From time to time ...

Compiling various stories about Google's exit of China (cont.)

2010-01-17T23:33:00.001-05:00

Google and China: Silicon Valley Is No Longer King

Analysis on why internet companies having troubles surviving in China

Compiling various stories about Google's exit of China

2010-01-16T21:35:00.001-05:00

Various stories/rumors on why Google leaves China.

"Official" message from Google Blog:

It is mainly about censorship and internet attacks;
theft of intellectual property from Google
gmail accounts of "human rights activists".

Microsoft claims attacks happen everyday and no plan to quit.

Interesting fact: a vulnerability in Internet Explorer was used in the attack

Who's email account was attacked?

Seems to be a Stanford student and Tibetan activist, "the Indian-born daughter of Tibetan refugees".

Some old news (1, 2) on Google's conforming local laws

Seems sometimes it is difficult to draw the line between evil or not

CCP spies stole Gmail source code? The original website has been shutdown, but there may be forwarded posts such as here or here.

a guy took Gmail's core source code and disappeared?

Singapore newspaper: it's not about politics or conscience.

Most western internet companies failed in China, and Google's no exception. So what should it tell its investors?
Censorship existed before Google entered Chinese market.

Nobel peace prize?

2009-10-11T00:19:00.001-05:00

It's almost always been controversial. But this year it's really a joke. Well, I guess US presidents are automatically qualified, b/c they control the biggest arsenal in the world... and their doing nothing should be appreciated -- considering the damage to peace they could have done otherwise :)

2008广州毽王争霸赛

2009-01-10T23:18:00.001-05:00

见大洋网消息。要是我在广州也可以去试试单踢。当年在学校踢过2分钟比赛，当时有限高（触毽时不能低于膝盖），所以大概成绩只有两百多。目前大赛第一名是1分钟157次。

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Testimonial

2008-08-02T11:20:00.001-05:00

Ole made his last appearance as a player today at Old Trafford. During his career in Manchester United, the Norwegian scored 126 goals, including the gorgeous last-minute winner in the Champions League final against Bayern Munich in 1999.

He is such a great finisher that he would have been a starter in any top football club. Yet he chose to stay with the Red Devils and became a "super-sub" -- he would probably be best remembered for coming into matches late as a substitute and scoring goals. But he also showed his versatility when he replaced David Beckham as a starting right midfielder, after the latter joined Real Madrid. He played so well until injures took him out of the squad. He tried to come back and even scored again, but after several surgeries he could not fully recover and eventually decided to retire.

Fans love him for his efficiency and loyalty. They sing songs such as "You are my Solskjaer". As he wore number 20 for United, fans have made banner reading: "20LEGEND".

And yes, he is a legend.

Farewell, Ole Gunnar Solskjær.

FW: a pledge letter to send to your American friends

2008-05-16T18:08:00.002-05:00

An alumni forwarded this letter written by a local American friend, Steve McIntosh, a residence of Westford.

================

We still feel deep pain for the children, spouses and friends of the 3,000 people who died in the World Trade Center disaster.

This week, the children, wives, husbands, parents and friends of nearly 50,000 killed, buried or missing victims of the Sechuan, China, earthquake were thrust deeply into the same world of pain. Children went to school like every other day and in seconds lost their home and their parents. Parents went to work and in seconds lost their beloved children under the tons of concrete of collapsed schools.

As NPR reports, one mother will have to find a way to live on with the last words of her son ringing in her ears: "Mommy, please don't leave me." Rescuers uncovered him from the rubble of his home. He was found curled up, dead, in the frozen embrace of his deceased grandfather's arms.

Like the horror of the World Trade Center on 9/11, this unimaginable tragedy, the death and the pain cannot be reversed. But you can help. You can give the survivors a helping hand with a donation, a gift that provides food, clothing, bedding, medicine and sanctuary to those suffering the horrendous physical and emotional wounds this earthquake has inflicted. The children, suddenly homeless and alone in a terrifying world, especially need your help. Please give.

Trapped student called for help after 90 hours of earthquake

2008-05-15T23:25:00.002-05:00

The rescue is still on. According to a correspondent at Beichuan Middle School via live broadcast from CCTV4 just now, the voice was heard an hour ago and now PLA and the rescue team are digging the debris to save her. Let's hope she could make it!

Quake 5/12/2008 (with FAQ and links from newsmth.net)

2008-05-14T23:34:00.005-05:00

Deepest condolences to those who suffered the recent earthquake in China.

Here are some useful links:

四川汶川地震FAQ及常识普及（转自水木社区）: http://www.newsmth.net/bbscon.php?bid=1110&id=53695&ftype=11

★★最新伤亡信息★★我从哪里了解地震信息★★: http://www.newsmth.net/bbscon.php?bid=1110&id=30160&ftype=11

捐款渠道: http://www.newsmth.net/bbscon.php?bid=1110&id=30161&ftype=11

补充几点个人观点：

Q：为何灾情严重？
A：地震能量大（级别高）；周边房屋建筑设防烈度低（见图)；山区的很多（自建的）房子是简易的砌体结构，抗震性能差；人口密度大；震后交通、通讯中断，天气恶劣；重灾区地形复杂。

Q：为何学校、工厂等建筑结构破坏严重？
A：这类结构通常需要大开间，抗震性能比小开间的差；设防烈度低（可能早期的抗震设计标准比较松）；设计及施工质量不过关――现代框架结构的抗震设计通常提倡"强剪弱弯、强柱弱梁、强结点"，而从破坏的情况看，有的建筑塌的时候梁没坏柱子先倒了。

Testing Google AJAX Search API Blog

2008-04-03T17:05:00.001-05:00

Google AJAX Search API Blog: Introducing the AJAX Language API - Tools for Translation and Language Detection

Not working well for translation from Portuguese to English. The output it gives for a few test words has changed, but still it's not giving the correct translation.

Re: The most trusted name in news???

2008-03-31T21:17:00.002-05:00

Follow-up:

Somehow came across an interesting blog by Rebecca MacKinnon,

The anger against CNN started after Chinese netizens discovered that CNN.com had cropped out a group of Tibetan rioters, who appear to be beating somebody up, from the original AFP/Getty Images photo. On the left is the cropped photo, on the right is the original image that Chinese netizens located on the internet:

As Roland Soong points out, CNN.com has quietly gone and replaced the photo in the original story with a new version that includes the mob violence in the background. But of course the old version still lives in the Google cache. He writes: "This is a self-inflicted wound. If CNN believed that it was right in the first place, then it should have stuck to that position. Instead, it surrendered quietly. Not only did this not appease the Chinese netizens, it only made it worse." Roland also links to this forum thread discussing the whole thing, in which one netizen announces that the new "hip phrase" of 2008 is: "做人不能太CNN a person should not be too CNN." As Roland puts it: "This means that a person should not be too shameless and oblivious to the truth."

In case the original page would be removed from Google Cache at some point, a screenshot is taken here:

The most trusted name in news???

2008-03-21T00:06:00.002-05:00

I seriously doubt it.

A piece of recent news from the so-called "the most trusted name in news" channel raised a huge controversy. The video is no longer available on the original website but someone put it on youtube. It's not difficult to see this is yet another hoax. This is not news, it's propaganda.

I have to admit that those guys working in this channel are really good at making such propaganda. They might be good at news in the US, as it's more difficult to fool the US readers on civil issues. In terms on foreign news, they definitely have taken advantages of the fact that people in this country do not really know (or care) that much on the rest of the world.

Often they like to use words like these: he says...they say...they might...some believe...they could... Sometimes they add a few facts, but they are presented in such a way to (probably intentionally) either mislead the audience or draw a wrong conclusion. It's done in a very natural way and most people do not find it obvious until they think it over carefully. I have seen a lot of media doing similar things, not only in the US. But this one is the most disgusting, as it tends to call itself the most trusted. In fact, some people have started to collect evidences and present them on their websites. Here is a new one. Shame on you, the most "trusted" name.

