Microsoft hardware

So I visited the Microsoft Store to check out its latest products... the Surface laptops that rivals Mac things. Now I am NOT a Mac fan, especially its wacky wacky interface. But the Mac laptops do look good. I just hate its interface but on the outside Macs are good looking.

Now back to the Windows machines... are they good looking? Yes they are thin... but there are something that makes me think they don't look as good as the Macs or Dells. Maybe the color and stuff... just doesn't seem to look right. And yikes, they ARE expensive. Really no good reason to buy Microsoft machines when you can buy a decent Dell or HP for a lot less.

Look at the new Microsoft arc mouse.

Wow you can even flatten it (I didn't know). But it doesn't scroll nicely as any cheap mouse. This is almost 80 bucks.

Look at this dial thing

You can hit it and bring a wacky radial menu... sorry, this-is-absolutely-useless and this is almost 100 bucks. Maybe it can be used to play Atari Breakout or Arkanoid.

So I think Microsoft things are still too expensive for its attractiveness. Windows's only edge over Mac is its more intuitive interface. But yikes its shell is not as solid as Mac's linux within... and much more prone to virus. (I do NOT surf the web in Windows). Yikes Microsoft things like Office costs extra money when people can go to google docs... So I am afraid Microsoft is losing its strong foothold.

Cyber Monday is useless for me

Ohh Black Friday! Oooh Cyber Monday! Some pople go crazy over the shopping days following Thanksgiving. Sure if you need a huge screen TV this is the time to buy... but I don't. My trusty probably-thicker-than-yours TV is still functional. I do not need a newlaptop now.

But here is what I need: incredibly expensive INK for my printer.

My HP inkjet thing needs EXPENSIVE ink. A pack of ink runs out maybe about 100 pages. Bullshit bullshit information found here that says ~1400 pages. Yet everywhere is same. I looked at Amazon, Staples, etc no one offer any sales on these ultra ridiculous expensive inks. Just how come ink are that expensive? Ok some answers here.

Full of bad dudes

This guy groped women's butts.

That guy groped women's butts.

Even George Bush 41 did. Bad dudes dominate headlines lately.

Well it is complex over there at Hollywood... but for even for people who run for government posts who "stand for Christian conservative"?

And there was even a "pro-life" guy who seek abortion for the affair he had.

What the heck is going on here?!

There was even guy running for governor who bragged about sex history. uh hem, that's actually shame-on-you adultery history.

These SHAMELESS BAD DUDES ought to be a shame of themselves, but problem is... there are still people who support these shameful beings... now that's even more shameful.

Well, is there good dudes out there? Probably there are. but those good dudes don't have supports needed to win elections. America is in such shameful disgrace even the president bragged about "able to do anything" in that "locker room" talk and still win.

Vegas Shooting

So a week ago, a mysterious retired accountant-turned-gambler "numbers guy" has dozens of guns shooting at a country music festival and now 58 lives are lost and still no motive known. News quiet down as topics like Trump and politics come back to the headlines. And of course, now is still "Not a time to discuss gun control".

Waita minute, Chicago's gun laws is once again being labeled as useless.

Look the bad dudes have legs and can easily go to another state to buy their guns, ok? If gun laws is to work it needs to be nation wide.

Then when will you talk about Gun Control?

How do people respond to yet another act of violence?

They. buy. more. guns.

Another thing in the spotlight: there are some device that can turn "semi automatic" weapon to automatic weapon and may be banned... waita minute just what is "semi automatic"? I do not even bother want to ever find out as I will just never attempt to play with any real guns. Waita minute, preventing that thing is against your freedom! Are people stocking them up?

Let me tell you this: it is NUTS to have such powerful weapons for "protection" with or without that automatic tool. And even if you carry all that if someone shooting at you from 32nd floor you aren't going to protect yourself.

But the silly gun culture is so deeply rooted that even if thousands or even millions die it still won't change.

