Flying Saucer (rings, actually)

A mess of rings was found lying on my desk.  

They started to re-arrange themselves.  

Hanging together, actually, looking rather organised. 

Suddenly, they/it started looking like flying saucers.  Or flying rings, to describe it more accurately. 

At this point, they are still trapped in my office. What do I do with it?

#SChanPalmArt

Carmen Festival

On Tuesday, PolyU hosted an opera “Carmen Wong”, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of George Bizet’s Carmen. 

It was a small production, with loads of good music.  I understand some of the performers are PolyU students. 

Earlier, I watched a couple of movie screenings as part of the celebration.  In September, there was the 2003 Spanish drama movie, by Vicente Aranda.  The story was based on the original 1847 novella by Prosper Merimee, who was French.  Not the famous operatic adaptation by Bizet from 1875. As in the novella, the author is portrayed as a French writer who finds the “real” Carmen in early 19th century Spain. 

Even earlier, there was also the 1983 Spanish romantic musical film directed by Carlos Saura.

That one was also adapted from Merimee’s novel.  The film follows modern dancers as they re-enact Bizet’s tragic love story in their personal lives.  

Many years ago, I watched the 1984 musical movie Carmen, directed by Francisco Rosi.  Julia Migenes was Carmen, Placido Domingo was Don Jose.  

That movie got me hocked on Carmen.  The music, the passion, the tragedy. Sometimes I wish I can write stories like that.  But surely I do not wish to die like that.  

Best Paper, and friends

Last week one of our papers won the Best Paper award at a conference held at the Education University - The 12th International Conference on Behavioural and Social Computing (BESC 2025).  

Of course we are happy to win the award. As researchers it is quite an honour to be recognised in this way at an academic conference.  But there are more reasons that this is so satisfying.  There are 5 people who wrote that paper.  Three of us have been colleagues and friends at Department of Computing at PolyU for a long time.  The two others were our PhD students, who are now professors themselves at Education University in Hong Kong, and Shenzhen University in Mainland China. Two generations across three different universities working together. They are also collaborating with some of our other students, and younger colleagues. 

The three of us had been collaborating collegially for a long time. We argue about ideas, a lot. But we never argue who does more and who does less.  We do not fight to be first author on a publication (paper).  Somehow it always works out and we never have to argue about who contributed more.  Just a few days ago a famous Chinese Nobel winner of Physics passed away.  He (in)famously fell out with his co-winner after they got the Nobel.  Of course, our achievements are not at the same level as theirs.  But we remain friends over decades.  

Now our students are working together in the same spirit.  This is the most gratifying part of the whole business. 

  

Art Next at PMQ

Excellent art show at PMQ.  

Lots of great local artists.  

Variety of media, forms, techniques, expressions.  

Some quite surprising, creative and amusing.  

Loads of fun local references.  

For some of which, having specific knowledge of Hong Kong culture would be helpful in full appreciation of context.  

Closing today.  Hurry up.

AI for Good as SL

Our Service-Learning class is learning how to use AI (artificial intelligence) for a good cause.  They will be teaching AI to communities in three places during the winter break: Yunnan in Mainland China, Manila in the Philippines, and Phnom Penh in Cambodia.  They will be teaching young people who may not otherwise have the opportunity to learn about this exciting technology which is said to hold great promise for so many areas.  Out teams will be teaching them to use easily accessible tools to develop AI applications. And they will learn how AI can help people.  

Hence our students are learning how to train an AI to play popular games, specifically rock-paper-scissors.  Starting by recognising hand gestures for rock, paper and scissors. The technique, obviously, can be easily extended to recognise other things, play other games, etc.

They are also learning how AI can be trained to assist a blind person to recognise flags for different countries.  This way AI can help a blind person do common tasks such as to mail a letter.  The perhaps other types of tasks as well.  

The students in this class come from all disciplines, not just computer science or engineering.  But in a few weeks’ time, they can all learn how to train and program an AI to do these tasks.  They also learn how to teach other people - young children in this class - to do that.  All in one semester.  Then during the winter break, three teams will travel to Yunnan, Manila and Phnom Penh, for one week, to carry out their service-learning project.  

Out students learn to serve, to train an AI, to use AI for good, to teach others about AI, to work with other people, to connect with people different from themselves, and to discover about themselves. 

The children they serve learn about the exciting technology AI, hopefully getting more excited about technology and learning.  And in the process, appreciate that technology can and should be used for good.  

We are excited about this whole thing.  And grateful that we can be part of the movement. Such is the power of service-learning, and particularly impactful, cross-cultural service-learning.  

Old KaiTak Runway, again

Now and then, I would run through the old KaiTak Runway to see how it has changed. 

