free flow of thought

New website!

2010-06-07T07:05:00.001-07:00

www.billyfung.com Everything located in this blog will hopefully be imported over, and with more stuff!

Discourse in colour

2010-06-04T18:41:00.000-07:00

Colours make up most of our lives, and most of us can take it as a granted thing in life. Whenever I think of blind people, I immediately wonder what they think of colours. Most blind people are not able to understand what colours are, and most never will. Such a simple concept that makes up a whole lot of our lives. We connect colours to emoticons, changing our mood depending on what colours we see. Our skin colours defining who we are to others, a symbol of status, a visual history. Whenever we see people of different colours, we are able to relate to their history, their hardships and their origins. Pigments in our skin, cooking in the sun.

Which brings me to my main point, why do people enjoy tanning so much? The ultraviolet rays from the sun, penetrating into our skin, radiating the cells. Oh the thought of our skin cells melting under the heat of the sun sure sounds lovely, but I also get the added effect of looking like a different shade of colour? Count me out. What is so appealing about turning into a baked crispy brown, or if you're lucky, an even lovelier tone of orange? Yet people go through all the trouble to increase their chances of skin cancer, to achieve what? Maybe if you really wanted to be darker, it would be just as entertaining to work under the heat of the sun in the cotton fields, or the open pit mines. I may be a hypocrite since I'm pretty browned myself, but it's cause I've been out at camp in the sun, and working in the sun for the past 5 years. Nowadays I've returned to being a vampire and avoiding the sun as much as I can, like the computer nerd I am. I don't feel any reason to go out and sit in the sun, waiting for cancer to get me. Sure sunscreen blocks out some UV radiation, but there is still the chance that the angry kicking cancer will catch you. I'd rather not take the risk.

Do you miss it?

2010-05-18T20:09:00.000-07:00

It's been 2 years since highschool, and I haven't looked back. There are those who dwell on the past, and want to relive those moments, but I'm just not into that type of business. Don't take me for a narcissist or a cynic, I had a great time in highschool, but I've moved on. There are people who haven't changed, and that is the main reason I don't ever want to see them. Might sound mean or something, but it has been 2 years, time to grow up. This isn't a post directed to anybody, it's more of just a rant, since I have nothing else to write about these days. Sure it'd be cool to have a reunion in 5 or 10 years, to see where everybody has moved on to, but I'm sorry, everybody is just so highschool. Are you able to look back, and say you've changed in the 2 years since highschool? Or are you still the same person, same highschool mentality?

India?

2010-05-15T23:52:00.000-07:00

It's come to another point in my life when I have to make a big decision that may affect my education. I have a chance to apply to an exchange from Jan to Apr 2011, studying abroad at the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi. IIT-Delhi is probably one of the top engineering schools in Eurasia, with an acceptance rate of something ridiculous like 1%. Going on an exchange I think would a great experience for me, learning from a different perspective. But the thing is that right now with the Carl Wiemann science initiative going on at UBC, the quality of science courses is going up, and I really like the new teaching style being put forth. Studying at IIT, my room and meals would all be provided for, so all I pay for is the plane ticket there, and whatever spending money. That makes the exchange really cheap, and is a great reason for me to go. The main thing I'm worried about is all the smart people there, and how I might be really challenged to keep up with the learning. I am sure the experience will be great, but I don't think if its worth missing out on some courses. The courseload there will definitely be different, since at UBC my regular courseload will probably be like 6 or 7 courses, while at IIT, I'd settle for 5. Another issue that arises is that my 2nd coop term slated for 8 months from Apr-Dec might be compromised because I think it will be hard to find a job while in India. The courses there could be too intense for me, and it's possible I might just end up failing something, and that thought terrifies me.

Summer 2010

2010-05-09T21:47:00.000-07:00

4 Physics, 1 Math. Hello summer!

Dine out Vancouver 2010 - Market

2010-05-06T16:58:00.000-07:00

So the 2nd and last trip of Dine out 2010 for me was to Market by Jean Georges, in the Shangri-La downtown. I reserved tables pretty late, so the best time that I could get was at 5pm on a tuesday, although it seemed like a good time to have a drink then start dinner. Market is located on the 3rd floor of Vancouver's tallest skyscraper, the Shangri-La hotel, and you can easily access it from various locations.

This year was the first year for Market to offer the dineout menu, since it is usually known as a higher end restaurant, and not willing to conform to offering a cheap discount meal. The lighting in the restaurant wasn't as dim as in Chambar, which appealed to me as a photographer, since I don't like using flash in a restaurant. I started off with a sazerac, since I read that Market was more known for its amazing drinks.

And I can attest to that; the sazerac was perfectly made and i really enjoyed the drink. Since I was there with my family, my mom and sisters all had sodas. The sodas are all made in house, which may explain why it costs $5 a cup, but the sodas were exceptional as well.

There are reviews out there talking about the terrible service at the restaurant, but I found the service to be spectacular, and the waitress I had was very attentive. Since the dineout menu didn't have that many options, not enough that all 4 of us could try something different, I decided to order something off the a la carte menu instead of the dineout menu. For appys, the shrimp salad and pea soup came out quite fast, and looked well prepared.

My little sister really enjoyed the soup, and she said that it was really good. My mother and other sister had the salad, which had a few pieces of large shrimp in it. The salad was well dressed and it's taste wasn't overpowering.

Since I ordered off the a la carte menu, I decided to go with the sear scallops, mainly after all those seasons of watching "Hells Kitchen" with Gordon Ramsay yelling at the chefs for preparing the scallops poorly.

The scallops were prepared perfectly, and the taste of cauliflower as well as the seared scallops with the mixed sauce was really amazing. The price was $12 for those 4 scallops, so I can see where they are making money. There was also bread that came before the appys, but it was just normal buns with butter, nothing special. Throughout the night, our glasses of water kept being refilled, so no complaints about the service. The decor of the restaurant was quite nice, i opted to sit outside in the terrance but my mom wanted to sit inside. The little booths were quite comfortable and there was coat check offered. The entrees ordered were hanger steak, red snapper, and halibut.

The hanger steak was prepared medium rare, because "the chef prepares it that way." That sounded a little bit fishy to me, making it seem as if the steak was prepared beforehand and then reheated and served. It didn't really taste that way, from the piece that I took from my little sister. I've had better steaks, but it was by no means inferior. My entree of halibut was served ontop of spinach, nothing fancy.

The lemon sauce that was prepared was what made the dish though. The halibut ontop of the spinach mixed with the sauce created a dish that went well very smoothly, creating a fusion of lemon and then the unique taste of spinach, along with the halibut.

The red snapper was slightly smaller than the halibut, but it was equally well garnished. I didn't try the red snapper, but my mom liked the dish, but i did a taste of the sauce used, and once again it was made to perfection. The sauce was so good that my mom asked for extra bread just so she could wipe up the rest of the sauce.

The dessert was a simple chocolate lava cake with ice cream, with a piece of caramel over top. Simple dessert, but made perfectly, and the ice cream had a unique taste to it, even though it was just vanilla. The chocolate inside the cake was melted, and was a good consistency to mix with the ice cream.

Overall the dinner was a good experience for my little sisters to get a taste of fine dining. I only went because it was Dine Out, but after eating the a la carte menu, there isn't much of a difference in price. But the shining point of this restaurant was the drinks. The drinks menu is quite extensive, and the bartender knows what he is mixing. The service was what I expected from dining in such a restaurant, and I have no complaints about it. The food was made simple, yet the simplicity of the dishes made it that much better. The simple ingredients mixed together to create a fusion of unique flavours. And just the environment in the dining room was pretty great, although it would be better if the dress code was respected by all. I will definitely be back for more drinks, and maybe even another meal one day.

"Harrison Bergeron"

2010-05-05T20:12:00.000-07:00

"THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else." - Harrison Bergeron

Dine Out Vancouver 2010 - Chambar

2010-04-30T22:48:00.000-07:00

So my first dine out of the 2010 year was at Chambar on a thursday night, which I thought wouldn't be so busy since it is a weekday after all. I made reservations anyways, and good thing i did. My reservation was for 8:45, and when I went it was still pretty packed. The restaurant itself is literally hidden, which seems to be pretty common for a number of fine dining restaurants in Vancouver. The Restaurant has no flashy signs, no boards directing you to the restaurant. When I arrived there, I wouldn't have even know it was a restaurant if it wasn't for the number of people going into it. The restaurant is located near BC place, and literally right beside Stadium skytrain station. The first part of the restaurant is a lounge/bar type of area where it was pretty much packed with people drinking and having a great time. I was brought further into the restaurant, where it turns into more of a dining room, with a pretty nice view of GM place. The atmosphere of the place was great, and all the tables were full. For starters I had the Carpaccio de thon grillee - Charred yellowfin tuna carpaccio, celery, daikon & citrus brunoix, pomegranate molasses, red shiso. My friend Jorge, had the Les Champignons de Kerala-Black trumpet, cardamom & truffle soup, roasted king oyster & curried goat cheese. I really liked eating the tuna, it tasted very fresh and smooth, and the mixture of the shiso and celery made it quite exquisite. I'd say of the best things about Chambar as that the service was great. Our waiter, Patrick attended to us right away, and even though we were sitting in a corner, it didn't feel like we were being ignored. Another highlight of the DOV menu was the wine selection they had for dine out. I had a glass of Torres ‘Viña Esmeralda’ ‘08 Moscatel, which is a white wine from Spain, since I ordered seafood as my entree. The wine was absolutely spectacular, and at that price I justified getting another glass of it. Jorge isn't much of a wine drinker, but he got a glass of red wine, and I think it was a local merlot, but I'm not too sure. For the entree, I ordered the mussels that people always talk about at Chambar, Moules-frites-Mussels cooked with white wine, butter, braised celery, leeks & coarse black pepper. It came in a fairly large pot, and eating all those mussels was definitely filling. It also came with some fries and belgian dip (chipotle and mayo?) Jorge ordered Tagine de Boeouf- Moroccan braised shortrib, chickpeas, zucchini, apricots, almonds & parsley, and the presentation of both dishes was very pleasant. All the food looked so delicious that I almost forgot to take pictures of them, cause I just wanted to start eating. The moscatel I was drinking went very well with the mussels, and the mussels were simply perfection. For dessert we both had the chocolate pecan cake, but i totally forgot to take pictures of the dessert, and when i remembered, it was all gone.

Chambar was simply an amazing experience, and DOV 2010 gave me the opportunity to try out such a great restaurant. I will definitely be back for more great food and drinks, and I would recommend this restaurant for somebody who wants some casual fine dining.

Mac fanboy?

2010-04-24T16:33:00.001-07:00

I am now currently running 3 different operating systems on my macbook pro, and they are work quite wonderfully. I have Apple's Snow Leopard running, with a linux distro, BackTrack 4 running on a virtual machine within OS X. Then I have Windows 7 bootcamped, running on a separate partition. Bootcamping Win7 did not take 5 hours, or anywhere even near that. So far the only issues I have with it is the multitouch doesn't work, but I haven't fiddled around with Snow Leopard drivers yet. Here are the main steps involved in setting up Bootcamp for a Windows 7 install

Close all applications, then go to Utilities->Bootcamp Assistant and follow the instructions to set up a windows partition, you can partition as much as you want. Make sure you have the windows dvd in there, or correctly mounted
Begin the windows installation, choosing the bootcamp partition you just made. Make sure you select the partition, then click advanced settings and format it first.
Finish installation and install Windows updates, and use Snow Leopard dvd to install other drivers

Prankster

2010-04-12T23:07:00.001-07:00

I really want to do an engineering prank before I graduate. Something legendary that would be remembered for all the ages to come...

Eat, drink and be merry

2010-04-11T23:26:00.000-07:00

I think its time for another life experience, now that my long (relative to it's normal length) hair is gone, I need something different. The long hair was an interesting experience, but short hair in itself is just so much easier to maintain. So now I am going to cut back on any processed sugars, and grains. The diet that i want to try out is called the Paleo diet, and in a nutshell, it is eating what as the "hunter-gatherers" did in the Palaeolithic age. Unfortunately living at home makes it super hard to not eat whatever is placed in front of you, which is usually something like rice everyday. Sucks even more that it's impossible to stick to my diet while eating out.

