Today's monitors and LCD screens have vibrant colors. That is so unimaginable in the old days when there was just monochrome monitors that was either green or amber. I would not have imagined being able to watch a full color movie on a computer today back in the 1980s.
I played with the Commodore PET, Commodore 64, the IBM PC, Tandy 1000, and the Sperry. Thanks toChicago Public Schools for providing those toys!
Ok, the Tandy had color monitors (though only a CGA with 16 colors). But some older 8088s, 286s or Sperry didn't.
A while ago I discovered this fun DOS command. COLOR.
Try "color 0a" at the DOS prompt to simulate a monochrome monitor. The parameters of COLOR are 2 hex digits, meaning 16 colors, like those for a very old CGA monitor. Have fun.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Found a great Euler page (in Chinese)
Recently I encountered some fancy phone: the blackberry. It's got a colorful screen! Hmm let's see what apps it comes with. Ah, I found the calculator.
Each time I have my hand on a calculator, I TEST it!
-9, square root, will I get a generic E or "Error" spelled out?
5 / 0 =. Will I get a generic E or "Division by Zero!" error?
1 - 5 =. Will I get a negative sign in front, in the back, or the word "Minus"?
Ok, it gives me -Error-. Hmm, why does the square root called a "root"?
See, I understand why the unix superuser is called the root, as users decdend from it like a inverted tree... I understand why my ancestors can be referred to as my root... Why is the "radical" operation called "root"?
I decided to google around. I haven't found the answer yet. Ah, I found that the square root of 2 and 3 has a relationship with arctan and π! I have yet to understand the equations... (to be continued...)
I also found the following great discussion of the great mathematician Euler:
http://elearning.emath.pu.edu.tw/mkuo2003/2003mh/VII/18thold2/1894Leonhard%20Euler/eular.detail.htm
I left the google perference to Chinese page only.
If you survey people who are the greatest mathematicians, many will say "don't know" or "don't care". For those who do know, you may get people like Euclid, Newton, Archimedes. Euler should be among the list of the all-time greatest! (So do Gauss, Galois,... and more)
Each time I have my hand on a calculator, I TEST it!
-9, square root, will I get a generic E or "Error" spelled out?
5 / 0 =. Will I get a generic E or "Division by Zero!" error?
1 - 5 =. Will I get a negative sign in front, in the back, or the word "Minus"?
Ok, it gives me -Error-. Hmm, why does the square root called a "root"?
See, I understand why the unix superuser is called the root, as users decdend from it like a inverted tree... I understand why my ancestors can be referred to as my root... Why is the "radical" operation called "root"?
I decided to google around. I haven't found the answer yet. Ah, I found that the square root of 2 and 3 has a relationship with arctan and π! I have yet to understand the equations... (to be continued...)
I also found the following great discussion of the great mathematician Euler:
http://elearning.emath.pu.edu.tw/mkuo2003/2003mh/VII/18thold2/1894Leonhard%20Euler/eular.detail.htm
I left the google perference to Chinese page only.
If you survey people who are the greatest mathematicians, many will say "don't know" or "don't care". For those who do know, you may get people like Euclid, Newton, Archimedes. Euler should be among the list of the all-time greatest! (So do Gauss, Galois,... and more)
Obama makes history
Obama has won! Made history! In fact, either Clinton and Obama would have made history as first woman or first black to become Democratic nominee. That moment came as soon as John Edwards drops out.
The next question for Obama is: who would be your running mate?
Is Clinton going to be the VP candidate? Waita minute, Clinton offered Obama to be HER VP candidate not too long ago.
Obama should now think: why am I not able to capture some big states that Clinton can?
McCain should think: can I deliver the CHANGES that people Obama promise? Please, try to function without that teleprompter
The next question for Obama is: who would be your running mate?
Is Clinton going to be the VP candidate? Waita minute, Clinton offered Obama to be HER VP candidate not too long ago.
Obama should now think: why am I not able to capture some big states that Clinton can?
McCain should think: can I deliver the CHANGES that people Obama promise? Please, try to function without that teleprompter
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Scumbag and gridbag
Even Bill Clinton can't control his language by calling a reporter a "scumbag". See this link for details.
Some reporters are slimy and sleezy. Yes, some are scumbags. It is interesting that some words are classified as appropriate and some are not.
In Java programming there is a difficult-to-use thing known as the GridBagLayout that one needs to know a few things about to pass the Sun Certififed Java Programmer test.
In Java UI, you add controls to a form in one of the defined Layouts. Unfortunately there is simply no way to put them on your specified coordinates! You can't even specify the exact width and height of a button either in most layouts. The gridbaglayout is the most cusomizable layout but it is just very hard to use. Java HAD the opportunity to be a great platform for rich client programming. They blew it. Java UI are not nearly as cool as what Flash can do. Java is retreated just to server side programming.
I call it the ScumBagLayout.
Some reporters are slimy and sleezy. Yes, some are scumbags. It is interesting that some words are classified as appropriate and some are not.
In Java programming there is a difficult-to-use thing known as the GridBagLayout that one needs to know a few things about to pass the Sun Certififed Java Programmer test.
In Java UI, you add controls to a form in one of the defined Layouts. Unfortunately there is simply no way to put them on your specified coordinates! You can't even specify the exact width and height of a button either in most layouts. The gridbaglayout is the most cusomizable layout but it is just very hard to use. Java HAD the opportunity to be a great platform for rich client programming. They blew it. Java UI are not nearly as cool as what Flash can do. Java is retreated just to server side programming.
I call it the ScumBagLayout.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Talk and repent cycle
Obama's pastors say sensitive political comments, stirring up controversy, apologize after realizing trouble.
Sharon Stone also says something inappropriate about the China earthquake, soon apologize after knowing that irritated 1/4 of the earth's entire population.
Think before you talk. Adults should be able to do that. It is wasting everybody's time to say something outrageous then repent.
Here is some ancient wisdom.
"Sickness comes from things going IN your mouth. Trouble comes OUT of your mouth. "
Translation: what you take in (food) can make you sick. What you say can get you into trouble.
Is church a good place for sensitive political comments? NO!
The pastors should stick to their Bible, isn't it?
Let me remind those supposed-to-be-well-respected pastors:
"When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise." (Proverbs 10:19)
"but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison" (James 3:8)
Sharon Stone also says something inappropriate about the China earthquake, soon apologize after knowing that irritated 1/4 of the earth's entire population.
Think before you talk. Adults should be able to do that. It is wasting everybody's time to say something outrageous then repent.
Here is some ancient wisdom.
"Sickness comes from things going IN your mouth. Trouble comes OUT of your mouth. "
Translation: what you take in (food) can make you sick. What you say can get you into trouble.
Is church a good place for sensitive political comments? NO!
The pastors should stick to their Bible, isn't it?
Let me remind those supposed-to-be-well-respected pastors:
"When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise." (Proverbs 10:19)
"but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison" (James 3:8)
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