Unusual Day

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It is not a usual day for me today.

The day starts exactly as previous days:

Step 1: Gett up and rush into the restroom.

Step 2: Wash the face and brush the teeth using the shortest time possible. It usually takes only 5 minutes.

Step 3: Grab my laptop and rush into the elevator

Step 4: Struggle to get into the over-crowded metro train. It is always hard to get in.

Step 5: Waiting in the long line for the elevator and look at the watch frequently

Step 6: Thank God again for not being late…

After get to the office, I found there are some new opportunities and I need to really think hard to determine what is my response. Change in life is always an exciting but risky element, especially the change will cause deep impact. I admit I am person who likes stable and unchanged situation. I’d like to describe it later when there is some result but at least, thinking about change, facing the change, or even looking for change is good katalyst in life.

Flighting back for NET SEND SPAM

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I talked about NET SEND SPAM and methods to stop it later. Now it is the time to fight back.

Who sent the spam?

“What is the IP address of the spammer?” You probably eager to know. Well. It is not easy. It is almost impossible to get the IP address of the sender. If you are very technical and want to know more about the details, please read this article first.

Install a firewall

A better way than shutting down the Messenger service is to install a firewall. By install a firewall, you gain the follow benifit.

  1. You eliminate NET SEND SPAM and other kind of attack and virus.
  2. You log the IP address of all attackers so you can take actions to fight back.

There are handful of great personal firewall software available. If you are using Windows XP, you already have a firewall installed. It is called Windows Internet Connection Firewall (a.k.a. ICF). You only need to follow these steps to enabled it.

To enable or disable Internet Connection Firewall

  1. Open Network Connections (Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double–click Network Connections.)
  2. Click the Dial–up, LAN or High–Speed Internet connection that you want to protect, and then, under Network Tasks, click Change settings of this connection.
  3. On the Advanced tab, under Internet Connection Firewall, select one of the following:
    • To enable Internet Connection Firewall (ICF), select

      the Protect my computer and network by limiting or preventing access to

      this computer from the Internet check box.

    • To disable Internet Connection Firewall, clear the Protect my computer and network by limiting or preventing access to this computer from the Internet check box. This disables the firewall, your computer and network are then vulnerable to intrusions.

Source: Use the Internet Connection Firewall to Secure Your Small Network

Enable Firewall logging

This is a good article on how to enable firewall logging. After you enable the logging, you keep the record of all attack to your server.

Analysis the report

On of the easy way is to utilize myNetWatchMan. Follow the steps to register and download an agent. The agent will check the log file on your computer and send the attack information to the server. After aggregating all the report from many agents (about 5000+ currently), it will send abuse compliane to the network owner, thus prevent futher spam.

You can also check for yourselves. Here is an sample from my personal firewall log:

2002-11-08 21:38:25 DROP UDP 195.252.113.35 211.161.107.5 1026 137 78 - - - - - - -

If you find a lot DROP lines from a source while it indicates port is UDP 137, it seems like a spam.

Use this command in Command line (replace the IP address with the IP you saw in your log file

NBTSTAT -a 195.252.113.35

You will get return like this:

Local Area Connection:

Node IpAddress: [157.60.112.235] Scope Id: []

NetBIOS Remote Machine Name Table

Name Type Status

===========================================

SPAM-01 <00> UNIQUE Registered

SPAM <00> GROUP Registered

SPAM-01 <20> UNIQUE Registered

SPAM <1E> GROUP Registered

MAC Address = 00-10-A4-BB-E2-C3

Note the last line: it is the MAC address of the spammer. MAC address is the serial number of a Network Interface card. It is burnt into the chip and cannot be changed. Unfortunately, there is no reliable way to narrow down to certain geographic location from IP address. But by know the MAC address, it is very solid evidence that the package is sent out from the computer of the MAC address owner.

We need more

The topic of NET SEND SPAM never stops. I will fine tune this article and replace some general concept to some resources and steps. I believe we need to unite to fight back to NET SEND SPAM.

Shanghai Taxi Driver’s Life Tougher

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11:03

After 7:00 PM, I took taxi home. This is a very very early time for me to go home. Typically, I will stay in office till 10:00 PM everyday. Since I just returned from the long trip, I think it is a good idea to get off work earlier and go back home to rest.

I took a yellow Qiangshen Taxi at Xujiahui. There are so many people rushing back home. Since it is the communication hub, 10+ bus stops stand there, side by side. Busy buses and interlacing each other and push hard to get their ways.

I managed to get the taxi and told him where I live. He give a very quick left turn from the right-most lane to the left lane, crossing the three lanes in the middle. Other bus are beeping and the drivers are yelling, but my driver seems very happy that he has made them angry.

Two minutes later, I began to chat with this driver.

