full result is here.

As far as I remember, in Burma (Myanmar), teachers corrupt. Students have to give bribes in the name of gift in order to pass exam or to secure a high mark. Doctors corrupt. Most give more medical attention on paid patients who gave extra cash. Judges corrupt for less or heavier sentences. Income tax officers corrupt for less taxation. Immigration officers corrupt. I saw some Chinese with Myanmar passport in London. They never speak Burmese. Bribery is everywhere at hospital gates, at the check-points at border areas, On the streets when traffic police stopped the cars, at the offices. At the same time, partiality is very common in employments, company permits, export and import permits. Many thousands of partiality going on.

The worst thing is people in Burma are no longer aware that they have been corrupting. They think that it is a usual thing they are doing.

by Steve