Homeless blog

I moved again

2006-05-18T23:13:00.000-04:00

Guys, I moved again. This time, it's a Sina blog. The link is here:

http://mrhenryko.mysinablog.com/index.php

Please update your bookmarks and RSS accordingly. Thank you. And sorry for the frequent changes...

New blog probation...

2006-05-13T11:43:00.000-04:00

Starting today, I will start blogging at my new blog here.

See how much you guys like it, and let me know later.

Enjoy!

True taste of life...

2006-05-13T00:20:00.000-04:00

As most of my fds know, I am a wine lover. Not an alcoholic, but a lover. I used to drink a lot. Lots of beer, wine and hard liquor.

But then I came across this article recently, which talks about the tasting of wine. This got me thinking, what kinds of tastes do I look for in wine? Why do I enjoy wine so much? Is it the alcohol that I like? Is it the symbol of knowledge of how much I know about wine in front of other ppl that I like?

Well, I will have to say, NO.

I didnt drink as much as I used to now. Believe it or not I still got bottles of wine stacked away in my living room. If I like wine just for the alcohol, why dont I just keep drinking anyway?

Then it got me realize, it's not the wine that I love, it's the lovely time that I truely enjoy while poping out a bottle of wine with fds that makes me enjoy wine so much.

Time just flew by so fast, as I realize it. It's been a few yrs since my undergrad convocation. 90% of my fds already left. Most of them going back home for jobs. That makes me having fds in every corner of the world. However, right here, at the city that I am living in right now, I have to say, I am kinda lonely.

My routine each day is to wake up in a hurry, rush myself to school, working on my research. Worrying about deadlines, exploring new areas for research, or dipping deeper into a state-of-the-art area. I am all surrounded by work. I dont get so much social life as I used to have anymore. Is it sad?

Well, it's yes and no. Yes becuz I have to work so hard everyday, almost seemingly losing the point on why I work so much. And no becuz I convinced myself that all this hard work I put in now, will repay me in the near future.

So, when I drink wine now, the different tastes will relate to my wonderful life as a flashback.

The bitterness reminds me of the sad childhood, and the struggling life as a student.

The sourness makes me realize the lonely life I have here.

The sweetness brings back all the happy memories that I experience.

The tartness recalls the difficulties to live in the cruel reality.

The complexity jogs my memory on the level of success I am at now.

And the alcohol gives me hope to my future!

So, wut tastes do you find in the little glass of wine in your hand?

Wut messages does that bottle of wine trying to tell you?

Listen hard next time, my fds.

When will summer come?

2006-05-12T09:56:00.000-04:00

It was so nice and warm (high of around 22) in the beginning of the week, so, i decided I should start putting out my winter clothings and wash all my jackets so that I can hide them in the closet.

But man, starting Wednesday night, suddenly the temperature comes down again. And now, I am seriously hesitating whether I should bring my jackets back out...

I hate this kind of weather! Why cant it be summer already?

BTW, seems no one really cares where I am gonna put my blog. In that case, I will take my time to decide whether to actually move to Wretch....

Time to move again?

2006-05-08T17:12:00.000-04:00

I just wanna have a survey to all my friends, about wut do you guys think if I move my blog.

Well, it's a tough decision. So I wanna see how much it's gonna affect my fds first.

The blog that I will move to is this here.

Let me kinda show the comparison for the two blogging platforms:

Bloggers:

Support javascripts, so that i can put so many fancy stuff, such as the clock, the flickr badge and Adsense on my blog. Friends already know the place, and the RSS feed too.

Wretch (my new blog):
Has comment RSS, photo album RSS, has category, has photo album, has guestbook. background music (although i probably wont use it), but since i cant put javascript, the blog wont be fancy. haha

Both the same:
Anyone can comment, I can still put pics, and embedded videos on blogs. Still have RSS Feed thru feedburner.

What do you guys think? Please leave me comment to let me know.

OMG...No wonder driving on road is more dangerous than flying a plane...

2006-05-08T15:52:00.000-04:00

Well, it's a relaxing afternoon, so I get the chance to read my RSS feeds in a little bit more detail, and that's y I came across this news about ppl driving in the UK.

Source: Engaget

As we all know, european are so high tech that most of their cars are equipped with GPS, which is supposed to be a good thing, right? until ppl actually trust their GPS more than their eyes!

"In the most recent case, drivers passing through the village of Luckington have found themselves landing in the River Avon, by following a GPS-recommended route that pointed to a bridge that has been closed for a week. Despite warning signs on both sides of the road, and nothing but water straight ahead, local villagers have found themselves pulling an average of two cars a day out of the river for the past week. "

Oh, come on! Ppl actually drive onto a river even if there is no road just becuz the GPS told them to do so? No wonder studies say driving on road kills more ppl than airplane accidents...

PS. On a side note, the new here shows how the GPS on a Land Rover can actually be used to fly a plane! Neat, eh?

Work over...For 2 days

2006-05-07T23:59:00.000-04:00

Finally, I finished the paper, and submitted to a conference.

Right after I finished my comprehensive exam, without rest, I was hurried since thursday to finish this paper, which has a submission deadline on Monday 9am EST. And now, I finally finished it. It's not the best paper I wrote, since I am already too tired to pick out the numerous mistake I made while writing the detail technical paper. But at least the quality of it is acceptable. So I think I should be happy about it...

Now that my exam is over, and this paper is done, I finally get 2 full days of holiday when I am ordered not to think about work at all. So now, in the next two days, I just need to use my mind to deal with all the minor things in my life. That includes: going to the dentist for routine check up. Cleaning up my apartment (I cant stand the bathroom anymore), tiding up my computer, possibly changing the layout of my blog, and handles stuff about my bank accounts.

Seems like it wont be a free holiday after all. But hey, at least I dont have to use my brain so much.

If you guys see this blog, and think u can have free time to meet me, drop me a msg or give me a call, since finally I will have time to meet friends in the next 2 days!

It's May, the departure season again...

2006-05-06T01:11:00.000-04:00

Well, it's that time of the year again: Beginning of May, or I usually call: The departure season.

It's the beginning of May, when exams finish, and ppl are leaving the school to go home, or summer jobs, or interns. For some, it's just a temporary departure. They are leaving to gain more work experience, and life experience. But then for others, it may not the case.

Undergrad, usually a four year experience, during when you will suffer from being tortured by tedious homework and nerve racking exams. But it's also in these four years, you usually meet some of your best friends, who you'd think the friendship is gonna last forever.

That's y, when May arrives, when ppl finish their undergrad, and head to the cruel real world, they will realize how hard it is to get the same pure friendships you had with ur fds in school. You realize how easy it was to just need to spend 3-4 days studying for an exam, instead of working in an office everyday trying to fix some real problems.

Being an oversea student myself, I am lucky to be able to meet so many fds from all parts of the world. Although we may not be able to meet each other and help each other as we are all apart, we still share experiences, and joy once in a while thru the occasion MSN chat or email.

I really hope I can visit all of my friends more often, sharing my experiences, or even lend my helping hands in cases when I can be of use. Afterall, I wont be in the position I am in now if not becuz there were so much help, trust, believes and supports from all of my friends.

Thank you all!

Time for the beautiful Sakura

2006-05-05T12:34:00.000-04:00

Source: Torontonist

It's spring time again, and it's time to watch the beautiful Sakura boom in TO!

But then again, it's spring time again, and it's allergy season!

This allergy thing already brought me enough trouble during my comprehensive, since i was sneezing, tearing, running nose all the time, which makes me super hard to concerntrate on reading. Now that my exam is over, the allergy also gets worse, and now I even get headaches from time to time...

I've been taking Claritin, and seems it's not working very well. Any suggestions?

Getting rich...

2006-05-04T15:08:00.000-04:00

Anyone wanna start your own company? While u use your current job as the launchpad?

Here is a link that teaches you how to use ur existing salary as seed money, ur existing boss as ur business partner, ur existing company as customer.

Read it, you'll be amazed!

Source:Business2.0

Guys night out!

2006-05-04T15:00:00.000-04:00

Yesterday night was soooooooooo good.

I passed my exam, and have a guys night out, with Ricky and Jerome.

It's been a long time since the last time we three sat together and enjoy a bottle of nice wine alone.

And when ended up happening?

We talk, and talk, and talk, and talk........

Haha. it's guys night out, of cuz we talked about EVERYTHING. Jobs, marriage, economy, engineering, grad school, high tech, stock, futures.....everything!

And man. how I would love to do that more often....

It all pays off

2006-05-03T21:07:00.000-04:00

I am back!!

Probably you guys noticed that I didnt post anything at all for the last two wks, which is pretty weird considering how often I update my blog.

And Now, I AM BACK!

The last two wks were horrible. I wasnt eating enough becuz I always forgot to eat while reading. I wasnt sleeping well since I lost track of time to study. I wasnt relaxed at all from all the pressure and tension from the exam. And worst yet, I wasnt breathing well becuz spring is here, and my allergy is now back.

