Firefox ads on firefoxflicks!

Here's some intresting Firefox advertisments, all made by Firefox lovers. Since the Ad submission contest is nearing an end, they're posting up some of the best each day. Enjoy!

Now this is truely the best: This is hot
Amazing animations!


Like it? Click on the Firefox flicks button on the top!

Alpha series DSLR, reborn.

Sony
Konica Minolta sold it's camera technologies to Sony last year and backed out of the camera market. Minolta was once a highly recognised brand, but has been suffering for the last few years. At some point, it was bought by Konica, and now it's assets sold to Sony.
(See Konica Minolta's last DSLR here)

Sony has just anounced that the sony branded DSLRs well be marketed under the "" moniker, and the first products, with Minolta's alpha-lens-mount system, will be avaliable this summer. More choices is always better for any market. So it's a good thing that Minolta's ledgend won't be going away. Can't wait to see what Sony will do with DSLRs.

Life science math homework notes

So that whole system of short hands of PDE calculations is called the Einstein notation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_notation

The Levi-Civita symbols, also called permutation or antisymmetric symbols, is actually the εijk part:
εijk
=+1 if (i,j,k)=(1,2,3), (2,3,1)or (3,1,2)
=-1 if (i,j,k)=(3,2,1), (1,3,2)or (2,1,3)
=0 if i=j or j=k or k=i
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levi-Civita_symbol

While the δij part is the kronecker delta:
δij =1 when i=j
else, δij =0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kronecker_delta

---
For info on the last question (caution, very long):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell_equations

For (i) in the 2nd question, it wants us to explain the " Euler equation", however, the seems to be tens of hundreds of " Euler equation", and I can't find the right one. Please do tell me if you can.
(∂v/∂t)+ v・∇v = -(1/ρ)∇p - ∇φ

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler_equation

Pandora: Can you help me discover more music that I'll like?

Find Music You'll Love - Pandora

Just found this amazing web jukebox in an article on rohdesign, and it really amazing!

It's a flash based music player. You first enter an artist you'd like to listen, it then starts playing a computer generated playlist with songs of a similar taste, guessing the type of music you'd like. If it picked one you don't like, you could tell it to choose another one, and it'll refine it's guess, to better suit your taste.

The sound quality is quite nice by on-line streaming audio standards. What I like is that it's just like a personal radio station designed just for you, and you could accidentally stumble upon a piece of music that you like but never heard before.

Back to the basics of handhelds

Rohdesign Weblog: Back to the Future: from Zire to Clié
Jim's Tips | PDAs: Back To The Basics
PDA 247 | In Praise of the Z22 by Tom Stoneham

Here's 3 articles on the basics of PDAs: personal information managment. It's intresting that most people don't get it that Palm PDAs are first and fore most electronic organisers.

Yes they can play music, they can surf the net, they can view documents, they may take pictures... you name it. But it's core function is to organise, an evolution of your dayplanner, your pocket notebook. It remembers your appointments, remind you of them; it saves all your contact information, all your notes; it has a list of the things you must do but haven't. PDA stands for "Personal Digital Assistant", it manages your information, your appointments, just as a real assistant should. It s not just a synoym for "flashy toy that does everything". Everyone asks me if it does phone calls, or GPS. What's so important about those two? Isn't your normal phone enough? Don't you know where you are going? Can't you ask your friendly pedestrians for directions?

Yeah, it could play games, it could play videos. But the one single function that make it indispensable is the PIM functionality. It's the important things that count, it's the zen of Palm.

There must be a better way to live

I have turbulent, labile emotions.
心情上上下下，每過一段時間，就會心情越來越差，然後說沒心情做這個，沒心情做那個
最後，又把事情搞砸

接著，情緒爆發
（媽媽都說是「起ㄏㄨㄟ」（台語））
跟小孩子一樣，
一張臭臉
一邊吃甜食、喝可樂，一邊在這個blog上發牢騷
希望又有人來關心......

