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Rants

The category that defies descriptions.

2009.11.18 11:05:07 GMT Alcohol consumption Different cultures certainly have different views on alcohol. For example, at Hertford College Oxford, wine is allowed if reasonably drunk and 4) A small amount of beer or lager will be allowed wher

2009.09.28 18:30:27 BST Spiders spiders everywhere Wow! Third post today, and here I thought I have been neglecting my blog. Anyway, it turns out that I am not the only person to have noticed the large number of spiders in Britain this autumn. Going o

2009.09.28 14:42:39 BST The evolution debate as an illustration of speciation I was reading some article or another in Wired, which happens to be about dinosaurs. And of course, the religious kooks came out of the woodwork to attack evolution on the comment board. And it occurr

2009.07.27 00:00:58 EDT Of cabbages and king prawns Went to the Asian Food Market today, and realized how much I love summer and cheap produce. It was a quick twenty-dollar shopping trip. But the most impressive of all was the Cabbage! Napa cabbage wa

2009.04.28 11:23:22 EDT Are we putting too much faith in the savior? Hypothetically speaking, would it have been better for President Obama if, instead of the Democratic landslide of 2008, he was elected to face an adversarial congress dominated by Republican majoritie

2008.11.06 18:07:54 EST Not a bad day at all: dissertaion 2/3 completed Today had been a pretty good day. Woke up nice and late: having the luxury to do so makes it already a good start. I came into office, and stared at the calculations I am doing for the time being. (Th

2008.07.02 23:10:39 EDT Fireworks after moving in For some reason, Princeton Township decided to run its firework display this evening. Not exactly on the same calibre as the one given next to the Charles with the music of Boston Pop, but still quite

2008.04.24 15:37:35 EDT On Doron Zeilberger Scanning through the offered seminars today, I came across an entry that I've already mostly missed (in part because my office hourse): Between 2:15pm and 3:15pm today, Professor Doron Zeilberger of

2008.03.18 19:07:46 EDT UPS Thank goodness for uninterruptable power supply. According to my sister there had just been a sort power-outage at home, lasting roughly half and hour. My investment in an 650 VA model APC is looking

2008.03.12 22:19:51 EDT Bootstrap argument Yesterday I mentioned the Ken Thompson ACM Lecture in my blog. Now that I am Vicodin-free and thinking clearly, I understood why the concept tickled me so. (Well, it would've tickled me regardless, si

2008.03.12 06:51:08 EDT I'm glad it wasn't an alpine mountain train I've learned that it's all downhill from Princeton to West Windsor. Since I visited my sister yesterday, I came in on the Princeton Dinky this morning as she is heading off to school; this means I got

2008.03.11 22:20:13 EDT Removal of Wisdom tooth and other stuff Much happened today. In the morning shower, I realized a mistake I've made in the calculation that I did yesterday. It is a good realization, whereupon I rid myself of a pesky term that I hadn't until

2008.03.04 11:35:54 EST Lorenz v Lorentz I'm not quite sure from where I first heard this: that the proper spelling is Lorenz gauge and Lorentz transformation. The former is named after a Dane by the name of Ludwig Valentin Lorenz, the latte

2008.02.27 06:52:28 EST The Princeton Yes! Oh man am I slow. I've been wondering about the "YES!" carved into the footpath connecting Whitman College and the Dinky ever since the College first opened. And this morning, walking toward Fine Hall

2008.02.08 14:52:23 EST MacBook Air I have never seriously considered owning Mac hardware before. I was forced to use old Macintoshes, and then some iMacs during high school; when I worked at Argonne, the lab uses almost exclusively Mac

2008.01.24 17:05:22 EST News in the HTML front A few announcements were made recently regarding HTML, the language that websites are built of. First, the w3c (the organization that develops standards for the internet) released a Working Draft of t

2007.12.01 16:11:55 EST The story of 'garbage' First, a flow chart: For those of you who know Chinese, the characters on the far left are Chinese for "garbage". (The little Japanese kana-like things to the left of the characters are the Taiwan Bo

