First day of work was strangely uneventful, it was actually so uneventful nothing happened at all. My first day of work was yesterday, and yesterday there was typhoon signal 8 in the morning. When there is typhoon signal 8 everything is closed and cancelled, and my school decided to cancel all classes for the whole day. So actually my first day of work was not my first day of work, it was only my birthday, and I had the whole day off!
So my real first day of work that should have been my second day of work was today, and I must say I liked it. My school is running on 7 weekday cycles which just means that the schedule is not week based, this makes a lot of sense since there are 7 classes for each grade, 7/7 evens up pretty nicely I think. So of course missing the first day of the cycle creates some problems, the three classes I should have had that day I need to press into my oh so tight (NOT!) schedule. I'm actually only having each class once per cycle and I only have S1-S3, which means 21x40 minutes per cycle at average. The problem is that their schedule is not that light and they only have free time when I'm the most busy, this is not too bad though but next week on Friday I gotta start working at 9.30 instead of my regular 11.30.
OK so basically I have 22.5 working hours per week but only about 10 hours actual teaching, I also have about 30 minutes per day when I will be socializing with students, this is at lunch time so I don't really have any lunch. The rest of the time I guess will go to preparation. There will be other things I need to do as well, probably on a cycle basis, but it doesn't seem to be too much.
Back to second (e.g. first) day: On the second day of the cycle I have to start an hour earlier because of schedule problem, however I only have two classes that day and both are before lunch, so basically I have nothing to do from 1pm and can go home about 3 (yes normal working hours is from 11:30am to 4pm :D). The first class I had was an S2 class and I started off really well with them, lesson was too short for my plan though, or perhaps my plan was too long for the lesson, who knows... The second class was an S3 class and even though there was some items of disturbance (some students that just couldn't stop trying to get attention) it was also a successful lesson.
At lunch I went to HQ, English Land, where students can go at lunch hour or other free time to... well... practice English. A group of boys wanted to play Transformers RISK and I tried to help them but the rules are really screwed up so even they knew RISK from before it took them the whole lunch break to set up the game. After that I spent the rest of my working day to figure out the rules of the game and jot them down in (what I think) a simpler way. We will see if we can actually start playing at lunch tomorrow.
Tomorrow will be a lot longer day though, with 4 classes and the lunch thing I'm actually actively working for 3 hours tomorrow. Friday will be like that too as will Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week (because of the 3 missed classes that have to be done at some point). So well, a little bit busy am I at least.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Size, population and density
Sweden is as most of us know a very big country with relatively few people. Hong Kong is, also as most of us know, a very small region with relatively many people. Actually Sweden has a population density of 20 people per square kilometer while Hong Kong has a population density of over 6000 people per square kilometer. But this doesn't really tell us very much, especially since the population in Sweden is extremely wide spread, as example the province Skåne in the south has 5 times the average, 100 people per square kilometer, and Lapland in the north has only .9 people per square kilometer.
So to make this simple we just compare:
Hong Kong has almost exactly 7 million inhabitants and Sweden has a bit more than 9 million, this is in approximation the same (10 to the power of 10), so a direct size comparison feels rather fair so: you can put over 400 Hong Kong into 1 Sweden. You can put as many as 10 Hong Kong in Skåne alone, or 100 Hong Kong in Lapland. Skåne which has one of the most populated regions in Sweden has only one million people, 10 times less than Hong Kong, which shows why the density in Hong Kong is nearly 100 times higher than in Skåne, Lapland only has a 10th of that, about a hundred thousand people.
Keep in mind though that large part of Hong Kong is uninhabitable mountains or very sparsely populated like the island and the regions in New Territories.
I think a more interesting comparison is Tin Shui Wai, where I live now, versus Bjärred, where I grew up. Tin Shui Wai is a small residential town which has been newly developed on reclaimed land (constructed land built upon water or in this case a wetland or swamp area), Bjärred is a small residential town near the University town of Lund and the third largest city in Sweden, Malmö. Interestingly Tin Shui Wai and Bjärred are nearly exactly the same size, 430Ha and 439Ha respectively, Tin Shui Wai is, however, approximately 30 times higher than Bjärred. This is quite funny because every residential building in Tin Shui Wai has between 30 and 50 floors, while the houses in Bjärred has between one and four floors, and Tin Shui Wai has around 30 times as large population as Bjärred, 270 000 (which is rather close to the population of Malmö) and 8000 respectively.