有完沒完啊？
都大三了，人家國中同學都成家立業了，同年紀的自己應該更勇敢，更堅強一點。

More snakes

昨天脊椎動物學又有蛇可以玩了^^

可愛的玉米蛇





BX怕蛇= =|||

羅馬公路

省道118, 又稱羅馬公路, 新竹馬武督山到桃園羅浮
之前聽服務課助教說他騎跑車去過, 一天來回
今天,在報紙上看到介紹, 真想去
找個時間私約吧
不過, 要玩的高興, 需要3天吧
北橫前段一天
羅馬公路一天
從新竹回來再一天

http://www.ylib.com/travel/notes/oneroad38-3.htm
http://www.hisport.com.tw/go/go02/index.html

A day of pythons and stupidity

今天中午，大家隨便約耶約，就十幾人一同到一家頗高級的日式料理吃中飯。大三了，還能這麼大一群同學聚在一起，實在不簡單。在去的途中有點感慨，自己跟系上同學越來越疏遠，還在思考原因。不過，一到店裡坐下來，就馬上得到答案了。一瞬間，出現了2大聊天集團；女生談化妝品（我聽不懂）；男生談籃球（無聊，沒興趣）。很好，很好，我的興趣比較特別，都沒有什麼跟大家的共同話題。也難怪我最近越來越常到社辦吃飯，至少，大家的聊天話題不會離我太遠。不過有趣的是，我去人本也不會像跟同學間這麼糟糕啊......

脊椎動物實驗大家玩蛇玩的很嗨。助教帶了他心愛的球蟒和紅紋蚺各一條。球蟒是黑色那條，還有褐色斑點。紅紋蚺則是褐色那條。都很溫和，尤其是球蟒，真的是超可愛的！！而且，摸起來光滑柔軟，非常有質感^^


剛放在脖子上會嚇一跳，真的好冰啊！



晚餐我又來到了社辦

羅得鳥啊～～

天啊，要上腦殘電視台的節目果然要狂耍寶。

在社辦，我忘了是誰拿我的耳機去玩了。後來一回到圖書館，就發現我那不到一年的，Made in China的爛耳機竟然接觸不良，掛了！貪小便宜買sony入門款果然是不對的。不過，也真是的，我這個沒音樂就活不下去的笨蛋，竟因耳機不能用，就心情盪到谷底，今晚也就沒唸到書。唉，雖然現在心情正常了，不過，明天要花800上下去買新耳機了。不過了，on the bright side，至少我不像朋友一樣，只要有「主機板」的東西，管他是桌上型電腦、筆電、手機、PDA全掛。很好，只掛個耳機的我也算是幸運的吧XD

Now, Google's online calendar

Google just came out with a new web app: google calender. Nice and elegant, similar to Gmail. However, I keep everything in my Clie, which is always with no matter if I have a web connection or not. Also, I can't seem to find a simple way to import my datebook data from Palm desktop.
However, what's intresting here is that Calender+Gmail, means an on-line competitor to Outlook. Eat dust, Bill Gates!

Plans for the remaining days of my undergrad life

As I start preparing for tests and prior work for grad school applications, I start to feel that I don't have much time left here.

Here's what I'd wish to achieve in the comming 1.5 years before graduation. This is what I call "reasionable day dreaming" :D

Summer 2006
1. UCLA lab work (Horray! I found it!)
2. Buy camera, ソニー サイバショットH3, H5(more control) or N1(coolness)
3. GRE general test
4. Find graduate school targets

Fall 2006
1. GRE subject test, bio & bio-chem
2. send graduate school applications (a least 15, I guess)
3. 家教打工見つける (saving up for biking trips abroad :) )
4. find next lab for the school year (This time, I 'd like to focus on viruses)

2007
夏と冬はどれ～？
?. 北海道自転車旅行(too cold in winter, but I'm busier in summer...)
?. 蘭嶼自転車旅行(all seasons ok)
(of the above, find at least 3 friends, with a max of 6)

Summer 2007
さよなら　大学生活～～！

單車社社服選拔

社服選拔來了！！！
(Notice：因之前出現錯誤，投票從4/11 1:00AM開始重記，截止日期往後延一天至4/16號)
在這裡選完喜歡的作品後，記得到PTT投票喔！
請投1-5號，寄站內信給PHAileen
一人最多二票(共1~5號)，每人每一號只能投一票，投票日期到4/16為止，下週一中午(4/17)公佈結果。

社員們記得投啊！

社團網頁

在我們車社網頁剛完成時，我自己無聊，去逛了一下其他社團的網頁，很滿足的說：「哈哈，我們車社的網頁果然最棒。」

結果剛剛逛到火車社的2006新版網頁。一開始嚇一跳，「wow，這個比我還猛XD」接著，發現以下幾點：

1. 狂用flash8... 撥接的，等到死吧；PDA/PSP/smartphone使用者，永遠看不到
2. 網頁各部分參雜了各年不同風格的網頁，incoherent
3. 為了美觀，犧牲usability（要連到各頁都要先跳回首頁）
   

