Harry #6

Posted on July 20, 2009 by sinyaw
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson

David Yates directed

This is a compulsory movie-watching. Com’on. I have read all Harry Potter books and watched all movies so far, I am not going to miss one episode. The need to have a complete collection drives many people. If you are one of us, just go. Resistance is, not necessary.

The good news is: it ain’t bad. It is, however, a bridge movie designed for the next one. (I felt the same about book #6.) I am not sure one can appreciate this movie without having watched the previous ones or read the book.

Of course, this geezer found himself confused with the plot and wrecking his brain trying to remember the book. Good thing Kid was next to me, so I extracted many of her memories. (Faster than using a pensieve.)
That is the problem with the Harry Potter series: the unbearable wait. We waited patiently for the next book and waited patiently again for the next movie. When they final come out, we have forgotten the details. Note to J.K. Rowling wannabes: learn from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Each of Sherlock Holmes’s stories is appreciable on its own.

That’s why I refreshed my Harry Potter that very night. Stop reading if you didn’t read Harry Potter #7 book.

  • Voldermort was frustrated for not being able to kill Harry. He blamed his wand. First it was a twin with Harry’s. When Lucius Malfoy’s also failed. He kidnapped Ollivander the wand maker. In book #7, he found Elder’s Wand and thought it would do the job.
  • Elder’s Wand, the most powerful one, choose its new master when the current one is defeated. Draco, unknowingly, became the new master when he knocked it off from the badly weakened Dumbledore. Snape killed Dumbledore, but never mastered the wand.
  • But Voldermort misunderstood and killed Snape. Snape, before his death, poured out his memory. That’s how Harry knew that Snape was his protector all along.
  • The last Horcrux was Harry himself. To kill Voldermort, Harry must die first. But since he self-sacrificed to save others, he, without the part of Voldermort in him, came back to life.
  • Harry defeated Draco and took his wand (his own was accidentally destroyed) and, therefore, became the new master. When Voldermort attacked Harry with the wand, it backfired and killed Voldermort instead.
  • There were 7 Horcruxes: Tom Riddle’s Diary, destroyed by Harry with Basilisk’s fang; Gaunt’s Ring (also the resurrection stone), destroyed by Dumbledore with Gryffindor’s Sword; Slytherin’s Locket, destroy by Ron Weasley with the same sword; Helga Hufflepuff’s Cup, destroyed by Herimone with Basilisk’s fang; Ravenclaw’s diadem, destroyed by Crabbe’s Fiendfyre; Nagani the snake, slayed by Neville Longbottom; and Harry Potter himself.
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Chrome OS

Posted on July 18, 2009 by sinyaw

Why would any company try to create a new commercial operating system?

By the classic definition, an operating system bridges the computing machinery (hardware) and those software (applications) that interact with human beings. The modern day operating systems also serve as the stable layer that enables hardware and software to innovate relatively independently. Those innovations stimulated each others, created values, and pushed the OS itself to evolve. In time, entire ecosystems emerged, centering the operating system.

Desktop computing is just one of those ecosystems that Windows has reigned for decades. There are other large ecosystems like data centers, networking, and mobile devices. Unlike desktop, several OSes compete in those ecosystems. Today, there must be several dozen stable and mature operating systems for all possible computing needs. Probably none is perfect, but the costs to differentiate enough, yet remain compatible with the existing ones, are prohibitive. This is why no one tries to dethrone Windows.

Why would, then, Google enter this foray? I honestly don’t know the reasons, but that does not stop me from opining.

  • They have many bored engineers.
    Google makes money by selling ads on their search engine. Yet most of its engineers work on something cool yet other than the famed search engine. Some of them probably felt like working on operating systems. We knew that others at Google work on email, cell phone technologies, cloud computing, routers, green technologies, or whatever sounds cool.
  • They are invincible.
    Google has not failed as a company. Whatever they do, the cash kept on coming and stock kept on rising. Since they can’t fail, why take on a lesser challenge? In fact, what’s the worst possible outcome? If Chrome OS fails to topple Windows, there will be no consequence to Google’s search-based revenue what-so-ever.
  • They have a new ecosystem without an OS.
    Many thought a gigantic ecosystem centered around HTTP, the technology behind browsers: the new OS, some stated. Microsoft tried to destroy this new ecosystem by dragging it into the desktop. Google saw a prize. It gets to do to Microsoft what Microsoft did to IBM (taking over the new ecosystem, the desktop, with a new OS). That is pretty cool.