I write this because I want people to get a grasp of how insanely (in our sparsely populated point of view) densely populated this region is. Maybe you think you know the numbers and say: well what about the other Chinese cities; Beijing has a larger population than Hong Kong and Shanghai even more. But Beijing and Shanghai are huge regions, Shanghai about 6 times as large as Hong Kong and Beijing twice of that, and both those regions are pretty much flat with buildings everywhere.
All numbers come from www.wikipedia.org and are not 100% reliable, but for these curiosa I trust them.
So to make this simple we just compare:
Hong Kong has almost exactly 7 million inhabitants and Sweden has a bit more than 9 million, this is in approximation the same (10 to the power of 10), so a direct size comparison feels rather fair so: you can put over 400 Hong Kong into 1 Sweden. You can put as many as 10 Hong Kong in Skåne alone, or 100 Hong Kong in Lapland. Skåne which has one of the most populated regions in Sweden has only one million people, 10 times less than Hong Kong, which shows why the density in Hong Kong is nearly 100 times higher than in Skåne, Lapland only has a 10th of that, about a hundred thousand people.
Keep in mind though that large part of Hong Kong is uninhabitable mountains or very sparsely populated like the island and the regions in New Territories.
I think a more interesting comparison is Tin Shui Wai, where I live now, versus Bjärred, where I grew up. Tin Shui Wai is a small residential town which has been newly developed on reclaimed land (constructed land built upon water or in this case a wetland or swamp area), Bjärred is a small residential town near the University town of Lund and the third largest city in Sweden, Malmö. Interestingly Tin Shui Wai and Bjärred are nearly exactly the same size, 430Ha and 439Ha respectively, Tin Shui Wai is, however, approximately 30 times higher than Bjärred. This is quite funny because every residential building in Tin Shui Wai has between 30 and 50 floors, while the houses in Bjärred has between one and four floors, and Tin Shui Wai has around 30 times as large population as Bjärred, 270 000 (which is rather close to the population of Malmö) and 8000 respectively.
I write this because I want people to get a grasp of how insanely (in our sparsely populated point of view) densely populated this region is. Maybe you think you know the numbers and say: well what about the other Chinese cities; Beijing has a larger population than Hong Kong and Shanghai even more. But Beijing and Shanghai are huge regions, Shanghai about 6 times as large as Hong Kong and Beijing twice of that, and both those regions are pretty much flat with buildings everywhere.
All numbers come from www.wikipedia.org and are not 100% reliable, but for these curiosa I trust them.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Melancholy
Recently I've had upon me an unsettling feeling of sorrow, I don't know where it comes from and even though I have tried to blame some recent events I have concluded that the sadness I feel about other things come from this deeper feeling and not the other way around. Rationally I should be happy now; I'm in a somewhat healthy relationship, work is going OK even if it's not great at the moment, my life is somewhat stead, even my closest friend here has found a happiness that I haven't seen in her for many years and all of this should make me feel happy.
One might think that the passing of my grandmother could cause these blue feelings but I think even death is a sad thing it is in the end always inevitable and in this case it wasn't what you would call unexpected even, I think it can even be rationalized to be a good thing; the end of her pain and suffering (I still miss her though). There are always other causes for grievance; like unstable work causing personal financial instability, but work is getting better, or the loss of something, but only an illusion. There is nothing to explain my recent low mood.
No after rationalizing and over analyzing it as the true Virgo I am a have come to the conclusion that the only reasonable reason is the currently too slow pace of my life; things or not progressing as I had wanted them to and this leaves me with nothing to do a lot of the time, I do kill a lot of time and still manage to procrastinate some things that I have to do, but there are a lot of things that I want to do that I just can't do at the moment. I guess I'm not patient enough and I'm bad at waiting.