以上，犯了我做網頁的3大禁忌，呵呵。

不過呢，優點也不少

1. 好看，高水準
2. 資料豐富（我們的文書呢？）
3. Navigation頗清楚的，不會迷路

希望不久的將來，我會有時間把車社網頁弄的更好。
Major objectives：

1. Elegancy
2. Usability
3. Design consistancy
4. More content
5. The Wow factor
6. Interoperability

1, 2, 3, 5, 6都已初步達成，不過都有改進空間。

北市單車 將登錄車籍

自由電子報-生活新聞-北市單車 將登錄車籍
叫馬英九去死啦
分明就是要找方法以後方便「罰錢」＆增加市政收入

我不爽不是因為我習慣違規，容易被罰錢；而是不爽停車要收錢。莫名其妙。要加裝前燈也很奇怪。1)白天要前燈幹嘛？ 2)安全帽才是最重要的。

還要證照？這又是壓榨市民，增加市政收入的好方法啊！辦證一定又要錢了，以後騎車違規也有「證照」可以看了。

不思考如何鼓勵市民騎車，反而無所不用其極的壓榨環保的單車騎士，這是全世界前所未見的。別以為到處亂貼「單車專用道」的標誌就是有做事。「單車專用道」中，有水潭、有鐵欄杆障礙、有機車、有野狗、有坑洞、有死路，我告訴你，「單車專用道」搞不好比一般馬路還危險。而且還有一大部分是凹凸不平的磚塊地，難道大家都一定要騎雙避陣車？

馬英九下台前，我不期待北市的騎車環境會有任何進步。不過，若有車隊抗議遊行，我一定支持。

很好，這次是前變

剛剛，我的校園車的前變，莫名其妙的撞到曲柄，整個扭曲變形變成一團勾著鏈條，會促進落鍊的廢鐵。

明天去社辦用老虎鉗凹凹看好了。現在2速的前變似乎很稀有，而且只需要再用1年辦的校園車換新的前變似乎有點浪費。另前變勾著鏈條，光要把鏈條從舊前變拿出來就要剪開了；除非新的前變跟Deore一樣有可以打開的螺絲設計，否則可能要打鍊或換鍊......現在，KMC的5速鏈條（我的校園車是前2速後5速的）似乎停產了......囧

我不喜歡必須看人家臉色的事情

以前碰到的事情都是只要自己認真努力，就能夠達成的事。現在，碰到決定權在別人手上的事情，不但很不習慣，沒有踏實感；還因為臉皮太薄，不知在不好意思什麼，就無法權利去做好它。

我不適合搞商業。
昨天去幫Puma store宣傳，光發個傳單，就有「怕會對人家造成困擾」的感覺。結果，發出去的張數比別人少很多。

我也不會搞感情。
臉皮太薄，很怕造成人家困擾，成為「黏人的蒼蠅」。結果所有的表現都很收斂，給人的感覺可能是不夠積極，甚至是「只當朋友」吧。於是，她就被別人搶先追走。而我這個挫折感很重的，就直接把「愛情」這件事拋諸腦後，再也不玩了，放棄了。

現在更是找不到實驗室。
這也要看教授臉色......。丟email都丟得很含蓄，完全表現不出自己有多好。於是，不是被忽略就是被拒絕。

Life is a struggle.

Frantic

In spite the impending midterm exam and reports, I still don't feel like preparing. The search for a summer lab slot has been futile, with no ideas what to do next. As for my GRE, I'm still headlessly memorizing vocabulary, with poor achevement. With summer just around the corner, I'm in somesort of panic, feels kinda like I'm going to screw up my future this year. Don't know how to go on, and I find my self avoiding my problems. I began deleting the unacheveable entries in my todo list, and ignoring others. I am franticly riding my bike as much as I can. I borrowed a book of Edgar Allan Poe's poems, to enchant myself, to feel the helplessness in The Raven.

I now see emptyness and fear in my future; I feel the weight of the world on my back. Don't know what to do.

Quoth the Raven "Nevermore."

再衝巴拉卡

之前有讀者來信，說陽明山的櫻花應該很棒。可惜當時我比較忙，而且想說新中橫已經看了一堆山櫻花，就一直拖延沒去。今天總算是有時間去了。整個下午因研究所考試而放假 ，雖然期中考快了，不過真的念得很煩，就衝陽明山，行義路上，巴拉卡下，再經淡水回來。

今天也順便走了一趟過去一年來一直避開的竹子湖海芋田。一年級班遊時來採海芋，然後它成為我第一次，也是唯一一次送過女生的花（好啦，我知道從植物學的觀點它其實不是真的花啦），象徵當時單純（也有點笨）的情感。後來，每次看到有人手裡拿著海芋，就勾起一些痛苦的回憶。今天能以平常心來逛逛，算是種突破吧！

