For some strange reason, the Chung Hwa office is not on the 21st floor. It's on the 40th. It took a few minutes to find it.

It's 8:38AM on a Friday morning. There are already six people waiting in line at the door. The Chung Hwa Travel Agency opens its doors at 9AM. Fees have been upped. Single entry visitor's visa is $400HK + $200HK for same day processing.

Man and daughter walk up to the counter. She's about 10, squat-like with glasses. He's tall, Canadian and has blond hair. He sports a beard of a few days.

-Good morning ma'am, and how are you today
(unintelligible response)
-Today, we'd like to apply for a student visa for my daughter
(unintelligible response)
-My wife is Taiwanese, but she's not my daughter's mother.
(unintelligible response)
-She's her step-daughter.
(unintelligible response)
-I'm still waiting on my criminal record check. They lost it and I had to send for it again.
(unintelligible response)
-I've only got photocopies, I was told that it would be enough.
(unintelligible response)

-At this time, we can not offer you ANY visa, due to (unintelligible response).
(shocked consternation)

-Your photos are too small. Please get some new ones.

- Irei fazer os últimos exames nesta semana e tenho que acertar a rescisão do contrato com o Grêmio. Meu empresário já conversou com o Cruzeiro e fiquei feliz em saber que o clube quer meu retorno. Eu também quero muito voltar - afirma.

Os dirigentes da Raposa não estipularam ainda uma data para a reapresentação do defensor. Teco afirmou que até o início da próxima semana deverá chegar à Toca da Raposa 2.

Fonte: GloboEsporte.com.

Éééé, Grêmio vai se desvincular de quatro ou cinco jogadores por agora, reduzindo, assim, em R$ 150 mil a sua folha salarial mensal. Teco voltou para o Cruzeiro, o contrato do volante Marcelo Labarthe foi rescindido, ele já não treinava com a equipe principal, Hidalgo volta ao Libertad, do Paraguai e Eduardo Costa, ao Espanyol pois o Grêmio ainda não conseguiu chegar a um acordo com o time para prorrogar seu empréstimo ou adquirir seu vínculo. E por último, Jonas que anda fora dos planos de Celso Roth e em breve deve ser negociado com o futbeol asiático.

Fazendo essa limpa toda, o clube está se preparando para algum bom reforço? :D Tomara que venha alguém de peso pra esse time!

Por: Kaka'

Aparentemente, mais um erro da diretoria, no meu ponto de vista, assim como foi a dispensa de Júlio dos Santos. O jogador tem seu empréstimo terminando no dia 30 de junho, e a diretoria decidiu devolvê-lo ao Cruzeiro. No entanto, Teco é um ótimo zagueiro, já foi considerado um dos melhores, e fortalecia muito o esquema defensivo do Grêmio na Era Mano Menezes.

Infelizmente, as contusões o assombraram, principalmente a do joelho esquerdo. Ficou quase um ano sem jogar, o inferno das lesões começou na final da Libertadores, diante do Boca Juniors.

Mas se recuperado totalmente, Teco pode ser uma peça muito importante para Celso Roth. Mas a diretoria, de acordo com parte da imprensa esportiva, prefere investir em Wagner e Héverton. Este parece ser um bom zagueiro, foi eleito o melhor zagueiro do  Trofeo Angelo Dossena. Mas Wagner já foi testado, tende a ser um bom zagueiro, mas ficou claro o seu nervosismo no início da temporada, e correu o risco de ser queimado. Manteria o Teco, ele recuperado poderia  disputar uma vaga entre os titulares, ainda mais, com a iminente saída de Léo para o futebol europeu. 

Por outro, não sabemos se o Cruzeiro o queria de volta, se o preço exigido pelos mineiros era alto. Mas se fosse uma dessas hipóteses, seria bobagem a diretoria não explicá-las. 

De qualquer jeito, valeu pelo seu serviço e força, Teco!

Los socialistas de la mancomunidad de municipios de la comarca cacereña de Las Hurdes han solicitado al PP que "tome medidas para impedir que la mala gestión y la falta de proyecto político del presidente de la entidad empeore y continúe la ingobernabilidad y la ineficacia de los actuales dirigentes de la misma, si es preciso incluso con la sustitución del titular".

A través de un comunicado remitido por la oficina provincial del PSOE, se recuerda que ha transcurrido "ya casi un año desde que el PP se hizo cargo de la Mancomunidad y la situación de los vecinos y los trabajadores de la misma va en aumento, por lo que no aceptan que se les culpe de los problemas existentes en la comarca".

A este respecto, señalan que, tras su toma de posesión, "el actual presidente de la Mancomunidad consiguió que se fuera el secretario, posteriormente un técnico del Taller de Empleo y Casa de Oficios (TECO) y a principios de mayo pasado ha logrado que renuncie la gerente".

Ante estos hechos, los socialistas hurdanos "denuncian que los trabajadores del TECO no cobran, las basuras se acumulan en los pueblos de la comarca y las depuradoras siguen paralizadas desde hace seis meses, vertiendo sus aguas sucias y malolientes a los ríos hurdanos", añade el comunicado.

