Note from The Black Swan, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

An ad hominem attack against an intellectual, not against an idea, is highly flattering. It indicates that the person does not have anything intelligent to say about your message.

Now that's great advice on how to handle meaningless verbal attacks.

鵝鵝鵝鵝鵝...

Angels in an evil, melancholy sky

Angels in the sky
Originally uploaded by intellidryad

昨天臨時起意就騎上單車到河濱公園夜騎。看著月亮白天就明亮而清楚，就隨手帶了相機。沒想到夜晚的天空充滿了邪氣...

Moon, Angels and a plane flying by

Bright moon in the clouds

A sky of melancholy
The sky is of a sad, sad blue tonight
看著憂傷的天空，不禁也被感染了一點哀傷的情緒。不過為何憂傷的畫面也有種病態美呢XD

上週的美味...

ああ、マグロと酒全部うまい。

日本超市真是好東西，可惜好遠

AA website design

The American Airlines website is wonderfully designed.

To find tickets/reservations, you enter all your trip info and preferences, then you go down to the end of the page, and click on a button to go to the next page.

Well, the "Start over" button is several times bigger then the "Go" button, and the "Go" button is already tiny. Guess which button are you more likely to click?

Some how the designer decided that they should remedy this by making the "Go" button bright red, yet in common GUI designs, red buttons are associated with negative functions, such as delete, cancel, close, or stop.

So I guess they'd rather want you to start over with the filling out the form then buy a ticket :)

人際關係逐漸打開...

認識的年齡層也越來越大

年齡將近30、單身的人似乎壓力還不小呢XD

雖然這是合理的，但發身在自己認識的人身上還是會驚訝......

The Black Swan

I had tried to be as informed and well planned as possible for everything in life. Yet The Black Swan, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb is a book all about how it is all the unexpected, high impact events that matters.

This might, intriguingly, be one of the best book I've bought.

科學進步

近幾年，科學，一直以變態的速度進步著。而我們研究生的工作，就是加入那群變態，讓科學進步的速度更變態。如果你不能超越現代的變態進步神速，就會被時代的洪流淘汰XDD

會不會，我們現在在玩的molecular biology tools以後都變得超簡單？

會不會我們將來的孫子國小自然課教具就要買DNA purification kit了XD
(小朋友，暑假作業要抽你家蚊子的DNA，裝進這管子裡開學記得帶喔～！)

Trying to prove they are worth their pay...

Regardless of the nature of any institution, there are always the employees that are constantly doing meaningless work just to prove they are worth the pay. Truth be told, they are sitting on job slots that are absolutely unneeded, and doing as much as you can to "prove you are at least doing something" sadly proves exactly the opposite.

Examples include approving and supervising the replacement of things that were working just fine. Telling people to obey meaningless policies while they them selves couldn't even figure out why it is necessary.

In some cases, the fact that the institution was doing just fine before his/her "new slot" was created supports the case of the slot's uselessness. If you find yourself struggling to figure out why you are paid, you should get a new job for your own good.

In a twist, people of this type are especially prevalent in governments, and sadly, even presidents or prime ministers of some countries struggle to show they are important.

動畫與阿宅

也許，萌萌的蘿莉動畫是給交不到女友又怕寂寞的人的重口味心理補償

因為隔了一個螢幕也沒有互動，所以要重口味

結果有些人重口味習慣了就上癮了，反倒離現實世界越來越遠，而成為重度阿宅 XD

說起來真是糟糕到一種可怕的境界

中秋節烤肉...

大家在那邊聊天聊得很開心時

我竟然自故自的在那生火、翻漢堡肉

我在避俗個什麼雕啦，吼～～

語言筆記

離心機在義大利文中是母的@@

(所以義大利人若不小心會用"She"來稱呼離心機......)

感謝古代Anglo-Saxon人把陰性陽性丟了，不然英文本來跟其他拉丁語系一樣複雜的orz 據說古英國貴族、皇族講法文，賤民講英文；賤民喜歡化繁為簡，所以賤民語言就沒了陰性陽性。

說起來，我們講的「中文」其實是女真語言的演變；「英文」是古英國賤民語言，都是被古代皇族看不起的語言呢。語言也是會風水輪流轉的

聽中國Post-Doc講課

昨天上課是一位中國Post-Doc講課

講到small G protein時，說

「So this turns 雞踢屁 into 雞滴屁......」

嗯，口音很妙......XD

不過還是輸以前大學時的「神經與神經之間有漿選」orz

Flumpool / MW ～Dear Mr. & Ms. ピカレスク～

全部の全部、思い込んだ夢だ......

What if Apple decided to make Digital still cameras?

Taking a page from how they made the iPod/iPhone...

1. It would be ultra thin, with an amazingly glossy finger-print-collector shell
   
2. Called the iCam
3. Non-replaceable battery & built-in 16GB memory, no memory card slot
4. It would only cost $600 at launch (which would drop to $400 2 months later, "isn't that fantastic?")
   
