Svalbard

Is there any place whose law prohibits its people to die in that place? There is one!

I've recently watched a documentary about the effect of global warming on the Arctic, and it mentioned an Arctic archipelago named Svalbard, which belongs to Norway. In the early 20th century it was discovered that corpses buried there could not decompose due to the permafrost. Since then Svalbard's law would require that any person who is gravely ill must be sent to continental Europe and die there. That's interesting. That archipelago also has an underground seed vault that serves as a Noah's Ark for plants in case of any global catastrophe. I really want to go there and see.

Presidential Election

A defining moment in history. An unforgettable election.
This is the power of democracy. This is the power of a vote.
I am not an American. I don't have the right to vote.
But I'm proud of this election. God bless President Obama!

My Trip: Day 5 - July 22

My brother and I went to Universal Studios again. My brother complained that no water had sprayed on him in the Shrek 3D movie the day before, so we watched that 3D movie again and he finally got water sprayed on him. We went to the following attractions on that day: the Simpsons Ride, the Waterworld show, the Terminator 3D movie, and the Animal Actor show. I was very surprised about the design of the Simpsons Ride. At first I thought it would be a real roller-coaster-like ride, but it later turned out that we were locked in a room indoors in which the car kept moving and rotating to simulate the 3D effect, with a projector screen in front of us. It was an exciting ride, but it made me dizzy, haha. My little brother loved the Waterworld show the most. He was particularly shocked by the scene in which a small plane suddenly fell onto the "sea" in front of him live! I was a bit disappointed by the Terminator 3D movie, which was not as good as Shrek, as well as by the Animal Actor show, which was not as good as the animal show I saw at the Hamilton safari in Canada. We finally waited on the line for almost an hour to play the Jurassic Park ride AGAIN. It was worth the wait, even though we would get wet again!


As a side note, I brought my brother to a place where we ordered crepe for lunch. This was the first time my brother tried crepe. He seemed to enjoy it!


Before we headed back to our hotel, I drove to Staples Center as a result of my brother's urge. He is an NBA fan, and he desperately wanted to see LA Lakers' arena. He took some pictures, but we stayed in our car because there was no free place to park. I didn't really care though because I am not an NBA fan, haha.

My Trip: Day 4 - July 21

I have not updated my blog lately because I was extremely busy. Finally I can take some rest ...



On the 4th day of our trip my brother and I went to Universal Studios. What a great place to go!! There was much more fun there than Disneyland. The theme park has two levels: the upper lot and the lower lot. We first visited two attractions in the upper lot: the House of Horrors (a ghost almost touched my body!) and the Shrek 3D movie (lots of water spraying on my face). Next, we took the famous Studio Tour. It was an enjoyable tour. We saw the flash flood, the shark from Jaws, the crashed plane from War of the Worlds, special effects on train collision and flying cars, sets from old Westerns, the house from Psycho, sets from Desperate Housewives, Mummy tunnel, the Back to the Future car, etc. Unfortunately, the King Kong set and the Back to the Future courthouse were destroyed by the backlot fire. They were rebuilding that site now.


We enjoyed our experience in the upper lot so much, but the lower lot was even more fun! We visited two "behind-the-stage" attractions showing how to apply special effects on movies and how to create fire scenes, but the most exciting attractions for us were the two rides: Jurassic Park and the Mummy. I have to say the Jurassic Park ride was my most memorable experience in this trip. We need to wait almost an hour to take this water-based ride, but it's worth. The final drop, which was nearly vertical, was so scary and my whole body was wet afterwards, haha! The Mummy ride was also exciting, in which the car kept making sudden turns and rotations in a completely dark environment. My brother complained that the ride was a bit too short though (around 2 minutes), but it's okay with me because it made me dizzy afterwards.



We knew from the very beginning that the theme park was too big and we were not going to be able to play all games in just one day; we would come back the next day.

My Trip: Day 3 - July 20

My little brother's flight arrived at LAX at around 9:30am, but I didn't arrive at the airport until 11am. Yes, I was lazy; I didn't want to get out of bed. I had past experience in navigating LAX, but it still took me more than 15 minutes to find him.

