Feb 18, 2008 Alleged private photos of HK movie stars leaked out in the internet The more I think about the incident, the more it is upsetting. Whether the photos are authentic or not ... I saw very ugly and absurd behavior for many. (1) Throughout the whole incidence, a certain "public" viewed and forwarded the photos that's private and not for distribution. (We're talking about millions.) That they can have access to them does not make it legitimate to view and forward them. (If someone drops their letter on the road, can we just pick it up and read it, even though it is in "public domain"??) Then, they demand apologies from people whose privacy they have invaded -- for what? for what those very PRIVATE behaviors that's not "suitable for children and indecent for the general public". What is it like? Stealing X from people P against their will, using X, and suing P for other alleged adverse effects of using X. Whoever suffering from the photos do that at their own fault -- including children. Once schooled (above 4-5 years old) we know basic things like not to litter, not to step in the line, and not to invade other's privacy. Say, a little boy is taught not to go and flip the skirts of other girls. If children intentionally go and see the photos, they're either bad by birth or by education. (2) Another certain public complains about the content of the photos (whether they view them or not) and dismisses the lawful rights for certain people to engage in the depicted activities or for taking record of the activities. These people infringe on the freedom of others. (3) They accuse the movie stars for having one image on screen, and a different personality off screen. They call that dishonesty. Ha! Actors and actresses play roles on screen (whether it be movies or media events) that are supposed to differ from their actual lives! That it's done convincingly is professionism, not dishonesty. Also, youngsters should judge the message/sermon not the person delivering it. (4) Besides obtaining and distributing others' private information, there are other *possible* wrongdoings ... Hiding information from the police. Not protecting data sensitive to others. Confusion & abuse of power in the police. Talking nonsense instead of (a) saying something to the point (such as "none of your xxxking business" or "I'm glad this incidence has served to stimulate much discussion about individual right to privacy") (b) apologizing to the point (c) or refusing to apologize to unreasonable accusations (else, the apologizer endorses others wrongdoings) Such wrongdoings are lesser compared to the massive misconduct (1)-(3). What's interesting to read are various articles posted by Leung Man To and Ma Kai Fai in the opinion and forum section in Ming Pao. For instance Leung pointed out that the public admires an idol not for who they personally are but for what the public projects onto the idol (an image provided by an actual person). What does this mean? Chung as a person, perhaps loses her capital to take that lucrative job -- but that's different from doing something wrong and having to apologize. Say, if a supermodel gains 50lbs, he/she will suffer professionally, but that is not a wrongdoing. If he/she fail to show up for work, they should apologize (so, Chung should keep her public appearance, until she becomes unpopular enough to be uninvited ...). It may be a misfortune for Ah Sa but these aren't mistakes or anything brought intentionally. Or, as Ma pointed out, these self-recording devices should be used as liberation for women than a suppression and invasion to their privacy, and he asked why the usual activists are silent. (Well, to my applause, Ng Man Lung had an article on the same day listing many many violations of rights.) Aug 01, 2007 "God save the queen" Besides divine intervention, it is unclear how to stop the Queen Pier from being removed. No one can defeat the facists (dog-government-officials + money-blinded developers) in HK. Salute to the three hunger strikers, and other peaceful protestors who were just removed by the police. One thing after another, the government is robbing the citizens -- the right of broadcast and freedom of expression, unscreen art and literature, the old Star Ferry Pier, the beautiful original site of Kai Tak, and now the Queen Pier. What next, RTHK? May 31, 2007 My life: Full time job: Assistant Professor Duties, in order of decreasing significance: meetings, socializing and networking, reports, grant application, teaching classes, travel supervising research students, talk to visitors, organize events Work time: 25 hours a week off teaching 75 hours a week while