Sunday, January 28, 2007

Sony Cybershot H5

A digital camera with 12x optical zoom. I like it because it's a
consumer grade camera with manual shutter/aperture controls. Yet the
price is too expensive for me at this time. You might ask "Why Sony?
Sony stuff are all expensive." Well it's because I like Sony's user
control interface designs, and I need a camera that uses memory
sticks, which my Clie handheld(PDA) can read.

Seems like the H5 doesn't sell well. Why? At first I though it was
because most people just want a light weight, good looking simple
camera. But today I noticed something else: the price, 17900NT is
close to the Nikon D40 DSLR(with kit), which is 20100NT. So, with such
a close price, most people would just go for the D40. Crap, stupid
pricing.

Friday, January 26, 2007

One week into winter vacation

恩,今年沒去花東,都龜實驗室做實驗。

寒假,不知大家都在忙什麼,PTT/PTT2 上異常的冷清。若是因為一群人去了花東,那應該只有車社相關的版才會冷清阿。但我常逛的版全都很乾淨,似乎 BBS 是大學生活的一部份,放假了,也從 BBS 放假。不對吧,不是有在忙課業時才要少掛版嗎?

今天晚上,花東團陸續回到各自的家。不過今年,我不再屬於那一團。因為新進社員幾乎都是花東進來的,似乎車社的「世代」也都是以花東的梯次來算的。 共同的回憶、一同入社的,形成一個獨特的世代,與其他世代也就有了那麼一點距離。社版陸續出現花東團的文章,但我這次是個旁人,對於那些東西永遠只能理解 80%。不知不覺的,成為社上老人,比較熟的人一個一個淡出社團;新生的認識也不多。現在的車社,已經不是我熟悉的車社了。時間在流動,我在改變,大家都在改變。我所熟悉的車社將在幾年後只能在回憶中尋找。

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Info Blockage in Taiwan

Some people in Taiwan are short sighted. I don't blame them.

I feel that there is something similar between Taiwan and communist China: Both have communist controlled news media. Some people say that we have great freedom of journalism, we to an extant, yes, the Taiwanese government doesn't control the media; yet it neither
regulates either. Some news company here are partly owned by the Chinese government (Such as that T**S TV news station, which is a company from Hong Kong, which is acquired by the Chinese communists). Some others are just plain biased in their view and reports what ever the Chinese like. So what's the problem here, and what does that has to do with info blockage?

Obviously, these media report from a Chinese point of view. They believe that China is the greatest, and despises all other countries. Other then local Taiwan news, they focus on Chinese events, squeezing out the news from all other countries. Thus, the Taiwanese who only watch TV and/or read Newspapers as their source of news are ignorant of all that's happening else where in the world. Even worse, some news media give people the illusion that "Main land China IS the world" (A concept originating from the old days of emperors when they used "Under the sky / 天下" as an acronym for the Chinese empire, and saw everywhere else as irreverent places of the edge of the world). I know some Taiwanese companies are saying that they want to enter the global market, but instead only went to China, a clear implementation of this illusion.

More over, our notorious news media has a structure of reports consisting of over 70% fiction. They report everything thats "likely, yet not true", sometimes they make the linkages them selves, such as in "it's not hard to imply from this...". But worst of all, they sometime even "act" out fake news, such as that reporter who played with the fire hydrants in several high speed railway stations, claiming that it's too easy to release the alarms "by accident".

So, living in Taiwan, we really should be careful of what we believe. Choose the news source that has less fake news, and to know about the world, read foreign news sites on the web, such as BBC or New York Times. One advantage we have over real Chinese is that we have un restricted internet access, so we are not restricted to the dumb ass fiction news nor the Chinese propaganda.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

明日博物館

在 yahoo blog 看到這篇,覺得很有趣
http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/captain-butter/article?mid=1435&prev=-1&next=1347

真想找時間去看看,看照片似乎很有感覺。

明日博物館
官網
市民大道三段180號,24小時免費入場

~2/28 的展覽是
The Flow Market, 販賣各種東西的超市,如勇氣、新鮮空氣...
3/22~5/17 則是展出 Happy Living
展覽理想家居生活的概念吧

Monday, January 22, 2007

BCT 助教工作

根據助教的 email 通知,我們是 BCT (生技核心實驗) 史上第一批大學部的助教

爽~~!

