Sad Day at Sepang MotoGP

Yesterday I went to the MotoGP race at Sepang as I have pretty much done the last 5 or 6 years, but this time disaster struck and as a result one of my favorite riders - if not my absolute favorite - lost his life.

For the past year or so, I have been joking that the moment Marco Simoncelli learned to stay ON his bike he would become a world champion.  Obviously those jokes now leave a somewhat bitter taste in my mouth, but then again - that is how MotoGP is isn't it?

I still remember back int he late 90's when Garry McCoy started riding the 500cc bikes.  The guy was completely mental and he went sideways through every bloody corner, pushing the bike to the absolute limit.  At the end of the day, Garry McCoy had so many crashes that he never really won anything (if I am not mistaken he won 3 500cc races in total), but damn - he is to this day the most fantastic rider I have ever seen.  In the 2003 movie "Faster", another MotoGP legend Mick Doohan had this to say about McCoy's riding style:



Normally, a remark like that wouldn't mean much, but coming from Mick Doohan it does mean a lot.  Doohan himself was "a little bit looser than a lot of people". In 1992, Doohan crashed in a practice session before the Dutch TT.  He was inches from losing his leg, but a few month later he showed up again, looking like this:



Doohan went on to win the 500cc championship (it wasn't called MotoGP back then) no less than 5 times on a custom built bike (since he couldn't use a foot operated rear brake).

In 1993, I remember watching Wayne Rainey's crash at the Italian Grand Prix.  Rainey broke his spine and the crash rendered him permanently paralyzed from the chest down.  Still, the following year, he showed up, in a wheel chair, as team manager for the Malboro Yamaha team and to this day he still enjoy Superkart racing, driving a custom build hand operated kart.

At this point you might think: "what on earth is he rambling about".  Well, I guess my point is that it is this very madness that makes a good MotoGP rider become a truly great rider.  There are tons of good riders out there, but only the truly inspired becomes great and Simoncelli - in my opinion - had that potential.  Like McCoy, he was unfortunate and he ran out of luck (or grip actually), but if his luck had not run out, he would have had every chance to go on and become a legend like Rainey or Doohan.

In the words of Mick Doohan, Simoncelli was a little bit looser than a lot of people.  Eventually that would cost him his life, but it was also what made it awe inspiring to watch him ride.

I'll miss him.

Marketing Gone Wrong

First of all - I do know that Amazon doesn't really intent for their Kindle to be sold outside the US (for whatever reason) but it's still fairly easy to get one.

However, I gotta say that their latest version - with advertising - seem someone inappropriate or downright silly - in Malaysia:

Trust me - a little snowfall will NOT stop me here.  Anyway - if Amazon want to give me a discount and a laugh - so be it.

Misguided Marketing - Malaysian Style

I think Pavilion qualifies as the shopping mall in Malaysia with the most idiotic marketing campaigns.  It's actually quite entertaining - I end up laughing at something almost every single time I go there.

Here's the latest:

First of all I'd say that car alone would be reason enough never ever to get a savings account at Hong Leong Bank.  What's even more interesting is - who the hell are they actually targeting with that campaign?  10 year old girls?  Any adult willing to drive that car should be locked up in an asylum somewhere.

Goodbye Nokia - It was fun!

I am normally pretty open minded when it comes to technology, but I must admit, when it comes to mobile phones, I have always been a bit of a closet Nokia fanboy.

One of the first mobile phones I ever had (the very first was in fact an Ericsson), was the legendary Nokia 2110 (picture to the right).  Not much to say about that really - it was absolutely rock solid build quality and I am quite sure if I could find a working battery it would still work fine.  Sound and build quality was awesome (as it aught to be - if I am not mistaken the first one cost around US$ 1000 or so).

After the 2110 I went through a pile of Ericsson phones until Ericsson gave up and joined forces with Sony and I dropped my gorgeous T21 on a tile floor.  At this point I bought a Nokia 8210.  This is without a shadow of a doubt the most brilliant phone I have ever used.  It was TINY especially by today's standard and battery life was about a week (no kiddin'!).  I seriously do not think this phone will ever be beaten.
I used this phone for something like 7 years (no kiddin').  At some point the microphone crapped out and I had it replaced.

