Canada at night

Comfort Inn Car Park, Richmond, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Canon IXUS 50, F/2.8, 1 sec, 5.8 mm, ISO 50, Pattern Mode, 06:39 3 October 2005

Regina Chinese Alliance Church, Regina, SK, Canada
Canon IXUS 50, F/2.8, 1 sec, 5.8 mm, ISO 50, Pattern Mode, 19:49 3 October 2005

Canada Place, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Canon IXUS 50, F/2.8, 1 sec, 5.8 mm, ISO 50, Pattern Mode, 19:26 5 October 2005

Gas station, The Coast Mountains, BC, Canada
Canon IXUS 50, F/2.8, 1/6 sec, 5.8 mm, ISO 50, Pattern Mode, 04:28 26 November 2005

Houses in the Rocky Mountains, Banff, AB, Canada
Canon IXUS 50, F/2.8, 1 sec, 5.8 mm, ISO 50, Pattern Mode, 04:09 26 November 2005

Downtown, Calgary, AB, Canada
Canon IXUS 50, F/3.5, 3.2 secs, 8.46 mm, ISO 50, Pattern Mode, 18:42 26 November 2005

The Canadian Bank of Commerce, Medicine Hat, AB, Canada
Canon IXUS 50, F/2.8, 4 secs, 5.8 mm, ISO 50, Pattern Mode, 23:32 26 November 2005

Apple Support on iMac hibernation

A few days ago I rang Apple Support at 133MAC regarding how to enable hibernation on my iMAC running Leopard. The reason of why I need hibernation on iMac is that I have been got used to this feature on my Windows notebooks for years, and I sometimes do need to move my iMac from one room to another at home.

Hibernation allows you to save and then restore your current work environment instantly, including opened windows, running applications, and their data in use. Actually, hibernation just dumps your computer memory in use to a file on hard disk, marks the system partition in hibernation mode, therefore you can restore what it was in the system memory next time you boot the computer, instead of loading the operating system step by step. I like this feature as I do often open more than 10 applications at the same time, so I hate to restart each application again and again every time I turn on the computer.

OK, back to the Apple Support at 133MAC. After I explained what I needed to the tech support, he quickly asked me to change something in System Preferences | Energy Saver | Sleep, where I had tried first when I was finding out this functionality on iMac. Then the following conversation between the Apple support (A) and me (B) started:

B: "No, no, no. I need hibernation, not to simply sleep, I need to unplug the power cord then."
A: "Why?!"
B: "I do need to move the iMac from one room to another, but I dislike to shut donwn, restart, and reopen the applications again."
B: "I think Sleep mode still needs the power, doesn't it?"
A: "Yes, it does. Umm... hang on, let me double check it..." (typing something on the keyboard)
B: "Are you searching from somewhere else?"
A: "Yes."
B: "Is it Apple KB, Knowledge Base?"
A: "Yeah, we have Apple Knowledge Base. It is very informative."
B: "That's cool. Have you found something helpful?"
A: "No. I am sorry, you can't do that. We don't support it."
B: "Really?! I just switched from Windows to Mac OS. I have got used this feature. It's very handy. I need it."
A: "Unfortunately, we do not support this on Mac. You are using an Apple."
B: "Oh..., is there any possible solution? I really need this functionality."
A: "Umm... can you please hold the line for a moment, I wanna consult other engineers."
B: "Sure. OK."
A: "Thanks mate."
...
A: "Are you still here mate?"
B: "Yes. Any good news?"
A: "Unfortunately, no. We do not support hibernation on Mac."
B: "Oh..."
A: "Even so, you may consider to get a long power cord, an extended one, so you can move your iMac..., you know."
B: "Hehe... is it a solution? An Apple's solution?"
A: "Well, it's a solution, if you like."
B: "An official solution from Apple?"
A: "Well..."
B: "I hate cords, cables, wires..., that's why I bought an iMac, a wireless iMac."
A: "Anyway, you still need, at least, a power cord for your computer, so an extended cord allows you..."
...

An extended power cord is Apple's solution for hibernation.

Translating Chinese bureaucratese

A good friend of mine in China asked me yesterday to translate an abstract of his academic paper into English. I find that the Chinese wording and expression in this abstract is really interesting, especially for me who is from mainland China, throughly understands this kind of Chinese bureaucratese, but now reads English everyday.

Actually, I did use this kind formal language intensively in China, too.

Translating this kind of language into English should be a challenge. First because some expressions are only available in Chinese, the next some words do have different meanings in English, thirdly the relevant grammatical structures in Chinese and English are different.

I tried my best to convert the original meanings in the abstract into English. Here is the Chinese abstract and my translation in English.

政务门户网站设计概述

摘要
　　门户网站是政府运用现代信息技术向社会提供管理和服务的窗口。本文从政务门户网站设计所涉及的目标、原则、范畴和构成入手，阐明了政务门户设计要以服务为中心的观点，围绕信息公开、网上办事、公众监督和个性化服务等方面的具体内容，文章对以服务为中心的政务门户网站的设计进行了探讨。

关键字：电子政务 门户网站 设计

Overview of e-Government Portal Design

Abstract
e-Government Portal is a window for governmental organizations to provide public administration and social services by utilizing latest information technologies. This article begins with the essentials of e-Government Portal Design including the goal, principles, scope and its components, and presents the concept that e-government portal is necessary to be services-oriented. The article subsequently discusses how to design a services-oriented e-government portal regarding several practical aspects such as information publishing, online services, public scrutiny, and personalization services.

Keywords: e-Government, Portal, Design

Sydney Harbour Bridge at night

Viewing Harbour Bridge and CBD Buildings from Milsons Point, lower North Shore of Sydney
Canon IXUS 50, F/2.8, 15 secs, 5.8 mm, ISO 50, Pattern Mode, 20:00 4 November 2007