Topic of the day: Violin Hero

I was curious whether a Guitar-hero-like game exists for violin. I can't believe such thing indeed exists! However, it had been discontinued for a long time. I guess it wasn't that successful. There seems to be a market though, judging by Facebook having a Violin Hero group with 500+ members.

Album of the day: Endgame

For those who defended Metallica by saying they can't make any progress by staying true to their roots (and the spirit of thrash metal), they should look at what Megadeth is doing (or as a matter of fact, what Metallica was doing in their latest album "Death Magnetic") This is a perfect example of a great band that never sell out. It opens with an instrumental that reminds me of the golden days of heavy metal guitar shredding. And it only gets better from there.

Musicians of the day: Taylor Swift and Kanye West

This is a followup to yesterday's topic. So I found one interesting thing they did in common (besides singing, obviously) Both of them have a song named after a person. Kanye's song is "Barry Bonds" (in which he compares himself to Barry with both being arrogant) Swift's song is "Tim McGraw" (about an ex-boyfriend whom she hope would think of her when he listens to the famous country singer Tim McGraw)

BTW, Taylor Swift composed her own songs and wrote her own lyrics (and she played guitar too) I guess it doesn't mean much to Kanye, whose music is arguably much more mature with topics about current affairs and social issues. Still, she's better than those idols with zero ounce of creativity. I'm not trying to defend her but anyone should be allowed to create music, no matter how bad it is. If bad music ended up being popular, there is a problem with the listening (and paying) audiences.

Topic of the day: What Obama said about Kanye

It has been an interesting week for those who likes controversies (and things that people said near a mic) Let me recap: at last week's Video Music Award show, teen-pop/country singer Taylor Swift got the Best Female Video award. While she was accepting her award, rapper Kanye West jumped on the stage, grabbed the mic and pronounced that Beyonce's video was the best (i.e., more deserving of the award that Swift) Before an interview with the media, President Obama casually commented on the incident by saying Kanye was a jackass. Some in the media thinks that this should stay off-record but apparently some ignore the practice and tweeted this so now everybody knows. Fortunately, it isn't that big a deal because (1) most people would agree with Obama on this, and (2) Obama is a brother so his comment wasn't considered racist. Interestingly, you could look at Kanye's comment from the racial perspective too.

Anyway, what Kanye did probably helped Swift more than hurting her. If this didn't happen, I probably would not have checked out her award winning video on YouTube. I gotta admit it's really cheesy (both the video and the lyrics) Just like her other popular song "Love Story" Still, it was inappropriate for Kanye to do that on stage. I'd rather hear him analyze why Swift is no good in a rational manner off stage.

Tech of the day: Apple and security

Apple supporters always bragged about how secure their devices are. Well, that might not apply to the iPhone. After upgrading to iPhone's latest firmware (3.1), lots of Exchange users complain they can't sync with their iPhone anymore. It's because the latest firmware finally honor the "Encryption required" setting of Exchange accounts. Therefore, older models of iPhone that do not support such encryption (i.e., those prior to 3GS) are disallowed to sync with such accounts.

It also means that prior to the release of this firmware, users of these older models might think that encryption was enforced but it wasn't the case! No wonder why critics keep saying Apple is still not very adaptive to corporate/business usages.

Topic of the day: That Wells Fargo Foreclosure executive

By now most of us have heard about the story of a foreclosed property in the expensive Malibu neighbourhood being used by a VP of foreclosure department of the bank that owns the property, Wells Fargo. (She was fired by Wells Fargo) I suspected that came into light because the neighbours did not think she belong to the community. Apparently I was not alone (guess what's her race?)

Star of the day: Patrick Swayze

Patrick Swayze died of cancer yesterday. Most people will probably remember him for the movies "Dirty Dancing" and "Ghosts." These two are certainly among my favourite movies.

RIP.

Topic of the day: Who is Syko Sam?

According to news report, this guy is a fan of the horrorcore genre (a sub-genre of rap that is about, of course, horror) He was arrested for killing a female friend he made on MySpace.

Well, crime as a result of meeting people on MySpace is no longer news. What else makes this story more eye-catching? (1) He is portrayed as a rapper. I guess anyone who rap qualifies as a rapper, professional or not. (2) When he was asked how he committed the crime by a reporter, he responded, "Jesus told me to do it."

So, I am pretty sure there will be tons of comments condemning his musical preference and his religion.

Game of the day: China won Venice Cup

Congratulations to the Chinese Women Bridge Team! They have won the 2009 world championship, aka Venice Cup.