Me: How do you do recently?

Driver: Bad. There is no business today.

M: Don’t worry. It will be better

D: It has became worse in the recent year.

M: Why? More and more people are taking taxi recently. About half of my friends taking taxi back home after work everyday

D: It is true. But…

M: But what?

D: Three years ago, there are less taxi. Most importantly, if they take taxi, they pay average of 30-40 RMB. But now, I can get only 10-15 RMB per customer.

M: Why?

D: There is only one sub way line and when people want to go across the city, like from Xuhui to Yangpu, they will take taxi. However, after the line #2 and the light-rail line #3 were completed, people like to take them for long way. They take taxi only when they get off at a metro station and take the bus home.

M: This is exactly what my friends are doing.

D: But the time for a 10 RMB customer and for a customer pays 30 RMB are almost the same. So my income is lowered.

I don’t know whether it is good trends or not. When the life in the city is more and more convinient, the life for taxi driver is worse – if what he said is true.

See also

Two Tall Buildings Outside my Window

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Grand Gateway to become taller

With two 54-storey office buildings to set up in each side of the Grand Gateway,the symbol shopping mall in Xujiahui after two years,the commercial center of Xujiahui area will be upgraded into a business trade circle,the Jiefang Daily reported today.

This building will stand outside the window of my office. It will also be seen from the the north rooms of my new house.

This is Shanghai

Shanghai has been hot in media. It is a amazing place now. Just give you some numbers about the construction.

  • 105 metro stations is under construction in the same time.
  • The recent metro line under connection(EXtension of line #3) intersects with 7
  • other metro lines under the ground.
  • 20 years ago, there is no way to cross the Huang Pu river, but now there is already
  • 4 bridges and one turnel.
  • Currently, the fifth bridge is almost complete and three more turnal is under construction.

However, it is still far behind

Although the trends are very positive in Shanghai, it still has a very long way to go in terms of the software of the city. By software, I mean something beyond infrustructure. It may be services, people’s manner, or people’s mind… Check this article. I hate to say this, but part of what he described is true, regarding the smoke and the manners.

Art? Art!

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I don’t like art – actually, I like art but cannot understand it. I am always puzzled when I am left before a painting or anything that is created by an artist. That is bad.

But it seems changed. Tonight I took some very good photos that give me the feeling that it is a piece of artwork. Why? Since it gives me the same feeling as others – I cannot understand, but looks like artistic.

Take a look at this, what it is?

I name it “Red! Red! Red!”

Another one:

Don’t call it “Blue! Blue! Bule!”. I need a name for this one. Do you have any suggestions?

This should definitively called as DNA.

What is this then?

I actually using the digital camera and set the shuttle speed to about 8 second. Thus I capture the lights in the dark that I can never see with our own eyes. They are beautiful, aren’t they? The last picture is taken using the Neg. Art function, which reverse the color.

Also on today

  • Raymond invited to be an co-writer for his Tiger Cafe. It is a pleasant surprise. I accepted the invition quickly.

Is English Skill That Important

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Recently, an exteremly hot discussion on whether English skills is that important on Sina.com.cn is brought to my attention. The original title is “Does English skills determine your fate?” The title sounds astonishing, doesn’t it?

It seems from the result of the vote, more people (50% vs 20%) agree with statement. While on the discussion board (Chinese site), most of participations complained about English’s aggression to Chinese’s territory.

I am also confused

I am also confused about this for a very long time. English has been successfully deployed to many countries as an international language. I write in English everyday and sometimes speak English. I see so many people struggling to learn and improve English – including me. Yes. I am very confused about what English really means to everyone.

Do we need mandarin, or Pu Tong Hua?

Let’s take a look of the mandarin in China. Lots of my friends and I grew up in Luoyang and can only speak mandarin. We has lost the ability to speak the Hennan dialect, which has existed and been inherited for more than 1000 years. Mandarin is a great threat to the local language. It is good on the other hand, that no matter where I travel in China, there is no language difficulties – it is the official and most popular language.

Surprisingly, I visited Tibetan area last month. The guide there can also speak fluent mandarin. This helped me a lot. However, I cannot communicate with the groom. This was quite bad. Many reports complain that the government is stealing the Tibet from the Tibet people by stealing their language. It can be true in some terms. It is not a matter of the government is stealing or not, it is just a matter of fact.

Not only my home or Tibet, every city, every town and every village is facing the same problem. Maybe only Beijing and some Northeast province can survive. So my question is, should I insist to speak the local dialect?

However, I also have friends who cannot speak mandarin. When they visit me in Shanghai, he cannot be understood by people there. This has brought him a lot of trouble. It is difficult for him to find a job or to find new friends – the reason is simple, nobody will learn his language just to understand him.