teaching Part time job 1: self proclaimed grad student at PI Duties, in order of decreasing significance: eat free food, browse web (esp read PhD comics), attend game's night and movie night and real parties occasionally do research, write papers, and travel Work time: 05 hours a week off teaching, 30 hours a week while teaching Part time job 2: personal secretary to Prof. Leung Duties, unordered: book flight tickets, call ground transportation, prepare reimbersement, handle visitors Work time: 5 hours a week Part time job 3: "Marianne" (Maid) for Madam Leung Duties, in order of decreasing significance: get "fresh" food, cook and wash, household cleaning, laundry, gardening, handyman work Work time: 25 hours a week Part time job 4: Subject for sleep disorder experiments Dec 02, 2006 I have always love this song written by a friend, and one day, I had an urge to translate it from Cantonese to English so that I can put it on the web. This was kind of insane, since my English is far from supportive, and I knew nothing about poetry in any language. Furthermore, the difference between the language structures, and that between the cultures (many concepts have no English equivalence) add to the difficulty. At the end, slighly different meanings are adapted here and there to make things work. Well, life is more about trying than succeeding. ------------------------------ If I cease to live -- Exist Ho ------------------------------ If I cease to live, my funeral hall will be filled with flowers Petals glittering, fragrance diffusing to manifest the beauty of life If I cease to live, my soul will be set free Riding with the breeze, travelling through this world to sing loudly in the polar light and in the rain forest Mom-n-dad, unneeded is your grief -- it takes no place in my life because of you If I cease to live, my debt will be left unpaid Hoping it can quietly slip away, from your bookeeping to make room for some sunshine If I cease to live, my affections will be ashed and flown Loving many in silence, basking in the mood to scorn for outcomes and truth Songs -- I have written plenty Good ones -- they're rare of the rare Yet they're all I have left embedding fragments of life waiting to enter your tune some day If I cease to live, my regrets will be many Feeling insufficient and imperfect, though getting the basics to return to heaven unashamed If I cease to live, my smile will you remember? Leaving for good, vanishing from your mind But ... may I still occupy a tiny corner of your heart? As you remember our laughter and heartbeat -- in your memories I continue to live and exist Misc thoughts Dec 2005 - Mar 2006 (1) HK Kai Tak airport old-site There is this bus 98D or minivan that go on a highway, past the old airport site and also the old Kwun Tong Cargo Wharf. The sunset usually looks ridiculous pretty. In March, I took some pictures, off the highway on foot. The Wharf, now without the airport running, seems to be devoted to shipping recycling materials and heavy construction materials. It was so peaceful and surreal. The airport, the parking area, had several old yellow-and-red "9-bus" parked there and nothing else. The sidewalk next to it was a quiet walk with talk grass and it was very nice. The airport itself, part of the runway, was converted to a golf-course. Otherwise, it was just left alone -- with the inset of water, and lots and lots of birds! You can look HK all angles, and be surrounded by things like the Lion Mountain, with their beautiful *reflection* -- yes -- reflection, in those inset of water. Instead of turning it to a historic site + tourist attraction, it hurts to hear they're going to build luxury apartments, therefore ruining the landscape and also privatizing the area. Excuse me for saying that, "Poke-Kai apartments!" (2) Ice! All over the road, hidden under the snow, or as a bump next to a bridge over "troubled water"! Sigh, Feb in Waterloo. Cannot even walk ... (3) Taaax ... you know you are screwed if you have one citizenship, and lived in the US for so long to claim "residence-for-tax-purposes" and move to yet another country and finally have to file US fed tax, CA state tax and Canadian tax, and dumb enough to believe you're educated enough to read instruction and poor enough not having to pay 500-750 canadian dollars to an account to save you $30 of tax money. (4) Spring! It seemed to be 20C March 29, and people were walking in shorts and vests! (Well I guess we're all Vit-D deficient by now, not because there's no sun in the winter nor people did not go out -- we simple could not afford to have skin exposed! I was use a mask so that besides my lips, nothing was