Spotted a couple months ago while riding Bangkok’s BTS (skytrain). It took some time for this to percolate to YouTube but glad that it’s here…

Vogue’s new ads marking the magazine’s debut into Thailand … Eye catching.

Now that Vogue is here, the launch video is equally well produced.

As always, leave your comments below.

I’m paranoid. I cover the pin-pad when entering my code at the ATM. I look over my shoulder when I’m signing into websites in public locations and promptly change passwords thereafter. I only use public washrooms… if there’s nobody else inside.

Recently facebook launched a code generator to complement their SMS code verification system.

What? Oh ya … In English.

If you opt in, facebook has a feature where, if you sign in from an unknown computer, phone, tablet or whatever, they’ll send an SMS to your verified mobile phone number that you must enter in tandem with your username and password.

It’s a great security tool for those that may inadvertently disclose their password to someone … or a phishing site — without the code, your password is useless.

Unless, of course, they have your phone … (but that’s a different story)

Now, the code generator is akin to a security device developed and popularized by a company called RSA. It’s supposed to randomly generate a number at an interval and you have to type in this number in when you log in. Only the device and the supercomputer you’re signing into knows the algorithm the code is based on.

HSBC is also delivering code generator devices to some of their clients that use their online banking.

Pretty high tech huh?

It’s a great tool for world travelers like myself who don’t know what their next destination or phone number is. I certainly don’t want to pay for an SMS to my Canadian number when I’m strolling Bukit Bintang in Kuala Lumpur … That’s retarded.

Anyhow, since my facebook contains highly sensitive secret information that if disclosed to the wrong group, could aid them in taking over the world via social media, I opted to install the code generator on my iPhone.

Only problem? My personal assistant in the Philippines can log into facebook without a code!

Preposterous, I thought, so I wrangled up my troops – one assistant in Davao, another on Cebu, another in Manila, none of whom know or associate with one and other, and took control of their computers, only to be amazed.

Fresh installations, no cookies and no problems signing into facebook. Heavily used machines with lots of cookies from facebook and their graph? No problem.

So, users in the Philippines can bypass the security settings you designate for your facebook account.

Not cool.

This means any phishing operation in the Philippines has a better chance of catching you with your pants down than anywhere else on the globe.

The good news? So far, I’ve tried to replicate this security oversight from various computers in Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and Korea without success.

I’ve also had the same personal assistant use VPNs in Singapore and Canada to sign in and in both cases, she got the request for a code.

Anyone else out there get a similar reading elsewhere?

I’ve been enamored with chicken wings since a very young age. I blame my mother. She had a way with chicken wings that could sway even the most devout raw vegan – her cooking is magic.

Later, as I developed into an adult, I encountered cheap chicken wing nights throughout the Calgary night scene. 5¢, 10¢ and sometimes the supremely overpriced 25¢ wings.

I became an aficionado – winglets, drumettes, suicide wings, Buffalo wings, Durkee’s (now Frank’s) hot sauce, salt and pepper, breaded, naked, Thai and more. For me, the spicier, the better.

Then one day, I met my match. On a field trip to Blaine, Washington, I convinced my friend, Ray, to indulge with me in the ‘Stupid Challenge’ at a place called the Hot Spot.

100km from home, challenged to eat three measly chicken wings amped up on hot sauce rated at 10,000,000 Scoville units? Sure. Sounds like an intelligent decision.

Sure, the pepper spray the cops use is 2,000,000 Scoville units but eh, we’re real men!

I think I only got part way through one wing. At last account, spectators said that I tried to cool my mouth by running around in circles and gulping pitchers of Pepsi while screaming for milk, bread and tequila.

I have absolutely no recollection of those events but after spending what felt like hours to calm down, Ray and I, lips swollen enough to make any supermodel jealous, left the place, passed through border control and returned to Canada.

I later found out that Ray spent the rest of his evening in the hospital under observation.

I, on the other hand, after having returned to my office, buckled over in pain on the ground next to the tire of my truck. It took some time to get up but I managed to walk into my office then, strangely and inexplicably, almost immediately spontaneously combusted in front of my assistant, Chin Chin. Magically, within about 15 seconds, I went from bone dry to having a completely sweat-soaked shirt.

Yea. I love my spicy chicken wings and given the opportunity to get stupid, I’d do it again.

Somewhere along the line, KFC and McDonalds in Thailand decided they wanted in on my insanity. McD’s has re-introduced their Tom Yum spicy chicken wings while KFC continues to sell their Zaab wings.

