塔斯馬尼亞州 (Tasmania)自駕旅遊分享

我想將我喺Tasmania 所看所聞，同埋自己編排行程的一些心得都紀錄下來可讓大家參考。
今次我係五月尾去Tasmania, 呢個時間大家一般都係夏天，但係Tasmania 係南半球，所以佢係冬天，而且佢係屬於澳州偏南的 state，所以冬天的日照會更加之短。
從我今次自駕Tasmania，我覺得至少可以有以下幾種玩法，慢條斯理、全力以赴、以戶外活動為主。

悠閒的你
Tasmania 島上的居民生活比較悠閒，就算上班時間亦不會像大城市般忙。民居一般集中在某幾個大城市(Hobart, Launceston, Devonport etc.)，其餘都散落在荒郊野嶺或小城市。如果你去過New Zeland，我會同你講佢地好似，不過再落後少少。
如果你想感受一下當地人的生活節奏，你可以考慮一下Coles Bay 一餐館老闆的建議，就係集中探索Tasmania 一至兩個區，遇到合心水的地方就停落來，享受一陣，甚至在當地住上一晚。而島上確實有好多地方值得靜下心來慢慢享受，所以比較輕鬆方便的玩法亦很適合平時工作繁忙的大家，一則出發前只需做少量資料搜集，二則路上可能遇上充滿驚喜的景點（係我從Hobart 去 Port Arthur 的路上見到一個自家製朱古力工場，都幾特別，佢地有一隻有辣味的朱古力，同埋發現到一個小型動物園，我先至可以見到Tasmania Devil，當然路上亦有好一些Family Style 的酒莊）。
如果你真係好懶，咁 Port Arthur, Cradle Mountain， Coles Bay 單是其中一個就可以讓你玩下好幾天，再不是的話，租個渡假酒店享受一下自然美景亦是不錯的選擇。

戶外活動型
如果你是戶外運動型，島上有大量國家公園可供遠足，行山。據聞Mount Wellington 就可以飽覧Hobart 全景。Cradle Mountain 亦有大量適合不同組合的行山徑，有男女老幼，一家大小中都合適的Enchanted Walk； 另外有一些需要幾個小時才能走完的行山徑(例如 Dove Lake Circuit)。這些國家公園大多有札營的地方(夏天係旺季，所以要預約），今次我的旅程上亦遇上一些準備在公園裹札營的人，只是如果你是冬天去的話，請多帶幾件衣服。另外，國家公園一般有一些優惠票(例如，一輛車的單日票＝$24，Cradle Mountain的單日票~$40多澳元，不過，有一個Holiday Pass （包含Cradele Mountain)只需$60)，一個pass 就能穿梭幾個國家公園。(http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/index.aspx?base=914)。

如果你想參觀多一些景點，可以參考一下我修改了的行程
如果你是冬天去 Tasmania 的話，冬天日照短，我建議你不是把行程編得太滿。五月尾去的參考日照(7am-4:30pm)，而島上的Internet 亦不是太好，很多旅遊景點都只有手機訊號，而沒有網絡訊號，因此回程時你只能摸黑依靠路牌。

儘量選早機到Tasmania，晚機返。一般從Melbourne, Sydney到Tasmania 都蠻多班次。Tasmania 有兩個可連接澳州本土的機場，一個是Launceston, 另一個是Hobart，一北一南。 建議去程降落在一個機場，就從另一個機場返本土，反正租車是允許你在另一個地方還車。

就以一個四天三夜的行程為例
Day 1
由Sydney 去Hobart 大概為一個半小時，到達后可選擇到Sorell（15 mins) 或 Hobart (約20-30 mins)午餐。或在Hobart市內逛逛，或到Mount Wellington 走一趙。

