Just get it done and over with...

And I'll be a free-man!!! It's scheduled to be on 7th Oct for oral. It's a bit rush. Rather a last minute thing, but I can't, or I want to postpone it to a last date.

-- mr blog

What do you use for RSS?

It seems that RSS has become so popular suddenly that everyone starts incorporating it. Firefox and Thunderbird both incorporate RSS in different way, Mac OSX Safari also include that feature. They seems less user-friendly than a normal email a/c. Instead, I find that bloglines interface is nice, nice layout, and automatically retrieve updates. But I didn't make use of the bloggin feature, since I already have one.

-- mr blog

And I can't understand...

1. why the main form of interactiion between people in the lab is to go for lunch, waiting for everyone to get the food in the union canteen.
2. why teaching students is to force them to do difficult questions as soon as they are taught during lecture (literally, even though they may not catch a thing).
3. why communication of ideas in a research topic is by reading working paper, putting up with those confusing terms and formulations.

-- mr blog

What have I been doing??

• On thurday evening, I was just told that I need to give a short bio for myself for the rest of the world to see how badly I'm doing. On friday, I was told that I even need to put up a picture of myself. So I quickly searched one from my photo directory; I didn't want to give the passport size photo, as my face will appear be large. Sad to say, I can't even find a presentable photo of me.(maybe it's time for me to buy a new DC?) At night I quick ask someone to take one for me at home, lighting was dim and the photo didn't look good either. In fact, no one will in fact read what I read, no to mention that the picture at the end of the article.
• On the same day, i drafted the application letter to DBS of NUS. This letter might bring a great impact of me, it may signify that I'll need to farewell to my 'colleagues' at HKU. Or it may bring no effect at all. But what I've been doing is... decide when opportunity comes; not to decide what and when opportunity should come.
• For my job, I completed the DP program last week. But timing is not satisfactory (5 hrs). So I spent 2 days to code it in the recursive manner and the timing improved to 60min. When I told the RA, that guy's comment is still, "it's slow, please send the source to me and I look at it". I think I did implement according to the described DP. So I can't do anything. Until now, he hasn't contacted me.

-- mr blog

A new OS for me...

It'll be a new job, and new OS too. For years, people have been doing so many things that they always thought they ought to do, e.g. virus scanning and software updates. I always asked, why so I need to do so much rubbish? Linux has been a good alternative, but I always encounter softwares that I'd need windows.

Recently, experience with XP has pushed me to the extreme. I used to be able to connect my scanner to Win2k, and I could scan with the default software with comes with Win2k without any problem. Recently, I did the same operation in XP, it gives me so MUCH trouble, and still not solved! Not to mention that many software that WERE bundled in windows, e.g. fax, and they disappear quietly!

Recently, the Mozilla Firefox browser has got much public attention, that were name the "Internet Explorer alternative". But what is ironic is IE was the "Netscape alternative". But nevertheless, it is a good replacement for IE. NO, should not be the replace, but should be the default browser (that is not part of operating system), friend. So, that's all for the applications, on the OS itself, is Mac OS an alternative? Hee hee.

-- mr blog

Random thoughts, again.

1. Whether people understand or not, it does't matter. Being slim is different from being 'skinny'. What makes a person skinny? What happen? Is there something I should know? Or I shouldn't be bothered with? Should I tell when someone becomes skinny? I think no. It's doesn't matter to me, anymore. So, I didn't ask why, probably I know I'm just not in position to do so.
2. Went to my friend wedding/ROM on 11th Sep, (911) cum a chinese lunch in the nearby restaurant. I was one of the youngest in the group, but still, I felt the presure.
3. My broadband and desktop will become less utilized. Depends on how you look at it, it's a good thing. Mr Blow finally managed to pickup bittorrent. So my desktop of being the file transfering hub proxy will become less popular and less important. Still, it served its purpose of reminding myself of schemers.comp.

-- mr blog

What do you expect to see in 2008 Beijing Olympics?

I downloaded the short video clip of Olympic Beijing Preview - Athens 2004. My sis told me the film, directed by Zhang Yi Mou, has received bad comments by the world. I watched and I guess the film was OK. But the live performance next is "Chinese" enough. I especially can't stand and skip the part on the traditional Chinese opera, of course, there was this performance by the "12 Women Band". The only thing is the girl singing Jasmin gave me the surpise.

So, you know what you'll expect to see by then. Still looking forward to it?

-- mr blog

The mystery of 1d array and 2d array continues...

array_1d vs. array_2d ...

I finally found out why obsture code like array_1d is used throughout. His ration is, array_1d needs to access the memory once while array_2d while accesses twice; calculation is faster than accessing memory.
I really beat to differ under normal circumstances, i.e. no swap is involved. Should I still run stupid experiment to prove me conjecture?

  double array_1d[ X * Y ];
  array_id[ i*X + j] = ....

  double array_2d[X][Y];
  array_2d[i][j] = ....

-- mr blog

The China Tour (Zhang1 Jia1 Jie4)

On the dark side...

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  Waiting area for broading the trains
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  The kind of trains I used to travel, to and fro
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  The counter reads "Infomation Counter for Communists"
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  A very old and small town of China, the Fu2 Rong2 Town.
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  The backyard of a restaurant we went in the Fu2 Rong2 town.
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  On the street of another small town on the last day, the Feng4 Huang2 Town
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  River crossing in the town
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  The Baby in the backet
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  The candle dinner at the Feng Huang Town, electricity stoppage
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  One of the shop of the Fu Rong Town
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But, on the brighter side,

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So, in my opinion, this place is worth the effort/trouble/suffer to pay a visit, because of the scenery, and the ``cultural'' experience. But, I say it again, to pay one visit (in one's life time).

-- mr blog