Key learning

From my experience and my friend’s, I learnt that a language is mainly for communication proposes. Sometimes there are major languages that are widely accepted, and the broad acceptance make it easier for people to communicate, it is beneficial to learn it.

How about English

When English is concerned, it is hard. Since the government enforces the adoption of mandarin and it is within the same country, people won’t push back that much. However, if this adoption span across the border of countries, it will hurt the feeling of the people. It is reported that the people and government of France is working every hard to push back the aggression of English to their language.

No English, then what?

Today, I spent my whole day meeting with the representatives from all over the world. We have people come from Europe (UK, France, Finland, Norway, German, etc… ), from Middle East (Israel…), from Africa, Latin America, from Asia (China, India, Korea, Japan….). Of cause, there is lot of people from U.S.

The days session is conducted in English. I am surprised to find the English skills of European countries are very good, so does India. People from Asia tend to perform poorly in presentations. It is sad. This reminded me of the story of my friends. Just like that he cannot communicate with other people in China, we cannot easily communicate with others in the world. Yes. This is sad.

Meanwhile, it is very interesting that when I have meeting with people from Korea and Japan. It is a tough meeting. It is 100% percent sure that we need to speak English. Although I can only understand 30% of what the Japanese says and 70% of what Korean says, it is good enough since I can understand about 0% if they speak their native language.

It turns out when people using different languages meets, they need to find a common language that everyone can speak. English has been in place already. There is no doubt about it.

Certainly, we are not that comfortable to learn, imitate and speak the language that people in other countries are using, we have too learn something. English is the most practical one. My brother once studied the Interlingua (or the International Language) but he abundant at last. Interlingua successfully solves the problem that it does not force anyone to speak the language of the other – it is very equal ?everyone need to learn something that is completely new. But not so many people want to learn. It is a joke now, let alone it is still not fair since it looks like something between English and Spanish.

Not everyone needs English

For my friends and for my groom, if they don’t need to travel, it is definitely unnecessary to learn mandarin. For anyone who don’t need to go outside the country or meet with others come into the country, they don’t need to learn English either. However, without English skills, one does limits the scope he can reach and will lose so many opportunities.

I am still confused, but it is clear that English is important for me

My Most Serious Jet Lag Ever

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I am sufering from the most serious jet lag I have ever experienced. I didn’t sleep well on the plane. As you you can, I was so concentrated to take the pictures of the ocean and the island.

I am feeling very tired and sleepy every afternoon. Now after staying here for two days,, the most tired time range moves from afternoon to morning – this indicates my body clock is trying to fit the new schedule and the jet lags becomes better.

The other symptom is anorexia. I am not in the mood to eat any food around the clock. When it combines with the Amerian-style food, it becomes worse – the food here is meat fried with meat.

It is a good sign that I felt hungry tonight. It was raining outside with lightning. I called PizzaHut to deliver the Pizza for us. I did struggle a lot to locate the nearest PizzaHut store. Finally, I had my dinner at around 10:00 PM local time.

I also spent about 10 minutes to create a page on Places to Visit on Microsoft Campus. Take a look at the tour I had on campus.

Autumn in Seattle

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I am living in the Homestead Village, the self service inn just beside the

Microsoft campus. It is only one road away (NE 28th St) from building 27. The

house above is seen from the window of my room. It should be the 4th building of

Homestead.

This is the building 26, where Windows Media team now stays. I saw the two big

disks hanging on the window. They are the release signing disk for Windows 2000

Server and Windows 2000 Advanced Server. I remember they were hanging in the

lobby of the building before. It is also another most memorable I saw on campus.

It is mid-Nov and the leafs on the maple trees has completely turned burning

red. The campus looks fantastic with all the trees.

Some of the leafs has become light yellow. Look at the leafs. The color are so

pure and I really enjoy the scene there.

The temperature rises a little bit recently. The maple leafs – some are and some

are not – falling to the grass land. The greenish windows are the building 8.

There is nothing to eat and with the serious jet lag, I cannot eat anything. So

I only bought a piece of fried chicken at $5.99 and some orange juice. Bad

lunch, I have to say. It is interesting to see different people treat the same

food differently. The Americans like this kind of food?

Every time I bring a laptop with me, the incompatible plug specification is a

big problem. It is not a problem of voltage. Most laptop converters accept 100 –

240V. I have to go everywhere to find a converter that convert the China plug to

US power outlet. I was wandering near Seals with the shopping cart. Finally, my

conclusions are:

  • Hard to find anything without a car – the online website is a good choice
  • I need to take into account of this and it will safe a lot of time.

Posed before the Windows WHQFest 2002 banner in building 26. I love the printed,

colorful, and simple communication methods like banners, posters, and t-shirt

very much.

