Here are seven photographs of trucks that have been circulating on the web. This one below is bottle that appears to stick out onto the road. These photos are pass along thru emails and blogs as though the trucks are painted to give an illusion the image is standing out but in fact none of them are real paintings. They will have to be revealed. They might be another viral marketing trick similar to the cell phone popcorn hoax. You can still see the the original mail of the trucks I received here.

Below is a Photoshop comparison I made. Once a mask is drawn into the truck is it now much easer to insert any image you want.

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The image below shows two different contrast levels between the pouch and the truck.

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Below: The image below shows no shading on the edge of the billboard and remain focused as it becomes further away.

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Below: Poor quality on the real truck but excellent quality on the yellow truck.

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Below: Again, showing different contrast.

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Below: The same brick post and tree on all the images. This time the scene is motion blurred. You might need to click “view larger” to see the bricks.

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Below: Bad contrast. The person doing the hoax should invest in a quality camera and lens to take a picture of the truck.

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Ethically, revealing the work of an illusionist is wrong. But in a few circumstance they should be revealed when the author is passing them as though they are real. The illusionist should present their work as-is and let the audience decide. For example, the illusionist may want to show an image of
the real illusion, but much smaller, cheaper version of the illusion. Later, they can present the fake trucks, but not claiming that they are painted on a real truck.

I notice that a number of Lao temples tend to have problems when they create a organization to conduct a non-profit business.

[edit to include this:] Many of you reading this article might not know this, and I’m not going to talk about it in detail because it might offend some group of people, but a number of scandals have come up in recent the news events that shows that a number of Laotian temples tend to have problem with corruption. It’s been so bad that a few temples I attend will have some sort of problem with someone stealing money. It’s ridiculous. Who wants to steal money from the donation bin. I only see Homer Simpson yanking money from the donation tray - but I think he put it back. Well, now I believe I have a solution for them. Recently I’d bumped into Toyoda’s philosophy and I think it’s really cool. I think this will help them out.

It is about time that they consider learning the philosophy from one of the most successful Asian business organizer. Here it is:

Toyoda’s Philosophy

1. Be contributive to the development and welfare of the (business) by working together, regardless of position, in faithfully fulfilling your duties.
2. Be at the vanguard of the times through endless creativity, inquisitiveness, good teamwork and pursuit of improvement.
3. Be practical and avoid being inappropriately silly.
4. Be kind and generous; strive to create a warm, homelike atmosphere.
5. Be reverent, and show gratitude for things great and small in thought and deed.

More:

• Don’t tolerate bribery
• Implementing policies that promote ethical behavior.
• Communicate and have dialogue with everyone.
• Build and share the value of Mutual Trust and Mutual Responsibility
• Work together for the success for (the people of the temple and for the temple.)
• Respect the people and believe that the success of the business is led by each individual’s creativity and good teamwork.

To me, precept #3 is really important. Being practical helps because now someone else can understand your work. Because your problem is normal and not complex, many people can now creatively and intuitively help solve your problem.

The philosophy is design to work well for the Asian working environments, but probably won’t work well in organizations such as Wal-Mart. I urge the temple gurus to go out and get a copy of The Toyota Way. When we say “What is happening in Charlotte…has happened in many parts of the country” only indicates that there is a problem. If they want and are hope for a solution, they can solve it. If they are wishing to live with that condition (because of a sin from a past life) or, are not recognizing that there is a problem, then it’s impossible to solve.

So, how is this helping money thefts? Once you begin to treat your workers well and reward them for their ethical behaviors, corruption and theft also drops.

Today is a day to celebrate the Lao new year. The starting date is on the 9th of this month but some claim that the 13 is the official date. Unlike most countries, The the New year festival can last for days. It’s been wonderful so far. I’m testing out Vimeo’s high definition video hosting to remind me of Laos. The video is set to widescreen to fit in with HD standard but somehow stretched it, I’ll fix when time permits. The quality is great on slide-shows but isn’t an efficient way to make a slide-show, check it out.

All images are Lao except the bike on field. The soundtrack is chosen at random…it should have been a cultural music. This is my last slideshow. I’ll stick with video.

Check out this Radio (RFA) interview with Lao Children learning to read and write Lao in Virginia.