5. Photos are locked in, you can only, "easily" get them out with iPhoto sync
6. iPhoto would be available on Windows; iPhoto on the Mac would start blocking importing in photos from other cameras
7. Natually, installing iPhoto on your Windows machine would also install Quicktime, iTunes, Safari and Apple software update
   
8. It would only have a power button and a shutter button; double click to record videos, triple click to view photos... it's just that easy (maybe add on a touch screen)
   
9. It would come with a lens that produce photos in your choice of mosaic art or Mr. Blurry cam; you would need to buy an overpriced, "designed for iCam" add-on lens to get usable pictures
10. The 1st generation product would have no flash, with Steve Jobs claiming that people don't need flash (actually, that's coming in the 2nd generation)
11. Again, zoom would not be added until the 3rd iteration
12. AppleCare would cost $120
    
13. It would be the #1 selling camera in the USA as long as there is an Apple logo on there
14. Oh, and it would come with Apple logo stickers, free in the box
    

Gotta find a sense of direction in this vastly unknown world, and build upon it.

You feel lost because no body knows anything about it; yet knowing nothing about it is exactly the reason why you do research on it.

隔壁實驗室老闆...

話說一兩個月前隔壁實驗室搬進來了新鄰居

午餐時我跟實驗室的postdoc、學長姊在討論著

我說「我覺得他們實驗室的人都不錯，都很和善；但就是不喜歡他們老闆」

「為什麼？」

「他總是板著一張很不高興的臉穿著夾腳拖經過我們實驗室」（其實是好像大家都欠他五百萬的臉orz）

學長姊回我說「也許他天生就是一副不高興的臉阿～」

囧

幾個月後的今天，他改穿休閒皮鞋，但那臉看起來好像欠他一千萬......

小朋友 push bike

小朋友好可愛阿，有種想抱一下的衝動

童年，真是個只管玩的歡樂時光阿。也許照顧小朋友的大人們除了有照顧人的成就感之外還可以重溫那個天真無邪、未來的一切充滿著希望的感覺吧。

Luxgen 的智慧

裕隆的自創品牌新車標榜「智慧車」，說要善用台灣在高科技產業的優勢。

到網頁看看，怎麼所有的「智慧」都是攝影機 = =|||
停車時有攝影機幫你看死角、變換車道時攝影機幫你看車側、晚上時夜視攝影機幫你看前方......
阿但是LCD銀幕在中控台上一般裝GPS導航機的地方阿，難不成我開車要一直釘著那7吋小螢幕看？那看的到的大概只剩下以前所說的「死角處」吧，窗外在幹啥都不知道orz

Thanks but no thanks, 商品要差異化，但賣點也要是有用的東西吧？這就好像Honda Insight ECO mode一直在銀幕上顯示「你又省了多少油，拿了多少加分」，邊開車邊拿bonus points，又不是電玩...... 乾脆去撞樹算了，車子動不了了，最省油

陳水扁的罪在哪裡？

自由時報 | 曹長青專欄 - 陳水扁「罪」在哪裡？

陳水扁的罪在哪裡？陳水扁罪大惡極，他的罪在於：

1. 自己不小心，留下把柄給人抓
2. 司法改革沒有做徹底，把國民黨黨國機器完整保留
3. 老好人一個，其實什麼改革都沒做，也不敢做

李登輝當總統大刀闊斧改革，對國家、自己都好。
陳水扁當總統就好像A國入侵B國，卻把B國的核彈好好的留下來，等著人家將來反過來炸你。

想像，聯軍當年若在二次世界大戰結束後還好好的「撫卹」納粹遺黨，那十年後納粹養好傷會不會過來反咬聯軍？

哇，已經有朋友發出紅色炸彈預告了@@

當我靜靜的在實驗室做實驗時，全世界其他人動得好快好快

不過話說某位姓B名X的，還不快求婚，第一屆生科系跨年級同學會就靠你了耶～！

We need a single player health insurance system

Tired of premiums, hefty insurance payments, and most of all tired of knowing that most of our insurance fees go towards the work force that's there to reject payment.

I am all for health care reform, people who think our current system in the best in the world should read more. This would be a big step away from the unethical capitalist tradition of"robbing the poor to make the rich even richer".

Don Henley - The End of Innocence

混亂的情緒中，腦中忽然浮現的老歌

颳著暴風雨的心，試著從平緩而熟悉的旋律中找點慰藉吧

太貪心

想要同時
開發新的大型研究計畫
趕出足夠出版的data (還是雙主線計畫)
多多聽演講

修課還想超修

同時還想要多交朋友、拓展人脈、多到不同的地方玩玩、多發展一點興趣、再多學個語言、甚至研究研究投資理財......

到頭來放棄了很多慾望卻還是放著一堆事情不做跑去睡覺、掛網、騎車orz

阿，兩個月份的實驗筆記怎麼趕阿？一組顯微照片negative data就可以整理一天了，偏偏我就是衝到每個禮拜至少生一組出來......T_T

如果我心中有一百句話想要說

付諸文字、言語的總是只剩二十句

其他八十句話總是在從思緒要轉換成文字時消散在腦海中

出不來



如果我有十件事想做

真正付諸實行的總是只剩兩件事

其它八件事總是卡在幻想中

出不來

Wall street's new toy...... Old people

NY Times | Wall Street Pursues Profit in Bundles of Life Insurance

在房貸市場被華爾街玩倒之後，他們現在要改玩老人的命。

跟老人家「買」他們的人壽險，把受益人改成銀行；然後這些銀行就把這些「受益權」再打包當成「理財商品」賣給投資人。這樣，老人家早死，投資人跟銀行都賺錢；老人家長命，投資人跟銀行都虧錢。