Investigation about the gun man... how come nobody talked about: does he hate country music or that particular performer? was the music bothering him? The 60+ year old "girlfriend" know anything else? So there is a calculation note about shooting how come no one comment on correct or not? Did he use this mighty equation: d = v_it + 1/2 a t². Why does he not battle a bit with the police? Did he have bulletproof jacket on (doubtful)?

Now where do we go from here. Back to where we were... wait for the NEXT massacre.

with 20000 people below, after firing for 10 minutes, that hit ratio is fortunately quite low. It could be a lot worse.

Oh, it is biggest massacre in modern history. Certainly not the biggest in all of US history. See list of massacres in the US.

Bill Gates uses Android

https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/26/16365424/bill-gates-android-phone-switch

Even Bill Gates uses Android nowadays. What about the the current CEO and the other guy Steve Ballmer? (I guess nobody cares about him nowadays).

So i guess Microsoft's phone battle is totally dead. (Oh it has been dead for a while). I wish someone asked Gates is there anything he would do to give it more life. I think the number 1 reason is of course its damn ugly Tiles (Metro) interface. Is that guy still working for Microsoft? Fire him! Fire him!

Now it is interesting that Gates does not use the iPhone instead.... I am sure he does not mind the hefty price tag. I wish the article say more about why he does not use the iPhone. For me: here is why: everything-is-so-damn-anti-intuitive-in-the-damn-Mac-world and more expensive.

Will Windows one day dead too? I don't think so. Unless someone can really make Linux mainstream. Modern Linux things are lot simpler now... but still too hard for many.

Toys R Us leaving us?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-toys-r-us-bankruptcy-20170920-story.html

Oh No, Toys R Us filed for bankruptcy.

Remember this commercial? "I don't want to grow up I am a Toys R Us Kid"

But those who have seen this commercial already grew up.... into a world where brick and mortar stores mostly going out of business... lost to Amazon and the big stores like Target and Walmart... It is kinda sad, but waita minute, when was the last time I went to Toys R Us? Too long ago! I got toys from these other places! I contributed to its doom!

Unfortunate reality is.....the survival of the fittest. Who's next to fold? How long are you able to survive Sears and JCPenny...

Hurricanes!

It is routine that we get hurricanes. They are expected to come. But very rare that an entire Florida needs to evacuate and hurricanes are hitting so many places so frequently.

So yes, cars flipped over, roofs pulled off, thousands of people affected... Some will have days or weeks without power! Unimaginable number of money lost. After water recedes, molds will come out causing even more problems..

But the forecast... was it accurate? Sometimes east, sometimes west... was it as big as the forecast?

See https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2017/09/11/irmas-track-forecast-was-adequate-but-theres-significant-room-for-improvement.

But look, in terms of weather, things change so fast, it is just hard to predict very precisely. Things don't go in exactly straight path you know, especially hurricanes. I hope forecast weather science do get better so people can be better prepared.

Look, you believe the weathermen (scientists) in time like this... at least there really was the hurricanes coming. You believe the astronomers (scientists) when they say eclipse is coming.

Why they say global warming with mountains of evidence you say it is hoax?

Euclid's Elements makeover

The classic geometry book Elements is having a new design:

https://www.fastcompany.com/90282910/a-masterpiece-of-ancient-data-viz-reinvented-as-a-gorgeous-website.

I think that's pretty cool. If you care to look around the math/science section of bookstores.. you see there are MANY pretty books covering the chemistry elements, astronomy and other sciences. Now many of them will end up in the discount bin and well educated people who find them interesting are so few. It is sad American cultures that most people are just interested in sports.

Much of math's more advanced things are super difficult to read, loaded with hard-to-understand notations and endless list of definitions, theorems, etc. Even fewer people can ever understand or have slight interest in those... well, many of the advanced topics aren't about pictures so hard to give them graphical good look. Well Euclid's work has some unique elements of course: pictures... so a graphical makeover will make it more attractive to readers of today.

Elements is such influential scientific work.

The Elements included this fascinating proof: that there are infinitely many prime numbers. (and I can only understand his proof. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euclid%27s_theorem).

However, even with a graphical makeover, the Elements' original form is probably too hard for most to understand for most... But this is a classic to be appreciated. Everyone should at least heard of it. It is the 2nd all time best seller, only second to the Bible.