Day 2
Tasmania 四面環海，有大量由海水侵蝕而成的自然奇觀，Eaglehawk Neck(Blowhole, Tasmans Arch, Devils Kitchen)。由Hobart 出發約45分鐘 到 1小時。個人建議這幾個景點不需停留太久，因為今天的重心是Port Arthur一帶。來到Tasmania 不可不提當地特有的稀有動物, Tasmania Devil, Eastern Quoll, Green Rosella。聽動物員的導賞員講，Tasmania Devil, Eastern Quoll 都係 袋鼠的表兄弟，都係有一個袋，而一般個袋只係可以裝4個BB，其它係點，留番d 空間比你自行想像。前往 Port Arthur Historic Site 的路上會經過 Unzoo，而路上亦有好一些餐廳可供午饍。參觀完Unzoo ， 駕車大概15-20 分鐘就到Port Arthur Historic Site 。Port Arthur Historic Site以前是一個男子勞改中心，勞改中心裹面大多數是小偷，而其中有一個小偷只是偷了一些玩具，就被判入勞改中心好幾年。他們係裹面一般都學習一些技能，或木工，或採資源。 你只需要付基本入場費就可以參觀這勞改中心，另外還有兩個額外收費的小島(Isle of the Dead死亡島，Point Puer Boys' Prison Tours(少年監獄)，值不值得就見一見智。大膽的人，可以考慮參加它們晚上的Ghost Tour，Tour 亦可自費在園內高級晚餐。

從Hobart 出發到Port Arthur 的路上

Eaglehawk Neck 遠眺風景

Eaglehawk Neck附近Blowhole 水花四濺

Tasmania Arch

Devil's Kitchen

Tasmania 只有的Tasmania Devil，近年的傳染性疾病使島上只剩少量Tasmania Devil

Port Arthur Historic Site 高處拍下的景

Day 3 Cradle Mountain 搖籃山
搖籃山是島上最出名的景點之一，從南邊(Hobart)直奔北邊的Cradle Mountain，就算中途不停站，最短的路程亦要四個半小時。沿途有好幾個小鎮都可加油，但建議自備午餐。今次的車程我選擇路經Sheffield, 而在Sheffield 你可以將整個搖籃山收入眼簾。當你進入Sheffield 之後，除了落車拍照外，還有好些東西要注意，一，去油站入油，二，拍下沿途風景，街道，或自備地圖，以備日落後回途之用，尤其是冬天。Sheffield 距Cradle Mountain Visistor Centre 約一小時，時而崎嶇之路，時而平坦大道。有驚無險終於到Visitor Centre, 那裹有洗手間，可稍作休息。遊覧公園有幾種方法，一是驅車入內，另一種是在Vistor Centre 坐Shuttle，另兩種比較得戚，騎馬入內或坐直升機從高處了解Cradle Mountain。 冬天的話三點多便是Shuttle尾班車，你只能驅車前往，園內大多是單程路，需格外注意。由Vistor Centre 到 Cradle Mountain 內最為有名便是Dove Lake約15 分鐘，這是一個山中湖，據當地居民描述，落雪的Dover Lake更為驚嘆。 大約三個小時便可圍繞Dover Lake 一圈，以全角度欣賞湖景。另一個省時的走法，便是左右兩邊各走十數分鐘。 Weindorfers Forest Walk 亦是另一個值得拍照的地方。 晚上可住在Launceston 或Davenport，或公園附近的酒店。我則選擇了駕車回到Launceston，因為它有中餐館，晚上我要食餐好，另外它亦比較近我之後的行程。
我特意只上載少量當天的相，因為開車所見的風景還是讓大家自己親身去體驗一下。

我第三天的去的車程

第三天的終極目的地，Cradle Mountain的Dove Lake 山中湖

Weindorfers Forest Walk有一種卡通片裹面公園的感覺

Day 4 Wineglass Bay
從Launceston 一早駕車約兩個半小時便可到Coles Bay，當地有一個有名的景點Wineglass Bay，它的海岸線好像杯一樣裝著清澈蔚藍的海水。如果你想去到觀賞Wineglass Bay最有利的位置是需要付出的。我指的除了是公園入場費外，便是你需要步行45分鐘的有少量斜或濕滑的山路，長者或小朋友需要特別注意。到達Wineglass Bay Lookout 你便可一覧Wineglass Bay 全景。想看美景但又不想費功夫，可選擇在Coles Bay 坐Wineglass Bay Cruise。不得不提，Coles Bay 附近有一間食物水平令我甚為驚喜的餐館，想知哪一家餐廳可私訊我。尤其是它的茄汁，嚇了我一跳。如果你在Launceston機場回去的話，剩下的時間可在Launceston Downtown 或 Devenport 逛逛。而我因要回Hobart International Airport,便途經另一美地，便是Tasmania 東南的海岸線(Swansea 等地)。