Here it is

2010-04-06T23:41:00.000-07:00

I was going to write a blog post, but then stupid iTunes decided to be retarded. I honestly hate Apple at times.

And you caught me off guard

2010-03-25T21:54:00.000-07:00

And into the final month of coop we go! I cannot believe that the work term is almost over, and school is going to begin again. The entire experience at Canfor Pulp and Paper has been great, working in the Research and Development department, albeit doing stuff that has no particular focus with my major. Beginning in May, I have school for 12 months before my next coop work term in the summer of 2011. 12 months of attending classes everyday, doing homework, staying late at school doing projects. The only thing I'll have to look forward to is probably in August when I will get a month of summer vacation before going back to school. My robotics class will be the highlight of my summer classes, and I will make sure to take lots of pictures and videos documenting the evolution of my robot.

Row row row your boat

2010-03-22T23:37:00.001-07:00

Late night photoshop

2010-03-21T23:13:00.000-07:00

2010-03-20T01:30:00.001-07:00

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away"

Cause I get a kick out of you

2010-03-15T20:23:00.001-07:00

Unless most girls, I only own about 3 pairs of shoes. I'm just not a person who is a big fan of shoes and all about buying shoes. Like I currently wear a pair of adidas that I've had for around 3 years or so I think. That's quite a bit of money saved over the years, which is always a plus to owning shoes. The downside is that my feet almost always get wet whenever it rains, which is like almost everyday. Nobody likes wet feet, but I've just never justified having to get new shoes, until mine are all completely broken. Just like how I haven't gotten a haircut in like 8 months. That's like $100 saved, and the only thing i had to sacrifice was my dashingly handsome looks. But today I've ran into a pair of shoes that combine both functionality and good looks. The New Balance MTC580 Goretex kicks.

A pair of shoes with Goretex that will protect the shoes from the elements, as well as looking dam good. My mind is pretty set on buying these shoes as soon as they become available, even though it says July 2010.

There must be something in the air.

2010-03-15T20:16:00.000-07:00

Would people ever do anything if there was no immediate benefit?

Do something.

2010-03-09T00:02:00.001-08:00

Step out. Be different.

Gastown

2010-03-06T21:17:00.001-08:00

Olympics cont'd

2010-03-01T21:46:00.000-08:00

Going out everyday, walking around downtown amidst the throng of patriotic Canadians, the city was alive. Never had I felt more proud to be Canadian. The different houses, each showing what their province had. The world coming to Vancouver to take in our cultural, and to celebrate along with us.

Breaking out into song on the streets, in the trains, whenever, wherever. The emotional was just emanating from every single person in the city, be it Canadian or not. Walking along Granville or Robson, cheering along with the crowds in drunken fervour. There are no words that I can use to describe watching any Olympic event with crowds of people downtown.

Waiting in lines to get into events, chatting with people from all over the world. Americans come up to visit, and spending lots of money to experience this once in a lifetime event. Families of athletes here to cheer on their loved ones. The entire 2 weeks has just put me on a cloud, and everything is still so surreal. The free concerts at livecity events, singing along with great canadian music, to the long walks downtown in the rain, everything has just been perfect. Without the free concerts i doubt i would ever have been introduced to some great Canadian music that I now love.

The best house that I visited had to be Atlantic Canada house, where there was free food tasting. The house had food prepared by culinary students from the Atlantic provinces, and it started off with appetizers of mussels and seafood chowder. Then came small portions of lobsters, crab, shrimp, and other seafood delicacies prepared wonderfully. The beer wasn't too pricey compared to other places that I had visited, and the atmosphere was wonderful. I don't think it was possible to be angry or mad during the olympics.

The only draw back to the entire olympics was probably the ridiculous price of beer. But everybody was willing to pay upwards to $10 for a cup of beer. Standing and watching the gold medal game, i spent $30 on 4 cups of beer, which i could've easily got 12 cans of beer for. But people are willing to pay, since hockey just isn't the same without beer.

I only wished that I brought my camera out more, but its not worth the risk to get drunk and carry around $1000 in gear.

Finito.

2010-02-28T23:15:00.000-08:00

I can't believe its over. These olympics have been the best 2 weeks of my life. I have nothing else to say because I'm still amazed by how people can protest something so great. I'll post a lot more on the past 2 weeks when i wind down and get back to reality.

The day that never ended

2010-02-13T22:17:00.000-08:00

So I realize that I haven't blogged in awhile. I am the epitome of failure in terms of new years resolutions. I don't even want to blog right now cause i'm so tired still. I've been sick, but its olympics, so i've been popping pills to hopefully cure me. Yesterday was a 22 hour day starting with Arnold Schwarzenegger and ending with partying downtown. I woke up at 5am just to go see Arnold the Torchinator run the Olympic torch, and it was exhilarating. The sheer about of people there with you, screaming and yelling. The fresh, crisp, morning air. The vibe of Olympics in the air. You might think that 5am is pretty darn early, and I think I'll have to agree with you. But it was totally worth it.

Then after that was just wandering around downtown, absorbing the Olympic feel. I still can't believe that the Olympic games are actually happening here. Watching the torch get passed from a dragonboat made me feel like a true Vancouverite. The opening ceremony was probably the best one out of the last 4 years of winter olympics, we really did a great job with it. With usage of light was phenomenal, and expressed Canada to the world. Downtown Vancouver was simply incredible, so many people, so... Canadian. Everybody was out there yelling and screaming, fully living out the Canadian life.

2010-02-07T11:53:00.000-08:00

"The suppression of uncomfortable ideas may be common in religion and politics, but it is not the path to knowledge, and there is no place for it in the endeavour of science" ~ Carl Sagan

Pulp Mills

2010-02-01T21:44:00.001-08:00

So currently i'm up in Prince George doing work taking samples at the pulp mills here and i must say its quite the experience. Walking through the mills is like being in an episode of "How it's made" on discovery channel, but i must say that the work isn't the most pleasant. The temperature at the pulping machines is like standing inside a sauna, and you have to be wearing full protective gear, meaning long sleeves with hard hat, safety glasses. It's an awesome experience, and i haven't even started working really. I just regret not bringing my DSLR cause i can just see all these awesome HDR photos that i can have. Canfor is pretty awesome, paying for everything, including food and the trip. I haven't paid for a single thing yet, and i've got lots of food and i love it. The only thing i'm not really looking forward to is having to eat fast food, since we're gonna be too busy working to have time to get real food.

Romeo And Juliet

2010-01-27T22:48:00.001-08:00

UBC, go watch it. Now.

2010-01-25T23:01:00.001-08:00

"You will lose money chasing women, but you will never lose women while chasing money"

Why

2010-01-25T00:16:00.000-08:00

..the fuck is parliament suspended again?

Pants on the ground, Pants on the ground

2010-01-25T00:00:00.000-08:00

Let's just stare

2010-01-24T01:16:00.000-08:00

Poetry

2010-01-21T22:50:00.000-08:00

I wish I understood Russian, so i could read Pushkin. I've been reading english translations, and although they are still beautiful, i bet they just don't compare to the actual poetry in russian. The russian literature class i took last term was really insightful and really opened up another world of literature outside of the common shakespeare and what not. Sure shakespeare was amazing, but there exists other poetry in the world. Currently I am reading a translation of Eugene Onegin, Pushkin's novel written in verse, so it basically reads as a giant poem with stanzas. Russian poetry is just different than other types of poetry because the emotions evoked by the russians are different. Just like in russian literature such as Crime and Punishment or Anna Karenina, both novels differ than the typical Jane Austen. Russian writers endure more pain and suffering, and it shows in their works. Although none of the writers were very prolific, the few Russian pieces produced are wonderful.

Since I don't want to reveal much about the novels or poems, I'd suggest you go and at least try them out. Just google up some pushkin poems, and try to listen to it in russian first, since hearing the words flow together sounds a lot different when its translated, but the poetry is still beautiful nonetheless.

Wet Lab

2010-01-20T22:27:00.000-08:00

So I had my first accident at work. Sorta spilled a shitload of water all over the place, including on myself. It wasn't really that big of a deal or anything, but holy shit was there a lot of water. And now my phone doesn't really work anymore either, since it also got wet in my pocket. Currently it's sitting in rice, and I hope it works tomorrow morning.

Mo money

2010-01-17T22:39:00.000-08:00

Darn hobbies are so expensive. I think in this past year, I have spent the most money on my hobbies, during this "recession" and all. My latest hobby has been photography, and I've been playing around with HDR photography most recently. One of the pictures in my previous post is a HDR image, poorly done mind you, but it's really fun to play with. With my coop job and all, I'm really tempted to spend a huge chunk of it on buying equipment in order to take better photos. Maybe i'm not good enough yet to require a new lens, but it would be really fun. From time to time I will post some of the better looking pictures up here, to add to the photoblog effect. Should've went for the 1 picture a day thing, would've been cool to see the result.So far here is a list of things that I want/need to buy for my DSLR set up:

16gb class 6 (or maybe class 10) SDHC card
tripod
new lens, 70-200mm most likely

Those are the 3 things that I need/want, in that order. All of it together will probably cost me like a paycheque, which is like 2 weeks worth of work. So far the past 2 weeks of work involved 1 week of training, then 1 week of actually working while still learning more things. Time goes by really really quickly, so I have no complaints. I think i will delve into learning Visual Basic in order to write macros for Microsoft excel, which one of my supervisors asked me to do. I'm also pretty glad to be working under a professional engineer, meaning my coop term will count towards time for my P.Eng as well. I think it would be of interest for me to read up on some of the processes I am doing, and tests being done just to get a better grasp of what is really going on. Most of the things I do are just repetition, like a recipe.

The exciting thing to end the post is that during the first 2 weeks of February, I will be visiting Prince George to visit one of our companies paper mills up there. I hope its as exciting as I think it will be, since its gonna be a completely new experience for me. Plus i get my own room in the hotel, which is pretty dope.

2010-01-17T00:32:00.001-08:00

Work updates

2010-01-13T22:48:00.000-08:00

I've decided that daily updates are too tiring and boring, so instead i'll be doing weekly updates at the end of the week. I sorta missed out on last weekend cause i was up in whistler, getting some pow pow. So during the 1st two weeks of february, i will be going to prince george to visit one of the mills that our company owns. Pretty awesome since i'm getting paid to go there and learn stuff.

I hate it when i had a lot to blog about, but then i put it off and now i can't remember anything. So that's all for now.

Day 4. Custom

2010-01-07T23:12:00.000-08:00

Work has gotten to the point where I almost feel comfortable doing whatever i've been taught so far. It's great. I feel confident working in the lab doing freeness tests, and making handsheets from various pulps. Can't believe that it is almost 1 week already, the working environment is great and i really enjoy it. Sure i think i would enjoy working in a materials lab doing mat lab and machining instead, or designing parts in solidworks. But the lab work i'm doing right now is eye opening, since it shows what chemical engineers can really do, instead of just doing stuff mainly with chemistry.

This blog post is really short cause i'm tired since i just got home from the bar after watching some canucks ownage. I've been to the bar more this month that I have since i've been legal, its quite strange.

Day 3. My eyes are tired.

2010-01-06T19:50:00.000-08:00

You know it's not going to be a good way when you wake up and your eyes feel like they are bloodshot. Last time this happened was when i did math for like 10 hours straight, before my multivariable and vector final. Today when i woke up, my eyes felt very tired still, like they didn't want to be opened. I woke up early, so I arrived at work early, 30 minutes early to be exact. The paprican building is kinda spooky in the dark, especially since there aren't a lot of people there ever. Today work was less tiring, and I didn't really feel like talking that much, since my eyes were tired so i was more in an anti-social mode. The day consisted of testing the paper that we made the previous day, which took all morning, and a lil bit into the afternoon. Then it was just some data entry, which I am pro at, since it's just pressing numbers on the numberpad. Prepped pulp samples for more paper making tomorrow, which hopefully my eyes won't be as tired.