I missed the eclipse

So the once-a-lifetime eclipse has come and gone.

It is Monday, I need to work you know, I do have a window behind me at the office... I expected to feel a moment of darkness or strangeness. Nope. Didn't even feel it. Well I was watching my computer too. So yes I missed it.

Well given plenty of people recorded the whole thing and I already know what an eclipse looked like so I did not miss a lot.

Now eclipse used to be an omen... and I am surprised so few doomsday sayers say perhaps evil guys would launch nuclear bomb on this day. I am glad it is not the end of the world yet.

Now what I still don't understand is... the moon circle around the earth quite a lot right? Should eclipse happen a lot more frequently? (Well it does, only at particular part of the world that is happening though).

And, it is REMARKABLE that astronomy predicts the path and time of eclipse. Look anybody out there still say math is useless?!

Ok eclipse is no big deal you say? This eclipse is a big deal for scientists to study the sun.... and Mercury too See https://www.space.com/37652-nasa-planes-will-chase-2017-solar-eclipse.html...

Why do we care? Without people studying things you would still think a Sky Dog eating the sun telling you something bad going to happen, and you are still center of the universe. It is understanding that we seek here.

Can the mayor manage Chicago?

So the governor has refused to give funding to CPS... Who is the good guy, who is the bad guy here?

So, the governor refuse to help Chicago because their pension thing is out of control: why shall the rest of Illinois pay for that? (I agree...)
So, the mayor thinks the governor is playing with politics and refused money... come on give the money so school can open! (I agree too!)

Waita minute, that seems contradictory here before you take side on mayor vs governor, read this:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamandrzejewski/2017/08/06/can-mayor-rahm-emanuel-manage-chicago/#39c72fe5632d

There is GOTTA BE solution to this. Other cities can run schools how come we are so bad at it?

If money is not there what does the mayor do? Borrow money at high interest to cover the cost so schools can stay open! Now THAT'S definitely not the right thing to do. But there is little alternative if money isn't there.

Without money we will just be further down in debt... perhaps the governor should provide money, but some criteria can be given so that CPS can be fixed up in some way?

Perhaps schools can no longer be free! Parents need to pay! (Just don't look for re-election next time around)

Ok CPS is a mess, what are alternatives? Private schools are outrageous expensive not so affordable. After you pay for it it would ask for fundraising nonstop. Between free and outrageous expensive, there needs to be some middle ground...

Well I don't have solution for this, do you? But is the city managing its money wisely, is this city run right? Would the other candidate who ran against the mayor do a better job?

Text to Death

So there is a young girl who keep pushing her young boyfriend to die.... by texting.

You can see the full text here: http://www.fox25boston.com/news/all-the-text-messages-between-michelle-carter-and-conrad-roy-they-day-he-died/532942907

Now after reading the thing... I still don't understand why girl keep telling him just-have-to-do-it.

A typical suicide would be awww-ms-right-leaving-me-for-another-being, lost purpose of life. But this isn't the case here. There is still 'I love you', and 'I love you too' message exchange'. Why she does not rest until he die?

Oh, so this case is quite complex, both had some pyschological issues and on psychiatric medications: See details in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Conrad_Roy.

I don't understand why a great athlete with high GPA has social anxiety and depression. That itself is complex and so-call-experts only pretend to understand. This is tragic.

Actually, tragic for both families.

Now, really, watch what you email or text, it is in the logs.

Best Burger and Fries?

So there is a restaurant I heard that have boast "the Best Burgers and Fries". It won many awards as posted on its windows. They are not all over the place like big chain restaurants... ok I found one and decided to try.

Ok what do we have here: burger at $7.95 and fries at $2.95. Gee, expensive. But if it really is very very good then it is worth it. The regular burger actually contains 2 patties. Then should have called it double hamburger.

Oh and this place even let you eat free roast peanuts, and they ARE good. but the good stops here.

The meat is like any burger meat, nothing special, only lower end. It is greasy, making the bun soggy. McDonald's burger meat taste better. If you do bbq at home you did a better job.