What constitutes an ecosystem for an operating system? IHV (independent hardware developers), ISV (independent software developers), and, of course, users and administrators. IHVs make those thousands of devices and write drivers and administration utilities (control panel applets). ISVs write applications for all niches and business models. They hire developers who need tools and libraries. For them to monetize, there must be a distribution mechanism to reach those who pay.

Think about this. How do IHV, ISV, distribution channels, and customers connect for Windows, iPod, cell phones, PDA, and mainframe vendors? Imagine how much money we are talking about. Now compare the new ecosystem surrounding the browsers with the one for desktop. The IHV and the customers are the same. What would be different is the ISV and the distribution.

With Chrome and netbook, Google would cut Microsoft off from low-end: billions of people who never saw computer, let alone Windows, in their lives in China, India, and Africa. Of course, Google needs to do this before Microsoft cuts off its ad revenue with Bing.com.

Isn’t this fun to watch?

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Foreign Talents in the US

Posted on July 14, 2009 by sinyaw

I came to this country in 1984 as a graduate student in engineering. I expected to meet and make-friends with many Americans. When I walked into the classroom the first time, I found, except for one, all my fellow classmates are either Chinese, Indian, or Iranian.

National Science Foundation reported that, in 2007, about 30% of all US graduate students, in science and engineering, are foreigners, and 58% for post-doctoral studies. This has been the same for decades.

Foreign students pay much higher tuition than the state residents, sometime 10 times more. Since the laws prohibit them from working, they all brought monies from home countries. They worked in the labs and classrooms to relieve professors’ burdens and helped out with the researches. US’s higher education institutes have grown to depend on them as financial and human resources.

Now many decades later, we can observe some interesting long-term effects:

  • Foreign-born scientists and engineers have gradually replaced those American professors and researchers as they retire.
  • Those who stayed in the US have contributed greatly to the advances of US technology leadership. Nearly a third of the silicon valley start-ups were founded by foreign-born and US-educated.
  • They have been the key to their home countries’ modernization and increased competitiveness, frequently against the USA. Many top executives, professors, and researchers, in China and India were US-educated.

Paul Kedrosky, senior fellow at the Kauffman Foundation, wondered if the US can benefit more from these foreign-born talents. He proposed to attaching green cards to all postgraduate diplomas in this country. He said, in Marketplace, that

It certainly beats the alternative where we give them this wonderful education then send them home and say good luck starting a new companies that we’ll then worry about later on. Why don’t we try to take advantage and build upon that success rather than making it more difficult for ourselves?

Having lived here for pretty much my entire adult life, I frequently wonder why Americans are so willing to suffer, economically, for their choice ideologies. When the examiner from INS (Immigration and Naturalization Services) questioned my reasons to stay in the country, I needed to be careful. Had I said, “I came. This seems like a good place. Therefore I would like to stay.” My request would have been denied. The acceptable reason must be unforeseeable when I first entered the country.

Whether this country would benefit from letting me, or other scientists and engineers, stay was never questioned.

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Madoff’s Billions

Posted on July 9, 2009 by sinyaw

Bernie Madoff was the highest paid professional in Wall Street in 1989. Yes, he was beyond rich 20 years ago. He could have a normal wealthy and decadent lifestyle: first class all the way, only the best foods and wines, royalty-class services, and getting whatever he desires at the moment’s notices. He could have all these 20 years ago without committing any crime.

Years ago, I watched a movie called Brewster’s Million. The plot is quite simple: Mr. Brewster (Richard Pryor), a penniless street bum, must spend a million dollar in a month, without accumulating any assets or giving the money away. He rented clothes, hired servants, tipped excessively, and lived in the most expensive hotel. Tried as Mr. Brewster did, he almost failed the task. It was much harder than one would imagine to spend money.