On spam

I am recently reading Michael Crichton's State of Fear, and I came over this interesting paragraph of some guy reading his email inbox:

"Then he checked his emails, sorting through twenty offers to enlarge his p***s, ten offers for tranquilizers, and another ten to get a new mortgage now before rates start to rise..."

Sweet. Fully depicted what mail people usually get everyday. I have once read in the news that "enlargement pills" were the No.1 most received email in the world... Holy crap!

The jumbo jet reborn

People love revenge stories, sort of.

Several years ago, Airbus was selling planes at historical new highs, while Boeing seemed to be in big trouble, with scarce orders. Airbus was getting all the news with it's new "full double decker", which was code named the A3XX at the time, while Boeing has it's own inner management problems, and struggled even with coming out with a new product draft. They scrambled to answer the A3XX with an enlarged 747, but it seemed that no one was interested.

Now times has changed and it's quite the other way around. Boeing has got traction with it's sells department and got lots of 777 orders, winning back the fame of the plane company to get the most orders from Airbus. Now it's Airbus that's the one with complex management problems. The much anticipated A380 (the official name of the A3XX) double decker seemed to have many testing problems and the release date was delayed again and again. While Boeing, with it's new alternative concept of fast, agile, fuel conserving and comforting interior design has gotten many orders for it's new 787 (previously dubbed 7E7) dream liner, which would also go into production soon.

The 787 (Photos from Boeing.com)

Now, taking the fuel efficient technology and the modern interior design from the 787 development, Boeing is introducing a renewal of the legendary jumbo jet: the 747-8. It uses the same ultra fuel efficient next-gen GE GenX engines, bird-like upward curving wings for better aerodynamics, and is slightly longer then the current 747-400. But for us passengers, the most significant change is the new interior design, with larger, comfortable seats, curved cabin designs for better looks and larger head space, and many other touches to make future flights a more pleasant experience. Of course, airlines may still change this and squeeze in as much seats as they could, as they do now. But at least this is a good start of focusing on the passenger. And as the seats may be changed, I guess at least the new compartments and cabin panals would be still there.
The 747-8 door-two entryway featuring a dramatic sweeping staircase leading to the upper deck photo (Neg#: K63904)
The new 747-8 intercontinental passenger jet is expected to be flying in 2010. Can't wait to get a ride on these new jets.

Links:
Boeing's new plane promotion site
Boeing releases new interior for 747-8
Businessweek | Boeing's reborn 747
More photos from BBC news
Wikipedia | 747-8

*Interesting note: A Google search of "747-8" gave me this: 747-8=739...

Saturday, January 20, 2007

金瓜石、侯牡公路單車之旅

All photos
上次摔車之後,好久沒騎車了。(來個照片遊記吧!)
想說既然學期結束了,就自己來金瓜石、侯牡公路玩玩吧!
金瓜石,主要是想看上次沒找到的,日治時代留下來的神社遺跡。而侯牡公路聽打工那的助教說很漂亮,想說,就來繞一圈吧。這些都離我家很近,卻沒玩過實在很可惜。

今天中午一看雨停了,就很高興的翻出地圖查好路線,整裝上路。
很快的就來到了瑞芳(離我家只有10km),忽然開始覺得,膝蓋上沒有一塊硬硬的痂,總覺得怪怪的,不太習慣XD

剛下完雨的天空很藍,很美麗

經過九份後,從基隆山登山步道旁的叉路往下滑到金瓜石,發現黃金神社竟然被劃歸黃金博物館園區。票價 70 NTD,學生票 50,害我一度想掉頭回家。還好只要不進博物館就不用買票,只是要牽車進去不能騎就是了。在看導覽圖時,有工作人員熱心的過來解釋,服務態度相當棒。看在服務很棒的份上,下次若帶人來我會心甘情願的買票。

太子賓館

日式宿舍

竟然要買黃金博物館的票才能進去

都用圍牆圍起來看甚麼?


