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!