We didn't do much on that day, because I wanted to give him some time to rest to counter the jet lag. We took our lunch in a Japanese fast food restaurant, then went straight back to the motel to rest. In the evening we headed off to Downtown Disney. Yes, I had been there the day before, but I wanted to bring him there for a nice dinner and to have a feel of Disneyland. He told me well in advance that he didn't want to go to Disneyland because he was pi**ed off by Hong Kong Disneyland. Fine, that saved me 60+ bucks. I parked my car in the parking area of Downtown Disney that cost us nothing if we had a validated ticket.


We went to a souvenir store in Downtown Disney to buy a dress for my newborn niece (my cousin's baby). Yes, I am becoming an uncle! We then walked around the Disneyland entrance to take photos and around Downtown Disney to find a place for dinner. There were many decent restaurants there serving foods of different styles. We finally picked a restaurant that served traditional Western food. I ordered fish; my brother ordered steak. Very very delicious, but of course very costly (around $80?). I certainly won't pay that much for a meal if I eat myself, but this was a VACATION after all! Plus we were able to see the firework show as well because we were sitting on the second floor!



After dinner, we passed by ESPN zone, so we went inside and played games there. I beat my brother in all games except throwing basketballs. It really reminded me of my brother's last visit five years ago during which we played exactly the same games in the MIT student center. I missed the old days.

We finally went home. There was a serious problem. The parking area was toooooooo big! We spent 20 minutes and still couldn't find our car. We were desperate, but thank God a security guard riding a bike passed by. He came to us and asked us if we need help. I gave him information about my rental car, and he found our car for us. Thank you so much!

My Trip: Day 2 - July 19

I arrived at the Disneyland in the morning. It cost $12 to park (the whole day). A shuttle transported me from the parking lot to the park entrance. I went to Downtown Disney first. It is a large shopping and dining area next to Disneyland. At the other end of Downtown Disneyland I found another parking lot that allowed 2 hours of free parking and 3 additional hours of free parking if one had a validated receipt from any shop in Downtown Disneyland! OK, good lesson, I would keep that in mind.

I didn't buy anything in Downtown Disney. I was thinking of coming back the following day after my little brother's arrival from Hong Kong. I walked back to the park entrance and waited in the line to buy the admission ticket. As expected, it was a very long line and I had to wait for more than 30 minutes. The Disneyland Resort actually has two different theme parks: Disneyland, and Disney's California Adventure. I didn't think it would be possible to me to play in both parks on a single day, so I just bought a 1-day 1-park ticket for $66. I chose Disneyland.



Disneyland is very big. I first walked along the famous Main Street to reach the Walt Disney statue in the center of the park. There I saw the castle of Fantasyland. In Fantasyland I waited in the line for an hour to wait for admission to a "princess coronation" show, but when it's my turn I was very disappointed to find out that the line was to allow people to take photos with some princesses, not a show, AND the show was cancelled for whatever reason on that day. Many other people was misled too.



Next I took the Disneyland Railroad for a one-round ride around the park. Then I went to Frontierland and entered the Big Thunder Ranch. The ranch was my favorite because I love animals. There were some goats that I could pad. I enticed them to come towards me by holding a leaf on my hand, and they did! They were so cute.


In Frontierland, I also took the Mark Twain Riverboat that sailed around a river. The horn of that ship was so loud. Next, I took a raft to go to the Tom Sawyer Island in the middle of that river. I liked that island, particularly the two suspension bridges and the caves.



I could not remember exactly the timeline of my trip in the afternoon. I remember I took the "Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" ride. It was a very disappointing ride for kids only. I took a late lunch at the Golden Horseshoe. The food was so expensive and the servers did not seem nice. I took the Jungle Cruise at Adventureland and it was pretty good. In Tomorrowland, I waited for 30 minutes to take the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage which was a joke. I also spent over an hour in the Innovations walk-through museum in which a lot of new technologies and games were displayed.

My most favorite game on that day was Autopia in Tomorrowland. This is a driving course on which cars drive on a single track which prevents the car to go off track. It's harder to drive an autopia than a real car! You really had to press the gas pedal really hard. I received a "driver's licence" when the game was over, but to attach a photo of oneself you need to pay $10 more. Haha! I certainly won't do that. I am now taping the licence on a cabinet in my office.

