mirumirai

:D:D:D:D

2010-11-04T18:30:00.001-07:00

Whee!!!

Hurrah!

Yummy Pasta

2009-12-21T23:02:00.000-08:00

Recently, I have been trying my hand at cooking as an apprentice of the master chef - mom. She taught me how to cook a delicious pasta dish today.

Ingredients are:
• Salt
• Milk
• Lettuce
• Garlic
• Butter
• Ground Pork
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Heavy Whipping Cream
• Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute
• Chicken Flavor Cubes
• Some special kind of onion
• Pasta (any kind should be fine)
• Milk/cream flavor cube (optional)

And here's a brief recipe:

Cook the pasta. While it's cooking:
a. Prepare the ground pork by adding the 21 seasoning salute with salt.
b. Wash lettuce if you haven't already.
c. Slice the onion and the garlic, but keep them separate. Cut 2 slices of butter
d. If the pasta floats to the top, add some cold water.
Add the onions and a slice of butter to a frying pan.
Add the seasoned ground pork. If the pork is lean, add some oil.
Add the balsamic vinegar to a side of the frying pan, separate from the other stuff.
Add heavy whipping cream to the balsamic vinegar.
Mix!
Add the garlic and the other slice of butter.
Add the pasta and mix!
Add the chicken flavor cube.
If you want, add the milk/cream flavor cube.

There's lots of flexibility! Change the recipe as you see fit!

Nice, France

2009-08-14T03:13:00.000-07:00

The third of Dad's galleries:

I recommend you raise the slideshow speed. Here's the link to the flickr page.
Although I've been there, it was years ago, at a different time. Beautiful, ain't it?

Some Explanatory Videos on Exoskeletons

2009-08-11T21:00:00.000-07:00

Here's some more info on Cyberdyne's HAL and Berkeley Bionics' military exoskeleton.

And now the Berkeley Exoskeleton...

Different target uses, both cool :D

Japan's Evil AI Company

2009-08-11T19:26:00.000-07:00

Cyberdyne - this is the name of the corporation that created the evil AI Skynet in the Terminator Series, and now, it is the name of a Japanese company that produces exoskeletons. Guess the name of their flagship product... that's right, HAL, another evil AI!

Their technology (like their naming tendencies) is in fact amazing...

HAL stands for "Hybrid Assistive Limb" and it's targeted for medical use. It does what most exoskeletons do - increase power. However, there are a few reasons I like HAL more than other exoskeleton designs.

First, the exoskeleton reads electrical signals produced from motor neurons and translates this into action. In fact, HAL reads the motion faster than humans do, meaning it can move before you do.

Second, with HAL, you can lift from 2 to 10 times as much, according to the FAQ. Also, the battery life lasts 5 hours, which seems surprisingly long for an exoskeleton of this type. Target capabilities are similar to Raytheon's Sarcos, but that's tethered (for now). Berkeley's exohiker lasts 21 hours, but that's a different type of exoskeleton.

Originally, the price appeared to be around $4200, which would have been amazing, but we don't know for now. It may go up to $20k. Cyberdyne is currently in mass-production, but apparently, from the website, is only selling to Japanese customers (there are plans for expansion though)

Recently (Aug 3rd), Cyberdyne had a demonstration of some company employees walking around using half of the suit:

Credits and more info: http://www.cyberdyne.jp/english/, http://singularityhub.com/2009/08/11/cyberdyne-lets-hal-cyborgs-take-a-stroll-through-tokyo/

Why the Touch Book (and Similar Netbooks) will be Awesome for Students

2009-08-08T02:52:00.000-07:00

I've been pretty hyped up for the Always Innovating Touch Book since I found out about it off http://www.tabletpcreview.com/. It seems like the best design yet in the "cheap tablets" category.

Students usually already have a laptop and cell phone. The Touch Book fits the niche right between the two as an all-in-one portable device. The main limitation at this point is the lack of ARM support in software, but this shouldn't be too much of an issue. On the human side, a limitation is tech-savvyness. Compiling software for ARM may be confusing for the average user. Unfortunately, Windows 7 won't be supporting ARM. The other faults may be improved by doing some improvements:

http://mirumir-i.blogspot.com/2009/08/my-dream-netbook-aka-12-improvements-to.html

Onoes where's the computer?