我的車在小鐵路上

小鐵路





園區中大致來說非常漂亮,很有日本味的一個觀光景點。台北縣政府把該有的味道表現出來了,只可以有些東西用圍牆圍起來看不到。


總算來到了通往神社的步道。根據路標距離神社還有550公尺,還要扛車爬上山呢。

半路有個很有趣的柱子,寫著「世界人類が平和でありますように」與「我們祈禱世界和平」,下面還貼了個有趣的貼紙 :目


於是我來到了步道上第一個鳥居(yeah~!),據說本來有三個,現在還剩兩個。
一直很好奇「奉納」在日文的意義,找時間去問問久史好了。
遠遠的看到神社了(興奮)

於是,終於來到了景仰已久,台灣僅存少數沒有被國民黨忠烈祠染指的神社遺跡。據說當年是日本的礦產公司老闆為了保佑礦工安全而建的。入口的鳥居上還有刻著建造日期呢:「明治貳年七月吉日」。可惜前方的表參道殘破不堪;前殿的木造屋頂已腐蝕只剩幾根屹立不搖的石柱;而正殿更是只剩下地基。不過雖然只剩下殘骸,卻還是保有其特有的莊嚴肅穆。日本乾淨簡單的風格在此表露無遺。而在週邊的樹木、山壁與遠方的海景襯托下,整個景色變得更加壯觀。

正殿四角的精工

正殿遺跡




石柱上接木造結構的痕跡


正殿的地基...


正殿真的最慘,只剩下一個大洞。


不過從正殿往山下看,風景很棒。

看完神社後,離開金瓜石,回到九份接回縣道 北102,繼續往牡丹、雙溪的方向騎。離開了九份,北102變得更漂亮了,而且幾乎沒車,可以自己一個人享受風與自然美景。也許這就是一個人的浪漫吧。

夜總會與基隆嶼





被陽光照的金光閃閃的基隆山

遠望陰陽海

雖然很多人嚮往外國的風景,但台灣的風景還是有一定水準的。福爾摩沙,美麗之島的名號不是蓋的;有山有海,到處一片綠意盎然。不像加州那樣到處乾乾黃黃的。但重點是,這些美景就在我家旁邊,這也算是一種幸福吧。

路標標示九份到雙溪要 5km,想說既然我只是要到兩者之間的牡丹就要轉上侯牡公路了,應該一下就結束了。結果,5km 只到雙溪鄉鄉界orz 而牡丹位於雙溪鄉內,結果我總共走了 10km 的山路(前半上坡後半下滑)才到侯牡公路路口。這次下坡時,明顯的感覺到自己載上次摔車後,成為下坡速度不超過 40km/hr ,過彎以 30km/hr 以下壓車的安全騎士T_T 不過可以慶幸的是,這 10km 一路上完全都是視覺享受。而本來想在牡丹補給的,卻只發現一個荒涼的國小,只好在空腹,水又喝光了的狀態下殺上侯牡公路。