Por todo ello, el PSOE de Las Hurdes solicita al presidente de la Mancomunidad que "se dedique a solucionar los problemas y no en culparles de la situación, pues gracias a ellos la comarca disfruta hoy de numerosos servicios e infraestructuras".

Asimismo, piden al PP, "partido en el que milita el actual presidente (que en 1999 se presentó a las elecciones por IU, en 2003 como independiente, y en 2007 por el PP) que le releve si es preciso para impedir la paralización de la Mancomunidad".

Finalmente, los socialistas de la mancomunidad hurdana muestran "su sorpresa" por las críticas realizadas al alcalde de Casares de Las Hurdes, "que no tenía mayores responsabilidades en la Mancomunidad que el actual presidente y que, sin embargo, se ha caracterizado en su trayectoria política por realizar inversiones en su municipio para evitar la despoblación con numerosos proyectos, como la residencia de ancianos", concluye el comunicado.

On Tuesday night, I packed my lunch. I had bought bus tickets to get to Ottawa earlier that day. I had planned on either arriving early and then meeting up with someone from Couchsurfing, or leaving as late as possible and managing until 9AM when the TECO office in Ottawa opened.

Needless to say that I didn't get in contact with someone in Couchsurfing. There are only two people in Ottawa. So I got onto the bus at 8PM. I was surprised. The bus was very comfortable and I had space for my legs. That usually isn't the case. The last time I had taken the bus was in 2006 on a similar trip to Ottawa right before leaving Montreal. That trip was hellish. I won't get into to many details, but in the end, I had to charter a cab for 300$ to drive me back to Montreal, since if I had taken the bus, I wouldn't have made my flight. Traffic was killer in Montreal and I had to meet my wife directly at the airport. I forgot to pack a few items.

I arrived in Montreal at 10:40PM. The last bus to Ottawa was at midnight. I started reading Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds. I've read it before and it's one of my favorite books.

I got onto the midnight bus to Ottawa. This was a Greyhound bus and it was more cramped than the Orleans Express bus I had been on. Anyway, the uneventful trip landed me in Ottawa at 2AM.

I hadn't really planned anything. I was informed that the station was about to close. I got directed to a 24 hour diner, the Elgin Street Diner. I got myself over there with Oscar, a guy who was waiting for a connecting bus to Toronto at 7AM.

Methad met us there as well. He came from Toronto and needed to visit the US embassy in Ottawa. It opened at 8:30AM. We were all young guys and we spent most of the night talking. I snoozed off for a few minutes when I got tired. More on Oscar and Methad in upcoming storytree posts.

Oscar left at around 6AM. Methad and I left at around 7:40AM for the US embassy. I only had to be at the TECO office for 9AM, the time it opened. My paperwork was all in order. I was planning on snapping a few pictures around Sussex Dr. and Parliament Hill.

The morning was cold, but not too cold. Light was great and I walked around and took pictures. They are uploading right now. I went to the TECO office and freshened up in their nice swanky bathroom. I was at the office door when the woman arrived at 8:45AM. She let me in and saw me at about 8:50AM. It was all pretty straightforward. I just dropped off my papers and left. I was told that I could come by at 3PM to get my passport.

I went to the bottom floor of the World Exchange Plaza at 45 O'Connor St. I found a place in a food court and sat myself down. The National Gallery would be opening at 10AM. It was a little after 9. I promptly took out a book, opened it up and pretended to read while I snoozed away. It was a fitful snooze at best.

My leg had started aching sometime ago and I knew that I wouldn't be able to walk around a lot today. In the end, I ate my lunch, read and slept there until 2:30PM. The National Gallery would have to be visited some other time.

I went to the bathroom to freshen up once more and arrived at the TECO office at 2:45PM. The woman handed me over my passport and visa and I was off. I got into a cab and made the 3PM bus to Montreal, which was full and cramped. I managed to sleep and read a bit. I arrived in Montreal at 5:45PM. That was a long trip!

I managed to get onto the 6PM bus to Quebec City just in time. Once again, the Orleans Express buses were a lot more comfortable. However, it was full. I saw a girl writing in a journal and that prompted me to get out my own notebook and paperblog about what I had been through.

I arrived in Quebec at around 8:30PM and took a city bus home. I ate a bit and watched a few things, too dazed and confused to do anything else.

I'm back in Quebec in about 24 hours. I'm leaving for Taiwan at 6:35AM on Friday. I'll arrive at about 9PM on Saturday. I'll have a few hours to kill in the HK airport, but that's always been the case.

It's going to be a hectic few days in order to prepare everything, but I'm already almost set.

I'm not sure if I will try out couchsurfing or not. I've tried contacting a guy and we'll see what happens. If I can't set it up in time, I'll have to leave in the early hours of Wednesday morning, around 3AM most likely. That way, I'm sure to arrive at 8AM to the TECO office in Ottawa.

I barely slept last night because I my flights weren't confirmed and I hadn't yet spoken to my boss in detail about my upcoming departure. Turns out that my flights were confirmed and my boss was really nice and guaranteed me a job when I come back in late August.