丝绸之路

2008-02-10T23:46:00.001-05:00

不知道为什么，今天突然心血来潮想起丝绸之路来。

很多年前在gz上中学（可能是高一？）的时候，有某节课（忘了是历史还是地理，多半是历史）老师放了一段录像，是关于丝绸之路的纪录片。具体内容我已经不太记得了，似乎讲到了楼兰，但好像又不止这些。当时知道是中日联合拍摄的，但依稀记得看到有无线的台标，推算起来应该是该片在香港播出后录下来的。

我记得我和周围的人都看得很投入，我猜至少大半个班也是这样，以至于大家都有种想一直看下去而不想下课，或者下节课接着看的感觉。最让我难忘的，无疑是片中的音乐。片中的许多配乐非常棒，彷佛有魔力一般，让人在不知不觉之中穿越了时空，跟着解说去探索丝绸之路的兴衰。片子结束的那段音乐我一直都记着，虽然在那以后再也没听过，但还是能回想起。

今天突然又想起这片子，不禁就上网找了一下它的资料。据说那是79～80年 CCTV 和 NHK 合拍的，另外2006年的时候CCTV又与NHK合作拍了《新丝绸之路》，评价似乎也挺高的。旧的那部纪录片的音乐是喜多郎配的。主题曲在YouTube上搜 The Silk Road (Kitaro) 应该就能找到。而我一直记着那段旋律，原来就是《同途万里人》（由黄霑作词，罗文演唱）所用的曲子。什么时候能有时间再来重温一下那段纪录片就好了！

US Virgin Islands & Puerto Rico

2008-01-25T23:53:00.000-05:00

Nice, beautiful places!
The sky looks too blue to be true, and so does the sea.
Trunk Bay, St. John, US Virgin Islands

Trunk Bay, St. John, US Virgin Islands

Old San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T00:00:00.000-05:00

2008. New Year, New Life, New Wishes, New World.

Email to post

2007-11-24T18:47:00.001-05:00

If it works, then it would be great!

Ronaldo's Ad in Lisbon

2007-11-24T18:44:00.001-05:00

The smile of Cristiano Ronaldo is seen everywhere in Lisbon, Portugal. :-)

Watching a Champions League game in a box

2007-11-24T17:39:00.001-05:00

Last month I traveled to Lisbon, Portugal. A friend invited me to a UEFA Champions League football (soccer) game, in which Benfica defeated the visiting Celtic by 1-0.

This was the first time I watched a Champions League match live, and it was the first time I watch it from a box. It is such a fantastic experience.

I had not had much chance to watch football games of clubs from Portugal, but I did know Benfica is one of the best Portuguese clubs. In the CL game I watched, I recognized a few players such as former AC MILAN star Rui Costa (who returned to Benfica about a year ago) and the 18-year-old former MLS all-star Freddy Adu.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer confirms retirement

2007-08-28T22:36:00.001-05:00

I just saw the official news on manutd.com.
He is a great player, "one of the best finishers I have known" (Sir Alex Ferguson), yet he never complains about not being one of the starters. Man United is so lucky to have him coming from the bench and scoring all those lovely goals, including the legendary Champions-League winning goal against Bayern Munich at the Nou Camp, Barcelona. United fans are surely grateful for his extraordinary contribution to the club.

A visit to San Francisco

2007-07-23T21:17:00.001-05:00

The Golden Gate Bridge @ SF. 6/26/2007
SF is somewhat colder than I have expected. Riding a bike on GG Bridge for the first time is fun and exciting. But the chilly wind was unexpectedly strong, especially near the two towers. For one moment I was thinking maybe it could blow my eye-glasses away, had I not held it with my hand.

StarCraft II

2007-05-19T15:17:00.000-05:00

Blizzard has announced the plan of making StarCraft II, a 3D real-time strategy game. What a great news to the gamers!

The screenshots look cool, but on what kind of machines will this game run smoothly? Maybe by the time the game releases, we will have sufficient fast machine for it. :)

2007 MIT 中国学生贺岁短片

2007-03-03T00:56:00.000-05:00

为2007年2月10日在MIT Kresge Auditorium的波士顿高校春节联欢而制作。

Presented on MIT/Harvard/Boston University/Boston College Chinese New Year Performance Show. (All rights reserved to MIT CSSA.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UaUNaxLg_I (this link seems no longer working)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYSgHq0rXO0 (someone else published this one)

The show presented in youtube has been further edited. I can tell from the length of the video: it's shorter than the one shown on 2/10.

We are the Champions

2006-11-19T22:09:00.000-05:00

We won the championship of our Soccer League tonight's final after penalty kick! The game was tie at 0:0 after a ten-minute "sudden-death" overtime period.

During the PK, both side scored their first three attemps, but our opponents missed the fourth wide to the right and we made it. During the last round their kicker's shot was denied by the right goalpost, so we won by 4:3.

弗格森曼联二十年

2006-11-06T00:24:00.001-05:00

Alex Ferguson was appointed manager of Manchester United 20 years ago today (November 6th, 1986).

Here is a special review (in Chinese) by 163.com.

I love the background music of this webpage, too. The name of the song is "You Raise Me Up".

Same show on two TV stations at the same time

2006-10-20T20:40:00.000-05:00

Tonight 9 PM, Charlie's Angels was shown on both TBS and TNT, and they were started at the same time. I was watching TNT and wanted to watching something else. However, when I switched to TBS, I found that nothing change except the logo of the station at the lower right corner. :)

The 3rd match: Draw at 1:1

2006-10-17T10:47:00.000-05:00

We were down by 0:1 in the first minute of the first half! Eventually we gained control of the game and headed in an equalizer about 10 minutes later.

Soccer season

2006-10-04T22:56:00.000-05:00

Won first game of this season on Sep. 30, 5:0.
Won the second tonight with a 1:0.

"I love GZ", said a blogger

2006-08-29T23:13:00.000-05:00

One of the best websites about the city of Guangzhou I've seen so far:

http://supranz.spaces.live.com

This blogger must be an enthusiastic person. The love of the city flows all over his/her blog.

抓贼记

2006-07-30T01:32:00.000-05:00

7/29/2006 晚，和Dragon list上的朋友在学校的Turf上踢球。大概8点一刻左右开始的，踢大场，大概每边可能有十二三人左右。除了两三个老外，其他都是中国人。

9:50 PM 左右，有队友（据说是DMq)发现在场边我们放衣服背包的地方坐了一名可疑的女人，
另外还有一男性黑人在附近。

之所以说他们可疑，是因为三周前，我们在同一地方被偷了东西。当日踢完球的时候，我发现书包所有拉链都被拉开，钥匙包里的现金全丢了（还好不多）。后来有几名队友也相继发现现金和信用卡失窃，后来还查到信用卡被盗用。尽管我不指望能抓住贼，当时我还是去报了案——那次大概是我第一次进美国的警察局。其实我也没有目击到是什么人偷了我的钱。不过线索还是有的。当天有一名队友因为来得稍晚，正好看到有个女的（据他描述大概是Hispanic）在翻包，不过他以为她是在翻自己的包，所以没有特别留意。而跟她一起的那个男的黑人开始还装模作样说要加入我们踢球的，但后来又在场边溜达，很可能是给那个女的把风的。在这一男一女离开没多久，我们另一名队友因为受伤就一直呆在场边了直到我们踢完球。据他描述从他下场休息后以后就没有陌生人在我们的包附近了。因此那一男一女的嫌疑是相当大的。

言归正传。因为有了上次教训，所以这次我没带什么现金，而且把书包也放到球门边上。但是还有不少队友为了方便就随便把包搁在了场边的长凳上，毕竟过去大家都这么放的。所幸的是，上次的事件还是给我们敲响了警钟，大家的警惕性都有所提高。这不，我们发现了陌生人出现在包旁后，就有人去问她，“你在等人吗？”她说不是。我们一边踢球，一边在暗中留意这女人的举动。有人看到她去动包了，附近的几个人赶紧过去检查自己的财物。果然有人发现现金丢失了！这女人一看大事不好，便赶紧和那个男的一起企图开溜了。我们哪能让他们轻易跑掉！附近的人大吼一声，众人便直奔那两人而去，把他们团团围住。这对男女当然不肯轻易束手就擒，大声叫嚷着便要走，但我们一边紧跟着一边叫人报警。这男人一看形势不妙，便揪住女人手臂对我们说，“好，我带她去警察局”，同时试图趁乱推开我们。骗谁呀——傻子也知道他俩一伙的，谁放他们走啊？！女人仗着自己是女的，伸手又抓又推围着她的人。虽然她没练过九阴白骨爪，但一哥们的手臂还是不幸被她指甲刮出几道血痕！

我看到旁边有个报警电话，赶紧跑了过去拿起话筒，却发现等了半天啥声音都没有，说的话也不知道有没有人听见。无奈赶紧跑回球门边拿了书包，掏出手机报警。刚报告完地点在说着呢，便看到一警察骑着摩托到了，随后又来了两辆警车，局面开始得到控制。

警察是接到旁边健身房的一个工作人员的报案而来的。那人听到门外大吵大闹的，以为打群架，就报警了。警察可能就有先入为主的想法，以为我们人多欺负人少，所以一上来就先分开我们，单独问那女的话。女人自然摆出可怜相，说我们无缘无故又推又打她。警察便过来说无论如何我们不该动手。我们当然说没有碰她了。在这边动了手肯定理亏，搞不好还会被人反咬一口。哼，要是在以前某些地方，小偷被当场逮着的还不先被揍个半死……（虽然大家都知道那样是不对D～，但只要人没被打死估计警察多半也不去细查。）慢慢地就有警察分别问我们和那男的。遗憾的是，在我们都把注意力集中在回答警察问题的时候，一不留神，警察竟然把和那女人一伙的男人放走了。这警察真是……太@#$%&^%#了!