一直拖延，櫻花果真沒剩多少。上面照片中的不知是什麼花，有點像櫻花，卻是白色的，而且凋謝得差不多了。

巴拉卡的風景還是一樣棒。不過今天風很大，再加上路面品質差，凹凸不平（胎壓不該灌60的，有夠震的），今天下坡很慢。今天的最高速：64km/hr 很神奇的是在下山後的101上的緩下坡達成的，可見巴拉卡的路況有多差。

想說之前都一直帶新生騎，今天來挑戰一下自己，順便練車。上坡時高轉速+有點種的檔位；下坡時也保持定速踩踏，還盡量過彎壓車少減速。不錯，均速有18.4km/hr。不過回程時就腳軟無力了，速度再也無法突破24km/hr。哈哈，體力被我操光了。有點小小不順的是，在台2進士林那又迷路了，一不小心到了社子島，只好折返再接再厲；最後，終於順利回到中山北，回到台北，順道去敗張YUI的新專輯^^

YUI / From me to you

昨天發現YUI的新專輯竟然已經上市一陣子了，我今天馬上把它買回來了^^

去年，YUI的的2張單曲：Tomorrow's way 的MV出現在日本Sony的walkman recommendation site，當時就覺得對於這種乾淨的吉他搖滾音樂有種久違的感覺，就決定等她出專輯一定要買。

整張專輯都是吉他音樂，有點像Michelle Branch的風格，也有點像「光明版」的Avril Lavigne。有趣的是，她很喜歡在歌詞中參雜一些英文，結果，是典型日本人的英文：用的怪怪的，發音也怪怪的XD

我特別喜歡TOKYO這首歌，有種離家流浪去的滄桑。聽著聽著腦中浮現一個街頭藝人抱著吉他到處彈奏，很有感覺。

最後，談談價格。這絕對張值得買的專輯，不過在這個音樂界充滿「貪念」的時代，真的要小心。台北站前商圈（或者該稱為補習街？）的大眾唱片竟賣398！400元一張CD未免誇張了。想必同公司卻沒有競爭者的公館玫瑰或大眾一定賣更貴，也許430左右吧，我猜。Anyway，附近沒有競爭者的唱片行絕對不要進去。我今天就直接殺補習接的大眾/玫瑰，不過發現他們在坑人，就到隔壁的光南，348到手，現省50！

YUI的首頁提供所有曲目的試聽喔

北橫生態之旅～photos

photos here
第一次把車社大活動當ecological tourism, 終於有像「別人眼中的生科系」XD

嗯, Sony Cybershot F707真棒，4、5年前的產品比現在市面上的任何一個非單眼數位相機都好用^^

Writing tools

Most people use ball point pens, I can not fathom why. To me the mechanical pencil seems to be the best thing for writing. Using good leads, you get a smooth and clean writing experience. With a small eraser, rectifications are simple and easy. Get a mechanical pencil with a big chamber, fill it up with a whole pack of leads (about 20~40), and you can write on for more then half a year with no hassles.

Let's see how pens do. For corrections, you either need a bottle of slow-drying liquid paper(which sometimes clog up); bulky and expensive correction tape; or scraps of paper and glue. Sometimes the pen is old, or you forgot to recap,or you might have accidentaly dropped it, or for no apparent reason, the ink just gets clogged, or ink gratuitously comes gushing out, or maybe the "ball" of the point just fells out. Farthermore, you use up ink fast, either you buy a new one, or get ink refills, every few weeks. Just think of all the hassle.

Clearly, the pencil is much better. All you have to do is concentrate on your writing.

------

Let's now talk about pen compuuting. Using handhelds for years now, I'm really wondering why we are stuck with keyboards and mouses on PCs. Sure, typing on keyboards is still the fastest input method. But the mouse? You've got to move the cursor to the correct spot, point it and click. that's at least 2 gestures. With a touch screen, all you do is tap, 1 gesture max. Neat and simple. So why didn't touch screens catch on? Price? That is one, but I guess the main reason is that no big company has strongly promoted it on desktops. Microsoft is trying to push it with tablet PC, but with a price way too exorbitant. They threw in a poor writing recognition system, stripped out the keyboard, and told you that you could doodle and scrible. The best combination should really be a touch screen usable with your finger(you could only use the stylus on tablet PCs) to replace the mouse, a good writing recognition system (such as Graffiti on Palms), and retain the keyboard. Wish future desktops are going this way.

