Gillette Fusion Power

How much money does a company need to spend in order to create the world's best selling 'shaving system'? Well, in 1998, Gillette spent US$680 million to come out with the Mach 3. I bought the slightly improved Mach 3 Turbo three years ago. In early 2006, they released the new Fusion, with 5+1 razor blades. This development was predicted in 2004 by The Onion (warning: course language). And they again spent many hundreds of millions of dollars on R&D. What you get is this! Now, one very excellent thing that came out of the huge R&D expense was the packaging. Dismantling the blister pack was a breeze. You just tear down the dotted places in the plastic. I cannot begin to describe the dangers of a lot of blister packs found nowadays that require the user to use scissors and brute force to tear the package apart. It is so ridiculous... You can click the picture below for a larger view. There're now five blades, and one additional one at the back to do sideburns. The orange gill-like thingies are now so tiny! The design and the feel of the shaver is just wonderful, the rubber and plastic manufacturing and molding were done really well. It feels light, and it's so comfortable to hold; I don't even feel like using it lest it gets dirty! In Singapore, the Fusion is currently available only at Mohammed Mustafa & Samsuddin Company (as far as I can tell). The Fusion costs S$18 and comes with two cartridges. The Fusion Power, which includes a vibrator, costs S$21 and comes with one cartridge and one battery. Click here for the Fusion website. There's a comely host embedded in the Flash animation.

Rewriting Spam

Angie sent me the following email message. It looks like spam. Why can't spam be more easily understood? The second version is my rewrite. --------- Forwarded message ---------- From: SARTORI Date: Sep 6, 2006 11:38 PM Subject: PLEASE I NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE KINDLY HELP! FOR THE WORK OF GOD. I do not intend to baised your feeling as you read this mail thereby making you feel so pathetic about my situation, because i believe that every human being has his or her destiny to fulfil on this earth before passing to the great beyond,owning to this i was compell to accept christ as my saviour, having known the truth,I had no choice than to do what is lawful and right in the sight of God for eternal life and in the sight of man for witness of God?s mercy and glory upon my life. My name is Hellfried Sartori a citizen of Thailand based in Holland a successful business man formally married to mrs Trisha Sartori who died two years ago after a brief illness without a child. For over a year now i have been in the hospital battling with a chronic heart disease which has defiled all forms of medical treatment, and right now I have only about a few months to live, according to medical experts,this illment has detoriated my health to this point that i have finally lost my voice making me unable to talk any more.Although i have not particularly lived a generous life as i never cared for anybody except for myself and my late wife i was always hostile to people and only focused on my business But now i regret all this as I now know that there is more to life than just wanting to have or make all the money in the world.I have willed and given most of my property and assets to my immediate family members,I once asked members of my family to close one of my accounts and distribute the funds to a charity organization and orphanages but they instead kept the money to themselves for this reason i do not trust them any more as they seems not to be contended with what i have given to them. Now the last of my money which i deposited in cash in a consignment form twelve million dollars($12m) with security firm abroad, Recently the security firm wrote me to come forward to sign for the release of this money or rather issue a letter of authorization to somebody to receive it on my behalf as time agreed for the consignment to be in their custody has expired,since i do have much time to live on this earth and i want this to be the last good deed i that i have done on this earth before passing on,based on this reason i am pleading to you in name of God to help me Stand and collect the Funds from the security firm which my attorney will guide and provide you with all the neccessary informations inorder to collect the funds and use it for the work of God(charities,churches and orphanages) while you keep $1.5m.for yourself for your time. I await your quick kindest response with your name,telephone and fax numbers so that i can have my attorney contact you directly inorder to furnish you with more informations on how the mission will be carried out.i wish to assure you that there is no risk of whatsoever involved in this mission as my attorney will provide you with all the legal documents inorder to back up the funds. please send your response to my private E-mail: hellsartorihea@yahoo.de Thank you and remain blessed. Yours faithfully Hellfried Sartori --------------------------------------------- Dear Sir/Madam, I believe every human being has his or her destiny to fulfil on this earth before passing to the great beyond. Having accepted Christ as my saviour, and having known the truth, I have no choice but to do what is lawful and right in the sight of God to receive eternal life, and also in the sight of man to witness to God's mercy and glory upon my life. Consequently, I don't wish for you to feel pathetic about my situation. My name is Hellfried Sartori, a citizen of Thailand who's currently based in Holland. I'm a successful businessman married to Mrs Trisha Sartori who died two years ago after a brief illness without a child. For over a year, I have been in the hospital battling a chronic heart disease, which has defiled all forms of medical treatment. Right now, I have only about a few months to live. According to medical experts, this illness has detoriated my health to the point that I have lost my voice making me unable to talk any more. I have not particularly lived a generous life as I never cared for anybody except for myself and my late wife. I was always hostile to people and only focused on my business. But I regret all this as now as I know that there is more to life than just wanting to have or make all the money in the world. I have willed and given most of my property and assets to my immediate family members. I have asked members of my family to close one of my accounts and distribute the funds to charity organizations and orphanages, but they kept the money for themselves instead. For this reason I do not trust them any more as they seem not to be contented with what I have given to them. Thereafter, I deposited the last of my money, twelve million dollars($12m) in cash, with a security firm abroad. Recently the security firm wrote me to come forward to sign for the release of this money. They would also accept a letter of authorization for somebody to receive it on my behalf. The time agreed for the consignment to be in their custody has expired, and since I do have much time to live on this Earth and I want this to be the last good deed that I'll do before passing on, I am pleading with you in the name of God to help me collect the funds from the security firm. My attorney will guide and provide you with all the necessary information in order to collect the funds and use it for the work of God (charities, churches and orphanages) while you keep $1.5m for yourself, to compensate you for all your troubles. I await your prompt response. Please send me your name, telephone and fax numbers so that I can have my attorney contact you directly in order to furnish you with more information on how the mission will be carried out. I wish to assure you that there is no risk whatsoever involved in this mission as my attorney will provide you with all the legal documents in order to collect the funds. Please send your response to my private E-mail: hellsartorihse@yahoo.de . Thank you and may you remain blessed. Yours faithfully, Hellfried Sartori