One might think that the passing of my grandmother could cause these blue feelings but I think even death is a sad thing it is in the end always inevitable and in this case it wasn't what you would call unexpected even, I think it can even be rationalized to be a good thing; the end of her pain and suffering (I still miss her though). There are always other causes for grievance; like unstable work causing personal financial instability, but work is getting better, or the loss of something, but only an illusion. There is nothing to explain my recent low mood.
No after rationalizing and over analyzing it as the true Virgo I am a have come to the conclusion that the only reasonable reason is the currently too slow pace of my life; things or not progressing as I had wanted them to and this leaves me with nothing to do a lot of the time, I do kill a lot of time and still manage to procrastinate some things that I have to do, but there are a lot of things that I want to do that I just can't do at the moment. I guess I'm not patient enough and I'm bad at waiting.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Limits
Everybody can agree that if I come up with a song I'm allowed to sing it to myself, right?
And also that I can sing it to my friends.
I can also with my own song sing it to audience.
I can record it and give it to my friends, share it with strangers or even sell it.
If my friend comes up with a song am I also allowed to do this? Perhaps not sell it, at least not in my name.
If I buy a song I am allowed to listen to it?
Am I also allowed to listen to it with my friends?
Can I let my friends listen to it without me?
Can I even lend this song to my friend so they can listen to it? Or give it?
If the song can be copied, can I lend a copy of it to my friend? Can I give a copy to my friend?
What if I write down the lyrics of the song, isn't that also a copy of the song?
Can I write the lyrics to a song I bought here in my blog?
I cannot copy the song and sell it?
But what about copy it for a friend and ask the friend for the cost of the copy?
What about using a song for a hobby project; put it as background in some interactive flash presentation or PDF or music to a video of you and your friends wakeboarding, just to make the show slightly more appealing, nothing commercial about it.
What if I didn't buy it?
Can I sing a song I heard?
What about a song my friend heard and sung it to me?
What about the lyrics of a song I haven't heard, can I sing that?
What if I sing it to my friends?
Can I sing it to an audience?
Can I sing it and record it and then upload it on internet for others to enjoy my wonderful voice?
What about radio then?
I assume commercial radios pay license fees for all the songs they play, but what about internet radio? There is a lot of software that allows me to open a channel and play my playlists for anyone who likes to surf into my IP and listen. Then they can copy the song that is currently playing and listen to it again whenever they want.
I think I have a quite good sense of ethics; you shouldn't kill, steal or hurt people, don't take something which doesn't belong to you and such. I've always reacted against the commercials where they show someone stealing a movie and then the message piracy is theft, I honestly don't agree; I think that as long as there is no financial gain for the copy and there is no material loss for the creator (it can't be proven that whoever copied something would ever buy it) then it is fine.
I realize there is a financial loss for those behind a product when it is copied but there is also a gain; as in if it is actually something worth buying (which is a rare case #1) it will spread like wildfire throughout the world. Sure this might not sell really as well as it would have without the copying but I for one does not believe it makes much difference, and for the crap that would never be heard of at all except in small specific groups it can only be beneficial, in the end I find it hard to believe that selling CD's, DVD's or even softcopies of an entertainment product is anywhere near the main source of income for the creators. I just have a feeling that commercial endorsements, concerts and cinema tickets stand out higher. This leaves out literature though, but literature isn't yet hurt in the same extent as the other fields.
I can also see all the problems my mindset might create as it would not be entirely agreeable, but then why is there no better option? I haven't checked this up personally as I'm not interested but I heard that buying one song online costs about 1USD, that means a whole album would cost about 10-20USD and a decent playlist would go for about 250-500USD, is that reasonable for something you might enjoy for a week, perhaps a month, or if it is music you don't personally like but suits a party - just one single night? Is it reasonable to pay 10-20USD for a movie you will see once? For the cinema I could agree to that as I personally like the cinema experience. The one field that is reasonable and that has this more or less under control is the game industry; particularly with online games you can copy as much as you like, but you can't play without subscribing to an account, ergo paying for playing, and with a sum of 10-20USD per month and maybe a starting fee of 30-50USD you get several actual hours and days per month of entertainment #2.