------

So, here's the most used writing tools I use everyday:
-a mechanical pencil
-a stylus

No summer labs...

I SCREWED UP ONCE AGAIN!!!

S**T, WTF......

I missed the last paragraph of a email reply in January, and just found out minutes ago.
Sent my appologies out to the professor just now.

OK, I can't find a single Lab that well accept me, get the only professor kind enough to help was ignored by yours truly for nearly 3 months. He must be really pissed off.

I really want to hit a wall now. I wish I were dead.

F*****************************************k

男三現在沒熱水...

Shit, it's freezing
難道要我們先灌一灌啤酒然後進去用冰水修行？
Corporal mortification?

"Why does women like dumb men?"

I saw someone ask this funny question in Popular Science's FYI (for your information) section. Intreuging indeed, however is the question it self true? Yes we frequently see women on TV saying how "cute" stupid guys are, but I doubt it's the norm.

Pop Sci answered this from a zoologist's perspective, explaining that in animals, males with big testis have smaller brain, and then goes on to say that it's not necessarily that way with humans. But that's equivocating. Of course woman don't choose mates by the size of their balls(gross...)! Let me elucidate from the view point of evolution.

Let's just hypothesize that women do have more affinity with stupid men. That means that there's a selection towards stupidity, the dolts have better fitness, have more offspring, and in no time, the Human species would be one of the dumbest living beings on the planet! Neat, isn't it? Immagine a world of fools.

The Human race is not fit in many environments without the wit to manipulate it into a preferable one. Homo sepians bereft of intelligence would surely go extinct. This is absolutely un-eugenic. So, if women do gravitate towareds retarded mates, chances are that we would all be long extinct.

(Buy the way, good guys should also be de-selected long ago, why are we still here?)

10 years of Palm goodness

(image from Palm's website)

It was this month, 10 years ago when the first Palm device was launched. Through the years we have enjoyed this little innovative and easy to use gadget to enhance our lives.

Here are some of the sites celebrating the aniversary:
(Remember to listen to the audio interview on Palm's site, or get it here [download mp3])

• Palm inc.
  
• Palm infocenter/Happy 10th Anniversary Palm Computing
• Palm infocenter/Palm Pilot 1000 Retrospective
• 1src/10 Years of Palm Handhelds
• C|net/Ten years on, revisiting Palm's first Pilot
• C|net/Palm turns 10
• Palmaddicts/Palm Celebrates 10-Year Anniversary of the Pilot, ...
  

The Prius(with photos)

After a busy week, here's the post I said I would do. (See my first take on the Prius last week)

Although it's already a relatively old model, it is still fascinating, since it's still light years ahead of it's competitors.

It's an expensive hybrid, you wouldn't expect it to sell as good as Camry's; instead it's more of a proof of concept that sets the Toyota brand apart from the competitors. So, only select dealers do show the Prius, where they add a mark to show it does. They say it's a glimpse of the future, but we all know clearly, that we would ultimately need cars that doesn't been gasoline.


Here's the electric motor, taking up half the space of the engine chamber. And this is where it needs specially trained technicions for maintainence. So you're stuck to Toyota dealers that do Prius repairs.

The Hybrid mark on the side and the back, a show off badge that shouts out "I love the environment" (And of course, "I'm rich").

The driver's seat, you can see a "Power button"that starts the engine, the dashboard, and the shift, which is more like a joy stick: every thing's drive-by-wire. The dashboard might seem weird with all the meters and numbers in the middle, up on top on the dashboard. But I tried sitting in the driver's seat, and was amazed by the genious of the design. You can keep your head to the road, and read the numbers without moving your head. I like it.

The "Power button", up close. They use it with the newer "key-less" systems, and it's very cool.

午騎喵空細雨飄

GRE念煩了，這學期修的課也都用很無聊的課本，在連續這麼多下雨天後，總算給我抓到一天可以騎車了^^

本來想報今天的貓空offroad活動的，不過昨天的天氣看起來就一副一定會流掉的樣子，於是就不想報了（團長我對不起你XD）。結果，昨晚看小說看到3點，今早睡到10點（被室友吵醒，他從床的樓梯摔下去，好在沒事）。往外一看，天氣真好XD 於是，午餐吃完就往好久沒去的「喵空」跑。

嗯，還是那個，過度開發的閃光彈觀賞聖地；不過白天閃光彈不多，不需要墨鏡:D 因為是以觀光茶園為主的，某些路段還有淡淡的茶香。陡下坡+窄彎+短程，不但刺激，而且省時間。只是，一個月多沒運動了，體力真差，上坡慢慢龜，就算下坡有下到最高52km/hr，全程平均還是只有16.8km/hr，啊，我的體力啊......