Topic of the day: Will Bay Bridge become Bridge City?

I've just read about an idea of turning the abandoned portion of the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge into a new neighborhood. It certainly sounds very futuristic (sci-fi!) but I wonder how practical it is. After all, that portion was replaced because of concerns about its ability to withstand earthquake.

Topic of the day: self-esteem and entitlement

I learned very early in my life that it is a competitive world. You study hard and you get ahead. You achieve something and you get rewarded for it.

These day, our world is no less competitive (if no more) but things seems to be taught differently: No matter you study hard or you slack off, you won't be left behind. Nothing seems to be more important than protecting kids' self-esteem (and their fragile little ego) If they play games, no one wins or loses. Everyone got praised for participation. As a result, I've seen kids got really upset when they lose in a game.

And I have seen a worse trend. Everybody thinks they deserve a lot before they have achieved anything. Cases in point:
1) American Footballer Michael Crabtree, the 10th overall pick in the 2009 NFL draft, refused to sign with the team that drafted him (San Francisco 49er) because he thought he deserved more money than the 7th pick (since he thought he was a better player) Well, I think I am a better player than David Beckham and some teams need to offer me better money than him to sign me.
Nevertheless, I hope this saga continues because (1) 49er is screwed by not having the player whom they need to contribute right away and (2) judging from players who made troubles before like Crabtree, they never live up to the expectation. I have a personal bias against him because his catch ruined Longhorn's season last year!

BTW, he reminded me of J.J.Stokes, another 10th pick by 49er, who was expected to be a great player (and wasn't close to becoming one) And I was not the only one.

2) Spainish basketballer Ricky Rubio, the 5th pick in NBA draft, also refused to come to the States to play for Minnesota Timberwolves. He is staying in Spain instead. Read what he said:

Going to Minnesota would have just complicated my life a lot. It was a risk and I didn’t see it so clearly...... My priority was the NBA and it was impossible for the Minnesota Timberwolves to pay my buyout clause, so I wanted to stay home......When the season ended, I entered the draft with the intention of going to the NBA, but some things happened that kept me from being ahead of the rest and I ended up No. 5, which I was happy with, but it didn’t allow me the chance to go to the NBA. I tried, but in the end it wasn’t to be.

Nothing happened that kept him from being drafted higher than No. 5 (except the 4 other players whom other teams considered as lower risks) If he really wants to play for the Wolves in the NBA, he would have found a way to pay his buyout clause. It just sounds like he wants to play for a better team and have more money! I don't really care if he comes to NBA or not. There are lots of exciting players to watch already.

Book of the day: The Dead Sea Scroll Deception

While I visit ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) in Toronto earlier this month, the main attraction was the Dead Sea Scroll exhibition. It was indeed intriguing to read about text written two millenniums ago. Of course we only skimmed through the exhibit (and managed to look at each of the scrolls in display) because the kids lost patience quickly. The first thing I did when I'm back home is to find some books about it. And I figured it would be more interesting to read the conspiracy theory about it than the official version. And indeed, this book was a good read. The official theory is that the community that created the Dead Sea scroll was a peaceful group that was isolated from the mainstream of Jewish society. However, the authors of this book argued (based on other scholars' research) that this community was very connected to the mainstream and they were armed to oppose the Roman, which ruled that region at that time. In addition, what they documented was the early history of the Christian community and the church. The most important point was what Jesus preached was not much different from the Jewish tradition. It was his disciples who broke away from the tradition and started a whole new religion in the name of Jesus. While I wasn't completed convinced by the way they came up with this conclusion, I totally believe this is a possibility. (Just like any religion. The founder is very unlikely to come up with everything. Indeed, the founder might not have realized s/he has started a new religion!)

Anyway, the authors did mention a noble intention of writing this book: they wanted to show that the Judaism, Christianity and Islam have more in common than we thought. Hopefully people will get this point and learn to coexist peacefully in the middle east. Sadly, the book was written in 1991 and there was no improvement after almost 20 years.

Game of the day: the finale of the Giants-Rockies series

By defeating the Rockies in this game, the Giants swept the series and tied with them for the wild card lead. I don't care if they could make the playoff eventually. Seeing them playing meaningful games in late August already made me happy enough.

It might not have been the most exciting sports competition during the weekend though. That title could belong to one of the 2 auto races: the indy car race in Chicagoland and the NASCAR Nationwide series race in Montreal. Both races featured winners who came from behind in the last seconds. Both were indeed dramatic victories.

On yeah, the MotoGP races in Indianapolis on Sunday morning was not bad either.