2007.10.19 19:59:39 EDT What's your equation? Edge's "World Question Center" debuted a project where they asked scientists "What is your formula? Your Equation? Your Algorithm?" Here are the responses that they collected. The overwhelming respons

2007.08.20 12:43:32 EDT Philosophical musings on a Monday morning Starting from the Greeks Leucippus and Democritus, plenty of western philosophers and natural scientists alike have subscribed to a deterministic universe. Indeed, the precise laws of Newtonian mechan

2007.08.13 19:56:11 EDT Markus Keel's first lecture, or, how I learned to explain what I do for a living and defend myself against physicists Markus Keel, a senpai of mine (who left over 10 years ago), is back in Princeton for the week teaching Nonlinear Wave Equations and stuff for the program "Analysis and Geometry", an NSF Research Train

2007.06.18 00:57:44 EDT Stuff from American Scientist Just read some articles from the May-June issue of American Scientist. Two of them readlly stood out to me: 1. "The Most Dangerous Equation" by Howard Wainer. (If you have an American Scientist subscr

2007.04.24 20:18:19 CST Building security A few days ago, out of curiousity, we asked the guy down at the ground floor guarding the door about the door-locking policy of this building: he kindly informed us that 1) yes, they do perform a comp

2007.04.06 13:12:13 CST Deliveries, cheap labour, and expensive coffee One of the things about China that Big Business loves is the fact that labour is cheap. One evidence for this even in everyday life is the curious phenonmenon where everything can be delivered. Pin or

2007.04.06 11:34:35 CST Peking static For some reason, the blackboard is so staticky here. I don't know if it is the dry weather of the material they made the black board from, but everytime I reach for a piece of chalk or for the eraser

2007.04.06 08:56:26 CST Journal: Another day in China So wind-chill seems to be a big factor in Beijing. Without the wind, even the cool morning air feels wonderful once I am in the sun, but when the wind starts blowing, staying outside for long is unbea

2007.04.01 11:33:27 CST China, First few days I am currently in Beijing. At the invitation of Sergiu Klainerman (my advisor), my officemate Pin Yu and I traveled to China to join him, who is taking part of his sabbatical year at the Institute for

2007.02.23 17:27:10 EST The first one-million-Scoville-unit pepper With 1,001,304 Scoville Heat Units, the Bhut Jolokia cultivated at New Mexico State University is now certified as the hottest known chile pepper. Apparently the existence of the pepper has been publi

2007.01.17 00:43:14 EST My "English Education" It was junior year coming up for me, and my advisor noticed that I still hadn't any classes for the Literature and Art category of the basic distribution requirements for the bachelor of arts. I opted

2006.10.12 17:39:53 EDT I forsee a battle of wits Oz just found out that He can "jump" roughly one foot horizontally and 3 inches vertically. He can break his eventual fall by biting on things. My glasses can support his weight. So now every time I

2006.10.10 17:49:22 EDT Knots I have been having a mild depression in the past few days. Mostly because I felt a bit lost: I was not sure what exactly that I should be doing or whether I have been working hard enough. And Math has

2006.10.07 17:46:10 EDT There should be no biting in this household Oz is amazingly nibbly. I think that is a result of two things: the first is that he has gotten used to his environment and is now "unafraid" to "try new things"; the second is that he has gotten used

2006.10.02 12:50:10 EDT He is Oz We've got a new member to the "family"! He is an Agapornis roseicollis, i.e. Peach-faced lovebird, with an orange-face mutation (so when he grows up his face would be bright orange instead of pink).