At some point a friend of mine who was a serious gadget freak was given a Nokia N73 and since he had no use for it - he passed it to me.  While it was quite advanced for the time, it is probably the phone I have disliked the most.  It was bulky - it was SLOW - and battery life sucked big time.  I only used this phone for about a year or so, but managed to kill the stupid little joy stick thingy twice.

Just when I was pretty fed up with the N73, Nokia launched a massive campaign with TV commercials advertising the Nokia 6110 Navigator.  I thought this was pretty damn cool and while I am not crazy about slide phones, I decided to give it a shot.  Much was my surprise that even though the TV commercial was on daily, nobody had this phone in stock in Malaysia and they all wanted to sell me a new N-something (can't remember which one) which was much more expensive.  I called Nokia in Malaysia and bitched about this, and they found one and actually gave it to me just to shut me up.  Anyway - it was actually quite a nice little phone.  The display was smaller than the N73, but it was much quicker and it worked quite nicely.

While I quite liked the 6110 Navigator, this was a period where everybody else - especially LG and HTC - was pumping out "Smart Phones" with touch displays and when Nokia finally got their act together and launched the 5800 ExpressMusic, I just had to have one (and I think I bought one of the first in Malaysia).  Initially the firmware sucked cock, but after 2 or 3 releases - they sort of got it right, and I was quite willing to give Nokia a bit of time to sort it out.  Especially because contrary to the other phones on the market the 5800 was dirt cheap.
This to me will always be the phone that represent Nokia on the top and I really can't understand why it went downhill from this point.

The 5800 with touch screen probably stretched Symbian just about as far as it could go and I was quite excited when Nokia announced the N900 - the first mobile device based on Maemo (which I aught to like since it is essentially a Debian GNU/Linux with a mobile GUI thrown in for good measure).  It was quite difficult for me to get one in Malaysia, but I finally managed to get it a few month after it was released in the state.  A few weeks after I managed to get one, Nokia announced that they would drop future development of Maemo and concentrate on Meego.  This is quite frankly one of the most idiotic decisions I have ever encountered.  Maemo was a bit rough around the edges - and still is - but it was/is a rock solid platform and with a little bit of love and effort the user interface could beat just about anything currently on the market.

Now Nokia is about to release the N9 - their first phone running Meego.  Unfortunately it is quite clear already that it will also be their last.  This time they have announced a change of direction even before  the phone has been released.  Would I buy one?  Well, I would lie if I said I wasn't tempted, but really - no fucking way.  Cheat me once - shame on you, cheat me twice - shame on me, so no - I will not put a cent more into Nokia's pockets.  In fact I have just purchased a Samsung Galaxy S2 and it is awesome so far.  So, goodbye Nokia, it was fun while it lasted, but you have let yourself go.

How Stupid is This?

Before I get a bunch of complaints that I am always negative, let me begin by stating that I absolutely love my Kindle.  It is probably the single best electronic gadget I have bought, since I bought my HP-28c back in the 80's.

One of the main reasons I think the Kindle is excellent is that it is good - and extremely good that is - at one thing and one thing alone.  Most gadget manufacturers today try to squeeze as much into one gadget as possible and they end up with some gadgets that have great WOW factor, but after the initial interest wears off, they all seem fairly useless really.  I bought a Nook Color about the same time I bought the Kindle, and while the Nook Color turned out to be a pretty descent Android tablet for reading books I hardly ever use it - I use my Kindle.

Anyway, back to topic.  Unfortunately it would appear that Amazon is catching up on throwing useless features into their devices to make them more impressive - or are they?

Notice the title of this product - "Kindle Edition".  The only problem is - it doesn't bloody work on a Kindle (due to the e-ink slow screen updates, they will never be able to display video).  What is worse - it doesn't work on the PC version of the Kindle Reader, nor does it work in their Android version.  In fact - if you look closely at the box in the lower left corner, you will see this only work on Apple devices.

To me this is absolutely insane on Amazon's part.  It is like saying: "Well, we'll sell you a Kindle, but we know it's crap so why don't you buy an iPhone or an iPad instead"?