At night I watched the firework show. It was almost cancelled due to weather condition. There were many, many people standing in front of the castle watching the firework. The show was great! I particularly like the spiral firework and the laser-projected angel flying over the sky. After the firework show, I watched the 3D movie "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience" and played the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. The 3D movie was my most rewarding experience on that day. I had never watched any 3D movie before, so I was very excited that the seat moved, water sprayed on my face, wind blew on my legs, etc., in the movie!


Before I left Disneyland, I went to the Enchanted Tiki Room show because most other games had been closed. What a stupid show!! A bunch of fake birds singing fairy tale songs ... What a waste of my time. To be frank, I was not too happy with my Disneyland experience this time because those games seemed to be for kids only. However, I didn't have time and I was too tired to play those more exciting games (moreover, I heard that Disneyland, unlike Universal Studios, is not nice to persons with disabilities when they want to play those more exciting games and rides). I will definitely come back to Disneyland again in the future.

Level-5 Fire in Hong Kong

My deepest condolences to the two heroic firefighters who lost their lives in the level-5 fire that happened in a residential building in Hong Kong two days ago. They sacrificed their lives by giving their remaining oxygen to the victims as they were trapped in the fire. I am very, very touched! All Hong Kong citizens are very, very touched! You are my heroes. Your deeds will be remembered forever. My sincere thanks to all firefighters who helped extinguish this horrible fire. Thank you, thank you!

Beijing 2008

I am moved by the Opening Ceremony. It shows the world the ancient and modern achievements of China: the Four Great Inventions of China (compass, paper, gunpowder, movable type press), the Great Wall, Silk Road, Chinese opera, Confucianism, Tai Chi and martial arts, space travel, modern technology, etc.

I am proud of my country.

My Trip: Day 1 - July 18

My drive to Los Angeles through I-15 started at 6am. Of course I didn't have enough sleep, but the air-conditioning within the car kept me awake. Furthermore, I was excited to drive through the Mojave Desert, since I had not gone to a desert before. It didn't disappoint me. After passing Primm and a dry lake, I pulled my car to the side and grabbed the sand on the ground. It's really sand, not stone!! I was attracted by one kind of trees with very special shape and I wanted to take pictures of them, however my camera was out of power. Later on I found that those trees are called Joshua trees, as shown in the following photo from Wikipedia:


After crossing the desert, my car climbed up a tall mountain and passed the California-Nevada state line. There was an "agricultural product inspection station" which stopped my car and the inspector asked me a few questions, including "What is my first language, Chinese?". I stopped and rested/slept a couple of times and finally arrived at Los Angeles County at around 1:30pm. I didn't go straight to the hotel first; instead I used my GPS to search for a nearby Vietnamese restaurant. What surprised me was that the restaurant was located in a plaza called "Hong Kong Plaza". Haha! It was like I went back home. I ordered my meal in English and the waiter even asked me to switch back to Cantonese.

After lunch, I drove to the hotel at which I had made a reservation, Days Inn Whittier. The front-desk worker was a nice, pretty girl who gave me a lot of information about travel in Los Angeles. I couldn't wait to sleep, and didn't wake up until about 8pm. Then I went to a Thai restaurant next to the hotel and ordered a Pad Thai to go. It was no good, but I expected that. I just wanted a quick dinner. There was nothing special on that day except getting rest.

Back from Trip

I've just been back from a two-week trip in the West Coast. This was one of my most enjoyable trips. In the next couple of weeks, I will jot down each day of my trip here.

My trip started on Thursday, July 17. I headed off to Las Vegas with Allegiant Air. I had never heard of this airline before. It was suggested by one of my colleagues, and I was attracted by its low fare and its use of the MidAmerica Airport near Belleville (rather than Lambert) which offers free parking. Of course, for such kind of budget airlines, the plane would be smaller and no food would be served. However, I was VERY IMPRESSED with its service. The flight attendants and ground crew were very polite, friendly and nice. The interior of the plane was sufficiently clean. The return flight two weeks later even impressed me more, but I will talk about it later. I sincerely recommend Allegiant Air to everybody.