也就是說打賭人家早死就對了，為了賺錢希望老人家快點去死。好棒的點子，華爾街真是創意十足阿。

還說「這是很棒的投資，因為這樣完全不受景氣影響；若跟其他股票、基金做組合，風險沒有關連性也因此不會有風險加成的問題」

我反而比較想打賭華爾街創意十足的投資產品經理們早死。不過也許不久的將來人壽保險公司都會加一條但書「若受益權已經過買賣，保方有權拒絕理賠」，那麼，這個新興市場就可以倒了。

Color printer in lab

The color printer in the lab is thirsty for ink.
There's 4 ink cartridges for black, cyan, yellow, red, and they run out in turns.

It all started with the yellow whining that it's low, so we replaced it.
1.5 weeks later, it's red's turn.
Another 1.5 weeks later, it's cyan's turn.
Then another 1.5 weeks later, now it's black......

So is it time to buy yellow again a few days later? Or am I printing too much immunoflorescence microscopy photos?

就算理智告訴自己要勇於面對

對於不知該如何面對、想不透的事物，驚覺自己的潛意識中還是在強力的逃避

無藥可救的懦弱

Back to normal life

回到了一如往常的日常生活

從自然回到都市、滿街的人取代了滿街的水牛、水泥房間取代了帳篷、從四輪回到二輪、80mph降回了15mph、論文取代了地圖......

從瘋狂又歡樂的旅程回到了日常生活，回首過去幾天有如大夢一場的難以置信

This explains everything... sadly

http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/jkt921/article?mid=5377&sc=1#5379

回應：
http://tw.news.yahoo.com/article/url/d/a/090815/78/1p3s0.html

幾個月前在煩惱該選哪個實驗室時，跟所主任聊到我的兩個選擇可能發的paper，其中一個「大概好JV吧」；另一個「可能偶而發很稀有的EMBO，通常還是JV吧」。想說，恩，到哪都Journal of Virology......

沒想到選完實驗室後，老闆來個Cell系列二連發，投了Cell跟Molecular Cell，EMBO也年出發了一篇

老闆今年真的是發了XD

Macbook is kaput

So my computer died, I wonder how long I can survive with just a Clie TH55 (PDA) and a Palm Pre smartphone?

Great timing, right when I am low on dough... And I was also waiting for the new version of Mac OS to come out months later...


There was some clicking noise from the HD, refused to boot, and ...... after I pulled the plug, took out the battery and waited for an hour before giving it power again, it's alive again...... I guess it's not a good idea to bring it along my cycling commute again soon.

還好活了，不然剛買Skype點數舊電腦掛了還頗囧的orz

やっば牛丼は男の料理だ！！！

牛丼果然是男人的料理阿！簡單、豪邁、大份量、好配啤酒XD

從這網站減量到2~3人份：
滾水 300cc
牛肉薄片 超市賣的半盒（約255g）
洋蔥 一個
生姜 少許
醤油 ３匙
蜜淋 ４匙
塩 少許
柴魚味素 1匙

洋蔥在滾水中煮到透明，其它所有材料丟下去滾個5~10分鐘入味，最後撈起來蓋在白飯上，然後打顆蛋，配一些紅生薑就對啦！

萎大的囧統...

人家在淹水、土石流中等待救援，驅驅還對救災使出不沾鍋招數......。人家宋楚瑜以前還懂得到處視察作個秀，你只會整天嘴砲說為什麼氣象局預測不準？

知本金帥飯店倒塌...

好可怕的颱風...
但怎麼現場看熱鬧的人好high?!
好像聽到有「WooHooo～！」、「阿！」、「倒了！倒了！倒了！倒了！」（台語）之類的聲音，根本就好像坐雲霄飛車一樣的歡呼尖叫聲？！

Bad CD alert: Jason Mraz - We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things

Usually if I really like some songs, I would buy the CD to get the best audio quality, flip through the quality packaging, and enjoy the art in the lyrics booklet. Also, some really good artists make their albums a continuous experience with each track smoothly leading on to the next.

Today I got the "Jason Mraz - We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things" album.

So the package was beautiful, with some simple drawings. But, the booklet only contains credits, no lyrics. It's an "enhanced CD", you plug it into your computer and launch an app on the CD, which brings you to their Website. Oh, sorry, you have to sign up for email spam to see the lyrics. Didn't I paid for this?

Next, to load it into my walkman, natually, I launched iTunes and tried to convert it into music files. (AAC, to be exact) Well, lo and behold, iTunes only gave an error message.

Well, that "enhanced" screwed up iTunes. Clearly Atlantic records want you to buy the music AGAIN on iTunes. What did I pay for by buying the CD?

In the end, I found an alternate encoder: XLD, but that's not the point. The point is these record companies are hostile to their customers. Before this, I only blame the slide of CD sells on how there's less good music on the market then before the 90's, and how record companies always throw in horrible "filler" music into an album so that only 2 songs are good, while the other ones are rubbish.

Well congratulations, Atlantic records, you just lost one of the few people who still believe in CDs. Maybe I should stay away from main stream pop music after all.

