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By admin, May 26, 2011 10:23 pm

最近好像颳起一股的Rolls Royce熱潮﹐首先是TrueScale一系列的懷舊Phantom﹐緊接著Kyosho月中在日本福崗模型展展出了Rolls Royce Ghost樣品。現在就連香港的小模型開放商Jadi也來分一杯羹﹐Jadi特別成立了Paragon這個車模分支來區分這是他們的高端系列﹐將製作那些精密的車模。首先打響炮的就是1968年的ROLLS ROYCE MPW 2 DRS COUPE﹐有3個顏色(BLACK/SILVER CHALICE/OXFORD BLUE)可供選擇﹐定價在港幣950左右。在他們的目錄上還有2011 BENTLEY CONTINENTAL GT ﹐粗略看過﹐總覺得無論是Rolls Royce還是賓利﹐Jadi Paragon都沒能把車型做得準確﹐所以應有的神髓完全表現不出來。

印象中Jadi曾經推出過一系列的英國冷門跑車如TRIUMPH和TVR﹐但由於做工實在太粗糙﹐所以市場沒多大反應﹐這次希望它可以來個大翻身﹐把那些JS推倒﹐但多年來我們從殘酷的事實中學到了一個真理﹕就是一個JS倒下﹐還有無數個JS會接著崛起﹐哈哈。。。

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By admin, May 26, 2011 5:01 pm

今天終于在停車場捕捉到了它﹐一直以為會是那台傳奇的1973年白色紅條的PORSCHE CARRERA RS 2.7﹐但後來發現原來是它的后代﹐1992年的Porsche 911 (964) Carrera﹐就是近期AA出的964 Carrera系列。Porsche 901/964/993這三款是波子粉絲們公認最傳統和最好看的系列。

仔細觀摩之下﹐突然發現了個奇怪的現象﹐車尾明明印的是Carrera 4﹐但為何卻擁有Carrera RS獨特的紅白花紋﹖另外如果只是Carrera 4的話﹐那麼為何車輪又是RS的紅色版本﹖仔細觀察﹐其實又跟正規的964 Carrera RS輪子顏色不一樣﹐原裝的應該是全部同一顏色﹐但鄰居的則是中間突起的才油了紅色。難道是假的不成﹖看來答案只有鄰居他自己最清楚了。

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By admin, May 24, 2011 10:34 pm

Mr Elliott who took the picture in 1976 while he was a photography student, used his then girlfriend Fiona Butler, 18, as a model. She borrowed a white tennis dress, a racket and balls and Martin took a photo of her from behind as she lifted her dress and touched her bare bum.

He sold the image to poster chain Athena and it went on to become one of the most famous images in the world. It was first published it as part of a calendar for the 1977 Silver Jubilee – the same year Virginia Wade achieved the Wimbledon ladies single title.

The picture – called Tennis Girl – went on to sell more than two million copes in Athena shops and continued to sell millions after the firm went bust in the 1990s. Mr Elliott retained the copyright to the image and made a fortune but Fiona was never paid a penny – but did eventually marry a millionaire.

He retired to Cornwall 11 years ago after living in Stourbridge and Portishead. He died peacefully aged 63 at his home in Perranwell Station, near Truro, Cornwall, late last month after a ten year battle with cancer.

His widow Noelle, who met her husband in 1987, said the picture had actually hindered his career because no one would commission him as they feared he would be too expensive.

“Martin sold the image to Athena – who turned it into a poster – but he retained copyright. I am still getting royalties to this day,” she said.

“They are only a few pence now but because it has sold all over the world we have done well out of it.

“Martin always felt he had the good times before the business became overrun with image-conscious people and cut-throat deals.”

She added: “He had a marvellous sense of humour and was a great joker. He always thought he would get better. He loved Cornwall and was very content.”

He studied at the Birmingham School of Photography and he took the image at the uni’s tennis courts in Edgbaston.
Speaking before his death he said: “I can remember it was an afternoon in September at the end of the long hot summer.

“It was over very quickly. I only took one roll of film, which is pretty feeble for a photographer and I just hoped I’d got the shot.”

