Baby Care: The Pampus Diapers Comparison

Is the Pampers Premium Care (left) better than the Baby Dry (right)?
Image from Locky's English Playground

Ever since my baby Muse arrived to this planet, numerous relatives and dear friends have offered their best wishes in the forms of baby clothes and baby products. One form that is always welcome is of course diapers. There are many brands available in Hong Kong but Pampers is one of the best choices out there. For the purpose of gifting, the general impression is that it is best to buy the more expensive version.

The question is, is the more expensive version necessarily better than the standard?

In this post, I would like to share not only my opinions, but also opinions gathered from friends about the two versions of diapers -- Baby Dry and Premium Care.

Price Difference

Image from Locky's English Playground,
Source from Consumer Council

Hong Kongers are smart, particularly when it comes to saving money. Let's assume you are able to get the cheapest of each version from the supermarkets listed below, then the cost per diaper as of 10th Feb 2014 will be,

Premium Care (NB):  $49.9  / 36  = $1.39

Super Dry (NB):          $44.9  / 40  = $1.12

Premium Care (S):     $108.5 / 62  = $1.75

Super Dry (S):             $108.9 / 76  = $1.43

Premium Care (M):     $129.9 / 56  = $2.32

Super Dry (L):              $121.9 / 54  = $2.26

Super Dry (XL):           $121.9 / 46  = $2.65

Several key points worth noting here:

1. everyone of the version and size above comes with different number of diapers. Tricky!!! 
2. premium care is more expensive than Super Dry by roughly $0.2 to $0.3 per piece.
3. sizes not listed for Super Dry (M), Premium Care (L) and Premium Care (XL) are available but prices are not listed in the Consumer Council Price Check webpage.
4. 
   

Packaging

Pampers Premium Care
Image from Locky's English Playground

Premium Care has a white packet with 5 golden stars and a "Imported from Japan" emphasis in Chinese to make sure that you know this is a more superior version. The English words on the packet are at its minimal, showing only "Pampers Premium Care".

Pampers Baby Dry
Image from Locky's English Playground

Baby Dry has a green packet showing a baby sleeping very well, a couple of cartoon giraffes and human baby and a mother(or maid?) without a face. The only English word on the packet is "Pampers".

From this I can conclude that they do not care much about the non-Chinese customers and they assume that you know what you are buying anyway.


Size

Baby Dry (left, M) and Premium Care (right, S)
Image from Locky's English Playground

My baby has used both version of Pampers from newborn (NB) to small (S) to now medium (M), I can say that the difference between NB and S aren't that much different, that the overall length and width is about 0.5" longer. If you are thinking that you want to save more money, then of course go for the NB first and then upsize when your baby gets bigger. However, if you are getting discounts to buy then obviously you should get the S to avoid not having the right size diaper when you suddenly realise your baby has grown much bigger overnight. Generally speaking, I don't look at the suggested age part, I simply go by how comfortable it looks on my baby.

That being said, the M is really much bigger than S, yet you should still get some M for your baby when you realised that the S is not containing all that faeces. My baby girl started using M at less than 3 months old.


Quality

Microhooks that attaches to furry material but does not scratch baby's skin
Image from Locky's English Playground

Microhooks, not so magnified
Image from Locky's English Playground

Both versions have identical resealable tapes in the form of microhooks that attach to fibrous material but does not scratch baby's skin.

Baby Dry (left, M) and Premium Care (right, S)
Image from Locky's English Playground

Both have the same elasticated leg cuffs, both have the moist indicator line running through the middle of the diaper in NB and S size.

Baby Dry looks less detailed in manufacturing than Premium Care as you can see simple piece of cotton on the left diaper whereas the net pattern is prominent on the right. Surprisingly, the liquid absorbent in the Baby Dry version seems to perform much better than the one in Premium Care, so much that when the diapers are wet, the Baby Dry one remains dry inside while the Premium Care one soaks the buttocks, causing diaper rashes.


Conclusion

Needless to say, I prefer Baby Dry than Premium Care because it costs less and it more comfortable for my baby.

If there is a complaint to make, I would pick the absence of the moist indicator line in M (probably in X and XL). Why is Pampers going stingy on a line like that?