陳建年 | 想妳一切都好

輕鬆又溫暖的小品，簡單的歌詞卻充滿了情感

異想

大部分人們對異性有興趣

有些人只喜歡同性

有些人同性異性都愛

那有沒有人對同性異性都沒反應呢？

天生和尚/尼姑人格的人生是怎樣的呢？

東突厥斯坦準備對中國進行報復攻擊

Y 新聞/自由時報 | 報復北京 東突發出全球恐襲令

說要要對全球中國人進行恐怖攻擊。我不想也無法對此做出什麼譴責，因為中共的人權迫害事蹟多如牛毛。

只是有個奇想，如果整個回教世界用反以色列的態度團結起來對抗中共，也許有機會把那個被中國稱為新疆的東突地區搶過來吧，就像巴勒斯坦硬是從以色列搶回一塊地盤那樣。訴諸恐怖攻擊，對美國有用；可是對於把人民視為「永遠死不完的九牛一毛」的中共，我想是不痛不癢吧？中國人不用等你東突來殺，中共自己就不知道殺了多少法輪功成員了。就像中國人總是喜歡說的：「最後可憐的還是老百姓」

念paper

其實，自己覺得自己有點混，雖然做實驗但paper念得不夠多

雖然每次老闆過來探訪時，我都「剛好心血來潮」在念paper...... 有點心虛orz

心情太浮動時，就比較不想念paper，尤其當一堆人都只是蛋白質A跟B黏在一起，B又跟C黏在一起，這樣黏來黏去也不知道有何意義，這種paper真是一點念的動力都沒有。為了逃離無意義蛋白質黏來黏去而做病毒研究，才有免疫與病原體大戰的感覺，但最終還是會為了學技術而又必須去念「無意義蛋白質黏來黏去paper」。

有時又比較想念「有趣的paper」而開始跳主題亂看，專挑跟自己的計畫連邊都沾不上的領域來看，也許因為自己的領域熟悉了就少了點新鮮感吧

說來說去，就是有時候心情不好，就會發懶、發呆阿 >"<

Kronenbourg 1664

糟糕，找到了最喜歡的啤酒......

Kronenbourg 1644法國進口啤酒，第一次喝是在某法式bar慶祝法國國慶時買的特價品，但當時覺得好喝只是因為天氣熱，有個東西潤喉罷了。

這次特地買回家慢慢品嚐。算是小麥發酵味淡一點，啤酒花的比例比較重的，不過比例恰到好處，微苦微甜。甜味不像台啤或賓州在地的Yuengling那樣的甜，Kronenbourg的甜比較像是好茶的自然回甘那樣清爽。

Body不像Indian Pale Ale (IPA)那樣的豐富，當然，這也代表口感豐富度完全比不上比利時Stille Nacht那樣喝一口就滿嘴上千種美妙的味道。

Kronenbourg最大的特色就是均衡而清爽的口感，清爽恰到好處，還是保有滑順的口感。最令我驚訝的是，這清爽感是一種令人可以一口氣拿起一瓶一直灌下去而不膩的感覺。我從來沒有喝過任何一種啤酒是用灌的還可以感到舒暢的；硬要說，最接近的應該是Asahi吧，不過還是輸了一大節。

如果說，比利時啤酒是要一口一口慢慢品味那豐富而濃烈的味道；Kronenbourg就正好相反，就是口渴時可以大口灌下去大喊一聲「爽」的！

糟糕的是，口感太舒暢了，要節制一下，不然會變酒鬼的XD (更糟的是，這進口酒竟然跟美國廉價爛酒一樣便宜)

Japanese home style food truck (日本媽媽愛心便當？)

I've heard wonderful raves about this Japanese food truck at 34th and Market street, right in front of the Drexel library. "It's a little expensive but it's real home style Japanese food" is how he described it. Will I guess hearing that statement from a Japanese really means a lot. So last Friday I found my self walking all the way to Drexel, diagonally trekking though 3 big blocks, while wondering all along if I was crazy, why I didn't just ride my bike...... ?

The food truck didn't had a name, but a really simple yet eye catching slob of wood, with a short menu written in stylized Japanese calligraphy. There was just one very cheerful and talkative Japanese lady in there (ママさん？) My roommate recommended 丼かつ fried pork rice box, but it was sold out, I'm not so fond of teriyaki (照焼き) chicken, so I tried the "hamburger meat rice box" (ハンバーグ弁当/漢堡肉便當) the food truck lady recommended.

So I ended up back at the lunch room with this $6 lunch box and a $1.5 can of imported tea. The tea I knew was extremely good so I knew the price was worth it. This really is the most home style food truck I've ever saw, down to the conventional colored paper tower. And that paper molded box is special, too.


And here you have it, pickled veggies, pan fried little hot dog, Japanese fried egg/omelet (玉子焼), and pan-fried hamburger steak lightly glazed with teriyaki sauce on Japanese white rice.
Looks exactly like the box lunches the high school students had in Japanese anime, I guess I really am getting "a taste of Japanese home". And it really is the best tasting food truck I've ever had.


I don't understand why the Japanese like to cut hot dogs into this shape then pan fry them, but again, this is just like on TV :D

硬要上B的結果...