Topic of the day: Microsoft and the Photoshopped ad scandal

By now many of you must have read about this story(the linked article has both pictures): the US version of a Microsoft IT ad features 3 people: an Asian guy, an black guy and a white lady. However, in the Poland version of it, the image has been altered (most likely by using photo-editing software) so that a white man's head is put in place of the black man.

Is this racism? Some say yes and some say no. To me, it looks unprofessional to edit the photo if all you want is localize your ad. Is it that hard to find some Polish folks to create a new ad? And having the variety in the US version is simply for political correctness anyway.

The most interesting point to me though, is that they choose to retain the Asian guy. Why? Some say it has to do with the stereotype that Asian guys are good at IT!

Tech of the day: User agent

I have been a long-time (paid) subscriber of a popular newspaper and I have always used HTTRACK (the open-source website copier, ideal for offline browsing) as well as my browser to read the PDA version (which has a real clean UI to speed up browsing) even though the "official" way to access it is thru another closed-source website copier iSiloX.

My ways of usage have been working fine until yesterday, when the newspaper's website started to refuse access from any client other than iSiloX. Of course it is implemented by checking the user agent. And of course, this is very easy to defeat: (1) for HTTRACK, just add the command line option -F "iSiloX/4.37 Windows/32" (2) for Firefox, just install the user agent switcher plugin and add the aforementioned user agent string.

Even though it is so easy to defeat, I'm still not pleased. As a paid subscriber, shouldn't I be allowed to access the information in ways that I preferred (and these are ways that won't jeopardize their profit a single bit)? It wouldn't be long until I decide to cancel my subscription.

Stars of the day: Toronto Nationals

Congrat to the Nationals (not baseball's Washington Nationals) for winning the Major League Lacrosse Championship! I guess Toronto hasn't have a championship team for a while. The most recent I remember was the Blue Jays winning the world series 15+ years ago. They did it by beating the #1 seed so they certainly deserve every bit of the championship.

It also means that there won't be any pro lacrosse game until the end of the year when the indoor league resumes. Can't wait!

Tech of the day: Twitter spam

I was asked by a friend why all of a sudden he's got a bunch of people following him on Twitter. He has never updated his Twitter after he joined.

Well, the first thought came to my mind is of course: spammer! The twist is: by following you on Twitter, they can't spam you yet 'coz while they see your update as a follower, you don't see their update because you're not following them.

And the last part was the key! In the early days of Twitter, when you follow a friend (or just an acquitance), s/he usually follows you back as a courtesy. I guess the spammers are hoping that you would still do that. (Apparently PBS came to the same conclusion prior to I did)

So, don't just blindly follow anyone who followed you (of course you could always unfollow a user if you did it by mistake)

每週一噏：監人賴厚

今天拜讀何政協《零分見誰才是失敗者》一文，才學會平時大家口頭講的「監人乃後」應寫作「監人賴厚」。雖然我常常犯這個毛病（解作勉強別人做自己喜歡的事），我卻甚少用這個詞語，對其出處十分好奇。Google過不得要領，即管試試自己解解：「監人」指强迫人；「厚」可解作喜歡；只是個「賴」字有點難解，可能解作傾向吧。

順帶一提，這個詞語相信由來已久，且看這條1947年的片，薛覺先（著名粵劇老倌）的對白就用上了。

Tech of the day: Adding a printer in Arch Linux

We have a network printer which we identified using an IP address. There are quite a few steps to add this printer to Windows XP. One would imagine it would be much harder on Arch. Well, It can't be easier! Here were my steps (thanks to these instructions):
1) install the following using pacman
pacman -S cups ghostscript gsfonts gutenprint

2) start the CUPS daemon
/etc/rc.d/cups start

3) hit the admin page
http://localhost:631

4) add the printer
you just need to give your printer a name, location, description. Since this is a network printer, use the AppSocket Protocol, i.e., specify the Device URI as:
socket://[the printer's IP address]

So easy! However, this is the first time I agree with the people who complain about Linux using cryptic names. There's no way I could tell CUPS is used for configuring printing before I see what it stands for (Common UNIX Printing System)

Tech of the day: correct backspace in Emacs

I wrote about trying out Zile as my Emacs replacement the other day. For some reason Ctrl-K doesn't work so I went thru the pain of installing all dependencies for Emacs and finally got it running. Life is good except backspace is acting like Ctrl-D. Backspace is notoriously problematic for Emacs but the problem was usually that it acts like Ctrl-H! Well, I did find my fix. Just add this to .emacs:
(global-set-key [backspace] 'delete-backward-char)