2006.08.20 20:15:39 EDT Shoe saga After a rather intense game, I was sitting on the sidelines watching my friend Rohit play: he hit a spectacular drop shot that brought a smile to my face. As I looked down (hand reaching up to sort my

2006.08.10 17:32:27 EDT The Squeeze Drove my sister up to Cornell the other day. After laboring hours helping her unpack (by jove their dorm rooms are small... but modern. And clean), mom and I yielded to her insistance on trying some s

2006.07.27 21:13:03 EDT A short history of the geometrization conjecture (Update 07.28: a further development) It seems that I am a bit late on the bandwagon. My friends Aleks and Aaron, both geometric analysts (at least in some point of their careers), confirmed that they

2006.07.23 16:10:14 EDT Under the messy hair, a messier personal life In addition to the personal papers bequeathed to Hebrew University when he died in 1955, Albert Einstein had some personal correspondance that were kept by his step-daughter Margot Einstein. Those wer

2006.06.29 20:26:50 EDT Hungry Little Devils A couple months ago, on a Sunday morning, over breakfast, mom was telling me about the basil, mint, and rosemary she had planted in the rectangular window-box-sized pot outside the window. And at the

2006.06.28 03:18:52 EDT China Trip Tip #1 S informs me that, while Bank of China has a deal with Bank of America to let BoA customers withdraw money from their accounts at a small processing fee (around $5 per transaction, IIRC), she still ra

2006.06.19 21:10:44 EDT Some more recaps More quick recaps of past weeks. May 29 - June 8 I spent in Boston. Notable events: completion of the first episode of Xenosaga, lots of Pikman, a going away party for S, dim sum with some other resid

2006.06.14 15:47:48 EDT Backlogged Journal: NC Trip III, Mem Day--05/23-28 backlogged update 3 (May 23) After getting up relatively late in the morning, we drove from Ashville to the outskirts of Charlotte, where we would stay. T and P were originally intent on making a stop

2006.04.29 15:56:43 EDT Badminton scoring Just found out from Daryl (our badminton coach) that He is getting married. Because of that, he is moving about 100 miles west, to the middle-of-nowhere Pennsylvania And so he can't coach us anymore.

2006.04.28 18:26:46 EDT On the Miyagawa/Dower incident Updated May 2nd S sends me a link at ESWN commenting on the same issue. The author there did more research than I did, and quotes more liberally. To see some examples of what I was riling about below,

2006.04.22 00:23:52 EDT Badminton videos on YouTube Some really cool badminton videos that I found on YouTube: Some segments from Melbourne 2006 Semis. Much of the video is from the women's doubles match where the Chinese were just dominating, and the

2006.04.13 17:41:05 EDT The most expensive sandwich BBC carries a report on the McDonald sandwich--not made by the fastfood joint, but by chef Scott McDonald--now selling for a limited time (until the Monday after Easter) at the London department store

2006.02.22 08:09:45 EST Airport blues; rant on pc-tude Just drove mom to Newark Airport. Two things were learnt. The first: computer systems are bloody stupid. It seems that some time between last summer and the winter past, United Airlines, among others,

2006.02.12 19:16:51 EST Journal: NAQT SCT + Blizzard Quite a blustery day. The Princeton area has over a foot (home has more like 15-18 inches). EWR just reopened a bit earlier. JFK and LaGuardia are still closed. New record snow fall in central park (2

2006.02.07 11:15:39 EST I blame it on the 1986 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry from Taiwan What if, on the SAT, you see the following question? 1. LOL :: :-D == a) OMG :: :-O b) ROFLMAO :: :-( c) WTF :: :-P d) TTYL :: :-) e) J/K :: :-X Ridiculous? Sacrilege? Perhaps you'd be thinking about

2006.01.26 16:37:49 EST HOWTO: replace ballast for fluorescent light fixture The ballast is a black-box that is about 2"x4"x8" that does some physics voodoo to heat-up the filaments in the fluorescent bulb so that electrons are boiled off, as well as acts as a voltage regulato

2006.01.12 18:13:50 EST ID in CA; Green Ham; Pagan scouts Eggs and Green Ham. Scientists from National Taiwanese University's Department of Animal Science and Technology say that they are the first to produce pigs that are through and through green-fluoresce

2005.12.19 23:28:29 EST King George is "confused" (This is in reference to this article and this one. Sorry for the lack of organization of my thoughts and the constant change between narrative and apostrophe. I am not particularly proud to be an Ame

2005.12.09 20:30:11 EST Journal: snow, library computer bug, pooh have you ever witnessed lightning and thunder during a blizzard? i have now! Says S. White seems to be blanketing Massachusetts. Her flight out of Logan tonight was delayed until tomorrow morning. M

