Auto & Events: FIA Formula E Hong Kong Press Conference feat. Charged Hong Kong

Hong Kong ePrix circuit
Image from Locky's English Playground

Charged Hong Kong was invited to attend the FIA Formula E Hong Kong press conference held at the Central Harbourfront Event Space yesterday.

Seats for Mark and I
Image from Locky's English Playground

Mark Webb-Johnson, chairman of Charged Hong Kong, and myself, Tesla group representative of Charged Hong Kong, were offered the second front row VIP seats with Lawrence Yu Kam-kee, President of Hong Kong Automobile Association (HKAA), right behind the Chief Executive of Hong Kong CY Leung and the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development of Hong Kong Gregory So. What an honour!

Chief Executive of Hong Kong CY Leung (left) and the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development of Hong Kong Gregory So (right)
Image from Locky's English Playground

Because of that, Mark and I were also captured in many of the photos, all of which I firmly believed will be discarded eventually.

CY and Gregory photographed by a group of reporters
Image from Locky's English Playground

Still, it was the first time I have never been photographed so many times in my life.

Mark broadcasting the event with Periscope app on his always reliable iPhone 6
Image from Locky's English Playground

Because the event only accepted invited guests, Mark diligently live broadcast the event with Periscope app on his always reliable iPhone 6 while I took photos and videos on my crappy camera Samsung Note 3, hence the following photos:

The moment that Gregory was introduced
Image from Locky's English Playground

Taking photos are often easy for me but it was a tricky yesterday as I had to juggle between photographing, uploading photos and videos to chat groups and Facebook, and waiting for calls from Tesla's driver as he was delivering my car to IFC after the completion of door replacement.

Formula E car waiting to be unveiled
Image from Locky's English Playground

And just as the Formula E car was about to be unveiled, counting down from 3 and I was videoing, the Tesla driver called and cut off the video recording, as you shall see later in the video below.

Lawrence Yu making his speech
Image from Locky's English Playground

The Lawrence Yu speech was quite moving as he himself almost teared out when he said that he has been striving to get Formula E to Hong Kong for years and to be able to do so on the 9th October (2016) next year is his best 70th birthday present. Great guy! Through Mark's introduction, I got to shake hands with him after the conference and thank him for all his contributions to EV development in Hong Kong.

My little selfie with Mark who barely noticed that I took it
Image from Locky's English Playground

First ever Formula E world champion Nelson Piquet Jr.
Image from Locky's English Playground

The charming Formula E world champion Nelson Piquet Jr. was of course the centre of attention for the entire event as he talked about his racing experience, techniques and feelings about Hong Kong as the venue for Formula E next year.

Future racers meet today's champion
Image from Locky's English Playground

Our future racers of Hong Kong were the luckiest as they got to meet the champion and received autographed Formula E caps as gift.

Right after the press conference, I had to run all the way back to IFC to collect my beautifully fixed Tesla Model S, drive it to the IFC car park, then run all the way back to the venue. Quite a bit of exercise.

OUTATIME, yeah! Back to the future are we?
Image from Locky's English Playground

Because the press conference was in fact part of the Hong Kong Classic car show, we got to see so many classic automobiles, like this DMC De Lorean from back to the future.

Really OUTATIME
Image from Locky's English Playground

As well as the original AE 86 Trueno from Initial D as shown below.

AE 86 Treuno without Tofu logo.
Image from Locky's English Playground

There are of course, so many I do not recognise, but they are 99% kept in terrific shape!

Image from Locky's English Playground

Image from Locky's English Playground

There are no modern EVs around except the Formula e one and the Solar Powered Electric Vehicle by IVE Sophie Team in the photo below.

