Life, as it unfolds

First snowfall of the season

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Lin) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 05:36:00 +0000

Early snowfall for 2011 season. It wasn't until last year late Dec to have the first snowfall.

Test

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Lin) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 15:22:00 +0000

Test post.

The Last Lecture

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Lin) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 07:05:00 +0000

Randy Pausch, the Last Lecture.
I watched it last year once. Just saw this video surfacing again thru a friend of mine. Watched it again, and feel like ashamed for being down from time to time when things didn't get going—hmm, I didn't feel anywhere near disappointed this evening though after 2 hours of shock and awe—after seeing again how he remained such a strong and motivated person even just 2 months before his possible death.

There was the line when he talked about his childhood dreams: you have to be very specific when you set a dream. I like it so much.
And I like his big stuffed toys. =D

He's a professor but if he didn't say he was one, I was nowhere near to think he was a professor. I know I'm stereotyping professors, but isn't stereotype coming from repeated observation of the same thing? I just wish all professors were like him.

You've Got A Way

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Lin) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 02:06:00 +0000

This is very colorful—her dress, the colors on her face, and the grass, the flowers and the fishes. Of coz the music is nice as well.

You've got a way with me
Somehow you got me to believe
In everything that I could be
I've gotta say-you really got a way
You've got a way it seems
You gave me faith to find my dreams
You'll never know just what that means
Can't you see... you got a way with me

It's in the way you want me
It's in the way you hold me
The way you show me just what love's made of
It's in the way we make love

You've got a way with words
You get me smiling even when it hurts
There's no way to measure what your love is worth
I can't believe the way you get through to me

It's in the way you want me
It's in the way you hold me
The way you show me just what love's made of
It's in the way we make love

Oh, how I adore you
Like no one before you
I love you just the way you are

It's in the way you want me
It's in the way you hold me
The way you show me just what love's made of
It's in the way we make love

It's just the way you are

Lars Rasmussen

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Lin) — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 18:45:00 +0000

When I tweeted about his departure, I didn’t know that it was this guy!
I clearly remember him when he first showcased Google Wave at the Google I/O.

Too bad for Google! He’s really a smart guy!!!
OMG!!! No wonder these days there is news about talent fight between Google and Facebook! No wonder Google’s raising pay for employees across the whole organization! (And even 30% raise and 250% of salary bonus for top execs!)

Isn’t there a better time to study Computer Science yet?!!!

Nothing On You

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Lin) — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 08:20:00 +0000

Beautiful girls all over the world
I could be chasing but my time would be wasted
They got nothing on you baby
Nothing on you baby
They might say hi and I might say hey
But you shouldn't worry about what they say
Coz they got nothing on you baby
Nothing on you baby

Not not not nothing on you babe
Not not nothing on you
I know you feel where I'm coming from
Regardless of the things in my past that I've done
Most of really was for the hell of the fun
On the carousel so around I spun (spun)
With no directions just tryna get some (some)
Tryna chase skirts, living in the summer sun (sun)
This is how I lost more than I had ever won
And honestly I ended up with none

There's no much nonsense
It's on my conscience
I'm thinking baby I should get it out
And I don't wanna sound redundant
But I was wondering if there was something that you wanna know
(That you wanna know)
But never mind that we should let it go (we should let it go)
Cos we don't wanna be a t.v episode (t.v episode)
And all the bad thoughts just let them go (go, go, go)

Beautiful girls all over the world
I could be chasing but my time would be wasted
They got nothing on you baby
Nothing on you baby
They might say hi and I might say hey
But you shouldn't worry about what they say
Cos they got nothing on you baby
Nothing on you baby

Not not not nothing on you babe
Not not nothing on you
Hands down there will never be another one
I been around and I never seen another one
Look at your style they ain't really got nothing on
And you out and you ain't got nothing on
Baby you the whole package plus you pay your taxes
And you keep it real while them other stay plastic
You're my wonder women call me Mr. fantastic
Stop... now think about it

I've been to London, I've been to Paris
Even went out there to Tokyo
Back home down in Georgia to new Orleans
But you always steal the show (steal the show)
And just like that girl you got me fro (got me fro)
Like a Nintendo 64 (64)
If you never knew well now you know (know, know, know)

Beautiful girls all over the world
I could be chasing but my time would be wasted
They got nothing on you baby
Nothing on you baby
They might say hi and I might say hey
But you shouldn't worry about what they say
Cos they got nothing on you baby
Nothing on you baby