Launceston Downtown 一間有特色的咖啡店，有很多特色飲料，當天亦很多人排隊

咦，有人留下一件外套，點算？這是我的外套啦
到Lookout 前有一張很有特色的長椅，躺上去亦很舒服，我那時真的不想下山去

酒杯灣

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Process of obtaining USA VISA (香港辦美國簽證過程)

  I recently visited my homeland (Hong Kong) in order to renew my visa. The purpose of this essay is to provide more insight to those who are going to apply for an USA visa.

   US Consulate in Hong Kong already told you what to prepare and the mainstream process. I am going to talk about something that is not mentioned on the website. This is just personal observation and experience, take is with a grain of salt. Also, the process is subject to change.  I disclaim any liability and please let notify me if I violate any rules. 

   1. NIV appointment time. Most of the time, you can arrive earlier than the scheduled time although the confirmation letter declare the opposite. The guards at the gate will only check the appointment date. 

  2. Now, they break the process into two. The first one is to supply all the documents at the counters outside the building.; then you will have to wait for the interview and 10-pin at a different counter inside the building. 

  3. For those who apply for H1B, it is better that you prepare W-2 or payroll statement to verify that the company you work for actually pay you. 

In general,  it is a very smooth process; should take around 1 hour. So plan your time accordingly. Hopefully, this is useful and can sooth the anxiety of first time applicants. 

Pace of the conversation

    The advent and ubiquity of electronic gadgets has changed the world so much, especially to how people communicate. People, here I mean, the post 90's, who were born after 1990. Life is more fast pace as we all have many things to do at one day(e.g. check blog post, Facebook, Twitter, Netflix and even Hulu) . Thus, conversation has migrated from slow and in-depth to fast and shallow. Once, you start repeating something, they would be bored. Once you go in-depth, they would start to feel bombarded. Thus, what you have to do in order to convey your messages or have a healthy conversation is  to make it to the point and never repeat. But it is hard, if you want to think in multi-dimension with depth, repeated thinking(from mutli-angle) is the key to polish your thought and rationalize what you think. It seems to be that you either trim down to the important content when you speak or  you will never synergy with the post 90's. 

     If you are living in a changing world, it is like you could survive only if you adopt it. Or you are influential, then you might be the few that could maintain your own way. 

     Life is never easy, not only you have to learn the skills to survive, you also have to learn how to communicate, which the ability is supposed to be born with. 

WhatSoEver Human Interaction? Failure?

    I have been always trying to have everything solved. Let say I have a question that isn't addressed, I would look for the answer passionately. Sometimes, I might go a bit crazy depends on what lenses you are wearing. What I believe is that if someone can do it for the homework, then I should be able to do it as well. If I don't, I will keep asking questions(bugging the GSI?) until I finally know how to do it. I was told by a GSI recently that there isn't always an answer. We as humans would have to accept this fact. Obviously, I am not convinced. Well, this is life. But what's wrong of seeking for the answers especially it is some doable problems. Whatsoever!
    I suffered from many interaction problems this year probably I am getting too bored. Most of them are unexpected. Most of them(80%) are not my fault(people getting irresponsible or irrational, given that I am the opposite. This is life! Whatsoever!
    I kind of think that I treat everything too seriously. Sorry, that's what I have been since I was born. Whatsoever!

Tunneling

    James is waiting at the San Francisco Airport for his plane to Chicago to watch the Bulls games. However, all of the planes are canceled due to a blizzard in San Francisco. James is going to miss the game, so he plans to watch the live commentary at www.nba.com instead. He turns on his computer and enters www.nba.com in the browser. "Welcome to the San Francisco Airport! Connect to the internet  ($1000 per minute), Press here." James is a huge fan of Chicago Bulls. He forgets to bring his credit card, but he brings his cell phone. So he decides to call his friend, Bob, the CS wiz, for help. After ten minutes of explaining his suggestion to James, the cell phone is running short on battery soon as the bar turns red.  Bob decides to explain the high-level concept about "Tunneling", which allows him to surf the net.
    Imagine that you bring your own food to cinema, which doesn't allow outside food. Then you would hide your food in your bag and bypass the ticker collector at the gate.  Your computer encapsulates your request to www.nba.com in a larger valid request(DNS request), which can bypass the SF airport router and connect to the internet.
    James thinks this is easy. So he asks Bob for a detailed explanation of how the whole thing works. Bob asks James to recall how he used to escape his parents' surveillance and sent letters to his girl friend, Natalie, who lived in Berkeley.

