Peruvian Goodies

On January 2, we were in San Francisco with Betty, Mom, and Dad, and we went to meet Helen and her husband Ronald (and her son as well).

Ronald is Peruvian, and along with Helen, they took us out to a Peruvian restaurant called Fresca.

Here is a picture of the Lomo Saltado

consisting of wok fried tenderloin steak strips, onion, tomato, cilantro, soy, french fries, and steamed rice.

Another great dish is the Pollo a la Brasa

that is, peruvian style rotisserie chicken, french fries, green salad, creamy cilantro dressing

...mmm mmm good....

Weird Street Names....

What a weird street name! This sign can be found driving on US Interstate 15 between Las Vegas and Barstow....

Train Pushers - the evidence of Japanese weirdness!

Only in Japan, do we find such weird things occurring.....



Yup, Japanese train pushers! Employees of the rail company!

What a weird country.....

The Dynasty Falls to a Wildrose?

Big news reported in the National Post today. It may be the end of a dynasty in Alberta.

Alberta has been a province that likes to keep parties long in power, but sweep them away to oblivion once every generation or so. The Liberal party ruled from 1905-1921, followed by the United Farmers of Alberta from 1921-1935. They were swept away by Social Credit from 1935-1971. The current dynasty is the Progressive Conservative Dynasty since 1971.

But opinion polls show that the Wildrose Alliance is in first place with 39% of voter intention if an election was held today. PC support has collapsed to 25%. Moreover, the Wildrose Alliance is ahead in every part of the province. In the cities, the Tories are in 3rd place, even behind the Grits, and in rural Alberta the Alliance enjoys up to 44% support.

Ladies and gentlemen, this may be the end of the Tories in Alberta. Interesting times, considering that these events are once per generation, it seems....

The Unfortunate Capitalistization of Christmas

One of the things that I really find amazing is the corporate brainwashing of North American society with regards to Christmas. I have never seen a society so obsessed with a holiday before. And their obsession has nothing to do with the meaning of Christmas, which is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.

Rather, North American society has taken upon itself to obsess about buying presents for everyone you know. Department stores put up Christmas decorations at the end of October so that these decorations are there 2 months of every year....that's 1/6 of the year that there are these stupid decorations. Lights, and trees, and stockings, and mistletoe - everything that has nothing remotely to do with the birth of Jesus is used to celebrate Christmas.

North Americans obsess about sending out Christmas letters and cards to all the people they know. They have to buy presents, etc, put up their own Christmas lights, trees, decorations around their house. And of course, they have to obsess about buying a proper turkey for their Christmas meal.

The excesses of capitalism are most evident at Christmas time. And it's an even bigger shame that no one cares about the child born in a manger that told us to be happy with the things God has provided us with, rather than turn into greedy, capitalist, narcissistic people, who know nothing about Christ, but seem to believe that they know everything about Christmas.

Christmas caroling...

Going Christmas caroling? Try this classic!

Funny college football play!

Man, I haven't visited this blog in a long long time. Good thing my bro updates it pretty regularly!

Here's a pretty funny football play from the Florida vs FSU game this year...

Celebrities in Tana

So in August, I was in Madagascar - it was a great trip! It's a beautiful country with very nice people.
Another nice surprise is that the food was excellent there! Great authentic French cuisine that costs 5-10 times less what one would have to pay in France.

Because I was attending a conference, I stayed 8 nights at the Hotel Sakamanga in Antananarivo. The restaurant at this hotel was quite good - in fact here's a picture of myself with others dining at this restaurant.



Even Dustin Hoffman enjoyed Madagascar!

Juno Beach

Here are some photos of Juno Beach. This is where Canadian soldiers stormed in on June 6, 1944 (D-Day) to regain a foothold on France and liberate it from occupying Nazi forces. Many sacrificed their lives as they came under enemy fire from well fortified German positions. But Canadian bravery and determination allowed them to overcome.

We owe our Canadians soldiers a huge debt for their sacrifice and suffering as they fought for freedom and liberty. A salute to Canadian heroes and their defence of freedom - may we never forget their sacrifice.

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)

Get rid of the penny

There are some advocates for the $5 coin in Canada. They say that coins are much more durable and cheaper in the long run than bills, which deteriorate quickly, and are counterfeited often.

I think such advocates have a point. However, a $5 coin will really make Canadian pockets heavy - 1 cent, 5 cent, 10 cent, 25 cent, loonie, toonie, and $5 coin pieces.....it's just too many coins!

So I think that this $5 is not a bad idea, but before it comes into being we need to abolish the penny!