Not not not nothing on you babe
Not not nothing on you
Everywhere I go I'm always hearing your name (name, name)
And no matter where I'm at girl you make me wanna sing (sing)
Whether a bus or a plane or a car or a train
No other girls in my brain and you the one to blame

Beautiful girls all over the world
I could be chasing but my time would be wasted
They got nothing on you baby
Nothing on you baby
They might say hi and I might say hey
But you shouldn't worry about what they say
Cos they got nothing on you baby
Nothing on you baby

Not not not nothing on you babe
Not not nothing on you
Yeah and that's just how we do it
And I'ma let this ride
B O B and Bruno Mars

More lyrics: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/b/bob/#share

Eat Pray Love

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Lin) — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 08:15:00 +0000

I've been reading mostly non-fictions lately, so when I found this book on Amazon for a mere 7 bucks, I thought I should probably give myself some story entertainment.

After all, Eat Pray Love isn't a crappy love story book. It's already been made into a film (which I've taken a glance at and was disappointed at how little meaning it can convey as opposed to the book).

I didn't really like the first part about eating a lot in Italy. But the later two parts about praying in India and falling in love in Indonesia kept me from dropping the book (and made me have a sleepless night once).

There's one particular thing I can concur with Liz. She believes in God, but not in Christian God, nor in Hindu God, nor in Islamic God, but just God in general as some divine being that gives her strengths. That's exactly how I have been feeling in the last year. I know Buddha is not God or anything, and if anything, He's already very really dead. But still I feel from time to time that there exists a God who I can speak to and who sometimes answer to me. When I said God, I wasn't particularly referring the Christian God or anything; I was only thinking of someone (or is it even someone? could have been something) divine who I can feel.

The funniest chapter in the book was Chapter 100. Lots of talk on Banana and what not. =D
It was so funnily written I couldn't help laughing all along.

In the end, I was glad Liz finally found peace and love and the balance of them all.
I hope I will have time to read the sequel: Committed. =]

Small is Bigger than Big

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Lin) — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 08:16:00 +0000

I just got this idea to use my laptop as the primary computer and promote or demote the desktop to a file server (coz all my files are on the HDDs of the desktop).

The CPU of the laptop is faster than the desktop one, so I hope it will be better.
What's good about this is that I now have two monitors: the built-in one from the laptop and the Dell monitor that I can attach to it.

The only thing I'm concerned about is if the laptop can handle the photo editing. Apart from that, I think this small thing can handle pretty much everything. And I don't play games, so I'm good with that too. =)

I just hope this works out. :)

Untitled

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Lin) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 02:38:00 +0000

I'm just wondering how fine the line is between being extra-cautious and being chicken.
I understand the fear can be inversely proportional to how much value you put into it, but I just don't know if I'm being too chicken. =S

Stymied

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Lin) — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 08:16:00 +0000

Really really stressed by all these hacking.
I think I just got a hold on assembly, but a bigger problem came up. =S
So stymied by this project I could only think of Compiler Design assignment to find an equivalent feeling.

Feeling so powerless and so helpless.
I could do away pretty well in all other areas, so the bigger question is "what the h*ll am I doing trying to learn hacking?"

On an unrelated note, I think I've been taking too much precaution.

Halloween Light Show

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Lin) — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 19:50:00 +0000

A little late, but I just found it out.
What a creative way to light up a Halloween night. =D

Weather Girl

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Lin) — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 19:18:00 +0000

Hm that's weather app for iPhone. Sort of like a reality TV show featuring weather. Nice idea!

Note to Self

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Lin) — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 06:20:00 +0000

Do not try to do too much while a little could have given a better outcome.

Election Results 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Lin) — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 17:40:00 +0000

Hm, House is now under GOP control.
Senate only has 49 Dems vs 46 GOP. With 51 seats, no way it’s filibuster proof. (I think it was 59 before Nov 02.)

Obama said he took responsibility for failure to restore job growth (WSJ) and that was #1 reason Dems lost this round.

The silver lining here is, on the most hopeful side, there has to be more bipartisan talks and legislations. Everybody now knows Dems have to reach out more to GOP and put more energy in bipartisanship. That’s a good thing anyway. Just need to see if Dems are effective at that.

Anyway, Cuomo got the governorship. Actually there was even no need for Bill Clinton to campaign for him. He was already winning. Maybe he just needed a landslide victory. Can he and Bloomberg work with FCC to “introduce” cell signals in subways (which by the way has been in SG for years!)?

The Met

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Lin) — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 03:11:00 +0000

I have no business to do with The Met, but anyhow got there with the two who had business with it thanks to Alph.