The flight arrived at McCarran at about 11pm. This was my first visit to Vegas, and so my first visit to McCarran. It was interesting to find that there were slot machines everywhere in the airport. I took a shuttle bus to the car rental building, and I proceeded to the counter of Dollar for my car reservation. Dollar is famous for offering the lowest car rental fees, and that's why I waited in the line for ONE HOUR before I was served. If you rent a car from Dollar, do not purchase its insurance; get it from your own insurance company in advance. The Dollar person who served me was rude. He just asked me to sign the contract without explaining the terms and conditions. I took some time to read the terms, and he showed his impatience. After I signed the contract, I asked him a couple of questions. He answered them in a lousy way, and then said "NEXT". Fine! As long as I paid a low rental fee, I don't care.

Next, I went to the rental car parking area. I first picked a sharp-blue Chrysler Cruiser, but its cigarette lighter didn't work and so couldn't power my GPS. Later on a guy working there suggested a dark-blue Hyundai Elantra. He was a very nice and helpful person; he even brought the car for a wash as I said it was dirty. I recorded all the scratches, then checked out the car and left the airport at around 3:30am. I couldn't wait to see the neon lights on the Strip, so I drove along the Strip. Las Vegas is indeed the Entertainment Capital of the World; the lights made me blind. Finally, I parked in a quiet lot outside a supermarket and slept inside the car. I couldn't really have a deep sleep though. An hour later, I woke up and headed off to Los Angeles.

GPS

In preparation for my long trip with my little brother two weeks later, I have decided to purchase a GPS navigation device to ease my driving. What is the largest electronics product store in the U.S.? Best Buy! So I went to Best Buy last Sunday. I had never used GPS before, so I first spent 30 minutes playing with those GPS devices on display. Then a salesman approached me. His name was Matt. He was a very nice, friendly young guy and gave me excellent customer service, teaching me how to use GPS and its various functions, and giving me recommendation on which one to buy. I finally purchased a Garmin nuvi 200w ('w' stands for wider 4.5" screen) at a price of $250.00. I also bought a friction mount at a price of $42 (because California does not permit windshield suction) and a battery charger (for home use) at $20. Matt even went to my car with me and showed me how to start and use the GPS device. I really appreciated his service.

After that, I went to Walmart to buy grocery. I passed by the electronics section, and I happened to see the same GPS model, Garmin nuvi 200w, there, sold at a price of $218!!! What a huge price difference! I couldn't move my body for five seconds. I started to feel that I was being cheated by Best Buy (not Matt).

Later I went home and did more research on GPS devices on the Internet. As I found more and more online stores selling the same model, I felt more and more frustrated ... Amazon sold the same model at a price of $198. Circuit City sold an even better model, nuvi 250w, at a price of $190. Furthermore, I often travel to Canada, and my 200w does not include Canada maps, but 250w includes Canada maps! I started to ask myself, why hadn't I done enough price research before I bought a GPS device? I was too careless.

After hours of wandering through the online stores, I have made up my mind of returning my GPS device to Best Buy the following day. I examined the receipt, and you know what? At the back of the receipt there was a little paragraph saying that they would charge me a restocking fee of 15% if I choose to return the GPS device! $250.00 * 15% = $37.50!!!! I can live for 4 days with $37.50! Why had Best Buy not mentioned this policy before I made the purchase? Walmart never has this kind of policy! To make myself feel happier, I kept convincing myself that the restocking fee was to pay for Matt's excellent customer service.

I finally ended up in eBay and I found something interesting. A company, The Digital Oasis, sells various models of refurbished Garmin GPS devices in eBay, and it has got excellent user reviews. Many people say refurbished products are of good quality, and I agree, because refurbished products didn't pass the initial test and so the manufacturer must have tested them over and over again before release. What's approximately the final bid for my Garmin nuvi 200w in eBay? Around $140! My goodness. I hate Best Buy. I love eBay now. Because these refurbished products were much cheaper, I now changed my target to a better model, Garmin nuvi 350. It has a smaller 3.5" screen, but the size really doesn't matter much, and this model includes Canada and Alaska maps as well as an MP3 player! The auction would end at 10:30am the following day (i.e. last Monday). Fine, so on that day I first went to Best Buy to return everything that I had purchased, then I immediately logged on eBay. It's around 10:28am. The highest bid was now $180.00, which was a normal price. I waited until 15 seconds before 10:30am, then placed my bid of $182.5. Haha, I won!!!! I could get a Garmin nuvi 350 for $182.5. And I don't even need to buy extra accessories because it also includes a carrying case, battery charger (for home use), USB cable, etc., and free shipping. What a great deal. I then contacted the company to include a $30 friction mount in the package. My total expense is $182.5 + $30 + $37.5 (restocking fee) = $250 = my original purchase of 200w exlcuding accessories. I am happy.