要是赃款给转移到那男的身上，我们就没什么好办法对付这女的了。不过还好这俩人显然也是笨贼。女的自称身上只有二十多块钱，却被女警搜出了一百多，而数目和我们这次的失主所报的正好吻合，同时在那女的身上也搜出了他提到的一张百元钞票。警察显然注意到了这个事实，于是把她拷了起来抓走了。可惜让那男人跑掉，而失主还丢的一张ATM卡不知道有没有落在他手里。（另外有人说看到他们在混乱中朝旁边某树丛中扔了东西……）我不失时机地在录口供的时候提出来三周前报过案，当时描述的疑犯特征和这次两个人基本吻合……正好上次报案留下的号码还记在身上，拿给了做笔录的警察。

后来警察要几个人去警局做笔录。我是本校学生，又是上次事件的失主，便跟着去了。我们一个四个人，到那之后进了一个地下室各自填了个笔录的表格。这是第二次进这个警局～～嗯，听起来有点像“二进宫”的样子@#$&$@，呵呵。大概处理了15分钟左右，警察让失主第二天再来一次，就让我们走了。（也没说怎么处理……）从开始发现可疑人物到从警局做笔录完毕，整个事件大概持续了一个小时。

欲知后事如何，且听下回分解……

FIFA World Cup 2006 Final

2006-07-10T00:06:00.000-05:00

France vs. Italy. 本届世界杯开赛之前，不曾猜到进入决赛的会是这两支队。

作为一个中立的球迷，我抱着无所谓的心态与同学一起到了一个大投影厅里面看了这场决赛。我们提前了大概20分钟左右到的，进去发现人不少，已经找不到一张空的凳子了，只好挤到前排坐在地上。还好距离、音响都不错，凑和着看。没多久大厅里面就挤满了人，连坐的地方都没了，还有不少在后面站着的，加起来总共有两百人左右。从入场式放国歌时候周围的动静看，这房间里法国和意大利的球迷人数差不多，但大多数人还是中立的。

开场没多久法国就拿了个点球。从慢镜上看这是个假摔，Materazzi 在那一刹已经收脚，最多是轻轻碰了Malouda，结果后者一个夸张的倒地，骗过了裁判。这届世界杯的一大特点就是假摔的人越来越不要脸——明明知道无数的观众可以通过电视转播看到真相，居然还是为了赢球不择手段。就说法国吧，随便想到的就有几个典型：法国对西班牙时Henry跟西班牙后卫撞了一下，根本没有碰到脸，但却双手舞脸作痛苦状，骗到了一个任意球——就是后来导致Vieira进球的那个；法国对葡萄牙那场，法国得到的点球，其实Henry摔得也很夸张——葡萄牙后卫固然是踢到他了，点球本身判得无话可说，但决不至于那样摔倒——看得让人觉得可笑。

Zidane罚的点球很漂亮。法国球迷很兴奋，但是却显得很孤立，因为中立的球迷大多选择了沉默，也许是在同情无奈的意大利吧。

落后的意大利总算稳住了阵脚，进攻稍微打出了些章法。大概10分钟后，Materazzi凭着一个有力的头球扳平了比分。乍一看此球非常精彩——Pirlo的角球开得恰到好处，Materazzi的攻门非常有力。然而慢动作重播显示，他跳起之后手臂也有个压人的动作，干扰了防他的Vieira。这样的进球总无法让人感到信服。至是前面法国假摔骗点球在先，现在吃了亏也怨不得人。

回到比赛。上半场意大利相对出色一点，几个角球开出来中路都抢到了点，要不是横梁帮了忙Toni已经帮意大利反超了。不过下半场峰回路转，意大利的中后场队员如果不是注意力不够集中，就是体能出现了问题，让法国围攻了许久。 Malouda又在禁区里摔了一次，这次更像是真的被绊倒的，不过裁判没有理会；意大利也曾利用定位球攻入一球，但被判越位在先。

周围的球迷表现也很好玩。中场休息之后我们坐的地方附近来了几个法国球迷，整个下半场就在那里不停的嚷嚷（也不知道喊些啥），还时不时重重地敲地板，彷佛有耗不完的精力。意大利迷则倒是比较安静，跟他们球队那没精打采的表现很相称。倒是一个非洲女生，据我同学说是喀麦隆人，偶尔领几个周围的姐儿们喊几嗓子“Italy! Italy!”，颇有巾帼不让须眉的声势。

加时赛中，眼看着意大利只有挨打的份，大家都觉得他们不知道能不能熬到罚点球了。忽然比赛中断，镜头给向跑步中的裁判，然后大家看到了重播的Zidane用头撞Materazzi的画面。我想在场的观众，都有种震惊的感觉。结果是全场表现相当出色的Zidane被红牌罚下。估计没有多少人能想到，他会在这场世界杯的决赛上面，以这样一种方式告别国家队，告别世界杯。

最后时刻，10应战的法国队其实还有不少攻势，然而他们的进攻是只开花不结果，意大利人终于等来了点球决战。ABC转播世界杯的时候，在屏幕上经常会及时地给出一些好玩的统计数字，这次也不例外。我们看到，意大利人从来没有在世界杯上的点球决战中赢过。不过这次他们很争气，五罚五中，而法国那边Trezeguet的球被横梁挡出。历史似乎给他开了个小玩笑：6年前在欧洲杯决赛中，他在加时赛射中了一个“金球”，让意大利人“突然死亡”——这回像是把债给“还”了。我们看到最后一个罚点球的是Grosso，开玩笑地说，“格罗斯又立功了……”。

人们都说现在各队都非常强调防守（进决赛的两队都是打4-5-1阵形的），导致了足球观赏性的下降。其实我觉得更影响观赏性的，是体育精神的丧失，体现在假摔、恶意犯规、拉扯球衣等方面。由于功利心态的蔓延，为了赢球不顾体育精神的行径越来越多，而规则和裁判对这些行为的约束又跟不上，公平竞争变成了一句空话，才使得本应精彩纷呈的比赛变得无聊。就好比前面假摔骗来的点球，即使罚得再漂亮，也让人感到恶心。（当然，法国球迷可能不这么想。）让人觉得很有讽刺意味的是，本届大赛每个队员球衣袖口的地方好像都有一个章，写着世界杯的goal是要"fair play"。

Niagara Falls 2

2006-06-29T11:17:00.000-05:00

Niagara Falls!

2006-06-28T14:19:00.000-05:00

On the "Visualizing Cultures" Controversyand Its Implications

2006-06-16T18:30:00.000-05:00

This was posted on 6/15...

From MIT CSSA Forum, or MIT Faculty Newsletters.

A visit to Newport @ Rhode Island (5/28)

2006-06-09T22:11:00.000-05:00

FIFA World Cup 2006!

2006-06-09T22:08:00.000-05:00

It starts today!
Offitial Site: http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/

Result of today:
GERMANY 4-2 COSTA RICA
POLAND 0-2 ECUADOR

Follow-up news of OCW on MIT "The Tech" newspaper

2006-05-07T16:23:00.000-05:00

See also: http://wenyang00.blogspot.com/2006/04/media-response-to-mit-visualizing.html

Media Response to the MIT Visualizing Culture Issue

2006-04-28T17:57:00.000-05:00

Gulab Jamun

2006-04-28T17:32:00.000-05:00

I tried a classic Indian dessert called Gulab Jamun today... Kind of too sweet for me, though.

A day in Cambridge, MA

2006-04-16T00:09:00.000-05:00

Memorial Drive (with view on downtown Boston), and Charles River.

Daylight saving started today

2006-04-02T12:29:00.000-05:00

It's the first Sunday of April again... European countries seemed to have the daylight-saving started already since last week.

A year from 2005-03-16: In memory of the rebirth of SMTH

2006-03-17T23:08:00.000-05:00

In 3/16/2006, as the result of one of the most stupid and disgusting decisions made by the adminstration of "you know who" department, the original SMTH BBS was forced to reject any connection from outside Tsinghua. (See my archived posts or wikipedia for more details.) Tens of thousands of users, who suffered this sudden loss, would not easily give up their precious online paradise, which, first opened in 1995, was one of the earliest BBS (online forum) in China. They tried all sorts of ways, hoped that the decision could be reversed. But all those efforts were in vain. At last, when all hopes seemed to be faded, they had to use the last resort: to set up a new server, and make it independent of the university. This is how NewSMTH.net comes into being, recognized as the rebirth of SMTH. One of the original domain names of SMTH, smth.org, have been redirected to the new site after it is set up.

From then on, I have not been to bbs.tsinghua.edu.cn, although I have been told a few months later that they re-open the site with some restrictions (such as requiring registration with real names). I know it is no longer the same site I have been constantly visiting since the end of 1996. It is no longer the wonderland that we can freely discuss technologies and share jokes.

Fortunately, we have the newsmth. It might not be perfect, but it is some place we love. May a bright future be with you!