The first thing that came into my mind was Joey and Charlie from Friends. He was taught to turn right but he said all irrelevant things having made a left turn. =D

I was late coz I locked myself out in the morning after taking shower. Then I went around in the museum without a ticket. Nobody told me to get a ticket anyway. So I just roamed around and luckily the security guards didn’t even check. Then I met them and went to get the ticket. Suggested price was $10 but who pays 10 bucks? So I paid 30c (already very generous); Alph reminded not to pay more than a nickel.

There were few things I could appreciate in a museum of arts. Some of the paintings, I like them.

This one is from NYU Tisch. No photography. But I somehow got one.

Who appreciates a mosquito bite like that?

Some more paintings, including those by Van Gogh.

This is called “The Woman”.

This one says “Woman grinding coffee”. It doesn’t seem to me so.

Then, the Head.

From the Greek show. I probably should have done censoring, but they are supposed to be seen as is, right?
This one is Venus. Not a bad lighting in that room.

The son of Zeus.

Then I don’t remember the two below. One is probably called Paris or something.

Then the Met from outside. It was too big I would need stand in the middle of the street to take in all. =X

There are more from the Chinese side, like Guan Yin. I haven’t had time to edit them yet.

We had lunch at the Met cafe and the price was RIDICULOUSLY high! For something as crap as Blackman cafe’s food, we paid $16! I shall NEVER EVER eat in a museum. EVER!

Milk matters

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Lin) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 02:13:00 +0000

I just realized that not just the coffee, but the milk also matters a lot.
I've been thinking why the cups of coffee were not tasting as good. I was using milk that was standing for 5 days.
Now that I got a fresh bottle of milk, the coffee now tastes fresh and great again.
Only two things go into making one and both really matter equally. (:

That's My Name

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Lin) — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 03:38:00 +0000

Been looking for this right version. I don't know how many (slight) variations of this one.
Just glad that this is the one I've been looking for.

Liberty Rising

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Lin) — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 05:32:00 +0000

It's an absolute crap!
Blaming everything on Obama for the benefit of getting vote on Nov 2.

Bailing out AIG, GM and Chrysler, I believe, wasn't for nationalization of the private corporations. It's not even privatization vs nationalization. The book just put all the blames on the bail-out but didn't even offer a single alternative to solve the issue as and when it was unfolding then.

Obama once said "[Americans] do not consider ourselves a Christian nation, or a Muslim nation, but rather a nation of citizens who are, uh, bound by a set of values."
In common sense, it was basically referring to freedom of religion. The book twisted it and made it as though it was referring to freedom from religion. It's just so hard to understand how the author interpreted it.

It has some merit in that there is too much spending in Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare. It's pretty much alarming that the 53% of the people are paying for the benefits of the 47% of the people. I do believe in social welfare and there are really people who deserve the social security benefits. But there are also loads of people who are just TOO lazy to go to work (or even find a job) because they know they can depend on the government for their food stamps and benefits. Worse, some take the money and spend it on pot and beg on the street for food. That's disgusting. But still the people who pay tax are still feeding them because the government allows for it. The merits of Social Security aside, another issue is the benefit payout is now more than what is collected for the fiscal year. The deficit comes from where? Most likely from China (T-bills). The more debt China holds, the more influence it can have on the country. And it's unpleasant to see a communist government gaining power in the world arena. Ok, this is one area I could agree with the book.

It however did not even touch more than a paragraph on the two wars the beloved Bush started for his self-interest and for special interests. If you know the insides, war is a very lucrative business! Lots of contracts! Add oil to that.

Instead the book blamed HEAVILY on the health care reform. I don't really buy Obama's statement that it is fully paid for. The projected cost is almost always (much) lower than the actual cost! But the health care reform is not such a measure to take complete control of the people by the federal government.
The book even goes as far to say that allowing abortions is a way for the government to control who get born and who don't. It's her own decision that Sarah Palin didn't abort a child who was to be born with Down's Syndrome. But using their same argument, if a lot of people choose not to abort babies with Down's Syndrome, wouldn't these babies (and then children) impose a burden on the government for their social benefits? And what's even the point of bringing these babies to life and making them suffer? Remember it is NOT God who created these humans!!! If it was the benevolent God who created them, why would God be so cruel to give them a life of suffering?
The book also states that individual liberty is now threatened because the people are required to purchase a health insurance just because they breathe. I get the point that the health care reform requires the people to buy a health insurance or pay a fine. But isn't that a rational path for everyone? Is the author saying that the people also have the right to parish when they have no money to pay for the medical care because they didn't buy any health insurance? The reform is providing an affordable insurance plan or plans for those who are in the low-income so that they can at least buy some form of health insurance, and what's wrong with that? The freedom to fail is an option in the capitalism but is surely not an option when it comes to people's lives. I understand this new reform is like a progressive movement, but I think it's not as serious an issue to address as Social Security (which I once again claim there are deserving families for the benefits).

