dave: December 2004 Archives

Lamma is illuminated again as HKMacs moves to blogspot.com and escapes the clutches of PCCW.

Happy Christmas to all! (Please subsitute appropriate festival if Christmas isn't something you celebrate.)

One of my Blue Gourami swims in the deep blue of the moonlight bulb. An Albino Tiger Barb can be seen in the background.

There's another story in the South China Unlinkable Morning Post about people who've been ripped off buying a camera along Nathan Road.

The guy's been coming to Hong Kong since 1992 and still hasn't figured out that camera shops along Nathan Road are criminals? Is he thick? Has he never read a single guidebook? Every guidebook that I've read stresses taking great care when buying cameras and electronics in Tsim Sha Tsui. If you ask anyone who actually lives here where to buy a camera, only a complete dribbling idiot would suggest Nathan Road. (Most locals would head for Mong Kok, or Stanley Street in Central.)

Please note that I'm not attempting to justify the actions of the camera shop scum. These guys are thieves and the cumulative damage they have done to Hong Kong's reputation is probably in the millions of dollars worth of people who will never come back or who spread negative word of mouth after being ripped off here.

However, where they are and what they do is pretty much common knowledge. Everyone knows that you have to be careful buying a camera in Tsim Sha Tsui. Everyone knows that they rip off tourists.

The bait and switch tactic used in this case is the classic tactic used by the unscrupulous operators: the victim is quoted a pretty good price for something, but is then told that that price is for an older model, or that there's a far better model for just a few dollars more.

Another point here is that you have to know what you're buying. The D70 is a DSLR, i.e. it's a camera which allows you to use all compatible Nikon lenses. The Fuji is a good camera, but it has a built-in lens. The markets for these two cameras are very different, and it's hard to see someone who wanted a DSLR changing his mind at the last minute and going for the Fuji.

(Note that the pictures are from the Sing Pao, not the SCMP, as the SCMP didn't have any pictures accompanying the article.)

JustBlogIt with a simple right-click.

It turns out that the song was called Hallelujah after all.

Silliness: Weird Al Yankovic: Bob. Try and see what the connection between the various phrases is...

Via: Making Light