Front page of www.NewSMTH.net on March 16, 2006

Good news and an interesting article

2006-03-16T22:00:00.000-05:00

Congratulations on vv's passing the qualify exam!

And here is an interesting article:
《出租司机给我上的MBA课》by 刘润。

BTW, is there something like "trackback" here at blogger?

找对联有感

2006-03-02T17:47:00.000-05:00

苟有恒，何必三更眠五更起
最无益，莫过一日曝十日寒

很早以前听过这么一幅对联，今天用到但是个别字眼不是很确定，于是临时上网搜索了一下。相关的结果不少，但其中有个别字眼上却有出入。例如，有的版本用的是“贵有恒”而不是“苟有恒”，有的版本说“三更起五更眠”而不是“三更眠五更起”，还有的用“只怕”取代“莫过”。平仄押韵啥的我不太懂，只能根据语义上判断。从意思上看，“贵”跟“苟”在这里的区别不是很大，感觉都有可能；“只怕”和“莫过”也差不多；“三更眠五更起”似乎就不太合理了。于是我选了上面的那个版本。

当我想查它的出处的时候，又发现了一些矛盾的地方。有人认为它是毛泽东的作品，但根据焦凤鸣发表在《新闻战线》（2004年第1期）的一篇名为《“治学联”不可张冠李戴》的文章，此联是明朝学者胡居仁（1434——1484）所作，而非毛泽东原创——虽然后者当年在湖南第一师范求学时，曾把这副对联抄录于床头，作为座右铭。

我无法也没有时间去考证到底哪个说法才是对的。对我来说不确定的东西只能尽量不去用它。也许应该有什么人、某个企业或者政府部门给个比较可靠的出处来供大家参考。互联网上类似的问题是屡见不鲜的。传统媒体如报纸、新闻本来应该做得好一点，但现在也没有把好关，经常错别字连篇，很多时候还成了以讹传讹的帮凶。也许编辑们关心的都是别的问题，比如“和谐”。

Hacking Google.cn (fwd)

2006-01-30T22:13:00.000-05:00

Chinese web users can see full, uncensored results for their Google search by replacing "&meta=" with "&meta=cr%3DcountryBR" in the URL. Once the string is
replaced, the censorship will not affect the results.

However, if you test it, you would find that although the hack does provide some extra results, the result is not the same as you would get in google.com. Try it yourself...

With hack
Without hack
Compare with result in Google.com

Enable "Show word verification for comments"

2006-01-16T00:39:00.000-05:00

From Reuters to Rumours

2005-11-22T00:16:00.000-05:00

在水木曼联版看到一篇转自某“一般著名”的中文网站（当然，那个“最著名”的自然是做得更过分，后面有图）的关于曼联与希斯菲尔德的新闻，感到似曾相识但又有点不对劲。想起昨天正好在Google News上找到过的一个网页，于是重新上去查了一下，发现是Reuters UK网上的一条名为Ex-Bayern coach Hitzfeld says Man Utd asked after him的消息。

News at Reuters UK

再看看曼联版那条转载的新闻，呵呵，好家伙，故意少翻译几个字，整句话语气就完全不同了。原本人家Hitzfeld说话还是很圆滑很有余地的（人家也是老江湖了，即使真有其事，合同还没签怎么会这么爆猛料啊），结果翻译过来就变得跟板上钉钉一样。想来这些小编们，为了制造新闻（也许最终目的只是为了完成任务）——已经超越了捕风捉影的阶段——开始直接按照自己的意愿，断章取义，肆无忌惮地对外电进行改造了。

不过这种现象多半也是由来已久。早在NBA本赛季开赛之前，篮球版上就曾看到一篇（可能是转载）的帖子，里面几乎是逐段逐句地分析了一个案例，以此来揭露某些门户网站肆意剪裁外电，为吸引眼球而炮制偏激轰动消息的无耻行径。

在该网站上搜索“拜仁功勋教练”的结果。另外，可以看出这个称谓在今年6月份也曾用过。

点击第一个搜索结果，这篇被转载的文章就出来了

更有意思的是，事情到这里还没结束。其实这一系列的消息也是经过若干次相互转载和“改进”的，原来消息又派生出新的版本——而且同样是显得言之凿凿：

另外一个版本

更早更夸张的版本

当完TA了

2005-11-08T00:20:00.000-05:00

当了一门半学期的课的TA。现在那门课考试结束了，改完卷子，算是轻松一些。

第一次当TA，经验教训还是不少的。卷子出得还算好，拉开了一定的差距。前面平时作业打分太松，想当好人却造成了平时成绩没有区分度，而且也给一些同学以一种过于乐观的错觉，以为自己平时分高就能保险拿A……最后老板定分数线的时候，由于大家总评分都很接近，颇为棘手。我虽然为他们争取到把分数线下调，多了几个人拿A（尽管是A-），但是还是有人不幸以微弱的差距掉入B+档。有个学生来找我，看看有没有上调的余地。但是评分标准摆在那里，我已经是按照最少的要求去扣分了，如果给他加分，对其他人就不公平了。我也替他感到很遗憾，要是他多对一道判断题——那道题的正确答案其实就在讲义里——那他就可以从B+升为A-了。

不过话说回来，期末答疑都几乎没有人来，考不好是不是只能怪他们自己太大意了呢？不管怎样，我觉得下次我有义务在改作业的时候下手重一点，好提醒提醒那些人认真对待这门课……

赠不如归去（《孟子》一则）

2005-10-05T18:25:00.000-05:00

然拂於能忍空先举夷於孟
　後士色改性乏苦於吾版子
　知、，。，其其市举筑曰
　生出发困曾身心。於之 ‥
　於则於於益，志故士间﹃
　忧无声心其行，天，，舜
　患敌，，所拂劳将孙胶发
　，国而衡不乱其降叔鬲於
　而外後於能其筋大敖举畎
　死患喻虑。所骨任举於亩
　於者。，人为，於於鱼之
　安，入而恒；饿是海盐中
　乐国则後过所其人，之，
　也恒无作，以体也百中傅
　。亡法。然动肤，里，说
　﹄。家徵後心，必奚管举

王垠要退学……

2005-09-23T00:29:00.000-05:00

在水木社区看到有人说王垠要走了，于是到他的个人空间看了看，果然发现了这么一篇文章：《清华梦的粉碎—写给清华大学的退学申请》。

王垠曾经是水木上为GNU/Linux及若干自由软件摇旗呐喊的风云人物。他在清华的主页上有许多关于Emacs、TeX等软件的使用技巧。这些资料给新手们提供了许多帮助，得到了广泛的引用，因此在水木的TeX等几个版面的置底里面都能找到他主页的链接。如果你用Google搜索“Emacs 技巧”，你会发现第一个出来的链接就是他主页上的文章……。

个人感觉他退学的决定是正确的，要真正地去做学术，出国似乎是必由之路。从清华退学这个决定不是每一个博士生都能有勇气作出的。希望他的抗争有个如意的结果吧。

Google Talk launched

2005-08-23T22:46:00.000-05:00

What benefit will Google Talk bring to us? How does it compare with Skype, MSN, and QQ?

Sometimes When We Touch

2005-07-21T21:12:00.000-05:00

无意中又一次想起这首歌的时候，我甚至还不知道它的名字。

第一次听这首歌大概是在大一的时候。它在一盘可能是从一个同学那里借来的磁带中。一听我就被那优美的旋律深深地打动了。而歌词虽然不完全听得懂，却也感到琅琅上口。只可惜，磁带是别人自行翻录的若干外文歌曲的精选，没有任何介绍或者歌名信息，而那时候国内的互联网才刚刚起步，无法想现在那样方便地搜索，因而一直没有查到歌的名字。

过了可能一两年，有一次和几个同学一起去“河南”溜冰，再次听到了这首歌。还是那么的好听。我说我以前听过，但是当别人问我歌名的时候，我还是答不上来。

此后就似乎把这首歌给忘了，哪怕是后来因为能够很方便地下载到各种各样的网络资源而曾经有意识地收集了好多歌曲的时候，也没有想起它来。

然而就在昨天，当我在BBS上看到“Sometimes when ...”这样一句话的时候，我突然想起了这首歌。是的，这首歌也有这样的话。稍微google了一下，就知道了原来它叫《Sometimes When We Touch》，是Dan Hill1978年的作品。

隔了那么多年再听，感觉旋律依然是那么优美。好的作品真的是能经得起时间的考验的。据说Dan Hill每隔10年才能写出一首能在流行音乐榜上名列前茅的作品。我没有考证过他1988年和1998年的那两首是否同样经典，不过看到这样的介绍使我想起那句“十年磨一剑”。在我看来，每十年写一首传世经典，比每年写十首平庸之作要好得多。

歌词也蛮有意思的，不过已经不适合现在我的心境了。

SOMETIMES WHEN WE TOUCH

You ask me if I love you,
and I choke on my reply.
I'd rather hurt you honestly
than mislead you with a lie
And who am I to judge you
on what you say or do?
I'm only just beginning
to see the real you.