I came accross a facebook list of what makes Laotians… Laotians. Very funny, although not official.

You know you’re Lao when…
1. You can name all the ingredients that go into thum mak hoong.
2. At least one person drives a Honda (or Toyota) in your family.

3. You got more than one generation living in your house.

4. Everyone in your house eats out of the same bowl.

5. Your gramps is making whiskey out of rocks and twigs.

6. You got a jar of fermenting fish heads in the bottom cabinet FOR THUM MAK HOONG.

7. You’ve climbed the neighbor’s tree while you were younger to satisfy the appetite for sour berries and hot sauce.

8. Your last name is a bazillion letters long and everyone jacks it up trying to pronounce it.

..

11. At one point, you must have helped a dad or an uncle slaughter a duck for bloody lap.

12. You or someone close to you has a Lao nickname of “short, fat, skinny….etc.”

13. Your parents dry meat in the back yard…sometimes on the clothesline (or on a dirty steel window screen.)

…

17. In the summer time u turn hella dark (almost black).

..

19. Rice goes with anything.

…

21. You(guys) shave your head and eye brows and rock a robe when family dies.

…

26. You got a mechanic in the family.

…

32. Chances r most of your parents escaped Laos to get over here.

…

35. When there’s a party (birthday, marriage, baby shower… etc) usually all the adults are gambling.

…

43. Funerals are long.

…

47. You have pho every month or week.

48. You have a frozen fish in your freezer without a bag or anything.

49. You have too many cousins and forget their names sometimes.

50. you have a pile of flip-flops by each entrance to your house

51. you eat just about everything with your hands

52. you call everyone who’s lao “aunt” or “uncle”

53. nothing beats sitting on the floor eating sticky rice

54.You have a 40 lb. bag of rice in your pantry

…

56. You’ve had to eat parts of animals they don’t even put in hot dogs

…

60. The weddings you go to have 600 people in attendance

…

65. If you have 2 birthdays…your legitimate birthday and the one you chose for immigration purposes (n/a for those of you born here!)

…

68. you have a garden in your backyard and there are no flowers in it

…

86. when you mention the word “laotian”.. your friends say “what? ocean?” …you say ur Thai to avoid any unwanted confusion

…

96. You feel the need to purchase big screen TVs (Sony preferably) and Louis Vuitton Handbags to impress other laotions

…

99. When you burn yourself, your parents’ remedy is to apply toothpaste directly to the burn and vicks vapour rub cures everything else

…

102. You don’t use a showerhead, instead, the bucket that’s in the tub

…

105. Your dad made little wooden seats out of planks so you can sit/squat a few inches off the ground (or a large plank so the whole neighbor could sit in it.)

…

107. You talk to your cat/dog in Lao

108. You wrap pants around your neck to see if they’ll fit your waist

…

110. The first thing your grandma asks you is, “gin kaow la bor?” (have you eaten) and anyone else who walks in the house

…

114. when you eat solid square clumps of blood in your congee

…

118. you have a three-headed elephant somewhere in the house

120. you own three or more DVD players

…

124. You enter another Laotian’s house without knocking

…

159. you run out of space filling out forms

160. your grandparents tie white strings around your wrist for good luck

161. your parents spend hrs lecturing you on one subject and keep repeating the same thing again..and again..and
again

…

163. you eat crab apples or mango with spicy jaeo

…

Quoted from facebook (members only)

]]> http://thesim.wordpress.com/2008/04/14/happy-lao-new-year/feed/ thesim http://thesim.wordpress.com/2008/03/02/chinese-photographer-caught-photoshopping/ http://thesim.wordpress.com/2008/03/02/chinese-photographer-caught-photoshopping/#comments Sun, 02 Mar 2008 16:58:42 +0000 Sim http://thesim.wordpress.com/?p=148

Photographer says “sorry” for faking Tibetan antelope picture [larger image] it’s been found to be a photoshopped fake was notice by a Chinese blooger read more at…

China Eats Crow Over Faked Photo Of Rare Antelope

View Costco’s  photo contest winners http://www.costcoconnection.ca/connectioncaeng/ (I believe some of the entries were Photoshopped.)

