Sunday 31 October 2010

0644 HKSAR Name of the Day

Co Co Lau (Miss), Postgraduate Team, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
[Miss Lau's e-mail address is cococol at hku.hk, which seems to suggest that her full name is really Co Co Co Lau? Pepsi cola anyone?]

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Creation

Saturday 30 October 2010

0643 HKSAR Name of the Day

Denny Kwok-leung Ho (Dr), associate professor, Department Of Applied Social Sciences, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
see 0468 HKSAR Name of the Day

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Rare

Friday 29 October 2010

0642 HKSAR Name of the Day

Vanisa Yip (Miss), Undergraduate Team, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Creation; Deletion; Substitution

Thursday 28 October 2010

0641 HKSAR Name of the Day

Syrine K.S. Lam (Dr), associate professor, Department Of Applied Social Sciences, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Creation

Wednesday 27 October 2010

0640 HKSAR Name of the Day

Ulrica Yip (Miss), Undergraduate Team, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Rare

Tuesday 26 October 2010

0639 HKSAR Name of the Day

Havina Chow (Ms), clerical officer, Department Of Industrial And Systems Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Creation; Substitution

Monday 25 October 2010

A Bloody Brilliant Benevolent Act


One minor quibble: it is a pity the BTS is only promoting the Halloween Blood Donation Night Party on the Dark Side (i.e. Kwun Tong and Mongkok Blood Donor Centres) and is limited to 100 people.

Nevertheless be it Halloween or not, if you want to give blood, there are blood donation centres in Central, Causeway Bay, Mongkok, Kwun Tong, Shatin and Tsuen Wan.

The Headquarter Donor Centre is at: 15 King's Park Rise, near Wylie Road
Opening hours:
Mon, Tue, Thur, Fri 9:30am - 4:00pm
Wednesday 9:30am - 1:00pm
Saturday 9:00am - 5:00pm
Sunday & Public Holiday Closed
Telephone : 2710 1202

0638 HKSAR Name of the Day

Hedia Cheung (Ms), Postgraduate Team, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Rare

Sunday 24 October 2010

0637 HKSAR Name of the Day

Rico Cheung So-nang (Mr), technician, Department Of Industrial And Systems Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Rare

Saturday 23 October 2010

Picture Perfect

Harry's View was spot on, as expected.


Here's the Hong Kong observatory's actual Tropical Cyclone position and track of Megi:


And the Hong Kong Government's "unprecedented press conference to ram home the dangers" certainly got the media and Hong Kong public worried.

Does this government posturing remind anyone of precautions of similar scale, such as when SARS or bird flu or some other "Asian contagion" broke?

Granted when Megi was a super typhoon earlier this week, 27 people were killed in the Philippines which is probably why government officials were nervous. However, since it appears storm-related damage will affect places like Fujian province and Taiwan more significantly than Hong Kong, let's hope the relevant government authorities in such places will have taken necessary precautions.

0636 HKSAR Name of the Day

Seline Wong, Executive Assistant, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Rare

Friday 22 October 2010

0635 HKSAR Name of the Day

Cammy Chiu (Ms), executive officer, Department Of Industrial And Systems Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Rare

Thursday 21 October 2010

0634 HKSAR Name of the Day

Piggy Chu (Mr), Media Technologist, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong [e-mail address is: piggychu at hku.hk]

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Creation; Nature-based

Wednesday 20 October 2010

0633 HKSAR Name of the Day

Winco K.C. Yung (Dr), associate professor, Department Of Industrial And Systems Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Creation

Tuesday 19 October 2010

0632 HKSAR Name of the Day

Tenny Yip Wai Yee (Ms), donor, "HKU-South Asia Action" fund, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Creation; Substitution

Monday 18 October 2010

0631 HKSAR Name of the Day

Adela Lam Shuk-fun (Ms), personal secretary to Head, Department Of Industrial And Systems Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
see 0569 HKSAR Name of the Day