This morning, I found that more of the southwestern shore is now accessible.  Previously, the section that is part of the Sports Park, about 1/3 of the old runway, had opened.  

Now the stretch that is along the luxury apartments are largely reachable.  Hence one can run from the Sports Park to a point about 2/3  towards the end of the runway.  To a point fairly close to the Cruise Boat Terminal.  

The last stretch between the apartments and the terminal is still a huge construction site.  I am not sure what is going on there, whether that stretch will eventually be open to the public, and when.  

On that shore, one gets unobstructed views of the eastern part of Hong Kong Island, Hung Hom, Yo Gwa Wan and part of Kowloon City.  And an occasional egret. 

There is some landscaping work along the way.  It is quite a pleasant place to run, if you live nearby. For me, running here from Hung Hom, and then returning home, is a good run.  Or perhaps continuing to cross the bridge into Kowloon Bay/Kwun Tong, which opens up further possibilities.  

The wide vista, the open space, and the relative quiet are great rewards.  One gets a better sense of what one’s place is, in this bustling city as well as the big wide world. I am not sure what this place will look and feel like when it is fully built and occupied.  Noisy and crowded, perhaps?  I hope not. 

The challenging workout in scorching weather gives one a certain amount of satisfaction when it is done.  Well deserved, in my opinion. 

Bird Market

Ran through the Bird Market in Mongkok a couple of days ago.  

Our father had kept some parrots when the three of us were growing up.  I remember distinctly a white one and a grey one.  They could say simple words such as “Hello!” Perhaps because of these memories, I have always been fond of birds.  And I like to visit the Bird Market. 

Most of the birds are quite small.  Some are kept for their looks.  They are cute, beautiful.  Some like looking at people.  But they can also be easily startled, scared. 

Others are valued for their calls.  Some have a loud, piercing voice.  Others chirpy and sweet.  

Some can talk.

Many of the cages are really exquisite.  Truly works of art. 

I do a bit of wood work myself.  I know it is not easy to make the spokes so slender and straight, perfectly rounded.  So evenly spaced, curved to the same degree.  Each cage with a small door sliding open so smoothly.  Some doors are embedded into the rest of the sage so well that it takes some effort to discover. 

There is a whole economy and culture of bird keeping, developed over thousands of years.  What types sing, in what way.  Who can learn to speak.  What to feed them. Who eats what types of worms. Who eats what types of crickets.  How to keep them healthy and happy.  How to encourage them to sing.  How to make those cages.  What type of wood and bamboo work the best.  How to maintain them.  

There are also birds not for keeping.  But to sell to Buddhists who like to release them to the wild, for merit. 

There are fewer people at the market these days.  Fewer shops.  Fewer birds.  Little business conducted.  Much quieter.  It used to be a lot busier, lively.  

It is rather odd.  Just when Hong Kong is trying to attract more visitors, tourists, the Bird Market is receiving less attention.  The powers that be seems more interested in creating new attractions, rather then preserving, developing something that should be inherently quite interesting, valuable. 

Of course, some people object to keeping birds in cages.  That is a completely different ball game. 

Hong Kong Island North Run

It is roughly 17 kilo-meters from the western terminus of the Tram at Kennedy Town to the easter terminus at ShauKiWan, hugging the northern coastline of the island as much as possible.  

The tracks for the tram look familiar.  But the trams themselves … do not look the same. 

At Kennedy Town, one can see, just off the waterfront, Green Island.  Where the British Army used to store their munitions.  

On the waterfront, there used to be a couple of swimming pavilions, where my father taught me to swim.  Now the pavilions are long gone.  And my father is in heaven.  

In the far distance, there is the StoneCutter Island Bridge.  The island is no longer an island, but joined to Kowloon nowadays with landfills.  The bridge does link StoneCutter Island/Kowloon with Tsing Yi Island. But it is not for pedestrians, except the runners on Marathon day. 

Then the tip of Tsim Sha Tsui comes into view. 

With Star Ferry, Cultural Center, International Commerce Center, …  They look so close, from Wanchai, almost within reach.  

At Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter, a delightful painting on a public structure right on the waterfront. Next to the Jardine Gun.  It is amazing that it is still firing, after so many years, after 1997.  

Looking back towards the west from the waterfront at North Point, a nice view of both sides of the harbour.  It is not easy to tell which buildings are the tallest.  

Soon I arrive at ShauKiWan Typhoon Shelter.  Just like the other shelters, few fishing boats remain.  Nowadays they are mostly leisure boats in the shelter.  

There is that famous tree in the middle of the road.  For how much longer?  Knowing the fate of many other famous, majestic trees in Hong Kong, I am not overly optimistic.

At the eastern terminus of the tram, I took the MTR to go home.  

I have run enough for one day.