話說PTT這東東建構在telnet BBS這個古老的架構上，理論上只要是Unix架構，或有個簡單的terminal介面，應該都有telnet功能的

不過因為他整個都是用Big5中文編碼，現在新的電腦平台都改用Unicode了

另外，它還限制銀幕長寬字元數，只要畫面長寬不對，一換行就一整個亂掉了

於是用不支援Big5或銀幕寬度不對的機器硬上B就產生了以下慘烈又有趣畫面：（皆以P2輸入帳號密碼後的歡迎畫面示範）

手機：（Palm Pre webOS 1.01, Linux核心下的telnet...）

蘋果電腦若沒灌專用軟體也只好一點點：（Mac OS X 10.4, FreeBSD核心, Bash shell）


老PDA有灌中文外掛有差XD：（Palm OS 5.2, pSSH軟體+掌龍中文外掛）

結論：要上B用越老的機器效果越好阿！（咦）

當總統沒常識也要善用幕僚吧？

青年日報 | 馬總統期許單車運動成台灣特色

總統說，二年前，他自己騎著這輛自行車，從南台灣屏東的鵝鑾鼻騎到北台灣台北縣富貴角，一面騎一面想，「人家可以有Le Tour de France，我們能不能有Le Tour de Taiwan？台灣能不能有環台的大賽呢」

Tour de Taiwan 從1978年開辦到現在多久了？馬囧真的是打嘴砲不打草稿的。可見他「關心」單車界只是政客希望借用單車熱潮沾點光罷了。

FGARAT

phosphoribosylformylglycineamide amidotransferase (FGARAT)

Who's the Biochemistry expert here? 什麼鬼字啦？！

Eat a lot of Blue Dye if you break your spine

W. Peng, et al. PNAS 2009, Systemic administration of an antagonist of the ATP-sensitive receptor P2X7 improves recovery after spinal cord injury
| Nat Geo | Wired

This is very cool, (oh, and that blue rat is really cute) blue food dye No. 1 prevents inflammation right after spinal injury, and thus an injured rat could fully recover within days! The funny thing is that this dye is so cheep that there would be no pharm company to sponsor clinical trials for this. Well, patients could always eat boat loads of blue Jell-o or copious amounts of blue Gatorade......

The PNAS site is down, and this article isn't on PubMed yet, so I still can't find the original publication. Maybe this artical is so hot that the PNAS website is experiencing a DDoS-attack-like issue.

Update: Seems that I'm only experiencing issues with PNAS in the lab, got home and got the paper^^

Lab summer student...

暑假的實驗室總是比平常熱鬧一點，因為我們機構有跟外面簽合作教育合約，所以暑假總會多幾個高中生或社區大學學生來學習做實驗。

除了我帶的高中生以外，我隔壁bench的postdoc負責另一個社區大學學生，今年暑假主要就這兩個吧

這周又出現了一個不認識的新人，一個紅頭髮的看似高中女生。想說奇怪，怎麼這麼晚才開始，我帶的高中生已經做一個月啦...... 跟她打招呼沒回應我就暫時不管了，我的實驗很忙，而我帶的學生只要沒有人盯著就會不小心出錯XD 不過想也奇怪，為什麼老闆親自帶她做實驗？我們老闆會帶我們研究生做實驗已經是全校少數異常好老闆了，但沒看過他人好到連summer student都帶啊，而且還是帶ligation這種隨便找個人就可以帶的實驗。

直到今天lab manager渡假回來了，老闆要交代他幫忙帶這個女生做實驗室，才不小心聽到老闆做介紹.........





「這是我女兒」





啥？！（大驚）

偉哉！百大！

現在的台大首頁頭條竟然是這個無聊的排名。自從換了新校長，喊出「前近百大」後，這無聊的精神目標就被在校學生在ptt上罵到爆；校長依然故我。

排名這麼重要？排名標準隨便人家定的，我不爽我也可以來個「我心目中的理想大學排名」，然後弄個很複雜的評分公式來讓人加以為我的評分是專業的。難不成我只要進入US News當記者就可以左右台大的治校方針？到底是誰當校長？

要努力的應該是本質上的東西，而不是表面上的東西。如，研究要用心、要勇於挑戰大目標等等才是實際的；或致力提供優質的環境讓人才可以好好發揮才是。整天喊前進百大，努力的目標成功與否完全看人家的臉色。

試問李校長：校長拿著Ph.D的學位，知識、學問難道遠不及US News的記者？治校方針需要記者告訴你？

再看看近幾年異軍突起的UT Southwestern，努力投資研究硬體、到處挖年輕卻有大成就的postdoc去當教授，5年不到就從默默無名變成publication質量跟各大名校平起平坐的醫學中心。人家根本就沒有去刻意強調US News排名，反倒是US News自動去大篇幅報導他們的成就。

也許台大該換校長了，找這個「隔空抓藥」教授來當教授真的是鬧出個大笑話。

--

其實，我覺得台大最缺的是研究熱誠的風氣。教授們都很有熱誠，但卻沒有把熱情感染給學生。多找些機會讓學生可以多多參與世界各大symposium或甚至爭取主辦一些國際研討會；或更簡單一點，找些大頭來演講，然後安排學生跟演講者聊天的機會都是很重要的。