Stay tuned

I have a lot of photos and interesting stories about the trip. But I am badly

lack of time to write it down. Will get more stuff later. Thanks for your

attention.

Flying over the Pacific

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I saw more and more island about 2 hours after the plan took off in Shanghai

I thought "It should be a good place to travel when I have time. It may be

cheap. :-)"

Later, when we went more and more closer, I saw buildings, ports, and

highways. "Why are there so modem architectures on these island? It

is already far from the mainland."

Finally, I realized these island are not normal island in the East China sea.

They have their names – Japan.

One ANA plane was flying below ours, above the land of Japan.

At about 5:00 PM local time, we saw the famous Fuji Mountain.

I call this pictures "Fuji at my fingertips"

The night came and I can see the reddish clouds at the horizon.

Then quickly, the morning comes.

It is cold outside and there are ice on the plane window. Actually, it is about

-58 degree C outside.

Finally, I saw the land of the continental America. It is cloudy there. This is

because the time I took this picture is at morning. Later, the clouds

disappeared and California became Sunny California.

We waited in the long time of custom gate in San Francisco for about 30 minutes. It

was so long

that we almost missed our next flight to Seattle.

We caught the shuttle at the last minute. The door closed and the plane took off

3 minutes after I sit down.

I enjoyed the Starbucks on the plane – well, Seattle is the hometown for

Starbucks. It is also the birthplace for Boeing and Costco.

Clouds after clouds out side the window.

At last, I arrived in Seattle. My brother picked me up at the airport and we

drove on I-90 from Sea-Tac airport to Redmond.

Thank god! I finally arrived in Homestead and had a wonderful sleep there.

Sunny Saturday

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It is a sunny Saturday! Saturday is always my favorite day. This is the last Saturday before I go to Seattle. I have a short but important shopping list to workout.

I don’t know music

The last thing in the world I know is music. I went to some music instrument store near Shanghai Music Inistitute. There are voilins, pianos, gitar and all kind of instrument. I bought some new reep for the charinet and bow for full size voilin. At that time, I found it is completely another world from mine, which are full with computers and web pages.

shanghai-road-sunnyday.jpg

Roads in grass before near Fengyang road.

shanghai-peips-sunnyday.jpg

The big Pepsi advertisement hangs high before Pakson Mall.

shanghai-paskon-sunnyday.jpg

the Super Brand Mall near the Pearl Tower

The new shopping center, Super Brand Mall, or Zhengda Square in Chinese, opens to public recent. It has been the hot topic with expat community or newspapers. It is designed the be the exnibition center of top brand in the world and occupies the most significent place in the world – just oppsite to the Pearl Tower, besides the Huangpu River and only about 300 meters away from the Shanghai Internation Conference Center.

My tour turned me very disappointed. I am not sure whether it is because the strange Thai-style archtecture design, or the tide of visitors, I don’t feel comfortable in the center.

Click for more pictures.

NOTICE…

Irregular publishing in the next few days

I am not very sure whether I will be able to update this page tomorow, since tomorrow will be a very long day for me. My day of Nov 10 is not 24 hours. Instead, it is about 40 hours. I will cross the Pacific, including the International Date Line. This will turn me to the day of Nov 9 – today, after I have already entered the day of Nov 10 in Shanghai. If you look at my ticket, you will find I leave Shanghai at 13:00, Nov 10. After I arrives in Seattle, it is 11:01, Nov 10 – the same day and two hours earlier. It is interesting where my 17 hours’ of flight goes. :-) The other problem for me is, when I come back, I leave at 9:35, Nov 16 and will arrive in Shanghai at 19:10, Nov 17. The days of Nov 16 and Nov 17 will be very short days for me. It is challenging to live out the promise of daily update during these days.

Living Cost in Shanghai

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Update If you are looking for Shanghai Weather, please visit Shanghai Weather (TQ) June 24, 2004

Yesterday, I received an email from Raz, discussing about the living cost in Shanghai.

I’m mostly interested in the living costs in Shanghai…what normal salaries are and the rent for a small apartment in the city. Also how mush does it cost to buy stuff…a pc, a bigmac, local food and transport??

/ Raz

Very interesting topic, isn’t it?

It is hard to tell

Shanghai is among the top 10 cities for living cost in the world. Actually, it is the sixth expensive city for expatriates, according to CNN. But during my talk with some expiates in Shanghai, I found they think Shanghai is a heaven. This is partly because the pay for foreigners in Shanghai is much higher than that for local residents while the costs are almost the same.

I’d better start the topic with some prices of daily lives. I will RMB (Renminbi) as currency unless otherwise noted. Please keep in mind that 1 USD = 8.3 RMB.