My Garmin nuvi 350 will be delivered in two days, and I will see whether it's in good shape. My final warning to everybody: DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM BEST BUY! IT'S WORST BUY!!!

I'm happy today

I'm happy today. I've been expecting to receive something by mid May, but it didn't come. It really puzzled me. I check it today. It has come. I'm happy.

Phone bill

I am totally shocked by the balance shown in my current cell phone bill. I don't have a land line at home, so I use my cell phone all the time. Since I don't need to teach this summer and I hadn't talked to my family and friends for a long time due to the busy Spring semester, I called them and talked to them for many hours last month after the Spring semester was over. Phone-chatting is like taking drugs ... I called them and then they called me and then I called them again, and I totally forgot the concept of peak hours. The bill finally turned out to be over $130, as the phone usage was 188 minutes more than the maximum allowance of 450 minutes. How could I forget to talk to them during nights or weekends? I was so stupid! I have recently adopted the policy of turning off my phone whenever possible at daytime. I hope that can remind myself of how foolish I was.

Windows Vista

I can finally get rid of my infamous computer with the broken monitor because the department has purchased a new computer for me, and so I finally get a chance to use Windows Vista. Several people have warned me before that Vista is no good and so suggested me not to use it. I've been using Vista for a day and I have a good feeling towards it so far. It's very different from Windows XP. For example, it has much more items in Control Panel. The Display Settings tool is not shown in Control Panel by default but is within the Personalization tool. There is a Windows Defender tool which is a serious competition with other anti-virus software in the market. It allows administrators to re-partition the hard disk without losing data and thus save the money to purchase PartitionMagic. It has a Windows Sidebar feature which allows users to insert something called "gadget" on the desktop, such as the Weather gadget that displays the temperature of where the user lives, the Stock gadget that shows the stock market indices in real-time, etc., and this is one of the new features I love most. Also, I observe that Windows Media Player seems to play streaming audio/video more smoothly in Vista than in XP. Besides all these, there are many other new things in Vista that I need some time to learn.

Microsoft has received a lot of criticisms regarding the security of its OS products in the past five years. But I gotta say Microsoft has put a lot of efforts in making sure that Vista is secure, and Bill Gates' Trustworthy Computing initiative is not just an ad slogan. Linux is not necessarily more secure than Windows any more. The predictable random number generator vulnerability (seeded with process ids) introduced by the Debian development team has become a joke in the security community, showing the lack of knowledge in security and cryptography among programmers in general.

Good job, Bill Gates!

Sichuan Earthquake

My country began three days of official mourning today. The death toll of the Sichuan earthquake has risen to more than 30,000 with tens of thousands hurt. This was the earthquake with the greatest magnitude in the history of modern China. My deepest condolences to those who lost their lives. May their souls rest in peace!

Dad's Birthday

Today's my dad's birthday. My mom's birthday is coming too. I have bought Dad a Citizens Eco-Drive watch and Mom a ruby ring, and I've sent the gifts to Hong Kong. But they can't understand English, so they can't understand what I'm writing here, haha!

Post virus cough

I have had post virus cough for almost a week. It was so annonying and disrupted my daily routine. It finally stopped today. I am happy.

I was invited by one of my colleagues to an award ceremon in which he received an award two hours ago. The food was good. My sincere congratulation to my colleague.

