拿度的網球拍

By admin, May 22, 2011 11:08 pm

上星期來球聚的兩位師兄都是用Babolat AeroPro Drive的﹐分別是第一代的Babolat AeroPro Drive Cortex和最新的Babolat AeroPro Drive Cortex GT。

兩代拿度的球拍其實感覺很相近﹐第一代的Cortex好像沒那麼硬﹐而最新的Cortex GT則加強了擊球的穩定性和重些﹐底線大力抽擊的時候其穩定性尤其明顯。自己以前曾經擁有過Babolat Pure Drive GT﹐但更喜歡AeroPro Drive的感覺多些﹐因為AeroPro Drive打出的球好像沒那麼飄。

兩塊AeroPro Drive的避震都做得非常好﹐但對于一個打慣了20年Classic POG的人來講會略嫌它缺乏手感。那位持有第一代AeroPro Drive Cortex的師兄開玩笑說我的POG很震手(的確是有點相比起AeroPro Drive)﹐但就是這樣的手感令我完全感受到每一個回球的質數﹐誇張點說令人著迷﹐開始覺得自己有點變態﹐哈哈﹐所以說刀無兩面利﹐不可能什麼都完美。

近半年在球場上試了不少新網球拍﹐自己最喜歡的和感覺相似的是以下的幾款﹕

- Babolat AeroPro Drive Cortex GT
- Head YOUTEK IG Extreme Pro
- Yonex V Core 100 S /  Yonex E-Zone 100

最後發現Babolat AeroPro Drive Cortex GT這個月有了Roland Garros的新Paint Job﹐開始有點心動了﹐今晚馬上去W6問價。

想轉是因為同樣的FORM﹑力度﹐方向﹐用新拍擊出的球快了很多﹐而且多很多SPIN。尤其在網前VOLLEY的感覺太明顯了﹐POG板頭經常會因為對手的力量回球和SPIN而變得不穩定(TWIST)﹐但新拍就比較少出現這樣的問題。最後就是開球﹐速度明顯快很多﹐有時候打不中SWEET SPOT也不震手。

肯定的是現今網球拍科技一日千里﹐20幾年的那些幾乎已經不能相提並論了。POG/PS85/HEAD PRESTIGE CLASSIC這些早已經變成我心目中HOLY GRILL。

我繼續用是因為我是個業余的網球愛好者﹐不會參加正式比賽的那一類﹐所以贏了不會特別高興﹐輸了也不會不開心﹐反而有一兩球CLASSIC SHOT更能提昇我的興趣﹐哈哈。。。

其實想轉好久了﹐但就是舍不得POG那令我沉醉的手感﹐實在矛盾啊。。。

 

RGAPDGT-3[1]

Update June-4

The real one arrived at Gigasport today and I found I like the original paing job better.

猜到這是什麼車了嗎﹖

By admin, May 22, 2011 5:59 pm

這兩天樓下還真多老車﹐也是5分鐘前的事﹐我想了半天﹐肯定是保時捷﹐但從樓上望下去﹐很難分辨是924還是944﹐而且又是開篷車。最後Google了一會﹐確定目標﹐全錯﹐原來是90年代的Porsche 968﹐這個還真的冷門﹗

IMG_4677

10分鐘後﹐臨出門出去吃晚飯前﹐突然聽見樓下轟轟的法拉利V8引擎聲音﹐一看果然又是黃色的它﹐而且這次發現了一件事﹐就是這台F458的T牌和前天電視報道的那些違規T牌車主的其中一台也是黃色F458的完全吻合(T12xxx)﹐說明“疑犯”就在樓下﹐實在太巧了﹗哈哈。。。

IMG_4679

最後終于拍到了一個完整的F458性感側面﹗

f458

2011-05-20 T牌名車逃稅料達三億

政府大幅增加私家車首次登記稅 15%後,濫用只限試車用 T牌情況越見猖獗。有業界人士指部份逾百萬元名車車主,為逃避繳交動輒百萬元的稅款,自設車行申領 T牌,或違法向車行租用 T牌作遊車河之用,估計令庫房少收逾 2億元。