Vocabulary:
gifting -- (n) [U] The act, right, or power of giving.
faeces -- (n)[plural] formal (mainly US feces) the solid waste passed out of the body of a human or animal through the bowels:
elasticated leg cuff -- (n)[C] the material at the end of the diaper near the legs
resealable tape -- (n)[C] a tape that can be use multiple times to seal a diaper at the waist level
fibrous -- (adj) made of fibres, or like fibre


Resources:

Baby Dry @ Pampers
http://www.pampers.com/baby-diaper-baby-dry

Premium Care @ Pampers
http://translate.google.com.hk/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-TW&u=http://www.pampers.com.hk/&prev=/search?q%3Dpampers%2Bhong%2Bkong%2Benglish%26espv%3D210%26es_sm%3D122

Consumer Council 消費者委員會 － Supermarket Price Watch @ Consumer Council
http://www3.consumer.org.hk/pricewatch/supermarket/index.php?keyword=pampers

Diaper @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaper

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feces

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/gifting
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/faeces?q=+faeces
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/fibrous_1?q=fibrous

Living & Furniture: How To Remove Tape Residue?

Tape Residue... a tough enemy?
Image from Locky's English Playground

You know what the Chinese usually do after Chinese New Year other than counting their earn and loss of their red pockets? Most people would have not guessed this, and the answer is taking down their decorations. For my case, my wooden door.

Though there are amazing adhesives out there like 3M's, people like me go for (much) cheaper options. As a result, we have work to do when we take the decorations down.

And what do we get? Tape residues, a real tough enemy.

A scraper
Image from Locky's English Playground

We all know a scraper is a must, but with just the scraper you will end up with a very scratched door. You need something that dissolves the tape residue and offers some sort of lubrication.

After a little research, I found I have one at home.

WD-40
Image from Locky's English Playground

 Yes!  A can of WD-40 (Priced HD$42 at Japan Home).

Wet tape residue with WD-40
Image from Locky's English Playground

 The steps are simple, spray an adequate amount of WD-40 onto the tape residue.

Scrape sideway if residue short
Image from Locky's English Playground

Then scrape residue sideway if it is short enough. As you scrape, you kind of get the feeling whether there is enough of WD-40 on it so you are not scraping the protective layer on your door. The perfect situation is when you do not feel the door being scraped, but you feel the tape is smooth and it is coming off as you move the scraper along.

Scrape bottom-up if residue is long
Image from Locky's English Playground

If the tape residue is long, I recommend you try scraping it from bottom-up. That is because the WD-40 applied will most likely be running down the door, scraping the residue bottom-up allows you to bring the solvent back up to the tape as scraping continues, allowing you to recycle the liquid.

Residue removed
Image from Locky's English Playground

It would be advisable to scrape the same location several times until all the tape residues have been removed.

Clean as new
Image from Locky's English Playground

Once that's done, your door will look brand new again! Or maybe better, because now that your door has got a new layer of polish with the WD-40.

I bet both you and your door will be glad!

For more practical use of WD-40, check out the link "List of 2000+ Uses" of WD-40 below!


Vocabulary:
scraper -- (n)[C] see photo above.


Resources:
LIST OF 2000 + USES
http://wd40.com/files/pdf/wd-40_2042538679.pdf

http://visual.merriam-webster.com/house/do-it-yourself/painting-upkeep/scraper.php

Auto: Interviewed by The New York Times

Image from Tesla Motors Club

Two days ago, I received an email from The New York Times reporter Alan inviting me to an interview to talk about how the First Registration Tax, if expires, will affect the sale of Tesla Model S in Hong Kong.

Image from Tesla Motors Blog

It was quite a surprise because I had never expected anyone from Hong Kong to read my comment on one of the Tesla Motor Blog posts titled "A Fair Price", which talks about the unconventional fair price that Tesla is placing on the Model S offered to the buyers in China.

Comments by Locky
Image from Tesla Motors Blog

Ever since I have stopped writing for Singtao Student Page, It has been quite awhile since my name last made it to a newspaper.

I selfishly arranged the interview at a cafe in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University as I had to conduct my seminar at 4:30pm (or at least I thought so, until I eventually realised that I was one week early as the actual date is in fact next Friday... the students are still on Chinese New Year holidays! Bummer!).