out in the worst days ...) Nov 25, 2005 To finish off the story: Around noon time on Nov 09, 2005, the particular person at IBM who contacted me received and accepted the faxed receipt (with the newly added S/N). (The small print of the S/N that makes the whole world of difference can actually been put on myself ...) I was told the warantee was updated by Friday. When I called for the repair over the weekend, I was told that the warantee info was not updated (&%$@%). Fortunately, Monday (14 days after the failure), the person who accepted the receipt also managed to talk to some other person, and eventually, I was told that I could have the computer repaired. That was Nov 14. So, by Thur Nov 16, my computer was repaired. What was ironic was that, 4 days afterwards, someone who is supposed to handle my complain to IBM finally contacted me on what can be done etc .... and she was trying to updated the warantee info a few days ago .... Nov 09, 2005 A painful story to share. One thing is that, nearly everyone I dealt with had been very kind and tried to help, but it was amazing how many small accidents can chain up to a big pain. My computer, purchased in the US 2.7 years ago, was found dead Sunday Oct 30, 2005. I called the service center, and the diagnosis was a bad motherboard (that's good news compared to a bad darhdisk, but that's relative). In principle, then, it will be fixed by IBM since I had a 3 year warantee. I believed I registered, but no registration info was found. (The computer was bought after a horrific house theft that removed my earlier computer, and was bought with the help of a couple of friends.) IBM used the manufacturing date as the purchase date, and that was May 2002. Thus, IBM insisted that my computer's out of warantee. Now, the representative was trying to help, and told me to fax the "Proof of Purchase" to number XXX. So, I went back to my office, and searched until 1am, and found only a shipping slip, and upon calling, they reassured me it would not be honoured. Now, where's the invoice? It's with Caltech, where I worked back than, and who kindly paid for my computer out of my research grant there. So, I emailed my group administrator, who promptly grepped the receipt from another administrator at PMA at Calteched (whom I knew for 14 years). So, I faxed the receipt and was told that it could take 1-3 days to update the warantee info. After 2-3 other calls in those 3 days, I was told by Friday night that chances were that the fax was not received (@$%#!! but it was certainly sent, since my fax machine even displayed "IBM Corporation" during transmission" and confirmed all pages were sent). This time, I was told more key words to put on the cover page. Of course, I could fax it ASAP, but no one would pick up until Monday (that SEVEN DAYS already after the initial problem). This time, it was picked up. During all these time, I was dying to get the data out. Problem 1: force mount the hard-disk can kill it if it's not already the case. Problem 2: where to send the data? A DVD would work, but the linux data structure can change. So, I finally made up my mind to partition a new laptop purchased in May 2005 (but received only July 2005, another long story of misfortune) out of the existing Win XP (the thing that I was too afraid to do since I needed the data in XP). Before that, I should backed up whatever July 2005 data in that Win partition. First, I had no CD, nor did my Dept supply room. So, 20 mins to get some from the TechWorx. Then, the shock came when no CD burning program could be found. It's always preinstalled. How come? What might happened was that when I worked a little on the computer in Aug 2005, I installed the "free 90-day trial" Norton Antivirus, which ate up the computer because it past the trial period (dated at the initial purchase date May 2005 of the computer). Solution? Press the pretty blue button on the laptop, and wiped out the old XP with a new one. (Why is that buttom blue rather than red? Why is it called "Access IBM instead of "Self destruction express"?) I must have done it without the ultrabay (and thus the CDRom, and it was "smart" enough to skip that program). OK, another 1 hour, I finally got the CD burner online, burnt the disk. With the kind volunteer help of someone in MFCF at UW, I got a new partition for installing linux end of workday of Oct 31. Then, I went to a talk, and went home for the trick-or-treaters. Next 1-2 days, I was debating between Ubutu, Debian, and Fedora, and also, dying to submit a conference paper, besides the regular teaching preparation. Friday morning, I got myself and the four Fedora installation disks, and