Regardless, it looks like GOP are pretty much gaining ground and with books like this one, they are getting really far with their propagandas. It's pretty important for the Dem to maintain control of the House and the Senate. Lose either or both, they will get nothing done for the next two years and it will look very bad in 2012 election.

Speaking of campaign, just today, Bill Clinton came to the CUNY (why not NYU-Poly???) to campaign for Andrew Cuomo for Governor of NY. I had to wait like half an hour to catch a glimpse of Bill Clinton. xD We didn't really know if Bill was really inside the building, but asking the Secret Service guy (with super stern face) didn't get any word back but a shrug. But the other guy answered one question regarding how much they make a year: 150 before tax! That's quite a lucrative salary. LOL! I don't believe that's all they get (apart from wearing super nice suits all the time).

Anyway, that book is a total BS and I only gave my "train time" to it and read it just out of curiosity of how stupid an argument they can make about the current administration. XD

Coding

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Lin) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 04:21:00 +0000

I don't remember the last time I wrote any Java code.
I just finished an Android application in Java and it took me by awe how much I have been away from coding. (Not that it can be called an application.)

It sure feels a little weird to write codes after quite a long time of absence.
At least Android was relatively easy to read and understand how it works (unlike iPhone which took me a thousand pages to read just to get started). =]

Now that I know the application works, I will worry about the UI later. A load has been unloaded.

Obstacle?

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Lin) — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 19:33:00 +0000

While I was doing my daily reading, just found out something that is pretty close to an obstacle.

How can I respond to that? I can't go crazy. I can't lose. =S

Just the Way You Are

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Lin) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 03:05:00 +0000

Very nice video. :)
At first I thought it was Venessa in the video. =S

Lactose Intolerance

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Lin) — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 10:10:00 +0000

I always thought that it was a fatal medical condition.
Until I watched Big Bang Theory and found that the guy is lactose intolerant and he didn't die.

I thought it was fatal like peanut allergy.
Now I realize it's could just be a mild bloating after taking in milk.

In fact, I should have known it earlier. It is called "Lactose Intolerance"; nowhere in the name does it mention allergy. :S

Speaking of which, I think my body is a little slow to digest lactose. That may be the reason why I feel some bloating after having Latte (which has lots of milk in it). But I so love Latte I just don't mind the bloating later; the taste is just so good. :]

Speaking of Latte, I think I did it right when I bought the espresso machine. Been thinking of it for long, but my sis was saying it was a waste of money. :S
But after that day when she bought the ground coffee and he took it out in the library, I was addicted to its aroma. Then again, she took it out in the subway, then I knew it was time for me to cut the "waste of money" crap and get it right away. (Yes, now I see Latin America; it's on Columbia, so I avoided it. Word of mouth really works, huh?)
The machine does make pretty good Latte and I think this is one purchase decision that went right. It takes a little longer than the machine from Spinelle (I think I spelled it right), but that's okay; this is not a commercial machine.

I only have one concern: I'm drinking more coffee and the coffee has become stronger.
Will it affect my health? My heart? I don't know, but for one thing it has managed to keep me awake the whole night tonight.
I have to wait and see if I need to cut the intake.

Exciting?

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Lin) — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 04:15:00 +0000

I think it will be.
There's quite a bit to be done for sth like that.
But I've tested it and I'm confident I can do it, with them.

Now I still need some information, but I'll be good when it's time.

Unscientific America

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Lin) — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 06:30:00 +0000

Just randomly chanced upon this interesting book.

It’s not about how unscientific America is or has become. It mainly talks about the huge divide between the scientists and the general populace, and how one side fails to understand each other.

I’m not a great scientist myself, but I feel thankful to them for the amazing wonders their creations have brought about. Just for instance, it is because of the Internet that I feel literally close to my beloved friends no matter how much physical space there is between us. As much as I wanna say that TCP/IP is a complicated protocol to study in school, it is that protocol and the Internet that together enable us to enjoy such closeness to the people who matter. For that thing alone, I feel grateful to the great scientists.