Alan is a friendly young lad, and very tall indeed, at least 15cm taller than me. In the one-hour interview, I particularly appreciate that he was always interested in everything I said -- from the reasons I choose a particular configuration of the Model S (well, would you guess it is because of my little baby girl? ) to my opinions of how might a non-extension of the First Registration Tax would impact the sales of Model S in Hong Kong, his pen and his notepad had been working tenaciously throughout.

Apparently he is no newbie to Tesla, for he has already written several articles about the company, still he was polite to say he had learnt quite a bit from me, that is an act of respect for his interviewee well-demonstrated.

A guy like Alan, who wants to raise the public awareness of government policies towards electric vehicles, deserves more assistance from the Tesla community in Hong Kong, thus on the same day, I posted a message on a thread I started on Tesla Motors Club Hong Kong forum to call for assistance should Alan approach any of them.

When Alan's article is out, Locky's English Playground will definitely not miss it!


Resources:

A Fair Price | Blog | Tesla Motors
http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/fair-price

Message: Locky's English Playground on Singtao Student Page!! @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/02/message-lockys-english-playground-on.html

Latest Tesla Motors-Related News (Feel Free To Post Here) @ Tesla Motors Club Hong Kong
http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/26167-Latest-Tesla-Motors-Related-News-%28Feel-Free-To-Post-Here%29

Hong Kong Firm Makes Bid for Fisker Automotive Assets @ The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/14/business/international/hong-kong-firm-makes-bid-for-fisker-automotive-assets.html?_r=0

Auto & Vocabulary: What Do We Call The Parts of A Car?

Traditional petrol / diesel vehicle
Image from infovisual.info

We have been talking about automobile for awhile but some of my students are saying they are not familiar with the related English terms. Well, that's easy, here are some of the best illustrations on the internet.

BMW
Image from clickbd

Some of the words which frequent appear on Locky's English Playground are

1. sunroof, 
2. trunk, 
3. hood,
4. grill,
5. bumper,
6. headlights

Tesla Model S, look for the capital-letter words
Image from teslamotorsclub

Other which might come in handy are

1. spoiler
2. side skirt
3. muffler

Image from autobizz.com.my

Muffler
Image from hondapartworld

As simple as it gets when learning vocabulary with images.

Message: Happy Chinese New Year 2014!!!

Image from LINE Hong Kong

I'm taking a Chinese New Year break, like all others in Hong Kong,

As usual, there are lots to learn in CNY, so don't forget to revise some festive vocabulary in the links below!

Happy Horsey New Year!!!


Resources:


Food: Chinese Delicacy @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2010/02/food-chinese-delicacy.html 

Food: Festive Puddings @ Locky's English Playground 
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2010/02/food-festive-puddings.html 

Vocabulary: Chinese New Year Flowers and Plants @ Locky's English Playground 
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2010/02/vocabulary-chinese-new-year-flowers-and.html 

Technology: The Ultimate Guide To Unbrick 16 Gb International Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (SM-N9005) And Upgrade To KitKat 4.4.2 Through Custom ROM

Want 4.4.2 KitKat on your Note 3? Gotta be very careful!
Image from Locky English Playground

And I was going to make a good old demonstration of "how to install Stock KitKat ROM on your SM-N9005", until the whole thing got so out-of-hand... here are my failed attempts compressed into a real short video...

My Note 3 was soft-bricked, meaning that a failure in flashing software has caused my phone to become a 'brick', a not-dead-but-unusable condition.

Reminder from a fellow XDA member
Image from XDA-Developers

After asking, I got a reply above.

It was a bummer! But it is one that can hardly avoid having all those upgrade tutorials on YouTube which didn't mention the uniqueness of 16Gb Hong Kong Note 3. Why should they mention anyway? They don't have 16Gb Hong Kong Note 3 in the first place.

Thanks Samsung for making the Hong Kong Note 3 so special, such that it is the Note 3 with the smallest storage in the world (16Gb) when the rest of the world are getting at least 32Gb! For this and for the trouble you have caused Samsung, I hate you!

Initial Failed Attempt
Image from Locky English Playground

After 2 days of research, I have finally arrived at a completely, perfectly usable state!!! And it is functioning with speed!!

However, from soft-bricked to success, the road had not been smooth. There was about a day or so that my phone was able to boot and use the internet, but had no in/outgoing call, no sound, no Google Now, no S-Voice, no camera, slow lockscreen and slow settings.

I have followed all the instructions given by several XDA members, but I still could not get it to work. Why?