All in all, the day wasn't bad, I didn't ever feel like "OMG can work end already?!" And time passed fairly quickly, and before you know it, 4 months will be over.

Day 2. Paper

2010-01-05T22:06:00.000-08:00

So here is a recap of day 2 at work. Arrive at 7:50, cause bus driver knew how to stop at the correct place. Put on lab coat, and rebelled against safety glasses. I honestly hate having to wear safety glasses ontop of my glasses, the one thing i don't like about labs. The day consisted of paper paper to test freeness or some shit, didn't really get what we were doing other than pouring lots of water and pulp around. Then making circles out of it, and drying them. That took about the entire morning, and the afternoon was making handsheets, which were paper circles that are used to test for different properties using cool machines. The entire day was spent on my feet, washing, pouring, cleaning. Repeat. I can't say it was a terrible thing to do, but it was pretty boring and sorta tiring, standing alllll day and pouring liquids around. But i've got nothing to complain about, since my co-workers are all pretty awesome. Working with al girls is a nice change from the all male environment in engineering. Standing all day made me quite tired, since I did yoga-pilates yesterday, keeping up with my new years resolution.

With work, I find that I don't really have the time to blog as much as i wanted to, mainly because I haven't had time to think about many things. Work is great though, I think i've made like $300 in 2 days? Wooot!

Day 1. Girls?!

2010-01-04T21:32:00.000-08:00

So today was the first day of my coop work term at Canfor Pulp and Paper Limited. Their research lab is housed in the Paprican, near Triumf and the other research centres at UBC. It's a really nice building in itself, very quiet with not that many people. I think my boss, Patricia McBeath, told me that there are 9 full time employees in the company, and that's all. The day started off sorta lame, cause the bus driver decided that he would just skip all the stops along marine dr, meaning he didn't stop at wesbrook for me to get off. So I had to walk in the rain from hampton place all the way down to 3800 Wesbrook mall. The entire morning started off with filling out company forms such as waivers, non-disclousure agreements, tax forms, and it went on. It was during this time that I also met two of my other co-workers, Anika and Stephanie. Both are chemical engineers, and in their 3rd year, which made me the only male, and in 2nd year. Workplace safety videos and hazards videos were watched, learning about how not to be stupid and stick your hand into a machine that is still operating. The entire building itself doesn't have that many people, so it's unusually quiet and there isn't that many people around. In the afternoon, the real training began and I spent the afternoon learning how to use the different machines to test paper. Basically its sitting in a room with 8 or so machines that test the different properties of the paper. The tests are all pretty interesting, but i guess they are tiring, and it's just doing the same thing over and over again. Calibrate machine, insert test sample, press button, record, repeat. But it was a great day at work, and having all my co-workers be female is a sure change from all the males in engineering.

Canadian news is boring

2010-01-03T10:55:00.000-08:00

It's much more fun to look at US economics, since it actually has stuff happening. Like the fact that the net job creation in the past decade in the US has been 0. 0% net job growth. That is quite scary, since the economy hasn't been that bad until the last 3 years or so. That means all the jobs created in the first half of the last decade were all lost, and then no more were created in the last 5 years. The recession did exist, and it may be over now, but the americans are going to have to suffer for quite awhile. The financial crisis with sub-primes is over, or so some say, but look at the debt amassed by the US. Are they still considered to be a superpower? The housing bubble completely destroyed the economy, leaving many americans without jobs and money. The major banks had a fallout and required a bailout. All this money needed, and none to be found.

Enough about economics, lets move on to the next big news topic in the US right now, health reform. Americans look at Canadians and our health insurance, and they become very jealous. Yet there are still out-spoken critics on getting universal healthcare in the US. Sarah Palin, for one, despises health care, and thinks Canada should get rid of it, so businesses can make money off saving lives. Harvard conducted a study with Cambridge Health alliance and the results were that 45,000 deaths occur every year, due to lack of health insurance. To put this into perspective, there are more deaths from lack of health coverage than there are deaths from kidney disease. There are 775 deaths due to terrorist attacks every year, which is still nothing compared to the 45,000. I could be cynical and say this is an adequate form of population control. Canadians have health care, so the statistic for us is 0. 0 deaths every year due to health care. Just looking at these stats alone should be enough reason to accept the health care reform. But is anything being done yet? Yes and no. Progress is being made, but there are still many lobbyist who do no want health care. Main reason is cause when healthcare is universal, where is the money to be made?

MRSA revisited.

2010-01-02T21:47:00.000-08:00

So if you've been following my blog for awhile now, you might've read my MRSA post awhile back, if not you can go read it here.

The only progress against fighting the superbug seems to be in Norway, where their method of action is to fight by not prescribing antibiotics for everything. This is the main reason why I never take any antibiotics unless i'm deathly ill. Heck, I don't even take normal over the counter drugs unless i really need to. Tylenol? Nope, I don't get headaches. I just let my body do it's job and fight whatever I have, which is what Norway is doing. The superbug is continuously killing people in hospitals, due to the fact that it is now resistant to virtually all drugs known to mankind. There isn't much press on it lately, with H1N1 and the "pandemic" scare, and most of the time such things aren't showed to the media since it's not really that big of a deal right? The North American attitude to any disease or virus is to blast it to hell with antibiotics, sorta like their approach to getting the things they want. Obviously this method doesn't work, as more and more drug resistant bugs are appearing.

What Norwegians have done is simple: Stop taking so many drugs. With infections killing so many people every year, how hard can it be for doctors to stop prescribing useless meds? If you have a cough, there's no need for penicillin. Norway is a shining example that there is a way to combat superbugs, and it is damn effective. So next time you're sick, think about if you really do need to take those drugs, or if you can just wait and let your body do what it's made to do.

New Years Resolution

2010-01-02T21:14:00.000-08:00

So I guess since it's a new year, I should make some sort of resolutions that I will think very hard about and try very hard for
about a month of so to remember these resolutions, then look back one year from now and realize none were accomplished.

Stay healthy and fit. Yoga every week during my coop work-term. (triathlon?)
Save money, and make smart investments.
Create a website.
Learn a new skill, and maybe a language.
Travel to somewhere new.
Learn how to drive standard.
Blog more.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T10:06:00.000-08:00

So theres only 2 more years until the end of the world!!!!1!! jkjk haha

So for all your procrastinators, if you don't have a new years resolution yet, have no worry! The internets is here to save you! New Years Resolution generator!

2009-12-30T14:30:00.000-08:00

You seek escape from pain. We seek the achievement of happiness. You exist for the sake of avoiding punishment. We exist for the sake of earning rewards. Threats will not make us function; fear is not our incentive. It is not death that we wish to avoid, but life that we wish to live. - Atlas Shrugged

New template

2009-12-30T00:28:00.000-08:00

So it turns out that using the old classic blogger template you can have AJAX and XML in your template, which lets you do those cool drop downs that I have in the side. Quite neat. I like this new template cause its minimalistic, and its quite sleek. What do you think about it?

Avatar

2009-12-29T23:26:00.000-08:00

So I just finished watching Avatar, and I must say that it is probably the best movie I've watched of the year so far. Sure there are still 2 days left in the year, but Avatar was a great movie. James Cameron spent close to 20 years writing and producing the movie, which goes to show that maybe instead of having shitty movies come out every year, you have freaking amazing movies every 20 years. Some movies are ones that have a really deep meaning and they are just very intellectual, and usually I really enjoy watching those, as opposed to action movies where it's just a car chases and shooting and things exploding. But Avatar in 3d was like reading a sci-fi book, and you are just so drawn into the movie. James Cameron makes great use of the 3D effects, its not like things spinning around everywhere and popping out at you, its small subtle yet effective 3D effects. I don't want to spoil the movie, so I won't say much about the plot, other than that the movie takes place on Pandora, one of Saturn's many moons, 61 I think. The movie really makes you wonder about extraterrestrial life, especially of the humanoid form. There isn't really much I can say about the movie other than that if there is one movie you should watch this Christmas break, it would be Avatar.

Another idea that Avatar brought up was the fact that many scientists don't believe in extraterrestrial life, just based on the fact that if there are other life forms out there, they would be trying to look for us as well. We assume that all aliens have advanced technology, and they would be the ones finding us rather than us finding them. But maybe the aliens are content in their planet, and their way of living, that they have no need to look for others in the universe. Avatar causes you to look at the human race from a different perspective, and think the rashness of human actions and what non-humans would think of us.

So the point of this blog post: Go watch Avatar now!

Goodies

2009-12-28T15:51:00.000-08:00

So for christmas i kinda went out and used my mom's credit card to buy myself a new camera. Yeah i sound like a total rebel don't I? But my mom let me, so i'm less cool now. It was only because my credit still hasn't come in the mail, so it would be kinda weird to go to the store with hundred dolla bills. So i bought myself a Canon Rebel T1i, aka 500D. I've been wanting a DSLR for a really long time now, and I've just never put myself to spend so much money. I guess thats the Asian part of me, always wanting to be cheap and not spend money. But i guess splurging once a year is okay right? (But i also got a new macbook pro in the summer.....) I've only had the camera for like 2 days now, and i'm already in love with it. I'm still noob, but once i get better shots, i'll be posting photos on my blog more often, and turn this into a photoblog of sorts, since a picture is worth a thousand words right? The camera can also do HD videos, which i will be posting onto my youtube account, where right now you can see a low-light video of Joel drumming away before another intense round of Call of Duty.

All hobbies end up being so expensive for me, with a new camera comes new lenses, and more photography equipment. Ontop of that, skiing already cost me quite a bit this season for new skis. Seems like i'm helping this so called recession, wooo go me!

"Beer is like vitamin water, theres stuff in it but it does nothing"

2009-12-28T13:48:00.000-08:00

For the past 4 months, my life was school. School was life, and life was school. I haven't blogged in forever, and whenever I try to write now, it feels that the creative and writing part of me died after highschool. Maybe I should've pursued a English major like Ms. Nannery, my highschool AP english teacher, told me to. Since grade 9 she said I was a good writer, and that if I wanted to, I could easily become a great writer. But I'm ASIAN!

It's not in my blood to become a person who sits at the coffee store with a laptop and notebook, brainstorming plot ideas and character traits. Sure it would be pretty awesomely cool to write a book and have people buy it, but to me that same idea falls within the group of winning the lottery, or gaining superpowers. I once tried to write a book, and even though I planned on it being a short lil novella, I can tell you that book writing is not easy. And then now with university, being an engineer requires you to give up some part of your life, and it definitely changes you. Maybe I put it upon myself, taking 8 courses in 1 term/semester, but the satisfaction of finishing 8 finals, and getting a decent mark (standards have been lowered), is worth it. I'm a person who strives for intellect, I simply cannot live ignorance.

Reflecting back on the finished school term, 2nd year has been rough. I don't think I have ever really been challenged in school until this year. If I had to compare the effort I spent, it would probably be like all the years of school before it combined. People often say that the 1st year is the hardest, because its the transition from highschool to university, where teachers expect different things and adopt various attitudes towards your learning. Sure there will be profs who don't give a shit about the students, and is fine with a 55% class average. But most of the times you will find that the profs there do indeed care. The transition, for me, was nonexistent. Everything was the same, except that there were more group projects, and harder assignments. Most people balk at being assigned impossibly hard things to do, but what is the point of going to school if everything is easy? Do you want to go to a math class and just have the prof teach you everything you already know? Or would you rather be assigned questions on topics you didn't know existed, and spend hours learning it? Sure it may seem that I am being sarcastic here, and maybe a little part of it is. But right now when I look back at the assignments I thought were impossible, it gives me satisfaction knowing that I worked hard and solved it. My entire 2nd year was like, spending days at school working on math assignments with friends, staying up late researching into how to build circuits, arguing over stupid ideas.

School is a love-hate relationship. You hate the amount of time that you could spend doing other useless things, but you love the knowledge. Being on this christmas break, for the 1st week I didn't know what to do with my time. There were no finals that I had to cram for, no last minute projects to franticly finish. And now theres only 1 week left of the break, and I think I miss school. Next term I'll be doing co-op, and it will be joyous to not have classes to take, but I think i want to take classes. Earning money and researching will be fun, but I think i want to take a random night class, just so I will have something to do. Life isn't meant to be easy, nor do I want it to be right now.