They’re nothing like the stupid wing variety – different in texture but they have a certain je ne sais quoi. Think .. first degree chemical burns. Tasty, tasty chemical burns and if you’re lucky, you can try KFC’s seasonal variety based on Zaab, Zeed – it’s a real crowd pleaser!

Update 12/28/2012 – On a recent trip aboard Emirates’ A380 to Hong Kong, I came across some additional tips which I’ve cited at the end of this article. Enjoy!

You’re a globetrotter. One day it’s breakfast in Prague and then on to lunch in London. You hop timezones, Tokyo, Toronto and back to Timbuktu in a matter of days.

Now if only you could lay the smackdown on that pesky Jet Lag.

Fear not, single serving friend! Follow my tips (below) and you’ll be on the ground, up and running, with no downtime.

As a world traveller, I find myself hopping large distances and needing to be switched on upon arrival. I practice yoga wherever I am as part of my daily regimen, which, for me, helps.

Here’s a few rules to follow that’ll help you never have to refer the words ‘Jet Lag’ ever again:

1) be fit wherever you go – break a sweat every day, your body will thank you

I’m a hot yoga fan. It’s pretty easy in most cities around the world to go out, stretch and break a sweat. This is way better than sitting idle in your hotel room watching whatever programming they have in store.

2) when you get on a plane, set your watch for your destination

You are now living the date and time of where you’re going, not where you left.

3) do not eat your meals at the plane-prescribed times – eat for your destination

Airlines are notorious for giving people meals based on departure. What’s worse is they feed you an insane amount of carbs, too! Yes, people get hungry and irritable if they’re not fed carbs but you are the exception.

More tips, after the jump … 

In Business and First Class, you can even specify the times they will serve you at.

4) order a raw vegan or vegetarian meals when you buy your ticket – skip anything that will boost insulin production – so skip the bread and yes (sadly) the Haagen Dazs

(interesting how strict vegans lose their convictions when they whip out the Hagen Dazs … Yo, there’s egg in there)

I know that this is the hardest item to be disciplined about – its really really really hard to pass up the cheese platter in First Class.

Did I mention how hard it was to pass up da cheeze?

One side bonus of ordering a custom meal is that you’ll be served first but don’t expect it to taste any better than cardboard.

5) don’t drink alcohol while aboard – especially beer

Equally difficult to accomplish – they were serving the 2003 Dom Perignon on my way to Bangkok last week, I was like f#%k I want!

6) carry an eye mask to cover your eyes when it’s sleepy time

You can always get one of these sexy numbers …

7) stick in earplugs or get some form of ambient sound app to listen to when it’s sleepy time

As an iPhone user, I like to use an app called MagicWindow which plays scenes from various parts of the world at different times. Night time on a beach or maybe the sounds of Tokyo at night are your bag – either way, it beats listening to that screaming kid in 47H.

8) sleep based on your destination

What are you doing up at 3am again?! That’s 3am for your destination. You aren’t at a rave… Go to sleep!

9) be awake and alert and use the light for your seat and scenes of daylight (if you have an app for that) to stay up during wakey hours

Back to the MagicWindow app, the scenes to accompany are pretty breathtaking and great to trick the mind into thinking it’s daytime.

10) hydrate insanely when awake – bug the s#%t out of the flight attendants for water like you’re in the Sahara or something like that

You lose a lot of water while in flight. You can’t drink enough H2O. Ever.

11) get up and walk around – stretch, do funny yoga poses while onlookers stare in awe/terror/complacency every hour if you can. Make friends with the flight attendants. They’re good for soliciting tips on beating jetlag, too! …

—

On a recent flight to Hong Kong on Emirates, I found myself flipping through their well produced Open Skies magazine. The December Issue contained some tips that I hadn’t thought about …

• Drink plenty of water – drinking tea and coffee in moderation
• Travel lightly – carry only the essentials
• Make yourself comfortable – loosen clothing
• Keep moving – exercise lower legs and calf muscles to encourage blood flow
• Wear glasses – take out your contact lenses – cabin air is dryer than normal
• Apply a good quality moisturizer so your skin doesn’t dry out

Click on the above image to see the full article or you may enjoy it on the Open Skies Magazine website, HERE.

The Yakuza gang, Samurai gang and the “Ano-ne” gang are faced off in the auction of the century. Swords are sharpened, bombs are ticking and missiles are locked.

Who will be the victor? Who will take home the coveted Onori seaweed snacks?