Mrs Butler, now 50, later married millionaire Ian Walker and the couple live with their children in Stourport, Worcestershire. Speaking in 2007, she said that, despite not being paid, she was proud of her iconic status.

“I can remember the day quite clearly. When the picture got so popular I was quite amused that something taken that afternoon could get so big,” she said.

“It became one of those pictures that everyone knows and everyone’s seen.

“I like the fact that it’s got a bit of an air of mystery about it. I think that’s what helped with its longevity, because people kept wondering if it was anyone famous.”

She added: “I remember going to a party with my husband and people were saying ‘is that the girl in the photograph?’. They looked me up and down and said ‘I don’t think so’. My son’s headmaster once said to me that he used to have it on his wall at university. I’ve got no objections to it whatsoever.

“My children have never been upset about it. It’s really nothing that anyone could be offended by. It’s just a bit of fun. ‘I think it was banned in a couple of countries but really I don’t think there was anything to get upset about.

“It was just a picture of a very sort of ordinary girl and there’s something in that that appeals to people.”

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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。。。

Update June-4

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

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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﹗

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。。。

最後終于拍到了一個完整的F458性感側面﹗

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。

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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!

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.

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By admin, May 21, 2011 6:08 pm

5分鐘前發現樓下有台紅色柴油發動的Mercedes-Benz W123 240D﹐我還以為時光回到了30年前﹗

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By admin, May 21, 2011 12:10 pm

I’ve encountered a very strange problem this morning that ping simply won’t work no matter what even after enabling the ICMP Ping on Windows 7 Ultimate firewall. Turn on the firewall log shows ICMP is being dropped, what? I did enable it in Windows Firewall, restart the VM with nothing changed.

After a close inspection, I found out why, by default Windows 7 Remote IP Address under Scope is set to Local Subnet only, no wonder, after change it to Any IP Address, life is back to normal!

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By admin, May 19, 2011 10:17 pm

I really start to like this FREE virtual appliance from Untangle, it’s basically an UTM with almost everything you need, not to mention the nice looking GUI, it’s highly recommended for any SMB who seeks for an ultimate all-in-one network protection solution!

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By admin, May 19, 2011 9:57 pm

英國盛產舉世矚目的超級跑車和豪華坐駕﹐當中的表表者Jaguar自1922年起家已經轉手了幾次﹐想不到最新的老闆竟然是來自前英國殖民地的印度﹐真有點世界輪流轉的意思。

XJ多年來一直都被視為捷豹的頂級系列﹐從1968年誕生到2009年整整的42個年頭裡樣子一直都沒有很大的改變﹐其優雅的美洲豹身段已經深深地烙印在車迷的腦海中﹐如果沒記錯﹐XJ在香港被譯為“君主”。

2009年下旬﹐一個全新面貌的XJ(X351)終于展示在世人面前﹐驚嘆的是X351完全擺脫了傳統的框架﹐並以鮮明的超時代感樹立了下一代Jaguar轎跑車的模樣。

這套罕見的藝術品名為“XJ Speed Form” (Product Code: JHR 2425)﹐是紀念新XJ橫空出世的禮品﹐它是由設計XJ的同一隊設計師設計﹐並用了和真車相同的輕量材料和技術鑄製而成﹐每個XJ Speed Form精品都附有一個證明書﹐加上Director of Design, Ian Callum和Chief Designer, Giles Taylor的簽名。

整架車的尺寸比例大概有1比18﹐真車的輕量材料感覺並不像不鏽鋼般沉甸﹐拿上手反而挺輕巧的﹐在燈光下銀光閃閃的軀殼結構把XJ那結實的肌肉線條表露無遺﹐側面線條還真的有點像Aston Martin。自己認為這兩間分別獨立運作的著名車廠在某些車身設計上還是挺相近的﹐如DB9 vs XKR, Rapide vs XJL等﹐難道這些頂級的系列全出自同一設計師﹖一點肯定的就是XK/XF的首席設計師原來就是從Aston Martin跳槽過來的﹐怪不得呢﹗

最後在英國Jaguar官方禮品網站上找到它的蹤影﹐連稅和運費後將近500英鎊﹐差不多6,000港幣左右!