Signs and wonders

Uncle John
Originally uploaded by Kees & Sarah.

Well, more like signs that make you wonder. It seems to be fashionable here to have signs on your shop (and lots of other places) in Chinese and English, and often I find that useful, but sometimes it really doesn't help, as you can see in the photo here. (The English underneath says: "Uncle John's skin has to sweep to maintain the store.") Sometime you come across interesting mistranslations, or very broken English (referred to as Engrish). It is one of those things that can really brighten up your day if you are feeling down a little.
I am starting to slowly build up a little collection of these photos, which you can view here. I often come across signs though, when I don't have my camera with me, or in places where you are not allowed to make photos. In our local Carrefour supermarket there are lots of excellent examples of Engrish, and I have to see if I can manage to take some photos in there. Even in hospitals you see strange signs, how about: "Beautiful Breast Room 1", I really did not know what to think of that one.

Anyway I thought I share with you some of the little delights of life in China, and this is definitely one of them. If you are interested in lots of photos of Engrish signs, you can check out the Engrish and Chinglish groups on Flickr, it takes a bit of time, but there are some very funny signs out there.

Please Protect Me More

Just when I got everything in the previous post of my chest, I receive an email that reminds me that I have forgotten to say one more very important thing on protecting yourself and others from viruses and the like:

"Please, please, please stop using OutLook Express!!!!"

I notice in mail headers that many people are still using Outlook Express, please don't. It is by far the worst email client as far as security goes. If you really have to use a microsoft product use Outlook, which is marginally (but not much) better. I would advice people to use Thunderbird. It is a free and very safe email client, it will import all your Outlook Express stuff (mail and addresses) and once you are used to it, it will give you a much nicer email experience.

And while we are on the subject anyway, stop using Internet Explorer as well and use Firefox instead. It is a lot safer than Internet Explorer and if you load the "No Scripts" extension it beats IE by a mile (definitely in the area of security).

Both programs are mentioned in the left-hand side menu.

Please Protect Me

Received an other virus this morning, that is number 35 in less than a month. I always wonder why people dare to access the internet without adaquate protection. The net is a dangerous place for a computer and protection comes for free. As a minimum, people should use an antivirus (and keep it up-to-date) and a firewall. In my opinion an antivirus is out of date if it's database is more than 3 days old, it would not be the first time I have had to remove a virus from a computer that was only discovered a few days before. The best free ones are linked in the menu on the left: Avast! and ZoneAlarm. It might also be worth putting a spyware removal utility on your machine, especially if you use the internet a lot, or install unknown free software. And of course: install the (windows) updates. By keeping your computer up to date and secure you don't only protect yourself, but also others (including me), so if you don't want to be sensible at least be courteous and secure your computer.

I have done a lot on computer security in the last few years, so if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask me, I love helping people to make the net a safer place. I don't claim to know everything, but I reckon I know more than most people, so please feel free to ask.

Cycling in China

In China you drive on the right hand side of the road and you cycle predominantly on the right as well, however it is allowed to cycle on the left. You very quickly learn that someone coming towards you is not really someone cycling on the wrong side of the road, but someone cycling on the right side of the road with a negative speed. So they will stay as close to the curb as possible (as they go slower than you do) and you go around them (just as you would do with a parked car, except that a parked car doesn't normally move).

Cycling over here is interesting. The first thing I needed to learn is to cycle with blinkers on, basically look what happens ahead of you and make sure you don't hit anyone else, other people will make sure they don't hit you. It sounds scary and strange, but most of the time it works perfectly. Of course when you are overtaking a cyclist, who is overtaking a cycle taxi, who is staying about a meter of the curb because someone is coming towards him, it is wise to make sure you are not just then being overtaken by a car or a motor cyclist and actually quickly look over your shoulder (not too long, as things change very quickly ahead of you).

The second thing I had to learn is that most people cycle very slowly, often just about fast enough to stay upright. I however like to cycle a bit faster, this means that it is wise to know how the bell on your bike works. People don't expect you to approach as fast as you do and will just step out into the road as they think they have time to do so before you reach them. Cycling at night is also a little scary for the same reason, so I have invested in a light on my bike, as only motor bikes have lights I hope it makes people a little more wary when I approach.

You need to start somewhere

Blogging seems to be the way to do things now a days, so I thought: "Why not start one as well."

I don't know yet what I'll write about, probably something about computers, and something about China and something about anything else that comes to mind. How long I will manage to keep this blog going I don't know, but I decided to give it a try.

Well, how is this for first post? I presume I will need to start to let people know this blog is here, otherwise it might be hard to find.

Please feel welcome to comment on what I write. At least then I know people are reading this.