However, as the authors pointed out, as science becomes more and more advanced, the people who understand these concepts are failing to help the general public understand their importance and how science is and should be an integral part of our life. There are many Ph.Ds coming out of graduate schools every year, but these high-educated people so lack the communication skills they need to convey their messages across, and worse, lack the motivation to communicate with people other than their lab-mates. They also become too specialized that even a decently educated people/scientists from an unrelated discipline can hardly understand their daily vocabularies. (I think it could be even worse in Computer Science since people from a different branch of CS can have a hard time understanding those from another, as evidenced in my FYP presentation where the Professor of algorithms, who was one of the two evaluators of my thesis, failed to appreciate why I needed to do machine learning in the first place.) So, the situation has become one where the Ph.D scientists can’t tell the non-scientist public the importance of their work, the public has generally lost interest in what these weird-looking lab-coat-wearing people are doing in the labs, and the scientists only seem to care what other scientists (peer-review?) think of their work.

On the other hand, the fact that the public see the scientists as a weird class of people is only exacerbated by the Hollywood. The movies portray these people as anti-social geeks/nerds who can’t keep their hair neat; other movies portray them as villains and many others let the scientists die in the end, intentionally or unintentionally implying the non-scientist non-geek actor who survives is a far superior type of person to be admired for. These movies not only mostly incorrectly portrays the scientists, but might even discourage the high school students, who have the highest need to look cool, to pursue other disciplines than science—business, finance majors lured by the Wall Street.

So it’s like on the one hand, there are an elite group of scientists who couldn’t care less if an average Joe doesn’t give a damn who they are or what they are doing, but are content they could talk to people like them and don’t see value in putting effort in connecting with the public. On the other hand, there is this mainstream group of young people who really don’t give a damn and think that scientists are a different species, and couldn’t care less if anything breaks down cos’ they know they can just curse “Stupid Windows” and believe (rightfully) that there is a bunch of people who would happily fix these things rather than do their hair.

So how should the government, the universities, the media (importantly, the Hollywood) and (others) take actions so as to bridge the divide between the nation’s scientists and the general populace so that the scientists have the incentives and are better equipped (right out of universities) to communicate with the public and the non-scientists general populace, which include policy makers and politicians, can appreciate the importance of science to the nation, to the economy and to the people (so that they won’t just randomly kill science projects just because they don’t understand them).

There are more issues the book discussed, but it’s too much to summarize. Although it says Unscientific America, I think it can be applicable to any nation that sees science as an integral part of economic development. A pretty good book :-)

Just Get Things Done Please

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Lin) — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 04:10:00 +0000

I’m starting to doubt the ability of those so-called scientists/researchers to get things done.

Don’t take me wrong. I have great respect to the great scientists or researchers who did awesome things to change our lives completely and in a positive way.

This thing is about just getting a small mobile phone to buy as part of the research need. I ended up helping out in a project, a part of which has something to do with reading raw values off of electronic sensors. I know more than anyone else in the group how painful it was to program on those tiny sensors (oh yes, TinyOS) and get the values of the sensors.

It turns out the most modern cell phones do have a lot of sensors in them and it is so much easier to write a few lines of code (possibly around 100-200) to read the values of the phone’s sensors. But it was utterly (and probably equally) painful to do things on Nokia N97. The sensors are not sensitive enough—the purpose of sensors is to be sensitive about what they sense, isn’t it—in the first place. Plus JavaME is pretty stupid and quite outdated—I did JavaME in a course before and it wasn’t a good piece of memory either. I have no idea how to get things done on Symbian C++.

So instead of investing a lot of time learning Symbian C++ (even after which result is not guaranteed because of the insensitive sensors), decided to get some Android phones because Android API allows reading the sensors. Very well documented and easy to use.

Now we have reached a point to get some Android phones. What phones are we gonna get? I said Nexus One because it is the only phone that runs Google Android in its plain vanilla form and because it is now being sold as a developer phone. An effort was made to gather opinions and suggestions on what phone to get and almost a week has passed. We are yet to reach an agreement. I tried to finish up the long-winded discussion a few days ago and get the ordering done, but someone added his opinion by introducing more phones and saying this phone has big screen, that phone has physical keyboard, and the other has cameras, without stating one phone to purchase. I don’t have a problem with giving more information, but it’s disappointing to see the people who are authorized to decide on it (I am not one) are not trying to decide, but enjoying figuring out more information and passing it around and around and around. I don’t mind receiving such informative inputs if I’m the one to decide, and even then I would have decided days ago and the phones probably would have arrived by now.

Deliberating is understandable when we are investing in a huge thing like an electron collider (I don’t even know how much one of these costs). But for little things like cell phones, stalling progress for a week (or probably more) is beyond reason. Couldn’t we just get things done, done, done? Or is it a researcher thing to do otherwise?