most importantly, a friend and colleague from IBM all ready for the big event, and it went well :) By 4:40pm, I got the computer nearly-work. It looks a little late to go to the data recovery center. So, why not going Sat morning? Of course not ... it's not opened Sat and Sun :( Worst still, I also found out the lost-fax. It was stupidity not to send that fax EVERYDAY .... Terribly depressed -- nothing can be done in the weekend -- except for the adventurous thing to take the hard-disk and put it to an "enclosure" and it is in principle mountable on the new laptop!!! Just some technical details ... what is the correct enclosure? what is the specs of the hard-disk. I found no info at all on the web (it turns out 2.5 inchs as suspected). Instructions on how to take out the hard-disk and how to mount the enclosure was intimidating, and I did even know where to buy one of those gadgets and it was pouring down. So, I decided to just wait for Monday. After class and office hour and seminar, I went to that place and again, I was kindly help. Step 1: mount on their machine, which is a Win XP, which cannot see linux. Step 2: mount on enclosure (the technician did it "like-a-pro"). Well, USB device not seen at all in my newly install linux (even with another phone call to the friend at IBM). Step 3: mount on a T22, and it worked. Tears of joy came out. Another while to config network etc. (No X windows, but fortunately, not too long ago, I had a net-config problem, and yet another friend taught me how-to do it elementarily.) Now, neither linux box let another scp in (!#$@$!) Another phone call to the IBM friend, and finally got the data transfer !!! By evening, I got a call from the IBM service center saying "Sorry, your computer's bought in US. We cannot process your info here in Canada. File your proof of purchase in the US." EXPLOSION ... WHY DID YOU TELL ME 9 DAYS AGO??? OK, what can I do? I confess late that my case was troublesome enough for such SMALL detail to be missed. Call US number (1am Tue morning to avoid the queue), wait ... wait ... wait ... explain explain explain .. and I was told "Oh, you're talking to the Canada site ... you're detected as in Canada and automatically forwarded, I'll transfer you." wait ...... wait ... wait ...... wait ... wait ... yes, this time, it said "Atlanta, Georgia". I was given another 1-800 phone number to call, call, and got the message "You are not allowed to connect .... booooooooooo (the hang-up-tune)." Call US number again, and interesting, exactly the same person picked up (perhaps there's only one there?). Given another case number, another phone number. Tuesday, call again. Now, this time, I was told of a new issue. Not only I had to register in the US, I had to formally "transfer" the warantee to Canada. This time, a new "surprise". My receipt from TechDepot has NO serial number of the part shipped, just the "T23" .... and you guess what? The IBM warantee info personnel promised the receipt will not be taken. What next? Call TechDepot, and they sent the info to the friend who help bought the computer. The story is to continued (tears in my eyes). Lessons: In such emergency: (0) No matter what, GET THAT DATA out ASAP even if it takes many steps and if a computer repair looked emminent. Besides your soul, your life, and those of your living love ones, there is nothing more important than the soul of your computer. (0') If your mother board is not dead, but nearly so, with tons of random errors, severely cool the computer will do. At regular time: (1) back up data (2) back up data (3) back up data (4) register computer purchase (5) transfer warantee info when you move across country Another time you have to fax and wait: (6) spam the fax machine of your target, again and again and be annoying. The "cannot receive fax" happened 4 out of 4 times, with Honda, IBM, Bank, US consulate, ... etc in the past 3 months. To continue depending on what Techdepot has sent to my friend. Of course, it was lucky to have the data out and a new computer working, and it was nice to note how many people have helped. At the same time, life can be more painful than should be. July 22, 2005 How to convert USD to CAD (and perhaps other types of conversion): - If you're already in Canada (or whatever destination country XXX), and don't care about a 10-30 day hold and a suboptimal exchange rate up to 5%, deposit a personal check to your new Canadian (XXX) account can be easiest. - A certified check in the final currency may have a shorter hold, but you'll have to get that check somehow. It is hard in the US, but easy in other countries like UK and HK. - A fast method is