Classical Gem for a few bucks

Babies demand feeding every few hours around the clock, they don't care if it is 2AM and again on 5AM. One thing that may help them and beautifying your baby room scene is the sweet lullaby sound. Classical music is great for that. I found a great gem Baby Einstein Lullaby Clssics for just a few dollars at the department store. Beautifully done. These are truly classics. It takes tremendous coordinations of an orchestra to make this happen (or is it done on some high tech computers?). Most people take classical music for granted, such as using it for space filler on that on-hold phone call. If given opportunity, everyone should learn a musical instrument or two so that music, and great classics can be appreciated.

Word 2007 Equation Editor

My first reaction with Microsoft Word 07 was: Argh! where are the menus! I can't even go Help->About* to reveal what the heck I am using.

Look, I used Microsoft Word since 2.0 on Windows 3.1 and it had menu since. The very fact that Windows is better than DOS is the menus. Without "File" how the heck am I going to open anything. Ok, that Microsoft button is for that purpose. Modern Windows also have that Microsoft button in lower left corner for your Start button. Confusing isn't it? It will take a while to get used to the new menu system. However, if you have NEVER used any previous Microsoft Word, perhaps you will actually LIKE the new organization.

My favorite new feature is the equation editor. It is so easy now to enter an equation. Math teachers would love it to author tests. My high school teacher used to hand write an integral symbol or a summation sigma on an early word processor. Sure, previous Word versions has equation writer but it was such hassle to use, and most likely you don't have that installed. Click on that Equation dropdown in 07 I see a bunch of familiar and well known equations.

Ah, but I'm not so familiar with this Trig Identity.



I remember (and most have probably forgot) the addition formula and the double angle formula. I just don't recognize this one. Is it really necessarily to write the familiar simplified expression in LHS to become more ugly in RHS?

Rest assured students: you probably don't need to know this identity. But do remember this: sin²θ + cos²θ = 1, for any θ (why?)**

Among the sample equations in Word is e^x. Isn't that great looking? (How do we get that? dig out your calculus book's section on Taylor Series). This e^x is also the only function that can boldly say: derivatives! I am not afraid of you!


*To get to the About screen, now we do Microsoft button->Word Options->Resources->About button. This is definitely not intended for you to go there often.

**The Pythagorean Theorem. Don't trust me? play on your calculator to verify sin²θ + cos²θ = 1 (I don't care if you are in degree or radian mode).

Chicago Tribune Redesign

Yesterday I saw a copy of Chicago Tribune lying around. I haven't read a paper of Tribune for a while, so I decided to pick it up and flip around. Oh, it opens sideways like Sun Times! Gone are the original top down layout!
The layout has changed since when? Oh it has been like that for a couple months. Did people complain the original layout?

Why justifies the layout change? Does it cost money to redesign and get new machines to crank those out?
Don't you want to be different from Sun Times? The fact that I don't notice the layout change for a few months means I never even buy the paper in either format. Sad (old) news for the newspaper industry: nowadays people get news on the web.

Chess Titan

I remembered Windows 3.1 come with a few games: Solitare, Mineweeper. Later version came with Hearts. Good addition! Then there are more solitaire like games (which are a bit boring). Later, games jump out to 3D and there was Space Cadet Pinball! Nice.

Vista added Chess Titan. Of course, chess is THE all-time classic board game.
I am glad this now comes with Windows so it can be enjoyed by even more people. I suppose Microsoft wanted to show Window's new 3D capability with this.
Recently I played it on Windows 7. I am glad there are difficulty settings from 1 to 10. It won't be so fun if I lose all the time. I am a very amateur player (and probably will always be).

I am able to beat level 6 a couple times (I haven't tried higher levels yet). The statistics screen say how many games I win and how many games I play. It didn't say "How many games you lost". That's nice :)

I have a few minor suggestions.
1. That board can spin nicely, how come it doesn't let the player to spin around the board for fun?
2. How come there are no move list? Expert players go back to study their moves and see what mistakes they made.
3. I'd like a few more choices of chess set scheme.
4. I'd like a Hint mode to suggest move (for players who can't decide what to do next)
5. No chess clock? (Expert players use this, but I never think more than 30 secs per move)


Some chess games are too hard for me even at the easiest setting.
For example, this iGoogle gadget beats the heck out of me even at level 0 and even I take back multiple times.

Wacky C#: yield return

Right off from the canonical "C# Language Specification".

static IEnumerable Range(int from, int to) {
for (int i = from; i < to; i++) {
yield return i;
}
yield break;
}
static void Main() {
foreach (int x in Range(-10,10)) {
Console.WriteLine(x);
}
}

What the heck is "yield return"? The purity of return statement is whacked. It seems each yield return is for each of the items in that IEnumerable.

I saw this example too, in another place, where Fib is of course the (fabulous) Fibonacci numbers:

public static IEnumerable Fib(int a, int b)
{
yield return 1;
yield return 1;
yield return 2;
yield return 3;
yield return 5;

}

static void Main()
{
foreach (int i in Fib(1, 5))
{
Console.WriteLine("{0} ", i);
}
}

I'll list more wackiness when I see them

Weight conversion

American medical professionals have dual modes in weight and measurement. When they are at work, they use metric, when they are out of work, they use the old British system that British themselves abandoned. So my baby has a whiteboard that has his weight... and today he is at 2000g! Gee, I failed to comprehend this number. Ok, 1 kg is about 2.2 pounds... 4.4 pounds is 4 lb and how many ounce? Ok, the 16 oz in a pound is not so easy to convert. Sure go to the web you say? They give me decimal pounds, not pound and ounce. Gee I need to write my own code.


<form name="theform">
grams: <input type="text" name="grams">
<input type=button name="btnConvert" value="Convert" onClick="javascript:doConvert()">
<div id="result"></div>
</form>

<script language="Javascript">
//1 gram = 0.0352739619 ounces
function doConvert() {

var ounce = (document.theform.grams.value-0)*0.0352739619;
var lb = Math.floor(ounce / 16)
var remain = Math.round(ounce % 16)

var result = document.getElementById("result");
result.innerHTML = lb + "lb "+remain+" oz"
}
</script>


I AM smarter than a 5th grader

I bought an authentic "Are you Smarter Than a 5th Grader" game at TJMax's discount bin for just $5. It has 3D images of students and Jeff Foxworthy and a 3D studio that you can view around, and of course a lot of questions. I won! I AM smarter than a 5th grader.



Ok, I have to admit sometimes I don't win, I may even flunk out with $0.

The million dollar topic was English, and the question was:

What kind of verb is "grow" in the following sentence:
"The flowers grow."

The million dollar question has no kids to help you and no multiple choices. Are YOU smarter than a 5th grader?

I love that theme song, that purity of kids singing is so great.

Ok, you can also play online here.

* * *

Going to a job interview is like playing that game, LUCK is involved in the type of questions you get.

I am a FATHER

I am now a proud new father!

I haven't ask permission of baby so I won't post his pics here.
I am not going to put his pics on things like Facebook either. That is too public.

I think baby pics should not be tossed around in public on the internet. I will only send pic if someone I trust requests.

Who reads this don't-really-have-a-theme blog?
I don't have any web analytic, you may land on this blog on some random search.