I shoulda taken a photo of my room yesterday night b4 the exam, since IT WAS A MESS! I got books lying on the desk, on the bed, and on the floor. I got clothes lying on the chair, on the desk, on the bed, and on the floor. My room has never been so untidy b4, but hey, it's the exam, I pretty much ignore everything else in my life for the past two weeks.

But thanks to the help from all my friends, and thanks to the pressure that my boss gave me, and thanks to the support all my friends gave me, I am pleased to say that:

I PASS THE EXAM!!!!!!

YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Really, thanks everyone!

Studying, starting today...

2006-04-18T17:17:00.000-04:00

Switching off research mode....

Swtiching on full-power study mode (or nerd mode)...

As of today, I will be studying mad like an undergrad preparing for an exam. The only difference is: I need to refresh my mind on all the stuff that I studied in undergrad a few years ago in two wks.

As I dont have the leisury to think about retaking the exam, I will need 200% of my energy for the comprehensive exam.

Wish me luck!

Robot giving birth?!

2006-04-17T22:27:00.000-04:00

Ever thought about robot giving birth? I mean like robot adult giving birth to robot babies?

Take a look at this:

"The robot, named Noelle, is a life-sized blond mannequin that costs $20,000 and simulates the pertinent vital signs and exports of a pregnant woman, including blood, urine and a baby. Even the baby simulates vital signs, and can change colors from pink to blue to signify oxygen deficiency."
Source: Engaget

So dont worry, we will not be invaded by robots just like wut you see in movies like iRobot, well, at least not yet...

說說自己

2006-04-16T15:08:00.000-04:00

Look back at my recent posts on the blog, I realize that they are all about some interesting news, and nothing personal. Maybe it's time to talk about myself now, so that everyone knows that I am still here, instead of having some automatic blog program to generate those blog entries...

忙了兩個多月了, 自從二月開始起, 我的工作量就一直有增無減. 但是productivity 卻又是出奇的低, 因為就是有太多不同的東西要做, 所以到最後卻只能做好一, 兩件事情. 朋友們都問我什麼時候有空吃飯, 出來TO 走一走, take a break, 就連亨利妹妹也說很久不見, 我的生活是不是真的太忙了點?

Lemstra 對我說過: You know wut problem you have, Henry? You dont know how to say NO!

是嗎? 可能是吧, 想起老闆總會對我說: Henry, I dont wanna overload you. 或是, Henry, I know you are busy, 又或是, Henry, I know your time is precious...

但為何我總是不會和他說, yeah, I am busy, so just leave me alone!

所以到最後, 我還是有堆積如山的工作.

人們說: 能者多勞. 所以我其實也不介意太多工作, 只是看看自己在這麼多的工作之中, 大部份都要花很多精神和時間去完成, 又或是完成不了, 所以也令得我開始壞疑自己的工作能力. 是我太累了嗎?

我的comprehensive exam 快來了, 我想, 只要我能成功的pass 了那個exam, 我的心境會變得好一點, 會對自己找回多點信心吧!

Wish me luck, my friends!

Chinglish!!

2006-04-16T13:57:00.000-04:00

According to this news on Yahoo.HK, there will be over 1 million recognized english words in the fall this year. And among them, 20% of the words will be "Chinglish": english words that are translated according to chinese pronounciation. some examples are:

kung fu = 功夫
wonton = 雲吞
drink tea = 飲茶
kweerboy = 基佬

Man, should we be pround about the use of Chinglish?

And while we are at it, why dont people include instant message based english? Some examples are:

ppl = people
lol = lots of laugh
wtf = wut the fxxk
nvm = nevermind
88 = bye bye

in this case, there will be well over 1 million words in the english dictionary! haha

PS. Thx Souffle for the link...

Foam Test

2006-04-15T23:57:00.000-04:00

Without further ado, i introduce you to this link to see what will happen if a foam test goes wrong!

Source: Cellar.org

It's hilarious!!!

Wut a pity cat...

2006-04-14T12:52:00.000-04:00

Go here to see this pity cat...

Image Festival 2006

2006-04-13T16:30:00.000-04:00

For anyone who has time to enjoy the long wkend, here is something that may interest you:

It's the imagine festival organized in Toronto! So if you love taking snapshots using the crappy camera in your cellphone, or taking pro pics using high-end expensive gadgets, probably you dont wanna miss this!

The power of high-tech companies

2006-04-13T16:23:00.000-04:00

Ever wonder how big companies can actually affect your lives? or better said, ever realize that a big company, especially high-tech co. can influence how a town, or a city look?

Well, here is an example. As everyone know Nokia, based in Finland, is the leader in cellphone technologies. And one way the company influences the town where they based at, is to give out cellphone to all its employees according this this news from the globe and mail.

Another example about how big high-tech companies can affect a city is San Jose, CA, USA. It's considered as one of the most high-tech cities in the world, just because giant companies like Microsoft, Intel, Google, AMD are all based there, providing cheap and available access to cutting-edge technologies for the community.

So, next time you buy something, you may wanna consider the geographical location of the brand name that you are supporting. Who knows, if you support them enough to make them big, they may give something back to the community in the future!

I love this issue of Dilbert

2006-04-12T14:39:00.000-04:00

Sudoku

2006-04-11T15:06:00.000-04:00

I heard about Sudoku for a while now, and I noticed that students in HK are going crazy about that. I never understood why it was so popular, since I really had no mood to try something that's so much math.

But today, as I was enjoying my crappy lunch in the office, i realize that I actually have a Sudoku widget in my Mac OS. So, well, since I dont wanna work during lunch, I may as well just do something that looks interesting to so many ppl.

It turns out, it's not so math after all. It's all about begin logical and carefulness and patient. And it is actually quite fun when I can actually learn to solve a puzzle in medium level in 20 mins the first time I actually tried it.

So from now on, I guess I have one more thing to entertain myself during lunch!

PS. For free Sudoku puzzle, go here, and go crazy!

你的邏輯性強嗎？

2006-04-10T02:35:00.000-04:00

你的邏輯性強嗎？如有興趣, 來做這個測驗吧！不過提醒你, 問題挺tricky 的. 幸好, 我的result 是:

0-13分者为优秀（上限10％）；14－19分者为良好（20％）；20－25分者为中等（30％）；26－48分者为不佳（下限40％）。你的分数是8分，属于优秀。

厲害吧?!

Dinner with old friends

2006-04-09T23:30:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since I can find the time to go to TO, so, when I mentioned I will come out to some old friends, I really appreciate that they also tried their best to meet me while I am out.

This time, the old friends that I met were Christine, Edwin and Evan. The last time I saw them was definitely over half a year. So, when we got together, it's non-stop talking!

It feels so nice to catch up with old friends, especially knowing that they are having some good news: preparing to get married! I am really happy for them, although at the same time, I kinda wonder about myself too...When can I get out of here?!

I am really happy for Christine and Edwin, since ever since I got to know them well, they are already together, and they can stay together for so long, despite any problems happened in the mean time. But this just shows how much they are meant for each other!

Congratulations, my friends! Just dont forget to send me the "red bomb" to the wedding party!

Bio-batteries

2006-04-08T11:00:00.000-04:00

From Business2.0, some MIT researchers have introduced a way to alter the gene of virus in order to make tiny batteries in the nanometer scale. This means that we may have longer lasting batteries for our future, more sophisticated mobile devices, or battery powered devices like electric cars, or even planes. Think of the possibilities!!

Link

The Boot Camp phenomenon

2006-04-07T22:52:00.000-04:00

I mentioned two days ago here about the introduction of Boot Camp from Apple, and if you happen to read any news at all, you'll probably spot at least one headline that is related to Boot Camp.

According to this article from Engaget, only the second day of Boot Camp introduction, ppl have been trying so many different things with it: Dual booting linux, installing Vista, or Windows with native languages. Some are even trying to run games on it already.

The introduction of Boot Camp really got a lot of attention, so much that other similar things are almost taken for granted. For example, Something called Parallel workstation was also introduced recently. It's aim is to allow u to run multiple OS at the same time, so that you dont have to reboot your machine to switch between OSs.

Personally I dont really think Boot Camp is useful (well, except for gamers), rather, I'd prefer something like Parallel workstation. This is because I wonder how much I'd like to reboot my computer, if all i need from windows is just to use apps like Visio for a moment?

Autoparking car is coming to North America?!

2006-04-06T21:14:00.000-04:00

I mentioned here before about the Prius from Toyota (EU edition) can do automatic parallel parking, and now here you go, according to this, that car will be offering North American edition soon. So, my parking skill impaired friends, better start saving for the nice new car!

Better keep your cats indoor

2006-04-05T18:23:00.000-04:00

Aside from the fact that a cat might get lost, get hit by cars, get tortured by crazy ppl on the street, get chased by dogs or other animals, here is another reason to keep your cat indoor:

According some scientists' claim in CNN, cats might spread bird flu too!