to transfer funds electronically, e.g. by wire transfer, but to get hold of all that transit numbers can be painful. You will have the choice of converting the currency in either country. Conversion at the originating bank seems much better since the conversion rate can be controlled. Also, with 99% chance you'll have to pay extra processing fee. - My favorite: an online trade-site: XE.com You pay XEtrade, and it pays you back, both as simple domestic transfers, that can be handled directly and errorlessly in most large/small banks. It is nice if you care about the exchange rates. Finally, they are specialized in such trade, giving very knowledgeable service. My own case is a little unsual ... my originating bank is out of town, and the destination bank is very small and also out of town. To match the transaction codes for different countries via phone calls, emails, and faxes is a pain, and is costly, if you get some surprise mishandling on the way (which happened to me). While getting impatience with the wiring method, I started trying XEtrade, which outpaced the conventional method, and with impressive service. July 11, 2005 $$$! That's what occupies my mind, but not my pocket/bank account! July 06, 2005 Back to Caltech! May 19, 2005 Cochlea implant The following has related information on an interesting Physics Colloquium by Ian Shipsey on cochlea implant today. http://www.physics.purdue.edu/~shipsey/deaf/#Cochlea May 19, 2005 10th year reunion Time flies ... What have I done for these past 10 years? This reminds me of the PhD comics http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=360 Hopefully will see some "old" friends. All at a sudden feeling so old. April 16, 2005 Anti-Japanese Protests Somehow, protests anytime between April 15 - June 4 reminded me of the 1989 democratic movement. I'm feeling uncomfortable, irrationally. April 4, 2005 Diary for now -- I have not figure out how to let others add comments. Will fix that up later. April 4, 2005 Joshua Tree I went to Joshua Tree with Igor Devetak, Jonathan Oppenheim, and Andreas Winter and we had a very good time. The scenary were stunning, and the wild flowers were amazing. See http://www.desertusa.com/wildflo/ca.html for example. I have not been to Joshua Tree for about 10.5 years. I believe I last went July or August 1994. All my old previous trips were for star gazing, and we would arrived in dusk and settled in a place with clear views and little on the ground -- thus I have never seen the rocks, the flowers, the cacti, nor the Joshua trees themselves. What was puzzling me was that, why the flowers look so preciously pretty at the dessert? Was is the desert background, the sunshine, the tranquility of the setting, our elevated spirits, or simply the scarcity of the flowers (or its being in a natural form)? Or was it like the well in a desert and the stars at night? Are enjoyments/indulgences in life like flowers? -- we can plant hundreds in a garden, they're nice and sweet, without reproducing the excitment of seeing the wild ones? Mar 10, 2005 Tung Che Wah's resign speech Like most other HKers, I was shocked at Tung's resign. No rejoice -- since there's no sign of better democracy in HK. In fact, the discussion about the transition smelled strongly of a manipulative Central (Beijing) government. His speech is another reflection of one the problem of his painful 8-year rule (painful to him, to most HKers, and particularly to those looking forward to a good standard of autonomy) --- a substandard of "autonomy." > we have realized "one country two system" "HK people rule HK" HK is different from China, and we have our own currency, laws, and government. We have part of the legislative council elected through general election and so on. But it is funny ... yes, the governing body are "HK" citizens ... that's perhaps what they mean by "HK people rule HK." (The Chief Executive is only elected by an 800 people council at this point.) We indeed have two systems, but our Beijing parents appear very fond of reinterpretating our Basic Law. The situation is like buying what's label "Vegetarian" and getting vegetables cooked in butter. Feb 27, 2005 Following a friend's blog, I visited the following site: http://www.blogthings.com/genderbrainquiz/ to check "What Gender Is Your Brain?" Ans: "Your Brain is 60.00% Female, 40.00% Male" Testing on a different question ... "What Age Do You Act?" ... XX (too embarrassed to put down :( Seeing my friend's discussion of the resurrection of Rockacola, and his experience talking to a music company, I really appreciate the much easier access to the internet, and the widespread "blogging" practice. Feb 