Today is the second day of the W3C Advisory Committee meeting. Lunch today was a surprise: it wasn’t a ten-course banquet. Instead, we were treated to a buffet, which was mostly Western foods (there were a few Chinese-influenced dishes, too, such as rice, tuna-fish pasta, the desserts, and, of course, spaghetti). They even had lox (but no bagels); that’s soul food to me!

Last night, I took lots of pictures at our dinner and a show at Ocean Park. Take a look, but be patient; it’s a big page.

Things to buy in Hong Kong

Everyone knows that Hong Kong is an amazing place to shop. Of course you can buy electronics, clothes, and luggage here, but did you know that you can buy ISO 9002-certified water here?

Jeffrey, you’ll be happy to know that I was able to buy something else here, too.

And in case you read the phone saga in Saturday’s posting, I’ve updated it to add the name and address of the shop where I bought the phone and had good customer service.

Today, I’m at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology for the first day of the W3C Advisory Committee meeting. It’s wonderful to have high-speed connectivity again (dial-up access from the hotel is a drag), and I’ve enjoyed catching up on what you’ve been writing over the past few days.

W3C always feeds us at these meetings; today’s lunch was yet another ten-course meal (and now they expect us to be awake for the afternoon sessions?). Most of what’s on the regular menu includes shellfish, which I can’t eat, so I’ve been eating at the vegetarian tables. And it’s all been delicious (well…there have been a couple of dishes which I’d describe as “interesting”), so I don’t think I’m missing anything by sticking to the vegetarian offerings.

I don’t know how students here manage to stay focused on their work when they see views like this one!

Tonight, we have the official meeting dinner at Ocean Park. I’m almost dreading it — if the welcome dinner and lunch were ten courses, what will the official dinner bring? Am I up to the challenge? Will I still fit into my clothes afterwards? Tune in later, for the exciting answers!

Doubletake Department

I had to think several times when I saw this sign on a Coke machine at UKHST:

At first, I thought that this was some sort of reference that was lost on Americans (I just don’t think of “octopus” and “quench your thirst” in the same breath), but after careful review, I realized that they were referring to the stored-value Octopus Card which is mostly used by the local transit systems.

I also had to think a bit about this sign:

But I’ve read enough English mysteries set at colleges to realize that in this context, a “warden” is not someone in charge of a jail, but rather someone we’d call a “dean”.