What a useless coin it is, this penny of ours! Just get rid of it!
If we could live with the penny as the lowest denomination 40 years ago, surely we can live with the nickel as the lowest denomination now, since a nickel now is worth less than a penny was 40 years ago!

Banks would still be required to calculate interest to the penny, and a penny that is produced by the Royal Canadian Mint costs much more than 1 cent!

So I haven't yet heard a good argument for keeping the penny...

The Republic of Canada

In this nice opinion article by the Globe and Mail's Jeffrey Simpson, he argues that when Queen Elizabeth departs -long may she reign! - that we should look into making Canada a republic.

I fully agree. Especially I don't want to see Prince Charles ugly face on Canadian currency!

Costume Ideas

I'm not a Hallowe'en fan at all...now that I'm in Europe, I don't have to put up with that sort of nonsense.

For those that are into it, and are looking for costume ideas, this is a good one:

Spiffy hockey jerseys

Have you ever seen hockey jerseys like this?



Apparently they were worn by the Kingston Frontenacs for Don Cherry Military Night, with the jerseys being auctionned off for Soldier On - an organization that helps injured Canadian soldiers.

Academic Principles

I think everyone who has a PhD, is doing a PhD, or has attempted to get a PhD knows about the truth of this academic principle:

C.T. and S.T. - more German silliness

In Germany, sometimes the time that an event starts is given with a C.T. or S.T. postfix after the time. This especially occurs often at universities and academic institutions.

What they mean can be found on this link.

Basically 14:00 st means 14:00 while 14:00 ct means 14:15 where ct means "cum tempore" and st means "sine tempore".

I have no idea why Germans insist on this, especially since the terms are Latin, not German. Wouldn't it just be easier for everyone to write 14:00 for 14:00, and 14:15 for 14:15? Or does that make too much sense?

Finally a Taiwanese dictionary

Taiwanese is a great language - unfortunately, it was oppressed by the KMT dictatorship, and is only in the last 10-20 years being respected again. The problem is that the Taiwanese themselves don't treasure their own culture, and less and less Taiwanese can speak the language.

In fact, a Canadian-born person like me (2nd generation Taiwanese) can speak better Taiwanese than the majority of people my age who live in Taiwan.....that's really sad.

Finally the government of Taiwan has come up with an official Taiwanese to Chinese dictionary. About time - this should have been done 10 years ago!

Hopefully this tool can make written Taiwanese more frequent, and more accessible!
But the Taiwanese themselves need to show more willpower to learn and use Taiwanese!

Link to Dictionary webpage

Hopefully there will also be an English-Taiwanese dictionary available soon!

NCAA Stupidity with Excessive Celebration Penalties

An otherwise good game last Saturday between No. 4 LSU and No. 18 Georgia was totally spoiled by the NCAA's stupid obsessiveness with excessive celebration.

Georgia took the lead on A.J. Green's catch with only 1:09 remaining, and the officials called an excessive celebration penalty on Green during perfectly sane celebrations with his teammates on a great TD catch in the dying minutes of the game. As a consequence, the Bulldogs had to kickoff from their 15 yardline, instead of the 30 yardline - giving LSU much more of a chance to comeback.

Sure enough, Charles Scott's run with 46 seconds left put LSU up for good. But of course, NCAA officials had to ruin another great play with another excessive celebration penalty.

There's not taunting from these college kids, just celebrating some great plays - let the players be players, and don't affect the destiny of the game with these pointless penalty calls!

Midautumn Festival

Last Saturday, it was the Midautumn Festival in Taiwan.

To celebrate, here is a new poem, written by a 21st century poet named 阿挺

八月十五食月餅
恁來切阮來請
食到逐家腹肚疼
佇便所聽落屎聲

Harper with a little help from his friends

Who knew? Apparently Stevie Harper can play the piano and sing! And not bad for an amateur player! Here he is with Yo Yo Ma and Herringbone (a three-man band) performing "With a Little Help From My Friends".

I think the audience was really surprised!

French is not useless after all....

Well, I guess my French knowledge is not useless after all....

Is it because I am Canadian, and with French, I can communicate better with my fellow countrymen in Quebec? No - French Canadians can speak English, and you can survive with English quite well in Quebec.

Is it because I live 30 km from France, and I can communicate better with the French? No - French people can speak English, no matter how hard they try to pretend that they don't.

Rather, my French knowledge is going to come in handy in Madagascar - where the local people there hardly speak any English - rather they speak Malagasy and French. (I guess French colonialism, though regrettable, does make this country much more accessible to people like me)

I used to think that French was really uncool - but I guess it does have its uses!

