Goodbye Ballmer

Steve Ballmer is retiring from Microsoft. Sending stocks up. See here. Does that indicate there is now new hope for MSFT?

I've read someone wrote that the number 1 right thing to do to fix Microsoft is to get rid of the "goof ball" Ballmer.

Now to call him a goof-ball may be too harsh. He didn't envision that Metro design didn't he? The guy who envisioned that is definitely a goof ball. But Windows 8 and the Surface... will be forever logged as his failure to get Microsoft back to its glorious days.

His colleagues should plan a go-away gift... ah, the Surface would be a great gift idea. But I hope his colleagues is willing to shell out extra $ for that keyboard.

Yahoo's new logos

Some companies like to change their logos to try an new image to turn their business around. Yes, a fresh new look can be a good thing. But I am afraid it may take more than a logo to win.

So Yahoo comes up with 30 new logos... a new one everyday. See here. Oh it has been going for a while? Although I use yahoo mail everyday I didn't even notice.

Why? Because I use my phone's Email program. I only get and need the email itself. I don't even see logos or ads around the mails.

So I have been using yahoo for free without ads. sorry. Perhaps I should pay you back some way? I hope your new logos help... For the record, I did provide a yahoo link above. Hoping to drive you more traffic. Alas, poor me. I probably don't get a lot of readers.

Angry Bird game changed

I am delighted to find a new update of Angry Bird... the Mighty Feather level and this is a game changer! All these versions of Angry Birds.. hundreds of levels has the same theme... you shoot out your various (suicide!) birds to destroy the bad piggies. One important aspect of the pigs is that they mostly don't move. You can plan your attack like planning a chess move. You can take your time.

Now in this Mighty Feather levels they will move with their little machines... and will steal your eggs. But you have unlimited supplies of Mighty Feather Reds (but only one kind). Of course to get 3 stars you need to use as few as you can... and if you don't get 3 stars you will be explained.

This is a nice new tweak to a well-played game.

Why is it SO successful? Is there someone researching what makes a successful game. Yes, it's got good graphics... but this isn't crazy elaborate like 3D worlds.. sometimes simple is good. Pac man didn't have truly awesome graphics either. Yes Angry Birds got a great music theme and fun sound effects. This helps. Cuteness of characters! That's important... There are plenty of puzzle games out there I like this one because you are not so time pressured... ok, until these Mighty Feather levels...

Yes I played Cut-the-Rope, nice, but just not as fun and addictive... Candy Crush. oh my, my eyes hurt after a few levels.

Regular Angry Bird would be a lot, gosh lot deeper if you can change the order of the birds to launch. So you can use that bomb or accelerating yellow bird first before the wimpy simple Red.

Here is the GRANDDY of Angry Birds: Gorillas throwing banana in DOS.

Plane accidents

There are so MANY plane accidents lately, with the newest being a UPS jet crashing.

This article tells you details and list recent accidents.

If you drive around in Chicago, you see there are HUNDREDS of deaths each year on electronic billboards throughout 90/94 as a way to remind you to drive safely. You can be next. (Ok, or me) Should there be balloons now reminding pilots to drive safely? (of course not). You don't see each car accident detailed in news because there are so many. Perhaps soon airline accidents get so frequent that no one bother reporting them.

Ok, given so many flights everyday, I suppose it is still fairly safe to fly.

Irrationals that you cannot count on

I am fascinated by just looking at the cover of this book.

I flipped through inside... a lot of fascinating things that will take some time to go through... This would be a great book to read if I have some spare time. Irrationals numbers are useless you say? I have to say.... yes there perhaps is not too many practical uses but they are fascinating.

This book cover already listed the most interesting irrational numbers: π e, and the golden ratio φ. There aren't many irrational number given a special name. That spiraling triangle.... continuously make use of the Pythagorean Theorem to construct lengths of the radicals.

And why you cannot count on? That's because irrationals just cannot be represented by countable things such as fractions (there is something not so rational about these radicals).

That Amazon link... talks about Zeta(3). You would not realize how cool is this... perhaps unless you know about Zeta(2)'s jaw-dropping relationship with π.

Ok, Zeta(s) is actually straight forward, the sum of the inverse of integers to the s-th power:

And that it can be proven:

Ok I guess I have to buy the book to see what's up with Zeta(3). Oh, irrationality of e and π... is not for faint of heart. Google search for the proof to see what I mean.

Rare Bible Quote

I got another World Vision plea to help the needy with the following I-have-not-heard-of quote from the Bible:

“Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”

Yes, this is an actual verse. Quiz: Did Jesus or Paul or any of the apostles say this?

Bet you didn't heard of it either. The answer is none of above. It was John. John the Baptist that is. See Luke 3:11.

He was the cousin of Jesus. Just why do we need this John the Baptist to "prepare the way"?... He has always been a good guy, yet he died in terrible death. And Jesus was totally silent for this matter. He got power to resurrect the dead right? He didn't bother nor even talk about John the Baptist after the baptism, I don't think.

I hope you have a helpful heart like John the Baptist too...

$100 off, are you going to buy a Surface?

Microsoft is slashing price of its Surface by $100.

Ok, are you going to rush to Staples, Best Buy or the Microsoft Store to buy one? But that keyboard and cover would still cost you a lot of money. Even if those are free. I still don't need one. I rather have a real (even a basic) laptop or an iPad or some Android pad.

The Surface is just too thick too heavy when you compare to any tablet. The flat UI really turns me off (bring back Aero makes me happier but I still won't buy).

If this is $300 I suppose you can sell a few (but that keyboard+cover+Microsoft Office would cost you that much).

What can save Microsoft now? Microsoft Bob? (See here)

Life + 1000 years

The pure evil Cleveland kidnapper got his sentence: Life + 1000 years. See here for details.

Ok I am confused. When do you start counting that 1000 years?

Ok, let's be nicer to this guy. Take away that life sentence, just 1000 years. At the end of the 1000 years are you really going to release him?

Ok, I'll be EVEN nicer to this guy, how does life prison MINUS 1000 years. So I suppose life sentence is already ∞, did I really give him a break? No, because ∞ ± k = ∞ still. Yes, it gets tricky to talk about infinity.

This guy committed crimes as horrible as it can get... Why even let him live? Why go through such lengthy legal process? I am sure inmates will beat them up or the feeling of guilt will eventually consume him... next time you see him in news he may be going onto the 1000 years of prison... elsewhere.