	Tunneling	James's old story
1	James tries to connect to www.nba.com. However, SF airport router won't allow any web traffic, except for DNS traffic.  Txt record , a kind of DNS records, is used here.	James wants to send letter to Natalie. However, his parents won’t allow James to leave the house. Luckily, James’s brother, Gil, can leave the house freely.
2	Then James has to encapsulate the request to www.nba.com into the DNS request(Txt record) and forward it to resolver, which sends the request to the corresponding name server on behalf of James’s computer.	James puts his letter including Natalie’s address into a box, so his parents would only see a box when Gil sends the box for James .
3	If the DNS request sends to a normal DNS name server, it won’t understand the encapsulated traffic, which means they don’t know that you are asking for www.nba.com.	For a normal post office, they couldn’t figure it out who James wants to send to.
4	So James has to send the DNS request to a name server that can decapsulate the request. Then the server knows that you are going to www.nba.com. In this case, James owns the name server. Then the server will make another DNS request to locate www.nba.com IP’s address. As a result, the server sends a HTTP request for the website.	So James has to compromise with a post office(e.g. SF post office). Whenever the post office receives a box from Gil, it opens the box and forwards the letter to Berkeley post office. Eventually, Natalie receives the letter.
5	Once the server receives the web page from www.nba.com. It has to encapsulate the webpage into DNS response and reply to the resolver via the SF Airport router.	Onces SF post office receives Natalie's reply letter. The letter will be put in a box, which is destined for Gil.
6	The resolver receives the DNS response, decapsulates it and forwards the html file to James.	Gil opens the box and passes the letter to James.
7	James knows this is www.nba.com 's html fileand open it in a browser. James cries with happy tears because his Bulls wins the game.	James knows this letter has to written by Natalie. He reads the letter in his room. He sobs because he finally receives Natalie's letter.

Key Terminology :

DNS:	A system that translates human-readable name(www.nba.com) to IP's address (1.2.3.4, the quadruple), which the computer understands. Berkeley is the human-readable names; 94704, the zip code, symbolizes the IP address.
DNS request:	Whenever you want to connect to a website, the computer needs to know the website's IP address. Thus,a DNS request is exactly a query for the IP address.
DNS response:	Once the name server receives a request for the IP address. It will return the IP address.
txt record:	Txt record is one type of DNS responses, which carries arbitrary text.
Name server:	The server that responds to the DNS request for its domain.
Resolver:	A utility program to initiate the DNS request.
HTTP request:	A request for the a web page.

Actor list
Resolver................................... Gil
txt record.................................. Box
compromised name server......... SF post office
NBA name server...................... Berkeley post office
www.nba.com.......................... Natalie
SF airport route........................ James' parents
HTML request......................... James's letter
HTML response......................  Natalie's letter

Note: The tunneling concept is simplified.

Game addiction- Football Manager

Last week, I saw many people writing about their game addiction. I was attracted by those posts as it is very interesting to read about others' gaming experiences and anecdotes. Thus, I decide to share my long-lasting game addiction.

When I was around age 12 or 13, I was introduced to a game called Football Manager. In this game, you are the manager of the soccer club. You can buy/sell players, select players for the line-up, adopt different tactics, upgrade facilities and hire coaches. It is not like the popular Winning Eleven or FIFA. You don't control players and play in the match. Instead, you substitute players, change formation and command your team like what the manager acts in real life. So this game is the same as people build their amusement park in Roller Coaster, form a society in Sims. It is about building a dream team that can win titles and glories. You should try it if you are a fan of soccer.