Solar Powered Electric Vehicle by IVE Sophie Team in the photo below.
Image from Locky's English Playground

At the extra time, we witnessed a TVB newsanchor doing her report while sitting on the Formula EV, 

TVB newsanchor adds weight on her report
Image from Locky's English Playground

I took photo of Mark with his long-time friend Lawrence Yu and had a quick chat (followup chat later)

Lawrence Yu (left), President of Hong Kong Automobile Association, in photo with Mark Webb-Johnson (right), chairman of Charged Hong Kong
Image from Locky's English Playground

and Mark took a great photo of me.

Charged Hong Kong Tesla Group Representative Locky Law with Formula E electric car
Photo by Mark Webb-Johnson

Many thanks to Mark for his miraculous strength and perseverance in Periscoping the event:

Resources:

Charged Hong Kong @ FIA Formula E Hong Kong Press Conference +YouTube
https://youtu.be/KNMfskBYQHc

Formula E 明年中環海濱決鬥 睇電驅方程式必須知道的 13 件事 @e-Zone
http://www.e-zone.com.hk/channelnews.php?id=9336

Formula E 2016 年殺到香港 睇電驅方程式必須知道的 13 件事（續）@e-Zone
http://www.e-zone.com.hk/channelnews.php?id=9337

Charged Hong Kong @ FIA Formula E Hong Kong Press Conference (Periscope App Part 1)
https://youtu.be/5wOCTE2LOmE

Charged Hong Kong @ FIA Formula E Hong Kong Press Conference (Periscope App Part 2)
https://youtu.be/V5_-tPFL6XU

Photography & Books: Ansel Adams' The Camera & merican Grotesque : The Life and Art of William Mortensen

Image from Locky's English Playground

I really have not been writing my blog enough. All my focus has been put to writing my thesis draft and my own research. I ask myself, is there really nothing I can write about while I focus on my research?

Recently, I am trying to find clues of understanding the meanings of images, and where to look for these interpretations? I suppose no better than from the masters of photography -- if you want to learn something, learn from the best.

In 1966, Ansel Adams visited UC Irvine to photograph its distinctive new buildings as part of a project commissioned by UC President Clark Kerr to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the University of California. Adams took more than 100 photographs of the new Irvine campus. They were published in a commemorative book titled Fiat Lux, after the university’s motto, which means “let there be light.”

Caption and image from UC Irvine

Widely known as the master of black-and-white landscape photography and his work at the Yellowstone National Park, Ansel Adams is the definitive photographic role model for everyone. Whether you are a fan of Adams or not, if you have never heard of Ansel Adams, there is a good chance that you actually do not know photography.

Tetons and Snake River
Image by Ansel Adams, from National Archive

But after reading this book called Ansel Adams : The Camera, I sure have learned more about photography and a lot about older cameras, but little on how to read an image. Obviously, this book is not meant to teach the reading of photographs, but I was hoping he would leak a bit of his insights through his explanation of visualization. Too bad, the most relevant line was this,

"All such impressions are partly subjective, and there are no rules that must be followed. We should follow instead the dictates of our visualization." (Adams, 1995, p.106)

Image from Locky's English Playground

Coincidentally, I was reading another book called American Grotesque : The Life and Art of William Mortensen, and it was interesting to find how much hatred Adams had for Mortensen, another master but of a very different philosophy.

In terms of relevance to my research, Mortensen provided something more,

"Photography, like any other art, is a form of communication. The artist is not blowing bubbles for his own gratification, but is speaking a language, is telling somebody something. Three corollaries are derived from this proposition.

a. As a language, art fails unless it is clear and unequivocal in saying what it means.
b. Ideas may be communicated, not things.
c. Art expresses itself, as all languages do, in terms of symbols."

I am still trying to relate these information but I have a feeling I might be getting something.

Resources:
Ansel Adams Gallery
http://www.anseladams.com/

Food & Dining: School Food @Time Square Causeway Bay

Interesting wall decor
Image from Locky's English Playground

My Dropbox has been stacking up too many photos taken of visits to new restaurants, now that my confirmation report has been submitted, it is about time to clear them up.