This is probably the longest post I've written in awhile (or ever) and I think this was the sole reason I started this personal blog away from our highschool fun blog. Writing for personal reflection, and just for the heck of writing. Maybe with all this writing i'll take up poetry again, it's been awhile.

Copycat

2009-11-28T00:04:00.000-08:00

Stolen from Christina Dao.

10 things you want for Christmas:

1) One of those Brita water filter thingies
2) A Motorola Droid
3) pocket video camera
4) DSLR with lenses
5) 2 30" monitors
6) a working nimbus 2000
7) recording equipment for christina
8) road bike
9) a few nice designer suits
10) teleportation device

9 musicians/bands you love:

1) The Beatles.
2) The Virgins
3) Chopin
4) Coldplay.
5) Michael Buble
6) Jason Mraz.
7) Liszt
8) Taylor Swift.
9) Metallica

8 things you do everyday:

1) math.
2) Send text messages.
3) Drink at least two litres of water.
4) Eat junk food
5) read ma feeds
6) insult somebody
7) wish i was super rich
8) try to think of new inventions

7 things you enjoy:

1) music.
2) food
3) school?(sometimes)
4) outdoors.
5) dota.
6) science and technology.
7) cars.

6 things that will always win your heart:

1) gorgeous eyes
2) voice.
3) witty.
4) lotsa gold&diamonds.
5) amazing food.
6) cute girls.

5 favourites:

1) Movie: A beautiful mind.
2) Song: Rhapsody in blue
3) Book: dunno, i read too many books, current favorite is Anna Karenina
4) Band: Band aid
5) Season: Winter.

4 smells you enjoy:

1) the smell after it rains, wet grass?
2) juicy steak
3) pheromones emitted by females
4) the smell of success

3 places you want to go:

1) Russia.
2) Germany.
3) Antarctica.

2 Favorite Holidays

1) Christmas
2) Chinese New Years

1 Person you’d marry on the spot?

1) somebody i like

The end is near.

2009-11-27T23:53:00.000-08:00

I don't think I have ever been more excited for christmas. Not that i give a shit about the presents, but THERES NO SCHOOL! No more staying up late to do homework, no more late nights at school doing homework and cramming for midterms. I honestly cannot wait. Then after christmas its coop work term! Which means making money! Hopefully I will blog more frequently then, and perhaps even blog about things that happen at work. It seems that my life has become very dull being an engineer. Or maybe I just don't notice things anymore

Raskolnikov and Svidrigaylov: The Ramifications of Their Encounter

2009-11-17T22:09:00.001-08:00

Billy Fung
60174083
RUSS 206

"Raskolnikov and Svidrigaylov: The Ramifications of Their Encounter"

Pretending to be sleeping Raskolnikov lies on his bed watching Svidrigaylov enter his flat. In Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment the main character Raskolnikov is a man who compares himself to a Napoleon without “Toulon nor Egypt nor the passage of Mont Blanc to begin his career with.” The character of Raskolnikov is one who believes that he too can become like Napoleon, one of the few extraordinary men who are able to kill and not feel guilt. Dostoevsky uses various characters as foils to Raskolnikov, slowly revealing the complexity of the Svidrigaylov and Raskolnikov meet in the middle part of the book, signifying that perhaps it is the mid-point of Raskolnikov’s “punishment.” Their encounter allows for the reader to see the contrast between the two choices that Raskolnikov has after committing his crime. Svidrigaylov represents the dark path to evil, while Sonya represents the other path towards faith. Raskolnikov clearly dislikes Svidrigaylov, although he never explicitly states why, the implication arises that perhaps it is because Raskolnikov is able to see himself in Svidrigaylov, and does not like what he sees. Dostoevsky uses Svidrigaylov as a character that is mentioned at the beginning of the book, and is never heard from again until halfway through the book in part four. Up until the encounter, Raskolnikov is meandering through his choices, confused as to what he is to do, unable to think clearly. The appearance of Svidrigaylov creates a clearcut path to one choice, opposing the alternative that Sonya offers. Svidrigaylov acts as a result of what Raskolnikov may have become, had he chosen to not turn himself in. In many aspects Svidrigaylov acts as a completely opposite to Raskolnikov, but yet they still share some unique inner qualities, such as compassion. Both characters are undoubtedly changed, each affecting the other.

Svidrigaylov is introduced by Dostoevsky in the very beginning of the book, with the letter telling Raskolnikov of Dunya’s misfortune while being a governess of Svidrigaylov. The novel begins with Dostoevsky illustrating the state of mind Raskolnikov is in, in a St. Petersburg that is very real. Living all alone as a student, Raskolnikov is experiencing internal turmoil with himself, unable to bring himself to do anything. While the reader is not able to know Svidrigaylov at this point, through the letter sent by Raskolnikov’s mother, Svidrigaylov is depicted as an older man who is often “under the influence of Bacchus,” and cannot stay true to his wife. Dostoevsky wants the reader to think lowly of Svidrigaylov, as a character who is not to be liked. Within the streets of St. Petersburg, the first encounter of Raskolnikov and Svidrigaylov results in a brawl. Raskolnikov sees a young drunk girl, and as Svidrigaylov approaches her, he knows that his intentions are not good. This pretext builds up the hate for Svidrigaylov, an older man who takes advantage of young girls who are drunk. The first encounter also shows Raskolnikov essentially saving the young girl from Svidrigaylov, but did he save the girl out of care, or merely out of hate for Svidrigaylov? Although it is only a brief glimpse of Svidrigaylov, by introducing him at the beginning of the novel Dostoevsky wants the reader to forget about him, and then suddenly re-introduce him again, creating a new obstacle of sorts in the plot. The letter sent to Raskolnikov just deepens the conflict within Raskolnikov. He becomes enraged that his sister Dunya is getting married to some high up official just for the sake of money and rank. The thoughts of Raskolnikov are all unclear, and he is distraught with his purpose in life. Raskolnikov believes that he is a man who “holds the fate of the world in his two hands, and yet, simply because he is afraid, he just lets things drift.” It is unbearable to him to see his sister sell herself off, merely for the sake of the family. Raskolnikov believes that he is a man who is above moral law, just like Napoleon was. But he is not committed to anything, and cannot prove to himself his own worth. His thoughts are riddled with confusion and delirium, and Dostoevsky molds Raskolnikov into a murderer, through the dreams that Raskolnikov has. Dostoevsky hints at the inherent murderer within everyone, showing that the thoughts Raskolnikov is perhaps within everyone, just waiting to be triggered by some thought or action. Comparing himself with Napoleon, Raskolnikov feels that in order to achieve the status of finding his purpose, and the reader is able to see the though process as Raskolnikov rationalizes the murder of the pawnbroker. Although Raskolnikov is in debt and desperately needs money, the murder of the pawnbroker is not for money, but rather “one life taken, thousands saved from corruption and decay.” The coincidence of Raskolnikov being in the bar, and listening to the conversation of drunkards about the pawnbroker. All these coincidences at the beginning of the novel make the reader wonder if everything was really a coincidence, or it is Raskolnikov’s “destiny” to kill the pawnbroker.

The second encounter of Svidrigaylov and Raskolnikov takes place in Raskolnikov’s flat, after Raskolnikov has awaken from another one of his delirious dreams. The dream was one where Raskolnikov once again attempts to rationalize his actions for murder, and to convince himself that what he did was really for the benefit of himself and humankind. The is adamant that he “killed not a human being but a principle!” Lapsing into dream and reality Dostoevsky creates the chapter in a way that the dream seems to be clashed with reality, and brings the reader into the thoughts of Raskolnikov, unable to tell between his imagination and reality. Raskolnikov desperately seeks to understand himself, and why he has become so desolate. The emotions of hate seep out, yet he does not know why he hates. The ideal of becoming like Napoleon is shattered, and Raskolnikov knows that he will not be able to live like that, with the fear and anxiety of his crime. Raskolnikov calls himself a “louse,” stating that his plan for a just death did not work out the way his brain thought it would have. The morality of the death is beginning to affect Raskolnikov, and he knows that the justification for the death is going to overcome him. He dreams of the murder scene again, with himself as an observer to the act. Within the dream he is unable to kill the pawnbroker, and becomes trapped, much like how he is now trapped with the guilt and unable to rid his mind of the moral consequence of the murder. The entering of Svidrigaylov brings an abrupt change in the story, with Raskolnikov clearly going mad with his thoughts. Svidrigaylov wants to get to know Raskolnikov in order to convince Dunya that Svidrigaylov wants to marry her. Svidrigaylov admits that he is “a man, et nihil humanum,” a slave to human desires. Svidrigaylov very willingly talks about his crimes, such as killing several women including his wife, without any remorse. The conversation between Raskolnikov and Svidrigaylov seems to be very calm, with Raskolnikov seeming more sane. This encounter is important in revealing both Raskolnikov’s and Svidrigaylov’s personality, after Raskolnikov’s revelation that he is truly no more than a Napoleon than anybody else. With Svidrigaylov talking about his late wife Marfa, Raskolnikov regards that Svidrigaylov was “a man who had firmly made up his mind to something, but would keep his own counsel.” The ghosts of Svidrigaylov are comparable to Raskolnikov’s delirious dreams, both offering glimpses of crimes committed and their effects. While Raskolnikov is clearly affected by his past crime, Svidrigaylov remains content with what he has done, and has no remorse for it. That is the state that Raskolnikov was attempting to achieve, to be above other humans. Being able to commit crimes, and not feel anything about it. The rape and death of a 15 year old girl has no affect at all on Svidrigaylov, and he admits that he did it merely because he was a victim of human passion. Such a despicable act, and yet no remorse, Dostoevsky creates a disturbing new philosophy of motives behind human actions. But it is good to note that there is no direct statement from Svidrigaylov that admits to all these crimes, which Dostoevsky clearly uses to make the reader think that Svidrigaylov as a lowly worm. This encounter reveals the contrasting characters of Svidrigaylov and Raskolnikov, one character who wants to be above moral law, and one who has achieved such a status, yet it seems that he is rather a lowly human being for all the vile things he has done.

Svidrigaylov represents the ideal that Raskolnikov was hoping to attain, the ability to not feel remorse for ones actions. Throughout the entire novel, Raskolnikov is stricken with his deed of killing the pawnbroker, and much of the novel is spent analyzing his thoughts, and reasons for the murder. Svidrigaylov has also done his share of crimes, and when Dostoevsky understands his, he sees that Svidrigaylov is more Napoleon than he is. The conscience of Raskolnikov is unable to override the feeling of guilt, and Raskolnikov cannot live with the crime he has done. Svidrigaylov is the complete opposite, living freely with the murders he has done, no emotion whatsoever about killing people. The irony of the encounter lies in when Raskolnikov calls Svidrigaylov “a madman.” Svidrigaylov is as much of a madman as Raskolnikov is, except that Svidrigaylov is able to accept what he has done, or rather, he no longer thinks what he has done is wrong. He has already admitted that he is a human being who lives to fulfill his desires, no matter what. It is after the encounter with Svidrigaylov that Raskolnikov understands that no matter how many people he kills, he will never be able to be a Napoleon. Svidrigaylov wants nothing more from Raskolnikov but Dunya’s love, which seems like a confusing thing coming from a character such as Svidrigaylov. The apparent compassion from Svidrigaylov is something that is not expected from somebody who has no conscience. Svidrigaylov represents the evil within Raskolnikov, the evil part that Raskolnikov thought he would be able to attain, and still be a good person. Through the murder, Raskolnikov is slowly transforming into the same person that Svidrigaylov is, a vile and despicable worm. Both Raskolnikov and Svidrigaylov have the choice to commit suicide, or give themselves in. After the encounter in Raskolnikov’s flat, Svidrigaylov can be thought of as almost an alter ego of Raskolnikov, the persona of his evil side. Nearing the end of the novel, Raskolnikov is able to accept that his theory of attaining the idealistic status of being above moral to be flawed, and it is throught Svidrigaylov that he is able to see this flaw. Svidrigaylov wants to love Dunya, but when Dunya refuses to love him, Svidrigaylov is left once alone. Svidrigaylov needed Dunya just like how Raskolnikov needed Sonya, but instead of returning the love, Dunya could not love a man like Svidrigaylov. Raskolnikov has Sonya there for him to lean on, and it is through the love from Sonya that he is able to muster up the courage to turn himself in. Svidrigaylov has no other choice than to kill himself, because there is no other punishment for his crime. The meeting of the two opposites results in only one living, the one is able to get help, and to see the flaw in his personality. When Svidrigaylov seeks out Raskolnikov, he seems to be desperate to find somebody to be in his life. He has driven away everybody, and now that he is alone, he finds that he needs somebody. Dunya was his last hope, and when Dunya says he cannot love him, Svidrigaylov kills himself. By seeing what Svidrigaylov has become, Raskolnikov accepts Sonya’s love, and is able to turn himself in, forfeiting his quest to become above moral law.