今年 2月財爺宣佈加私家車首次登記稅後,一架 100萬元新車落地,正式登記的稅款為 94.75萬元,車價達 150萬元的話,稅款達 152.25萬元。但如車主走法律罅,一直不繳交首次登記稅,每次外出均掛上只限車輛進出口、買賣、維修公司才可申請的 T牌,以試車、前往陳列室或驗車名義行駛,即可節省巨額稅款。

香港汽車進出口商會會長羅少雄稱,申請 T牌一年牌費加保險費,成本約 2萬元。他相信濫用 T牌行為,加稅後有所增加。無綫電視昨報道指,每逢周日不少過百萬元的名車均聚集大埔大尾篤一帶遊車河, 27架車中有 6架掛上 T牌。

庫房每年少收 2億元

羅少雄說,名車車主大部份有數輛車,不少只作收藏之用,駕名車次數一年可能只有十多次,「有啲每次出車兜風,向車行用四位數字租 T牌,一年只需萬幾蚊」,部份更會自設車行領 T牌。他估計若全港有 200架車濫用 T牌,以每架至少 100萬元稅款計,庫房每年少收逾 2億元。

運輸署發言人稱,至今年 4月為止, T牌登記數目為 2,397個,與往年相若,今年首 4個月新發出的 T牌有 92個。如車輛違反 T牌的使用規定及限制在道路上使用,有關牌照持有人及司機均屬犯罪,可處罰款$2,000,署方亦會考慮取消有關試車牌照。去年因違反 T牌使用條件而被取消牌照的數目共 18個。

SSLExplorer Virtual Appliance: Couldn’t Get It Working

By admin, May 22, 2011 1:42 am

I thought I have found another nice and Free apps for SSL-VPN, SSLExplorer, now a Barracuda company, but it turns out it’s been stopped updating since 2008 and configuration part is too difficult.

1. Use VMware vCenter Converter 4.3 to import the virtual appliance (sslexplorer-1.0.0_RC17-x86.vmware.tgz) and converted it to VM Version 7 on ESX 4.1, it took about 15 seconds.

2. Open console, login as root with no password and configure the management interface with an INTERNAL IP address as public IP won’t work for some reason. (wasted 2 hours on this part)

3. Follow the wizard, start the sslexplorer service and the point your browser its IP address, configured many things until step 4.

4. Unable to publish sslexplorer port 80 & 443 via Untangle UTM. (wasted 2 hours on this part)

Finally Give up after 4 hours!

sslvpn 

 

Update May-22 3PM

Figured out why Step 2 doesn’t work, because I enter the wrong CIDR format for Network and my mind isn’t clear at all after 12AM! Damn!

It’s been explained clearly in the sslexplorer manual:

Network: Network address for this subnet in CIDR format. In the screenshot above a private subnet of 192.168.70.10/24 has been created. This is the same as using 192.168.70.10 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 which will provide 256 hosts (254 useable addresses as 192.168.70.10 is the network address and 192.168.70.255 is the broadcast address).

What I did was 255.255.255.0/24 or 192.168.70.0/24 which is obviously wrong, the correct format for Network (or netmask) really should be 192.168.70.10/24, no wonder! Forgot the most basic could cost an eye or a leg in some case is true!

ANYWAY SOMEHOW STILL DOESN’T WORK!

 

Update May-22 5PM

The Network Setup Wizard contains A BUG FOR NETMASK PART, so I manually edited /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0

SIMPLY CHANGE NETWORK=192.168.70.10/24 to NETMASK=255.255.255.0

You can verify this by ping to Google, if it works, then it’s been correctly setup!

Finally, found the pre-built VM missing GCC compiler so can’t upgrade VMware Tools, as well as missing traceroute, strange!

I guess that’s all the fun and pain for a Free and Community based software, actually I start to like it which is gain pleasure from most dreadful painfulness: )

After that, everything worked, so simply give it a public IP and configure the rest will have your SSL-VPN ready in less than 10 mins. Of course putting it behind Untangle has no problem as I’ve got the NIC interface setup correctly this time!

So the best solution is not to struggle with the problem, but go to bed early! After a good night sleep, suddenly, BINGO!  Still No Pain No Gain, after almost 6 hours, it’s been trimed down to a 15-20 mins job.