German City Designs

Ok, so I've been picking a bit on Germany, but they have some pretty nice ideas, (if they decide to avoid complicating them too much).

There's a district of Freiburg called Vauban - that's pretty much car-free. Its sort of a "green-experiment" where many homes are powered by solar energy, cars are only allowed through the main thoroughfare, and parking must be at the outskirts of Vauban.

This new way of life, has even been noticed by the NY Times!
Read the article!

It just goes to show that things like US urban sprawl is avoidable, and an environmentally, and lifestyle favourable alternative is possible!

French words polluting the German language

I really am annoyed with the amounts of French words that occupy everyday German vocabulary. I'm not really sure why Germans tolerate them, since they have their own words for them, but for some reason, want to use French words in their speaking.

I think it spoils the beauty and unity of the German language - but what can you do?

Here a list that I came up with (I think most Germans are oblivious to their usage of French):

Restaurant (just say Gaststätte)
Saison (just say Jahreszeit)
Serviette (just say Handtuch)
Vision (just say Traumbild)
Niveau (just say Stufe)
Étage (just say Stock)
Cousin (just say Vetter)
Recherche (just say Forschung)
Chance (just say Gelegenheit)
Revanche (just say Rache)
Version (just say Ausgabe)
Detail (just say Einzelheit)
Orange (just say Apfelsine)
Balance (just say Gleichgewicht)
Portemonnaie (just say Geldbeutel)

Omas Küche

Sometime in January, we went to a nice restaurant in Freiburg called "Omas Küche", which means "Granny's Kitchen". In Taiwanese, that's: 阿媽的灶腳.

It's a pretty casual place with a relatively young crowd (most customers are 25-45 or so), and pretty reasonable prices. I definitely recommend it!

Here's a picture of: Onkel Alfreds Lieblings Buletten (Uncle Alf's favourite meatballs)

Really tasty meatballs with mustard, glazed carrottes and fried potatoes...mmmm, good!

Here's a nice picture of another dish: pork chops with special sauce.....


Good stuff!

Switzerland and the European Union

Switzerland is blessed with some beautiful scenery - great mountain scenery in the Alps, some beautiful lakes, and quaint little towns. It really is a country that is situated smack dab in the middle of Europe.

But something about its people - what's their problem?
What gives them such aversion to the European Union?

Sure, Switzerland has this tradition of "independence" and "non-alignment". But come on! It needs to face reality! Surrounded by EU countries everywhere....Germany to the north, France to the west, Italy to the south, and Austria to the east.....

How much trade does Switzerland do with the EU? How often must its citizens change currency every time they go outside Switzerland (which is not very big). Because the Swiss are outside the EU, but still want to partake in the benefits - so they have so many diplomats in Brussels trying to ink agreeements that aren't EU agreements (as Switzerland is not in the EU), but have basically the same effect.

Well - just join the bloody EU! And adopt the Euro for heavens' sake! Do you think its pleasurable to have to change currency constantly? Losing 2%-5% of every transaction to the greedy banks?

STOOOOPID!!!!

Movies in Germany

Something I don't understand about Germans....why do they insist on dubbing every single movie over in German? It's really a shame - one cannot hear the original soundtrack.

And anyway, the average English level ability in Germany is quite good (although not as good as Scandinavia), and so they should be able to handle it if the original language is in English (and put subtitles for those who cannot understand).

But no, this is Germany, and if they dubbed it before, then they will ALWAYS dub it....

Rather unfortunate....

Halftime shows

You know how there are music performances during the halftime of football games? Like the Superbowl?

I think during concerts and things like that, there should be a "football show" during intermissions of concerts and operas.

What a GOOD IDEA!!!!

American Airlines also uses dishonest advertising

Guess who joined the "Air Canada dishonest advertising" fan club?

Why it's American Airlines, also advertising non-reality fares:
"Fares shown are each way, based on round-trip purchase. Taxes, fees and conditions apply." (found on their website)

So their advertisement of Dallas-Acapulco round trip goes from
$134 USD on their advertising page, to $368 USD total....
DISHONEST!


Sounds like another BOYCOTT!!!
Such dishonesty in the airline industry!

Winter in Ontario

It's cold out, there's snow everywhere, what are you supposed to do?

GO HIKING!!! Here are pictures of Mom and Dad in Uxbridge, hiking the Oak Ridges Morraine Trail.

Political Correctness Stupidity

A New Brunswick Elementary school called Belleisle Elementary has stopped the practice of singing "O Canada" every morning.

Why? Because apparently: " the school's principal, said parents complained that their children shouldn't have to take part." Ah, what crap....