2005.12.04 17:57:59 EST News from Far East: Taiwanese election, Chinese dog in space Taiwanese Election w00t! The KMT (國民黨) and its "Blue Coalition" Won Big (link in Chinese) in the local election on December 3rd. Of the 23 administrative seats up for grabs in cou

2005.10.22 10:37:44 EDT Who said lightning couldn't strike twice? ARGGGGGHHHH! Curse you! Why is it that ye Gods always find it necessary to smite down manifested hubris?! Around 9:30 or 10 last night, there was a brief power outage. After navigating myself in the d

2005.10.01 21:38:25 EDT Longwang vs Katrina; the Danger of living in the USA I think, in general, the whole Katrina business is due to the American people being awfully unprepared for hurricanes, even as they live in an area where hurricanes should be the norm. With that said,

2005.09.30 12:18:02 EDT Thoughts on a friday morning I have this most awesome idea for a sandwich shop. It should use gourmet bread and nice ingredients like Panera, and should have a set menu like Panera. But you know how Panera introduces new sandwic

2005.09.29 12:25:09 EDT Three happenings on a Thursday morning Three things marked this morning: a mathematical Eureka, a hug, and a discovery. The mathematical thought is directly related to yesterday's post on fluid dynamics so I just added it to that entry as

2005.09.08 00:28:52 EDT The decline of journalism in the U.S. I can't stand watching American TV news anymore. Just now, there was a segment on NBC 10, the local (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) NBC affiliate station, about the so-called liquid armour. How do I star

2005.09.05 02:34:15 EDT Why many published papers are not rubbish As usual, science reporters exaggerate the findings of a particular researchers in order to make a more shocking headline. New Scientist, the self-proclaimed "World's No. 1 Science and Technology News

2005.09.04 13:44:07 EDT Mail mix-up For some reason, we've been receiving rather lots of "mixed-up" mail recently at home. And the mix-ups are usually due to the incompetence/laziness of certain third parties. For starters, the previous

2005.09.02 12:59:10 EDT Unprepared for Disaster: Katrina Back in early 2001, "the Federal Emergency Management Agency ranked the potential damage to New Orleans as among the three likeliest, most castastrophic disasters facing this country.". The other two

2005.08.28 01:45:37 EDT On remembering Lane wrote in his LJ entry about the overflow of emotions from memories that just popped back into his head one night when he was in Kyoto. What really shook me was his comment near the end My memori

2005.08.23 18:49:14 EDT The decline of science in America Harold Evans writes in the BBC about the decline of Science in the United States. If America were to continue on the present trend of catering to the lobbyists of large conglomerates, it will soon los

2005.08.23 17:42:50 EDT High Speed Strobe Photography High Speed flash photography of Balloons Popping. At the FOO Camp recently, people demonstrated home-brew High Speed Flash Cameras. They invited people to pop balloons with a needle and caught the bal

2005.08.22 22:16:40 EDT Digital cameras promote wastefulness (unfinished) Via boingboing, I found a link to this extremely cute gallery on flickr.com of photos of "faces" found in everyday objects. Here's what boingboing has to say on the topic: According to Wikipedia, par

2005.08.18 22:30:24 EDT Journal (in memoriam of PG) After three months, I pulled out the ol' saxophone again. I was a bit rusty and playing with some of the up-tempo tunes was difficult for me. I should spend some time to work on my scales again. In ge

2005.05.04 16:33:00 EDT Brazil opposes US terms for AIDS money The Guardian reports that Brazil is rejecting the US AIDS aid because of the strings attached to the money imposed by our administration's faith-based policies. Quote: The demand from the US administ

2005.05.03 00:59:00 EDT Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy First, an excursion. We went to 大千美食林 to get some dinner before the movie. It was an asian dominated group: Evelyn, Phil, DJP, Andrea, Yoko, and I are all asian. Eri

© 2004-2008 Willie W. Wong, Sortir en Pantoufles: http://www.math.princeton.edu/~wwong/

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