A park that is like a jail

Recently in Hong Kong there have been a lot of criticisms against a public park (南蓮園池) for which the regulations are so strict that it is like a jail. I've just listened to a radio phone-in programme that discussed this issue. Summarizing complaints from different people, a news article compiled the following list of ten NOs for visitors of this park:

1. You are not allowed to eat and drink even water in the park.
2. You are not allowed to paint in the park.
3. You are not allowed to bring tripods (for cameras) into the park.
4. You are not allowed to bring flowers into the park.
5. You are not allowed to enter the local teahouse unless you pay HK$120.
6. You are not allowed to take team photographs in the park.
7. You are not allowed to run in the park.
8. You are not allowed to wave to the fish with your hands by the pond.
9. You are not allowed to turn back when you are walking in the park.
10. You are not allowed to put your belongings on the ground in the park.

What the heck is that! It's ridiculous, and so funny, especially Rule #8! I couldn't stop my laugh for a minute when I heard that. What makes me even more frustrated is that when the radio show host asked a government official to respond to these complaints, she just spat out a long chain of bureaucratic standardized answers, like saying those rules are for the welfare of the general public, etc. I am just wondering, is it a PUBLIC park?? It sounds even more secure than Louvre!

The Virginia Tech Massacre happened on the same day last year. Those 32 teachers and students who lost their lives will be always remembered.

Thai restaurant

I went to St. Louis for a doctor's appointment yesterday, but before the appointment I took my lunch in a Thai restaurant at Grand and Connecticut, one block away from the well-known King and I Thai restaurant. It's the first time I went to that restaurant, but I gotta say that it is better to me than King and I. It's run by a family of nice Thai people who gave me a very good impression. It has a very "Thai" decoration, and the menu looks just like a tablet that can be found in Thai temples. I ordered Tom Kha soup and Pad Basil with Beef (my first try on both dishes), and they are soooooooooo delicious!!! The Tom Kha soup (see a sample in the above picture) was made of coconut milk and so it gave me a very different but rich taste compared to Tom Yum. I'll definitely try that place again.

Charlton Heston

My childhood Hollywood idol, Charlton Heston, has just passed away. He might not be the best actor, but I cannot find a better epic movie hero than him. I think one of the main reasons I like him is because "The Ten Commandments" was the first Hollywood movie I watched, at the age of seven. Heston was so charismatic in the movie that I have re-watched it more than five times over the years. "The Ten Commandments" remains the No. 1 movie in my list, even though I am not a Christian.

I do not agree with Heston's support of gun rights, but many people have forgotten what he has done in the civil rights movement in the 1960s. I am going to rent "Ben Hur" from Hollywood Video. This is, to me, the best way of commemorating him.

Cyprus

It's been a week since my last blog post. I've been very busy in the previous week. After the CS Day, I had a business trip to Patterson Dental in Effingham, IL on Thursday last week. Besides that, I need to prepare Lab Assignment 4 of CS202 and Assignment 3 of CS408 and grade the project proposals of CS408 over the last weekend. There were lots of work to do ... I haven't watched movies for three weeks.

Greek and Turkish Cypriots opened a crossing at a main street in Nicosia yesterday. I have two Greek Cypriot students and two Turkish students. I am just wondering, how do they think?

CS Day

Today's CS Day. Things ran more smoothly this year. As usual, I presented a webpage example that displayed a Homer Simpson image. I guess the high school kids enjoyed my teaching this time!

Taiwan Presidential Election

The Taiwan Presidential election is over. Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was elected President. Many Hong Kong citizens, including me, are happy, because Ma was born in Hong Kong. In my family, I guess the happiest one is my big uncle, who was classmate of the Vice President-elect Vincent Siew (蕭萬長). I still remember that I saw Siew send Christmas card to my uncle every year when I was a teenager. What impresses me most in this election is that a lot of Taiwanese residing in foreign countries flew back to Taiwan to cast a vote. This is truly a display of social responsibility. The voter turnout was over 75%. Can you find such a high percentage in many other developed countries?!

Ma deserved to win. The current government's corruption scandals, inability to improve the economy and independence movement have completely destroyed the credibility of the DPP. Even though I am not a Taiwanese, I sincerely hope Ma would bring Taiwan to a new era. After all, my family, both the paternal and maternal sides, have close ties with Taiwan.

