Copying files between Windows PC

The easiest way is obviously using a USB Thumb drive :P Well, sometimes you could only access the destination PC remotely via RDP. In the Unix world, we have util like scp (which utilize ssh) It's actually (arguably) easier on PC: You can expose your local drive to the remote PC via RDP itself! Simply click the Options button on RDP and choose the Local Resources tab and go from there. (Credit to this Stackoverflow post)

I won't stay with me backing down

Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker is a well respected rock band yet I just can't stand them, primarily because of their 1989 hit "I Won't Back Down." Recently there's another song on the radio that I cannot stand, "Stay with Me." Now I know why: Stay with Me copied I Won't Back Down. Apparently it's well-known and people have compared and analyzed them thoroughly. It made the news a few days ago that Tom Petty and producer Jeff Lynne were given 12.5% of the credit for Stay with Me (and listed as chief songwriters) Looks like both sides reached the agreement without threats of lawsuits. Very civilized! I mean, as a songwriter I know how easy it is to incorporate others' phrases without knowing it.

They used to be huge

Talking about the once-popular "Boy band" New Kids on the Block here. They are actually touring again and will be visiting San Jose soon, with the "lady" group TLC. During their heydays I never listen to NKOTB but I like TLC a lot. The trivia question on the radio was: what's NKOTB's current average age? The answer is: 44.5. I'm surprised TLC is still performing after the tragic lost of one of their member Lisa Lopes to an auto accident years ago. TLC started a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for a new album (the first after Lopes passed away) And guess what? The NKOTB guys contributed a combined $20K to the campaign! Nice gesture :)

Big data

Big data has been THE buzzwords in the tech industry for a while. The industry likes big data: you need a lot of storage and computing power to analyze that much data. I have read two articles related to this topic:

• An Apache project named Spark aims at replacing the MapReduce engine (for distributed computing) of the big data pioneering platform Hadoop.
• We have reached the limitation of transmitting digital data in copper wire. One possible replacement is silicon photonics (a combination of high-speed silicon modulators and photodetectors) It generates less heat as well.

2015 Groundhog's prediction

Just realized I've never blogged about this before. The groundhog Punxsutawney Phil sees it shadow, and thus predicts six more weeks of winter starting today, the Groundhog day. This American tradition has lasted for 100+ years. The groundhog is supposed to be the same Punxsutawney Phil all these years (which is of course not true since groundhog has an average lifespan of 6 years) I'll try updating this post in the future and see if he's accurate (stats showed he's not, actually worse than picking random :P)

A playlist from 10 years ago

I wanted to blog about these 6 in 2005:
[Jazz] Marc Johnson - Shades of Jade. Bassist Marc Johnson is probably best known for his work with the Bill Evans trio. On this CD he worked with some greatest jazz musicians in the current generation : saxophonist Joe Lovano and guitarist John Scofield. Along with Joey Baron on drums and Elaine Elias on piano, this is an all-star lineup any jazz fan can't miss. With Scofield and Baron, I expected some explosive jazz. The album opens with several beautiful ballads instead. What a pleasant surprise!
[Jazz] Dewey Redman - Musics (recommended track: Need to Be)
[Jazz] Ravi Coltrane - In Flux
[Metal] Hed PE - Blackout (recommended: Suck it Up) This rap metal band was unfortunately grouped together with the less talented bands under the Nu-metal umbrella. I completely overlooked them in early 2000. Just found an interesting fact: the band covered Sabbath's Sabbra Cadabra earlier in their career. And they also have a song named "No Rest for the Wicked" from their 2010 release, which is the name of an Ozzy's album (didn't contain a track with the same name though) This tune was a departure from the usual rap metal formula with some bluesy elements. 
[Metal] At All Cost - It's Time to Decide (recommended: Death to Distraction) I have no idea why I wanted to blog about this band at that time. Maybe they sounded kinda like Shadows Fall. Now I find their tunes a bit too pop. This metalcore band hasn't released anything new since 2007.
[Blues rock] Try! John Mayer Trio Live In Concert. This guy looked too mainstream but his music is actually better than what his look/tabloid appearances imply (yes, he dated the awesome Jennifer Aniston. Taylor Swift and Katy Perry too. He allegedly wrote "Paper Doll" on his 2013 album about Swift. His duet with Katy Perry, "Who You Love" also appeared on the same album) Of course this album is more like an exception to his more usual pop offerings.