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Everyone knows I love Sang Som Royal Thai Rum.  I buy at least one bottle of it per week.  I’ve noticed something disturbing about Sang Som lately though, as I have bought several bottles that tasted bad.  There is something different about these bad bottles; some additive or property that imparts a bad taste.  I first noticed it a few weeks ago, and since that time, 2 more bottles I’ve recently purchased have the same additive flavor.  As far as I can tell, it only effects the large bottles as the smaller bottles taste fine.  In my home I have a bad bottle and a good bottle.  Guests who are not as familar with Sang Som as I am can smell and taste the difference.

Hui-chen thinks these bad bottles might even be fakes, but I hesitate to make such a claim.  But it looks like I’ll be buying the small bottles for awhile.

Olympic Village opened this week in Beijing. I’ve noticed a distinct correlation between that event and the number of visitors to this blog from China.

Today I read a very interesting article from Chinabounder (yes, he’s back!), and I thought I’d share this with you. I would like to know if other bloggers are experiencing an increase in Chinese traffic too.  Here are some excerpts that apply to this discussion (emphasis mine).

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Typhoon Fung-Wong, Part II from MJ Klein on Vimeo.

Please bear with us while we are still trying to get our blog back to normal. My Nikon D80 has been in the shop for parts of 3 weeks to fix a simple CCD bad pixel re-mapping, which is taking forever! Without my Nikon, I feel little compulsion for blogging, you understand.

Unless you’ve been under a rock you know that there is another typhoon bearing down on Taiwan. This thing is a full day away, and yet is dumping a fair amount of rain on us already. Last night about 01:00 (AM) the drain in the first floor kitchen started to backflow, dumping water up into the kitchen. As you recall, the last time that happened our living room was under a few centimeters of water. This time however, I was ready, for I had purchased a submersible pump the previous week while shopping at B&Q.

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Photos by MJ Klein - A Few Food Photos….

The Carolina Theatre hosted a nice program for Veterans of World War II, featuring the film The Longest Day, on June 6, 2008. June 6th is better known as “D-Day.” From Wikipedia:

“D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. “D-Day” often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar terms. The initial D in D-Day has had various meanings in the past, while more recently it has obtained the connotation of “Day” itself, thereby creating the phrase “Day-Day”, or “Day of Days”.^[1]“

So even though D-Day is a generic term used in Military Science as time variable, D-Day term has since become synonymous with the invasion of Normandy. Wikipedia has more:

“Normandy Landings were the first operations of the Allied Powers‘ invasion of Normandy, also known as Operation Neptune and Operation Overlord, during World War II. D-Day for the operation, postponed 24 hours, became June 6, 1944, H-Hour was 6:30 am. The assault was conducted in two phases: an air assault landing of American and British airborne divisions shortly after midnight, and an amphibious landing of Allied infantry and armoured divisions on the coast of France commencing at 06:30 British Double Summer Time. It required the transport of soldiers and materiel from England and Wales by troop carrying aeroplanes and ships, the assault landings, air support, naval interdiction of the English Channel and naval fire-support. There were also subsidiary operations to distract the Kriegsmarine and prevent its interference in the landing areas.^[1]“

Everyone thought that Dad would like to see this program. The only problem with taking Dad was the fact that it conflicted with Elliot’s High School graduation. After deliberation, my sister felt that we should take Dad to the movie and I agreed.

L to R: Janet (sister), Dad, Elliot (Janet’s son) and Wanda (Dad’s wife)

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This month’s issue of Next Magazine has a tantilizing cover photo of Janet Hsieh in a bright red bikini.  The magazine is worth purchasing for that alone!

I picked up the magazine and as I was looking at the photo, I think I see something.  Something that neither the photographer or publisher intended.  Or did they?

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A dangerous typhoon is approaching Taiwan. From the looks of things, it will sneak around the west side and hit our most populous areas - with no protection from the mountains!

Bushman’s Typhoon Blog: Typhoon FENGSHEN (FRANK) now over Metro Manila-Bulacan [Update #007]

+ FORECAST OUTLOOK: FENGSHEN is expected to pass over Bulacan around 8-9 AM
this morning before moving into Angeles-Pampanga area on or before noontime
today. It shall be over Zambales this afternoon.

The sudden Northerly turn of Fengshen was due to the long-awaited weakening
of the high pressure steering ridge located over Taiwan which was supposed
to weaken yesterday..and the development of a peripheral steering ridge
southeast of Fengshen or just to the east of Mindanao.

Above is a chart predicting the probabilities (in percent) that Typhoon FENGSHEN will pass within 120 km of Taiwan area during the 72 hours starting at 2008/06/22 18 UTC.

Please take the necessary precautionary measures!

Photo by MJ Klein

Hui-chen and I were awakened out of a sound sleep by an explosion. The next day I found out what happened:

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DATELINE: HUKOU, TAIWAN

 419 scammers, so-called after the Nigerian criminal code statute dealing with advance fee fraud, are getting smarter every day.  Recently a friend sent this reporter the following email (personal details removed).  This new development in 419 scamming techniques is significant.  Notice the website and email domains mentioned:

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