The fries? I hate soggy fries with skin on. Hand cut you say? what's the difference. A TON of salt on it. Ridiculous. McDonald's taste better. Burger King taste better. Your frozen fries from freezer microwaved will taste better.

Terrible $10+ spent on the burger and fries. If I went for a coke I'll be $3 poorer.

What's wrong with these so call food review people out there. Not ever buy from these guys again.

First look at Kotlin

Unless you live under rock, you should have at least heard about Kotlin, the language now official on Android. People bash and bash java these days constantly complaining about its verboseness (but no one type all that get/set methods when you can have your IDE generate it ok?) and just have to invent something else.

Just about every language has to find a new way to spell "function". Well javascript and Pascal uses it directly "function". C does not need it because everything are functions. Scala and Groovy call it "def" and Kotlin calls it "fun". Ok, hope you are having fun with Kotlin. Besides "fun", the Kotlin syntax for other things are quite elaborate.

Ok how do you do a hello world? Sure you can try it right on the browser.

Ok how about outside the browser, ok you need IntelliJ or Android Studio. Waita minute I want general purpose stuff first, sure there is command line compiler. But that's.. for Linux only? See here. In the programming world seems like everybody uses the Mac and everyone despise Windows. Further looking shows that only very recent updates included a Windows install. Still not in the kotlinlang.org page yet. Definitely there was no hurry to support Windows.

Ok just why do we need Kotlin when there is Java for Android?

See the comparison here.

Kotlin offers a ton of new things but is it worth the learning curve.

I believe Java, if used right, serve the purpose of programming Android (and many other things) well. Only thing about Java is it isn't native code and always require the runtime environment, so if you need system level as-fast-as-you-can things you need something else. I am in no hurry learning Kotlin.

Death to C?

Saw this article about Death to C, and Death to C, ++.

C is old, but it is such important programming language... much of today's systems still based on it, and yes, it is easy to create subtle bugs for bad guys to exploit. Yes pointers are frustrating. But I definitely do NOT want to do C for a living. I need the String type and higher level things like in Java. I am not going to fool around with char *. I am not going to fight pointers for a living.

Wow, people are trying to replace C (and C++) with a rather new language called Rust. Look it won the first place for "most loved programming language" in some developer's survey.

Look at its syntax... newer language just has to be Pascal like with return type behind the method...and has to have functional programming language things like closures.

Part of C's merit is... its SIMPLE syntax. Rust seems to have too complex a syntax for me. Why do people embrace it? I guess I need to read some more about it.. It seems to be strong at concurrency things though.. that stuff is hard.

I am just glad I am not doing much low level things.

But C is here to stay. It just won't disappear any time soon.

Now about the survey... some of these I never heard of, but why is groovy so low. It is a such awesome twist to java.

Dev Bootcamp.. why it did not succeed?

Saw this story today. Dev Bootcamp, a software developer training company, is shutting down.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/bluesky/originals/ct-bsi-dev-bootcamp-shutting-down-20170713-story.html.

When I first heard about it in the news I was like, "dang, why am I not doing a business like this." It would be an awesome thing to do. Look, there is the need... people need skills and updating their skills. Sure, you can get tutorials for just about everything out there. But it is much much more effective if you have a live instructor and some fun projects to work on, and you get to work with classmates that's even better. That university classes are too expensive! (and you actually don't get much) I think there will be people who want to learn a thing or two without paying too big a fortune.

I don't quite understand this line: "(D)espite tremendous efforts from a lot of talented people, we’ve determined that we simply can’t achieve a sustainable business model without compromising our mission of delivering a high-quality coding education that is accessible to a diverse population of students,”

I don't understand this line either: Just what is this microscope? "Coding schools have been under increasing pressure in recent years, as for-profit schools go under the microscope nationwide and coding schools attempt to prove their worth"

So what is the issue here? no one sign up? why? too expensive or no one wants to learn? BTW, too many programming jobs are going overseas... perhaps even the most skillful developer would have trouble making a living.

There is gotta be a way to run a successful training business.