H&M

I have always been disappointed that the H&M store in St. Louis Galleria does not have a men's section. Last Wednesday I went to the St. Louis West County Mall by accident and discovered that there was an H&M store there with a men's section! I didn't buy any clothes there, but I was happy. I am always a loyal customer of H&M. That mall also has many other stores like Abercrombie & Fitch and its little sister Hollister, Aeropostale, AE, and even some other brands you cannot find in St. Louis Galleria such as GUESS. I am going to go to that mall more often.

I have just finished grading the first midterm exam of CS 202. My God! It took me 10 hours. I am really afraid of grading ...

Governor-General's powers

I always thought Governor-Generals of the Commonwealth Realm has only a ceremonial role just like the Queen and never participate actively in any political matters. I've just learned of an exception. In 1975 Australia suffered a constitutional crisis because the Senate withheld supply to the government. To resolve this crisis the Australian Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, dismissed the Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, and called a dissolution election for both houses of the Parliament. Yet, it was subject to controversy because of the convention that the Governor-General's reserve powers be exercised with Ministerial advice. John Kerr even became a drinker due to pressure from the public. Although I agree that Governor-General's reserve powers should be used with extreme caution, I do not totally disagree with Kerr's action. Whitlam's government and the Opposition were both playing politics threatening each other. The Budget was blocked for almost a month!! Something had to be done to resolve such a crisis, right?

Class attendance

My CS202 students took the midterm exam last night. Then half of my CS202 class was missing this morning. Should I call this phenomenon "post-exam trauma"? Or was it because of the power outage in some parts of Southern Illinois? Class attendance is a big problem in low-level courses, but it is never a problem in senior-level courses. Take my other class CS408 as an example. My CS408 students always come to class. Even if they have to miss a class, they will inform me and explain to me in advance of the lecture they are going to miss.

I personally won't be emotionally hurt or offended if students miss class. But I am really worried about a student from the bottom of my heart if he misses a class, because that student would miss all the examples I've given and all the material I've taught in that class; and if he's not going to study it himself at home (which is likely because of other course workload), he would be lagging behind. Lagging further and further behind in a course will eventually lead to a total give-up and thus a failure. By that time it would be too late to correct ...

Nessun Dorma

I've just listened to Nessun Dorma again. My eyes are always watery every time I listen to this song, especially the last part "Vincero! Vincero! Vincero!". I miss you, Pavarotti!

Lydia Shum

Fei Jie, you are legendary. You brought entertainment and happiness to all generations of Hong Kong. I will never forget your laughs. Rest in peace, Lydia Fei Jie!

Movie scores

A question suddenly popped up in my mind this early morning as I was preparing for Lab Assignment 2 of CS 202: what movie score do I love most? I thought for a while, but I couldn't give the exact answer. Nevertheless, I do have a list of my TOP 6:

- Chariots of Fire by Vangelis
- Lawrence of Arabia by Maurice Jarre
- Star Wars by John Williams
- The Da Vinci Code by Hans Zimmer
- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly by Ennio Morricone
- The Omen by Jerry Goldsmith

Listen to them in Youtube. You will enjoy them!

Russian

Today a Russian student of mine taught me how to say "Russia", "hello" and "bye" in Russian: [Rossiya] for "Russia", [priviet] for "hello", and [poka] for "bye". Interesting! I wanna talk to this student more to learn more about this country.

Yarlung Tsangpo River

I had never thought of creating my own blog because I thought it was a waste of time. But I have just realized that it may be hard for me to memorize all new knowledge that I acquire each day, so I think it might be a good idea to write it down here as my own personal notebook (and so I don't expect that anyone except me will read it).

I am now reading a Chinese novel and it mentions a river in Tibet called Yarlung Tsangpo (雅鲁藏布江). I've always had some fantasy about Tibet since I was a teenager, so I did some google search to learn more about this river. And I found that Yarlung Tsangpo is actually the same as the Brahmaputra River! What an interesting fact! I also learned that as this river crosses the Chinese-Indian border, it bends around and forms the deepest canyon in the world:

I always want to go to Tibet. Unfortunately I am not healthy enough to go there ...

Today's the 80th Oscars, but this year it would be boring. I'm not going to watch it.