Now that we're through with the limitations, here's why the Touchbook is awesome :D

Due to the long battery life, it only needs to be charged once a day, preferably in the night.
Students can add a GPS USB dongle into the internal USB ports, saving money on GPSes
Students can bring all their books in one device, if there are ebook versions of their textbooks (on that note, textbook manufacturers should definitely make all their textbooks available as ebooks)
Tablet form factor allows easy note-taking. Although you won't be able to use OneNote(the ultimate note-taking software, imo), Basket Note Pads provides a viable alternative. There's also a pressure sensitive screen that may be able to act as a rudimentary Wacom-style tablet.
Since it's cheap ($400 for everything, free software), students can still afford a normal laptop, desktop, or tablet pc.
Instant-on. Need info? Whip out your Touch Book. No more waiting for that hibernate screen...
Makes spaced-repetition study software like Anki and Mnemosyne much more portable. (Well, it makes all software more portable xD but spaced-repetition software is best used with regular check-ups and reviews, so it's more relevant). You can keep all your study tools in one portable little package!
While the Atom and ARM are very close in speed, the Touch Book's ARM OMAP3530 Cortex A8 processor means little to no heat
When new tech comes out, the Touch Book doesn't just flounder into obsolescence like other netbooks. Slate mode can be used as a digital picture frame, weather display, alarm clock, video player, GPS...etc.

Other Touch Book-like products that I see potential in are the Asus T91 and T101h, Gigabyte T1028, and Intel Classmate. There's also the rumored Mac tablet... The Asus products especially are appealing, since multitouch Windows 7 versions are coming out soon. If you want an informative comparison, look here: http://www.touchbookfans.com/forums/showthread.php?p=414

The T91 - Wait for the multitouch/Windows 7 version

At the moment though, the Touch Book seems to be the best option. Unfortunately. production and shipping seems to be rather problematic (there is a backlog of pre-orders), so if you order now, it may take a while before it arrives. It may be prudent to wait for reviews.

Combating Apathy (Education Ideas 1)

2009-08-07T01:31:00.001-07:00

Recently, I found out that my old Chinese School had almost died completely, partly due to this recession. In one year, they lost around 100 students. I used to go every Friday night in the school year. While we had lots of fun, for many, there was little learning going on. Supposedly, we learned the language and culture of Taiwan and China. In actuality, many learned nothing. In the higher grades, apathy spread like a disease. Few people did their homework. People skipped classes and many dropped out altogether. Because teachers didn't like failing students, grade inflation run rampant. A huge gap developed between the students who were doing well and those who weren't...

I'm sorry to say that I was one of the students affected. I believe it started in 9th grade. No one seemed to care (although some undoubtedly did, like the 7th grader in our class).

So what can we do to fix this ongoing situation? I believe reform should begin with the teachers:

Make grades worth something. By late junior high and high school, kids seem to realize that grades from Chinese school don't affect their academic careers. Perhaps arrange something with local high schools so Chinese school grades can be counted for high school credit. Also, look at point 2. Create dedicated AP and SAT curriculums. More controversially, try returning a portion of their tuition in return for good grades.
Don't be afraid to fail students and hold them back a grade. This point and point 1 work together. Teenagers can be extremely self-conscious and would work hard to avoid staying back a grade (and having their egos destroyed).
Teach to a more standardized curriculum. At this moment, although every teacher uses the same books, the number of words they teach and difficulty levels vary greatly.
Share teaching resources! Don't hoard them for yourselves! Ugh... My mom is a teacher at this Chinese School and I've seen how human and selfish teachers can be. As long as people are credited, it should be fine.

I'll share more ideas and student-side issues when I think of them :D

Picture Credit: Anonymous

Finals over! Quickie Update

2009-08-06T19:28:00.001-07:00

Excuse me for the lack of a post yesterday; I just finished Macroeconomics finals at a community college close by :D While it wasn't exactly a lot of fun, I am no longer a financial illiterate. The class also reiterated the joy of learning for the heck of it. I checked out all sorts of books on finance and investment and hope to learn even more.

The class was also significantly easier than my normal university classes, and I don't have to worry about grades (my uni doesn't count the credits). Thankfully, this made the period relatively stress-free.

On another note, I took 3 showers yesterday to try to get rid of the smell of that nasty tersi foam stuff. I still smell like sulfur. Hopefully my dermatologist assigns me another medicine before I head back to college.