Irwin Felled By Stingray

Sometimes the truly ironic thing in life is that one can be killed by the very creatures one loves the most. In Australia, there are plenty of ways to get killed by wildlife. I'd recommend the first chapter in Bill Bryson's very funny Down Under.

Two months ago I printed out a technical manual meant for salespeople, and put Steve on the cover. It only seemed natural for such a fun car. The guy had appeared in Toyota TV ads, and his infectious joy for wildlife was just perfect... what a feeling! [jumps!]

The interesting thing about Steve's death is that some folks choose to criticise his career choice. Why did he have to do such a dangerous job. Shouldn't he be thinking about the risks involved? What's going to happen to his wife and kids if something terrible happened to him? Some thought that he was provoking the sea creatures, which is now shown to be untrue. It was a freak accident.

I think it'd be more appropriate to ask how many of us can claim to have a job we truly love? True, dying for what one loves might be a little extreme, but lots of people put their lives on their lines every single day. I guess most wildlife documentary makers encounter similar risks as Steve. A few weeks ago, I watched Jeff Corwin get close to the most deadly sea creature in Australia or something like that. There are others in high risk jobs: soldiers, miners, taxi drivers... doctors (especially in situations like SARS), reporters in war zones. Others risk less things, but we can't ignore those. Counsellors, teachers and others in high-stress/emotionally demanding jobs risk their mental health on a daily basis. I could go on...

I guess what I'm trying to say is that folks who love their jobs so much, and are able to make a significant impart on the hearts and minds of people (in Steve's case, it's describing wildlife as... 'what a beauty!' probably wouldn't want to trade that for anything else. Crikey, Mr. Irwin!

Update(!): I've subscribed to the Geographics for over 15 years now. The very first issue in my 'collection' has stingrays on the cover. I wonder how Steve would have liked the world to see them now that he's the victim of a cruel accident. I'd bet he'll still say these creatures are indeed a ... beauty... but be careful, they kill, too.

'I never forget-and diving guides like Jay and Pat never let tourists forget-that stingrays can be dangerous. But these were so gentle that I became accustomed to having heir tails cares the back of my neck or scrape across my faceplate...' -David Doubilet

How Do Search Engines Work?

I was looking at my logs recently and found something quite bizarre. Go to Yahoo! Singapore, and put in 'xiaxue' in the search box. (She is Singapore and Asia's most popular blogger.) The first search result would be her blog, right? Strangely, no...

The Social Sciences All Mixed Up Together

School has been lots of fun, even though right now I'm still stuck at a 400-word short essay trying to argue why 'the English Language Syllabus serves no useful purpose for the English teacher.' Hmm... maybe I should be arguing for the opposite... Besides dealing with languages, I'm also doing this thing called Social Studies. Now, in my experience, this was one subject that few kids were interested in (at least in my time during primary school). I was told before my job interview that it would be one of my teaching subjects if I got hired. For someone like me who regularly thinks in ironic terms, the idea that I was asked to teach this was quite funny. Now a lot of folks see this subject as Pr*po**n*a, and rightly so. During the interview (paneled by obviously wise and experienced ex-principals), one question was: 'Now, how do you feel about teaching Social Studies?" And I said, "Well, many people think that Social Studies is Pr*pog*a**a/National Education. [laughs] While that is somewhat true, I think it's much, much more that. It's history, geography, political science, citizenship studies... blah blah blah... very interesting... blah blah blah... I love it...blah blah... more people should be studying this! blah blah blah..." And the interviewers were smiling because I think they knew where I was going with this: the interesting question of balancing the positive/useful P with the very important introduction to the various social sciences (essentially, the study of the world around us). Naturally, one worry I had was whether teachers have any room in the classroom for critical thinking and the 'look-the-emperor-has-no-clothes!' sort of questioning. Fortunately, it doesn't seem to be the case so far. The two tutors (one local and the other American prof) that we have seem to understand this tension, and it's discussed very openly in class, which was, like, so refreshing to see. Asking questions and having a constant sense of inquiry seem to be a main purpose of the subject. Of course, the reality in a real classroom might be totally different. Nonetheless, it's good to see intelligent folks in class, both tutors and students. The honeymoon is going great so far... Anyway, happy Teachers' Day to all the real teachers: heros working hard on the front lines! Update(!): Archaeologist Xenoboy engages in some excavation.