Dostoevsky uses Svidrigaylov, as well as the pawnbroker, to depict Raskolnikov’s killing of a principle. Raskolnikov’s began with a ideal to become like Napoleon, and justifies murdering a women, because he believes that by murdering her he is doing the society good. But Raskolnikov is unable to overcome the guilt, and his thoughts are constantly plagued with the murder. Dostoevsky delves into the mind of Raskolnikov, and the reader is able to go through the thought process of Raskolnikov, desperately trying to convince himself that the murder was the right thing to do. Raskolnikov calls the murder his “destiny” and it is true that without the murder, he would not be able to see the flaw in his personality, and accept who he really is. The encounter with Svidrigaylov plays a large role in Raskolnikov realizing what must be done in order to be truly free from the guilt of the murder. The contrast between Svidrigaylov and Raskolnikov show the lesser of two evils triumphing. Both are in a similar situation, seeking absolution for the things that they have done. With Raskolnikov giving himself in, and Svidrigaylov committing suicide, the two choices affected with the conversations Raskolnikov and Svidrigaylov. Without Svidrigaylov, Raskolnikov probably not would not have given himself in, but rather turned towards the evil path and continued to strive for his unattainable ideal of being above moral law. The encounter propels both characters along the two separate choices left, one towards suicide, and the other towards absolution.

Out of time, out of thought

2009-11-08T19:30:00.000-08:00

I have found out the reason for my lack of blogging. I am just so consumed by school that I don't even have time to think about anything but school. Even when i think of blog worthy topics, those thoughts are soon replaced by more differential equations and circuit diagrams. I simply don't have enough thought left for blogging. Maybe once this term is over I'll start blogging more frequently. I might blog about my daily experiences at my coop job, depending on how exciting it is.

Robot rock

2009-10-24T22:45:00.000-07:00

If you were stuck in a room, with nothing but a computer connected to a chatroom, how would you convince the people in there that you are a human, and not a bot?

This brings up the question artificial intelligence, and the difference between how a robot can be programmed to response to a certain question, and how real humans respond. We humans can write programs that output a certain phrase given an input. So if the question "who are you?" was asked, you could write a program that would reply, "My name is John, who are you?" Based on such a conversation, you would never be able to tell if it were two humans talking, or two bots talking.

This talk arises after reading an interesting post on a website which asks the same question.

It really is an interesting read, although it is long, but just read through the conversation and offer what you think.

2009-10-20T22:23:00.000-07:00

Wow it's been like a month since I last wrote anything on here. I would blog more if all my blog posts just contained homework, but nobody wants to see that. School has been too busy, and there is just tooooooo much to do. I have no life anymore, and blogging falls within that category. Maybe I'll blog from school or something, while in class.

On a good note, I have a coop work term next January working in a research lab for Canfor doing some research and development. Yes I know I'm in Engineering Physics, but a job is a job. Oh did I mention it also pays $2925 a month? Lotsa money to buy new skis, another monitor so I can dual monitor again, new video card, some nice wines to drink, back-country ski trips, and... that's all I can think of buying right now.

Fashion

2009-09-19T15:34:00.001-07:00

Why are we dressed like the way we are? Normal attire going to school would be jeans, t-shirt, sweater, backpack, runners. If the way we dress were to show that we were educated people, going to university for a higher education, why do we dress like we are going hiking? This thought was brought up in my russian literature class discussions, talking about how perhaps 40 years ago people wore full out suits to school. Dressed as the upper class because only the upper class could afford to be educated. Does our sense of fashion come from our education? Those who are illiterate cannot afford to get education, therefore they are the ones who are not dressed nicely.

"When to write poetry"

2009-09-19T15:28:00.000-07:00

When is it a good time to write?
during times when you are alone
with nowhere to go
nothing to say
empty?

when things have gone your way
everything works out
in the end
happy?

thoughts in head
pen in hand
write.

I don't blog anymore

2009-09-14T22:51:00.000-07:00

It appears that my blogging rate has declined ever since I started. Sometimes I feel that I just don't want to share with the world anymore. And sometimes I feel that it requires too much work to put thoughts into words. I'll just keep them in my head for now, till I blog again.

Recipe for Disaster?

2009-08-22T20:58:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been thinking about what I should do with my accumulated wealth, and by accumulate I mean hard earned cash from working. I rarely ever buy anything expensive, and my mom just keeps on telling me to save save save. My mom is most often right, so I just listen to her cause that's what mothers are for right? My mom just tells me to save up for a rainy day because it's always better to complain about having money than to complain about having no money. 80% of all money that I have spent would probably be on food, because that is probably the only thing worth spending money on in my opinion. Everything else just isn't as important, nor as fun. I still don't have my own car, but I only really wanted one for the summer, since after school starts I will rarely ever drive. Hopefully after getting a co-op job, I will save even more money, and then I am almost certain that money will be spent traveling the world.

Macbook Pro

2009-08-14T00:38:00.001-07:00

I recently bought a Macbook Pro 13" 2.53ghz model laptop and so far I enjoy using it. I've used a PC all my live, and I can't say that I hate PCs now that I've used a Mac but it certainly has its advantages. I am currently typing up this blog post on my macbook on my bed, and i love the backlit keyboard, it makes typing in the dark so much easier. I only wrote this blog post cause I feel obligated to blog once in awhile, I will blog more as I have many many things to blog about.

Craigslist

2009-08-04T21:35:00.000-07:00

Craigslist is, I guess you can say, a hobby of mine. I rarely even ever buy stuff off craigslist, but I do enjoy browsing it almost daily. It's sorta like window shopping, but from the comforts of my chair. Often I see things that are really cheap, and I really want them, but in the end I just watch as other people buy them and the ads are taken down.

Today I spent most of the day looking at cars on craigslist. I don't really want a car that badly, but right now in the summer it seems that it would be quite useful. I would almost never drive it throughout the school year except maybe during weekends. But having a car that I can call my own would be very nice. So the majority of the time was spent looking at all cars that costed less than $10,000 which I deemed to be a reasonable limit to my imaginary car shopping. There are lots of Honda Accords and Honda Civics out there that can be purchased for that price, and even Preludes. But that is such a typical asian car, and I think that I'd rather be different. So then I spent awhile looking at Porsches, and there only seem to be 2 main models that I can afford, the 928 and 944 (951). Both these cars are very nice, and I really wouldn't mind owning either model, depending on the year. But then there was a Jaguar Convertible that I also liked.

But I am pretty sure I will never be getting those cars :( The best I can do is mention to my mom to ask my uncle, who buys damaged cars and fixes, then resells. Maybe one day I will finally have a car to drive around.

Lucid Dreams

2009-08-03T10:36:00.000-07:00

I think that dreaming is the only reason for sleep. Other than that, sleep has almost no importance or significance. Lucid dreams are dreams in which you know that you are dreaming, and so you can control yourself and tell yourself what to do. Lately I've been testing out how to get myself to dream of certain things, and I find that if I think about things before I sleep, or watch a movie before I sleep, I will most likely dream about it. Like 2 days ago I watched Harry Potter, and the same night I dreamt I was in Harry Potter. Such dreams are really fun to play around with because you can live your fantasy (don't be sick and perverted).

Another method that I find works is when I take naps. Usually my naps are like 15 minutes long, but I dream like immediately, and so I don't really fall asleep, but rather just dream. And within these dreams I know I am sleeping, so I can wake up on whim. I suggest you all go try it out, cause it is pretty fun.

Blogging

2009-08-03T10:30:00.000-07:00

So if you have noticed, I stopped blogging for like a month or so. 1st reason was that I was in Vernon for 2 weeks, so I couldn't blog from there, nor did I really want to. 2nd reason is that micro blogging via twitter is a lot easier, and it was something that I could actually do. 3rd reason, is that I no longer have ads for people to click so I don't make money :(

Due to popular request (Christina) I guess I will start blogging again.

True Blood

2009-08-03T10:26:00.000-07:00

Okay so the newest (not really that new) vampire craze tv show is True Blood, which is based on the Southern Vampire Mysteries written by Charlaine Harris. Having read and watched Twilight, True Blood is I guess the adult, and more mature version. I do not think there exists an episode where there is no nudity. But the real reason why it is better, is that the vampires actually make sense. They don't sparkle in the sun, and drink animal blood only. The entire plot just makes more sense, and the way the episodes are made make it quite a bit more interesting. Every episode ends with a cliffhanger, and i mean every single one. So it's best if you just download the entire season and watch it all, so the suspense of waiting 1 week won't kill you.

Social Networking

2009-06-22T12:46:00.000-07:00

So teens these days are all in the know about social networking, mainly the online social networking sites. Sites such as Myspace, Facebook, and most recently Twitter. But Twitter is the one that is most different from the others, since instead of directly linking two people, you just "follow" them. Twitter was defined as a micro-blogging site, where people just post random things as their "tweets" and then people could reply to them if they wanted. But what it is not is a place for people to start conversations. I absolutely hate people who start talking on twitter replies, it is the same as writing on facebook walls when you can just talk on msn, or your IM client. The difference is that on twitter, there are people from all over the world who are then able to "talk" to you. On facebook, I prefer to keep my friends to people I know, and people I would feel safe having access to my information. @replies on twitter have become increasing common for people to start an all out conversation, yet I do not think they are aware that most of the time, nobody cares. Direct Messages are there for a reason, so I implore you, please use them.

Another thing is FriendFeed. Most people will read this and be like "What is FriendFeed?" And maybe a handful will go and google FriendFeed to discover that it is a real-time feed aggregator. For those who don't know what that is, it is basically what Facebook is becoming. Except facebook sucks at it. Basically FriendFeed is able to link a whole lot of services together such as youtube, lastfm, various blogging tools, the list goes on to end at 58 services. So why am I talking about FriendFeed? Because most people are unaware of its capabilities, and then all of a sudden, everybody will be using it. FriendFeed is in a way, like Twitter, but it has real time commenting, so you are able to start a discussion in real time on FriendFeed. So instead of all those @replies on twitter, you can just comment on a feed, and then chat there. So I would say go check FriendFeed out, because it really is very interesting.

OMG JUMPING PICTURES!

2009-06-18T16:01:00.001-07:00

Emma Watson

2009-06-17T20:44:00.000-07:00

So recently Emma Watson has become the face of Burberry Fall/Winter collection, and I am truly amazed by this 19 year old. I sit here and just stare at amazement when I read here Wikipedia page. It's hard to believe that she is the same age as me, yet she has already accomplished so much. Modeling for Burberry shows a much more matured Watson, and I think she looks absolutely gorgeous in every single one of those photos. Sure they were all digitally altered, but they are still breathtaking nonetheless.

2009-06-12T13:07:00.000-07:00

The past week in Vancouver has been wonderful. The weather is gorgeous and Vancouver is at its best. Too bad I'm stuck taking summer courses while everybody is outside enjoying the weather. My posting rate has been diminishing because I haven't really had anything interesting to blog about. I'll blog about more interesting things once my exams are on Saturday. I expect to upgrade and clean my computer, so I will take pictures and post those.

