I have been using yahoo mail for years. I like it most out of hotmail, yahoo and gmail. However, recently yahoo mail is SLOW. no, don't blame yahoo but blame on those who put ads. These guys put heavy flash things that crashes my browser.
Fortunately there is a workaround: use igoogle, add a Yahoo Mail gadget.
You can read yahoo mail WITHOUT yahoo (and annoying ads). Ok, I have minor complain of the Times News Roman font otherwise I like it.
Portal: beauty of programming a page: 1 chunk at a time.
I used to do JSR168 Portlets for a living.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Joy of ...
Ever since "Joy of Sex", people come up with Joy of this and Joy of that books, such as Joy of Cooking. One math book I saw was "Joy of Sets". The author must be thinking of the first "Joy of" book I mentioned above when writing that.
Recently I saw an advertisement on a magazine: the Joy of Mathematics. It is some lectures on DVD. Ok I have not seen it myself and I can't tell you how good or bad it is. But this ought to be on TV! The only math program I ever see are ADULTS learning fractions.
Perhaps most educated in math agree that one of the most fun number series is the Fibonacci numbers (and the relationship to the golden ratio &phi). This author even came up with this:
Ok, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8. add previous two numbers to get the next one, just what so fun about it?
The fun is.... as n grows large, divide any pair of neighbors, it.. it will reach the golden ratio (1+sqrt(5)) / 2! Well, what's so golden about the golden ratio? MANY. Even Mona Lisa was based on it. There are many book length discussions of this number (um, some of these books contain a lot of fluff). See this list on Amazon if you don't believe me.
My book devoted a few pages on it.
Recently I saw an advertisement on a magazine: the Joy of Mathematics. It is some lectures on DVD. Ok I have not seen it myself and I can't tell you how good or bad it is. But this ought to be on TV! The only math program I ever see are ADULTS learning fractions.
Perhaps most educated in math agree that one of the most fun number series is the Fibonacci numbers (and the relationship to the golden ratio &phi). This author even came up with this:
I think Fibonacci is fun;
We start with a 1 and a 1.
Then 2, 3, 5, 8,
But don't stop there, mate!
The fun has just barely begun.
Ok, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8. add previous two numbers to get the next one, just what so fun about it?
The fun is.... as n grows large, divide any pair of neighbors, it.. it will reach the golden ratio (1+sqrt(5)) / 2! Well, what's so golden about the golden ratio? MANY. Even Mona Lisa was based on it. There are many book length discussions of this number (um, some of these books contain a lot of fluff). See this list on Amazon if you don't believe me.
My book devoted a few pages on it.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Good tutorial
Most technical computer books today talk talk talk and only offer really brief real info at hefty price and huge paper waste. Fortunately there are good people that put out good tutorial. Bookstores itself is shrinking marketplace (how sad). I will not buy a book unless I actually flipped through the papers and like its presentation. $ is a terrible thing to waste.
Found another good tutorial for skills that people want to hire: Spring, Hibernate, etc: http://www.vaannila.com/.
Spring looks promising, especially if there are plugins to generate stuff. In ideal world, no one should mess XML by hand. Spring+Hibernate seems to be easier than hibernate itself.
But more important question is: what do you gain by object-orienting databases using wrappers? You will have endless nightmare with XML fighting to make it crank out the query you want.
Found another good tutorial for skills that people want to hire: Spring, Hibernate, etc: http://www.vaannila.com/.
Spring looks promising, especially if there are plugins to generate stuff. In ideal world, no one should mess XML by hand. Spring+Hibernate seems to be easier than hibernate itself.
But more important question is: what do you gain by object-orienting databases using wrappers? You will have endless nightmare with XML fighting to make it crank out the query you want.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
World Population
Article in CNN says world population will soon reach 7 billion.
People should think: am I going to be able to afford the children before having them. For outrageous expensive cost of living and health care that's why USA has so few people.
But the most alarming is the last paragraph
Look at the size of map in China vs India: whoa you can imagine how packed India would be.
What a big gap between second place and third place!
People should think: am I going to be able to afford the children before having them. For outrageous expensive cost of living and health care that's why USA has so few people.
But the most alarming is the last paragraph
By 2050, India is projected to be the world's most populous nation at 1.7 billion, overtaking current leader China, which is forecast to hit 1.4 billion. The United States is expected to reach 439 million for No. 3 on the list
Look at the size of map in China vs India: whoa you can imagine how packed India would be.
What a big gap between second place and third place!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Elements of a winning restaurant
This weekend I visited two new restaurants.
Both restaurants have good interior design, ok, one of them has rather too luxurious design.
Yikes, both restaurants fail to make me come a second time.
1. food from both of these are bad. Come on, I come not to eat your designs, but your food. Some way too salty and some under-marinated. TASTE it yourself and determine if you want to pay money for this first.
2. unskilled waiters. You do not take orders using my table as writing pad. One waiter even delivered stuff to the wrong table.
3. wrong words in menu indicate lack of any knowledge of food industry or your own written language.
Oh, and you don't have printed menus for me to take home? (You're not ready for opening then) Also, all Chinese/Asian restaurants should give chopsticks. For example, My Thai only give you chopstick when you ask for it (they pull it from their pocket). I WANT chopsticks in Chinese restaurants and I shouldn't need to ask. If you are going to serve egg roll, give me sweet and sour sauce (I don't have to remind you)
The elements of winning restaurants are
1. good atmosphere. If you are not comfortable, I am not comfortable. Set temperature at 70°F. Outrageous cold isn't getting you anywhere: you just pay more. Keep it clean. Ok, new restaurants pass this criteria.
2. food. Focus on a handful of items that you are GOOD at, have a special dish that nobody else is as good as you. If you have 100 items on your menu and you have 1 chef you are not going to be able to fill your orders. Work on the taste. It must taste good to earn my $10 if you put such price tag.
3. have experienced staff. Remember people come for service.
Running a restaurant is easier said than done.
Both restaurants have good interior design, ok, one of them has rather too luxurious design.
Yikes, both restaurants fail to make me come a second time.
1. food from both of these are bad. Come on, I come not to eat your designs, but your food. Some way too salty and some under-marinated. TASTE it yourself and determine if you want to pay money for this first.
2. unskilled waiters. You do not take orders using my table as writing pad. One waiter even delivered stuff to the wrong table.
3. wrong words in menu indicate lack of any knowledge of food industry or your own written language.
Oh, and you don't have printed menus for me to take home? (You're not ready for opening then) Also, all Chinese/Asian restaurants should give chopsticks. For example, My Thai only give you chopstick when you ask for it (they pull it from their pocket). I WANT chopsticks in Chinese restaurants and I shouldn't need to ask. If you are going to serve egg roll, give me sweet and sour sauce (I don't have to remind you)
The elements of winning restaurants are
1. good atmosphere. If you are not comfortable, I am not comfortable. Set temperature at 70°F. Outrageous cold isn't getting you anywhere: you just pay more. Keep it clean. Ok, new restaurants pass this criteria.
2. food. Focus on a handful of items that you are GOOD at, have a special dish that nobody else is as good as you. If you have 100 items on your menu and you have 1 chef you are not going to be able to fill your orders. Work on the taste. It must taste good to earn my $10 if you put such price tag.
3. have experienced staff. Remember people come for service.
Running a restaurant is easier said than done.
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