So, for your cat's and your own safety, please, keep your cats at home. Plus, you will have more time to play with your cutie little cat at home, so why not keep them in?

Mac do Windows too!

2006-04-05T10:54:00.000-04:00

Wowowow, great news everyone. For those of you who are thinking of getting a new computer, that's reliable, and stylish, think Mac!

You may be scared of the idea that there are applications that cannot be run on Mac OSX, but hey, what if you can dual-boot the machine to Windows?

Source: Apple.com

Here come the brand new Boot camp from Apple. This allows you to dual-boot Mac OSX and Windows on the same machine. So here you go, problems solved! When you get sick of Windows, simply restart your machine to get back to the good old Mac OSX!

PS. Thx Jerome for the info!

Geek talk: The future of computing: Embedded Systems

2006-04-03T14:32:00.000-04:00

Well, let's talk like a geek for a while. You can skip reading this post if you are bored by the topic already.

The future of computing.
Everyone keeps saying their PC is not fast enough. ppl always want faster computer. But the fact is: we wont have anything a lot faster than 3GHz in the near future. So, wut can we do to build more powerful computers? The simple solution: multi-core computing. In a talk from an MIT professor in the multi-core conference, he stressed that it's unavoidable to have more complex, high density systems built into a single silicon chip. Having more stuff on the chip can directly translate to having more work done from the increased processing power.

But then, the next question comes: wut do you wanna put on the chip? You dont wanna put the same thing over and over again on the single chip. You want a chip to have multiple functions, that's when embedded system comes into play as pointed out in this article from the EE times. Using embedded systems like NIOS from Altera, complex systems can be put together a lot easier since embedded software can be written and programmed into the system for controlling, debugging, and changing the functionality of different cores on the circuit on the fly, providing huge flexibility and reducing the development time for the system.

I kinda of love and hate this software-hardware development platform at the same time. I love it becuz it's just so freaking easy to just write a software program, and dump it into the embedded system for anything u wanna do. The reason for hating it? It's hard to incorporate exact timing constraints when the software needs to interact with other dedicated hardware components on the chip. These reasons are from my direct experience on working to build an MP3 player using dedicated hardware, while using NIOS to control the data transmission between the core and other peripherals.

In the future, due to the rise of smart home and fancy mobile devices, I forsee that all the resource intensive jobs will be run on clustered PCs embedded in homes and offices, while the mobile devices are used as interfaces to the computing resources. In this case, battery power on the handheld devices can last longer, while computing resourses can be utilized more efficiently.

Just imagine: the power of super computers all around you, and available on your fingertip! Wont you just love that?

Bloor St. Explosion

2006-04-03T14:25:00.000-04:00

I ran thru this news about the explosion in Tim Horton like 3 times today, but for some reason I never stop and read the news in detail, until I saw that the explosion happens at Bloor and Yonge....that's like only 3 blocks away from where my sis lives! Man, that was closed! Good to hear that she's ok though...

Is that a terriost attack? I dont know, and I sure dont hope so...Dont wanna see TO turning to be such a dangerous place...

Source: Torontoist

Sorry for the guy that got killed too...

Link

Ahhhhh...I need a faster computer!!

2006-04-02T23:21:00.000-04:00

Been working in the office for the whole wkend, and due to my super high productivity, my laptop becomes my bottleneck, since it's tooooooo sloooooowwwwww. The program has been running for over 12 hrs now, and it's not even half way done...

Y? Y did my boss's G5 died now?!

I guess this would be a really good time to talk to my boss for the new MacBook Pro...sweet!

Dessert from Mexicali Rosa's

2006-04-01T23:12:00.000-05:00

0401_213649 Dessert from Mexicali Rosa's
Originally uploaded by Henry Ko.

Thanks for the invitation from Jerome, we went for Mexican food tonite. Man, I love Fajitas! Too bad it's not all you can eat. haha.

It's always fun to meet good old friends and talk about tons of stuff. It's kinda weird to realize how we use to talk about trash, to the topics of marriage and kids now. Man, we must be growing old now...

BTW, Claudia, it's just becuz I was tired. That's why I look older than Jerome.

About the pic: it's the dessert that we had at the mexican place. I love the ice cream on top, but the apple crumble and the butterscother sauce are kinda too sweet for me...

Happy April Fools' Day

2006-04-01T23:04:00.000-05:00

It's April first, Happy Fools' Day. Too bad it's a Sat, and most of the ppl are home and avoiding to go out, otherwise i can fool someone today...

Anyway, since I was alone in the office the whole day today, May be I'll keep all my pranks for monday...

BTW, ppl, remember to change your clock tonite after 12 for daylight savings. This applies to ppl who are in the eastern time zone!

Comp exam...

2006-03-31T23:53:00.000-05:00

今天知道了我的comp exam 的大概時間. 為了想給自己多點時間去準備這個exam, 我一定要在下一個星期內把我手上的research 和TA 工作全部做完...

又有陣子會變得超忙了...

累了

2006-03-30T23:42:00.000-05:00

累了.

腦累了.

手腳累了.

精神沒有了.

心也累了

想什麼也不想.

想什麼也不做.

想什麼也不理.

只想好好休息.

做回任性的自己....

Beautiful lunch from France

2006-03-29T21:05:00.000-05:00

0329_130506 Beautiful lunch
Originally uploaded by Henry Ko.

We have a new guy joining the group for the summer. And this new guy is from France. And then, of cuz, we have a lot of talk about Wine, food, and sex.

So, to stop the talking, we suggested to ask the french to prepare some food for the group. And yes, he actually did it!

Look at that beautiful plate of food!

We have bowtie pasta with mushroom sauce, Ravioli with Ricotta and Basil with Pesto sauce, and Gratin Dauphinois (or Scallop potato).

The potato is goooooooood man. I cant stop eating it. That made me really full, and cant really work the whole afternoon. I ended up sleeping for a good 45 mins just to get my energy level back to normal after the meal. So you can imagine how good it is!

Dont worry, my friends, I'll make sure he send me the receipe ASAP. haha

Demo for undergrad

2006-03-29T21:01:00.000-05:00

0328_180801 Demo for undergrad
Originally uploaded by Henry Ko.

Yeah, we spent a good wkend just trying to setup these demos for a presentation that we wont have credit for. It's ok. It's the job we like anyway...

BTW, the demo is presented by some profs, so that they can attract 1st yr students to come to our department when they choose their field for their future studies in Engineering!

Is the talk useful? Well, not to me, as I'm already decided on where i am gonna go. The reason I was there? the demo, and of cuz, the crappy Spring Rolls that they provided...

The next generation app: Webtop

2006-03-29T20:44:00.000-05:00

A newly launched company, Hive7 introduced a new web-based software for ppl to meet friends:

Source: Business 2.0

It's like a virtual world there, much like the game "The Sims" from before, except that you can meet actually ppl, having their own characters in the app.

I kinda like the whole idea of meeting friends and stuff, but come on, isn't the real world exciting enough? I mean, you can already meet so many ppl, and have to deal with so many relationship problems in the real world. You wanna go thru the same stuff and problems again in the virtual world? Well, not for me, thank you!

Imagine this: Allegic to Electricity!

2006-03-29T15:53:00.000-05:00

I read this on the Globe and Mail, and realized there is something called electrosentivity. Basically wut it is is that some ppl are "allegic" to electricity! They said that some people claim causes pain, headaches, lousy sleep, depression, rashes, and fatigue from the use of electricity!

Man, with the high tech world we live in now, allegic to electricity is more serious than allegic to water!

There has been constant debate about whether the electromagnetic waves generated from the use of electricity will affect our health. Stuff like using cellphone too often can harm ur IQ, living close to a power station will cause cancer, are the myths that until now, not yet confirmed.

So, can electricity can actually cause allegery? Well, i dont know, and I cant even imagine i am slight allegic to electricity. Wut do u think?

Imagine this: downloading knowledge to your brain, instantly!

2006-03-28T15:43:00.000-05:00

I came across this link today, and I just couldnt help but throw in a little bit of imagination on wut this could mean to us human in the future.

Source: Business 2.0

The news is about putting special proteins, or neurons, onto silicon chips, so that brain cells can actually communicate with semiconductor devices. The implications? Well, with a mix of my imagination, you can actually put stuff like a flash drive (wut u use in USB key) in your brain to store data. So, when your brain needs the data, it can "communicate" with the embedded flash drive. Eventually, you can do the stuff that were shown in the Matrix movie, and just download knowledge (e.g. how to drive a plane) to the flash drive in your brain instantly, and there you go, you know how to drive a plane now!

Freaky...

Dinner party with Lemstra!

2006-03-26T23:32:00.000-05:00

Lemstra Dinner party
Originally uploaded by Henry Ko.

BTW, Happy BDay, my man!! Just to realize you are another year more "mature" now. haha. U better keep your swimming routine to keep your belly flat!