Valley Forge Biking trip

好幾個月沒有這樣玩長距離整天的單車旅行了，更精確的說，很久沒有單日破40km里程了。最近cloning玩到爛了，就離開實驗室來找回當年隨便就單日爆80km旅程的感覺吧。

這附近景點說多不多，說少不少，就挑Valley Forge國家歷史公園來挑戰吧。去年隨性的沿著河濱公園走，卻因為單車專用道路面品質不好，河濱又太蜿蜒，還沒到就累翻了；這次就請Google大神規劃了避開高速公路的最短路徑。期間會經過比較糟糕的West Philly，但早上出發還算OK，就走啦！

一路沿著Lancaster Ave.往西北走，其實感覺West Philly早上比傍晚好太多了，除了髒亂以外，真的沒什麼，也許週日早上真的大家都在睡覺。而一過City Ave.就沿路都是高級住宅了。Philly的區域分佈真有趣，單身中產階級＆有錢人在市中心，平民區就在外圍，再往外是超有錢豪華區，中產階級家庭住最外圍，這群人每天通車最辛苦呢。

一路上是丘陵地形，沿路分佈是小鎮->住宅區->小鎮->住宅區。很多小鎮的市中心都有些歷史古蹟，還有很多可愛的小店，很有趣的感覺。也許在小鎮逛街也會別有一番風味吧！

這裡連連鎖店都可以開得很有情調呢。

郵局也是，Brwn Mayr郵局比Philly市中心那個黏滿灰塵污垢的老郵局漂亮太多了。新蓋的郵政總局雖然閃閃發亮，但現代化的鋼骨外露設計又少了那麼一點人文氣息。

騎著騎著，不小心發現原來全國知名的大學校際籃球超強學校（今年好像有進前四強，害我在微生物所的籃球賭盤輸很慘XDD）Villanova就這麼近啊！

校園小小的（比台大小），但很美麗，看起來應該是天主教學校吧。據說這裡的商學院也算滿強的樣子。

校園裡最漂亮的就是這個教堂了

穿綠色長袍的教父正在招待來做禮拜的信徒。綠色長袍，怎麼讓我想起了「史萊哲林」...
旁邊的草皮也很美
聖人雕像似乎是基督/天主教學校必備的

宿舍看來很豪華呢！

接著來到了Strafford古色古香的市區，配上越來越藍的天空、越來越像棉花糖的雲朵，真的很漂亮。照片中這個旅館怎麼可以這麼漂亮呢，真想去住住看呢

這火車站也太有趣了，完全不像火車站，長得比較像客棧
翻過一坐山，穿越一個高級住宅區後，終於來到了Valley Forge國家歷史公園。此時碼表顯示19mile，跟Google估計的20差不多。

前方有一望無際的丘陵草原，讓我回想起了北海道的美瑛；只是這裡整個是綠的，沒有五彩拼布的感覺。


仿凱旋門的獨立戰爭紀念碑

國家公園管理處管的地方總是有精美的地圖，當然一定要到遊客中心去拿一份嚕，而且也快中午的，進去問問哪裡可以覓食。
有點像教堂的電影放映廳，介紹當年獨立戰爭時，華盛頓在此練兵準備隔年把被英軍佔領的Philly搶回來的故事。當時因為補給缺乏，很多軍人在這裡無法過冬，造成了寒冬比英軍殺了更多人的悲劇。


小木屋紀念品店有賣便宜又好吃的簡易三明治，和最棒的明信片

園區內的教堂，每週三晚上有免費演唱會，可惜太遠了，不然在這麼漂亮的地方一定很棒。在軍營中的教堂前還有幾尊大砲，構成了一個不協調的景象。恩，軍人打仗還是有信仰的。


當年軍隊睡的小木屋，如此寒酸，難怪當年情況很慘。

華盛頓司令總部！這......上校住得也跟軍隊差太多了吧？去過Mt. Vernon是知道Washington以前經商家裏本來就很有錢，但屬下受苦時住這麼豪華感覺有點誇張......後來才聽到解說員說「這是他當時跟阿姨租的房子」，喔，那比浪費物資新建好很多了orz

裡面房間也很豪華


藍藍的天空，綠綠的丘陵，真的很有美瑛那種童話故事的感覺

然後又一路飆車回去跟朋友聚餐去。沿途肚子很餓，Energy bar又忘在家裏沒帶，就來吃吃看這家超有名的Hope's Cookies吧！
這一小杯Frozon Yogurt要$4，真的很貴>"< Fat-free也讓口感單調了點，不過爆餓的大熱天，這樣還是很好吃的^^ 很順口的就這樣整個吃完啦！

Sick of Facebook...

"Making friends" on Facebook amount to nothing. If you are good friends, you'll keep all contact channels open anyways; if you are not going to be good friends, you are just a bullet point in a friend list.

Meeting in person or making phone calls remain the best way to connect.

Thus I am cleaning up my Facebook profile. I'll mainly use it as if a virtual business card. If you are interested, there's my contact info. That's it.
---
By the way...