21, 2005 The songs of Teresa Tang are replayed repeatedly in my head, after watching the movie "Tian Mi Mi" (aka "Comrades, Almost a love story", see e.g., http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews/comrades_almost.htm.) I do not consider myself a fans of Teresa Tang, but her songs can be infectious. Time flies ... Teresa Tang died when I was about to graduate from Caltech, and that's almost 10 years ago. Feb 13, 2005 QIP vs TCC 2005 I'm amazed at the similarity (to me) between the two communities, e.g, age distribution of the participants and speakers, and the friendliness+frankness on average. Thinking about it a little more, the two theory groups should indeed be similar -- both are concerned with theories that "sound" like having a practical impact (modulo big gaps with implementations), a long history followed by a recent "boom" in activities, attracting theorists who seem to appreciate similar type of mathematical beauty. Jan 30, 2005 2046 Watched after an 8-month anticipation and 6-week of hands-off my DVD. My 129 mins was amply rewarded. Knowing and liking WKW's various previous work can be a big factor in how much one would enjoy 2046. It may be disappointing to get no award at Cannes and I don't expect major awards elsewhere -- the movie lacks breakthrough in the art of film-making or acting. However, the movie is still a very good one (for some) and there are many reasons why WKW should think so highly of 2046. Jan 28, 2005 Qn: How long can a quantum information chat last (starting from 2:30pm)? Ans: 12:30am. Jan 28, 2005 Blog uploaded on a day of farewell to Zhao, Ziyang Jan 27, 2005 10 days after the death of Zhao, Ziyang (ZZY) I first heard of the death in the T (Boston), on an obscure page in USA today. Shocking -- though back in X'mas, I heard of ZZY's failing health from a friend who lent me a "book" with ZZY's interviews. The book has no English name, but the title can be translated as "The political warfare in the reform years of China" (ISBN 962-675-803-1) and it was just released in Nov 2004. Initially, I hoped ZZY would live to the reassessment of 6-4. I did not know too much of ZZY until I read "June Fourth:The True Story" (see homepage) back in May 2001. It was tremendously sad that the student movement ended in bloodshed, and that the moderate ZZY was purged. It was scary how problematic the govt structure can be. I hoped eventually, someone would make a change to the situation will be in charge of the govt, and I was putting hope in the Hu-Wen (HW) team. The news in the past 10 days was depressing. The HW govt acted just as conservatively and sometimes-barbarianly (actually fluctuating, reminds me of 89-movement, perhaps the govt always have constraints.) I was reading part of the "book", focusing on the part how and why Hu, Yaobang (HYB) was fired, and what happened to ZZY and comments on 6-4. "The True Stories" is a collection of official records; the book contains open comments, summaries and hindsights, but the two are very consistent with one another. I finally understood why ZZY did this or that in 1989. It was chilling to see someone who was smart, careful, politically competent (unlike HYB) and balanced between listening to the higher authority and carrying out reform was throw out of office, by a combination of intrigue and coincidences. Most depressingly, it is hard to find someone who can do better than ZZY, and the future looks bleak. This theory of a stable-monarch like govt is a necessary first step to democracy is BS. Incidentally, I realize "Hero" advocates the same kind of fallacy ... Jan 23, 2005 A blog? Inspired by a friend's blog, I am considering writing one myself. The situation is similar to posting my homepage 1.5 years ago -- there is conflict between sharing and privacy. Of course, the homepage is for anyone who shares my interest, while currently, my blog is meant for closer friends -- writing the blog rather than sending similar emails to some of them simultaneously. * Memories lost-and-found -- For a couple of reasons, I was looking through my unorganized photos. I am usually against taking pictures. Sometimes, I just found the tourists taking pictures annoying. Sometimes, I found my own self in the picture annoying. But I like keeping pictures from friends, since I try to remember as much about them as possible. In my plastic box of scattered small photo albums, envelopes, postcards, and wedding announcement, I also found some I took with my sister's handy-down fool-camera. I also rediscovered pictures sent to me by others, during reunions and weddings. For a moment, I was grateful that pictures were taken.