Once again, Dave hosted a fabulous dinner party. The best thing about his dinner party? we have to prepare at least one dish from each of us. Of cuz I dont mind doing that, since I love cooking. But the beautiful part is that you get to see how other ppl cook, and can learn from it. For example, Dave's is Dutch, and he made that fantastic soup, (which, btw, you better send me the recipe!) with CHEESE, of cuz. And Don and James made the delicious Vodka shrimp with fettucini, although I wouldnt mind if they finished all the vodka on it. And I just cooked the basic stuff: Roasted veggies (red potatoes, zucchini, yellow pepper, and elephant garlic. And then Ahmed prepared something from Egypt!

Man, it was such a wonderful evening. And the amount of food, there were enough to feed 10, although we only had 5 ppl.

I cant wait for the summer to come, so that we can do a pool-side BBQ party at ur place, man!

轉載: 朋友

2006-03-25T02:07:00.000-05:00

阿拉伯傳說中，有兩個朋友，在沙漠中旅行。

在旅途中的某點，他們吵架了，其中一個還給了另外一個一記耳光。

被打的覺得受辱，一言不語，在沙子上寫下："今天我的好朋友打了我一巴掌。"

他們繼續往前走，直到到了沃野，他們就決定停下。

被打巴掌的那位差點在河邊淹死，幸好被朋友救起來了。

被救起後，拿了一把小劍在石頭上刻了："今天我的好朋友救了我一命。"

一旁好奇的朋友問說："為什麼我打了你以後，你要寫在沙子上，而現在要刻在石頭上呢 ?"

另個笑笑的回答說："當被一個朋友傷害時，要寫在易忘的地方，風會負責抹去它 ;相反的，如果被幫助，我們要把它刻在心裡的深處，那裡任何風都不能抹滅它！"

朋友的相處傷害往往是無心的幫助卻是真心的忘記那些無心的傷害銘記那些對你的幫助你會發現這世上你有很多真心的朋友 ......

轉載: 人生夢想

2006-03-24T02:04:00.000-05:00

有個故事是這麼說的......

有一對兄弟，他們的家住在八十層樓。有一天他們出去爬山，回家的時候，卻發現大樓停電了！雖然他們揹著一大包的行李，但看來沒什麼選擇，於是哥哥對弟弟說：「我們爬樓梯上去吧！」

於是，他們就揹著一大包行李開始往上爬。到了二十樓的時候，他們開始累了！

哥哥告訴弟弟說：「包包太重了，這樣吧！我們把它放在二十樓，先爬上去，等電來了再坐電梯下來拿。」

弟弟說：「好！你真聰明！」

於是他們就把包包放在二十樓，繼續往上爬。卸下了沈重的包袱，輕鬆多了！

他們一路有說有笑地往上爬。但好景不常，到了四十樓，兩人實在累了，想到只爬了一半，往前看，竟還有四十樓要爬，兩人開始互相抱怨，指責對方不注意停電公告，才會落得如此下場。他們邊吵邊爬，就這樣一路到了六十樓。

到了六十樓，也許是累得連吵架的力氣都沒有了，哥哥對弟弟說：「只剩二十層樓了，我們就不要吵了，默默地爬完它吧！」。

於是他們安靜地繼續走，終於，八十樓到了！到了家門口。

哥哥擺出了一個很帥的姿勢：「弟弟，開門！」

弟弟說：「別鬧了！鑰匙不是在你那兒嗎？」 ......

結果，如你所想的，他們把鑰匙留在二十樓的包包裡了！.......

有人說，這個故事其實在反映我們的人生。

二十歲之前，我們活在家人、老師的期望和期許之下，背負著很多的壓力、包袱在走，自己也不夠成熟有能力，因此步履難免不穩。

二十歲之後，離開了眾人的壓力，卸下包袱，開始全力追求自己的夢想，就這樣過了愉快的二十年。

可是到了四十歲，發現青春早已過去，不免有許多的遺憾追悔，於是開始遺憾這個、惋惜那個、抱怨公司、抱怨社會、抱怨政府......，就這樣在抱怨遺憾中度過了二十年。

到了六十歲，發現人生已所剩不多，於是告訴自己，不要再抱怨了，就珍惜剩下的日子吧！於是默默地走完自己的餘年。到了生命的盡頭，才想起自己好像有什麼事還沒完成......，原來，我的夢想還留在二十歲，沒有完成。你也是如此嗎？

想想自己的夢想是什麼？
最在意的是什麼？
不要到了四十年後才來追悔。
想一想希望將來的自己和現在有何不同，就去做吧！......
把握現在，記得，今天就是禮物。

A new toy for guys

2006-03-23T14:02:00.000-05:00

Do you like video games?

Are you a guy?

If your answers to both questions are yes, then well, you are in luck!!

Check out this page about this new toy for men!

Wut is it? It's a urinal with pressure sensitive device in there, so that when you pee, u activate a video game device embedded in the urinal!

Finally, we have to incentive to focus on something while peeing...

A nice, warm meal...

2006-03-21T23:23:00.000-05:00

I love eating! That's universal among my friends. But I love it the most if I am the one who's cooking the great food.

It's been a while since I actually cook a nice, planned meal myself.

I love the whole process of cooking. That includes shopping in supermarket (especially the small, local markets, like those farmers market) to search for fresh ingredients, the process of thinking of wut to do with the acquired ingredients, and preparing the food, finding the wine to pair with the food, and of cuz, enjoying the food at the end.

And the most important part of a nice, warm meal: good friends!

Sometimes, it's not about the quality of the wine, or the good tasting food on the table, but it's the ppl who sit around the table, that makes the whole meal enjoyable. With true good friends, even bad wine, bad food can turn into lovely discussions, and a nice, warm evening.

I'll be having a dinner party on Sun with some of my good friends, and I really look forward to it, although I still have no idea on wut I am gonna make yet...But then again, it's the ppl that counts!

1953年小學畢業常識考試題

2006-03-20T20:10:00.000-05:00

1953年小學畢業常識考試題
Originally uploaded by Henry Ko.

有無人識做呢? 我就一定唔會識架喇. 儍儍地...

I got WHITE HAIR!!!

2006-03-19T20:05:00.000-05:00

Oh, man. It's the fourth white hair i discovered on myself for the past week...

I need to rest....desperately...

Is it becuz of Feng Shui?

2006-03-18T14:50:00.000-05:00

I have been very satisfied about the place I am living now. Convenient, clean, and good roommate.

It's just that even since the beginning of March, I never have one single good night sleep. I am not greedy, I just want one good peaceful night of sleep for 8 hours, without any dreams, no phone call to wake me up, no barking dog, no alarm clock, and most importantly, no waking up continuously in the middle of the night.

Am I asking too much?

So, even though I am an engineer, I am starting to turn my believe and think about the Feng Shui of my room...

The reason I cant get a good sleep, probably is becuz of the so called 橫樑 above my head when I sleep. And since I dont have curtain, every morning I actually get plenty of sunshine coming into my room, usually waking me up around 9-10...

I may need to seriously consider how I should move my furnitures around my room to create a more peaceful, comforting environment ASAP...

Crabs! They are everywhere!

2006-03-18T13:11:00.000-05:00

Take a look at this video. It's about the crab season on the Christmas Island!

Freaky!!

My new glasses

2006-03-17T12:52:00.000-05:00

My new glasses
Originally uploaded by Henry Ko.

How do I look with my new glasses?

Thx Ms. R and Mr. D for helping me pick the glasses.

PS. Yeah, I know i should shave...maybe i'll post another one later...

Another touch screen demo

2006-03-16T12:31:00.000-05:00

A while back, I was posting about the Homeless blog: Next generation input device!, and some ppl are really amazed by the effect of that.

Well, now Panasonic is actually showing a working demo of similar stuff in an exhibition. So, I thought you guys may be interested. Here is the link to it.

Go Crazy!

Am I too nice?

2006-03-15T12:35:00.000-05:00

Back in December, around Christmas time, I was hiding myself in the office alone so that I could finish a research paper. The main difference between this paper, and all other papers that I've written b4, is that I am pretty much writing this paper on my own, without my boss being on my tail and re-editing it word by word. So, in other words, this paper stands for a test on how well I can write research paper myself.

Well, I dont get an answer from the conference on whether the paper is accepted yet, although I dont really have high hopes. That's becuz of the comment that my boss gave me after he carefully reviewed my paper:

The paper is not aggressive enough! If the paper is killed, it's becuz you are too nice on trashing other ppls work...

So, am I really too nice technically? Hey, I am still really green in my research area. I dont wanna go around trashing other ppls stuff with a nasty attitude so soon. I need to build my reputation first, then when I trash other ppls stuff, they can be more convinced.

Oh well, overall, I am still pretty happy with this paper, since it's the first paper I've written purely on my own, and even my boss can really take it apart easily. It's just not aggressive enough on how i convince ppl about my stuff.