What if I was a parent, and said my kid shouldn't take part in French class. Would they cancel French class?
What if I said my kid didn't want to take part in being in class on time. Would they give him/her a free pass on attending class?

This is the STUPIDITY of political correctness.

If the kids are going to a Canadian school, then they should sing the Canadian National Anthem. Why is this moronic principal bowing to irrational demands?

For that matter, immigrants to Canada, they choose to come to Canada. That means accepting Canadian customs, influences, and traditions into their lives. No one forced them to come to Canada - so if you choose Canada as your new home, then be proud of its traditions and sing proudly its National Anthem.

Air Canada - Dishonest Advertising

Air Canada is one of the worst airline companies at misleading customers about its prices. If it were a European company, it would never be allowed to get away with how it advertises its fares.

First of all, for international destinations, it advertises one-way fares.....but:
"Sample fares shown are each-way based on a round-trip purchase."

Huh? If you have to buy round-trip, like Air Canada is telling people that these fares are ONLY valid for round-trip purchase, then ADVERTISE THE ROUND TRIP FARE! Don't try and get away with the one-way fare listing, when purchasing one-way is not allowed at this price range....

I then did a random search for flights from Toronto (YYZ) to Frankfurt (FRA).
I found YYZ->FRA for $276 and FRA->YYZ for $236.
Altogether: $512 - that's not bad at all, right?

WRONG!!!

After you pick your flight, you are saddled with (in CAD):
$224 Fuel Surcharge
$20 Canada Airport Improvement Fee
$10.50 German Airport Security Levy
$17 Canada Air Travellers Security Charge
$1 GST
$38.78 German International Passengers Levy

for a grand total of: $823.28 for the entire ticket.

European advertising rules would ensure that the customer knew that the ticket was from the outset, going to cost $823.28, and not allow Air Canada to show $276 and $236 each-way base fares.

Don't get duped by Air Canada advertising....it's a FRAUD!
BOYCOTT Air Canada!!

High Tech Idiots

Sadly, this strip contains a few ounces of truth....

One for the other hand

Okay, with Big Ben playing well with key 3rd down conversions, Hines Ward looking like he will play (and perhaps the best clutch receiver in the league) and Troy Polamalu being just all over the field, the prediction for Superbowl XLIII is:

Steelers 20 - Cardinals 13




GO STEELERS!

白人牙膏 - more crazy Taiwanese brand names

So we've heard already about 黑人牙膏, the "black man toothpaste", but in direct competition is now:


白人牙膏 - white man toothpaste.....



Why are Taiwanese people so weird?

Conference Championship Game - Picks

Ok, I'm going on the record with some picks before two big-time games today.

Big 12 Championship Game Pick:
Oklahoma Sooners 48 - Missouri Tigers 27

SEC Championship Game Pick:
Alabama Crimson Tide 27 - Florida Gators 24

European Stupidity

Europeans are REALLY stupid sometimes....for example, European electricity is provided at 220 V and 50 Hz.

See this map to see which countries use 220 V and which use 120 V/60Hz:


So since Europe is all the same AC Voltage and Frequency, you would think that you could stick German appliance plugs into Swiss wall sockets, right?

NOOOOO......they have to make the shapes of the sockets/plugs different, so they're not compatible.
Talk about STUPID!!!!! This is really, really STUPID!!!!!!!



Why do they want to make things difficult for people? Such morons, sometimes....

Carleton Stupidity

Here is an article on the stupidity of Carleton University's student association boycotting a fundraising event for Cystic Fibrosis.....

Globe and Mail article

The reason?  Cystic Fibrosis isn't an "inclusive" disease.....

Those Carleton University Student Association members are big, huge MORONS......

The Big 12

So.....BCS chaos reigns in the Big 12 - especially if all three leaders, Texas Longhorns, Oklahoma Sooners, and Texas Tech Red Raiders all win out.....who of these should go to the Big-12 Championship game?  (Decided by the BCS standings)

The Longhorns beat the Sooners 45-35, who in turn walloped the Red Raiders 62-21, and the Raiders in turn won 39-33 against the Longhorns.

It seems that the Sooners had the most impressive victory of these three games.

Plus, their loss to the Longhorns included some questionable pass interference calls...

Out of conference games - the Sooners have beaten: Cincinnati and TCU, while the Longhorns and Red Raiders haven't beaten anyone impressive out-of-conference.

And the controversial "who's playing best lately" nod also goes to the Sooners...

And even though I don't have an AP vote, I figured I'd give my two cents, anyway....(assuming all three teams win next week)

The Sooners deserve to go to the Big-12 Championship.