回程忽然開始飄雨，所謂午後陣雨，分明就是想讓我淋雨，到台大時還下超大的，嘖嘖嘖。現在回來了，雨就停了。

雨騎回來，鏈條還是亮亮的，不虧是車展買的美國進口Prolink神奇鏈條潤滑劑（不是油喔）。不過新鏈條原廠上的保護油還在，超黏的，不但很難擦，還會黏一些大顆粒（至少不像米奇林的爛潤滑油市集污能力那麼強啦）。鏈條原廠保護油要怎麼清啊@@

New service from the Weather Bureau coming next month

根據氣象局網站公告：

自2006年4月上旬起，中央氣象局將正式推出全新的「氣象資訊服務網站」， 同時提供「行動、無線與RSS」的氣象資訊查詢服務，內容包括：天氣預報、 天氣觀測、天氣與地震警(特)報等；屆時民眾只要利用手機或PDA的上網功能， 便能隨時在任何可上網的地方查詢到即時、正確的氣象資訊。另外，電腦使用 者也可以利用RSS Reader的軟體，即時的收集、更新和顯示氣象資訊。

nice! 現在的網站做得過度花俏，一堆flash和java，害我用PDA看都亂七八糟，現在終於要弄比較適合行動裝置的版本了。還有RSS feed，以後看氣象更快了。期待啊...

PDA usage

Here's an intresting article from PDA24/7 describing how a notebook couldn't replace a PDA.
Can a notebook really replace a PDA?

Makes me think of how much things I replaced with my own PDA. People usually give me curious looks or say how "affluent" I look.

Actually, it saves money, here's how:

What it replaces:
1. MP3 walkman, lets say a 1 gig color screen model, maybe 4000NT
2. Basic functions of notebook, with more portability. Let's count 1/4 the price of a typical notebook: 30000/4= 7500NT
3. Good Scientific Calculator: say 1000NT
4. Alarm clock, let's be stingy, let the cell phone cover that, 0NT
5. portable games and movie player, let's just count half the price of a PSP, 3500NT
6. e-book reader, well, most people don't use this, so doesn't count
7. Cheep camera, this usually adds about 1500NT to the price of cell phones, I guess.
8. Dayplaner, make that 500NT
9. Voice recorder, let's add 500NT to the price of a multi-purpose MP3 player
10. e-dictionary: make it a cheep model 3000NT

Total: 4000+7500+1000+0+3500+1500+500+500+3000= 21500NT
While my TH55 with the 1gig memory stick costs about 12800+3400=16200NT

I saved at least 5300NT, and much more convenience.

Farther more, without a notebook, I don't need to carry a heavy "brick" on my back, count in the medical bills for spinal cord injury... :D

Treo700p rumored photo leak!

Here's the photo of the yet to come Treo700p, from 1src.
Yeah, I know it's yet another incremental update of the Treo, which isn't that exciting, but still, with the Palm area being so boring for a long time, it's still better then nothing.

I'm still waiting to be impressed by the rumored "ultra-thin" Treo. Hope that one would be groundbreaking.

Prius is now avaliable in Taiwan (officially)

It's just distributed to select Toyota dealers on Friday, and displayed since yesterday(Satturday). Just saw it Today, and although it an old model from Japanese standards(avaliable there for years), it's still really impressive. Should post my photos tomarrow when I get to school, and my thoughts if I happen to find the time to do it.

First thought:
1130000NT really isn't expensive for a hybrid.

Link:
Prius promo site for Taiwan
http://www.prius.com.tw/

Great article: 中時/自行單車的台灣奇蹟

2006.03.15　 中國時報
獨立評論 自行單車的台灣奇蹟

剛剛在羅的鳥的個版上看到這個，真是好文啊，讓我百分之百認同。
臺灣的自行車業真得很了不起（尤其去看車展時有深深的體驗），身為一個單車迷，住在臺灣還滿幸福的。

Losing appetite

Some how, I've lost the desire to eat. Well yeah, I am hungry, but just don't have the motivation. Since yesterday, I've only got 1 meal, 2 snacks. Everything at school seems so disgusting. None of the resturants nor venders sell food, they tend to sell some kind of goo, or slime, dipped in thick oil, with a profusion of salt, suger and MSG. At lunch time, you first go: "I'm hungry, right, time for some grub." Then you remember the MSG-rich-oil-dripping-slime, and you're like "Never mind."

Something good about home is that it is one of the scarce places where you could get some real food.

