Welcome to my virtual space

where I share my journey with you

Old blog

 

Most of the posts here were written originally many years ago but they were transferred to this new home in 2024. The dates are transfer dates.

Hong

Maintaining Internet Access during Travel

The common way to maintain internet access when traveling in a foreign country is to obtain a SIM card to replace the original SIM card on a phone. There are two potential issues as follows (not all are applicable): The easiest and most cost-effective way…

Continue reading...
Hong

The CCP on democracy and freedom

Under the CCP's totalitarian regime, Chinese people lack the most fundamental human right - the freedom of speech. However, the CCP has been preaching democracy, freedom and political reform for almost 3/4 of a century: 中國是有缺陷,而且是很大的缺陷,就是缺乏民主。只有加上民主,中國才能前進一步。民主必須是各方面的。只有建立在言論出版集會結社的自由與民主選舉政府的基礎上面,才是有力的政治。(毛澤東1944年6月12日答中外記者問) 目前推行民主政治,主要關鍵在於結束一黨治國。此問題一日不解決,則國事勢必包攬於一黨之手;才智之士,無從引進,良好建議,不能實行。因而所謂民主,無論搬出何種花樣,只是空有其名而已。(《解放日》1941年10月28日社論) 政黨本身不是權力機關,不能凌駕於群眾和政府之上。(1938年3月7日《新華日報》 「一個黨,一個國家,一個民族,如果一切從本本出發,思想僵化,迷信盛行,那它就不能前進,它的生機就停止了,就要亡黨亡國。」(鄧小平1978年12月) 「國家需要改革開放,人民需要改革開放,誰不改革誰下台!對,不改革開放就下台!下台!」(鄧小平1992年2月) 「改革,應包括政治體制的改革,而且應該把它作為改革向前推進的一個標誌。」「只搞經濟體制改革,不搞政治體制改革,經濟體制改革也搞不通,因為首先遇到人的障礙。」(鄧小平1986年6月)

Continue reading...
Hong

Payment services with Value-Added Tax(VAT) handling

Value Added Tax (VAT) has added a tremendous burden for international sales. Most payment services (e.g. Paypal) do not handle VAT. Fortunately, some services do: Paddle (5% + $0.50). Paddle is a fraudulent company that robs its customers. Fastspring (5.9% + $0.95) Bamazoo (15%) Advantage (now 2checkout) (3.99%…

Continue reading...
Hong

Trip to Romania, Ukraine, Moldova in March 2023

20:05 Boston Logan Airport Terminal E ✈️ Lufthansa, Flight 425 9:25 Munich Franz Josef Strauss Airport 10:55 Munich Franz Josef Strauss Airport ✈️ 13:35 Cluj-Napoca Airport (luggage missing) 16:00 Bruno Apartment 3:35 Cluj-Napoca Train Station 🚆 8:30 Viseului Train Station 11:30 Viseului Train Station 🚆 12:25…

Continue reading...
Hong

Tidbits of upgrading to Visual Studio 2012

If a project requires IIS to run, the IIS needs to be enabled for completing its imigration. VS2012 comes with Silverlight Toolkit managed by NeGet, but Silverlight SDK 5 needs to be installed to run any Silverlight projects. When upgrading .Net projects to .Net 4.5,…

Continue reading...
Hong

SATA hot swap

SATA drive hot swap is most likely doable on a PC. Unlike USB device, it may require a device scan (Device Manager > Scan for hardware change) to detect a newly plugged device.

Continue reading...
Hong

Migrate a primary hard drive to a larger one

A simple disk image results in the extra space of the larger HD unallocated. A new partition could be created to use the unallocated space, but the crammed primary partition can be a severe bottleneck of the computer performance. Windows Disk Management (Computer Management >…

Continue reading...
Hong

Windows Easy Transfer

Windows Easy Transfer (WET) is a nice tool for migrating from one computer to another one. It does not transfer installed applications, but it transfer their settings and user documents. For example, IE will have all the favorites, short cuts and other settings on the target computer with WET. This can save a lot of time. It has three methods of transferring: an Easy Transfer cable, a network and an external hard disk. The first needs to be purchased, so it is not a good choice if one only needs to run WET once in a while.The second one is handy if it works. I have tried to use it many times under different circumstances, and it never worked. The 3rd one is the most robust option. WET does not handle user folder redirection well. For example, one may use a small SSD to store the OS and all the programs, and redirect use data folders to a hard drive. WET does not transfer such redirection, so it is very important to set up folder directions before using WET.

Continue reading...
Hong

Photo editors

There are so many photo editing programs that it is tough to choose one that meets the following subjective requirements: Conclusion: FastStone for frequent photo editing. Photoshop Elements for occasional intensive editing of a small number of photos. One way of editing photos one by…

Continue reading...