The conservative estimate of Madoff’s fraud is $13.2 billion. If he and family spend a million dollar each month, like Mr. Brewster, it would have taken them over a thousand years. In fact, it takes much less than a billion dollar to sustain a million-dollar-per-month life-style forever.

I once played a party mind-game just to stir up conversations. You are requested to pick a marble from a bath tub, blind-fold, filled with white marbles, except for one black. If you pick a white one, you get a million dollar. If black, you are killed on the spot. Would the amount of the money, or the number of white marbles, change your mind?

There was another mind game. A wealthy person committed a crime and must go to a club-med style prison for a year (think Martha Steward). She offers you a million dollar to do the time for her. Would the amount of the money, or the length of time, change your mind?

The point is quite simple: white-collar crimes are investment decisions. Madoff was a brilliant investor whose master plan is known only to himself. He expects high return with the investment that is the rest of his life. What’s the scheme?

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Fed up with California Congress

Posted on July 7, 2009 by sinyaw

From now on, I will automatically vote against the incumbent in all legislative races in California. I will continue to do so until they can have a budget by the deadline.

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Live Forever

Posted on July 6, 2009 by sinyaw

If you are born in the year of 2044, according to Michael Woods. (An unexpected benefit from sending Kid to a good school is to get to know/hear/read about her friends and professors.) Michael optimistically predicted that him, and others born in the same year, will live to nearly 140 years on average!

Several thoughts sprang to mind (call me pessimistic, Michael):

  • My retirement fund assumed that I will die earlier. Does this mean I need to kill myself then or work longer now?
  • My doctor told me that the worst thing is partial death: some organs are about done and others are still going strong. For example, I don’t want to have a good heart but bad lungs, strong legs but can’t see, perfect health except for no teeth, etc.
  • According to Time Enough for Love and several similar stories. Living too long may not be a blessing. Immortality is actually a curse.

Wait a minute. I got ahead of myself. I was not born in 1986. (“Ha!” Said Kid). Sorry, I will proceed to die when I reach 78.06 years old. Whew!

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Flu of China

Posted on July 2, 2009 by sinyaw

The knocking on the door was unexpected and therefore not a good thing. Three people in Hazmat-like protective gears is even a worse sign. He felt perfectly healthy, only jet-lagged. But that passenger, two rows behind him and slept all the way from San Francisco to Beijing, turned out to be a confirmed infectee. They took him directly to GuoMenLu Hotel, near the airport, for a week’s quarantine. None of his 250 fellow quarantined can have any direct contact with anyone else in that hotel.

That’s a true story. My friend told me that it happened to someone who knew his friend.

2002, I needed to hire many in Beijing. We bought publicity to attract local applicants. We signed up interviewers, a dozen or so, and geared up to fly them to Beijing. Hundreds of candidates were ready. The entourage from the USA was ready. Everything was ready for my recruiting blitz. We were excited with anticipation.

SARS! State department issued a travel advisory, company banned all trips to China, the big plan fell apart. We scrambled to execute plan B and eventually hired nearly 100 people in 4 months.

Early 2006, bird flu was the new SARS and I began my 2nd year in Beijing. An employee urged me to stockpile Tamiflu and prepared for an evacuation plan. I assured him that China government will protect Beijing with all their resources. I also insisted that the company plan must work for all employees, China- or US-citizen. Most in China were not paranoid. In fact, bird flu was an oblivious shrug, a stark contrast to SARS.

Last year, when I was packing to leave China, I found the box of US-made, medical-grade masks. The whole box was completely forgotten during those 3 years. I gave the box to a friend and joked, “You may need this for the next flu pandemic.”

Wherever the origin, swine flu has sieged China. The number of new cases is growing exponentially. The government admitted that they are losing control. They expect a bad summer followed by a worse winter.