Nokia's Death Rattle

It would appear that Nokia is getting somewhat sensitive about negative comments.  Yesterday, someone made this post on Nokia Map's Facebook page:

I wrote the following comment:

No Thanx, I don't think I will.  Some years back you released the N900 with promises of "Free Navigation".  That never materialized and shortly after release you ditched support for that device and hyped about Meego.  Now you ditched support for that too.  I am sorry, but I think I'll stick with Google Maps.

The interesting thing is that someone actually removed that comment within a few hours.  Well, screw you Nokia, I suppose I just have to write the comment here instead and trust me - here it will remain forever (and I mean that literally - should Google ever remove any of my postings, I do have backup and I will move my blog elsewhere)

Someone Leaked on the Leakers

Today WikiLeaks published this editorial, which, quite frankly, made my day (or ruined it).  It is almost insanely comical and it has hugely changed my perception of WikiLeaks and Julian Assange (more on that later).

To make a long story short, it would appear that someone leaked on the leakers and the resulting reaction from WikiLeaks is - ahem - interesting to say the least.

Let me dive right in.  The first paragraph reads:

A Guardian journalist has negligently disclosed top secret WikiLeaks’ decryption passwords to hundreds of thousands of unredacted unpublished US diplomatic cables.

 I am not convinced that disclosure was at all negligent and in fact in a later paragraph, WikiLeaks themselves states:

Guardian investigations editor, David Leigh, recklessly, and without gaining our approval, knowingly disclosed the decryption passwords in a book published by the Guardian.

"Knowingly?" - didn't they just say it was negligent?

However, where this becomes extremely fishy is when they write:

Over the past nine months, WikiLeaks has been carefully releasing US diplomatic cables according to a carefully laid out plan to stimulate profound changes. A number of human rights groups, including Amnesty International, believe that the co-ordinated release of the cables contributed to triggering the Arab Spring. By forming partnerships with over 90 other media and human rights organizations WikiLeaks has been laying the ground for positive political change all over the world.

I am sorry - "a carefully laid out plan to stimulate profound changes".  A conspiracy in other words.  A conspiracy to manipulate people into using undemocratic means to provoke changes.  Undemocratic means such as - well - revolution.

They go on to write:

Revolutions and reforms are in danger of being lost as the unpublished cables spread to intelligence contractors and governments before the public. The Arab Spring would not have have started in the manner it did if the Tunisian government of Ben Ali had copies of those WikiLeaks releases which helped to take down his government. Similarly, it is possible that the torturing Egyptian internal security chief, Suleiman—Washington’s proposed replacement for Mubarak—would now be the acting ruler of Egypt, had he acquired copies of the cables that exposed his methods prior to their publication.

First of all - they actually themselves use the word revolution here.  In other words, WikiLeaks real agenda is to provoke violent revolutions while using secrecy (read that again - WikiLeaks is deliberately keeping things secret) to achieve their goals.

Let me make it absolutely clear that I find it extremely hard to justify any form of government secrets in a democracy.  I profoundly believe that "people" have a right to know everything their elected "leaders" are up to.  But I find it hugely disturbing when individuals or an organisation such as WikiLeaks are using - what can only be described as stolen information - to fuel their own entirely unannounced political agenda.  A political agenda that obviously includes provoking - or attempt to provoke - violent revolutions.  And I am quite convinced that the poor guy who has been accused of causing this leak in the first place, and who are now rotting away in a military prison quite possibly awaiting execution, only meant for this information to be public knowledge, and not to participate in downright manipulation to aid dodgy political agendas.

On www.wikileaks.org, they write:

WikiLeaks is a non-profit media organization dedicated to bringing important news and information to the public. We provide an innovative, secure and anonymous way for independent sources around the world to leak information to our journalists. We publish material of ethical, political and historical significance while keeping the identity of our sources anonymous, thus providing a universal way for the revealing of suppressed and censored injustices.

Quite frankly - they can stuff this statement up where the light seldom shines. WikiLeaks have - in one pathetic and highly hypocritical editorial - lost all respect I ever had for them.  Initially I found their approach refreshing and even courageous, but now I am left with a feeling of having been manipulated by some self righteous charlatans who's real agenda they choose to keep secret.

It is time WikiLeaks and/or Julian Assange show the world what they are up to.  Release everything you got to the public and let the public make up their own mind.