History: The first Spitfire flew 85 years ago this week on 5 March and the type was in active RAF service for 19 years. The very last 4 were based at Kai Tak. This is their farewell flight over Hong Kong prior to retirement in 1955. Pity they could not figure out how to record the sound of those 37 litre RR V-12 Griffon engines. One of those planes is now at the Duxford aviation museum in the UK.
Local News: Unfortunately what we all know is now official. Hong Kong is no longer a free economy. It has been removed from the Index of Economic Freedom where it was ranked number 1 for 25 of the past 26 years. Top of the pile is now the People’s Almost Paradise (PAP) of Singapore, despite the fact the Hong Kong stock exchange is five times bigger. Shenzhen is even larger, creating 105 billionaires compared to Hong Kong’s 82. Welcome to the new world order.
Overseas News: Build that wall! Can you guess how much new wall was built in the last 4 years on the US – Mexican border? Less than it would take to encircle the White house! Meanwhile, in Australia the world’s longest wall continues to do the job as it has for more than 100 years.
The USA has now suspended the punitive import taxes on Scotch whisky. There is hope yet for the ‘special relationship’!
Cars: You want speed? This is fast, very fast.
Travellers Tales: “Welcome aboard Cebu Pacific 271 to Manila. To operate your seat belt, insert the metal tab into the buckle, and pull tight. It works just like every other seat belt; and, if you don’t know how to operate one, you probably shouldn’t be out in public unsupervised.”
Technology tip of the week: Zero Trust is a security model; a set of system design principles, and a coordinated cybersecurity and system management strategy based on an acknowledgement that threats exist both inside and outside traditional network boundaries. It means trust no one online without verification, also see Word of the week.
Word of the week: TUPLE is a data structure that stores a specific number of elements. It is very useful in enhancing computer security and is used in the Zero Trust model above. The combination of the user, device, and any other security-relevant contextual information (e.g., location, time of day, previous logging behaviour) can be used to make a more secure access decision, for example to your bank account from your phone.
Healthcare tip of the week: Anyone who has ever experienced the itching torture called shingles that usually comes with age knows how awful it can be, but it can be prevented. If you are healthy and 50 years and older, you can get two doses of the vaccine called Shingrix (recombinant zoster vaccine) or Zostavax. See here for more information.
New Zealand and the south west Pacific have experienced many powerful earthquakes in recent days. Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines has also sent out some tremors, but all this pales compared to the 18,000 recorded in Iceland in the past week alone. In Iceland this usually signals imminent volcanic activity and works out at one earthquake for every 20 people living there.
So now you know something you did not know yesterday; the population of Iceland (which is less than that of Mongkok).
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