Normal Salary

According to a goverment report, average worker’s monthly salary is 1492 RMB.

In 2001, Shanghai’s average worker’s salary was RMB17,910, making it number one in the 30 areas of China.

1492 RMB is a magic number and was used for many areas, such as the house fund deduction.

179 USD for one month? This number is astonishing for most people in U.S or Europe. Well, it is true. I told my friends just arriving in Shanghai that people feel happy if they get 400 RMB per month in my home town, they said “Oh, my god!!”.

Don’t get the wrong impression. For undergraduates of computer major, their expectation for starting point salary is about 3000 RMB. Some can get 5000 to 7000 RMB, this will be a very good number. It is very common for employees in foreign companies to earn more than 10,000 RMB per month.

For foreigners, it is another story. The first question when they see a job advertisement is, “Is it local pay or U.S. pay?” This phenomenon is interesting. For local pay, they get RMB and although it is still very high (4000 ~ 12000 RMB? I **guess**), but for U.S. payees, they get a package that is attractive even in U.S. You know the payment level.

Rent for a small house

It depends. Apartments with different size, different area, different decoration style and different environment may vary greatly in price.

I once was living in a rented apartment for 600 RMB per month. It has two bed rooms and one living room – 68 square meters.

Now, I moved into the new apartment I bought. It is rented at price from 3000 – 4000 RMB. For an apartment of 120 sq. meters in Gubei, the area where expatiates gathers, costs about 10,000 RMB per month for rent.

To buy an apartment will cost you a lot. It is more expensive than a house in U.S. Average price is about 5000 RMB per sq. m. in urban areas. The price for some downtown areas will be about 9,000 ~ 10,000 RMB per sq. m.

Other prices

Personal Computer: 3000 RMB can buy a computer that can run. 6000 RMB will get a powerful computer. Seldom can I see a desktop computer more expensive than 10,000 RMB.

Big Mac: 10 RMB. McDonald’s and KFC can be seen everywhere. KFC has opened 60 stores in Shanghai. There are four KFC, 1 McDonald’s, and two PizzaHut within a 500 meter area around the building I am working in. The price is low. 20-30 RMB will get a great meal there.

Local food: About 30 RMB per person will get very good food. There are lots of restaurant in the city. Normal dishes cost about 16 RMB, while some expensive one cost 40-60 RMB.

Transportation

This is the most easy one since the price is settled and consistent across the city.

Bus: 1 or 1.5 RMB for normal bus and 2 RMB for air-conditioned bus.

Taxi: 10 RMB staring price w/ 3 km and 2 RMB for each kilometer more.

Metro: 2 to 5 RMB depending on the distance. 3 RMB is the most common price.

Entertainment

Movies: about 25-30 RMB

Starbucks: 25 RMB for Cappuccino.

Beer in bars: 30 RMB

Updated

Thanks for Uday’s suggestion Here are more examples for the costs.

Medical expenses

Medicine is much lower than in U.S. It is an obvious evidence that medicines are on top of shopping list for most Chinese who returns to China for vacation. Here is some sample:

Berberine (100mg x 24 tablet): 3.3 RMB

Eyedrop (bottle): 5-10 RMB

Tylenol: Around 20 RMB

However, seeing a doctore costs much more. This is not because of the service charge of a doctore is high. On the contary, it is very low – around 8 RMB only. But the doctors tends to write you a prescription with only very high price medicines and much more than you need. This is bad actually, since the income of the doctor heavily depends on the medicine they “sell”.

Thus, typically, it costs about 100-150 RMB for the lightest fever or eye-ache. It cost much more if there is any serious illness. Medical insurance is defintely needed.

Education expenses

Collage tuition: Let’s take one of the most famous university Shanghai Jiaotong Univeristy (Chinese site) as an example. The tuition is 1500 RMB per year in 1995. Now it seems to be 6000 RMB.

After-work study: I mean some classes like guitar, music, Chinese language, driving and other specialty training typically cost about 800 RMB to 4000 RMB per term. A typical term is about 2 weeks (daily class), or two month (weekend class)

Professional training: This type of training means you attend the professional training provide to company like “Communication Skills”, “Sales skills” – it usually costs 1000-2000 RMB per day.

insurance: It really depends on the insurance company and the plan you are using – even the insurance agent need to calculate and give you a number. To give you some idea, I have talked with a life insurance agent and she wants me to pay 1000 RMB per month for 30 years. I forget about coverage since I didn’t buy it at last.

Income tax structure for expats

According to the last regulation (Chinese site)

Monthly income:

<500 5% 500-2000 10% 2000-5000 15% 5,000-20,000 20% 20,000-40,000 25% 40,000-60,000 30% 60,000-80,000 35% 80,000-100,000 40% >100,000 45%

Conclusion

Shanghai’s cost is still very low compared to that in U.S. It is really a heaven for expatiates. Experience it by yourselves.