(and Sam Bradford for the Heisman!)

Stanford Idiots and "The Play"

Those Stanford people think they're so smart.....

Well, I don't know if that's true....at least they look really dumb on "the Play" - coming on the field before the game is over....

Watch here!

Stupid Stanford.....

Tip Inflation

About 20 years ago, tipping in North America was 10% of the pre-tax bill, and then sometime around 15 years ago or so, this became 15%. Now in the last 5 years or so, I have heard some people say 20% is a fair tip share.

RIP OFF!!!!

This North American obsession about tipping, tipping for everything, tipping for the hotel housekeeper, tipping for taxis, tipping for the doorman, tipping the guy who carries luggage, tipping the airport shuttle driver, tipping, tipping, tipping.....

I refuse to adhere to Tip Inflation.....BOYCOTT TIP INFLATION!!!!!

Lint....

You know when you wash a pair of jeans, and you look in the pocket and there is a ball of stuff.....lint, I guess.....

Where does the lint come from anyway?

Prediction: Navy Midshipmen to win 2nd in a row

The Navy Midshipmen vs Notre Dame Fighting Irish rivalry is one of the most sacred rivalries in NCAA Football. Too bad this great game will be overlooked by many fans, as neither team is ranked in the Top 25.

Of course Navy had lost 43 straight games until last year, when the Midshipmen squeaked out a win in 3OT against Notre Dame.......

Here's my prediction for Saturday: Navy will make it two games in a row.....Go Navy!

Duzen and Siezen

Well, living in Germany is sure an experience, but there's one thing as a native English speaker that I've never gotten used to: duzen and siezen.....

What do these mean?
Well, duzen means to use "du" to say you (in German), which one typically says to friends, colleagues, kids, dogs, buddies, classmates, basically anything in a social setting.
And siezen means to use "Sie" to say you (in German of course), which one typically says to clientele, service personnel, adult strangers, elders, etc. Basically much more polite, something one would use in a formal or official setting.

The problem is that there are many cases where the line is very fine between "du" and "Sie". In my group we all "duzen" each other - which is good, because it removes the awkwardness and distance that "siezening" someone creates. Except for my boss and the secretary. And also an older professor who "siezens" everyone else.....but that's really strange, especially when everyone's saying the familiar "du" until speaking to this older professor (or my boss and his secretary speak with each other).

Another weird scenario was when we visited some friends, and the mother-in-law of the guy is around 70-80 years old. Her son-in-law told us to just use "du", but when we did so, she "siezened" us back....what should we do? If we continue with "du", we are being impolite, but if we use "Sie" there's an awkward distance created, and as well, its kinda strange to take back "du" and then continue with "Sie".

Textbooks tell us to use "Sie" when in doubt...but using "Sie" when you should use "du" presents a very awkward formal situation that's also weird......maybe I'm too North American, but I really prefer the "du", and perhaps start with "duzen" a bit too quickly.......

But I also think that some Germans need to be a little less uptight about this thing, and just relax and go "duzen" someone! I would say that Germany is the most strict at the "duzen" and "siezen" separation for a European country.

Thank God I don't live in Japan! (How many people would I offend a day?)

Compiling

Man does programming suck!! Who in their right minds likes it? Hours programming, and then stuck with bugs and segmentation faults......booooooo! Programming SUCKS!!!! BOOOOOOOOOOO!

Luckily, there is one advantage when it comes to programming......compiling! When your program is compiling, it gives you an excuse to:
a) surf the web
b) skype your friends
c) eat a snack
d) watch some youtube
e) catch some zzz's

Quantum Humour

I like this comic alot......I think however, you need some Quantum Mechanics background to understand it....



Suffice it to say, after I read the last pane, the function collapsed to the funny eigenstate...

66-3

Here we go again....Cal beats Washington St. by a score of 66-3.

Offensive brilliance early in the season and lots of promise from Tailback Jahvid Best. Let's see if the defence is able to hold up over the season....Cal, unranked at the beginning has now snuck back into the Top 25.

Circle Nov. 8 on your calendars, hopefully they can knock off the Trojans!

I love Sourdough!

Yes!!! This is definitely good news!

Sourdough healthier than whole wheat!

Best brand names

What is the best brand name in the world?

I think that 黑人牙膏 is near the top, if not the #1 brand name I've ever heard!



黑人牙膏 kicks ass!

So true!

Scooped!

Looks like we'll still be able to hear our favourite song!

Story here

NOOOOOOOO!

How can it be Hockey Night in Canada without the famous theme song?