侯牡公路(印象中是 北37)總長又是個 10km。 前 2km 為陡上,接著下坡 0.5km,然後是跟武嶺有得拼的陡上約 3km,接著就一路滑下去,約在 8km 處進入侯桐,最後 2km 是侯桐通往瑞芳的那段平路 + 一些小坡。前面那兩個陡上還真是夭壽,尤其在能量用完,血糖低的時候。套句客家話:「肚子邊歸農啦」(餓到好像肚皮可以貼到背部去),真是我當時的寫照。但這段縣道好歹也是標示著「示範道路」,一路上路況極佳無坑洞,山中風景很美。而且我還看到一整個家族的台灣藍鵲(只是為了看他們,煞車停下來之後,他們被驚動飛走,而我又要痛苦的上坡起步)。最後,還是回到了熟悉的侯桐。在看到熟悉的景色的瞬間,心裡暗中叫好:「接近瑞芳了,我要補給!」

在夜色中經過員山子分洪道,到瑞芳的7-eleven補給,然後快樂的回家去。

這次一個人的探險,一路上的視覺享受絕對有橫貫公路的水準。既然離家這麼近,以後要多騎^^

Statistics:
Max speed: 52.5 km/hr
Distance : 47.51 km
Ride time: 2:54
Avg speed: 16.4 km/hr
Odometer : 5529.9 km

Friday, January 19, 2007

總預算沒過

喔 yeah! 總預算沒過耶

乾脆解散中華民國政府,解散所有政黨,解散立法院﹔另立新政府算了。

丟掉所有包袱,丟掉所有貪官污吏,來個全新的台灣政府吧!

未来へ

渾渾噩噩的在迷惘中過了一個學期後,是該找回自己的時候了。

大四上,忙著申請學校,對於未來的不確定趕感到慌張。喜歡上一個不想談戀愛的人也讓我不知所措。修了一些沒甚麼份量的課,也讓我的生活重心不再是課業。整天胡思亂想,對需要做的事情都懶洋洋,考試、作業臨時抱佛腳。只有在實驗室跟學長姊一同做實驗、喝咖啡時才覺得自己踏實而有意義的活著。

奇怪了,既然對於自己想要什麼都已經確定了,還迷惘甚麼? 想要研究病毒作為自己的職業,卻不確定是否能申請上學校。對於她的感覺已經無法再壓抑,卻害怕將來會連朋友都當不成。喜歡旅遊的感覺,卻覺得很花錢,而自己目前為止還是個家中的寄生蟲。

有夢想就該認真、勇敢,盡全力的去追求,不是嗎?
中學時代的熱情那裡去了?
去年暑假的衝勁那裡去了?

人生充滿挫折,想繼續活著就要堅強!

Thursday, January 18, 2007

The 2nd blow

Plutoed from UW applications

Screwed.

Starting to wonder if I would be in the mood to goto Hokkaido this summer...

不管了,先把期末報告跟實驗室的實驗搞定再說...
搞不好先去做一年的實驗助理也可以。再不行就去賣儀器或房地產好了XD

當窗外的兩隻白頭翁在枝頭上對唱時...



我一個人獨自在家裡抱著電腦 XDD

Saturday, January 13, 2007

しぃのうた

しぃのうた
日本 2ch BBS站的可愛動畫

Friday, January 12, 2007

我是大笨蛋

早上想說身上沒錢了,去領個兩千塊吧

昏昏沉沉的坐客運從基隆睡到台北
一下車就去騎車到大一女舍前面的 ATM提錢
很自信的想說,我領過幾次了,應該對 ATM 很熟了吧
快速的插入金融卡,輸入密碼
選了中文
然後,看到「二」字頭的就手比大腦還快的按下去了
按下去的同時,回過神來
...
「幹,是兩萬......是兩萬......是兩萬......是兩萬......
...
身上一向不帶存摺的(怕被偷了麻煩)
無法存回去

於是,今天心驚膽跳的,默默的身懷鉅款
過了一天,然後回家。

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

iPhone

iPhone
So here come the Apple iPhone.

Revolutionary multi touch screen, which could detect more then one touches at the same time. Whole new user interface. Looks real thin and cool.

