Vienna - Best Quality Living Standard In The World!

Vienna has the best living standard in the world, according to the Mercer 2011 Quality of Living survey.

According to MarketWatch...

"Living conditions are analyzed according to 39 factors, grouped in 10 categories, including politics and social environment, economic environment, health and sanitation, education, transportation, housing and recreation. Mercer’s Quality of Living index covers 221 cities, ranked against New York as the base city."

According to Mercer, Quality of Living Ranking; the Top 5 Cities are:

• Vienna, Austria (1st)
• Zurich, Switzerland (2nd)
• Auckland, New Zealand (3rd)
• Munich, Germany (4th)
• Vancouver, Canada (tied 5th)
• Düsseldorf, Germany (tied 5th)

Digital Zoom vs Optical Zoom

Most point & shoot cameras came with digital zoom feature, you might even been impressed by the "extra pull" that the digital zoom on your P&S can do; what exactly is digital zoom?

Wikipedia explained...

"Digital zoom is a method of decreasing (narrowing) the apparent angle of view of a digital photographic or video image. Digital zoom is accomplished by cropping an image down to a centered area with the same aspect ratio as the original, and usually also interpolating the result back up to the pixel dimensions of the original. It is accomplished electronically, with no adjustment of the camera's optics, and no optical resolution is gained in the process."

Huh?  A bit too much for you?  ;)

What it meant was digital zoom is actually taking your picture with the optical zoom at it's longest focal length, then electronically enlarged the centered area, in camera; to give an impression that your zoom lens is much longer!

The digital zoom of my Canon G9 made it look like I was right behind the photographer, I was actually so far away that these tourists don't even know I snapped this shot :)

You Can Have Your Cake Lapis And Eat It Too!

If you read my 2009 posting of "Nyonya Food At Its Best, In Auckland?!", you would know Charles and Janet. Charles and me go back a long way, he was the News Editor and I the Picture Editor of The Star in Penang, way back in the 1970s! We were the pioneers. We covered some serious news jobs together :)

Charles and Janet were the owner of the Sri Intan Malaysian & Vietnamese Cuisine in Mt Albert, Auckland.

Going Out Station In My Lancer VRX Sportback

In case you are wondering what "Going Out Station" mean, it is the Malaysian way of saying "going out of town"; or taking a longish drive to another town.  ;)

If you read my "Family Week End @ Napier", you knew that we drove more than 680 km to Napier and back in my Lancer VRX Sportback.

Mind you, I only drove half way there and May-N drove the rest and all the way back.

So how did the VRX performed on a long trip?

My VRX Sportback on top of Te Mata Peak, Napier.

NOSTALGIA - BIKINIS Pictures NOT Allowed!!

nos·tal·gia, noun - a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life...

Malaysia's leading English diary newspaper The Star was born on 9 September 1971.

From day one; Mr K.S.Choong, the founder decided that a bikini clad "Beach Girl" will grace Page 3. "Page 3 girls always sell paper!" Choong reckoned ;)

Family Week End @ Napier

Family outing is very important to us, due to our busy schedules and May-N (our eldest daughter) working in London; do not make it any easier to have a short quality time together.

Last week end, since she is back in Wellington for a short break; we head for Napier to spend our week end together. The last time our family were holidaying together was in April last year, we had a great time in London, Rome and Paris :)

This time round our trip is much shorter and a lot nearer ;)

According to Wikipedia...

Napier (called Ahuriri in the Māori language) is a New Zealand city with a seaport, located in Hawke's Bay on the eastern coast of the North Island. The population of Napier is about 58,600 as of the June 2010 estimate.

 Napier is about 320 kilometres northeast of the capital city of Wellington.

 I estimated a leisure 5 hour drive (including lunch stop) over the Rimutaka Range will get us there.

New Zealand rank 4th Most Prosperous Country?!

The 2011 Legatum Prosperity Index is out, New Zealand and Australia up one better than last year's rating to become 3rd and 4th!

What is this index all about?  It is NOT all about how "wealthy" $$$ your country is... or else China will be number one ;)

According to Wikipedia...

The Legatum Prosperity Index is an annual ranking developed by the Legatum Institute of 110 countries, according to a variety of factors including wealth, economic growth, personal well being, and quality of life. Norway topped the list of the 2010 (and 2011) report.

Queen Street, Auckland; New Zealand.

My MacBook Pro Return From Death

Shortly after Steve Jobs died, my beloved Macbook Pro kicked the bucket too!

It happened when I was getting rid of OS-X Lion and just reinstalled Snow Leopard.

The MBP booted up with its startup chime, but there was nothing on the screen!

Like a good Apple user I reset the PRAM and the NVRAM, no go; I then connect the MBP to another screen, still nothing!

A search in Google confirmed the fault most likely was caused by the Nvidia fiasco!

According to Apple:

"In July 2008, NVIDIA publicly acknowledged a higher than normal failure rate for some of their graphics processors due to a packaging defect.

At that same time, NVIDIA assured Apple that Mac computers with these graphics processors were not affected.

However, after an Apple-led investigation, Apple has determined that some MacBook Pro computers with the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor may be affected.

If the NVIDIA graphics processor in your MacBook Pro has failed, or fails within four years of the original date of purchase, a repair will be done free of charge, even if your MacBook Pro is out of warranty."

Happier time... my MBP driving the Viewsonic VP2250wb 21"

Color Fidelity Of E-P2 Kit Lens

It is Halloween again :)

We got home rather late at 7pm, get our sweets and lollies ready and watch group of fancy dressed children walk past our house!

Eh?  They came for trick or treat last year, why not this time?

We only learn why when a visiting neighbour told us the kids only knock on door of house when they see a balloon tied on the fence!

When was that rule implemented?  DUH!

Thank goodness some kids did come or we will have to eat all the lollies ourselves!

Waiting for the BIG HAND OUT ;)