有些人用Facebook的邀請功能寄邀請到我的Yahoo帳號（我用來當MSN帳號的垃圾email），好久沒去檢查那個信箱了:P 今天去看了，有些人竟然是一點印象都沒有，搬家搬了半個地球之後，有些人不再聯絡，竟然就好像上輩子的朋友一般完全沒印象了。PDA通訊錄中有紀錄的還會有筆記這個人哪裡認識的可以喚醒記憶；只加過MSN，沒寫進通訊錄的就真的是完全記不得了orz

Communication is not just about accomplishing tasks, it's about managing relationships.

~Scripps College of Communication dean Gregory Shepherd
from WIRED-17.08 Aug 09

ABC news | Ex-Marine Kills 300-Pound Bear With Log

ABC news | Ex-Marine Kills 300-Pound Bear With Log

最近對熊的資訊越來越有興趣orz
結論：出去露營前要練出可以把大樹幹抬起來丟出去砸熊的大肌肉？！（大誤）

薑薑薑薑～ A story of Ginger

室友在廚房擺了一顆生薑，沒有收進冰箱。他喜歡吃薑燒豬排 (豚の生姜焼き)，偶而就拿那顆流理台旁邊的薑切一塊來用。

有一天，我說「Wow, it's growing! That furry thing looks like mold, but it's actually the roots.」

室友回答「Yeah, it's germinating..., is that the right way to say it?」
（果然是植物學背景的人，發芽竟然用germinate這個字XD）

「Mmm... yeah..., germinal centers, huh?」
（為什麼生物背景的人聊起天都會往學術方向聊？）

「Maybe we could grow it, we'll have tons of ginger!」

*** *** ***

過幾天後，當我在幫我的酢醬草澆水時，室友拿起一顆綠綠的「薑芽」跟我說「Maybe you could also plant this, it fell off the ginger today.」驚，這小小的薑竟然偷偷地在行出芽生殖，發芽後還會自動掉下來變一棵獨立的小薑芽；仔細一看那薑上還有另一顆帶莖快要掉下來的小芽和第三顆剛開始長的小芽。這繁殖力還真是驚人阿！

於是我真的拿了一個塑膠小盤裝了水就把小薑芽放上去擺窗台上培養了XDD

一顆綠芽用四根「毛毛的腳」站著，活像小外星人；又那塑膠小盤其實是實驗室帶回來的過濾器蓋子，一整個有組織培養的感覺。

發芽後，室友還是喜歡吃薑燒豬排，偶而就拿那顆流理台旁邊的薑切一塊來用。

*** *** ***

今天吃晚餐時，室友又問我薑的葉子能不能吃。
我說不知道耶，等它長大可以試試看啊。

[政論] It all started with this...

從前從前，有一天，台北市長選舉，陳水扁敗選，馬英九勝選

在此之前，陳水扁當市長當得有聲有色，馬英九也還沒進入政壇，一切都是如此美好

此後，馬英九當上市長，台北市從此市政一路擺爛；然後郝龍斌接手，讓世界見識到原來市政除了消極的擺爛以外，還可以積極的向下沉淪orz (hint: 貓纜、內湖捷運)

陳水扁敗選後，下定決心雪恥，當選了總統，然後把李登輝留下的繁榮景象搞成了爛攤子
(hint: 經濟)
然後驅長接手，把爛攤子搞成了大廢墟orz

想當初，把陳水扁留著當市長；馬英九不要讓他進入政壇，也許台灣還可以再繁榮個幾年XDD

Nature interviews Chi-Huey Wong on Taiwan's biotech industry

Nature News | Taiwan's hopes for a biotech revolution

Seems like they are planning to strategically invest government funds into the industry. One major problem noted is that experienced and skilled scientists prefer to stay abroad, and thus a shortage of young scientists. Well yeah, when the grad school stipend in the US is way higher then real scientist jobs in Taiwan, you've got serious under pay. Add in how Taiwanese companies love to work employees overtime while underpaying, good luck recruiting! Dr. Wong (翁啟惠) did acknowledge how they need to increase salaries, but he is saying that as head of Academia Sinica(中研院), let's see how he can convince the private sector to actually put that into practice.

Another major problem in Biotech is that it's always thirsty for research funding, it's just the nature of the industry. Few countries in the world have as large the capital as the US of A, and yet the Biotech industry is still not working too well in the US. Taiwan is now deep in debt, just as the rest of the world is, and trying to invest in this high failure-rate, capital-burning industry is a huge gamble, especially in this deep-shit economy. Some highly strategic financing is really required here.

It's good to know that Dr. Wong really knows Taiwan's strengths in clinical trials and gadget engineering, and it's always a good thing to start out with what you are good at. Yet I think Taiwan has a little too much people doing "glucose sensors". Heck, you can already get blood testing machines at Walmart for cheep, why waste your time trying to tweak something that's already good enough to perfection? We need truly ground breaking research, not evolutionary tweaks that have not significant market value.

Well, yeah, wait and see how it goes, it's still almost a decade before I finish my training. Maybe I'll contribute to the development, maybe I'll stay in academia, or maybe I'll stay here in the US. Never the less, wish them good luck.

