Master motivator drums up inspiration

The children at Yew Chung International School remember Nick Vujicic not just for his inspirational message but also for his "chicken drumstick".
That is the name he gives his tiny foot with two toes that is his only functional limb and with which he has learned, among other things, to type more than 40 words a minute and play a drum machine.

The Australian motivational speaker, who was born without arms or legs, demonstrated his skills on his second visit to the school yesterday as he delivered his message that "there is hope until you give up".

He also showed video footage of himself swimming and playing golf and soccer, hoping, he says, to inspire his audience into thinking: "If there is destiny for a man without limbs, where is mine?"

Over the years, he has turned his struggle with a rare condition, tetra-amelia syndrome, into a message of hope and optimism with which he has travelled to 25 countries.

He also told how he had suffered so much from teasing at school that he contemplated suicide.

"The school isn't going to change until you become the change," he told the school assembly.

Vujicic will start a tour of the mainland today, visiting Beijing, Shanghai and Sichuan . Through the "power of unity", he hopes to work with the government to bring a brighter future for the people, especially survivors of last year's Sichuan earthquake. Vujicic will return to Hong Kong to hold a seminar, "Attitude is Attitude", at 8pm on November 4 at the International Trade and Exhibition Centre's Star Hall. Tickets costing HK$150 are available from PMA Music Foundation's website, www.pmf.org.hk.

SCMP. Oct 31, 2009.

Living in a cage in Hong Kong

Video: http://us.cnn.com/video/?/video/business/2009/10/28/yoon.hkong.cage.home.recession.cnn


If you have ever complained that your apartment is the size of a shoebox, consider the living space of Hong Kong resident Chung For Lau.

Chung lives in a 625 square foot (58.06 square meter) flat here with 18 strangers. The place is sectioned into tiny cubicles made of wooden planks and wire mesh. Everything he has acquired over the years -- clothes, dishes, figurines, a tired TV set -- is squeezed into this tiny cube, a modernized version of what is known here as a cage home.

With all the buzz over Hong Kong's exorbitant luxury property (like the recent record-breaking sale of a $57 million duplex), it may be hard to believe that people have been living in cage homes in this city for years.

But with Hong Kong home to some of the most densley-populated urban districts in the world, real estate has always come at a premium, no matter how small.

Chung's cage is a newer yet less-desirable model, we are told. The wire mesh one, which resembles an over-sized rabbit hutch, is apparently more comfortable.

Occupants have less privacy, but the temperatures don't get as high as in the wooden-mesh variety. A thermometer in Chung's home reached 34 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit). Sometimes it gets so hot, Chung said, that he wants to die.

Chung used to be a security guard. In the good old days he earned about $500 (HK$3,875) per month. But as the economic crisis set in, his full time job went to part time work until he was laid off this past summer.

As he stared into his bank passbook, Chung lamented that he wouldn't be able to make the $150 rent (HK$1,160) this month -- these cubes aren't cheap.

They are stacked on two levels -- $100 (HK$775) for a cube on the upper deck and $150 for the lower bunk.

The lower cubes are more expensive because you can just barely stand upright in them. Do the math and the apartment owner is collecting roughly $2,500 a month (HK$19,375) from these people.
The 19 occupants share two toilets. A small rubber hose attached to a leaky faucet is what they use to wash themselves. Social workers who monitor the apartments said the electricity is donated, so a few of them have TVs. One person on the upper deck has an aquarium.
One social workers said that because of the recession these homes are being occupied more frequently by those made jobless -- people in their 30s and 40s. The social worker said none of the younger people wanted to speak on camera for fear their chances of finding work would be hurt.
Chung, 67, is now waiting for welfare to kick in and is on a long list for public housing. The government says it is doing its best to meet its citizens' needs, but Chung says he has lost all hope. Economic recovery or not, he feels forgotten.

CNN. Oct 28, 2009.

Appetite for hairy crab returns

SCMP. Oct 26, 2009.

Man Spends US$50,000 to Recreate a First-Class Pan Am Cabin in His Garage

Anthony Toth is so obsessed with perfectly recreating a vintage Pan Am first-class cabin in his garage that he once traveled to Thailand for—wait for it—original Pan Am branded headphones. And his obsession goes much deeper than that.

Anthony began his obsession with Pan Am as a child, when he and his parents frequently flew to Europe to visit family. Pan Am's service seems decadent and almost silly today, when Southwest and JetBlue achieve success with a budget mentality, but to Anthony, Pan Am was the epitome of class and style.

Pan Am was once synonymous with international jet-setting, with upper-deck dining rooms and flight attendants decked out in crisp blue uniforms, high heels and white gloves. First-class travelers were served out of silver-plated martini pitchers. A parade of linen-covered food carts made its way down the aisle at dinnertime.

Anthony saved things like the cardboard linings on food trays and recorded his trips with multiple rolls of film and extensive tape recordings of the radio selection on board. "This consumed my world," said Tosh. As an adult, he works for United Airlines, and two years ago bought a home with an oversized garage in which he could build a faithful replica of Pan Am's first-class cabin. The project has taken him, in total, 20 years.

Construction required multiple visits out to a spot in Death Valley where airplane carcasses are dumped, but the details of his project are unnervingly precise: The replica isn't open to the public, but if you visit (Tosh hosts executive meetings sometimes, appropriately enough), you'll be offered drink service and given a perfectly-crafted souvenir boarding pass designed to match those used by the airline in the late '70s and early '80s. He's got authentic Pan Am swizzle sticks and glasses. The overhead compartments are original Pan Am construction. Hell, he's even got sealed packages of salted almonds (we have no evidence regarding the taste of 30-year-old almonds, but they're probably not for eating anyway).

The one concession he's made to the modern age? A flat-screen TV in place of the old-school projection Pan Am used. Everything else (save the stewardesses) is either original Pan Am or a custom-made replica. He's hoping to open his obsessive ode to Pan Am as a museum, but he seems perfectly content to just hang out in first class. [WSJ, images also WSJ]

Gizmodo. Oct 27, 2009.

The Biggest Lego Mario Ever Built

If you have $3700 handy, you can buy this 6-foot tall, 110-pound 40,000-brick Lego Mario, the biggest ever built. It took one week to plan, and 175 hours to build, during 16 days.

You don't have to feel like a dorky geek for buying it, because the money will go to charity. So you can feel like a good-hearted dorky geek.

The auction lasts till November 1st, and the money will go to the Ronald McDonald foundation in Netherlands, "a dutch organization that arranges proper housing for relatives of hospitalized children, in the vicinity of clinic".

Gizmodo. Oct 24, 2009.

Apple's new "Get a Mac" TV advertisement - Broken Promises

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