Back in late June, my wife, baby Muse and I visited School Food at Time Square. My wife had been wanting to try out the food for a long while, so after several persuasions stretching across several months. I think it was time to let her have her say. (I'm just joking, she always has her say).

Pork fried rice
Image from Locky's English Playground

One reason why I never really wanted to visit this restaurant, was the lack of amazing, wowing food on the recommended food board they place outside their restaurant. What's so interesting about sushi at a Korean restaurant? Or fried chicken that looks inferior to that of Pizza Maru's? Why would I want to try replicas and not the original? Then I tried to persuade myself that, fusion food is always worth a try, so what the hell, just try it.

Strawberry special
Image from Locky's English Playground

I only opted for the pork fried rice, for it is the only dish that looked filling to me. It was good. The strawberry special was baby Muse's favourite.

Sushi
Image from Locky's English Playground

 Sushi was, well, sushi-like.

Sushi from a different angle
Image from Locky's English Playground

 The lack of soy sauce and wasabi but the presence of a few drops of salad sauce made the difference.

Carbonara Korean year cake
Image from Locky's English Playground

Carbonara Korean year cake was nice, but I have yet to try anything Carbonara that isn't nice. It is the safest sauce to go for if you know / don't know what you are doing.

Korean fried chicken
Image from Locky's English Playground

And we are near the last dish. (Really? That quick? Yes, really.) Korean fried chicken was better than McDonald's but still has a lot of work to do to catch up with those of Pizza Maru.

Well, these are just my personal opinions, my wife in fact is full of praises for them a lot and has recently said she wanted to visit the restaurant again. Though at a not-so-school-food price and really school-food quality, I wonder why there is always a waiting group outside the restaurant.

For more food and dining, click on the FOOD and DINING tags here.

Resources:
School Food @Openrice
http://www.openrice.com/en/hongkong/restaurant/causeway-bay-school-food/143281?tc=sr1

Food & Dining: Best Fried Korean Chicken and Pizzas by Pizza Maru Express!!!! @Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2015/05/food-dining-best-fried-korean-chicken.html

TV, Medical & Science: Heart, Skin, Lungs, Sklungs? House M.D. Prophecy Of A Fluidless Organ Preservation Box!!!

Lung in a box, in House M.D. Season 8 Episode 2 Transplant
Image from Fox

You all know how much I love House M.D., hence my PhD research subject. That said, I used to always visit and revisit Polite Dissent after every episode to get some professional medical knowledge, so that I do not get carried away by the awesomeness of the show. One episode which I remember particularly well, Season 8 Episode 2 Transplant, carried a fatal "design flaw" in their production, and that was the printine plexiglass organ preservation box shown in the above photo.

Polite Dissent has the following comments which I highlighted in the screen capture below:

Screencap of Polite Dissent
Image from Polite Dissent

I agreed with Polite Dissent. How can an organ survive without blood and fluid around the organ to keep it from drying up? Until today, I realised I was wrong when I saw the image below,

Heart beating in the organ preservation box.
Image from IFL Science

Here's direct quotation of parts of the IFL Science article:

"In the short term they’ll open the field," commented Korkut Uygun, a transplant surgeon from Massachusetts General Hospital, to the Technology Review. Uygun thinks that one day we'll have the technology to restore other organs, such as livers, up to an hour after they have undergone circulatory death, not minutes. And so far, there are 15 cases of the "heart in a box" successfully reanimating a heart from a donor after they've died.

The system could increase the number of hearts that are transported, overcoming issues such as the time limit heart porters have when transporting a chilled heart. Typically, an organ is cooled to about 4°C (39°F) to slow down the tissue's metabolic rate and the rate of degenerative processes. Lungs, for example, only last three to six hours on ice – whereas the Transmedics device preserves lungs for 24 hours without needing to cool the organ down.

There is no blood flow around a cooled organ so it is susceptible to damage, and there is no way to test its function. This is especially critical for a patient about to undergo the invasive surgery to receive it, and the months of adapting to the new organ afterwards. 