Java and UTF-8 encoding

Java supports Unicode since day 1. The professor who introduced me to Java says, "look you don't have to limit yourself English in variable names and strings, you can use Unicode which support just about every language out there!" Ooh now that's forward thinking. The then leading language of the day C++ no way had that. Then he added, "but unfortunately there aren't many Unicode editors out there yet". That was 20+ years ago.

Now there are Unicode editors of course. But can you actually work with non-English things.

public class UnicodeTest { 

 public static void main(String arg[]) {
  String test = "你好，世界";
  
  System.out.println(test);
  

 }

}

First need to compile with UTF-8 encoding:

 javac -encoding "UTF-8" UnicodeTest.java

What do you expect to see? whatever in test variable of course. Yes I expect you can get that if I run it within an IDE. But at the DOS prompt? boom I get junk characters.

The command prompt does not like it. Theoretically setting some code page command will work but does not work for me.

Got a workaround... using bytes array.

public class UnicodeTest { 

 public static void main(String arg[]) {
  String test = "你好，世界";
  
 // System.out.println(test);
  
 try {
  byte[] bytes = test.getBytes("UTF-8");
  System.out.write(bytes);
 } catch (Exception e) {
  e.printStackTrace();
 }
 }

}

Waita minute still junk. But I can pipe to a file. java UnicodeTest > output.txt.

Ah ha I got what I need... in a file.

Ultra Street Fighter II - the Final Challengers

Look! Nintendo has came up with a new innovative gaming system.. the Nintendo Switch!

And not surprisingly there are classics like Mario Cart, Zelda etc... oh and there is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra_Street_Fighter_II:_The_Final_Challengers. It is 30-year anniversary of the Street Fighter series... and who would give there is yet one more version of this?

Now let's do a little recap... the original Street Fighter was actually not that fun.. slow and very difficult to execute but powerful special moves and left player is Ryu right player is Ken... Street Fighter II was hugely innovative and successful.. EIGHT characters each have different moves and background music! So cool that there are rows of quarters lined up to play... and then there was Champion Edition ooh boss vs boss! And then someone made wacky hacks.. .and then there was Hyper Fighting! Faster and new moves and stuff... and then Super was a major disappointment. It was SLOW (because it used Champion Edition' speed when everyone is used to Hyper Fighting). and gosh the sound is horrible with a wacky new sound system. New characters aren't so fun... The SUPER meter takes so long to fill up each round... But there is one thing that SUPER debuted.. the combo counter. And then it got faster with Super Turbo.. faster.. and then gosh MUCH MUCH MORE difficult. I am a decent player who can probably finish Hyper Fighting on a quarter and I can barely beat one or two rounds... and then the world is TIRED of the same old graphics and stuff.. Street Fighter then started something entirely new... the Alpha series... then some 3D (kinda blocky) things... some cross-over editions such as vs XMen and all that... there are so many before reaching Street Fighter III. SFIII is new graphics but still 2D. What? just one super out of 2 or 3? oh well the world gets a bit tired of the whole thing after decades... then Playstation things come with SF 4 and 5... Still kinda 2D fighting but a lot of graphics power nowadays..

Why did Nintendo decide to do 1 more Street Fighter II and using the crappiest version: Super? Probably can do Alpha series.. or modern series.. but it can be nostalgia factor and processing power may be limited on the Nintendo Switch.

Oooh... there are Evil Ryu and (new) Violent Ken! oh and that's it? I am a bit disappointed. Well Evil Ryu is out for decades ok?

Can anyone explain why the hell take out Ryu's sign:

Good Bye Radio Shack

https://patch.com/illinois/chicago/radio-shack-closings-14-illinois-locations-shuttering

There was almost always a Radio Shack near me. I live close to one. I work near one. I go to college near one. This was where I got my first computer. The Tandy 1000. I used to like reading its catalog. Remember there used to be no internet back then. There weren't Walmart, Best Buy, Target either. That was the place for electronic things like wires, RC cars, and Tandy computers... Why is there need for so many stores I don't know. But it is quite remarkable that they last that long.