Here's what I think.
Steve Jobs got a point. Most "smart phones" out there forgot that you make calls with a phone. They got tons of flashy functions, yet it's really hard to make a call. Watching Steve make the call with an iPhone in his presentation seems really simple. I like how all the call related functions are easily accessible, how easy it is to place call, answer calls, and even make conference calls. Yet, I don't like the contact list. It's a long list in alphabetical order, where you need to do extensive scrolling to find what you want. In that perspective, I prefer the Palm OS address book application, where you just write in the name of who you want, and you have it. Other then that, the phone aspect of this gadget is very nice.

The touch screen looks really nice. But with 4 years of experience on touch screens, I would say that these things very from every device, so you could never be sure if you like it or not before you get to use it in person. But no matter how good the touch screen, an on screen is never good. Try typing an email with that thing, you'd be driven crazy before you get to the second paragraph.

The new "swipe & gesture" based control method of the multi-touch
interface seems best for iPod controls. Apple should bring it over to the next version of the iPod.

Safari (the browser), on the phone, seems interesting. It loads quite fast and renders web pages just as a computer would. But that's the problem. It only zooms in and out. What if you find a wide web page with long paragraphs across the screen? Do you want to do excessive scrolling (I did that ocassionally on my PDA, and it is a pain in the ass), or do you squint at the tiny fonts?
With Netfront on my PDA, it wraps the lines fitting the paragraphs on the narrow screen by auto introducing line brakes in the page, eliminating the need for side scrolling. That is a must for mobile web browsing if you don't like itzy-bitzy fonts, yet I don't see it in the presentation.

600USD with a 2 year contract? Yuck! You could get 3 Treos (with contract) for that.

So it is revolutionary, but not affordable at launch. It could take off if prices drop, though. Also, it's not out till June, Apple still might make changes to it, so the problems apparent now, may not be in the future production product.

Links:
Apple - iPhone
Apple - Presentation video
LAtimes hands-on report by David Pouge

The first reply

Quote:
" I regret to inform you that we are not able to offer you admission to graduate study at the University of California San Francisco."

Okay, 1 dead, 7 to go.

Actually, UCSF's program doesn't focus that much on virology, thus it's not the best choice for me. However, this is like a reality check, and it reminds me this:

1. I've got crappy GPAs, and not that good GRE scores. Other then that, I have no special experience nor rewards to report. Yet I only applied for the top schools, where the competition is most fierce. At first I thought only U Penn is the top choice, and other are OK; but I realised later on that all of them are top schools, way to late. Thus, due to my stupidity, my chance of getting an admission is not very high.
2. I still haven't got any idea of what to do if I was rejected by all of them. Do I try for another year? Do I try to find a job in biotech? Do I change courses, and get any job I could get in any field? One thing for sure, job less and without an admission in the US feels like a vegabond far away from everything that I've known.

I usually do not believe in my luck, since it usually sucks, but PLEASE, PLEASE, let my luck be a little better in this critical year of my life, when I am is this incertainty.

Paradox

Loving someone means that you should take care of that special one, and not let them be worried about you.

Yet, it is at your weakest or most confusing moment when you wish the most that there is someone there for you.

I need to be strong, I need to be brave, I need to be confident.

Monday, January 08, 2007

咖啡筆記

有些咖啡喝下去會有滑順感
有:

  • Creamy feel: 只要淺培就可以出來的有如牛奶的淡淡又舒服的滑順感
    這是海島豆的特色(一時忘了最貴的海島豆是什麼,不過據說台灣的豆子也是很棒的海島豆喔,難怪那麼貴)
  • Buttery feel: 深培之後出來的濃郁的感覺,有如奶油一般厚實。

Relationships

Should I hide my feeling or show it all out?

If I put it all out, will someone suffer under the weight?

One thing for sure, we are all learning as we go.

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Grad school applications

So glad to say that all applications are finally submitted.

Now on I have to keep track on the process if every thing is properly received, and hope to get interview notices soon.