Is it a pattern that a pandemic threat comes every two to three years? SARS and bird flu both killed, but really only very few, compared to, say, normal flu, traffic accidents, diabetes, obesity, smoking, or cancer. This horribly feared swine flu has killed negligibly number of people. Statistically, it should not have attract any media attention at all.

The pattern predicts a new flu pandemic threat — not real, just a threat — in a couple of years. Since we have already dealth with birds and pigs, next time it would be an animal that’s even closer to people. Get ready. Dog flu comes winter of 2012. It won’t be curable and it won’t kill either. A good scare, it guarantees.

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Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Posted on June 29, 2009 by sinyaw
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox

I have been anticipating several movies this year: Star Trek, X-Men, Transformers, and Harry Potter. It must be people like myself that pushed Hollywood to make sequels and prequels. Honestly, none has disappointed me yet.

How did Spielberg make machines move like KongFu masters? This time, some transformers produced bodily liquid. I was almost expecting sweats and blood from some fight scenes.

Sam’s own transformation, into adulthood or accepting his role in life, was reasonably played. Mikaela was nice to watch. The supporting cast and sub-plots were just OK. For that, the main plot was just OK too. None of these matters, this is an action flick and there were lots of them. The movie jumped from scene to scene and leaves little time for viewers to digest what just happened (or even figure out what were just said). It grabbed all my attention and senses. When the credits rolled, I needed a moment to come back to life. The digestion happened about an hour later. “Wait a moment,” I was halfway into a St. John’s burger. “What weapon was fired from that nuclear submarine?”

I enjoyed the movie like the burger: there wasn’t much thought process, it felt good at the moment, I can probably articulate some finer points, but it was not something to savor over, and yes, I would definitely recommend it to others, as long as they are into burgers.

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委屈的時候想想孫悟空

Posted on June 28, 2009 by sinyaw

有人轉寄這貼.我Google了一下,居然有不下八萬個hit. 顯然許多人”心有戚戚焉.” 看來,老闆懦弱,同僚無能,工作辛苦,是許多許多人的痛苦. 悽喊:”我是孫悟空,快來重用我!” 同樣,天下有多少千里馬在苦苦的等伯樂呢?

心情上,我大概既是孫悟空也是唐僧吧.身為”主管”,看看手下人,各各胸懷大志,急的要我放他們馳騁. 但我不是”一把手”,事事依然要請示,自己也不能海闊天空.

癥結是後果誰擔?功勞誰拿? 要成大功,立大業,發大財,得有資本. 出錢的人,再沒本事,也是他講話. 諸位大聖,您的本事裏,沒有一變是能掙錢的. 也沒有不讓唐僧唸咒的技術. 您這千里馬,沒有讓伯樂注意的本事.

不然,就一切都是命. 認了吧!

全文照登. 原作者不祥.

委屈的時候想想孫悟空

工作上難免會遇到不順心的事情，覺得上面佈置下來的任務怎麼這麼不合理，出了事情也不知道處理，就會拿下面人當擋箭牌。覺得同事怎麼這麼不合作，又笨又懶，這樣下去項目絕對不可能按時完成。這個委屈的時候一定要想一想孫悟空。孫悟空當時任職在一個四個人的小部門，上面一個主管，尊稱為師父。部門還有另外兩個同事，幸好按資排輩還在孫悟空下面。

先談這個主管，什麼本事都沒有，頂多一個是能夠堅持吃素，一個是記憶力好、背得住很長的經文，最後一個就是堅持得住不受女色勾引。這算什麼本事啊，又不能上天入地，又不能變化外形，又不會武功跟妖怪打鬥。但是不知怎麼回事，這被觀音如來佛等上級領導認為是最有希望的下屬，不容置疑地被安排在領導位置。這個部門的最大任務就是把西天的經書請過來，中間經過九九八十一難，主管的貢獻基本上就是零，有時候還笨得被妖怪抓起來，害得下面職工費盡九牛二虎之勁救他。但是最後取經的成功都在主管身上，下面職工沾了他的光才被一同獎勵一下。這算什麼世道？按照貢獻來算，孫悟空奉獻得最多，但是總是委屈地被排在主管的下面。

