We are also dying

When you turn on the news, all you see is gun violence and reports about certain candidates trying to win some states. Is there any candidate caring about people dying everyday on gun violence? Or do all of them say gun control doesn't solve the problem or "it is people killing people not guns" or "we embrace the 2nd amendment". No candidates will talk gun control because gun owners are also voters.

Yes, people in Syria are dying, so are some helpless Chicago people.

Happy Leap Day

This February has an extra day this year because it is divisible by 4. Waita minute, years that are evenly divisible by 100 are not leap years, unless they are also evenly divisible by 400, in which case they are leap years. [See here]

Relax, even if you have a bug in some isLeapYear code it is not likely it will come back to haunt you. You probably won't be here to fix it in 100 years. As long as you get mod 4 = 0 you are good.

Even with 29 days, it is still fewer days than other months of the year. Yes, this isn't really fair for February. But we are so used to this system and it is here to stay.

Nice-To-Have ideas for phones

Phones are nice but I can make it even nicer with the following features.

1. Add Dialer Password

If you let someone (kids) play with your phone, the least you want to happen is to call someone accidentally and leave a long voicemail of nonsense. It is easy to add the password capability. Hey I can do this. All you need is to let me configure the phone icon so it calls my doorman app instead. Sure you can lock the phone, but it is all-or-nothing. Waita minute you can still make emergency call (accidentally).

2. Voice mail in words

If you'd like to do this Press 1! If you'd like to do that Press 2! The last thing I would like is to listen through all these choices. I want to go to my messages! and modern phone is not so easy to press 1 press 2. They keyboard go away and slight vibration of phone will make it think I pressed a certain key. I believe modern voice mails should LIST the options. Let me click though the messages with date time stamp and caller ID if available. There are messages I do not need to listen to.

Good bye to the Greatest Voice of All

You've heard the news: Whitney Houston died at 48.

Although it is still unclear exact cause of death but drugs probably played a huge part.

This is a huge loss. Whitney has the greatest, most powerful voice I have ever heard and the "Greatest Love of All" is so inspiring. See it in youtube.

Every teacher and parent should have the same belief: "I believe the children of our future... teach them well and let them lead the way..."

Look at how many problem can be solved in the world if children are taught well with beauties they possessed inside shown to them.

It is unfortunate that Whitney Houston has a history of drug use... and there are domestic violence at home...

Look people, it is very very clear that drugs kill. Many celebrities and many not-so-celebrities had died. Drugs isn't going to help your situation!

The Greatest Love of All sent a worldwide positive message of believing in the children of the future. The world needs a powerful message against the use of drugs. But unfortunately people simply ignore. "Say no to drugs" is part of "teach them well and let them lead the way".

CD rate is so low

At a bank, I saw this advertisement:

10 year CD, $10,000. 2%.

Oh my, the rates are so low! Not too long ago it was more like 5%.

I learned some reasons here.

So this reflects poor economy. But when CD rates go up, so do mortgage rates. This means: time to refinance if your rate is high and your house is still worth money.

I am never good at financial things. But knowing too much may not be a good thing either. People go invest too aggressively and eventually lose. Stocks is too sensitive to news and world events. War going on or somebody important assassinated? Boom, stocks fall. Who can predict who will wage war with whom for what reasons? Life is too short to watch shirt-and-tie people talking Wall Street. I play on the safe side.

2% is still money, though not a whole lot. But I won't lock it for 10 years.

How to raise the next Steve Jobs?

"Parenting" magazine has an interesting article: How to raise the next Steve Jobs.

The real paper copy has quantum equations in the background and sadly I don't understand any of it.

This article highlights the importance of the parents' role in raising up any child. Sure, if you don't give child food or care he isn't going to be genius. If you don't encourage him and teach him anything he is not going to be genius. I do not think there is any specific parental techniques to raise a genius.

Quantum equations in the background? I do not know Steve Jobs was a quantum physicist. Does knowing your way around quantum physics automatically make you a genius? It probably takes a lot of hard work to understand that stuff (I don't, and not even going to try now). But does that hard work make you genius?

Parents should do you basic job: provide basic needs and provide basic education. I even write apps for my kid. Let kids grow to have a happy life. Encourage kid to try different things.

AND I DON'T WANT MY KID TO BE STEVE JOBS.

I don't want him or any kid to suffer cancer so young. I want my kid think buttons are actually ok.

Waita minute, did he really invent the ipod and ipad? Did those marvelous engineers ever get praises they deserve?