Radio Shack once upon a time expanded in many countries and now ended up bankrupt. The rise and fall of it is worth a study case in business classes. (Nah but I won't ever attend such classes cause not likely anyone will make it interesting enough for me to attend) What contributed to its failures? Management problems? Too few interesting things on the shelf? Too expensive? Killed by online shopping? Brick-and-mortar stores are in general dropping like flies. Just what else can remain as actual retail stores? Only restaurants and nail shops?

Prediction of the next retail closing: Game Stop

I no longer have time for any video games. Yes, they are cool but time consuming... and can be bought online and not need to be from a store... It is hard to make a profit... so I predict this won't last too long.

Disney World revisited

The last time I went to Disney World was end of 2008. They sure have modernized it a bit nowadays. Now you must rely on the Disney app to sign up for "fast pass", and it can even function as a map and you can use the app to see how long is the line. Seems like impossible to go Disney without a smartphone these days. And the ticket and fast pass is now on a smart card... Nice going!

Besides the technical aspect... much of Disney remained the same, well, except they destroyed my favorite attraction: the Mickey Mouse House, way back in 2012. Read about it here.

It is still a bit hot to visit even in spring break... It is Florida you know, but at night it becomes cool. Perhaps good idea to spend the money and rent a car... even with free hotel shuttles you have to wait for it to loop through all the hotels! It just had to go to Animal Kingdom first before taking you to hotel when you wanted to go direct from Magic Kingdom to hotel.

Now, the late night so-many-lights parade in Magic Kingdom is gone. Perhaps too costly to run them... now the Cinderella castle acts as projection screen to do fireworks and stuff.

Oh where is the iconic Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey's hat for the Hollywoord Studios? It is gone. Now there is Star Wars stuff.

Oh "Downtown Disney" is gone, renamed as "Disney Spring" and now huge!

I do like Epcot.. love Disney's ability to re-create country-themed place. The UK place... people actually have British accent! French place.. actually people look like from France... and I asked them, he said "yes, all of us are from France.", and they sold me a $4.50 ice cream scoop. (ouch), and I still said "merci beaucoup".

Yes, there are many Star Wars themed things...but I am not so into it. Last time I was impressed with even the napkins that have Mickey mouse symbol.. nope, not this time, all generic napkins now.

Disney World still a fun place to visit. But the "cast members" there this time... seem to be a bit overworked and not as friendly this time.

Kasparov vs the World

Recently brought an old introductory book for chess for kids... and found a page about the author telling readers that they can always find people to play on the internet. Well since the infancy of the web I've seen people playing chess... it was text-only chess on a dumb terminal. How that has evolved these couple decades.

So I learned from the introductory book that way back in 1999, there was an interesting game... It was Gary Kasparov the world champion against the World. Kasparov is such awesome player and author. I have his EXCELLENT short book Chess Tactics that is such awesomely written work. So it is the internet that makes this possible... Kasparov makes a move... and the rest of world vote for the next move. Each side has 24 hours for each move. Details can be found on wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasparov_versus_the_World.

This is a world class game... and it is hard to read chess move list without an actual chess set to follow along. But javascript is here for the rescue! This is such great tool here: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1252350.

Whoa! The whole world is watching and still let Kasparov fork King and Rook? But after that it is an exciting match to watch. (Waita minute, I am able to predict correctly on some moves, am I *that* good? :) )

It is the internet that made this possible... to collaborate players around the world to play with the world champion... Have you seen elderly folks gather heads around chess games on the park? More heads can fit if you are on the internet (and you are allowed to talk while watching). Remarkably, the world champion still reigned. And it is the internet that make it possible for me to find the game and see it on a browser decades later.

Chicago violence off the spotlight for now

It will be a GOOD day for Chicago if no one shot to death. Even pre-teen kids got shot down if appear wrong place at wrong time. It is not all gangs you know.

Everyone says this must stop. But everyone is just helpless.

Trump says send in the Feds (where are they?). Yes, if you send tanks all over totalitarian style military in every corner I am sure that crime will stop for a bit... but who is going to pay for them?