The Time Traveler's Wife

2009-05-31T20:58:00.001-07:00

So I have recently read a novel (yes, you did read correctly, a novel, not a textbook). So this book was very interesting to read because unlike most of the books out there, it combined a bit of sci-fi and some romance. Basic synopsis of the book goes as such, man is able to time travel, meets lovely lady. The book brings you through the journey of the time traveler, who is able to go back into time, uncontrollably. So many people have told me that they thought the book was confusing as each chapter takes place in a different time. But I really liked how the book was set up, and the plot builds up as you follow Henry as he jumps back and forth in time. The book tells a story of how Henry's wife has to keep up with him, and yet always have hope. The sci-fi part makes it a really interesting work of fiction, cause yenno, who wouldn't want to time travel. I would recommend this book for anybody who is bored of textbooks and wants an interesting book to read.

2009-05-21T10:10:00.000-07:00

So my Adsense account was terminated because I just told my friends to click ads, so it was always the same IP addresses :( Which means I won't be making anymore money from Google. So I have to turn to alternate methods of making money I guess.

On another note, I haven't been blogging lately because I've been on Myspace. Yes you heard that right, I made a myspace account. I only made it cause it seems to be the only way to view upcomings artists, such as Sky Ferreira. If you haven't heard of her, you are missing out, so you better go now and click on her name which will take you to her Myspace page. She doesn't have any music out yet, but she is working hard on it. You can download a cover she did of God Bless the child by Billie Holiday here. Sigh I wish I was like her, 16 years old and soon to be in a film, and working on an album. Life must be easy and fun.

Secret Admirer?

2009-05-14T20:58:00.000-07:00

So I was browsing through my hotmail inbox today cause I was looking for something, and I found something that was quite amusing and interesting from years ago. Around April 2007 I got a random email from a person who's email was iloveyoubillyfung@gmail.com, which certainly sparked my interest in reading junk mail. So since I haven't really blogged anything interesting or funny in awhile, I will post our email conversation.

lol i am glad you are moving on, it is a better waste of ur time. Hope you have fun stalking people.

You have to read from the bottom up, since the email thingy works that way when replying. So go to the bottom of this post and read up :P

bye forever,
the person who doesnt care.

________________________________
> Date: Tue, 4 Dec 2007 15:48:53 -0800
> From: iloveyoubillyfung@gmail.com
> To: tidal_blade64@hotmail.com
> Subject: Re:
>
> Actually, I dont even know if I like you anymore, you are really good-looking, but you are kind of a jerk. Not just on e-mail, but in general. Sorry. This might be the last time you hear from me. But you know if you start being nicer any girl would be lucky to have you. I really liked you too. But I guess I was just going for your looks not your personality. But I hope you know I will always love you no matter what, but I guess I'm moving on....
>
>
> Bye for now,
> The person who will always love you
>
>
> On 12/3/07, billy fung wrote:
>
> not in my grade, then i obviously have no clue who you are since i dont talk to anybody but people in my grade. And if u are not in my school, i am not even remotely interested in who you are. i had thought u wouldve stopped and used ur time more wisely elsewhere.
> ________________________________
>> Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2007 16:28:52 -0800
>> From: iloveyoubillyfung@gmail.com
>> To: tidal_blade64@hotmail.com
>> Subject: Re:
>>
>> I am not in your grade, and i may or may not go to your school.(Sorry can't say.)
>>
>> On 11/27/07, billy fung < tidal_blade64@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> hmm ok, are you in my grade? and do you go to my school?
>>
>>
>> ________________________________
>> Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2007 12:14:16 -0800
>>
>> From: iloveyoubillyfung@gmail.com
>> To: tidal_blade64@hotmail.com
>> Subject: Re:
>>
>> Trust me you talk with me. We talk on occasion, but it is only around once/twice a week
>>
>> On 11/26/07, billy fung wrote:
>> LOL, are you sure you are talking about the same person that i know? unless ur a guy, then i rarely even talk with girls..
>>
>>
>>
>> ________________________________
>> Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2007 16:17:13 -0800
>>
>> From: iloveyoubillyfung@gmail.com
>> To: tidal_blade64@hotmail.com
>> Subject: Re:
>>
>> even though you don't know who i am its obvious because i flirt with you alot you just don't notice
>>
>> On 11/20/07, billy fung wrote:
>>
>> lollerskates, you cant expect somebody to like you if they dont know who you are. Anyways, i dont think you should really bother with me, i am not really looking for a relationship. I think your time would be better spent elsewhere.
>>
>>
>> ________________________________
>> Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2007 09:42:22 -0800
>>
>> From: iloveyoubillyfung@gmail.com
>> To: tidal_blade64@hotmail.com
>> Subject: Re:
>>
>> That's funny. See that's why I like you. Because you're so funny and sweet, (in your own way).
>>
>> On 11/19/07, billy fung < tidal_blade64@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> i think you are somebody with too much time on your hands.
>>
>>
>>
>> ________________________________
>> Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2007 14:05:36 -0800
>>
>> From: iloveyoubillyfung@gmail.com
>> To: tidal_blade64@hotmail.com
>> Subject: Re:
>>
>> Okay Billy. But honestly that's wierd how you care. But whatever. And you are correct. (Obviously.)
>>
>> On 11/17/07, billy fung wrote:
>>
>> oh ok, well ill guess somebody would cant spell awkward, but then again i know im right haha
>>
>>
>> ________________________________
>> Date: Sat, 17 Nov 2007 14:50:43 -0800
>>
>> From: iloveyoubillyfung@gmail.com
>> To: tidal_blade64@hotmail.com
>> Subject: Re:
>>
>> Sorry, can't. Things would be to ackward. But if you guess, I can let you know.
>>
>> On 11/16/07, billy fung < tidal_blade64@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> nope, care to tell me?
>>
>>
>>
>> ________________________________
>> Date: Fri, 16 Nov 2007 12:01:33 -0800
>> From: iloveyoubillyfung@gmail.com
>> To: tidal_blade64@hotmail.com
>> Subject: Re:
>>
>> so can you guess who i am?
>>
>> On 11/15/07, billy fung < tidal_blade64@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> yes you are correct, nor do i care to bother with your childish ways.
>>
>>
>>
>> ________________________________
>> Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2007 11:35:35 -0800
>> From: iloveyoubillyfung@gmail.com
>> To: tidal_blade64@hotmail.com
>> Subject: Re:
>>
>>
>> and whose fault is that billy? I like you! but you dont know who I am
>>
>> On 11/14/07, billy fung > wrote:
>> hmm i guess myself, cause i like myself! :D
>>
>>
>>
>> ________________________________
>> Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:15:58 -0800
>> From: iloveyoubillyfung@gmail.com
>> To: tidal_blade64@hotmail.com
>> Subject:
>>
>> guess who likes you

2009-05-12T21:36:00.001-07:00

So summer classes are about 1 and a half weeks in and I can say that so far so good. Nothing really too challenging or difficult, and I sorta wish all classes were this pace.

On another note, today was the provincial election, and I must say I felt that I did not want to vote. And so I did not. It seems that for this election I was too busy to take time and research into the party platforms in depth, and into what each party would offer for the province. Sure I read in the 24 and Metro about what each party wanted. But it seems that during the elections life just goes on, nobody came to my door to tell me who I should vote for. I know that the NDP wants to eliminate the carbon tax or something along those lines with taxes and all. But I believe in Campbell's carbon tax, it causes people to pay for all the damage done to the environment. So my point is that I don't feel anything wrong with the current government, nor do I know enough to say that I can vote for somebody I think will make a difference. It is stupid to vote just because you can.

Am I a horrible person?

2009-05-02T23:55:00.000-07:00

So today while I was waiting for the bus at Joyce Station, an elderly man approached me and asked me if I knew Chinese, and I said yes. (He asked me in Chinese) So it turned out that he wanted me to read something for him, and he gave me a slip of paper. The paper said that his car had been impounded, and told him to go to under the Granville St. bridge to pick up his car. He looked very distraught and told me that his car got towed, and he needed to go get it. He also spotted right away that I was born here because of how I spoke. I assumed that he wanted directions to get there, but he said he had to go home to Surrey to get money first. But he had no money to take the bus, so essentially he was asking me for money. Unfortunately, the only money I had on me was a $20 bill. I told him I had no money and that I couldn't help him.

Should I have given him my $20? I feel like I am a bad person because I was not able to help him, even though I could.

La de da

2009-05-01T23:42:00.000-07:00

I have once again failed to keep blogging because I get oh so lazy. I get on the computer, and tell myself that maybe I should write something, but then I never get to it. So it has been a week of no school, and it appears that I have nothing to do without school. Most of my days were spent watching Battlestar Galactica, and various tv shows and movies. An interesting thing that I decided to do is try and learn something off youtube. Awhile back I found computer science lectures from the University of Southern Wales, and so I decided that I had enough time to watch those. The lectures can be found here, and the lecturer is quite funny. He makes the lectures very fun and interesting, although it is really hard to follow the course without access to the content that is available to the students. Most of my time on the internet is spent reading things, and I think that I learn quite a bit from the internet. But it is also quite sad that the weather the entire week has been exceptional and I've done nothing but sit infront of my computer. I wish that there exists a machine that could just remember things for me, and then put them on my blog. I know I had something to write about, but it has run away :( On a good note, I now have more followers than I do following on twitter :D But I also have more updates than I do followers, I must change that.

Done

2009-04-22T23:42:00.000-07:00

So 1st year university is officially over, and wow did it go by fast. So much time to do nothing now!

Recipes For Disaster

2009-04-18T09:54:00.000-07:00

So on Thursday I was down at VanCity Theatre in downtown Vancouver. I had won 2 free tickets to view the documentary "Recipes for Disaster" courtesy of a local blogger, Raul Pacheco hummingbird604. (The tickets were won due to being on twitter, so everybody should get twitter!)

SO now on to my review.

         "Recipes For Disaster" is a documentary about a Finnish family in Helsinki, an everyday family who takes family vacations and is happy. But John Webster's eyes have been opened to the destruction that humans are causing on the environment, and he believes that by changing his lifestyle he can make a difference in the carbon emissions of his family. The future looks bleak for his children and John wants to change that. He sets out on an "adventure" to live without oil products, meaning anything that is made or requires the usage of oil. He goes on this journey with his wife and their two sons. Looking at the everyday statistics of carbon emissions per person, John believes that by reducing his carbon footprint, he will be able to do his own share of combating global warming. Living without oil products proves to be a major task, because almost everything we use is somehow made from oil products, plastic being the major one.

         Plastic is also one of the worse oil products as it is a synthetic product, meaning it is made by humans in labs. Plastic is very durable, taking a very long time to degrade, which means that most of the plastic made is still in the world. The most concerning fact about plastic is that a lot of it has been accumulating in ocean gyres, generating large vortexes of plastic in the ocean. Burning plastic releases toxins in the air, which add to the greenhouse gas effect. But plastic is also one of the most used materials in everyday life. As John continues on his journey, he is somewhat laughed at by his wife, because she thinks that he is crazy. John is more of an idealist, thinking that he can change the world, which his wife just wants to be happy and enjoy life. But the question John asks is that can he be happy without killing the environment? A major effect that living without oil products is that everything slows down. Instead of driving, they take the bus, which is slower, but it gives them family time. Watching this documentary showed me how much a single family can do just by changing their lifestyle. Nobody has to go out and devote their lives to stopping global warming, just take a few things out of your life. The film takes us through the laughs and tears that the family endures as they fight to reduce their carbon emission.

         Everyday things that we never think about change drastically, how do you buy anything at the supermarket that isn't wrapped in plastic? Is there an alternative to driving without oil? I really enjoyed watching this documentary as it showed John Webster's family decreasing their carbon emission by 52%. Sure 1 family in the world decreasing their carbon emissions isn't going to do a whole lot against global warming, but if every family did that, then carbon emissions would drop drastically. By refusing to use plastic bags and non essential oil products, large factories churning out greenhouse gases would be closed. So the point taken from this film was that individually we should all be at least trying to cut down on our own carbon emissions. I would recommend that everybody go watch this film, as John and his family go on a carbon-diet.