Toronto Star Article

You're telling me that CBC cannot shell out $500 per broadcast to play this song?
They make so much off the TV advertising that $500 is chump change!

What? Is that a Budweiser I see?

What!? Is that Mom drinking ... a BEER!?

Dad. So silly!

Look what Dad did today!

Mom and Dad. So silly!

Mom and Dad arrived in California last night.

Dad came into my room, surfed the internet (stocks), read a few reference papers on my  research topic and went to bed ~ 11pm.

Mom came into my room, made Dad eat healthy food, unpacked, almost fellasleep in my bed, gave me money to give to Hsiao-Ah-Yi and Stephanie, put food in the fridge and freezer, talked, showered and finally went to bed ~ 1am.

It's as if I never left Toronto.

And then Dad came into my room at 7am to surf the internet again. Sigh.

Graduation

Since someone is going through a graduation ceremony this weekend, this cartoon seems quite appropriate...

Post-Duck

Still think you wanna be a post-duck?

Stranded in Suburbia

Here's a nice article in the NY Times by Paul Krugman.

US Urban sprawl really is stupid....

Elvis Rocks!

Elvis Stojko is the best figure skater EVER, and this just confirms it:

Athletes should think twice about heading to Beijing: Elvis Stojko

Flying Horror Stories

What's this about? They don't even give a seats to airline passengers now?

Article on CBC Website

Man, that is really messed up!

Olympic Logo

Here is how the olympic logo was developed for Peking 2008.....

Baseball 2008

Ok, the season's just started, so I'm going to pick the teams I'm cheering for this year. We'll see in October if any of them actually accomplished anything....

AL East: Toronto Blue Jays

AL Central: Cleveland Indians

AL West: Texas Rangers

NL East: NY Mets

NL Central: Chicago Cubs

NL West: San Diego Padres

Martin Luther and Wittenberg

So I went to the quiet little town of Wittenberg that wasn't so quiet around 500 years ago. Here's where the Protestant Reformation began! Martin Luther and his insights of "justification by faith" captivated Christians and changed the course of human history!

Here is the door of the Schlosskirche.  This was where Martin Luther hung his 95 theses for debate, challenging the efficacy of indulgences.  The original door burned down, and this rebuilt door inscribes his 95 theses in commemeration.

Here a statue of Martin Luther, in the Wittenberg town square.

This is the Marienkirche, where Martin Luther preached.  This is the pulpit (probably rebuilt though) where Martin Luther would have preached his Reformation message from!

"Faith is a living and unshakable confidence, a belief in the grace of God so assured that a man would die a thousand deaths for its sake." 

Olympic Torch and San Francisco

The Olympic torch is coming through San Francisco within the next few days. Protestors that are pro-Tibet have voiced their opinions, including one brave soul who climbed the Golden Gate Bridge:

(Picture from SF Chronicle, read the article here).

This week's protests on Tuesday and Wednesday should prove interesting... anyone who wants to join the protests can view these websites:

http://www.sfteamtibet.org/
http://www.sftorch2008.org/

Boycott the Genocide Olympics

The stuff going on in Tibet is downright unjust....

Cultural Genocide in Tibet committed by China

Why are countries such cowards when it comes to China's outright gross violations of basic human rights?

BOYCOTT THE GENOCIDE OLYMPICS!!!

Family Day

Dear Mom and Dad,

I hope you had a great family day!

Billary in trouble

Man, how the mighty have fallen...Billary Clinton is truly reeling after the Potomac primaries and this:

Clinton Ex-Campaign Manager Backs Obama

This primary season is soooo interesting!

Homework Sucks!

I knew it!!!!!

That's why I just didn't bother doing my homework!

Read Article

Are you freakin' kidding me!?!?!?!

Geez! What's up with these st00pid airlines!?!?!?!?! I hate flying more and more!

What the heck!?

Pats NOT perfect

He he he he,

Stupid Pats are not perfect after all.....

Randy Moss still has no Superbowl ring.....


He he he he he......

(Get this straight though, I am no Giants fan)

They got me' name right!

Cool, this time I was interviewed, they got my name correct.....

YES!

Link to Interview Summary

What would Martin Luther King Jr. say?

The Toronto District School Board trustees have approved a plan of the first publicly funded black-focused schools. The Globe and Mail has an article on McGuinty's unwillingness to take a stand:

Read the article

Isn't this a step backwards? Why are we encouraging segregation?

MOM, I lost some weight...

I lost about 4 pounds when I went to Germany. This proves that traveling to Europe and eating meat and potatoes is good for your diet.