Back in those days, I used to play soccer with my friends weekly mostly after school. Sometimes, I went to my friend's house, which was near my school, after playing soccer. He would show me the games he was playing and share the games with me. Of course, he conspired to make me compelled to the games, such that he had someone to discuss with. This is what a good friend would do! I don't quite remember whether Football Manager was the first game that he recommended. But, it was those early games that he urged me to play.

If you number your fingers, you can count how many years I have been playing Football Manager. The first version of the game is called CM01/02. And the latest version is called FM 2011. In fact, this game has been my major entertainment in my adolescence and young adult (now). Merely the number of years I have been playing this game is not a comprehensive of my obsession. I still remembered those days, the first thing I would do after I went home was to boot my computer. Then I started to manage my teams as if this was my real job. I would play the game while I was watching TV. I would play the game while I was doing my homework. In case you are curious, it is a click and process game. So I could do my homework while waiting for the game to process. Occasionally, I identify myself more of a full-time soccer manager than a full-time student. I am not exaggerating. When I look back a few times, I always find that I consume too much time on it. For example, I am playing FM2010, the time I have spent on the game is 150 days real-life time, not including the time that I exit and restart the match, which I do it quite often.

I have tried a few times to "cold turkey" this game as it is going to ruin my life. It ruins at some degree already. I am now forced to be in a "cold turkey" mode for this game because the game cannot run with parsing xml errors. The good news is that I don't vision myself playing this game anymore as I believe there are more challenges in real life, which will be far more exciting than this simulation game.

Crowdsourcing reminds me of grid computing

Crowdsourcing is the idea that a company outsources the tasks that are previously done by employees to a group of undefined virtual crowd, who share the same interest and passion. Many forms of crowdsourcing exist in the world. iStockPhoto is an example of crowdsourcing. Although the participants on this platform aren't hired by anyone, they have the market demand in mind while they are shooting photos. Grid computing allows volunteers to have their idle computers help compute a small piece of some large-scale projects. BOINC is a grid computing project that is being held in Berkeley. Volunteers only have to register and download the software. It will run automatically when the computer is idle.

I find that both crowdsourcing and grid computing have something in common. First of all, they benefited from the established internet. Internet speed has grown a lot over the past decade. It is one of the main reasons why crowdsourcing and grid computing have been prospering as well. Imagine if we lived in the old modem world, how could crowsourcing and grid computing be feasible? From our guest speaker's speech, the system that he is developing is a real-time competition for participants. If your internet is faster, you could probably work on more tiny problems and earn more rewards. Although time is not a critical issue for grid computing, it does require smooth internet connection in order to transfer data that needs calculation and the result. Especially, other computations might depends on your result. Thus, internet speed is indispensable to both.

Secondly, both require the involvement from a large group of unknown people in order to be time efficient. Regarding the translation crowdsourcing project that was mentioned in class, each piece of paper or essay is divided into snippets. Each contributor will work on their piece of snippet. Meanwhile, contributors are unknown to the manager. Grid computing is exactly the same, with the exception that the algorithm substitutes the manager. As many people can contribute to different parts of the project simultaneously, grid computing and crowdsourcing requires less time than the sequential way.

Without the established internet and the heavy involvement from the online population, crowdsourcing and grid computing will only be innovative uses of computing power on the paper. Besides time efficiency as many computations or tasks can be completed in parallel, they are also economically effective.

Buying computers to process large data is not as expensive as it used to be. One can buy a $200 computers easily these days. However, it is not the total expense. Buying more computers implicitly means more spaces, more fans and more staff to maintain. The total expenditure might be scary enough. But now, you might only need a few servers computing and connecting to clients (volunteers). It is less overhead and maintaining fees for grid computing. As for crowdsourcing, the company can employ less staff. The one-time overhead is the developing expenses for the coordinating platform and the set up fees. Although the company has to reward online participants and hire a manager to coordinate the project, it is usually might cheaper than hiring permanent staff.

Grid computing is very similar to crowdsourcing in terms of economical factor and the dependency on the maturity of the internet infrastructure and the participation rate. However, crowdsourcing seems to generate more law issues, ethical problems and employment benefits than merely grid computing. Will you go for crowdsourcing? It is hard to say. But if I were the employer, why not?

Youtube + Net Neutrality

I will treat myself as an interviewee as those were interviewed for "Publicy Private and Public: Social Networking on YouTube.”