Giant- 達文西單車生活館

今天到柚子剛開始打工的新車店去逛逛，去買鏈條，也順便看看大家口中神奇的車店長什麼樣子。本來在地圖上找時覺得有點遠，不過走羅斯福路左轉和平東路，約1 block後不知不覺中進入和平西路，就看到了，真快。外表看起來，就是一家堆滿單車的捷安特。櫥窗中有一張達文西畫的單車設計圖，不過已經被一堆實際的單車淹沒就是了。走進去才看到特別之處：一座玻璃櫥櫃bar台，裡面滿滿的變速、煞車、碳纖管材，而上面有一台咖啡機，天花板上一塊有如Starbucks的黑板寫著價目（都是一般咖啡店的價格），而bar後面柚子（一顆？）在洗咖啡杯...... 柚子快樂的跟老闆聊著天。老闆超親切的，不過問題是，他太親切了，somehow，你會覺得老闆比柚子更像車店小弟。木頭地板、亮著藍光的木製展示台、花瓶中的向日葵、加上依品牌擺得漂漂亮亮的單車用品，使整體感覺很棒。可惜我晚餐時間去，在播東森新聞；後來關電視，播爵士樂後，更棒！

捷安特該有的幾乎都有，如Yukon, Rinkon, Iguana, Flight M2, halfway, Trence, TCR...等。不過，其他品項也都很乾淨，只有捷安特代理的品牌，如Toppeak, Finishline, Cateye...等會出現，老實說，有點缺乏多樣性。不過同樣是捷安特代理的Bell安全帽為何缺席呢？

今天買了鏈條和打鍊器，價格滿平價的^^ 老闆看大家咳嗽聲此起彼落，還煮了很棒的花茶。嗯，以後，又多了個敗家之地。

Dreams

Dreams are so sweet, it's part of what makes your sleep feel good. It's too good to be true, in fact, surreal. Do not confuse it with reality. Reality is crual.

Keeping a little freshness in life

I read today in the book "Call of the Mall by Paco Underhill" an intresting passage on the differenece between urban adult pedestrians vis-a-vis Tourists. The previous put less trust in their peripheral vision, they just see where they are going, while visitors are described as: "In cities they do that little gee-whiz-ma-lookit-how tall-that-one-is dance when seeing a real skyscraper up close", and, "There's something so innocent, so childlike and trusting, about how tourrists walk in a city." Urban dwellers usually don't pay much attention to their surroundings, thinking that it's just the "same-old-town" that they know, and keeping their mind on "the important business, whatever that is; while tourists and kids pay attention and get excited to every detail that comes into sight. Why must the town that you know by heart seem so dull? Most people take life in the city as boring, and here you have located a provenance of apathy. Chears!

Do you remember the feel of being a tourist in a foreign town, where everything is new to you? Next time you walk down that same-old street, you could look for the details of your suroundings, notice if there's a new shop opening, if there's new decorations for the up comming event, if there's flowers blossoming, if there's anything conspicious. Or, zoom out, picture the whole vision beholding your pupils, take it all in, imagine yourself on a tour, with a camera in hand. Then you'll realize that the "same-old-town" is still alive with vigor and fun. It's also much more beautiful and spectacular then you thought, and took for granted.

And, that reminds me of a similar statement on people. The week before last week, at the "Forest school" of the Humanistic Education Foundation(人本森林小學), one of the faculty told us how they coped with pestering children: "The teachers usually clear up themselves inside each weekend, forget about the bad side of the kids, and the folowing week, they love the kids as if they first met." Maybe that applies to day-to-day relationships, too. We could see our friends and loved ones as new found friends from time to time, expecting nothing of them, and appretiate them as they are. Less expectections curtails unneeded arguments and missunderstandings. Makes life around us much more peaceful and pleasent.

Much of the bordom in life comes from the familiarness of things of everyday life that we accumulate from day to day. It's like some side-effect that comes with convenience of our memory. Dump it out, and add some spice to your life. Sometimes forgetting stuff is necessary.

Evolution and reproduction

昨天脊椎動物學上到魚類的生態與演化
忽然，老師大叫：

「你們還坐在那幹什麼？
還不快出去生小孩，提昇演化上的競爭力？」

（心裡暗想：「老師，我是好人啊～～」）

囧rz

"鐵馬年"? Eat crap!