SO THERE, MOM!!!

The Goal

I think its pretty obvious that an OT win is far more superior than a stupid shootout.....

Here's a great goal:








To the junior Nats, congratulations!

Boooo! Booooooo!

Booooooooooo!

Four weeks is not long enough of a trip for Europe. If anybody is going to visit in the future, make sure they stay at least 6 weeks.


Boooooooooo! Boooooooooooooooooo!

No hablo español!

Welcome to España! A week trip to Barcelona, Sevilla and Granada proved how good Spanish life is. I highly recommend southern Spain to everyone. I recommend a trip to: Sevilla, Cordoba, Granada, Malaga, Cadiz and Ronda. Take up some sun in Costa de la Luz and maybe take a ferry from Algeciras to Tangiers. I would say that a one month trip to Spain ought to do it!

Travels to a far far land...

Here are pictures from a mysterious land known as Europe. Here are pictures from Budapest, Praha, Wien and Dresden. It's up to you to see if you know which picture belongs to which country.

Conversation with M and D

So I called M today to wish her a happy birthday and D picked up the phone. The enlightening phone conversation went like this:

Me: Hi D. What are you doing for M's birthday?
D: Did you forget M's birthday today?
Me: Noooooo. Did you?
D: Nooooooooooooo. Did you?
Me: D, you forgot M's birthday, didn't you?
D: Noooooooooooooooooo. You did.
Me: No I didn't, I just called home to wish M a happy birthday.
D: Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Such a deep conversation!

Academic integrity

Here's a rare serious post on my blog. I recently went to the big device conference and saw that a paper was published by a group at Stanford (by two big name EE professors). The professors (and their grad students, of course) were reporting on some simulations for a particular device. However, students in my research group had found similar results earlier, and chose not to publish these simulation results without experimental data.

Now here's the bad part. The main professor on the paper is in charge of a research center involving many research groups from different universities. He is also the Chair of the conference that I attended. He had heard a presentation from my research advisor during one of the research center updates - basically, this prof knew what one of the students in my group had studied yet still decided to publish his own paper. Not only that, the other professor on the paper was previously a professor at my school before moving to Stanford, and had a close working relationship with our group. Talk about dishonesty.

That's just not right. BOYCOTT STANFORD. They conduct some dirty business.

Pro-Bowlers from the Bay Area teams

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA... This had me laughing for a while:

"The Bay Area's NFL teams haven't been stellar on offense this season, but they're certainly skilled when it comes to giving the ball back to the opponent.

Power and placement, along with the NFL's best net averages, secured Pro Bowl berths for 49ers punter Andy Lee and Raiders punter Shane Lechler."

You can find the full San Francisco Chronicle article here.

Leafs are dumb.....

Brad Boyes is on track for a 50 goal season....of course not with the Leafs.

The Leafs just love to trade away their first round picks or first round choices for old foggies. Come on you stupid Leafs, trade some of the old guys for draft picks. Maybe then you can win a Cup!

Oh, another thing the Leafs seem oblivious to is the fact that there are prospects from Ontario. Hey, Ferguson et al., you are allowed to draft players from Ontario. They don't always have to come from Europe!

Japanese and English...again

Yet another display of Japanese second language abilities....



the guy on the video is my hero!

Also, listen to this one!

This one is another funny "Learn to speak English" commercial...

Learning English...

So, being in Europe, I am amazed how well some people speak English, especially here in Germany. Maybe the French are not as good, but in any case the average French person speaks better English than the average American/Englishman speaks French. And the northern European countries are amazing at English...Denmark, Holland, Norway, etc.

So I guess English is indeed the international language, and learning it is important....
If one needs further motivation, you can see this:




Now that we've established that English is important to learn, what is the most effective way to learn it?

I vote for this method:



he he he he he....no wonder Japanese people speak English so well!

Anyway, once that's done, unfortunate situations like this one can be avoided!
Win-win situation!

Genius relatives...

I was recently went to a conference and was able to meet up with some of our relatives (who will not be named) who live nearby. One of them is a genius, but I have proof now of how much of a genius he is.

I went to dinner with family on Sunday night and then they were kind enough to drop me off at my hotel. They turned on the GPS to see directions to the hotel, but my genius family member decided to ignore the directions. The entire time. Haha... I think he ignored 4-5 directions, saying that he was able to get back to the hotel. And lo and behold, he got me to my hotel! What a genius!

Name Change

So I was able to get a radio interview, but it was in Mandarin.

You can see the summary here.