See also

Update January 30, 2004

In response to Mr. Tan’s question, I added more items to the price list.

Estimate cost for each item below (in US Dollars):

– monthly rent for apartment (fairly new and near town with at least 3 bedrooms)

Wow. That is high above average living standard in Shanghai. So I would say, it should be 5000 RMB (600 USD) or higher for downtown area (inside the Inner Ring Elevated Road. In any area that can be described by any of the following term: decent, graceful, historical, very modern, etc, it should be above 4000 RMB (480 USD) for a apartment of 3 bedrooms. Of cause you can get an apartment of one bed room at around 1500 RMB (180 USD) in downtown or a three bed-room apartment that is far from downtown (but near Metro) at around 2500 RMB (300 USD). Check my articles under Real Estate category for more information on housing.

– monthly international school fees for 2 children (both 8 years old)

The fee varies greatly. Here is the phone list (Chinese page) of international schools in Shanghai. For example, Shanghai Singapore International School offers Singapore – based curriculum and faculty.

– estimate monthly transport for 4 persons

If you take metro only – which is very convenient, it is 4 RMB (0.5 USD) per person and 4 persons make up of 480 RMB (60 USD). If you take taxi, 200 RMB (25 USD)/person should be enough if you live in down town.

– estimate monthly food allowance for 4 persons

I checked with my mom and she said if every day, you cook by yourself and eat at home, 400 RMB (50 USD) should be enough for four people family. If you go to restaurant, 50 RMB (6 USD) per person is the common price for low end restaurant. 100 RMB (12 USD) per person is already very decent(expensive) restaurant.

Again, any estimation varies so greatly depending on your own standard of living.

Stop NET SEND spam

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Update: Looking for what is golarger? See this entry. Feb 28, 2003

I talked about NET SEND spam in my previous blog. After that, I found this page become the first item in Google for net send spam. Many visitors hit this page via Google. I believe I share the responsibility to publish something that is helpful for the visitors to prevent this kind of spam.

Messenger service is dangerous

If you keep your Messenger service running, anyone can send you a message and it will pop up on your screen. Even the simplest program ever can drive you mad. Create a file named “NetSendSpam.bat” with the following three lines.

:sendspam

net send 127.0.0.1 How are you

goto sendspam

It keeps sending the same message to you again and again. You will face endless message box stating “How are you.” – Please do not try this script to anybody except yourself. To send spam is as easy as picking up a stone and breaking the store window, but everyone in this world should realize their responsibility and don’t abuse others.

Easiest way – turn off Messenger service

The easist way to stop receiving this kind of message is to turn off Windows Messenger service. If you are running Windows XP, following these steps:

  1. Click Start button on your toolbar.
  2. Click Run…
  3. Enter “Services.msc” (without quotation marks) and click OK.
  4. Browse the list till you find “Messenger” in Name column
  5. Right click and click “Stop” on the pop up menu.

    That is not all. If you don’t want the service to start the next time you start your computer, continue with the following steps:

  6. Double click it. The Messenger Properties (Local Computer) dialog box comes out.
  7. Choose “Disable” in “Startup type” drop down box.
  8. Click OK.

Update The equivalant method

Thanks to Docslax for pointing this out. There is another equivalant way to do this in Windows.

  • Start -> Run -> cmd.exe
  • Then type the following “net stop messenger” after which you’ll see “messenger service is stopping”.

To start it again for any reason open the command prompt again (Start -> Run -> cmd.exe) and type “net start messenger”

Now you can be assured that your world will become silent. No one can send you NET SEND SPAM again.

But wait, that is all

Please note: some alert services and system services like printing, rely on this service to function.

However, as I understand, there are two kinds of people using computers ?those in company or those at home. I believe most people surfer from NET SEND SPAM is home users connecting to DSL or Dial-up. For cooperate users, they need printers and file sharing functions, but they are more likely to be protected by corporate firewall. So my suggestion is, anyone who surfers from NET SEND SPAM to turn off the service using the step listed above.

You can also fight back

If you are using Windows XP or you have personal firewall product, it is even better to enable them. But enabling a firewall, you not only eliminate the chance to be attached by spam, you can also get the IP address of the spammer and you can fight back. I will talk more about this in my future blog.

Resources

Googlism

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What does Googlism think about Shanghai?

shanghai is hot

shanghai is the largest city and one of the most popular tourist

shanghai is waiting for freecloud

shanghai is now

shanghai is a combination

shanghai is one of the biggest cities in

shanghai is not about economics only

shanghai is a “work in progress”?

It seems some of the statements are true. I marked them in bold.