Runnin' semi-barefoot

Wired | To Run Better, Start by Ditching Your Nikes
Vibram | Five fingers
C. Rolian, et al., Walking, running and the evolution of short toes in humans, J. Exp. Bio (2009)

Wired had this interesting article on running barefoot, or with Vibram's sock-like shoes that tries to emulate the ergonomics while protecting your foot from scratches. Maybe running shoes aren't that good of an idea, they are a moist and warm incubator for fungus & bacteria, and some of them might have bad ergonomics. Yet the most interesting point in the article is that with additional protection and shock absorbence of the shoes, we relay too much on them and start walking in ways that abuse our feet. Best argument is that humans have evolved those feet to walk & run without any shoes for eons, so we should be well off living barefoot.

Wired's video review of those finger-y shoes:


I like walking barefoot indoors, but don't like the stones outside pinching against my foot. The Vibram Fivefingers looks very interesting, albit a little overpriced.

料理

自己煮的飯也吃膩了

糟糕，該開發什麼新花樣嗎？還是單純自己煮自己吃覺得無聊呢？

帶小朋友做實驗

實驗室來了個女高中生說要來學做實驗的（放心，我對老外女高中生一點興趣都沒有:P）
高中一年級，剛學會DNA雙股螺旋而已，要來實驗室做什麼呢？

一般來說，來實驗室學經驗的學生，老闆都會交代給lab manager去當小助手。可是，這次lab manager渡假去了 = =
老闆說，「先學個簡單的吧，阿（看著我）你最近做很多 miniprep 嘛，可以帶她一起做阿」
我說「Errrrrrrrrrr......al~right」（心中想著我已經miniprep鬼打牆兩個禮拜了，難道要給小朋友來個科學研究失敗的殘酷體驗？！）

比起來，以前帶BCT實驗課真是太簡單了，BCT學生都大三大四了，基本的東西都是一講就懂；高中生，真是挑戰啊，你在講她狂點頭，但只要一停下來問「懂不懂」其實都不懂XD 高中生的生物基本知識程度還需要一段時間揣摩阿；說起來也許這之中我們互相都在學習在研究生與高中生兩個程度之間如何溝通吧。

帶了她又跑了一個禮拜的miniprep鬼打牆之後，今天總算有進展了；想說每次都只給她操作簡單的東西，其他都只能看，大概很無聊吧？於是把一半的sample指派給她說「這些就完全交給你了」；又不好意思只把心目中知道成功機會不大的爛sample給她，怕她挫折感太大，於是也把一些好的sample交給她了。一路做到最後一步，她竟然給我忘記標記sample名稱，做出來那一管是什麼東西完全不確定 = =||| 以前當BCT助教見識過很多耍笨又搞笑的大失誤，這次竟然給我碰到笑不出來又欲哭無淚的鳥失誤orz 好吧，把重要的sample完全交給她是我的錯，我應該多弄一份她專屬的sample去給她玩的吧？

恩，明天收今天的爛尾，希望最後有好結果。

大學社團...

大學時代太單純，很標準乖乖牌的「一切以課業為重」，一路狂修課，大四下只差一學分就可以提早畢業 = =

如果我重念一次大學，我大概會去狂玩社團，然後延畢一年吧

若我重念一次大學，除了單車社一定要繼續玩之外，我大概會去玩玩看咖啡社、調酒社、國標舞社、土風舞社、攝影社、登山社、童軍社XD

話雖然這樣說，但沒有大四到現在這幾年的各種經驗、體驗，我也不會覺得這些東西會好玩吧。高中剛畢業的大學生就是那樣單純阿，雖然光一個單車社就讓我整個人生有了重大的改變。

話說回來，高中時期專門找類似海鷗社性質的鬼混社團還真是笨得可以orz

Up

Nope this is not the animated movie, this is history :)
Wired | July 2, 1982: Up, Up and Away With 42 Balloons
Very cool, although a sad ending in a twist

漂白水

洗衣服時，很無腦的臨時起義「加點漂白水消毒好了」

於是加了1毫升的漂白水到運轉中的洗衣機中（沒錯，不多不少1ml，我有strip pipette XD）

結果那漂白水剛滴下第一個碰到的枕頭一個、襯衫一件，就這麼被我瞬間毀了

應該先稀釋均勻再放東西下去的orz

去年的這時候，剛到一個新環境，也剛脫離一整年的「家裏蹲」生活。當時極度渴望認識新朋友，一來想說要從0開始建立新生活圈；二來也期待是否能遇到好女孩。於是不管是怎樣的人，只要新見面的人都積極的去認識、互留資料。

今年此刻，見到新來的新生、學妹，竟然心中只有一個「累」字。

學妹...

台灣同學會某正妹朋友說她大學學妹今年要過來我們學校當新生。

結果今天副會長說「妳那學妹把同學會每一個男生都加了MSN跟Facebook，女生都沒加耶，妳有沒有提供資料給她阿？」
那正妹朋友說「沒有耶」

我聽到，說「這麼說來我不是男的嚕」
副會長「好啦，碩班男生好嗎？」

原來，積極佈線的學妹忽略了我，囧
（迷之音：難道她沒聽說，這邊男的都死會了嗎？這存在感比較低的研究生是例外XD）

好吧，上次看朋友Facebook上的學妹照片時說人家「化妝有點濃」是我的錯XDDDDD

Jason Mraz / You and I Both

You and I Both [Live Acoustic] - Jason Mraz