Howl’s Moving Castle is one of the best animation I’ve ever seen this year. This is the type of story line that has to be watched twice in order to understand and find the true meaning behind the inspirational animation. I’ve spent countless minutes watching it and it was worth it, I can’t say the same for anyone else. Howl’s Moving Castle is a stark contrast from The Shutter, the movie that could make us hear noise when we’re alone, but The Shutter is extremely cool when we need the suspense. ; )

A short soundtrack.

Some of the things that caught my attention is the architecture of the buildings, the drawings of the scenes and the use of colors. The buildings are constructed using traditional wooden joints which are built much like furnitures, like this building below which I’d screen captured from the DVD.

The second most significant thing that caught my attention is Calcifer. Calcifer is a fire demon whose job it is to be the soul, the heart and the butler of the castle.

Calcifer, the heart of the castle.

Calcifer runs, operates and controls almost every part of the castle. This is cool because this means that I’m not the only one that believe that there is a Calcifer behind each of my tools. Yes, I might sound crazy but I treat my property just like Howl treats Calcifer. I often speak to my property (in my mind.) I don’t abuse the things that I own, organic or inorganic materials. But every property are used to its full potential in extreme environment and used in extreme fashions. By showing that I appreciate everything I own, I have things that can become extremely reliable. In fact, all our cars (one is 19 years old,) expensive tools and even machinery are called Mrs. Reliable (Khoon.)

The castle (mansion) collapsing. Image snapped from DVD.

In this picture, Sophie is seen running in the flower field. Behind her is an example of the beautiful, joyful color in the lake. The use of color in this way from Hayao Miyazaki is rare.

Some of the scenes I don’t get is this one. He runs out of the bathroom screaming about his ruined hair color. It’s unlike Howl to be acting like that.

Disadvantages: The disadvantages about this movie that the story line goes on for a while without a clean plot. It isn’t a simple story. But may be a story that tells the stories of strange dimensional shifts, witchcrafts, wizardries and the practical lives in that era. There are some shocking scenes, like Howl running out of the bathroom and nearly dying. And the witch being adopted by Sophie. Whatever shocking scenes there may be, they are still an experience.

Edit: misspelled howl, not howel’s .

Analog TVs will be outdated by February 17, 2009, according to the FCC. Recently we’d aquired an 32″ HDTV and a 22″ HD monitor to get ready for the change. The monitor was paid for by Microsoft I got from a settlement program. On a side note, Bill Gates, with his philanthropy program, isn’t so evil after all. The LCD TV will be the third most expensive item our family would ever own, but not the most important item.

If you have an antenna that recieves signals off the air you will need one of these converter boxes in this chart. If you want a $40 voucher go here.

The Tivocommunity has created a small poll. The poll shows that more people are choosing the $40 ECHOSTAR.

This poll chart is compiled by the Tivocommunity forum as seen here.

One of the DigitalSTREAM model might be my choice because of a better video output. The voucher won’t allow high definition outputs. I’ll own the CoShip 9900T . It stores up to 3000 channels with fast inter-channel switching capability, with 7 day EPG and supports a picture in picture capability (some models only.) But it took so long to get it when I entered the wrong coupon code into the BSAT shopping cart. It can take up to five days before you know that you’ve entered the wrong code. I will also buy the RCA DTA800 because this model can be able to remotely control an external antenna system automatically. They are sold at the BSAT website which sells like hotcakes.

Remember that it can take up to ten days before the item is shipped. After a few days mine was shipped and it took two weeks to arrive. I was very satisfied with the Coship. Switching between channels isn’t super fast but it is fast enough and feels much like a normal vacuum tube TV. The only drawback is that the audio on some channels is pretty bad as the Digital Stream converter box. The remote has a antenna meter button which put out a beep while you adjust the antenna. The reception and image quality is pretty good. The remote, with volume control and many other features, can adjust between various screen size easily in case the network decides to broadcast in wide screen you will want to see what the director intended on the left and right side of the screen. I didn’t find this feature in the digital stream. I recommend the Coship over the digital stream.

I tried out the Digital STREAM DTX9900 from radio Radio Shack and it was an easy setup. Took only a minute to auto scan and collect the channels.