Interviewer: Hi! How is your day? Do you mind if we videotape the whole process?

Bobby: Sure! No problem!

Interviewer: What are the major advantages and disadvantages about participating on YouTube? Why is YouTube better than other online videos sharing sites? Are you a ‘‘YouTuber’’? Why or why not?

Bobby: Youtube is a fabulous place where you can share your videos or watch others’ videos with high-speed and high quality. On top of it, it is free and doesn’t impose restrictions on how long you can watch per day. Also, it is easy to categorize videos for different audiences (public vs private). I am not quite sure about how you define “YouTuber”. I spend an hour on YouTube every day. However, I don’t often upload my own videos.

Interviewer: Nice! I will check them out for more detail. Do you know all the people who have posted comments to your videos? Where do you know them from (YouTube, elsewhere online, offline)? What were your reactions to the comments on your videos?

Bobby: My videos are mostly about school work, but they are fun to watch. I would define them as ‘publicly private’ videos. There isn’t any comment, but some of my offline-friends “like” the videos. However, I would like to see more positive and encouraging comments. Although my friends didn’t leave comment on YouTube, I forced them to give me feedback when I showed them my videos.

Interviewer: Under what circumstances do you ‘‘friend’’ someone? Do you only make YouTube friends with people you know offline? Do you make YouTube friends with people only online or only from YouTube? Why? How do you decide to whom you will subscribe?

Bobby: I do not befriend with anyone on my YouTube account. However, if I really befriend with someone on YouTube, I believe they would either be my offline friends or some interesting online friends. Befriending with online people doesn’t harm me anyway and there isn’t any benefit that they can gain from befriending with me. In terms of subscribing to channels, I subscribe to channels that often upload new videos (such as lectures, episodes, funny videos).

I try to share my YouTube experience in a new way. In brief, YouTube is more like a personal entertainment or learning platform (such as online lectures) rather than a social platform, as it can’t really connect people that you know offline.

Here is one of the few that I uploaded to YouTube. Enjoy!

Net Neutrality, which means equal access if some amount of money is paid, heated up the class last Thursday. However, unlike many other keywords, which flooded the search results. I couldn’t find much up-to-date information/articles about Net Neutrality, nor could I find any in-depth analysis about Net Neutrality online. I could not stand on any side because of the lack of comprehensive information on the issue. However, I do have some concerns after the Google and Verizon’s proposal was approved.

“How are the Wireless Service Providers (WSP) going to charge the user and the content users? Will the fees that the WSP charges the content providers at the expense of the users?” I don’t know why FCC would approve the proposal without any of the detail how WSP would adopt the proposal has been revealed. Is it because the FCC tried to comprise with the big companies? If that’s the case, do they really have enough resources/ authorities to scrutinize the WSP? In addition to whether FCC has enough authority, Google has been saying that having protection is better than no protection. However, I don’t know what the restrictions are and how they can protect us. Especially, I don’t know whether the proposal encompasses restrictions that can prevent WSP from overcharging content providers and users. Otherwise, I couldn’t imagine that we will be charged for visiting Facebook or doing a Goggle search, which are most people’s daily routine. Could you?

Net Neutrality- Analysis after class and the class panel

Today we had a fierce panel discussion about Net Neutrality from different perspectives, including F.C.C., Comcast, AT&T, Verizon and small business representatives. From the point of an audience, I really want to comment on their arguments.

I was assigned to be a Comcast person. But, I don't really have any stance right now, given my limit understanding to the 5-years on & off issue.

Our representative was really active during the panel. Nice job! There was one point that he kept insisting on- providing better service for the customers. He brought up the Amazon 2 days shipping example. He asked the question that if Amazon can offer the audience a free 2 days shipping and better return policy, what the audience

If there isn't Net Neutrality, then Amazon can pay Comcast for more bandwidth (let say), then users can have a better experience surfing the Amazon stores than other online stores that don't pay Comcast. Then he asked the audience whether would like to go for Amazon or other stores which offer worse services(lo. People would definitely say we went for Amazon as it provided better service in the case. This is a rational customer behavior. He used the technique called "bundling" (If no one uses it before, then I coin it=]) to blur people' sights. He bundled something (2 day shipping) that's correct or makes sense to people with something that we are still uncertain about (whether net neutrality really help provide better service).