Interestingly, favorite application targets change. At first, I hope to stay in California so I could stay with friends and family, but now, from a research topic perspective, UPenn and U of Pittsburgh is my favorites due to their great selection of viral labs. I can choose to work on almost any virus I please at UPenn, and the group that discovered Kaposi's sarcoma herpes virus (KSHV), which is one of the most interesting viruses to me, is at Pittsburgh (what a surprise!). As for the 4 UC's, they don't have as much viral studies, so I need to aim on specific labs. And, U of Washington, which I previously assumed to be a safeshot, turns out to be one of the top research institutes... So, turns out that I didn't chose any safeshots, I am either getting to be a one of the best, or failing completely. Isn't that exciting??

Friday, January 05, 2007

紀念

昨天, 我的膝蓋重獲自由.

器材部分, 已經補買了手套&車燈, 同樣摔爆的背包, 還在考慮要買新的還是直接繼續使用破背包......

北海道的日期嘛......煩耶, 障礙越來越多, 而且全是人為因素

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

......

呵,今天又收到了一封賀年卡。裡面附有朋友手工製作的暑假在UCLA的照片集,勾起了當時各種歡樂的回憶。真快,半年過去了呢。短短兩個月,交了一群很特別的朋友。竟然到國外認識台灣朋友,真有趣呢,真的是物以類聚。

一同到 San Diego 玩的朋友中,竟有其中一個被另一個發了卡。看來這半年來也發生了不少事呢。不過怎麼這樣呢,這麼一來,我的朋友中又多了一個好人。

也許,很多這個年紀的人,都在煩惱著感情問題呢。那天在網路上看到別人的blog說ハチクロ這麼一個「所有的人都感情碰壁」的動畫特別能在大學生中產生共鳴。這樣充滿挫折的劇情才比較符合日常生活吧。

Monday, January 01, 2007

First day of the new year

因為週五到新竹玩,當晚只睡了2~3 hours,然後隔天又到苗栗馬那邦山爬了 6hours 的山(photos here) ,回來累的不得了。雖然週日睡了很多,今天元旦還是睡到快中午,吃完午飯又繼續狂睡。新的一年以萎靡的一天開始XD

每次睡眠不足都會失去對情緒的控制能力,結果今天中午呈現一整個沮喪的狀態,所有可以有的負面情緒一次湧上來,甚麼「人生有何意義」啦、「未來沒有希望」啦、「就當個終身黃金單生漢」啦,多麼糟糕的想法都出得來。不過我逐漸會面對了,總之,就去睡飽就對了!


下午睡飽後,上P2,發現糖果版有了不少正面而陽光的文章,心情連帶的被帶起來。恩,新的一年還是要抱著希望 : )

去剪了個頭髮,清爽多了是沒錯,鳥巢頭沒了也沒錯,不過糟糕的是,現在走進理髮店還是會被誤認為高中生。(上次剪頭髮還被問「學校規定要剪到那」......orz)高中生的收費很便宜沒錯,但都大四了還剪個學生頭實在是......。可惜我對髮型沒研究,也不知道該剪甚麼頭比較好。
總之呢,新的一年從一顆學生頭開始 XD

這一年,是我離開台灣這個美麗的島嶼前的最後一段時光,也是我的大學學生生活的最後一年。該如何才能讓自己充實的生活,而將來回憶時不會後悔呢?深深的覺得大四是個人生的轉捩點,將來可能踏入社會,可能成為研究生,總之都將比現在更獨立、更忙、更複雜。單純的學生生活即將結束。2007年,希望我能順利的申請到很重視病毒學的program(最近才發現我申請的program中有一大半都不太重視病毒研究),也希望一同申請的夥伴們都友好消息;另一方面,暑假北海道單車之旅,不必希望,我相信應該是沒問題的;感情問題,感覺上好像不在自己能掌握的範圍內,只希望自己的情緒不要再因此而亂掉,無論如何,都能快樂的生活。

最後,A happy new year to every one !