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Rare

Sunday 17 October 2010

0630 HKSAR Name of the Day

Rosana Poon Wing Shan (Ms), donor, "HKU-South Asia Action" fund, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Rare

Saturday 16 October 2010

0629 HKSAR Name of the Day

Norbert C. Cheung (Dr), lecturer, Department of Electrical Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Rare

Friday 15 October 2010

Thursday 14 October 2010

0627 HKSAR Name of the Day

Tiphanie Chan, Alto member, Hong Kong Voices (chamber choir), Hong Kong

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Rare

Wednesday 13 October 2010

Tuesday 12 October 2010

Monday 11 October 2010

0624 HKSAR Name of the Day

Rolly Wong, chief executive of the Hong Kong Museum of Stone Sculpture, Hong Kong

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Rare

Sunday 10 October 2010

The Stokes, Blackburns, Wolves

The pluralism meme is gaining momentum and critical mass, at least in the world of football. It may have appeared earlier, but its increasing use has been significantly noticeable from the beginning of the 2010-2011 football season (examples here and here).

The definition of a meme is “a unit of cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena”. It was first described by Richard Dawkins back in 1976, and propagated by Susan Blackmore in her 1999 book The Meme Machine.

Fulham’s Danny Murphy is the latest to use pluralistic phrases, such as this gem:
"You get managers who are sending their teams out to stop other teams playing, which is happening more and more - the Stokes, Blackburns, Wolves."

The following newspapers and media outlets quoted Murphy's pluralistic phrase:

Managers must take responsibility for tackles - Murphy (BBS Sport)

Managers are to blame for dangerous tackles, says Fulham's Danny Murphy (Guardian Football)

Danny Murphy blames Blackburn, Stoke and Wolves bosses for scourge of 'stupid tackles' (Daily Mail Football)

MURPHY RAPS MANAGERS OVER TACKLES (Football365.com)

However, The Sun newspaper was incorrect in it’s reporting (no big surprise!). It misquoted Murphy saying:
"Stoke, Blackburn and Wolves, you can say they're doing what they can to win the game. But the fact is that the managers are sending the players out so pumped up that inevitably there are going to be problems.”

What’s even worse for The Sun is that they have posted the video of Danny Murphy’s speech, and you can clearly hear Murphy using pluralism and saying: “ … the Stokes, Blackburns, Wolves”. Poor reporting and transcribing by The Sun.

What Danny Murphy actually said, from 00:31 on the video clip (red text highlights the original speech changed by The Sun), was:
“… you know, the Stokes, Blackburns, Wolves … they can say ‘it’s effective and we’ve got to win games' but the fact is the managers are sending out the players so pumped up that inevitably there are going to be problems.”


Related Posts

The Chelseas and the Man Uniteds

Pluralism in Football

0623 HKSAR Name of the Day

October Leung, dentist, Caine Road (by mid-levels escalator), Hong Kong

Note: Today's Novel Name of the Day acknowledges the coincidental triple tenth or double tenth date in October.

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Creation

Saturday 9 October 2010

0622 HKSAR Name of the Day

Kolie Lam, Ngau Chi Wan, Hong Kong (SCMP letters 24 Dec 2009)

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Creation

Friday 8 October 2010

0621 HKSAR Name of the Day

Whelan Leung Wai-lun, Oxfam Trailwalker veteran, Hong Kong

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Creation; Phonetic-based

Thursday 7 October 2010

Bizarre Barbaric Buddhists

The Phuket Vegetarian Festival is reportedly an annual cleansing event for Buddhist devotees (article here). The article says these “devotees go on a vegetarian diet to cleanse their bodies before taking part in processions, where they pierce their bodies with sharp objects, walk over hot coals and carry shrines past exploding firecrackers”.

According to the 'official' website, participants of this strange shenanigan have to be “local residents of Chinese ancestry”. This would make it more of a cultural event rather than a religious activity.

Nonetheless, whether it be a religious or cultural practice, it is still a bizarre and barbaric event that shamelessly promotes itself to the world as being associated with healthy vegetarianism, respectable religious ritual and upstanding cultural tradition. What utter rubbish! There is nothing about the festival that is healthy, respectable or upstanding.