On a side note, almost all the carbon emissions in the world is due to the fact that we are burning fossil fuels. So if we truly want to reduce the effects of global warming, renewable energy is most likely the only way to go. Unfortunately not all of us are scientists, so there is not much we can do other than to hopefully wait for renewable energy sources to be used. BC is no longer energy sufficient, so if you think that using electricity for everything will reduce your carbon footprint, you are wrong. BC buys some of its electricity from coal plants, meaning that driving a fully electric car isn't doing the environment any good.

"Don't worry - we're from the internets. It's going to be alright. :-)"

2009-04-17T22:43:00.000-07:00

So for those who even have the slightest remote clue of what The Pirate Bay is, then you must know that the trial has just ended. TPB blog states that although the trial ended with the defendants founded guilty, it's not over. So for all those people out there who read my blog, go and download from thepiratebay and rebel against the government. I strongly believe that the government should not be able to do such a thing, and I know the internet will not give up so easily. This is a great publicity stunt for TPB, and I will always stand firmly behind them.

I wish I could write a more indepth blog post, but I have 2 finals still, so gotta study. There will also be a review on the documentary "Recipes for disaster" which I just watched yesterday. Truly inspirational film I must say.

Exams!@!@!

2009-04-13T12:41:00.000-07:00

5 more days till my exams are over. 10 days till year end party + vodkamelon. Excited.

Annoyances

2009-04-08T17:16:00.000-07:00

I have just realized that now I get annoyed very easily, but only when people do certain things, or act a certain way.

I have not had any reasons to hate life or anything, so I expect those around me to respect it as well. I am a very grateful person, realizing that work must be done in order for things to be accomplished. I get utterly pissed off when people expect things to go their way when they do nothing to deserve it. Nothing annoys me more than an undeserving person wanting everything. This post is mainly a rant on how many people there are out there who have it good, yet do not realize it. Yes I know everybody is not perfect, but still people should recognize when they are given opportunities yet still ignore them. I guess this is something that comes with age and experience, as I know all about regretting about the past. Parents are there to offer you opportunities in life, and as a child I guess you do not think too much about them. Sometimes I wish my parents forced me to take up an instrument instead of asking. Here we are living in a city where food and shelter is provided, yet they would rather worry about fantasies rather than real life. Sooner or later they will realize how much they have lost, and how much they will never get back. Sure it's easier to have fun and play instead of doing homework, that's a given. But is it not possible to do homework and then have fun? It's all down to some self discipline, and working towards not being a failure. That is my main goal in life, not to be a failure. Everyday when I go to school, I look around and I am able to see people who hopefully strive towards the same goal. But everyday at home, I am faced by the same annoyances. I believe that it is what one does as a child that shapes them into who they are. The role of the parents are to enforce the self disciplining onto the child, letting them learn and understand.

We have all had times when we were small that we were forced to do things we really didn't want to do, but as we age, we are able to look back with understanding and respect our parents' choices. Maybe it's the fact that people do not feel the same way as I do that annoys me. I guess this old age thing is really growing on me, as everyday I just think about life and why we do things that we do. The way I see it, it is a privilege to go to school, not a chore. Sure it is not as fun as playing video games or hanging out with friends, but I do it cause I have the chance to. We are so privileged to have everything given to us, yet there are those who waste because they do not like it. I'm not saying I'm perfect, but whenever I can, I try to not waste anything. The point of this rant was just to emphasize how lucky we have to have everything we do, and that we should really think about how our actions affect those around us.

I wish I wish I wish

2009-04-06T22:27:00.000-07:00

Lately all these shootings are really starting to bug me. It is quite scary looking at the statistics of shootings in Vancouver over the years, and having lived in Vancouver for my entire life, I don't ever recall a time when the crime was this bad. It seems there is an average of 1 shooting a week. These shootings affect everybody who is living in Vancouver, because it causes people to be scared of living here. What kind of world are we living in where people are scared to walk outside? With all the advances in technology, we should be able to stop these crimes occurring.

All these shootings are occurring where we live, and it has already been bugging me. This morning, 41st and marine was closed off to due ongoing police investigations. Marine dr is one of the entrances to UBC, from which the 41 and 49 busses go in. So with the police investigation going on after 3 days, the busses had to be re-routed. The new bus route took nearly another 30 minutes, which resulted in even more traffic along Dunbar. And just now another shooting has occurred on Heather and Marine Dr. All these shootings will just result in more closures, and less police officers able to patrol around daily. It has been noted that the lack of police officers greatly affects a large city such as Vancouver.

It is very scary knowing that the next shooting just might be in your neighbourhood. Perhaps when I have more time I will make a grpah plotting the places were shootings occur, showing how they are slowly migrating towards West Vancouver.

Math Lab Project

2009-04-06T07:54:00.000-07:00

Watch in HD

Don't forget to rate :P

Oh sunny day

2009-04-04T15:49:00.000-07:00

All the rainy days that I wish were sunny were never sunny, and now while its sunny, I am stuck inside in front of the computer.

Well it seems that while building my computer I did not ever consider using it for video editing, and what do you know, here I am video editing. It seems that Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 does not work very well when dual monitors are set up, so I am left using 1 monitor until this Math project is finished. To add to the troubles, I do think that my graphics card is beginning to fail on me, as it is now crashing constantly whenever I am video editing. While I type this blog post, random pixels are showing up in different colours on my screen, I think its because my graphics card is not able to refresh the colours fast enough. So many things to do, so little time.

Science One Conference

2009-03-28T18:55:00.000-07:00

Today was the Science One 08/09 Mini Conference and I must say it was a wonderful experience. The presentations consisted of talking about our Term 2 measurement experiments. Our projects consisted of thinking about a topic, measuring and recording data, and then completing with a report on what we found. This was term project was a lot of work, and to show it off the students organized a conference to show their results. The term project itself was already lots of work, and we all spent lots of time and effort into those projects. The conference was lots of fun, as we got to see our peers present, while nervously waiting our turns. I must say that everybody did a great job, and I enjoyed myself presenting at my first and hopefully not my last conference.

Physics of Formula 1 cars

2009-03-23T17:42:00.000-07:00

It has been brought to my attention that I missed an important point in my last post. The Brabham BT46 is able to achieve the impressive downforce due to a fan that is located at the rear of the car. The fan actively cools the engine while providing a pressure downwards. The downforce pushes the car downwards, as implied by the name. This is important because in order to attain fast speeds, the car must be aerodynamic. For those who are familiar with Formula 1 cars, they have a certain form to each car. In order to drive fast, the downforce must be able to keep the tires of the car on the ground. Normal F1 cars make use of "wings" and a nose cone to provide downforce, while minimizing air drag. The front and rear wings both create a downforce, while the nose cone allows for more aerodynamic movement, and also providing less drag. The wings on a F1 are exactly the opposite of airplane wings. Airplane wings generate lift, while Formula 1 wings generate downforce. The front wing directs air over towards nose cone, and under the car. The front wing is also designed to have endplates which stop air from going towards the rotating wheels, which will slow down the car. Underneath the car there is a diffuser, which just sucks the air from under the car and out the car. Removing the air under the car causes a change in pressure which creates a downforce as well. All this just for a downforce which will allow for greater speeds, and plays a role in turning.

Cars

2009-03-21T12:33:00.000-07:00

Why do guys like cars so much? So I've spent the entire morning looking at F1 cars, and just fast road cars in general, and they never seem to bore me. Today's interesting car is the Brabham BT46, a unique formula 1 racing car. The cars ingenious design allowed a downward force to be applied to the car, meaning that the problem of accelerating over oil slicks is resolved. The car has a lowered centre of gravity, meaning faster speeds without having to worry about the car lifting off the ground.

Sometimes bad is good

2009-03-16T21:44:00.000-07:00

Well today I had my cellphone stolen. It was entirely my fault since I left it in an unlocked locker at the YMCA, so like it was basically free phone for whoever took it. But being optimistic about it, everything else I had in my locker was left touched. Meaning my Arc'teryx jacket, LV wallet, and the money inside the wallet. Makes me wonder who would want to steal a crappy Koodo phone that doesn't even run on a simcard and sells for like $30. I wish I had like a self-destruct button on the phone, so I could exact my revenge. Screw turning the other cheek, cause nobody likes to lose things. Maybe next time I will scheme of a plan to catch the thief, and trap him! Alas, must get back to integration.

赤壁 (Red Cliff)

2009-03-15T13:03:00.000-07:00

So I just finished watching the 4 hour Chinese epic, 赤壁. For those well versed in Chinese literature and history, it is regarded as one of the most well-known and acknowledged battles in Chinese History. The battle is based off of the historical text 三國志, which is basically a recollection of ancient Chinese history. This is like the Chinese version of 300, which is a more well known English movie. I'm not going to describe everything here cause that is pointless when a Wikipedia has an article for it here. I particularly liked this movie because it wasn't all just fighting, but more strategy. Comparing it to 300, 300 was mostly like talking and fighting, while 赤壁 involved strategic planning, fighting, and the usual romance. I had read about this a bit before back in Chinese school a number of years ago, and it still amazes me to see the ingenuity of the military tactics. I would definitely recommend reading the wiki about it, or even watching the movie although the movie is 4 hours long and it doesn't cover everything.

Making money off adsense

2009-03-11T20:51:00.001-07:00

How to make 15k a month from adsense

So today I was just surfing the internets, when I stumbled upon that forum post. Like you are just walking along on the beach, and BAM! an article on how to get rich. The author offers insight onto how he was able to make fifteen thousand dollars just sitting at home, sipping on coffee infront of the computer. All this is accomplished using free webware offered by Google, such as Google Trends, and Google Adsense. Right now I have adsense on this blog, which is located in the form of those ads to your right. Clicking those ads give me money, which is essentially how the guy made money. But he designs an elaborate scheme to put as much information into a website, as long as looking at trends to find the most searched things, and links them all. This generates many many clicks a day, which results in a boatload of money. Unfortunately, I do not fully understand how he does it, so I won't be making 15k a month anytime soon.

2009-03-08T09:20:00.001-07:00

Watch Crip Walk Treadmill Catastrophe on CollegeHumor

Better watch out guys

2009-03-04T21:08:00.001-08:00

Most good

2009-03-01T20:15:00.001-08:00

This post will be dedicated to whoever clicks my ads, because you are truly wonderful people. I like being told that I am wonderful, so hopefully you guys do too. And Connor is most wonderful too, because he told me he would click my ads everyday if he remembers, that is most good.

2009-02-23T15:42:00.000-08:00

So ends the trials of TPB, accused of oh so much, guilty of nothing but greatness. For those who don't know what The Pirate Bay is, it is a website that is very well known for its index of torrents. I am a proud supporter of TPB, because what they have done is allowed the world access, legally, to various music files and what not. TPB is not the one ripping dvds, uploading various cracked software, or the ones who are giving away the free music. They are merely the ones who make it available for everybody to use it. But because it is practically impossible to stop torrents because individuals are the ones who upload them, companies must have somebody to blame. True, torrents cause artists and such to lose great deals of money because who would pay for things once they are able to get it for free? But the issue that stands here is net neutrality. Most Canadians aren't aware of the "battle" going on over net neutrality because the internet is a fairly free place in Canada. But no government can hold back a people who are willing to fight for whatever they can get. Bill C-61 was introduced around 1 or 2 years ago, and it was supposedly the Canadian version of the DMCA. The bill has barely scratched the lives of everyday Canadians, because nobody took it seriously. I strongly believe that the government will never be able to control or stop copyright infringement until the day they just cut down internet, which will never happen. I am positive that at least 60% of the people who own computers and have internet, have some sort of illegal software on it. Companies constantly try to create access control technologies to hinder the people in distributing illegal cds, software, etc. But there are always people out there who will crack such controls, such as DRM, which has become almost obsolete. The point here is that there will always be people out there who are better than the government, people who risk their lives to do things so that we will be able enjoy free software. Such people deserve to be recognized for their work, true modern day Robin Hoods.