Digital STREAM DTX9900; LG Chip, LGDT1111D

The DTX9900 doesn’t have the S-VHS output or programming more than a few hours. Without S-VHS, the lack of quality clearly shows on the screen but the image quality is great on an analog TV set. The converter box comes with a volume control for convenience but I can’t give great reviews on its sound quality. Many of the channels will sound just as though the TV is speaking thru a tin can (or the sound you get when your speaker is stuck at the 6-10kHz frequency bandwidth, which can be really annoying if you’re sensitive to these frequencies.) Reception is just as great as my Sharp Aquos. Switching between channels can give you a delay of about 1 to 1.5 seconds, somewhat slow but better than my Aquos. One of the best feature to have handy is the reception button on the remote. By pushing a single button on the remote, a reception meter pops up on the screen allowing you to quickly adjust the antenna. Another plus is having buttons on the unit itself for quick channel change in case you loose the remote. Overall it’s a practical box if you need one that produce a decent image on your square screen TV. But I think I need a better receiver, hopefully with a better video output, a few days of EPG and a faster inter-channel switching.

The following copyrighted information is compiled by Ken of EZ Digital TV used with permission. You can go to Ken’s site to see the updated online retailers.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Example Coupon Eligible Digital Converter Box with EPG*

*EPG (Electronic Program Guide) time zone specific. You can see what will be showing up to a week in an advance. Check to be sure that some of these do have 7 days of programming guide. Some will show only 2-3hour ahead of program guide.

CoShip 9900T (7days)

The Echostar TR-40 (7 days)

Tivax ATSC STB-T9 (CECB) $ 49.99

Artec Digital ATSC T3APro (CECB) $ 54.99

MicroGEM ATSC MG2000 (7days) (CECB) $ 64.99

Philco ATSC TB100HH9 (CECB) $ 74.99

Sansonic ATSC (Note: Does not specify the type of programming) FT-300A $ 59.99

Note: All Sold by solidsignal. All images by solid signal. (I’m not affiliated with this site)

Other features worth mentioning: The RCA DTA800 is equip with smart antenna jack which controls the smart antenna. The smart antenna isn’t probably available until Feb 2008. Smart Digital Antenna uses sonar technology to seek and lock the strongest DTV signal available. This gives consumers the convenience of never having to physically adjust your antenna.

You can probably find some of these boxes at a local store near you:

Best Buy
Circuit City
Target
K-Mart
Sam’s Club
Sears Roebuck
Radio Shack
Walmart

My HDTV will be used primarily to watch details in documentary movies such as Nature and the sciences. Our analog CRT TV had lasted about 10-15 years and they’re still manufacturing the same poor image quality as of ten years ago. Our LCD HDTV is expected to last 20-25 years because I bought spare parts along with it. But the technology will probably be outdated in about 18 years.

The LCD HDTV by Sharp has a PC VGA input that has excellent details in still images. Viewing HD broadcasts is perfect. With the VGA input, you can turn your PC into a DVR (digital video recorder) or into a hard drive DVD jukebox. To turn your PC into a DVR you’ll need MythTV or Windows Media Center and a video card that will pickup broadcast signals. You will most likely need Vista in order to use Windows Media Center - that’s their way of trying to make us upgrade to Vista. I’ve been using Windows 2000 Pro for years. I feel that Win2000 Pro operates much faster because it’s lighter.

MythTV offers multiple tuner cards and multiple simultaneous recordings. Grabs program information using xmltv, skips commericals and more.

My HDTV will require a new set of HDDVD player or a DVD player that is capable of upscaling to 1080i and will plug into its HDMI port. I’ve got an LG DVD player with HDMI but the sound quality and image quality isn’t within my standard of quality. The player works great for a door jamb. Eventually, I settled with the Sony because of its acceptable image and great sound quality. The best way to get the most detail from your DVDs is, in my opinion, to view them on a HD monitor. I only trust two brands, Viewsonic and Dell.

Advantages: Wide viewing angle, fast response time and refresh rates, more channels than standard TVs.

Disadvantages: This TV changes channel very slowly, has poor quality on analog broadcast (I don’t need to worry about that because the government will make analog channels obsolete.) And finally, it refuses to allow Smart Stretch (widescreen viewing) on some channels, this is probably caused by the broadcasting company. Eventually, it develop a red line (dead pixels effect) from top to bottom right in the middle of the screen but it is bearable. The bad component is most likely the pixel controller transistor. I’ve acquired the part and ready to install it but is proving to be too challenging to install it.