Cinque Terre, Italy

2009-08-05T01:48:00.000-07:00

This is another set of Dad's photos, this time of Cinque Terre in Italy. He took them on the same trip to Barcelona November 2008.

Personally, I think this place is awesome. Wish I were there.

Dad's going to be giving me more photos to put up, so if you like them, stay posted!

Bye Bye Patchy Itchy Skin!

2009-08-05T00:29:00.000-07:00

This is to help anyone who might have the same problem diagnose themselves:

I've had patchy skin since I was in jr. high. My skin itched when I got too hot/exercised too much. I looked online and at first thought it could be vitiligo. However, my skin wasn't turning pure white.

Today, I finally went to the dermatologist to get it checked out. Apparently, it's called Tinea Versicolor and is an infection by a common yeast relative, Malassezia globosa. It likes oily skin, and probably because of that, commonly occurs in teenagers.

Well, there's a way to treat it, and it's with an unpleasant-smelling lotion called tersifoam:

I didn't post any pictures of skin cause honestly, it's not pleasant. But if you want to check, go google it.

P.S. Don't worry, it's not contagious, and everyone has already has small numbers of M. globosa on the skin

Omg Someone Destroyed My Bike!

2009-08-04T01:20:00.000-07:00

I did!

In all seriousness, my experience so far with bike shipping has been a nightmare. In order to get a reasonable shipping cost, I have to fit my bike into a 51"x8"x31" box. If I go even 1" over on any of those dimensions, shipping cost jumps from $40-$60 to $100-$180.

I don't mind taking the bike apart (it's actually quite fun), but I don't like all the extra fees (large package? Dimensional weight?) a few inches incurs. Hopefully, I'll get my bike to college safely.

I've had many nice memories with this bike (and a few bad ones). The bike is a Giant OCR3, a budget beginner road bike ($650) It coasts really, really well, as long as you keep it nicely greased up. I've coasted faster and longer than friends on $1500+ carbon bikes.

The only thing I really hate about this bike is the Shimano Sora. Even after tuning them, they fail. If only they were upgradeable to 105s or something. Other than that, this is a great beginning road bike :D Nowadays, I don't do much biking, so I've gradually added on all sorts of extras and accessories (aka weight). Since it's quite battered up, I'm hoping no one will steal it. It'll be perfect for college :D

P.S. If any of you know how to take apart the pedals, give me a comment :D

Death by Books

2009-08-03T19:47:00.000-07:00

These are all the library books I want finish. 13 books in 14 days! RAWR I CAN DO THIS!!! ... ... ... no.

And these are the rest of the books that I haven't finished yet on my personal summer reading list.

Fail.

Barcelona, Spain

2009-08-02T19:00:00.000-07:00

My dad is very proud of his photography and asked me to show some of his vacation photos from Barcelona last year (November 2008)

Here is the Flickr Set Page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11609318@N05/sets/72157621802975953/

My Dream Netbook aka 12 Improvements to the Touch Book

2009-08-02T15:23:00.000-07:00

Recently I've been lusting over this particular netbook: http://www.alwaysinnovating.com/touchbook/. That got me thinking about what features would I would like to see in my dream netbook (possible with today's technology)

I'm a college student, so a lot of my ideas are targeted for students.

I'm starting with all the advantages of the A.I. Touchbook as a base. (I'll make a follow up post about why the Touch Book is amazing).

Add capacitive multitouch. I have an Ipod Touch and a Palm Centro (love both) and capacitive > resistive.
Expand the screen size to 10.1 inches. This will let students better utilize the touch interface and provide more room for the keyboard.
A proper hard drive, whether SSD or HDD. SSD may be better since I would be carrying the netbook around and SSD technology is improving rapidly. If it remained SD, like the Touch Book, you have to add another SD card reader.
Webcam and Microphone Maybe one on both sides of the netbook to record lectures. With a webcam, you also need a microphone.
Wacom-style pen input. It's easy enough to make styli for capacitative touchscreens. For the art students!
SD Card reader times 2, like the Aspire One, but make sure the cards don't stick out. This is less important if there is a proper hard drive
VGA or DVI-D or HDMI output, doesn't really matter to me as long as some kind of output is there.
3 internal USB ports, like in the Touch Book, seems perfect, but i think there should be at least 3 external ports.
Multitouch touchpad
Embedded Wifi-n instead of an internal USB dongle
Ethernet port - still needed occasionally
Use a PixelQi screen. This would make it absolutely perfect for ebook reading and save battery life. Look at it! Isn't it amazing? Here's a youtube video as well comparing it to the kindle and other a normal screen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oawX3wenxNc

As long as the battery is over 8 hours and price is under $700, I'm a happy panda :D

I can't decide whether to go with ARM or x86 so I'll just list some advantages for each.