However, due to the time that I have, I am just going to discuss about Comcast today. I might talk about the others later if I still remember and once I have time. Also, I find that this short comment is kind of not that streamlined, but my point is straight and clear though.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Celebrate! This is our Chinese New Year! 2011 is the year of Hare!

I could imagine that I will see tons of Red shirts, Red jackets, Red shoes, Red hats tomorrow. Go Bears! Go Chinese New Year! It is awesome that tomorrow is Thursday, then people can go and have their New Year Dinner tomorrow night! Poor me! Can't make it, I need to prepare for something (Not test, exam, etc. Yeah! They are not important! No! Just kidding! I am still a student! Haha!) Anyway, wish you guys all the best luck with the Hui Chun, it means May the fortune comes to your house!

Can Facebook replace Twitter or vice versa?

"Can Facebook replace Twitter or vice versa?" This is the kind of question that Facebook and Twitter users would ask. Some, who favors Twitter, might say that Twitter is more addictive and eventually all Facebook users will migrate to Twitter. The other party believes that Facebook is irreplaceable. I am going to view this questions from the natures, properties and functionalities of the two platforms and the driving forces behind the success of this two platforms.

"Why does even people compare Facebook and Twitter?" Both of them have something in common and that's why critiques start comparing them. Facebook was created by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004 while Twitter was launched by Jack Dorsey in 2006. They are both emerging start-ups this decade. Facebook and Twitter are also popular social platforms that have managed to attract millions of users in a short period of time. Besides having a high daily return rate from the duos, they also succeed to out-compete their close substitutes in United States and became winner-take-all giants.

However, they are only common in backgrounds, lying on the the similar growing path, showing the same promising trajectories in the future, they are really two distinct types of social platforms in terms of the natures and functionalities.

Twitter is a micro blog, which is mainly text-based while photos and videos are just some minor ingredients. On the other hand, Facebook is a multi-media platform that connects online persona, where users can play games, share photos and videos, write notes, and share all kind of personal information and statuses.

Facebook and Twitter both broadcast the users's statuses with a diversified openness and closeness. Twitter is open to public, where users can follow whoever they have interests in and they can read every public twit. On top of it, the openness also allows Twitter to turn itself into a large discussion forum when there are hot issues. In other words, Twitter is a real time search engine for the thoughts and comments from people all over the globe. In contrast, the friends on our Facebook are mostly people that we have met while we might follow people that don't even know us on Twitter. Facebook is more restricted and closed. By default, people, who aren't our friends, can't access to our albums and our walls posts, while they can only view our profile pictures and some personal information. It is also this restriction that allows the users to be protected (besides the privacy issue). Simultaneously, it is also the closeness that encourages the users to share his/her personal issues with all his/her group of friends. Although Twitter permits users to set some twits to be private (allowing only the followers to read), users don't have as much control as they have in Facebook, where it enforces the permission process to follow a friend.

Facebook and Twitter have many other disjoint properties, such as Twitter is more popular in North America, while Facebook is being accepted by more countries. It is never enough to discuss all of them. Before my last comment, I want to ask the readers two questions, " If you are a regular Facebook users, how would feel if you find Facebook is overloaded with instant text updates, if you find your wall posts, photos and videos are going public (no permission needed)?" "If you are a daily Twitter user, what is your reaction when there isn't a 140 length limit per twit any more, will you be overloaded by the amount of text that people are typing over the whole user network? What is your reaction if Twitter enforces permission before you can follow someone? "

Facebook and Twitter are functionally differentiated, thus they serve different purposes from the perspective of the users. As long as the nature of both giants are unchanged, I couldn't see why one would replace the others. After all, user demand drives supply, isn't it?