Thanks to Google Weblog for pointing me to this interesting web site. You can type in anything you are interested, and the site will give you the answer based on Google search result. Let me give you another example, I asked Who is Jian Shuo, four answers are returned:

jian shuo is always happy when he is with fanfan

jian shuo is prompted as project manager

jian shuo is now dead

jian shuo is one of the ten regular attendants

The first two are very correct, while the third is completely wrong. :-( and the last one, basically, I don’t know what it is talking about.

Why now try your self on Googlism? Type in the city you are living in, or the company you are working for to see what Google says about it. The results are almost always interesting and sometimes surprising, but don’t care the result too much – it is only a humor generator.

 

Good luck. Why not share the interesting result you have found with us by utilizing the comment function with this blog entry?

Also on today…

Party with Shanghai Expat

I had a wonderful party yesterday with Michael from shanghaiexpat.com, Graham, Shanshan, and K at KABB of Xin Tian Di. It is very interesting to meet people from different culture background – from Seattle, New Zealand, Hong Kong and other part of the world. We gather together to talk about the culture shock. They are all very nice people. I am expecting to meet them again.

Christina’s blog

I also talked with Christina (Chinese/English site) on MSN Messenger. She is very careful and sensitive about her life. This makes her blog full of interesting thoughts and thorough observation. I will recommend you to take a look.

United EasyCheck-In

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…or steps toward computerized world.

United always surprises me with its avanced equipment recently. EasyCheck-In is another one.

Easy Check-in

Easy Check-in Demo

But bad news from United states that the deployment of Easy Check-in is put on hold indefinitely.

Chief among the projects put on hold at United was the deployment of self-service check-in kiosks at airports, a project called Easy Check-In. Also on hold is the installation of new electronic signs at airport gates.

It is said that the hold is due to the sequela of Spet 11. These equipments really costs much. Easy Check-in costs $70.7 million along in 2001. Source: Subcommittee on Aviation

Hearing on Airline Customer Service Commitments: Status Report

United Airlines is Good

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Today, I received my air ticket for Seattle.

I love the ticket

Yes. I love the ticket issued by United Airlines. It is a decent paper ticket with a nice cover. It is also informative. I can easily find the starting point and the destination, with local times. It is bad to see some air tickets in China only give the departure time without arrival time.

For the departure airport, the United is thoughtful enough to add /PUDO to Shanghai, while most tickets only print Shanghai as the departure airport. There is airport code PVG somewhere in the ticket, but it is not easy for common travellers to recongize whether it is Pudong airport or Hongqiao airport. This has caused lots of confusion.

Here is the information printed on my ticket.

10NOV     UNITED             FLIGHT: 858    CLASS: M
SU        SHANGHAI/PUDO      DEPART: 1300
          SAN FRANCISCO      ARRIVE: 0725   TERMINAL I [Meal] [Meal] [Film]

10NOV     UNITED             FLIGHT: 366    CLASS: M
SU        SAN FRANCISCO      DEPART: 0857   
          SEATTLE            ARRIVE: 1101   TERMINAL I [Music]
                                            ETKT: 016 2188233825

Return ticket:

16NOV     UNITED             FLIGHT: 1547   CLASS: M
SU        SHANGHAI/PUDO      DEPART: 0935   
          SAN FRANCISCO      ARRIVE: 1140   TERMINAL 3 [Music]

16OV      UNITED             FLIGHT: 857    CLASS: M
SA        SAN FRANCISCO      DEPART: 1335   
          SHANGHAI/PUDO      ARRIVE: 1910   TERMINAL I [Meal] [Meal] [Film]

It is very good.I believe every business should provide enough information to their client on tickets, invitation letter, or web site like this.

It is a ETKT (e-ticket)

According to United Airline website,

Electronic tickets are stored in United’s computer rather than printed on paper. United’s E-Ticket service is similar to the traditional paper ticket process, but eliminates the time and hassle associated with purchasing or exchanging a paper ticket. Electronic ticketing is the primary ticketing method used by our customers.

I apprieciate this kind of effort to utilize computer and network and reduce the cost of paper ticket. I have the experience of E-Ticket before. When I was flying to Seattle in the year of 2001, the only evidence I need to fly is the passport. I shown the passport to the lady at the gate of the plane and I got my boarding pass immediately. No questions were asked. It is fantasitic – I thought.

A Bug in Mileage Plus

Not all my experience about United is perfect. My mileage Plus is an example.

After travel via United for some time, I finally decided to apply for a United Mileage Plus Membership. It is good that I easy found the entrance to Mileage Plus at the homepage, but when I fill in the application form, I didn’t realize they need at least 3 questions for the “Secure access questions” section. It is buried in the long paragraph. So I entered into only one field and clicked Join.