My wife has already found me a few little jobs in Taiwan, which is pretty sweet. I've sent out a few CVs, but I'm looking for sub work. Or full time employment during the summer.

Tomorrow, I'll see if I can find a place on Allo-Stop. I doubt that it will work out. Most likely, I'll use the bus and arrive in Ottawa at around 8PM.

If Couchsurfing doesn't pan out, I'll leave early Wednesday morning.

Thus, if you want a stable TECO (and who doesn't want a stable editor?) you are better off getting a version of TECO-C and compiling it or installing it onto OpenVMS rather then using EDIT/TECO.

Believe it or not - I learned more about TECO before I learned about OpenVMS. And even among OpenVMS people, the TECO users must seem to be antiquarians or eccentrics! I just like the idea of programming my text editor.... (so I'm a little strange...)

Of course, vim and other more current editors are also available - and there are EDT clones for other machines if your inclination leans that way.

PS: Talking of editors - do any of you remember a text editor called NEAT? I seem to remember liking it, but I haven't seen it since the Univac 1100/80 was decommissioned at the local university (a long time ago). And have you tried googling for a NEAT editor? (ouch!)

TECO stands for the Tape Editor and COrrector, and was a text editor that basically included its own language.  In this age of full-screen color graphic displays, it can be hard to imagine what it must have been like in the days of paper tape when TECO was created (one mistake and you start over!).  The best description I found of TECO is an article by Mark Chu-Carroll in his Friday Pathological Programming Language series. He calls TECO the world's most useful pathological programming language.

I won't go into it too much - the documentation is surprisingly complete for a computer program of this age and obscurity. One fun thing to note is that every character is a command - not every text character, not every alphabetic character, not alphanumerics - every character is a command. Let that sink in - ^C? Abort TECO's command sequence. ^X? Search mode flag. ^U? Kill command line..... or put a string into a specified register!

For some of us, this makes editing fun - and gives it a little edge! No screen editing here.....

Here are some sources of fun:

• Tom Almy's TECO page
• TECO at Wikipedia

As an example of TECO programming, (courtesy of Mark Chu-Carroll) here is a brainfsck interpreter written in TECO!

@^UB#@S/{^EQQ,/#@^UC#@S/,^EQQ}/@-1S/{/#@^UR#.U1ZJQZ\^SC.,.+-^SXQ-^SDQ1J#
@^U9/[]-+<>.,/<@:-FD/^N^EG9/;>J30000<0@I//>ZJZUL30000J0U10U20U30U60U7
@^U4/[]/@^U5#<@:S/^EG4/U7Q7; -AU3(Q3-91)"=%1|Q1"=.U6ZJ@i/{/Q2\@i/,/Q6\@i/}
/Q6J0;'-1%1'>#<@:S/[/UT.U210^T13^TQT;QT"NM5Q2J'>0UP30000J.US.UI
<(0A-43)"=QPJ0AUTDQT+1@I//QIJ@O/end/'(0A-45)"=QPJ0AUTDQT-1@I/
/QIJ@O/end/'(0A-60)"=QP-1UP@O/end/'(0A-62)"=QP+1UP@O/end/'(0A-46)"=-.+QPA
^T(-.+QPA-10)"=13^T'@O/end/'(0A-44)"=^TUT8^TQPJDQT@I//QIJ@O/end/'(0A-91)
"=-.+QPA"=QI+1UZQLJMRMB\    -1J.UI'@O
/end/'(0A-93)"=-.+QPA"NQI+1UZQLJMRMC\-1J.UI'@O/end/'
!end!QI+1UI(.-Z)"=.=@^a/END/^c^c'C>

I'd like to see it work once..... There are TECO clones for MSDOS, Windows, and UNIX.

And by the way: TECO remains available to this day on OpenVMS - which operating system will celebrate its 30th anniversary on October 25th.  Mark your calendars!

In no time will China become the largest market for flat panel TVs such as LCD TVs and plasma TVs. As overall per-capita income levels rise in China, demand for flat panel TVs will surely grow and will soon eclipse the US and western Europe as the largest potential TV market. But at the moment, only the cheapest LCD TVs are sold in large numbers in China due to comparatively (to their income) high prices.

Source: Taiwan Headlines

#1 Kolin, 4,000+
#2 Chimei
#3 Panasonic
#4 Sony

The surprising thing is that Sony took the #1 spot at all. Sony being a premium brand with premium prices, you wouldn’t expect it to outsell dirt-cheap LCD TVs from Kolin, Tatung, Sampo, Teco, etc. but it did. Sony’s premium brand continues but at less premium prices. Sony has become the new value leader and will continue to offer aggressive prices for top-of-the-line design and technology. That’s hard to beat.

Source: DigiTimes

Sharp's internal LCD capacity is not enough to fulfill all the demand from its Sharp TV BU. So, Sharp went looking for LCD merchants and found AUO to be suitable. My guess is that AUO's LCD TV panel technology infringed on Sanky/TECO's patents. The settlement of the lawsuit and cross-licensing with a supplier of LCD TV panels that are much needed to continue competing, is a plus plus for Sharp.

Source: Nikkei Electronics Asia