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

Yellowstone

Some links to sites that would suggest some unusual points of interest in Yellowstone. I want to visit some places that your typical tourist wouldn't visit.

• Snake river kayak
• Nat. Geo. Adv. overview
• Nat. Geo. Adv. overview 2
• Nat. Geo. Yellowstone intro
• Nat. Geo. Adv. Secret Yellowstone Map
• USGS map locator
  Great topo maps for trekking into the wilderness, with important geographical details. Yet, most of the maps were never updated since the 1980's

By the way, maybe it would be fun to think outside of the tourist mindset:
Think not where are the most popular points of interests, but what I want to see, what I want to do...... What I want to get from this trip. I want stories of experience from a trip, not just checking out points as if collectibles. Maybe someday you meet a new friend: "Oh I've also been to Yellowstone" Your typical tourist would say "I went to here, here and here", and the new friend would go, "Oh, I also went to here, here and here". Yet it would be great if you said, "oh, I did this crazy thing there and saw this and that..." Stories are always better then bullet points.

Hmm... I want to try kayaking or rafting, swimming in the wild, hiking in the backcountry. And if I could find a foldable mountain bike, definitely want to try that too, in the REAL Wild, Wild West.

Info on bears
I guess I scared someone with a book that's intended to be funny...... (oooh, bears love that Sneakers bar in your pocket......) so here's some information on how to avoid bears:
Yellowstone backcountry
Backcountry planner (pdf file, this contains the best, complete instructions)
Short intro on Bear encounters
I guess we should get some bear spray (pepper spray)

Info & documents to get hold of

• A good map
  
• Bear info (got it)
  
• Backcountry permit
  
• Wolf observation sheet
  
• Watching Yellowstone & Grand Teton Wildlife by Todd Wilkinson

時間管理

我需要找到有效利用時間方式，減少閒晃時間，不然積欠工作越來越多，壓縮到休閒時間。

Being on the under dog network is fantastic

People always complain about Sprint customer service, and people were leaving in droves.

I did the opposite, I signed up for Sprint when they are in the most need for customers. I guess they've learned their lesson, I've just got the best customer service call experience, ever. Very easy to reach a real human to answer questions, representative was nice and helpful, call was picked up after just one ring tone, and problem was resolved in minutes.

Now that is respect.

In contrast, Verizon DSL is the worst.

Palm Pre is a huge disapointment.

• It lags just as bad as the iPhone, albeit much better then the G1
• The apps/functions that come with the device right out of the box is only half of that of similarly priced feature phones
• It takes at least 5 seconds to launch the calculator (typical app launch time, partly due to the fact that Sprint's demo video is running in the background, wanting to launch it self every 5 minutes)
  
• Multitasking is great, but it runs out of memory fast
• It's very difficult to select text for copy & paste, even harder to figure the short cut to do the copy & paste. To copy a sentence, to takes me 2 secs on my Palm OS Clie, 3 secs on a Sony Ericsson flip phone (that's just $50 with T-mobile contract), but 30 secs on a Palm Pre. 25secs of that is just to get the touch screen to select the right segment of text.
• There's only 2 language options: English & Español
• The PDF reader & document reader is only for email attachments, you cannot download a PDF file from the browser and read it (no paper reading on this phone)
• WebOS 1.01 still has some bugs, the copy & past short cut doesn't work
  

室友一二事

室友跟一個已經回日本的postdoc接收了一整套日文「20世紀少年」漫畫，現在那整套在我們客廳。這種複雜的漫畫雖然以前看中文版很爽，日文版超複雜超難懂的啊。

搬家時，搬了一整箱啤酒跟兩大袋的米過來。兩袋米裝滿了一個大型登山背包（塞得下睡袋帳篷跟一整個月份衣服的那種背包）orz 本來以為搬家前先把家中食物吃完是基本常識，原來只是自己的習慣。

日本有個小說家筆名「馳 星周」，室友也是有一整套。這筆名會不會太搞笑了？日文小說，就算整句都會念，整段的意義我還是看不懂啊～

原來以米飯為主食是這樣啊，日本人三餐全都吃飯，電子鍋的定時功能是睡前可以先洗好米放進去，早上起床時自動煮好，配些香鬆、醬菜就是早餐了。我這早餐偷懶吃麵包、麥片的輸了orz

青菜用滾水燙過，加點醬油、醋、麻油、一整包柴魚片，就是一道簡單的菜了耶，好神奇啊。

在我的小蘇打粉戰勝室友的五大包小魚乾之前，我已經習慣了冰箱中的魚味了orz

Goodbye Jay Leno~

Last Friday's NBC "Tonight show" was the last day of Jay Leno hosting the show. Jay was host for the past 17 year, ever since I've know the show existed.

See it here if you are in the US

[半開箱] Dyson Root 6 六分鐘短暫的強大吸力

咦，背包怎麼這附德興，肥成這樣...

還五花大綁？！

原來裡面塞了那麼大一盒東西，肥到背包關不起來還要綁繩子...... 這就是玩過童軍、單車社、單車露營旅行之後的人想從1.5英里外騎單車買家電回家的瘋子會做的事。Kids, don't try this at home!
只要有了繩結，沒有什麼背不回家的東西啊（咦？）

喔，出來了，Dyson最小隻的手持式吸塵器！

開箱！嘿，包裝還頗炫的

大品牌的包裝總是頗用心的
...
這時，我室友下樓過來火速的開了所有的包裝迫不及待要開始用了
...
所以沒開箱了XDD

外星人科技造型，好像可以發射什麼雷射光束之類的手持炮

可是，下面的圓形透明容器又好像咖啡壺，可以邊打仗邊煮咖啡嗎？

指揮挺組合！充電中...

剛拆開包裝一看，赫然發現一張吊牌「Charge 3 hours for 6 minutes of use」。靠，花大錢敗入最高級英國名牌Dyson的入門款，竟然每次充飽只能爽6分鐘？！附的是一顆我筆電的電池一樣大的鋰電池，沒錯，就是筆電用的那種電池。我的筆電用3小時，這傢伙6分鐘就吸乾乾了，可見這顆馬達超耗電的阿！原來超強吸力是用暴力法達成的orz

使用時三顆很亮的電力顯示LED使它更炫，更像外星人武器。同時，透明集塵筒中的毛屑、灰塵會集成一顆小球在裡面轉啊轉，展現Dyson當家的cyclone technology。

好，high完後，又要充電了orz