Am I too nice?

Is it time to move my blog again?

2006-03-14T15:59:00.000-05:00

I've been blogging for several years now, averaging to move the blog from one place to another every year.

Then i found Blogger, which by that time was so nice, and fast, and smooth, and easy to use. So I was planning to stay here for a while.

But now the problems come. Getting slower. Wont republish my blog for new entries. No comment RSS. No categorizations. From time to time I cant even log in and write entries.

So, anyone has good suggestion on where I should go to put my new blog next? I am thinking WordPress. Since it has all the stuff that I want, and it seems that I can easily transfer my template here to there.

Man, I really need to find one day, just one peaceful, relaxing day, when I can actually migrate my blog over, and spend some time on configurating the Adsense stuff. man, I am only getting crappy ads up on the banner. Can anyone help?

Damn weather this year...

2006-03-14T15:55:00.000-05:00

It was so nice and warm yesterday morning.

Then it was raining like hell at night.

This morning, it started to snow...

And now, it is -1 degree, dropped from the 18 degrees yesterday...

Such a weird winter this yr...

X-MEN III: The Last Stand

2006-03-13T02:00:00.000-05:00

You guys got to see this trailer! Nice!!

Link

I can hardly wait for the movie, can u?

David Copperfield

2006-03-13T00:23:00.000-05:00

Yep, I went to the David Copperfield show in TO. It's the real David Copperfield. He is cool, man! The magic he did, is just really amazing. No wonder he's name the magician of the year, the magician of our time, the magician of millenium!

Just one thing about the show though...it's kinda too short. Only little bit longer than an hr. I was expecting something no less than 2. Maybe it's becuz of the size of the stage. That limits on the type of magics he can do there.

But overall, I still enjoy the show a lot. I also enjoy get to meet my sis, and Mr. J. Thanks for getting the ticket btw, man.

Just a note to self: Dont go watch magic with engineers again, as they will always try to explain the magic, which, kinda takes away the fun. haha.

Street show @ Queen

2006-03-13T00:20:00.000-05:00

Street show @ Queen
Originally uploaded by Henry Ko.

Oh, yeah, finally I can a peaceful day off. So, of cuz, I went out to TO to visit some friends, and my sis.

Yeah, my original plan was to go for a hair cut too. But since I got too concentrated at work, and never left home until 2. So I ended up in TO at 3pm, which, gave me no time for a haircut.

So, I decided to take my time, and enjoyed the nice warm weather, and the busy TO lifestyle at Queen street.

And then I saw this guy doing a street show on Queen. He's pretty funny, and doing some nice tricks that includes stuff like eating fire. Cool! That kinda helped me spend like half an hr on the street. haha.

It feels so nice and get to enjoy a nice, warm quiet afternoon in TO by myself, after the really hectic work life i had over the past two months. It really helped me relax my mind!

MIT research

2006-03-10T16:52:00.000-05:00

I went across these news (1,2) today. It's about two MIT students, inventing something called "Wirelessly-enabled wine glasses".

Here is a pic:

Source: BoingBoing
and another:

Source: Engaget

Wut is it? it's just two freaking cups that have LEDs, which will light up when activated by some sensors while someone drinks with the other cup. They say this device really do "help people feel as if they are sharing a drinking experience together".

Oh, come on, it's just two freaking cups with sensors. It's not rocket science. And it's not gonna be like change your life experience or something. I just dont understand why this "device" will get so much news coverage! Is it becuz it's from MIT? Dont get me wrong, I am not saying the inventors should not get their recognition, but why ppl get so excited about that? I just dont get it...

Google leaks storage plan

2006-03-10T16:46:00.000-05:00

Google recently leaks some info for some of its future plans on their website accidentally, and one of the leaked info is the so-called "GDrive". This ambigious service is to offer unlimited storage space for users so that ppl can store absolutely anything on the Google server, instead of using their own harddrive. In this way, you can get ur data anywhere you have a internet-connected computer.

This is a very cool idea, since as ppl move around a lot between work, home, and travelling, it's a pain to carry some kinda storage device, or even take ur computer with u so that you can get ur own data.

But just one big concern: do you trust Google enough that you are gonna put all ur stuff onto their server? I doubt I will ever do, as I cant even trust them so much to put all my mails in Gmail...

Link

I better get a shredder quick too...

2006-03-10T16:40:00.000-05:00

Some guy posted here that he get a credit card from an application form that was teared apart, then taped back together.

Source: BoingBoing

Just imagine you throw out some tax forms that you already teared apart becuz you put the numbers wrong, but someone picks it up and get ur ID from those info...

I really need a shredder...fast...

The next Ethernet standard

2006-03-10T16:31:00.000-05:00

Well, for those who notice, the Ethernet transmissions that companies have are usually running at 1 Gbps (Gigabit per sec) now, which, compared to the 54Mbps that you get from using Wireless G routers, that's an amazing speed.

But hey, here is a heads up: 10 Gbps over regular copper wire will be coming out real soon Link. Just imagine you can transfer huge files like movies in seconds between computers. Nice eh?

And, on the side note, just in case you think 10 Gbps is not that amazing, Lucent just demo 100 Gbps Ethernet transmission Link, although it's not over just regular copper wire, which the new office buildings equip with. Just as an example, a DVD can store 9 GB of data, using the 100Gbps network, in one second, you can transfer 100/(9*8) = 1.39 DVD data between computers in 1 second theoretically.

Freaky...

轉載: 找到包容你的人

2006-03-09T10:45:00.000-05:00

有一個男人為了參加第二天的小學同學會，特地上街買一條新長褲。

他回家穿上後，卻發覺長度多了十公分。

於是請求媽媽替他改。

媽媽說，身體不舒服，想早一點休息,今晚不想改。

於是改請求太太替他改。

太太說，還有許多家事要做，今晚沒有時間改。

於是改請求女兒替他改。

女兒說，今晚跟男朋友約好去跳舞，沒有時間改。

他想想，既然如此，明天穿舊的長褲去同學會也可以！

當天晚上，他媽媽心想：「兒子平時對我很孝順，他開口要求總不好拒絕他。」於是，起來替兒子改長褲，剪短了十公分。

他太太稍晚做完家事心想：「老公平時很有耐心，今天他是不會縫針線才開口要求，總不好拒絕他。」於是替先生改長褲，剪短了十公分。

他女兒晚上回來：「爸爸不阻止我去跳舞，實在是開明的老爸，今天實在應該替他修改長褲。」於是替爸爸改長褲，剪短了十公分。

第二天早上，三個女人分別告訴男主人此事。

他一試長褲，已經變成吊腳褲了。

他的反應「是 .................」哈哈一笑，說：「我一定要穿去給同學看，告訴他們，我的媽媽、太太、和女兒對我多好。」

結果，老同學們一致稱讚他家庭經營成功。

他的媽媽、太太、和女兒也都很高興。

如果您是故事中的男人或女人，當下您會做何反應？「哈哈一笑」抑或「破口大罵」？

人，面對外人時，總是可以表現得雍容大肚、心平氣和，但面對自己最親近的家人，卻往往一點小事就足以皺起眉頭，甚至出言相傷。

如果形容人類是一種「出門高E.Q，回家低E.Q」的動物，我想一點兒也不誇張，多拿出一點耐心與幽默感給家人吧！

否則您自己也不會快樂，不是嗎？

我的讀後感: 其實對我來說, 不只是家人, 如果一個人能對任何事都E.Q. 高, 他的人生也可以快樂很多. 所以我很喜歡一句說話: 一笑置之. 反正己經發生了, 與其破口大罵, 倒不如大家一笑帶過好了. 只要在笑的同時要承諾不要再做同樣錯事就ok.

A new article for a new perspective

2006-03-08T17:17:00.000-05:00

Yeah, probably all of you guys already know I am NOT a windows guy. I dont really hate it, i just cant find the reason to like it.

But here is an article that kinda compare Windows and Mac OS 10.4 (Tiger) with a pretty neutral position. Maybe this can help some ppl answer some questions on whether Windows is better, or not.

Source: Engaget

Once again, I dont hate Windows, I just cant find the reasons to like it...

Five things you didn't know about dual-core MPUs

2006-03-08T13:48:00.000-05:00

For ppl who wonder how the next generation CPUs gonna affect your purchase decision for a new computer at home/office, this is the news you wanna read.

Source: EE Times

PS. MPU = Multiple processing unit, as opposed to CPU = Central processing unit

BTW, recently Intel just announced their next gen project to have processors with 10s or even hundreds of core on chip. The question is how are they gonna supply enough power to the cores.

Freaky...

Another reason to love Mac!

2006-03-07T18:59:00.000-05:00

Network World has declared Macs to be half as expensive to run as PCs.
Source: Macworld UK

This is mainly due to the amount of money one has to spend on PCs for security (i.e. Anti-virus, firewall) and IT personnels for maintainance.