(BTW – a good synopsis of the commercial is available HERE on Bulsuk’s blog…)

… and this is precisely why I think Oishi Group in Thailand rocks. When I first used to frequent Oishi Group restaurants, I thought the company was run by an insane Japanese expat with either shady underworld connections (Yakuza) or at least an irreverence not really accepted in the day-to-day business culture of Japan.

I’ve never seen a Kaiten-style Shabu Shabu, or a Yakiniku buffet in Japan, but they’ve done it all and pushed a number of boundaries when it comes to Japanese fare or flare — the above commercial is just an example, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
(… more after the jump,)

Oishi Group is back at it again with their latest installment of their Onori seaweed cracker marketing campaign, this time paying justice …

And if you didn’t think that was entertaining enough, just going to their restaurants is fun enough. You could be the big boss at Oishi Buffet… well, until someone brings the cheque:

Or maybe you just need some quiet, alone time … try Shabushi,

Competitive in nature? Iron Chef competition!

Or maybe you’ll just like their Green Tea…

Either way, I’m sure you’re going to love Oishi and their marketing and when you get to Thailand, definitely check out their unique restaurants.

It’s almost been a year since I saw Ashok Rao, Global Chairman of TiE, present at the Four Seasons here in Vancouver and I’m surprised to see that he hasn’t received the press he deserves.

During his presentation to TiE members in Vancouver, he outlined a number of commandments… or he referred to as Ashokisms. Every Entrepreneur ought to think about this, so here we go!

1. Care passionately
2. Be Intellectually Ruthless
3. Don’t drink your own whiskey, don’t shave Superman
4. Hire Trust, the price of Betrayal is Expensive
5. Delegate everything, but never delegate Success
6. Those who got you there, don’t get you out of there
7. The best deals are made at the point of indifference
8. A deal delayed is a deal betrayed
9. Get 100% better by improving 1% in 100 areas
10. Track your mistakes – not your successes
11. During doldrums, precipitate a crisis and manage it
12. You can go faster sometimes – by slowing down
13. Don’t push the river, let it flow
14. Indecision is like being pecked to death by blunt ducks
15. If it feels wrong – IT IS!

So what does it all mean? Attendees of Ashok’s event certainly got a really good breakdown of each.  He’s certainly been around the block enough to give good advice – and the hope is that other people can glean some form of wisdom from the words above.

But, of course, it’s all contextual … and so, for those reading this, feel free to post a comment and ask a question. Ashok himself may even respond!

I don’t think I need to remind people that what you say online will potentially stick with you forever, but it’s enjoyable to make fun of the occasional person who fails to remember this caveat.

If you can’t stand behind what you’ve been recorded as saying, chances are,  you’ll be called on it. Call this one my submission for the Online Darwin Awards…

Background: I have a fairly strict facebook friends policy – if I don’t know you or I haven’t met you at least once, I’m not going to accept your friend request. I’m online mostly to learn, communicate, and share stories / information with like minded people, not to amass a list of people that I can shamelessly market to. (enter the promoter-douchebag type)…

It was in May that my assistant announced to me one of the friend requests I recently received was from a Robbie Fullhouse who said he knew me from attending events put on by Full House Entertainment.

Quite likely, I mused, and asked my assistant to accept his request only after ensuring that he was aware of my preference for  NOT  receiving event invitations…

SENT: 15 May
FROM: Raj Taneja

Dear Mr. Fullhouse,

Hi, 1 March 2012, my predecessor asked you how you and Mr. Raj were acquainted. As I have not heard back from you, I am cancelling your request.

Thanks,
Mary

SENT: 15 May
FROM: Robbie Fullhouse

Hi Mary,
I appoligize for the late response, I am inedated with messages every day and do sometimes miss important ones. I have had the pleasure of Raj attendin at some of my events I put on in the city. I am the owner of Full House Entertainment, and hve hosted and put on hundreds of events in the city.

SENT: 15 May
FROM: Robbie Fullhouse

As you can see, we have 299 friends in common.

SENT: 16 May
FROM: Raj Taneja

Greetings Mr. Fullhouse,

Thank you for responding. I will inform Mr. Raj about you and your friend request.

Regards,
Mary

SENT: 22 May
FROM: Raj Taneja

Dear Mr. Fullhouse,

Hi there. This is Mary again. Mr. Raj would just like to ask if you’re promoting events through your current account?

Regards,
Mary

SENT: 22 May
FROM: Robbie Fullhouse

No I am not, I am retired from that now, I just remembered meeting him before and thought I would add him, occasionally I will invite a friend or two exclusive events, but that is through a personal message only.