A new service called Yahoo! HD for AQUOS’, which was unveiled at the CEATEC Japan 2007 show basically upscales content from your PC using Yahoo’s Japanese portal to make the most of a 1920 x 1080 resolution LCD TV.

The popular Pokémon (Pocket Monster) television series entered the fleet of All Nippon Airways in late June. ANA had asked elementary school children to compete featuring Pokémon characters chosen from about 40,073 entries. Shota, the winner of the competition, signed his name on the aircraft’s door. In explaining how he chose his design, he said, “I wanted to give the Pokémon that usually live at sea a chance to experience the thrill of flying in the sky. I can’t believe that planes carrying my design are really going to fly.”

The new Pokémon jets are now being used on ANA’s domestic routes linking 30 cities, including a recent flight to San Francisco.

*Images shot by contributors of Airliners.net which I merge together - notice the ship in the center.

Below: The winner of the art contest belongs to Shota. Here is the drawing as shown at www.ana.co.jp. The image shows Shota’s art talent, which greatly expresses the joy of flight.

Below: Pokemon Ana Airlines website. Unfortunately, there are no images of the actual Pokemon planes at that website.

It’s really fascinating to be able to board a flight where just everything is Hello Kitty - for Hello Kitty fans, maybe. Eva Air (of Taiwan) launched a new concept incorporating Hello Kitty in their fleet. This can be a dream come true for young Asian girls who prefer a Hello Kitty flight over a trip to Disney World while going somewhere at the same time.

Below stands two dolls and two stewardess. There is something strange about this photo. The dolls appear skinny compared to their original cartoon appearance. Their thin, flimsy shirts and hard angles faces make them look spooky. The Taiwanese appear to have some trouble copying the Japanese craftsmanship.

To solve their thin, flimsy shirt problem I would rather have them fluff up their shirts with more fluffs. The male kitty in the blue shirt reminds me of some freaky fantasy universe where the scene crosses between a cartoon and a real world and where the pimpster has taken control of a mysterious airliner.

The food looks nice and neatly prepared like in a Japanese bento box. The Japanese women are like the original Martha Stewart. They’re food are always perfect looking. As you can see, this photo montage appears to show that Hello Kitty Air is ready and poised for business. I would have expected a pink plane but instead they decide to go with green stripes, probably because they want their original Eva green theme. Their website www.evaair.com includes an unusual auto play sound track which sounds more like a hillbilly tune rather than a Hello Kitty theme. Their Flash web design is nice but I have a few browser freeze due to some incompatibility problems while I open various links at once.

Edit: On February 08, Nye saw a formatting error on this site. The error is located on this post. The problem is that the WordPress menu is at the bottom of the page instead of on the right side. The fix is to remove the the html <div> or </div> from this post and then start this post’s formatting from scratch. Hopes this info help other Bloggers.

Below: Here are various cartoon planes shot by contributors of Airliners.net. Fun in the sky for kids of all ages. Or the young at heart. Some of these cartoons look familiar to me, but some I have never seen before. Such as the DieMaus and the big pink and blue cats. Read more at the bottom.

1. Germanwings Airbus A320-211 - They just have simple cartoon designs on their plane.

2. Far Eastern Air Transport Boeing 757-27A

3. Lufthansa Airbus A321 - DieMaus must be a very popular mouse.

4. Delta Express Boeing 737 - Power Puff Girls were very popular in the late’90s and into the early 2000’s.
5. Martinair Boeing 767 serving western Europe.

6. Martinair

7. Martinair

8. Freedom Air - Looney Tunes have been on TV for as long as I can remember. Every new generation of kids have seen the cat try to eat the yellow Tweety bird.

Here are two interesting programs that work great for those who struggles to read. Click play to watch.

Zap reader needs a better interface. The font is a bit off, most likely because of some optical illusion. Spreeder is an ad supported site which is not as distracting. You can probably make it work on your PC flash player but I havent tried it. Click one of the links below to try out the reader.

Spreeder.com - online speed reading application
Zap Reader

Music: Goldberg Variations 8-14. There are [edit: some] grammar error in the video I’m not going to fix. A few words in the video were borrowed from a blog with unknown sources.