And sometimes when we touch
the honesty's too much
And I have to close my eyes and hide
I wanna hold you till I die
till we both break down and cry
I wanna hold you till the fear in me subsides

Romance and all its strategy
leaves me battling with my pride
But through the insecurity
some tenderness survives
I'm just another writer
still trapped within my truths
A hesitant prizefighter
still trapped within my youth

And sometimes when we touch
the honesty's too much
And I have to close my eyes and hide
I wanna hold you till I die
till we both break down and cry
I wanna hold you till the fear in me subsides

At times I'd like to break you
and drive you to your knees
At times I'd like to break through
and hold you endlessly
At times I understand you
and I know how hard you've tried
I've watched while love commands you
and I've watched love pass you by
At times I think we're drifters
still searching for a friend
A brother or a sister
But then the passion flares again

And sometimes when we touch
the honesty's too much
And I have to close my eyes and hide
I wanna hold you till I die
till we both break down and cry
I wanna hold you till the fear in me subsides.....

注：在网上还找到carolzou的一篇帖子，里面有翻译成中文的歌词，有兴趣的话可以看看。

Google Moon

2005-07-20T21:28:00.000-05:00

In honor of the first manned Moon landing, which took place on July 20, 1969, we’ve added some NASA imagery to the Google Maps interface to help you pay your own visit to our celestial neighbor. Happy lunar surfing.

More photos

2005-07-10T23:00:00.000-05:00

I love this one most:

Grand Central Terminal

There are more...

The City

World Trade Center

Federal Hall National Memorial

"Long Island"

Entrance of Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dancing at the exit of Metropolitan Meseum of Art

The city, 2

Columbia University

West 44th Street. The Majestic Theater

Photos of NYC uploaded

2005-07-10T16:45:00.001-05:00

Added to the original post.
Enjoy~~

曼哈顿一日游记 (6/30/2005)

2005-07-10T14:59:00.000-05:00

（头一晚，和lp双双入住位于Elmhurst的号称有两星半的Pan American Hotel）

天公虽然不作美，但总算没有作恶：前一天的雨从傍晚下到晚上，到这天早上已经停了。

早上8点半左右，从Queens这边的Grand Ave Newtown Station坐地铁去Manhattan。路上买了两份早点，共$1.50，然后到地铁买了$7的那种one day pass，就是不限次数的通票。

因为晚上想去百老汇看音乐剧，所以我们的第一个任务就是抓紧时间去买门票。为了买到打折票，我们按照网上搜索到的介绍，跑到7th Ave.和53rd St. 交界处的Official Visitor Information Center，拿了两张音乐剧打折票的coupon，顺带拿了几张免费的地图，主要是交通图。顺便提一句，那些地图很有用，特别是那种折叠之后像打火机那么小可以放在上衣口袋的地铁图，给我们后来的出行帮了大忙。
我们想看的歌剧是Andrew Lloyd Webber的名作The Phantom of the Opera, 在位于245 West 44th St.的Majestic Theater上演。于是从Visitor Center出来，我们步行前往剧院买票，顺便感受一下在高楼林立的市区，还看了看Time Square。在剧院票房，看到最低票价是20,一般2楼的后排票价是50~55,一楼前排的票都超过100了。我抱着试一试的心疼先问有没有最低的票，果不其然，售磬。于是掏出coupon，以$35每张的价格买了两张。

首战告捷，我们立即挥师南下，乘地铁1号线到了曼哈顿岛的最南端，South Ferry。在码头附近，看了看远处自由女神像，天气不是很好，随便拍了几张照片。我们看见已经有许多人登上了去自由女神那个岛的船，于是我们也去船边看一看，发现不但要排长队买票，而且上船之前还要排长队安检。我们当机立断，放弃了上岛的念头，并北上去看World Trade Center的遗址（又坐了一次地铁）。与我上次看到的相比，世贸中心的遗址发生的变化似乎不大，毕竟施工主要还是在地下的基础部分。（想起头一天晚上看电视的时候，碰巧看到新闻讲新世贸的重建方案又改了……）我们拍了会照片，时近中午，肚子有点饿了。看了看地图，我们决定先去附近的华尔街走走，然后去华尔街北边的Chinatown吃午饭。

The Cross @ World Trade Center

Statue of Liberty

Ferry

虽然Wall Street离这里看上去只有几条街的路程，但我们还是懒得走——买了地铁通票自然是要尽可能地充分利用啦！坐到华尔街，先看到的是一个教堂，即Trinity church，旁边好像还有一个小院子，有一块牌子上我似乎看到了哥大旧址那样的话。路上人很多，我们也没有仔细去看，跟着人群就走到了NY Stock Exchange——纽约证交所。留影之后，杀了个回马枪，在Trinity Church那里迅速地转了一圈，然后坐地铁去Canal St.的中国城。1点来钟，饥肠辘辘，最后在“华埠”的牌子旁边的一家中餐馆吃了一顿简单的午饭。虽然饭菜质量平平，但总算是吃饱喝足。

Trinity Church & the Wall Street

New York Stock Exchange

休息完毕，人也精神了。两点多了。看了看地图，我们决定先去帝国大厦(Empire State Building)看看，然后坐地铁过河，从曼哈顿的东边看看联合国大厦。在WTC倒掉之后，帝国大厦据说又重新成为曼哈顿最高的大楼了。我们在那里绕了一圈，看到等电梯的队要排大约一个小时，决定不上去了。于是我们回到了时代广场，在那里换乘7号线去了East River的河对面。在江边，我们看到了曼哈顿岛东边的全貌，当然，也没有忘记拍了些照片，可惜是阴天，一片灰蒙蒙的。

East Manhattan

Empire State Building & the United Nations

我们的下一串目标是The Metropolitan Museum of Art（大都会博物馆）——Central Park（中央公园）——Columbia University（哥大）。中途因为要在Grand Central Terminal换车，我就带lp上去转了转。等我们去到博物馆的时候，已经是下午4点多了。据说这里要转一整天也未必能看完，但我们只有不到1小时，只能看看lp感兴趣的古埃及馆。不过来得晚也有好处，那就是不用买门票！其实我们原先也不知道要不要门票，看到一个牌子上好像写着要钱，但我们问了问一个管理人员，他说，这个点呀，不用了……于是我们就糊里糊涂地混进去了，呵呵。

看到5:15左右，博物馆关门了。刚出门口，发现有两个黑人小伙在跳街舞表演，周围一大堆围观的人。我们也凑热闹看了会儿。

博物馆旁边就是中央公园的一个入口。在地图上看，这个公园很大，我们没打算逛遍它，只是横穿过中央公园。公园的绿化很好，在中间有个很大的椭圆草坪，许多人在那里休闲活动，感觉很惬意。

Kids at the Central Park

Central Park

我们穿过公园之后，坐了地铁往北走去哥大。下车走了一半，才发现由于我们坐的是哥大东边的一条线，要走到哥大，得穿过一个幽静的小公园，不幸的是，中间还要爬一个蛮陡的小山丘……。懒得往回走或者绕圈了，“马死落地行”，我们硬着头皮“爬山”咯。我走得一身汗，可怜的lp也快走不动了，周围还偶尔看到一两个不知道有没有恶意的彪形大汉-_-!! 好不容易终于爬了上山，看到哥大的校门就在一个block之外，松了一口气……

哥伦比亚大学也是一所名校，看上去不大，不过在曼哈顿这种地方能有这么一块地盘也算不容易了。

穿过哥大之后大概是6点多了，我们得找地方解决晚饭了。走了几条街，没发现什么好地方。原先哥大同学和我去过的一个中餐馆也拆了，最后将就着去了KFC。

音乐剧要8点开始，而大概7点半左右，我们就回到了44th Street，很惊诧地发现每个剧院门前都已经排了很长的队，大呼失算：一方面是我们没想到人会这么多；另一方面是我们曾听说音乐剧的票是不对号入座的，很想早点进去占个好地方——看来是不行的了。排了队，等了好一会儿才进了剧院。上了二楼，人家告诉我们去G排，我们就随便在中间找了个座。过来一会儿，有工作人员过来要看看我们的票，并且告诉我们我们的位置在边上……这时我们才发现票上面印了座位，真是土了-_-!