This is a nice quota from the article:

"Why should a company pay more than $2,000 a year for the PC support of a clerk who only uses web applications when a $500 Mac mini will do?"

愛死你 - 遊戲

2006-03-07T18:05:00.000-05:00

超無奈的被點名了...我的朋友都己很了解我了嘛...

參加者請複製下列兩項!!~(遊戲+規則)

遊戲名稱~:愛的大集合~

遊戲規則~:

1.必須發表一篇文章~把所有愛的文章給打出來~
2.寫玩所有愛的問題後~請點名5位lucky的朋友們出來~
(注意注意~!!!不能點名重複的人喔!!~未滿5人就算犯規~)

填寫日期~:2006/03/07

愛的角色~:咖啡貓. 大食又懶, 我夢想...

愛的動漫~:貓之物語...其實幾悶的..不過因為是貓...

愛的漫畫家~:我都一直沒有留意漫畫家的名稱的...

愛的食物~:嘩. 太多了...各種食物都有自己的特性. 很難只選一種...如果要說是永遠都愛的, 應該是榴槤...

愛的音樂~:會隨時間變化. 試過愛: Cantonese->Hip-hop->Jazz->R&B->Rap->Classical->Spanish->Country->Raggae. 最近都是聽台灣的歌...

愛的地方~: 那些自己未去過的地方, 我都很愛...因為我愛travelling...

愛的口頭禪~:又是隨時日變的東西. 以前是: 你阿媽(老豆) 個仔(女) 呀->wut the ....fine...->爆勁->頂...->問你死未..., 最近在office 都愛說: freaky....

愛的顏色~:橙色! 我是陽光人!

愛的偶像~:我的貓, Mocha...可以每日都咁Cute, 問你死未!

愛的甜食~:Cheesecake 吧. 但是很難找到好吃的.

愛的節目~:food network!! baby (只有變態的人才會愛看恐怖片)

愛的書籍~:沒有特別愛的...只要是我有興趣的topic 我都會看.

愛的店~:Second Cup, 走過都想喝...

愛的作家~:梁望峯. 倪匡.

愛的作詞人~:Y 文啦.

愛的國家~:Greece, 地方太美. 中國, 太多好野食. California, 天氣太好.

愛的座右銘~:看我頁頂的Quotes...

愛的髒字~:沒有不愛的...

愛的習慣~:工作時想偷懶, 睡覺時想吃東西, 吃飯時想看電視, 打機時想睡覺. 無聊時會發出無意義的聲音...

愛的腔調~:廣東話, 國語, 英語大混集...

愛的是受還是攻~:這是台灣特有的問題吧? 我不明白...

愛的星座~:處女座! 是完美的人!

愛的休閒~:睡, 吃好東西, 再睡, 再吃好東西, 再再睡, 再再吃好東西...repeat x 100

愛的個性~: 很聰明但會裝笨, 有自信但不自大, 愛說話但不噪吵, 愛工作但不過度, 愛玩耍但不任性, 有主見但不自私.

我竟然要想十分鐘才想到我的習慣....想死...

下五個替死鬼...不要怨我呀...
Eska: 一定唔會走左你啦
Jerome: 太久沒見, 要看看你有沒有變...
Rita: 給你機會想想你愛什麼...
Jack Ng: 睇下你有無黎睇我個blog. hahaha
Flora: 因為你是台灣人...

Please tell me this is unreal!

2006-03-07T11:23:00.000-05:00

The title of this news alone can already give me a huge shock!

Windows steals top server OS spot from Unix
From: EE Times

Please, please tell me it's not true...

How can Windows be on top? Wut kind of world I am living in?

Here are just some examples on y i am little bit concern:

if the bank that i shop with is using windows server, and while I am doing some stock trading, the devil blue screen come up....NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

If the credit card company I trust uses windows server, then it's possible that I got a bill for month 1 that got fraud purchases, and for month 2, and 3....and so on. Just becuz Windows is so easily hackable...

Now, arent you getting worried too?

Going to TO!

2006-03-06T23:04:00.000-05:00

Finally, I found the time to go out to TO.

Well, it's actually becuz Ms. R gave me the perfect reason to make me come out: it's her bday!

So, I finally could come out to TO to look for a new pair of glasses (my old one broken back in beginning of Jan btw). And can appreciate a little bit of TO life, it's actually the busyness on the street that I miss...

And most important of all, got to meet the dear old friend, Ms. R! And after a long debate, they ended up with the conclusion that I will be cooking for the night...

Oh well, see wut I can get from the supermarket then...And this is wut I made:

Looks top chef stuff?

PS. BTW, I really cannot believe this is only the FIRST time i cook for Ms. R. since I love cooking so much myself....

Some ppl just have too much free time...

2006-03-06T11:02:00.000-05:00

Look at this video clip. It's about someone who threw boiling water into the -40 C air.

Link

Some ppl just need something to do to kill their free time...

A talk on Sleep...

2006-03-04T12:17:00.000-05:00

For some reasons, everyone I ran into, talked to, msg to, hear about, is extremely busy in the last month. Almost everyone are either lack of sleep, or cant sleep. The result? I am thinking about 60% of my friends are sick around me. They are either coughing or sneezing.

This situation just reminds myself of one of my theories: Having better sleep = having better health!

And having better sleep doesnt mean just sleep more. It's the quality of sleep that matters. Good quality sleep means you are really sleeping. U sleep while u are relaxed, at the right time, so that your body, your organ and your soul can rest at the same time. It's easy to judge if the quality of sleep is good or not, just check if you feel really refresh when u wake up. If so, congratulations! otherwise...

This link here tells u 10 ways to get a good sleep. You may wanna take a lot at it!

Everyone, Have a great sleep. NO dreams! no better good or bad dreams. Just...dont have any!

A good sleep...

2006-03-03T19:31:00.000-05:00

I was able to give myself a 6 hrs sleep yesterday by sleeping at around 3, and waking up at 9, so that I can come back to school early to fix that PC...

Yeah, I know, I am tired, I should get more sleep. But I dont have the time. So, I always hope that I can get a good, deep sleep. The type of sleep that you dont get any dreams, and just get woken up until the alarm sounds.

Well, so how was my sleep last night? I got a dream!

Got chased around by whole bunch of lions. freaking LIONS! What the F?! Is it becuz I love cats so much?

Maybe very soon, I can take another pic of myself that looks a lot worse than the one i posted b4...

My holiday...where is it?

2006-03-03T19:21:00.000-05:00

It's Friday today, and I was supposed to have this day off, and enjoyed a full day of snowboarding.

I requested the day off on Sunday with my boss, and he promptly confirmed that I dont have to come to school that day, and the other TA will cover my lab hour.

So, I planned, planned, and planned for a snowboard trip and expected to hit the slope with nothing hanging over the back of my mind.

Then came thursday, when I learnt that the French guy finally came to our research group, and I would be responsible to "setup" (that includes looking for an idle PC, cleaning it up, putting an OS, setting an acct, network...etc) for him. So, I spent like 2 hrs trying to get the PC ready on thursday morning...

But then the PC was not working, and my boss told me: Can you come to school tmr around noon to make sure the PC is ready by then?" I thought...ok, by noon, i can still at least get half a day of snowboarding. So, I said yes...

Only until later that night, I got an email from my boss telling the undergrads that I will be in the lab on fri to answer questions. Wut the F?

So, I ended up still working here in the office at 730 pm, on a friday nite, when I was supposed to be rolling down a hill full of snow...

So now, I just keep telling myself: Dont be angry, dont be upset, dont be disappointed...I will go snowboard next wkend...

God bless my soul!

Am I too different?

2006-03-02T13:49:00.000-05:00

I came across this new today:

Japanese gamers wait in line for DS Lite from Engaget.

It's about how some japanese got so crazy about Nitendo DS that they waited in line for days for the release of DS Lite.

I've never come across anything in my life that I love it so much that I would stay in line for days just to get it. Is it becuz I never love something so much? Or am I just to rational?

For my driving skill impaired friends...

2006-03-01T15:38:00.000-05:00

If you are gonna drive in Europe, you'll know how often you need to parallel park ur car.

So, from Toyota, here is how new tech can help you: The Prius (EU version) with automatic parallel parking!

Source: Engaget

Arent you just gonna love this technology if you are driving in places like the EU, HK, or Taipei?

Microsoft Vista: Bill's way of confusing ppl...

2006-03-01T15:32:00.000-05:00

Remember when Windows XP first came out, everyone needed to spend like a few wks looking around to see what version of XP should they use? Whether to use XP Home and XP Pro?

Well, and comes Vista:

And Bill will continue the confusing game. The official version list has 5 item in it:

Vista Starter -- Streamlined version meant for low-powered PCs in developing nations.

Vista Home Basic -- For those content to browse the web, use email, and create and edit basic documents from their PC. Includes destop search and security tools.

Vista Home Premium -- Includes everything in Basic but also includes the Aero graphical interface, Media Center functionality, and ability to connect to Xbox 360. The version most of us will own at home.