Now there are alternatives for movies and especially TV-shows; the creators of South Park has clearly shown what can be done, and several TV networks do the same, with South Park Studios website where you can stream and watch every episode ever made with the only cost of about 2x30 seconds advertisement. South Park has also twice in their show, Episode 709 - Christian Rock Hard and Episode 1204 - Canada On Strike, taken up this problem and I was personally surprised to not find a reflection of recent developments when I saw the latest episode, Episode 1307 - Perfect Pirate Club, today.
This can be argued back and forth forever and better people than me have already decided that the line is drawn slightly lower than my mind wants it, my wakeboarding video is already off facebook for containing copywrited material (Let's dance - Lady Gaga, a song which even though good I would never in my life pay money to own, I'm happy enough to hear it on the radio or in a club).
But one question remains, why is my fish video still on with music from Final Fantasy XI? Is that not also copywrited or do people just not care if it is Japanese music?
#1 Among all the hundreds of thousands of items that is downloaded online only a small fraction is worth the time it takes to "enjoy" (be it listen, view or both) it, from this small fraction there is only a tiny fraction that is worth more than the time it takes to "enjoy" it, thereby worth spending money on.
#2 Compare 15 songs for 15USD which might in total be 1 hour playtime, should equal about 10 hours worth of entertainment, a movie for 15USD would be about 2 to maximum 6 (you don't want to see a movie more than once or twice generally) hours worth, World of Warcraft players who spend 15USD monthly generally spend 2-3 hours daily (completely depends on the player, can be once every other day or 12 hours a day too, I just want to simplify) spend probably 50-100 hours in a month, giving 5-10 times as much value compared to downloading songs and 10-50 times as much value compared to buying a movie. I'm sure there are people who enjoy listening to music and watching movies much more than they enjoy playing online games, that is not the point though but it is that buying music and movies is way too expensive, (I just bought a book for about 10USD, I will enjoy that book for about 24 hours at least).
And also that I can sing it to my friends.
I can also with my own song sing it to audience.
I can record it and give it to my friends, share it with strangers or even sell it.
If my friend comes up with a song am I also allowed to do this? Perhaps not sell it, at least not in my name.
If I buy a song I am allowed to listen to it?
Am I also allowed to listen to it with my friends?
Can I let my friends listen to it without me?
Can I even lend this song to my friend so they can listen to it? Or give it?
If the song can be copied, can I lend a copy of it to my friend? Can I give a copy to my friend?
What if I write down the lyrics of the song, isn't that also a copy of the song?
Can I write the lyrics to a song I bought here in my blog?
I cannot copy the song and sell it?
But what about copy it for a friend and ask the friend for the cost of the copy?
What about using a song for a hobby project; put it as background in some interactive flash presentation or PDF or music to a video of you and your friends wakeboarding, just to make the show slightly more appealing, nothing commercial about it.
What if I didn't buy it?
Can I sing a song I heard?
What about a song my friend heard and sung it to me?
What about the lyrics of a song I haven't heard, can I sing that?
What if I sing it to my friends?
Can I sing it to an audience?
Can I sing it and record it and then upload it on internet for others to enjoy my wonderful voice?
What about radio then?
I assume commercial radios pay license fees for all the songs they play, but what about internet radio? There is a lot of software that allows me to open a channel and play my playlists for anyone who likes to surf into my IP and listen. Then they can copy the song that is currently playing and listen to it again whenever they want.
I think I have a quite good sense of ethics; you shouldn't kill, steal or hurt people, don't take something which doesn't belong to you and such. I've always reacted against the commercials where they show someone stealing a movie and then the message piracy is theft, I honestly don't agree; I think that as long as there is no financial gain for the copy and there is no material loss for the creator (it can't be proven that whoever copied something would ever buy it) then it is fine.
I realize there is a financial loss for those behind a product when it is copied but there is also a gain; as in if it is actually something worth buying (which is a rare case #1) it will spread like wildfire throughout the world. Sure this might not sell really as well as it would have without the copying but I for one does not believe it makes much difference, and for the crap that would never be heard of at all except in small specific groups it can only be beneficial, in the end I find it hard to believe that selling CD's, DVD's or even softcopies of an entertainment product is anywhere near the main source of income for the creators. I just have a feeling that commercial endorsements, concerts and cinema tickets stand out higher. This leaves out literature though, but literature isn't yet hurt in the same extent as the other fields.