The interviewer wrote to me in English and addressed me by my English name, but as the interview was in Mandarin, she got my name wrong (she never really asked me for my Taiwanese name, and I'm not sure where she got the new name from).

Apparently, my name is now:
賴宏吉

Who would've thought?

STUPID NFL TV Rules

Really really stupid....

I watch NFL (and even better, College Football) on the awesome Slingbox that my sister setup, so that I get the TV feed from her local cable. So this Sunday, I had an interest to watch as the early game, Chargers vs. Titans. But of course its a local station in the Bay area, so CBS instead is broadcasting Raiders vs. Packers.

Ok, this is reasonable, but I didn't want to watch 4-8 Raiders being blownout by the 10-2 Packers (38-7). So I would like to watch maybe an NFC game instead...like maybe: Eagles vs. Giants (NFC East traditional rivalry), or Cowboys vs. Lions (playoff implications). But NOOOOO, NFL stupid rules prevent FOX in the Bay area to broadcast something up against the Raiders game on CBS.

For the late game, I'd really like to watch the Steelers play the Patriots, (Go Steelers!), but NOOOO, NFL stupid rules prevent CBS from broadcasting something against the 49ers game (who are 3-9) against the Vikings (6-6).

STUPID STUPID STUPID

Is there any wonder, more people are watching NCAA football instead of the NFL? Hey idiots in the NFL commissioners' office, stop being idiots and let us watch more than a 4-8 or a 3-9 team every single week!

BOOOOOOOOOO! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Laptop for Thought

A couple of device group folks were talking about the "One Laptop Per Child" initiative and someone brought up that Intel decided to organize a similar initiative to compete, called "Classmate PC". Both initiatives are developing cheap but usable laptops to kids in poor countries to help education standards.

Funny that an initiative that has such noble intentions ends up being a competition. Regardless, having both initiatives should in theory help the world out a little more... right?

Anyway, as we were discussing these programs, I was looking around the coffee shop and almost every single person there had a nice laptop (mostly MacBooks, some HPs and some Dells). I encourage everyone to check out the laptops being developed cheaply for these kids. Best of luck to these programs!

136 points....

This year is so weird in College Football. Talk about upset city!

In any case, one of the unheralded teams in College Football set a Div-IA record last week....Navy beat North Texas 74-62! What a crazy game! That is a ridiculous amount of points for a team to score, that never passes, and basically runs the 3 back option every play.

Although its not as glamouras as Ohio St. vs Michigan, or anything else, I am definitely looking forward Army vs. Navy on Dec. 1.

Go Navy, beat Army!

The Curse of the No. 2

What the heck is going on? I guess it's just a big curse to be No. 2 ranked this year in NCAA football... I don't know whether to be sad for the Pac-10 this year or to be excited about such a big upset! Well, it's good to see that USC is not the best team in the Pac-10 this year.

ESPN link

Though the Bears are sucking this season, I'm still rooting for them! Let's hope Nate Longshore doesn't throw yet another interception during a crucial drive in the 4th quarter (was it really worth standing in the cold rain watching Cal lose to USC?)

Gonna see some Canada!

Well, I guess we're gonna be going to see some good ol' fashioned Canadian hockey:

Dec. 29 CAN vs SWE
Dec. 31 CAN vs DEN
Jan. 4 Semi-finals
Jan. 5 Finals

Oh, isn't it great that the stupid Yankees got their clocks cleaned by the Tribe?

#1 is LSU and #2 is who?

Man, LSU pulled off a squeaker against Florida, otherwise do you know which school would be #1 in the nation?


P.S. Stupid Trojans finally ran out of luck....

Europe, here we come!

I'm planning a trip to Europe, and I'm trying to figure out some cool places to go. This is a tentative plan:

Dec. 25th: Leave from SFO. Merry Christmas!

Dec. 26th: Arrive in Frankfurt, Germany. Head to Freiburg, Germany by train.

Dec. 29th: Pardubice, Czech Rep. with Stan
Sweden vs. Canada - World Junior Hockey Championship
Dec. 31st: Pardubice, Czech Rep.
Canada vs. Denmark

Possible itinerary from here: Pardubice -> Prague -> Vienna -> Budapest -> back to Germany

Jan. 9th: Arrive in Barcelona, Spain (with Betty!)

Possible itinerary #1: Barcelona -> Granada -> Seville -> Cordoba -> Barcelona
Possible itinerary #2: Barcelona -> Figures -> Bilbao -> Barcelona

Jan. 16th: Return to Freiburg, Germany (from Basel)

Jan. 22nd: Return to SFO. Good-bye Europe... I hardly knew ye.

I'll keep adding plans as they become more concrete!