Inside the theater

The Phantom of the Opera不愧是名作，很好看。现场看的效果也很好，就是空调有点猛……看来那些人穿正装来也是有好处的。

出了剧院已经是10:45左右了，因担心走夜路不太安全，就匆匆忙忙往回赶了。我们下了地铁站，在地下走了很远才走到我们要乘的那条线的站，路上居然还看到有人摆摊卖DVD，不由得一笑：原来你们老美也有人卖D版的嘛。要不是走得太匆忙，还真想偷偷排一张留念呢。

从时代广场回我们宾馆的那站，中间要停十几个站。车上看到一对亚裔年轻人，大包小包的，貌似也是来旅游的夫妇。我们出站之后，发现他俩也出来了。在过马路的时候一问，居然和我们住同一间宾馆，呵呵，真是巧呀！

11点半左右回到住处，算了算，玩了一整天，几乎走遍了所有想去的目标，两人加起来只花了$103.06，还看了音乐剧，真是happy呀！那张地铁通票也是非常的值，因为我们至少坐了11次地铁，不买通票的话每个人需要$20，呵呵。

Boston Harbor (6/18/2005)

2005-06-20T21:57:00.000-05:00

Happiest day of the year...because of you...

Boston Harbor

Holocaust Memorial Park Re-visit (6/18/2005)

2005-06-20T21:54:00.001-05:00

Holocaust Memorial

Holocaust Memorial Park

The words in the picture:

BETWEEN 1933 AND 1945, THE NAZIS CREATED A REGIME OF HATE and victimization in Germany that eventually comsumed most of Europe.
Driven by racist beliefs, they killed as many as eleven million men, women and children in their quest to dominate Europe and to create a "pure and superior" race. The Nazis singled out the Jews for total extermination - their very existence to be erased from history and memory. Before their defeat in 1945, the Nazi regime murdered six million Jews - more than half of Europe's Jewish population.

THOSE WHO HAVE PERISHED HAVE BEEN SILENCED FOREVER. Those who witnessed and survived the horrors carry with them the burden of memory.
Through there voices, we seek to comprehend the acts of inhumanity that can stem from the seeds of prejudice.

TO REMEMBER THEIR SUFFERING IS TO RECOGNIZE the danger and evil that are possible whenever one group persecutes another. As you walk this Freedom Trail pause here to reflect on the consequences of a world in which there is no freedom - a world in which basic human rights are not protected. And know that wherever prejudice, discrimination and victimization are tolerated, evil like the Holocaust can happen again.

Statement of Pastor Martin Niemoeller @ Holocaust Memorial

A new look of my kitchen

2005-06-17T00:51:00.000-05:00

On 8/15/2004, the first day I moved in, it was a "full house" ...

Now, after my roommate move out, kitchen revolution! (VV also help me a lot in cleaning it up, thanks!! Photo taken on 6/12/2005)

6/10, pass the exam

2005-06-16T23:36:00.000-05:00

Oral presentation + course work question, 3 hours -_-!!
An interesting question was asked...
The last question is a "joke" question, which P said it would not be something relevant in advance. The question is -- I could hardly believe what I heard at first -- if an ice-cube is floating on a cup of full water, when the ice melts, would the water overflow? I said it would not, theoretically. Then he asked me to show why... I drawn a picture, and said something about density, volumn, ... sadly I do not have the exact phrase for wording. Then he asked about the assumptions I was making. He asked why with global warming, people would worry about the rise of sea level. I said the iceberg does not necessarily float on the sea. Bingo, he then said in his original question, it could also be possible that the ice is seated at the floor of the cup, depending on the relative size and shape of the ice-cube and the cup. J jumped in and said that was a problem of the definition of "floating". ^_^

Then P asked me how to prove it, if all of us do not know whether the water will overflow. My mind is running more slowly now... I said, maybe by experiments. He asked, how to do that. I said, consider situations, make other factors as irrelevant to the problem as possible, and do the experiment. I felt lucky that I saw him nod his head when I mentioned that was only an "observation", and we might want to repeat it for many times. Then his said that the reality would be more complicated, for example, we might expect problems of measuring the level of water, "how full" it is, etc., and other factors (such as surface force?) occur when we choose different sizes and shapes of the cup or ice-cube...

5/28: Trip to George's Island

2005-05-29T00:11:00.000-05:00

A trip to Boston George's Island on 5/28, with a lot of friends.

George's Island

Boston harbor, view from harbor express (ferry)

On the island, we saw ...

Flowers

Trees

Seagulls

Windmill

Of course, a lot of fun ...

BBQ

Games

转发信件到Gmail

2005-05-22T22:40:00.000-05:00

经验证，这种方法可以把收到的信和自己的回复放在一起，按上下文关联组织起来。最棒的是redistmail用的是Resent-To的信头，从而确保原来的信头不会被更改，这样Gmail打开信件的时候看到的发信日期、发信人等信息还是原来的样子。
我已经转发了超过3000封信了。转发之前自定义了一些filter和label，这样检索的时候更方便。
还有几个问题没有解决：

有的附件似乎无法发出去。说什么“Illegal Attachment"而被打回来。多见于rar、zip等格式，而那些pdf、doc之类的就不会……原因未明。难道是Gmail怀疑那些附件有毒？
发件箱的一部分信件原先放在了OE上，可能需要先通过IMAP转移到AFS上，然后再用pine转到mh folder里。
原先信件的Flag（比如*/A）转出去之后就没了。不知道是否可以通过filter和label来补偿。

“两办信访室”就SMTH问题给我的回信

2005-05-17T22:44:00.000-05:00

我在3月27日发到xldxx @ tsinghua.edu.cn的标题为“给校领导的一封信”的email终于收到了回复，不过也没啥意思：

XX校友：
您好！

为了便于清华校友从校外访问BBS水木清华站，从5月3日起，BBS水木清华站启用邮箱认证功能。您可以通过校友会提供的邮箱（即tsinghua.org.cn）进行认证ID。
感谢您对学校工作的关心和支持，祝您工作顺利！

两办信访室
2005.5.12

两大弊端：(1)实名制；(2)即使用校友信箱认证了，也一样不能发文。
“伪站”真没劲。

flip a coin

2005-05-13T20:51:00.000-05:00

昨天晚上9点House master约我聊天，谈谈宿舍那件事的经过和背景，以及万一我要搬的话，我有什么要求。随便谈了谈，然后就开始聊各种各样的其他问题，比方说他86年在北京和济南的经历，99年去西安以及后来重游济南的惊诧。我也问明白了House Master和House Manager的区别：前者侧重于对学生生活的指导以及在学生和管理层之间进行沟通，是属于“副业”——他本人是HST的教授；后者主要管房子及其附属设备的维护，是专职的。
他强调了roommate和我两人必须有一个要搬走，而且会是抛硬币抽签决定。他口头许诺会在合理的条件下满足要搬走的人对新宿舍的要求。有他这句话，我已经很安心了。对我而言，无非是要搬而已。除了麻烦一点，没什么损失。再说，其实要是我roommate主动搬走的话，没准我还把他的房间占了，那不还是要改地址吗，哈哈。心里踏实了。
想起和House Master谈之前，roommate还问我决定了搬哪里没有。我耸耸肩说不知道呢。他竟然半威胁地说，如果你答应不抽签，那自然可以要什么房子有什么房子；否则的话，就按seniority point那套来走——潜台词是，你多半抽不到什么好的！我才懒得理他，心里明白着呢：按照Lottery管理条例，抽不到想要的就留在原来的地方，怕啥？退一万步，即使住到全楼最烂的一个位置，也比THU的宿舍强百倍……
当然，有了House Master的口头承诺，我心里更是全无压力。
近10点的时候，House Master把我roommate要叫了过来。他先问我选Head还是Tail。我告诉他让我roommate先挑吧。
一刹那，忽然想起若干年前，由于分宿舍的人工作失误，导致我们整个寝室，为了宿舍搬家的事和斜对面的宿舍有过一点磨擦——最后也是抽签了事。我那时是寝室长，上去抽签；我也是让对方先挑。不过那次手气不好，连累了一屋兄弟，被迫挪窝，住到了一个满是小强的房间，直到毕业……
我roommate挑了Head。
House master抛了硬币，动作很快，我一分神——当时正在想，要是我赢了，是不是该发扬风格自己主动搬走——竟没看清，就发现他已经用右手把硬币拍到左手背上。
摊开，Tail朝上。
我有点犹豫。House master问我，你决定……？
"Yes, I stay", I said.

House master开始问我roommate的要求。他看似冷静地blahblah了一通。然后House master送走了我俩。他刚一关门，我还在想该怎么应付这个场面，roommate一扭头就跑楼梯间去了。
后来想想，要不是他这么对我，从一开始就那么不友好，我们本来可以好好相处。如果那样，有什么事不能好好商量呢。别说他找种种荒谬的借口来赶我，他只要表个态，我搬就是，一家便宜两家着，大家都划算。sigh，本来挺美好的一件事～～

新水木开始公开测试了

2005-05-12T12:02:00.000-05:00

昨天开始的吧？guest可以web方式登录了。
希望它的icp早点批下来，那就可以正式开放了。

Some more photos of the Inaugural Ceremony

2005-05-07T00:01:00.004-05:00

Susan Hockfield, in Inaugural Ceremony @ MIT

MIT's new president

Steven Lerman

Charles Vest and Susan Hockfield

Inaugural Ceremony @ MIT

2005-05-06T23:21:00.000-05:00

MIT inaugurated Susan Hockfield as its 16th president on Friday, May 6. The community is invited to attend an array of celebratory events scheduled throughout the week of May 2.