Vista Business -- The basic version for companies of all sizes with tools to help organizations manage their PCs.

Vista Enterprise -- Includes everything in the basic business version with improved encryption and BitLocker system to keep data from being read on a stolen computer.

Vista Ultimate -- All the features of Home and Business in one.

Source: Engaget

And in addition to those, Microsoft will have to release some version for Europe without the media player attached to it...so, it's gonna be a total of something like 8 versions of Vista that will be launched!

If you plan to upgrade, you may wanna start looking for detail on wut Vista fit u the most now...

Hahaha. Love between Cat and Chicken?

2006-02-28T14:17:00.000-05:00

A video about the love between a cat and a chicken can be found here.

Haha. the cat is really really really really cute!!

Cat Piano

2006-02-28T13:59:00.000-05:00

This is a cat piano invented by a retarded musician Athanasius Kircher in the 17th century. Wut it does is that by having Kitties with differently-pitched voices placed in the cages side-by-side, and then "triggered" to meow with a sharp poke in the ass, some weird melody with cat meowing will be played.

Man, and ppl laugh from listening to that? Are they complete idiots? or retarded or something? how can they so inhuman?

Just imagine you being held in a cage, with needles with different sharpness being poked to you at different positions of your body to make you produce weird sounds, is that funny?

Link

And I thought I could never be more tired....

2006-02-28T13:53:00.000-05:00

Remember I mentioned I was truely exhausted the I finished my paper on Sun nite?

Oh, well, when compared to wut I feel now, that is nothing...

Y? cuz I went to Snowboard the day after my paper was done. And besides, I wasnt sleeping much on Sunday nite, since I had a meeting with undergrads at 1130am, so I had to go to school early, leading to not enough sleep.

So after 1 wk non-stop work + early meeting + snowboarding + watching a scary moving making not sleeping well = A super tired me.

BTW, I was supposed to meet some undergrads today at 1:30pm too, only to learn that the meeting is cancelled after I woke up at 1, and rush myself to the bus stop...

Man, I need real rest...

Quote from others: 朋友的朋友

2006-02-27T12:14:00.000-05:00

Recently I came across this post. And it goes like this:

"早陣子，聽到朋友感嘆，為何他最近認識的新朋友，卻原來都是朋友的朋友，all connected in a fucking way。(補充：這話是他說的，不是我說的。）
我問，那我這個新朋友，是你哪位朋友的朋友？
他說沒有，我鬆了一口氣。"

Link

After I read this, I kinda gave some thoughts to my list of friends...And it's right...most of my friends "all connected in a fucking way"! They can actually be separated into two groups: My High school friends from HK, and High school friends + U friends in CA). It's amazing on how small this world is.

Considering my situation, I know friends from Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippine, Australia, Japan, Korea, Iran, Egypt, France, Germany, England, Romania, Netherland, Canada, US, Mexico, Brazil, Africa...and maybe some other places where I dont even know where it is on a world map...But wut do you know, the friends from Japan may actually know my friends from Brazil even b4 we met. And of cuz, the most common is that my HK friends know the ppl from Taiwan already b4 I introduce them...

Some ppl may thing that all friends being connected in some way is a bad thing, but I dont think that. I love the feeling when my friends gather around, and they happen to be good friends too. Then, we can all have fun at the same time. Isnt that wut friends are for? FUN?

Wut do u think?

Information explosion

2006-02-27T12:01:00.000-05:00

Well, now that my deadline is passed. I can go back to my more normal life schedule. So, I finally am able to go check my RSS feed from Blogline. And man oh man, guess wut's the number of news i get over the past week?

It's over 2000!! for 7 days...that's like 300 news per day!!

Man...I dont know how I am gonna go thru each news...probably just gonna browse thru, and see if any thing interesting catches my eye.

2000 news...that's a full day job by itself...I am reading too much?

ITC paper: submitted

2006-02-26T23:00:00.000-05:00

Finally, I finished, and submitted the paper to one of the top conferences in my research area.

It has been an exhaustive week. I mean REALLY exhaustive. I pretty much did 90% of the work for this paper in just one week. That's a really short amount of time for paper writing.

I am now truely tired, and in desperate need of sleep...I dont even have the energy to be happy when I finished the paper.

Well, this is wut I look like after one full week of non-stop work, sleeping total about 30 hrs, and eating on average one meal per day, with most of them just instant noodle and crackers, and without shaving:

But then I still have to wake up early for a meeting with the undergrads tmr....oh...when can I get a good sleep?

《我想有個窩》

2006-02-21T23:40:00.000-05:00

經過《我不想說我是雞》和《狗狗未來不是夢》，K娃又一最新作品《我想有個窩》。

這次的主題是我的最愛: 貓，講述流浪貓的心聲，看得我心也酸了。

愛貓的人一定要看啊！！

Am I too tired?

2006-02-21T23:18:00.000-05:00

For ppl who know me, u guys know, I love to sleep, and love to eat. But ever since Sunday, I've been losing appetite on wutever I eat. Worse yet, I have not been able to get good sleep. I woke up about 5-6 times for each of the last two nights of sleep.

Am I really too tired?

or am I just getting weaker and weaker, and losing confidence on work in myself?

The magic of valentine's day?!

2006-02-19T13:35:00.000-05:00

Well, it's almost one week after Valentine's day now, but I am really getting to understand the power of it.

Yesterday, within a window of 12 hours, I individually got great news from three of my old friends. The news are that each of them believes that they have found their special someone. Isn't it great? And the magic thing is that the three news are from different part of the world: one from NYC, one from Taiwan, and one from HK! So I guess the power of VD is definitely not constraint by geography!

Congratulations to my buddies on finding their loves!

Language mix-up...

2006-02-19T01:52:00.000-05:00

Since recently I've met some Taiwanese friends, I have been speaking more Mandarin than usual. This should usually be no problem, since I know to speak Cantonese, Mandarin and English quite well. However, when combining this multilingual situation with my hectic schedule, I am starting to see a problem.

My schedule for the past week has been like this:
Meeting with my boss (English)
Talking to my roommate/collegue (Cantonese)
Meeting with undergrads (English)
Talking on MSN with friends (mix Cantonese, English, Mandarin)
Talking to Taiwanese friends (Mandarin)
Meeting with other collegues (English)

So, as you can see, I usually need to switch between the 3 different languages quite often. So, what end up happening? I may speaking Mandarin to my boss/collegues without me knowing it. Speaking English to ppl who i usually speak in Cantonese, or even speaking a mix of Cantonese and English with my Mandarin speaking friends. Well, these are just simple awkward situations. A little laughing will ease off the tension.

But then this morning, when I picked up the call from piggy, I actually answered the phone with Mandarin without me knowing it. And of cuz, Piggy got confused and thought I was speaking to some other girls, or some other girls call me frequently. Man, that's a horrible situation. Luckily that Piggy trusted me. It's just a stupid mistake that I made. I hope I can control my mouth better from now on...Sorry Piggy....

Second malware this week!

2006-02-18T22:57:00.000-05:00

A second malware for Mac OSX has been discovered this week. This one is targeting the Bluetooth device on not-updated Panther and Tiger.

Detail can be found here

Is Mac OS becoming unsafe?

《狗狗未來不是夢》

2006-02-18T12:08:00.000-05:00

記得我之前post 過《我不想說我是雞》，是一部以禽流感為主題的作品，以flash MV 的型式在綱上流傳。現在，又有一個新的同類型flash MV 了，就是: 《狗狗未來不是夢》。

今次的“狗狗未來不是夢”，內容涉獵甚廣。K 娃先以小朋友的身份提問，談起空氣質素、電子產品的幅射、食物的不安全，無論是奶粉、快餐，甚至是包裹食物的保鮮紙也有問題。接著，是狗狗訴說成年人的焦慮：工作壓力、酗酒、身體、心理健康問題等等。

大家細心欣賞吧...

Apple: Fighting hackers with Poem?

2006-02-17T23:03:00.000-05:00

Confirmed from Apple, if you are a hacker trying to port Mac OSX onto non-apple PCs, you are very likely to encounter this poem while you are at it:

"Your karma check for today: There once was a user that whined/his existing OS was so blind/he'd do better to pirate/an OS that ran great/but found his hardware declined./Please don't steal Mac OS!/Really, that's way uncool./(C) Apple Computer, Inc."

Source: Globe and Mail

I guess this is a strange way to fight off evil, eh?

On another news, if you wanna buy a Powerbook, act fast! Since the 17' Powerbook, now Apple is killing the 15' Powerbook G4. Very soon you will be getting Apple laptops with only Intel chips. Which one to get? it's your call. But I'd expect prices to be slashed when Apple tries to clean the inventories of its killed products...So watch out...

First trojan horse or worm reported for Mac OSX

2006-02-16T23:21:00.000-05:00

From MacWorld, the first trojan horse or worm is reported for Mac OSX. Should the Mac ppl be alerted?