The 10 Rules of the Vegetarian Festival are amazingly idiotic too.
1. Cleanliness of bodies during the festival
2. Clean kitchen utensils and to use them seperately (sic) from other who do not join the festival
3. Wear white during the festival
4. Behave physically and mentally
5. No meat eating
6. No sex
7. No alcoholic drinks
8. People at mourning period should not attend the festival
9. Pragnant (sic) ladies should not watch any ritual
10. Ladies with period should not attend the ritual

He must be wearing white underwear (pic from here)


Another observation: the concept of vegetarianism is totally different depending on whether it is based on East or West concepts. I prefer the Western treatment of vegetarianism, which tends to have no association with religious or cultural traditions and practices.

0620 HKSAR Name of the Day

Effy Luk, Fanling, Hong Kong (SCMP letters 22 Dec 2009)
Note: meaning of the Greek name Effy is "well-spoken”

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Rare

Wednesday 6 October 2010

0619 HKSAR Name of the Day

Bowie Lam Po-yee (Ms), staff member at Zi Teng, a concern group that fights for the rights of sex workers, Hong Kong

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Creation; Phonetic-based

Tuesday 5 October 2010

0618 HKSAR Name of the Day

Koey Chan, Sheung Shui, Hong Kong (SCMP letters 18 Dec 2009)

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Creation; Substitution

Monday 4 October 2010

Nike Panties

Whilst researching underwear pics for the Emergency Knickers-to-Facemask post, this photo made me smirk.

Pic courtesy of Ancestor Link


IMHO, the shape of the underwear (or perhaps the model's body?) is not particularly attractive, but the text kinda makes up for it.

0617 HKSAR Name of the Day

Zero Ngai Ka-ying, To Kwa Wan, Hong Kong (SCMP letters 17 Dec 2009) (Rare in Males; Creation in Females)
see 0571 HKSAR Name of the Day

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Rare; somewhat common in Hong Kong

Sunday 3 October 2010

A New Line in Emergency Underwear

This novel invention called the Emergency Bra won the 2009 Ig Nobel Prize for Public Health and deserves all the plaudits (and laughs) it gets.

Inventor Elena Bodnar of Hinsdale, Illinois with her Emergency Bra. John Durant, right, Director of the MIT Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Gus Rancatore demonstrate their fetish for women's used underwear how the novel invention works. Pic from Reuters.

I wonder if Bodnar got her idea from this SARS fashion pic?



What is surprising is that this concept did not originate from a Japanese entrepreneur (or a man), considering the fact that there is apparently a ready market for used underwear in Japan. That is, vending machines in Japan supposedly provide used panties to those who “want” them.

HKSARblog anticipates the next phase in this line of Emergency underwear or undergarments to be … smokin' hot utility panties. Specifically, the Emergency Panties, the Emergency Knickers or the Emergency Undies for those in the US and Canada, the UK, and in Australia and New Zealand, respectively.

Man: Cough, cough. I'm really worried about this new bird-civet-cat-swine-mickey-mouse flu that's going around. Cough.

Woman:
Oh you poor dear. Here, let me slip this off and you can put it over your nose and mouth as a fashion facemask. Why, my smokin' hot utility panties even have useful loops that can hook around your ears!

Pic from EmptySoul


Anyone want in on starting a business partnership selling the new Emergency Knickers-to-Facemask concept? Lol.

Pic from Wikimedia Commons

Remember, you read it first on HKSARblog!!

0616 HKSAR Name of the Day

Ody Lai (Ms), barrister, Hong Kong

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Creation; Deletion

Saturday 2 October 2010

0615 HKSAR Name of the Day

Decky Li Tak-leung, shop manager, Dog One Life (pet shop), Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Creation; Substitution

Friday 1 October 2010

0614 HKSAR Name of the Day

Katty Law, Central, Hong Kong (SCMP letters 14 Dec 2009)

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Creation; Substitution