Fire in the Foxhole

I've been dreaming for big motorbikes for years, or I should say decades. Taiwan banned heavy motorcycle (over 150cc) import and production since the 1970s, and lifted the limitation only after its 2002 enrollment into the WTO.

So I didn't have a chance to have one in my young years, and in almost the mid-40s as of this year I finally got the driver's license of this class (over 250cc) and have the budget allocated to buy one.

As many others think I should look like this:

...and I really have Harley-Davidson stuff such as a bandanna, a leather vest and a pair of boots, except the "egg-boiling" leather trousers not suitable for tropical Taiwan.

But as the age adds up, in addition to Taiwan's crowded city traffic, it becomes somewhat unrealistic to keep a Harley-Davidson as a daily bike. Most H-D owners here hang out together on weekend rides, but not daily commuting or short stops.

The price of H-D bikes (or I should say all imported bikes) are ridiculously steep here -- about twice of which in the US; this could be the last reason that made me turn to the British Triumph instead, albeit also expensive.

In the past week, I've considered pre-owned Honda CB400SF as an entry-level stepping stone, as well as Bimmers like R1150R and F650GS. No, not Japanese bikes; I know Japanese wheels are relatively cheap with respectable quality, but they just couldn't turn me on.

And 2010 Triumph Bonneville or Thruxton are also on the list if I decide to fall deep into debts. Last night, right before I made up my mind, I found a seemingly nice pre-owned Bonneville T100 on an auction site.

I contacted the seller and went to see it on Sunday afternoon.

This is it. The 6-year-old carburetor Bonnie T100. It's in mint condition with common Triumph caveats: somewhat leaky cylinder head and flaky chrome plating, but still looks good on the iPhone camera.

The oil leakage can be seen under the charming, classic Triumph mark. If that's a year's worth, I think I can take it.

Albeit old, the mileage of this Bonnie is low: well under 4000 miles, and the front section of the exhaust pipes is still in light blue, instead of heat-tempered purple. This girl will still be a English beauty after some clean-ups.

I was the first bidder but not the only one, so I still have to wait and see what would happen. But anyway, I like this bike and wish to have a nice ride soon.

Yes, I did a write-up about Windows Mobile 7's interface design flops in Chinese. Not intended to translate the whole thing back into English, I'll just make the points here for the record. :)

This picture is quite well-known these days; it looks cool and chic, but there are at least two "cosmetic" problems in my eyes.

Lateral scrolling is not new, at least we've seen a lot on iPhones. The interface of WM7 intentionally leaves some next-page contents as a visual cue indicating there's something left to be seen; this is smart, but not enough.

What it lacks is another visual, or navigational, hint telling the user "where you are", like traditional scroll bars or the dots on the iPhone screen:

And the interface design is also a twin-bladed sword: while it conveniently encourages users to swipe the screen to read ahead, it's also a "dead zone" wasting the precious screen property.

The huge headline text ("pictures" and "people" in the examples) works only on the first screen, and the space reserved for it becomes another dead zone.

That is, the first and the second dead zones take up as much as 44% (the working area, shown in the red rectangle, is 3/4 * 3/4 = 56%) of the screen and do nothing more than "please read ahead".

So what's the big touch screen for?

Another thing is that when you scroll to the second screen, the big headline text is likely to be cut in half, and the result is in fact unpredictable.

In this case, the latter half of "people" looks like "Apple" to me in a quick glimpse. This is not bad at all, but you'll never know what's left when a word is cut in half.

I used to work on a project with similar design (not my design though), and the word bring cut off looks like "cunt" on its second half. The marketing material was later totally recalled at all cost.

Now we have smart phone OSes like iPhone, Android, Palm WebOS and now WM7 and the new Symbian^3, all with touch screen, gestures and their own smartness. What's the best for the rest of us with limited budget and discerning eyes? It's your call.

Happened to see someone riding a 1970-era BMX, complete with his dress, hairdo and even red Converse sneakers. Cute.

Click here to download:

IMG_0733.MOV (775 KB)

Sent from my iPhone

Just finished reading a book called "The Laws of Simplicity" in 30 minutes while waiting for my Japanese conversation class. This is a, well, simple book like something I'd write, but it excels in what many people failed to do: not being afraid of admitting that something is really simple indeed, in contrast to some people who'd just make things more complicated to let readers believe they're great.

And there's one more thing I should learn: converge things I've said and make them concepts, instead of just developing them and try to explain more.

Simple book, good thoughts. :)

Sent from my iPhone

Called "Cordier Prestige", the white wine is semi-sweet with fruity aroma. Not as watery as some others I've tasted; maybe because it's from 2005.

This is the Flickr album of my Golden Retriever called "Oreo", and this post is a test to Posterous's new Flickr album embed function. This should be fun, enjoy.

Seems like a "copycat" version of the Ökogreen (生態綠, a Fairtrade affiliate) brand.

I had dinner at my parents' place tonight. Since I just set up a
domain and mail server at Google Apps, I asked my dad if he wants a
new mail account.

"Yes, of course. I'm sort of collecting free e-mail accounts; why not
having a new one?" He responded with a giggle.

Having a father, at 72, who uses a PowerBook fluently, collects email
accounts with a clear head and has fairly good health, what's better
than this for me being the only son?

And my mom, only started to learn Chinese painting in her early
sixties, won a gold medal in a contest a few years ago and is going to
have a personal artwork exhibition next year. She might have some
quarrels with my dad, but they still live happily together and support
each other day in, day out. That will be the same for many, many years
to come.

My mother's Chinese painting work.

Life is tough but the day is sunny, work is exhausting but the dog is sleepy. Spending a brain-emptying Sunday afternoon with Oreo the dog and my folks.