I can also see all the problems my mindset might create as it would not be entirely agreeable, but then why is there no better option? I haven't checked this up personally as I'm not interested but I heard that buying one song online costs about 1USD, that means a whole album would cost about 10-20USD and a decent playlist would go for about 250-500USD, is that reasonable for something you might enjoy for a week, perhaps a month, or if it is music you don't personally like but suits a party - just one single night? Is it reasonable to pay 10-20USD for a movie you will see once? For the cinema I could agree to that as I personally like the cinema experience. The one field that is reasonable and that has this more or less under control is the game industry; particularly with online games you can copy as much as you like, but you can't play without subscribing to an account, ergo paying for playing, and with a sum of 10-20USD per month and maybe a starting fee of 30-50USD you get several actual hours and days per month of entertainment #2.
Now there are alternatives for movies and especially TV-shows; the creators of South Park has clearly shown what can be done, and several TV networks do the same, with South Park Studios website where you can stream and watch every episode ever made with the only cost of about 2x30 seconds advertisement. South Park has also twice in their show, Episode 709 - Christian Rock Hard and Episode 1204 - Canada On Strike, taken up this problem and I was personally surprised to not find a reflection of recent developments when I saw the latest episode, Episode 1307 - Perfect Pirate Club, today.
This can be argued back and forth forever and better people than me have already decided that the line is drawn slightly lower than my mind wants it, my wakeboarding video is already off facebook for containing copywrited material (Let's dance - Lady Gaga, a song which even though good I would never in my life pay money to own, I'm happy enough to hear it on the radio or in a club).
But one question remains, why is my fish video still on with music from Final Fantasy XI? Is that not also copywrited or do people just not care if it is Japanese music?
#1 Among all the hundreds of thousands of items that is downloaded online only a small fraction is worth the time it takes to "enjoy" (be it listen, view or both) it, from this small fraction there is only a tiny fraction that is worth more than the time it takes to "enjoy" it, thereby worth spending money on.
#2 Compare 15 songs for 15USD which might in total be 1 hour playtime, should equal about 10 hours worth of entertainment, a movie for 15USD would be about 2 to maximum 6 (you don't want to see a movie more than once or twice generally) hours worth, World of Warcraft players who spend 15USD monthly generally spend 2-3 hours daily (completely depends on the player, can be once every other day or 12 hours a day too, I just want to simplify) spend probably 50-100 hours in a month, giving 5-10 times as much value compared to downloading songs and 10-50 times as much value compared to buying a movie. I'm sure there are people who enjoy listening to music and watching movies much more than they enjoy playing online games, that is not the point though but it is that buying music and movies is way too expensive, (I just bought a book for about 10USD, I will enjoy that book for about 24 hours at least).
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Sister visiting Hong Kong
Instead of doing a day by day posting I find it more interesting to post by activity and summarize what can be done when visiting Hong Kong.
I have divided our activities into:
Culinary Hong Kong (e.g. what we eat and sometimes cook here).
Play in Hong Kong
Tourism in Hong Kong (e.g. the obvious tourist attraction that everyone does)
Party in Hong Kong
and Shopping in Hong Kong
So far I have written part 1 only but I will update eventually and add more photos when Maja has given them to me.
I have divided our activities into:
Culinary Hong Kong (e.g. what we eat and sometimes cook here).
Play in Hong Kong
Tourism in Hong Kong (e.g. the obvious tourist attraction that everyone does)
Party in Hong Kong
and Shopping in Hong Kong
So far I have written part 1 only but I will update eventually and add more photos when Maja has given them to me.
Party in Hong Kong (part 1)
As of yet we haven't really been out partying; we had a few drinks near my home the other day and last night we drank some beer with the BBQ but otherwise we have taken it easy. On Wednesday we have plans to go out to a club with a friend and on Saturday I have arranged a big local party and BBQ to show Maja how we really party here, should be quite fun.
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