Well, it looks like Mr. Fullhouse Entertainment came out of retirement. Not a message, not a word since we connected, just some random invite to “Canada’s Biggest Birthday Party.”

Oh… and when I questioned him about it — well, I’d say the transcript probably reads exactly as you would imagine, because I’m the bad guy here, of course.

Being a stand up guy and all (NOT!), Fullhouse fired a few rounds of expletives back and then decided to hit the ‘block’ button. A real class act, I’ll say. Let’s not just nominate him for an Online Darwin Award but for a Vancouver Nightlife Award, too!

First thought… you gotta be kidding me… Hit rewind, it’s April, I’m sitting on the patio of Q Bar on Sukhumvit Soi 11 in Bangkok and one of the Canadian expats sitting next to me says, hey.. they have Poutine here.

What’s Poutine, you ask?

Alright – for those who haven’t caught onto the sensation yet, Poutine is a Canadian dish which I would probably vote as our National dish, given the opportunity – french fries, topped with cheese curds and gravy, making for a cheesy, gravy-drenched delight – it’s absolutely delicious. So delicious that it’s even starting to catch on down the West Coast. Poutine is available everywhere in Canada has been gaining acclaim down the West Coast of the US in Portland, Seattle and even Los Angeles.

Dunn's Famous - a Montreal-based smoked meat sandwich chain holds an annual Poutine festival where you can try all six of their Poutine varieties at once

If you really want to find out more about Poutine, try Wikipedia, HERE, or  maybe this guy’s site, HERE.

So back to Bangkok – I was literally astonished to hear that they’ve got Poutine here – I absolutely HAD to have some.

Think … the owners of one of the most popular and respected nightclubs in Bangkok, Andrew and David, sourced out gravy from Les Rôtisseries St-Hubert in Montreal and created their own Poutine. That’s kinda nuts, no? And not to be outdone, they added a Thai twist to the dish by adding Sai Oooah (Northern Thai) Sausage as a topping.

Voila! Poutine in Thailand!

… it was delectable to say the least. Well balanced and a great combination. If you’re ever in Thailand, do not pass go, don’t collect $200 … go straight to Q Bar and check it out.

Interesting tidbit: St. Hubert’s gravy is regarded as being vegetarian. Although it hasn’t been confirmed if the gravy is vegetarian or vegan, minus the sausage, a great number of vegetarian-minded folks could enjoy this dish. Happy dining!

One great feature about facebook is they allow you to post via email. Until recently, you could get your (*secret) personal publishing address at www.facebook.com/mobile.

To the dissapointment of at least one person it’s no longer possible to get this address from the previously-cited page, nor is it even possible to get this address from a normal browser on your PC anymore.

Why would you want to post by email? Actually, the fact that Google Plus or G+ or whatever they call themselves doesn’t allow you to post by email means they’re currently excluded from the content I generate. I realized a long time ago that my facebook friends and twitter followers are different people and that some people on facebook don’t have twitter and vice versa. It’s been easy for me to cross-post content to both networks, especially photos I take and caption and push out to the world using email posting addresses.

Maybe Google will figure it out one day but until then, facebook and twitter are the most important places for me to post info.

Enter the iPhone or iPad…

Thankfully, if you’re using a browser that doesn’t support photo uploads, you can still get the facebook personal publishing address – simply navigate to the touch or mobile version of the facebook site at touch.facebook.com or m.facebook.com with your iPhone or iPhone and hit the photo button. Voila! Your personal publishing address … which you should keep secret, since anyone can post to your wall/timeline with the address.

If you ever change your facebook password, you’ll have to go to this page again as the address changes every time you update your password. Happy posting!

Facebook is always full of little localization/location-sensitive tricks. I started to take notice a few years ago on a trip to Mexico when I was asked if I’d like to change my language to Spanish. At the time, it appeared that facebook used Geotargeting to figure out where in the world you were. They still do this and also have an arsenal of methodologies they test to make it easier for people to connect to you.

• What’s your Japanese name?

One of the languages I’ve put on my facebook profile is Nihongo, or Japanese. This prompted facebook to ask me if I had a Japanese name, which undoubtedly would make it easier for Japanese users to connect with me on facebook, if I were of Japanese descent.

• One-time use QR codes

On a recent trip to Japan, I noticed several things popped up in the sidebar while communicating on facebook. One of the things that stuck out was a one-time QR code that allowed me to log in on my Japanese mobile phone

• What Train Station is nearest to you?

On that same recent trip, after changing my current home location to Tokyo, Japan, facebook asked what train station was closest to me.