Susan Hockfield, the 16th president of MIT

Charles M. Vest is the 15th president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
16th President of MIT

Susan Hockfield was elected MIT's 16th president on August 26, 2004, and assumed office on December 6, 2004. Her inauguration will be held May 6, 2005. A noted neuroscientist, Dr. Hockfield served as Provost of Yale University prior to joining the MIT community. Dr. Hockfield's biography is available on an accompanying page.
Founded in 1861, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a coeducational, privately endowed research university. The Institute is dedicated to advancing knowledge and educating students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.
MIT has more than 900 faculty and 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Thirty-three degree granting departments, programs, and divisions are organized into five schools. The organization charts of MIT, including the reporting relationships of the President, may be viewed online.

New and/or interesting resource from Google WebBlog

2005-05-03T00:15:00.000-05:00

Google Maps now provides satellite photos. (Maybe toooooold?) It's impressive, though.
Google Sightseeing
Google PrintBooks, sometimes with previews...
Google Video has "12 new TV channels including Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Travel Channel, Discovery Health Channel, CNN, and others". Cool! And now you can even sign up the Google Video Upload Program and upload your video for potential inclusion in the future...
Google Code, Google's place for Open Source software.
Google Blog, some insight...

清华一本科生遇车祸不幸身亡

2005-05-01T18:44:00.000-05:00

新水木上说清华东北门外出了车祸，一个ID叫sabian的清华本科生不幸身亡。sigh！新闻是转载自学生清华网站的，不过校外可能连不上。这个东北门我不知道在哪里，据说是在紫荆公寓那边新开的。
以下内容转自学生清华：
---------------------------
今天中午11时许，在我校东北门外以北，一辆拉土的自卸货车由南往北行驶途中向右侧翻于
道路东侧，将我校一名本科生双下肢压于车下，经抢救无效死亡。
事发后，该生所在系的书记、主任，校保卫处负责同志及时赶到海淀交通支队处理
有关事宜，并安慰学生家长。
目前，受伤的肇事司机已被公安机关监管。海淀交通支队领导表示，将公正、公开
、依法处理这起交通事故。

校保卫处

2005年5月1日
---------------------------
新水木上的文章：

发信人: tangotango (孤独探戈), 信区: NewExpress
标题: 祭奠逝去的生命 sabian ...
发信站: 水木社区 (Mon May 2 01:09:28 2005), 站内

sabian (在玩cod) 共上站 205 次，发表过 737 篇文章
上次在 [Sun Apr 3 20:41:33 2005] 从 [166.111.30.161] 到本站一游。
离线时间[Sun Apr 3 22:17:24 2005] 信箱：[信] 生命力：[93] 身份: [用户]
没有个人说明档

sabian dd的照片连接：

http://bbs.htys.net/bbscon.php?bid=84&id=15111&ap=310

同学们的悼文。。

_____

发信人: Clovers (寂寞的小狐狸^就让我随你去), 信区: BioExpress
标题: sabian一路好走
发信站: BBS 荷塘月色站 (Sun May 1 23:22:13 2005)

和他说过几句话的样子几乎不认识却又几乎天天见到

平常在实验室天天摆弄的细胞也来自早已逝去的生命
福尔马林里的东西也习以为常
以为自己对生命的无常司空见惯甚至骨折时的剧痛都没有止住我的说笑

可今天又一次面对身边人的离去我又动容了无法接受生命的这般离去
但更多的话我也说不出来

真的很难过为这个几乎不认识的孩子

_____

发信人: WCwangcai (我是旺财啦), 信区: Bio31
标题: Re: sabian一路好走，我们永远爱你。。。
发信站: BBS 荷塘月色站 (Sun May 1 21:46:58 2005), 转信

永远不能忘记，那个高大强壮的身影，那双大而有力的双手。
永远不能忘记，那张每次都用最朴实的微笑来和我打招呼的真诚的脸。
永远不能忘记，那个不惜爬上7层来我们寝探讨电脑游戏的单纯的男孩。
永远不能忘记，……
_____

发信人: fishworm (当米兰遇到里昂), 信区: Bio31
标题: Re: 遥寄我的哀思
发信站: BBS 荷塘月色站 (Sun May 1 21:37:50 2005), 转信

中午的时候他还来跟我们一块用拖鞋踢毽子
说晚上回家
下午我和xiaoxiaotutu出去了
接到电话赶回来，然后突然地知道了消息
脑子一片空白

_____

发信人: dykily (ATTACKYOURHEART), 信区: Bio31
标题: 遥寄我的哀思
发信站: BBS 荷塘月色站 (Sun May 1 21:35:07 2005), 转信

听到这个消息,我一直都不敢相信是真的,昨天下午还和我笑嘻嘻打招呼的你
就这么走了~~~
以前只在纸上读过惊愕和痛惜,今晚攫取了我的心,
sabian,虽然和你不是一个班,也不是一个年级,但是咱们曾在篮球队并肩作战,你一直都是那
么的勇敢和犀利,是我们最信赖的伙伴...
一个阳光幽默的好男孩,真的就这么走了吗?我不禁感叹人生的无常和生命的渺小,但愿真的
有来世,真的有天堂让你安息~
sabian,篮球队的弟兄们永远记得你!!!!!
生当做人杰,
死亦为鬼雄!

_____

发信人: fishworm (当米兰遇到里昂), 信区: Bio31
标题: Re: sabian一路好走，我们永远爱你。。。
发信站: BBS 荷塘月色站 (Sun May 1 21:30:31 2005)

希望你可以安详地睡去
也许那一刻的痛苦我们无法感受
但是我真心地希望
你可以在天国安详地沉睡
就像某个阳光明媚的春天里一样
静静地，静静地，脸上带着甜甜的微笑，
希望你在天国可以忘掉那死亡前痛苦的一刻
带着我们的共同回忆
带着我们的祝福
安静地沉睡

_____

发信人: Garden (找到自己的方向), 信区: Bio31
标题: Re: sabian一路好走，我们永远爱你。。。
发信站: BBS 荷塘月色站 (Sun May 1 21:30:21 2005), 转信

在这篇文章之前，我从来没有过一边流泪一边灌水，很难说出是什么感觉，只是难过难过难
过，很难想象昨天还能拍拍他的头，敲敲他的肚子，而到了今天，就再也没有机会和他有任
何的接触。从来不知道过身边的人突然离去给人的竟是这样的震撼。我们都觉得自己的生命
是那样美好灿烂，却总是忽略了它是那样得脆弱。尤其当我们心中还为那样的一个生命留着
它的位置的时候。什么叫做心的刺痛，可能只有这个时候才会体会得到，大哭一场也许没有
什么用，但是那种记忆在心里究竟要用什么样的方式去洗脱呢？只希望大家都快点好起来，
重新用一种更好的心态投入我们的生活，经历过了死亡，可能我们都会变得更成熟。心中总
有那么一个角落会让我们盛下所有的痛苦与悲伤，但永远都不可能盛满，因为总有更多的空
间要留给我们所向往的那一切幸福。因为我们还活着……
_____

发信人: fishworm (当米兰遇到里昂), 信区: Bio31
标题: Re: 痛苦的日子
发信站: BBS 荷塘月色站 (Sun May 1 21:11:13 2005)

我们需要更好地生活
更好地振作起来
我们要珍惜我们所拥有的一切
仔细地端详身边多彩的生活……
_____

发信人: solomonxf (樱木花道般的兰人), 信区: BioExpress
标题: Re: sabian一路好走，我们永远爱你。。。 (转载)
发信站: BBS 荷塘月色站 (Sun May 1 23:25:13 2005), 转信

说不出话了
跟荷塘上一起灌过水
你曾经邀我一起打篮球玩，我说我打的不好，你说没关系
印象中上次跟我聊校园歌手大赛转播的系里负责调音的那个id也是你？
可怜我自始至终都没弄清楚你是哪个，也许路上见过眼熟就是从没打过招呼
默哀。。。
一路好走~~~

______

寄出了

2005-04-30T00:39:00.000-05:00

用了USPS的Global Priority Mail，寄给Dr. Binglin GU, President Office...本来想用Fedex或者别的快递送去的（正式一点，以免被闲杂人等直接扔到垃圾箱），但是快递太贵了……最后选择了GPM，还好，$5，而且有个看上去稍微专业一点的硬皮信封装着，希望校长能收到吧。中午LP得知我没用快递，又出妙语调侃我了一把——原来热情是可以用钱来衡量的：大多数人最多签个名，$0；她寄签名给我，$0.37；我的热情稍高，不过也不值几十刀……:)