Some say don't send in the Feds as that money should be used somewhere else. Other things in news have eclipsed the dire need to do something about this. Gun Control? useless. People writing a column or two about it? Useless? (sorry I am doing just that).

Some say the the root cause... is poverty, when you have high unemployment rate and in poverty you have nothing better to do than to shoot each other. Ok, so the answer is... jobs and education... and even some tutoring. Waita minute schools are all over but you guys don't study. "Stop a bullet with a job" is what they say. But without skills what kind of jobs can you get?

Ok talk is easy. Where is the money? That's when everyone go shrug and people continue to die.

When I look at news about people willing to pay huge price to hear President Obama's speech live... when I see people paying a fortune to see Cubs game and stuff... I think there ARE money out there!

Here is an idea: have a yuuuge rally for peace. Cubs! Blackhawks! Chicago stars like Jordan, Obama come talk. Get some influential singers to sing. Spread a huge message for peace. Arrange some dancing/singing/whatever performance from Chicago Public schools! Spread the positive message of education. Start a big fund, create some actual jobs from that money... like turn street wanderers into basketball trainers, into skillful people who can remodel falling-apart homes, into car mechanics, chefs, etc. Get way from the streets and do something useful... The positive messages will be mind changing. That education/job training fund can last at least for a while. Trump the billionaire can donate a few millions if he cares Chicago that much.

It won't be long before somebody else shot dead next. How can you be sure you won't get hit by the next stray bullet?

The hopeless future of this administration

There has never been so much controversy about presidents nominating the cabinets. Usually people nominated are somewhat qualified and they get confirmed by Congress no problem at all. In fact I usually have no idea who is holding what post.

But you just cannot hide from the news coverage of Betsy Devos and her grizzly bear comment. Now has there ever been actual grizzly bear attack on Wyoming students?

For more explanation of why she is not qualified, see https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/07/opinion/betsy-devos-teaches-the-value-of-ignorance.html for example.

Why does she even want this job? She must be qualified to do other things... such as funding Republicans.

Republicans has majority... unfortunately not enough Republicans voted otherwise (just 2) and that required the Vice President to do the historic tie breaking vote. It seems like it is now meaningless to vote. Republicans get what they want.

Do the 50 Republicans believe she is actually qualified for this job? Or they just go with whoever Trump picks. Or they will approve whoever that gives them money.

This administration is getting hopeless. I am not too surprised. And yet, some people still think Trump is going to make America great.

Alternative mathematics

I worry about the "alternative facts" in this new administration. Either they live in their own reality or simply deny truth.

I especially worry when even mathematics can have alternative version.

Look at this Kellyanne Conway comment about the immigration ban executive order http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kellyanne-conway-trump-executive-order_us_588e07bfe4b0b065cbbc90f0.

“325,000 people from overseas came into this country just yesterday through our airports,” she said on Fox News Sunday. “You’re talking about 300-and-some who have been detained or are prevented from gaining access to an aircraft in their home countries and must stay for now. That’s 1 percent, and I think in terms of the upside being greater protection of our borders of our people, it’s a small price to pay.”

I am not so sure about 325,000 part. But if you multiply that by 1% how much do you get? Is that 300-and-some? or is it 3000 and some. Ok that makes it even smaller price to pay, only 0.1% got affected for the greater protection of our borders. God bless America! Hail Trump?!

Waita minute, now, this ban is not indefinite, just 90 days, just causing inconvenience. And this really give ISIS a reason to strike. This is such useless measure and just cause chaos. And this is just week 1. More chaos ahead as foolish people make more foolish decisions.

Alternate facts or outrageous lies on crowd size

As soon as Trump become president comes a scary controversy: "alternate facts" on the crowd size. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/inauguration-crowd-size/514058/

Did the (bad?!) media photoshopped pictures to deliberately lie about crowd size? I don't think so. Now talking about "alternate facts" is just shameful. Look, facts are facts there are no alternate facts. This is just day 1 after the inauguration.

Wow, hundreds and thousands of women (and men) marched and protested on the same day: http://time.com/4642399/womens-march-united-states-cities/. Now that crowd size is definitely more than those who cheers for the new president. But waita minute... just what are they protesting about?