主管沒有本事就算了，你放手讓下面職工幹事情，容忍些也好。但是他還瞎指揮，不明真相就批評孫悟空的工作。明明打死的是妖精，他非要說是好人家子女，還不相信孫悟空火眼金睛的本事。立場不堅定，豬八戒一嘀咕孫悟空什麼壞話就聽信了，不分青紅皂白給孫悟空一個很壞的審評。可憐我們孫悟空一心保護師傅，不但心裡給委屈了，肉體上還被緊箍咒憋得生疼，甚至還沒有任何賠償的就被解雇了。這是對孫悟空職業心的否定，能力的懷疑，讓人受了天大的冤枉還沒有地方申述。這種事情還不是一次性的發生，一次再次，主管根本就不會吸取教訓。

再說同事，天下這麼多能人，怎麼非找來這麼兩個人來跟孫悟空合作？論本事比不上孫悟空，緊急情況下能幫的忙很少，很多時候還要孫悟空來救命。沙和尚是個老實人，安心本職工作，做些體力活沒有怨言。對孫悟空也比較信任，分工也明確，孫悟空跟妖精打鬥的時候，他負責保護師傅。豬八戒這就難說了，他跟孫悟空之間有些矛盾，有機會就在主管跟前挑撥是非。好吃懶做，本事不行，還總是想吃好的喝好的，主管要被妖精吃了都不放在心上，老惦記著回高老莊。臉皮極厚，明明是他挑撥害得孫悟空被解雇了，結果工作進行不下去了，還是他來請師兄回去，一點不知道羞愧。這種人還混到最後一同被封獎，簡直是工作審評制度的天大笑話。

就是在這樣爛的部門裡，這麼艱苦的項目，孫悟空還是挺下來了。無數次地原諒師傅，還是為他吃苦耐勞，使盡全身本事破除工作中的困難。容忍兩個同事，特別是不爭氣的豬八戒，還跟他開開玩笑。最後還是爭取到了最後的勝利，整個部門被公司嘉獎。孫悟空為什麼受這麼多的苦能夠堅持下來？估計這就是他的人生樂趣吧，探險、除妖、戰勝一個又一個的困難，把他全身的本事都用上了。在這個過程中感覺到了自己的能力，結交了五湖四海的仙家朋友，這就是他的快樂，那麼受的這些委屈困苦也就算了。

我們在工作中遇到的困難還會比孫悟空更多嗎，主管還會比唐僧更無能嗎，同事還會比豬八戒沙和尚更提不起來嗎？既然他能夠堅持下來，我們也來試試吧。下次在工作中覺得委屈的時候，一定要想想孫悟空！

Posted in Get Rich in China, Peek into my mind | 1 Comment

Father’s Day Weekend

Posted on June 25, 2009 by sinyaw

Friday night, June 19th, we picked up the cargo van, and packed it. Early next morning, Kid and I started the 380-mile journey to her new apartment. We reached Bakersfield around noon and decided to detour for lunch. Who would have known? Golden Bull (Greek?) has fine burgers, good chocolate shake, and very interesting fried zucchini. 2:30pm, we started to unload furniture into her apartment. 5pm, drove the empty cargo van for the 2nd load. 8:30pm, finished the 2nd unloading. I hugged Kid good-bye, drove back to the relative’s place, showered and crashed into the sack.

Early morning, again, on Father’s Day, I started drive back to San Jose with iPod as my trip companion and thinking of cool beers. When Wife asked, “Where do you want for dinner?” I was decision, “BJ!” The other kid taught me a new word hale. “You are a hale old man to move furniture and drive 16 hours in two days.” I think that’s a compliment.

Ungratefully, I lamented on price of this very nice high-end BBQ set they got me: stylish design, brushed stainless steel, heat-insulated handle, and the gosh-how-much-you-paid-for-this!!! shining aluminum box.
Monday morning, again too early, I appreciated the fine workmanship that went into these tools. I think I will try them this weekend.

The best gifts are those I would never buy myself, and always wanted.

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