悟到了～～

2005-04-29T00:04:00.000-05:00

晚上和lp聊天，说起新旧水木的关系。我说新水木的存在，对伪水木是一个压力；反过来，伪水木也对新水木会有压力。两个互相竞争的BBS的存在，虽然使人气分散了，但是却可以使双方都励精图治，想方设法来提高服务水平，因此从长远来说，未必是坏事。
lp突然冒出一句话，水木的事，让我知道台湾是怎么来的了。
有点语出惊人……越想共同点越多……嗯，现在的台湾是中华民国被中共赶到了岛上，而新水木……嘻嘻，果然，妙哉，妙哉！

对了，今天连战跑北大演讲了。这个现任国民党的主席，此行可谓“来的不易”。打了那么多年，互相骂了那么多年，还是和为贵。在zixia上看了一下他的讲稿，有句话比较有意思：

再谈谈所谓民意的驱动。我这一次到大陆来访问，我说“来的不易”，因为有若
干的人很迟疑，甚至于有一种批判，认为我到这里来，是为了进行所谓第三次的国共和谈，
所以我的目的是要“联共治台”。但是，现在那个“台”下面还有个“独”字。

伪水木的SYS0x真是在放葫芦……

2005-04-27T21:05:00.000-05:00

勉强对校外开了几个技术版面和pop3取信（且不说国外还不能访问），就在“葫芦娃”（这个名字的来历见这里）的话里当作什么政绩那样地来炫耀。真是无耻啊，这就好比你把人家房子拆了，再把上几块砖，接着就说，“你看，我们在给你盖房子了，我们多好啊……” 荒谬！网友的眼睛都是雪亮的。有人觉得伪水木对外重新开放，对新水木是个威胁。不错，不过也不必太担心，下面这篇文章就讲得很好：

发信人: ai (2005.4.23，幸福的一天), 信区: sysop
标题: Re: 葫芦娃的话（050425） (转载)
发信站: 水木社区 (Mon Apr 25 10:42:16 2005), 站内

几点说明：
1、几乎打死再救活，虽然没死也是残废，没有必要太在意；
2、这边的存在，对那边是个促进，如果没有这边，那边未必
会这么快；
3、管理权是一切的根本，官方管理和民间管理的区别大家都
知道意味着什么，透过现象看本质吧。

我们希望用户的利益得到满足和保证，不管是通过这里还是
那里，竞争是最佳选择，更符合用户的利益，我们愿意保持
持续的对那边的压力，来保证尤其是校内用户的利益。

可以上新水木了

2005-04-27T20:23:00.001-05:00

前晚，由于一个“意外”，每个新水木社区的用户得到了邀请3个原水木的用户的名额——新水木像Gmail那样搞“邀请制”了。于是SMTH@zixia版上出现了一波“放蛋”潮，就像以前Gmail邀请那样。

有好心人也给我送了个蛋，于是我把自己激活了，顺便又激活了lp的主ID。后来正想着邀请谁的时候，消息传来——已经无法发邀请了。Menphis发了公告，原文见后。不管是有心还是无意，这次邀请链接的泄漏，让一直在焦急地等待新水木的大家又有了新的盼头。

发信人: Menphis (管理型政府转为服务型政府), 信区: sysop
标题: 关于本次邀请链接意外泄漏的说明
发信站: 水木社区 (Tue Apr 26 10:58:40 2005), 站内

技术站务已经基本开发完成了用户之间邀请的功能，仅余少量后期调试工作尚未
完成。由于工作失误，该功能被开放在 WEB 下可由用户立即使用。

由于该功能调试尚未完成，存在重大 Bug，现该功能已经关闭，已通过该功能获
得访问权限的少数用户，其权限保留。希望大家能够协力建设好各个版面。

谢谢大家的理解和支持。

BBS 水木社区站

今天收集完签名了

2005-04-27T20:23:00.000-05:00

明天就可以寄出了。
寄给谁呢……

新教牧师Martin Niemoeller的那段名言（刻于Boston Holocaust Memorial）

2005-04-24T00:19:00.000-05:00

"THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

THEN THEY CAME for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

THEN THEY CAME for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

THEN THEY CAME for me,
and by that time no one was left to speak up."

This statement, attributed to Pastor Martin Niemoeller, has become a legendary expression of the lesson of the Holocaust. Ironically, Niemoller had delivered antisemitic sermons early in the Nazi regime. He later opposed Hitler and was sent to a concentration camp.

Statement of Pastor Martin Niemoeller @ Boston Holocaust Memorial

Boston Holocaust Memorial

(Photos taken on 4/16/2005)

借校庆之机给校领导发email了

2005-04-23T17:17:00.000-05:00

在smthbbs.blogspot.com查到一些校领导的email地址，虽然未经证实，但我还是决定试一下。打开校友信箱，发现webmaster给发了一封群信，是顾秉林的校庆致词。顺手就点了回复，然后把我以校友的名义写的信粘贴了过去，发给了若干校领导。既然用的是校友信箱，我就署真名了，希望不会被当作spam给过滤掉……

寄出之后，发现有个地址敲错了，本来cc给xldxx@tsinghua.edu.cn的，结果错写成xldxx@tsinghua.org.cn了。其他倒是还没有收到退信的消息，估计应该是有效地址吧……

拯救水木，行胜于言

签名收集得差不多了

2005-04-23T16:17:00.000-05:00

虽然对学校早就不抱什么幻想了，但是为了水木，行胜于言，我还是决定把我给校领导的信简单改改，然后以校友的名义寄出。因为希望实在渺茫，所以也懒得发动身边的所有清华人，只给一些特别熟的朋友发了email。他们大多很支持，在我准备好之后就签名了。
本来这件事是3月底张罗的，结果因为忙和自己不抓紧，弄到现在还没弄完，而那边水木又生变故，4/14之后矛盾激化，似乎更没有挽回的可能，sigh

给校领导的一封信（3/27/2005)

2005-04-23T16:03:00.000-05:00

12/5/2006 更新：

此文已无意义，删除之。

注：原文发到了xldxx@tsinghua.edu.cn, 直到5月中旬才收到回音，而且也没有什么本质的改变。

水木清华BBS 新闻和小道消息 (SMTH BBS News): [Post]水木新关键词浏览(2005-04-21)

2005-04-23T15:27:00.000-05:00

关于水木事件的一些有趣的关键词：
水木清华BBS 新闻和小道消息 (SMTH BBS News): [Post]水木新关键词浏览(2005-04-21)

赞一句http://smthbbs.blogspot.com，记录了不少宝贵的历史信息。

有关BBS水木清华站的资源

2005-04-23T15:24:00.000-05:00

SMTH BBS水木清华签名站：http://smthbbs.com/
水木清华BBS 新闻和小道消息：http://smthbbs.blogspot.com
维基百科上关于水木清华BBS的条款：http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBS%E6%B0%B4%E6%9C%A8%E6%B8%85%E5%8D%8E%E7%AB%99
我思清华：http://www.54tsinghua.cn/
水木社区（新站）：http://newsmth.org/

水木事件的最新情况

2005-04-23T14:37:00.000-05:00

自从4/14日情况进一步恶化之后，“分家”似乎已经不可避免：原站务拿着3/16的数据跑到smthbbs.org成立“水木社区”，或曰“新站”，而清华的网络中心则任命了一批新的站务，守着原来的服务器，诸多网友则把这个傀儡bbs称为“伪站”。新站因为还没申请到ICP，现在并没有完全开放，只是在小范围（主要是版主和各版的不多于十名“核心用户”）内进行测试。据说开放之后还是以原SMTH BBS的技术版面为主，而那些系版等等就不一定有了——即使有，多半也会以另外的形式出现，比方说校友录。

许多老“水车”和热爱原水木的用户，对于我们的乐土被这样糟踏，心里都忿忿不平。然而在现在的大环境下，他们也没有什么好的办法来改变这个现状。于是，一部分人转而通过破坏伪站、给伪站的新管理者制造麻烦，来发泄心头之恨。他们或使用灌水机，或删除版面文章和精华区，或发信发消息骚扰新管理者。新管理者显然在使用和管理BBS上都缺乏足够的经验，因而在开始的一段时间里显得有些手忙脚乱。但是随着他们的成长，很快他们就学会如何管制言论：封人、只读、关版…… 退一步说，即使伪站真的倒下了，学校和网络中心估计也不怎么在乎，因为他们根本没有，也不会理解广大网友对水木的感情。更何况，水木的众多站友曾经就诚挚事件、搬家事件等等关系到学生切身利益的问题上对学校的有关部门口诛笔伐。不难想象，在那些人心目中，水木的倒下，多半只是少了个麻烦而已，耳根清静，何乐而不为。其实水木3/16日关闭对校外IP的访问，固然也是贯彻上面关于整改网上论坛的精神，但也不排除是这帮人拿着鸡毛当令箭，趁机铲除心腹之患的举措。

不管怎样，好端端的一个水木，给折腾成这个样子，心里真是很不爽。

This is my first post

2005-04-23T00:08:00.000-05:00

Try it!