Well, the trojan horse/worm has not yet to be determined as a disruptive virus yet. It just spreads itself thru the bundled chat program iChat in Mac OSX. No real damage to data or anything being detected yet from it. So I guess we dont need to be alerted yet.

Well, I guess with the recent attension Apple is getting for it's iPod and the Intel iMac, Macbook Pro series, ppl are really expected Mac OSX could be the next big thing. That's y hackers are starting to develop stuffs like virus and worms for the once virus-free OS.

Beware Bill Gate! Apple is coming!

Good News? Bad News?

2006-02-15T23:58:00.000-05:00

Well, as I mentioned b4, ITC (a major conference in my research area) deadline was set to be Feb 17, that is this friday.

Although I worked my ass off, I know I can never make that deadline. So, I was actually thinking of giving up for ITC this year.

But then the new come: ITC deadline is being extended to Feb 24. So, I have at least one more wk to work on my paper. This should be a good news to be right? But then now I think of it, extending the deadline for one wk that means:

1. Both Nicola, and I are getting sick this week. We wont be able to work in full power for ITC..so extending the deadline just mean extending my torture period for a wk...
2. I will have to work during the full reading week for other ppl. So I wont be able to join all those ski/snowboard trip and stuff...

Well, wish me luck guys. Now that I have the extension, I really wish I can deliver the paper too. That will give me a chance to go to San Jose again, and to meet ppl from the industrial and top schools around the world in my research area. I may get to know some influcential ppl and bring my career further!

One of my worst week...

2006-02-14T21:13:00.000-05:00

Man, what's happening to me this week?

ITC deadline this friday:
This makes me extremely busy. I dont have enough time to sleep, not to mention the huge pressure that makes me not sleep well even if i have time. If the deadline is not extended for at least a week, I dont think I can meet the deadline at all...

Muscle ache:
Ever since probably Sat, I have been experiencing muscle pain on my left shoulder. At that time, I was thinking, well, it's just muscle pain, that wont drag me down. But starting tonite, my right shoulder is also joining the pain lead...Yeah, I know I need a massage, but where and when can I get one, with the deadline approaching so fast? I tried to massage myself a little bit, and man, my muscles are so tense...

Coughing:
In addition to the stuff I mentioned above, I think I am catching a cold or something. This gives me terrible cough. And I hate coughing...the cough syrup (I took the Benylin Chest cough and Sore throat, EXTRA STRENGTH, FAST ACTING) tastes really really really nasty!! And the nasty taste not only make me cough more, but also make me wanna puke...

And worst of all, it's only TUESDAY!!!!!! That means I better gather all my energy to work towards the deadline!! I wont give up on that so easily! I made on miracle on getting a paper done for DAC in Dec, I am gonna do it again for ITC this time!

Want a Sundae? it's US$1000!

2006-02-14T16:54:00.000-05:00

Memorize the look of this Sundae, it's the world's most expensive sundae, and worth US$1000!

According to Daily Olive: the sundae is made with "5 scoops of the richest Tahitian vanilla bean ice cream infused with Madagascar vanilla and covered in 23K edible gold leaf, the sundae is drizzled with the world's most expensive chocolate, Amedei Porceleana, and covered with chunks of rare Chuao chocolate, which is from cocoa beans harvested by the Caribbean Sea on Venezuela's coast. The masterpiece is suffused with exotic candied fruits from Paris, gold dragets, truffles and Marzipan Cherries. It is topped with a tiny glass bowl of Grand Passion Caviar, an exclusive dessert caviar, made of salt-free American Golden caviar, known for its sparkling golden color. It's sweetened and infused with fresh passion fruit, orange and Armagnac. The sundae is served in a baccarat Harcourt crystal goblet with an 18K gold spoon to partake in the indulgenceserved with a petite mother of pearl spoon and topped with a gilded sugar flower by Ron Ben-Israel."

Crazy, isnt it? If you have the money, will you indulge yourself for a treat like that too?

Link

Next generation input device!

2006-02-13T17:17:00.000-05:00

Remember the movie "Minority Report" starring Tom Cruise?

In the movie, he was interacting with a computer with his hands, moving imagines across his face and stuff?

Well, the technology is multi-touch screens, and now being developed at NYU. Take a look at this remarkable video for a quick demo on how this multi-touch screen will change your whole computing experience in the future:

Link

I especially love the part when that guy is moving the pictures on the screen, and manipulating the map to find boston too. Lovely!!

香港人的悲哀

2006-02-12T13:55:00.000-05:00

A君年少努力，年年交足稅，30幾歲結婚夠首期買入200萬私樓，往後30年為層樓同銀行打工，利息比銀行已經有200萬，60幾歲以為可以安享晚年，但年老多病又無資格享有公共醫療福利，窮緊餘之積蓄過活，那知強制驗樓要收佢一筆驗樓費，報告說要佢座大廈要大量維修，可憐兩公婆無錢維修，想賣樓又無人要，走投無路下，只好雙雙流落天涯，無家可歸．

B君讀書一般，做下散工有個臭味相投的女友一於結婚一同
申請公屋，好容易比佢地分到上樓，上樓後2人無物事做一於照特首意思生3個，搵唔到野做把心一橫申請綜援，萬幾蚊不知幾好駛，個仔近視都有配眼鏡資助，d仔大個叫佢地一個二個去申請公屋，30幾年後，層樓破舊但有政府用A君d錢同佢維修，年老多病打電話叫醫護車佢地去公立醫院睇醫生，一包二包葯比佢，慌死佢地投訴醫院，返到屋企弄孫為樂，抱孫看街景．指著天橋下的A君說：『孫仔，比心機申請公屋呀，如果唔係你就好似呢個老人家咁仆街．』

在網上看到這個故事，真不知應該笑還是覺得悲哀。自己是香港人，也想回香港發展和生活。但是想到樓檟高企，經濟亂七八糟的，心中真的有些害怕。

不過細想，每個國家或城市都也不是完美的，所以香港應該還是我最愛的地方，只是希望到我回來時政府會向好的方向發展就成了。

Snow storm this year

2006-02-12T13:44:00.000-05:00

snow_storm
Originally uploaded by Henry Ko.

This is the first time this year in the North-east part of North America to have huge snow storm like this. Although the snow storm has not reached Hamilton, or the GTA yet, we can already feel the strength of it.

Last night I think we had about 10cm of snow in Hamilton. I always love it when you see a vast plain land covered in pure white snow. It's just too cool! Not to mention the thought of having powder snow for snowboarding!!

PS. yeah, I hate it too when waking up the next day and see all the black snow piled up by the sidewalk...

Visiting Demetri!

2006-02-11T16:45:00.000-05:00

0210_224930
Originally uploaded by Henry Ko.

Well, it's Friday nite, so of cuz I will find some excuse to not work, and spend it with friends.

This time, I spent it with some friends (5 of us including myself) in Demetri!

Demetri is not my favorite dessert place, but it does have one of my favorite dessert: the French Crepe! And the thing I love Demetri the most: it doesnt close early! haha. so we can pretty much go anytime we want.

Want to see the pics of our desserts? Go to my flickr!

The coziest pub in TO

2006-02-10T01:47:00.000-05:00

According to Torontoist, the Cloak and Dagger Pub (394 College St) is this city's coziest pub after renovation

Anyone try this pub? Let me know how cozy it is!!

Bell series lectures: Drugability Issues

2006-02-09T23:27:00.000-05:00

Due to the huge amount of promote email that was sent from McMaster University, and since the lecture is organized by the ECE department, our whole research group went to the seminar today.

The title of the talk was:

Drugability Issues in Drug discovery and development!

Well, the talk was very informative, if we could understand wut he was talking about. It's been a long time since I go into a seminar, and then realize I dont understand half of the written, and spoken English in the talk.

For this talk, I felt like I was going to see my doctor for health check again that he threw in all those big english words in biochemistry, even if they are written on the slides, I have absolutely no idea what he's talking about. Luckily that I had a cup of coffee in my hand, otherwise I would be snoring in the lecture hall for sure...

Man, I am just not the material for biochem, biomed, or anything that starts with BIO...

Tech: Progress in 3D projection!

2006-02-09T18:44:00.000-05:00

Remember the scenes of a live 3D projections of ppl in video conference from movies like Star War and alike, it may actually become true in the near future!

Source: Engagets

You have to admire the Japanese on how much they push the envelop in technology. Most of the time, the Japanese are the first ppl to introduce fancy, high tech stuff, like the blue LED a yrs back, and now the 3D projection.

Yeah, although this 3D thing is still in the infancy stage, but hey, at least it's a start. Wait till they put more detail laser grid, with more color and further projection distance, we will be talking to each other from far away distance in full, 3D size...Oh, imagine the fun you will have to watch stuff like a soccer game with full size 3D projection! No more expensive tickets to the world cup! Yay!!

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