Other than frustrated at Trump... but I don't see specific demands like "resign now!" or "save obama care" and the march is yes very remarkable but achieving... nothing. Sorry.

How come this march does not take place EARLIER, like before December 19. When the outcome can ACTUALLY count... if enough electors will switch the vote to Clinton... then Trump will NOT be the president on January 20.

Now... ladies count at least close to half the population right? if enough ladies vote for Clinton (in those swing states), she would win... unfortunately there are really Trump women voters who don't mind at all voting him... Yes, a million of you came out, but still not enough.

Now, to ensure this won't happen again... perhaps a good first step is to throw away the electoral college system. (Anyone even saying that now?)

So you want to keep the electoral college system? Then we must respect the voting results. Sorry ladies, Trump is in. Too late. Should have acted earlier.

This administration is not looking good. Starting with outrageous lies.

Syntax highlighting

When I was programming in high school in college... you get a text editor. That's it. NO syntax highlighting. Forgot to close a comment block? It will be a while before you find out. Now editors even shows you error as you type like a word processor. Great stuff.

The first IDE I saw that has syntax highlighting was Visual C++ 1.0. Wow that's great. Then everyone is spoiled and just about every tool has it.

Ok, how do you do that in your own little html page. Yes you can insert <font color="green"> for your comments... and <b> every keyword but that's time consuming right? Sure you can write your own little lexical processor and figure out your syntax and write your own little syntax formatting.

Or you can tap onto somebody else's library. This one is awesome: http://alexgorbatchev.com/SyntaxHighlighter/manual/installation.html

Boring:

// Simple java code highlighted!
public class HelloWorld {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("Hello, World");
    }

}

A lot better:

// Simple java code highlighted!
public class HelloWorld {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("Hello, World");
    }

}

Goodbye yahoo

Yahoo is really dying. It will be sold to Alibaba and get renamed to "Altaba"
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/01/09/how-yahoo-came-up-with-its-new-name-altaba/
. Now are the emails @yahoo.com will be changed to @altaba.com?

I have no interest in getting an altaba email. Even if I can keep @yahoo.com... not so interested in continuing. I will just abandon yahoo forever. Thank you for the journey.

Rush'n Attack

This is a fun game I played in the 80s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rush'n_Attack

It is... a game. How naive it is to think you can be a 1-man army to kill enemy and rescuing POW with just 1 knife and the enemy shoot you slowly and give you time to duck the bullets.

This game is based on the cold war during the time. USSR and US fear each other with nuke build-ups, fortunately no World War III took place and the Soviet Union collapsed. So the cold war is over right?

I hope so. But I am afraid it is a "no".

So there are some evidence of Russian hacking... to help Trump win. So Trump's presidency is illegitimate? Will the election be nullified? But he did get all those electoral votes and even Hillary is not even crying foul here.

Now all that "hacking"... does that mean they are able to go mess the automatic counting machines to give Trump more votes? Not really... It is... digging up Hillary things to ruin her reputation? Well, Trump's reputation is not so good either with all that grab them by the p*ssy talk and refusing to release his tax forms.

That Russian hacks didn't go too far as able to mess up counting.

And... Trump already won, what can you do about it?

If you can find something he done wrong to impeach him that's the only thing in the Constitution that can kick him out. But with a Republican majority that isn't likely going to ever happen.

Now, why does Russia want Trump to win? So they can easily manipulate this political newbie?

I am sure turbulence and yuuuge disasters are going to happen in his term. What can you do about it?

For those Trump fans, that Mexican wall isn't going to be built and paid for by Mexicans ok? This isn't even a reasonable proposal. And you still voted for him.

Unfortunately little people can't do much about this, we are already fortunately enough to be given a chance to vote. But popular vote does not count (directly).

And waita minute, Obama kicking the Russian diplomats out... is that a wise thing to do? What other options are on the table? Trump can get them back in after 1/20 anyway. Oh well, this will be an interesting chapter in US history. Hoping America still survives this chapter.