根據校方在杜鵑花節開幕典禮的宣傳
學務處想搞個"鐵馬年"
口號為:
安全, 管理, 紀律

這種口號, 還叫"鐵馬年", 實在是讓我很難接受
(單車運動應該是自由的)
不過, 細節還是要等看到了, 才知道

當然, 重點是要"管什麼"?
若是管停車, 那我偏向保持中立
雖然說一般來講, 守法是應該的
不過看校園裡合法的停車格逐年取消
如: 小福旁的停車格就被劃掉, 鹿鳴廣場附近皆禁停(那要停哪?)
校方似乎只在乎哪裡停車會"有礙觀瞻"(對破校園車的歧視)
Where do you park is your own business
對於這種做法, 我實在無法支持

若跟上次"鐵馬週"一樣, 要限制校園某些區域禁止騎車
那我覺得跟車社精神嚴重相牴觸
不但不能支持還要反對
在一個到處都是單車的校園裡, 單車已經成為我們校園文化的一部分
學校沒事要反單車幹麻?(還有臉稱之為鐵馬週)
在沒有任何替代道路規劃之下, 就叫人不準過
實在是很機車

若今年再這樣搞, 我想,
到禁騎區時, 我會想升檔, 帶頭衝線吧!

學務處在未經我們同意, 就擅自把單車社列入鐵馬年協辦單位
令人有背利用的感覺
若實際內容還是跟去年一樣帶著反單車色彩
我想說的是:
Eat Crap, you basterd!

BBC NEWS | Technology | Google 'planning total storage'

BBC NEWS | Technology | Google 'planning total storage'

This looks so good. I'd really like to have a free hard drive backup on the web. However, Google should promiss that they them self don't have access to your files be for they launch this. No one would like the idea of a court subpoena Google and force them to revail your files for investigation. So you might want to think twice before uploading MP3s, Movies and cracked software, if you have any. But backing up your own documents might be a good idea.

Deore 煞變合一把^^

剛剛去做服務課，整理魚標本，赫然發現助教擺了一台跑車在那（Tiagra的變速喔），跟助教聊車聊得很愉快。最後，要走時，發現了這個Amoeba的握桿，上面還留著Ritchey的握把和Deore 煞變合一把。看它擺在房間的角落，就試探性的問問看，有點想買（我自己的Deore變把只剩半條命，煞把又是廉價煞把）。沒想到，我剛問完，還沒說想買，他的竟很直接的問：「要不要，送你！」好感動～～。雖然不好意思，不過最後......我當然是拿回來了^^

根據助教的說法，極東買的，本來想給跑車換平把的，不過一下子就不習慣換回彎把了。他只用過一個禮拜耶！

^Amoeba的握桿和Deore 煞變合一把

^Shimano ST-M510, 不知哪一年款的...

^Amoeba AL6061橫桿，陽極藍。不過我比較喜換自己原來的。助教：「看車社有沒有人要，沒有人要再還我」XD

^Ritchey握把，滿好握的，不過有一小道被刀割過的痕跡。還在考慮要不要。

人本後森

>>photos here

真是開心的兩天，除跟朋友見面外，也去學一些待人處世的觀念。
心得先寫一點吧，其餘以後有空再寫。（兩天回來積了一些書還沒念）

＞Hedonism
婷瑛帶隊很能體諒活動員的辛勞，這次終於知道為何了。
人本似乎有句話：「以人為目的，而非工具。」因此，在把活動帶好之外，也要盡量讓活動員也能愉快，也能學到東西。我想，這真是個新奇的觀念。之前生科新生宿營時，所有工作人員簡直就是如地獄般，大家拼死拼活的工作，大家一起來爆肝。也許，為人著想，也是一個能讓眾人跟隨的領導人所需要的特質吧！

＞Praise
懂得讚美真的是種美德，能讓別人開心一整天，也讓人有自信，而盡力去把事情做的更好。不過，在討論過程中，發現這個社會並不懂得讚美。當有讚美出現時，不是一直否認，就是認為對方不誠肯；甚至懷疑對方對自己刻意討好。美國反而非常注重一個人的自信心，"Good job!"是個常聽到的詞。也許因此造就了某些自大者，不過卻讓大部分人更能去做一些有挑戰性的嘗試，因而增進的國家整體的競爭力。雖然有時覺得人本強調「讚美」到一種誇張的地步，不過也許要救一個病態的社會就需要誇張一點的手法吧！

Ignominiously defeated by anomalous lexis

My cerebrum is repleted with astronomica amounts of data, my congested hipppcampus slowly succumbed and arrested.
I am in vocabulary Hades. How can I assuage my self of this affliction?

(Using as much bizzare words as I can, to give a taste of the abominable, evil GRE. If you don't understand the words, it's okay, because without a reference book, I don't recognise them either...)