An error message prompted to enter three. OK. I entered three question accordingly. But after that, whenever I press the Join button, it always tells me “You have submitted”. It is obvious that the programmer associted this message when the “Join” button is clicked but he didn’t realize the submitting process may be stopped by the validation routines.

— Pardon me if I am too picky. I was a test lead for one software project.

I cannot complete the transaction

After I reload the form and re-enter all the required field, I am told I cannot apply a mileage plus. I don’t know why and the web site didn’t tell me about it. I tried to call their Shanghai representivieat +86-21-62798009 only to find their business hour is 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM.

Anyway, United is a good company

…and I am looking forward to travel with United next week.

Update July 17, 2003

More information about United Airilines:

Beijing

Telephone: (010) 6463 1111

Address: Scite Tower

Suite 204, 22 Jianguomenwai Ave No.2

Beijing, 100016

or

Beijing Lufthansa Center

No. 50 Liang ma qiao Road

Beijing 100016

Shanghai

Telephone: (021) 6279 8009

Address: Shanghai Center, Portman Ritz Carlton Hotel

1376 Nanjing Road West

Level 2 South Podium Suite 204

Shanghai 200040

Usability of Pudong Airport

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I have been working on information about Pudong for some time and setup a Pudong Airport BBS (PVGBBS). I think this effort is vaulable because:

  • Lack of Pudong Airport information on Internet
  • Poor information guide from PVG
  • Poor usability of PVG

Lack of Pudong Airport information on Internet

Try to search on Google or other search engineers for “Shanghai Pu Dong Airport“, “Pu Dong Airport“, “Shanghai Airport“, “PVG“…, I guess you won’t be satisfied with the result it returned. It is not easy to find a map about Pudong airport and it is even hard to find transportation informations and hotels…. I just created some one page on Pu Dong airport on my personal web site one year before. I didn’t expect it to be the No. 1 entry page for my web site one year later. More than 30% of my visitors to my site by typing “Pu Dong Airport” in Google. The page also contribute to 5.45% of total document hits.

I received lot of very positive comment on the page via email or PVGBBS. This is the reason I want to continue to improve and make it the No. 1 site on Internet about PVG.

Poor information guide from PVG

The information query for Pudong airport is not satisfactionary. The airport is very large, new and beautiful, with great equipments. But the software – I mean the management and service are still far behind airport like SFO. They provides the information hotline, +86-21-38484500, but it is only the switchboard, instead of call center. The only person you can find is the operator.

I believe a web site need to be setup and help travellers to survive in Shanghai.

Poor usability of PVG

Generally speaking, I like Pudong Airport very much. Its modern design is very impressive. However, it is too large and people get tired to navigate from Entrance Hall to the boarding bridge and to ticketing island… The signs there are sometimes confusing. It seems more time and effort need to be spent on it.

Can anyone tell me the rank of customer satisfaction of PVG among all Asia or International airprort? I am really interested in that.

See also:

Seattle – The Charming City

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Seattle is a beautiful city – actually a small city after I get used to the big one like Shanghai. I am preparing for my third trip to Seattle in the recently three years.

Here are the events and the time I last visited Seattle.

Microsoft eCommerce RDP Conference

Washington Exhibition and Conference Center, Seattle, WA

Internship in MSN Team

Microsoft campus, Redmond, WA

I love the city since the scenery is so good and people are very kind. They greet with each other on the street, no matter they know or don’t know each other before. The pace there is slow besides the Microsoft area.

There are some Chinese restaurants too, like Sichuanese – which is famous but not very good one and Xiyingmen….

Satellite photo of every square meter of Seattle – even U.S

I’d like to introduce a very good resource for you – the TerraServer. It has been the most amazing thing I have ever found since 2000. It provides the satellite photo of every square meter of the whole United States. Each pixel on the map represents one square meter in real land. Please take a look at Seattle here. You can click on the image to zoom in and in, until you shout out – “My god!!! It is so close!”

Microsoft campus

On this map, you can see the famous X-shaped Microsoft buildings:

No. 1 on top (with half being cut on the photo). It is the oldest building and not SQL Server (Yukon) team works here.

No. 2 on left and No. 3 on the right.

No. 4 is at bottom.

On this view,

you can see the building No. 8, which is the heart of Microsoft. Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, and some other executives work in this building.

FairyLand Inn

I’d like to mention is the FairyLand Inn, where I stayed for two weeks during my last visit:

The image is so detailed that I can still tell I was staying under the roof shown as left-most corner of the house.

Can you see the left circle of road? It is a small hill. I passes by this hill every day and once I even climbed up to the top of the hill and watching the busy highway 520.

All images courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey and TerraServer.

Also see:

  • My previous trip to Seattle