That's because all those instructions are inaccurate. The thing is, minor details that are missing can be real serious, and for that, I want to write a very very detailed descriptions on how to solve this soft-brick issue specifically for 16 Gb International Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (SM-N9005) when upgrading to KitKat 4.4.2.

Before you start, you'll need, a Custom ROM, eg. Sweet ROM v7.01 4.4.2 NA6                         Download here a leaked N9005XXUENA6 4.4.2 KitKat ROM for Note 3              Download here a Hong Kong N9005ZHUBMI7 Rescue ROM                                 Download here the latest CWM Recovery, eg 6.0.4.7                                               Download here Odin 3.07                                                                                         Download here the latest Samsung USB Driver                                                          Download here Samsung Kies                                                                                   Download here Note 3 16Gb SM-N9005 from Hong Kong at 50% battery level a Note 3 USB 3.0 cable  Installation Instructions: Install Samsung Kies Install Samsung USB Driver Connect USB into PC and Note 3, then copy Custom ROM onto the SD card Download Mode Image from androidayos Put Note 3 into Download mode by holding Power + Volume down + Home buttons at the same time until you see "Warning!!", then press Volume up When you see "Downloading..." and Android logo, plug in the USB into the PC and Note 3 Run Odin 3.07 (See my video) When you see a blue 0:[COM4], in the Bootloader put leaked KitKat's BL file, and in PIT, PDA, PHONE, CSC put Hong Kong N9005ZHUBMI7 Rescue ROM's PIT, AP, CP and CS respectively and then press Start to flash. When Note 3 restarts, it will keep rebooting and it will only show Samsung boot screen, at this time, remove the battery and then put it back. Repeat Step 4, 5 and 6 In Odin 3.07, go to PDA and choose CWM Recovery, eg 6.0.4.7, and press Start to flash, it will reboot automatically when complete. Unplug the USB. When the phone reboots, it will boot into CWM Recovery. If it asks you to root phone, just say no. Otherwise, select Wipe data/factory rest --> yes, Wipe Cache --> yes, advance --> Wipe Dalvik Cache --> yes. This will erase the unwanted files and prepare your phone for the good stuff. Image from GalaxyNote3Root.com Go to install zip --> choose zip from /external_sd and select the Custom ROM you have chosen, then choose yes to flash. This will take about 3 minutes, press reboot after it is completed. This reboot will be slow, and most likely there will be no sound at boot and errors at setup, be extremely patient and wait for the screen asking you to choose Language to appear. Choose the language you want, press Next, then do nothing else!!!! Without doing anything else, repeat step 4, 5 and 6. In Odin 3.07, go to CP, choose leaked KitKat's CP file and then press Start to flash. When the phone reboots, you should hear the Samsung bootup music and then everything will be functioning perfectly! Finally! KitKat 4.4.2 on my Note 3!! Image from Locky English Playground

The moral of the story is, you have got to have brain and perseverance to work with KitKat 4.4.2.



Vocabulary:
bummer -- (n)[S] informal a disappointing or unpleasant situation or experience.
soft-brick -- (vb) The word "brick", when used in reference to consumer electronics, describes an electronic device such as a smart phone, game console, router, or tablet computer that, due to a serious misconfiguration, corrupted firmware, or a hardware problem, can no longer function. Soft brick = recoverable without professional repair; hard brick = not recoverable, it's basically a paper weight


Resources:
[ROM][N9005] Sweet ROM V7 NA6 4.4.2 KIT KAT [Jan 14th][Super Quick, Snappy & Smooth] - Page 65 @ XDA-developers
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=49772144&highlight=hong+kong#post49772144

How To Get Into Download Mode @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1koIpRfs7s&feature=youtu.be

How I Soft-Bricked My Note 3 (SM-N9005) With The Wrong Upgrade Instructions @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeK-nRJUuUg&feature=youtu.be

Technology: The Ultimate Guide To Unbrick 16 Gb International Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (SM-N9005) And Upgrade To KitKat 4.4.2 Through Custom ROM @ XDA-Developers
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=49831876

https://www.google.com.hk/search?q=bummer&oq=bummer&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.733j0j7&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brick_(electronics)
http://forums.androidcentral.com/android-4-1-4-2-4-3-jelly-bean/303013-difference-between-hard-soft-brick.html