Spheres

2009-02-21T22:03:00.000-08:00

Another work of art by Daniel.

A friend's car design

2009-02-18T22:09:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of a car designed by a friend, Daniel Lu . Click on the image to enlarge.

Clean?

2009-02-18T20:09:00.000-08:00

Hmm I have many things to blog about but I usually just never get to doing it because I am just so darn lazy. So today I have decided to blog about cleanliness and my sorta-not-really Bacteriaphobia. I think that since we are living in the age of technology, being scared of germs on surfaces should only be a silly scare. Like cmon, we have ray guns that can blast anything to pieces. But yet we still have washrooms that don't have automatic machines. (Long sentence warning) It really bugs me when you have to open the door with your hand that is dirty, go washroom, then flush with that dirty hand which touched the doorknob, then go to the sink and turn the knobs with that dirty hand which touched the dirty doorknob which touched the dirty flush lever, then to realize that after washing your hands you have to touch the germ infested sink knob to turn it off, and then to press the lever for some paper towels, and then to open the door to get out. That entire cycle just gets more germs on the door handle per person, and I'm sure the number of bacteria on the door handle to the washroom increases exponentially. This cycle could be easily avoided by just placing automatic flushers, automatic sinks, and automatic paper dispensers, and perhaps leaving the door open.

25 Random Facts

2009-02-12T17:24:00.000-08:00

So I have ingeniously directed this facebook chain note thingy to my blog so I can get more hits :D. So here are some random facts that I wrote, not Christina Dao.

1. I think British accents are hot, such as Lily Allen's.

2. I am still waiting for the day 1 million dollars will drop from the sky (I dream about this everyday_

3. I made a bet with Shoujun that in 80 years, if the world does not end, he will give me 10% of whatever he owns. So I'm hoping he's a billionaire by then, and also that we both live that long.

4. I cannot sleep more than 8 hours, and usually not past 10am

5. Most of my time on the internet consists of reading blogs and visiting forums. I also visit www.ncix.com everyday.

6. My computer has over $10000 worth of software.

7. I have unlimited texting on my phone, which allows me to text and bug people during class whenever I am bored

8. I enjoy listening to classical music, but I really like UK music. Then again I have a wide variety of music on my computer. I think I'm open to all types of music as long as it makes me feel good.

9. Someday I wish to be rich and enjoy life like Richard Branson. He seems like such a chill guy, although I guess having lots of money is a good reason to be happy.

10. All types of sports interest me, but I don't have enough time to follow them all so I usually just wait till playoffs and such before watching. I follow hockey most closely, but I also follow basketball, golf, american football, and european football(soccer).

11. I think the 2010 winter Olympics is not worth all the trouble it will cause for our city. Sure having the Olympics is a great honour and all, but the debt will be huge, and it will be us having to pay it off in the end. Living in Vancouver is already expensive, with stupid taxes and all, why make it even more expensive?

12. I hate Internet Explorer, and I think anybody who uses it is a computer illerate retard.

13. Enjoy playing various sports such as badminton, basketball, soccer, ultimate frisbee, football, ping pong (I am not pro at any). If I could be amazing at any one sport, I think i would choose golf, since its like the easiest to make loads of cash doing barely anything.

14. I am in Army Cadets, which has given me lots of opportunities to experience the world. So far I have travelled to quebec, ontairo, and the UK, all through the cadet program, and all for free.

15. I have 16 days to decide whether or not I want to switch into Engineering. It is a true dilemma and I have no idea what I want to do with my life. It seems everything is just Med School in Sciences..

16. I built my current computer from scratch and I am quite proud of it. As you can see in the picture in the blog post below, I am running dual monitors and it is fantastic.

17. I like cars. Especially expensive cars.

18. My house does not have cable, so the only things that are on tv are the 8 free channels that we get. But it is sufficient because I have the internet and that is all I need to watch everything.

19. I wish I was really good at cooking, or had to time to practice and learn. I enjoy watching cooking shows such as Hells Kitchen, which makes me want to be a chef.

20. One of my life goals is the win the lottery (before jennifer if she reads this).

21. I love eating food. Im always wanting to go out and eat and try new things.

22. I would be very very very grateful if you could click those links at the side so I can get money :D

23. I cannot play any instrument :( I plan on learning something before I die.

24. Currently I am starting to learn how to use AutoCad to start designing buildings and such. I wish I had more free time to play around with things so I could learn more things :(

25. This random thingy took me longer than I thought it would take, I guess I am not good at finding "random" facts. And I have also found out that I made a lot of grammar mistakes and I shall blame that on me being not able to type as fast as I can think, therefore missing words.

Zen of driving

2009-02-03T16:58:00.000-08:00

So it seems that I am not a particularly good driver because I am not one with the car. According to my driving instructor. So I've had around 10 hours of driving, and it seems the past 4 hours have been the same thing. I haven't really improved because all my instructor does is yell at me because I make mistakes. I should be "feeling what the car is doing" while "sensing the environment around me." He constantly repeats that tell me that is why I am not an amazing driver (yet). With my road-test coming up in a 3 weeks, I wonder if I will ever master the zen of driving.

On another note, my desktop set-up now includes a 23" monitor, running with my 19" :D. Pics when I finish my chem lab report and go and get the camera.

Are we idiots?

2009-01-22T21:12:00.000-08:00

So I've been learning about quantum mechanics (if you don't know what it is, I think you are better off just not knowing, ignorance is bliss.) Quantum mechanics is sorta like learning a new language, except you don't know any languages yet. Nothing makes sense, but you learn it because you have to. Just like with languages, questions often arise. Why are certain words pronounced certain ways? Why are there only 26 letters in the alphabet? Likewise with quantum mechanics, many more questions arise. Quantum mechanics does not make any logical sense, so when learning it, you must discard all common sense and all logic. Most people won't know about quantum mechanics as it only occurs on quantum scales, but should you choose to delve into it, heres a lil glimpse. Pop quiz, what is an electron, a wave or a particle? If you answered any of those two, then you are incorrect, unless you answered both. It seems that an electron is able to act as both a wave and a particle at the same time. But when you choose to measure it as a particle, then it is a particle. By choosing to see what it is, then you have caused it to act that way. That is a bit of what quantum mechanics incorporates.

So to the purpose of this blog post, why is quantum mechanics so weird? Most of the time in science, experiments are done in order to prove a hypothesis. But sometimes theories are made up in order to prove the results of an experiment. This is how quantum mechanics was invented. Because science had no other answer for weird phenomenon, something weirder had to be the answer. But doing all this quantum stuff makes me wonder if we are right. Often the first ideas are wrong, and then we learn from it. In the past, very absurd ideas were believed because people had nothing else to believe it. The Earth was the center of the universe because what else would be? Now we look back at laugh at all these ridiculous ideas, because we know that they were wrong. That is what I think about quantum mechanics. Perhaps we are wrong now, and in the future, something better will be found to explain everything, and then quantum mechanics will be nothing more than a textbook example of things that were wrong. Or, maybe everything is really this weird ....

Sitting alone in the field

2009-01-18T13:49:00.000-08:00

Sitting here amidst the youth, the slow age of maturity sets in as receding tides of childhood wash up, and gradually fade away. Slowly feeling the old age set in as you sit and listen to kids talking, laughing, enjoying. Smiling at the memories brought back, chuckling quietly to yourself. Quietly, you yearn to once again be a child, free of all burdens, just living. Perhaps it is with age that comes the enlightenment of the problems we all face in the world. With age comes an innumerable number of diseases; old age ailments begin to take its toll. As a child you are the King of the World, invincible. The sickness of maturity sets in and you never notice until you out grow your childhood hobbies. But it is within these crucial memories that we remain alive. With age comes less fun, but unless memories are kept vivid, we will lose our childhood. No longer do we have time to sit down and play with toys all day. The television is only a thing of the past; hours spent infront of the tv now changed to sitting infront of a computer. Reminiscing of the past, only then are we aware of how much we miss it.

Our minds develop, childish thoughts become undermined by the seriousness of life. The future scares us. The past keeps us. Childhood shapes us into who we are; age molding us as we grow. The freedom and imagination of a child offer relief from the seriousness of the world, reminding us of where we came from. We must take time to relax, and remember how to be free.

2009-01-18T08:58:00.001-08:00

What do I want to do with my life?

Is it real?

2009-01-02T21:34:00.001-08:00

The Dragon In My Garage
by
Carl Sagan

"A fire-breathing dragon lives in my garage"

Suppose (I'm following a group therapy approach by the psychologist Richard Franklin) I seriously make such an assertion to you. Surely you'd want to check it out, see for yourself. There have been innumerable stories of dragons over the centuries, but no real evidence. What an opportunity!

"Show me," you say. I lead you to my garage. You look inside and see a ladder, empty paint cans, an old tricycle--but no dragon.

"Where's the dragon?" you ask.

"Oh, she's right here," I reply, waving vaguely. "I neglected to mention that she's an invisible dragon."

You propose spreading flour on the floor of the garage to capture the dragon's footprints.

"Good idea," I say, "but this dragon floats in the air."

Then you'll use an infrared sensor to detect the invisible fire.

"Good idea, but the invisible fire is also heatless."

You'll spray-paint the dragon and make her visible.

"Good idea, but she's an incorporeal dragon and the paint won't stick."

And so on. I counter every physical test you propose with a special explanation of why it won't work.

Now, what's the difference between an invisible, incorporeal, floating dragon who spits heatless fire and no dragon at all? If there's no way to disprove my contention, no conceivable experiment that would count against it, what does it mean to say that my dragon exists? Your inability to invalidate my hypothesis is not at all the same thing as proving it true. Claims that cannot be tested, assertions immune to disproof are veridically worthless, whatever value they may have in inspiring us or in exciting our sense of wonder. What I'm asking you to do comes down to believing, in the absence of evidence, on my say-so.

The only thing you've really learned from my insistence that there's a dragon in my garage is that something funny is going on inside my head. You'd wonder, if no physical tests apply, what convinced me. The possibility that it was a dream or a hallucination would certainly enter your mind. But then, why am I taking it so seriously? Maybe I need help. At the least, maybe I've seriously underestimated human fallibility.

Imagine that, despite none of the tests being successful, you wish to be scrupulously open-minded. So you don't outright reject the notion that there's a fire-breathing dragon in my garage. You merely put it on hold. Present evidence is strongly against it, but if a new body of data emerge you're prepared to examine it and see if it convinces you. Surely it's unfair of me to be offended at not being believed; or to criticize you for being stodgy and unimaginative-- merely because you rendered the Scottish verdict of "not proved."

Imagine that things had gone otherwise. The dragon is invisible, all right, but footprints are being made in the flour as you watch. Your infrared detector reads off-scale. The spray paint reveals a jagged crest bobbing in the air before you. No matter how skeptical you might have been about the existence of dragons--to say nothing about invisible ones--you must now acknowledge that there's something here, and that in a preliminary way it's consistent with an invisible, fire-breathing dragon.

Now another scenario: Suppose it's not just me. Suppose that several people of your acquaintance, including people who you're pretty sure don't know each other, all tell you that they have dragons in their garages--but in every case the evidence is maddeningly elusive. All of us admit we're disturbed at being gripped by so odd a conviction so ill-supported by the physical evidence. None of us is a lunatic. We speculate about what it would mean if invisible dragons were really hiding out in garages all over the world, with us humans just catching on. I'd rather it not be true, I tell you. But maybe all those ancient European and Chinese myths about dragons weren't myths at all.

Gratifyingly, some dragon-size footprints in the flour are now reported. But they're never made when a skeptic is looking. An alternative explanation presents itself. On close examination it seems clear that the footprints could have been faked. Another dragon enthusiast shows up with a burnt finger and attributes it to a rare physical manifestation of the dragon's fiery breath. But again, other possibilities exist. We understand that there are other ways to burn fingers besides the breath of invisible dragons. Such "evidence" -- no matter how important the dragon advocates consider it -- is far from compelling. Once again, the only sensible approach is tentatively to reject the dragon hypothesis, to be open to future physical data, and to wonder what the cause might be that so many apparently sane and sober people share the same strange delusion.