Low heat

Low wattage

Small due to integration

Instant-on

Speed

Windows 7 and those nice Windows apps
Possible Hackintosh and those nice Mac apps

If Hibernation in Windows is fixed, instant-on may not be that much of an issue, but as it is, instant-on is pretty appealing.

Frankly, I don't care much about processor speed in netbooks as long as it gets the job done. Of course, faster is better, but not at the cost of highly increased power usage.

Credits: PixelQi image from the PixelQi blog, Always Innovating Touch Book Images from their site gallery.

Hooray for Giving Out Personal Info to Strangers!

2009-08-02T00:07:00.000-07:00

Here's a random conversation I just randomly had with some random guy who IMed me randomly. Random.

a129312302
你是...................(You are...)

me
...

a129312302
你知道我是誰媽(Do you know who I am?)

me
不記得(Dunno)

a129312302
可以告訴我你的名字ㄇ?(Can you tell me your name?)

me
(*My Name in English*)
你呢?(You?)

a129312302
許浩文(Xu3 Hao4 Wen2)
中文(Chinese)

me
(*My Chinese Name*)

a129312302
我也忘了(I also forgot)
對不起(Sorry)
你是學跆拳道的媽(Do you take Tae Kwon Do?)

me
我是美國人(I'm American)
my chinese sucks
can you use pinyin for your name?

a129312302
hsu hau wen
你有學跆拳道媽(Have you learned Tae Kwon Do?)

me
沒有(Nope)
可是
you3 xue4 karate han4 wing chun
xD
this is so random
你是台灣人嗎?(Are you Taiwanese?)

a129312302
sorry then i probably add the wrong person
yea

me
gkq; sv
it's ok
漫有趣(Quite interesting)
xD

a129312302
你幾歲(How old are you?)

me
(*My Age*)
xDD
你呢?(You?)

a129312302
15.........................
怎差那麼多阿(What a difference)

me
haha xD
such is the nature of random encounters on the internet
xDD
好吧(Ok)
good luck with life!

a129312302
掰(Bye)

me
再見(Bye)
:D

Haha xD I wonder if it was some guy testing his chinese chat bot on strangers xD

My New Schedule/Goalbook! Part 1 :D

2009-08-01T01:21:00.000-07:00

Today, I finished my 3-day work in progress: a new schedule to plan out my day and improve my personal efficiency :D Here's the basic gist of it (I might go into more detail as I go on and add some posts on it in my other blog, cognitivehacks.blogspot.net)

Essentially, I wanted to keep track of productive use of time through something I could carry around easily. Furthermore, I needed a flexible schedule, since I enjoy having unplanned spontaneous things happen in my life (more on that in the future) :D

I decided to go with a week-based schedule with a set amount of daily hours. The format is a twice-folded half-sheet of paper, something thin yet sturdy enough to last a week in my pocket. On the paper are topics of study/things to do. Each one has its own set of checkboxes, with each checkbox representing a half hour of work. I have 9, 7, 5, and 3 hour versions at the moment, with "depth" (focused) and "breadth" versions for 7 and 5 hours. I'm planning to make schedules for the school year as well :D

The documents might be annoying to the perfectionist, since I tried to whip them up as fast as possible: things aren't centered and there are leftover table elements. At the moment the main disadvantage is that you have to carry two extra things in your pockets: a pen and the paper. Hopefully, I'll get my stylus pens for the Centro soon so I only need to carry the paper. Even better is if I can find some program or program something myself for my ipod touch or the Centro.

Here are my 9 hour and 3 hour schedules, respectively.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/mzzoicjdjnn/Summer9 hrs.doc

http://www.mediafire.com/file/2jodwqhi22g/Summer3 hrs .doc

I plan to start everything this Monday, August 3 ^-^

More details and progress reports coming up :D

First Post!

2009-07-31T18:44:00.001-07:00

Woohoo! I've finally created my personal blog!

Hehe let's see if I can keep up with this blog business :D

New posts, here I come!