So yeah, that House M.D. prophecy has come true, again!!! After that black president of the United States one, which I will share in the near future.


Resources:
House — Episode 2 (Season 8): “Transplant” @Polite Dissent
http://www.politedissent.com/archives/8064

New Device Could Revive Dead Hearts +I fucking love science
http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/heart-box-revives-dead-hearts

Auto & Environment: EV Numbers and Growth In Hong Kong As Of June/July 2015

EV Growth in Hong Kong

Image from Locky's English Playground

According to data from the Environmental Protection Department of Hong Kong, as of 30th June 2015, the total number of registered EV in Hong Kong is 2279, an increase of 146 since May. This is considered as a high increase month, ranking 6th in overall highest monthly increase. The total number of registered private EV is 2012, an increase of 149 since May.

Provisional number for the total number of registered EV is 2456, an increase of 186 since June. If the final data is exact then this will be the 2nd highest monthly increase!!! Really encouraging numbers! As usual, it is predicted that Tesla Model S constitute by conservative estimation 70% of the total, thus hitting 1719.2 (this estimate already excludes the 340 EVs before Model S arrives in Hong Kong, with the assumption that the number of Tesla Roadster sold is negligible). That means as of today, the total number of Tesla Model S could have reached 2000.

(Findings from a very personal and unofficial EV-road-sighting "research" shows that it is common to spot 5-10 Tesla Model S, 1-2 BMW i3 and 0 Nissan LEAF during a round-trip drive between Tai Koo and Central on weekdays and 10 Tesla Model S, 1-2 BMW i3 and 0 Nissan LEAF on weekends.)

That said, the total number of registered vehicles in Hong Kong in June has reached 776,702, which means that EVs only constitutes 0.293% (=2279/776,702 x 100%) of the entire vehicle fleet in Hong Kong. A great start for EVs, but still barely, barely barely a start.

BMWHK sold 19 i3 to HKJC
Image from BWMHK

BMWHK sold 19 i3 to HKJC
Image from BWMHK

Personally, I do hope that Charged HK will get to meet the government officials again before the FRT waiver ends because Tesla Model X and III delivery will surely be encouraged or hindered by the decisions of FRT waiver. From the numbers, we have just enjoyed a good start and whether the best is yet to come, FRT will be a determinant.

Here's a side note, according to official press release by Tesla Motors, the innovative EV manufacturer has delivered 11,507 Model S worldwide for Q2 2015, thus a new company record for the most cars delivered in a quarter and represents an approximate 52% increase over Q2 last year.

Resources:
Promotion of Electric Vehicles in Hong Kong @Environmental Protection Department
http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/air/prob_solutions/promotion_ev.html

Tesla Delivers 11,507 Vehicles in Q2 of 2015 +Tesla Motors
http://ir.teslamotors.com/releasedetail.cfm?releaseid=920434

Tracking progress of EVs into Hong Kong +Tesla Motors Club
http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/38932-Tracking-progress-of-EVs-into-Hong-Kong/page6?p=1137608&viewfull=1#post1137608

19 All-Electric BMW i3 Delivered to The Hong Kong Jockey Club Set to Drive Greener for Hong Kong
BMW i Fast-charging Station Unveiled at The Pulse, Repulse Bay @BMWHK
http://www.bmwhk.com/com/en/news/news-201507-01.html#

Science & Technology: What Do You Know About GPS?

Image from mihaeladanpress

GPS is really helpful, almost essential in our daily life, we have it in our phones, Tesla Model S has it and some other cars also have it, but how does it work? I find these two videos very informative and we can all learn something here. A nice break from EV talk, well, at least a bit. Enjoy!

Vocabulary:
trilateration


Resources:
How GPS Works @ YouTube
http://youtu.be/IoRQiNFzT0k

GPS Modernization Video @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chNQW22vVNI

How GPS Receivers Work @ HowStuffWorks
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/travel/gps.htm