This Blog is temporary used for Col WRT 108 class

繁簡看法

於簡化字的利弊，海內外的高知識階層早已開展了不少討論。由於人們對傳統文化的親疏好惡態度不同，加上不同政體下臺灣及海外華僑所實行的繁體字，使這一問題的討論加入了不少背景色彩。下面我們想從正反兩方面更深入地討論這一命題。
大力提倡簡化字的呼聲最早起於五四新文化運動。當熱血青年憤恨於國家落後挨打的處境時，他們就把中國傳統文化當作了替罪羊，在它身上傾注了一切失敗與絕望所帶來的滿腔仇恨，提出要徹底與傳統文化決裂，這裏面就包括了文言文和繁體字。當時的口號不是要簡化漢字，而是要廢除漢字，全部改學洋人的拼音文字。（現在人們認識到，漢字的符號特性使其成為最先進的文字，是最適合電腦處理的。而且學習漢字能提高智商，增進聯想和創新思維的發育。幸虧這場「廢字革命」沒能成功，否則我們不是丟了西瓜去揀芝麻，得不償失嗎？這是題外話。）
簡化字來源於草書，早在南北朝隋唐時期民間就開始流傳，為有別於正體字而被稱為「俗體字」，只是為了書寫方便而已，在正規場合人們還是用正規字，所以當時的人們能同時認識一個字的兩種或多種寫法。這就好比我們在家幹活時，為了方便，喜歡穿隨便的粗布衣物，可外出會客時依然會換成正規得體的真絲衣服一個道理。這樣的情形持續了幾千年，可到了新中國成立後，共產黨就只許人們永遠穿粗布衣服而要燒掉真絲衣服了。
1956年１月底，中國大陸公佈了《漢字簡化方案》，1964年5月出版了《簡化字總表》，如果再用繁體字就算錯字別字了。簡化字總表共有三表：第一表是352個不作偏旁用的簡化字，第二表是132個可作偏旁用的簡化字和14個簡化偏旁，第三表是經過偏旁類推而成的1754個簡化字；也就是說，完全新造出了2238個新字。
那麽這個造字比例有多大呢？目前大陸規定常用字為2500字，次常用字是1000字，合為3500字，加上各行各業使用的專業辭彙，《通用字表》中共有7000字，也就是說掌握了7000字就能閱讀所有專業的普通書籍。七千的兩千，當然有些字不在這七千以內，但我們可以大致描述性地說明這個造字比例是很大的，難怪沒學過簡化字的人很難認識現在大陸的漢字。
為什麽把簡化字比做粗布衣服而把繁體字比做精美的真絲朝服呢？因為漢字在簡化了筆劃的同時卻付出了慘重的代價。由於簡化了筆劃，使很多字外形相近，識別率大為降低，於是閱讀速度反而變慢。由於人一生中看字的時間是寫字時間的無數倍，哪怕作家也一樣，所以整體來說卻是適得其反。同時，由於簡化字增加了很多偏旁部首，從而加重了學生學習的負擔。這些新造的部首和字，在書法家的眼裏就比繁體字粗俗難看得多。另外，由於把很多音相同但意義不同的字合併成一個簡化字，經常導致語意的混亂，並使漢字本身內在的詞源關係喪失，使整個漢字系統出現結構紊亂。用過電腦的都知道，繁體字和簡化字的輸入速度差不多少，但由於新加一套簡化字體系，人為地增加了一套檢索系統，從而使麻煩多了一倍。如果不搞簡化字，沿用歷史上幾千年的慣例，手寫時可用俗體，印刷還是用正體，那不挺好嗎？何必沒事找事多此一舉呢？用老百姓的話說，真是豆腐變成了肉價錢。
簡化字的理論根據是，綜觀漢字演變過程，從甲骨文，金文到篆書，隸書、楷書以及行書，草書，其總趨勢就是從繁到簡。但認真研究漢字的演變，我們不難發現，漢字的發展同時遵循著從簡趨繁和從繁趨簡的雙項規律。由於人們生活和思維的日趨複雜，要表達的內容增多，於是需要創造新字，漢字也就從簡趨繁，增加筆劃後才能造大量新生字；反之，聽任筆劃過多，不予簡化，就會日益繁複累贅，於是人們便尋求簡捷的書寫方式。但研究表明，整體看來，從甲骨文到現代的文字，從簡趨繁的字多於從繁改簡的字。
推行簡化字的另一理由是為了消除文盲，讓勞苦大眾也能識文認字。事實上大陸簡化字推行了四十多年，可至今文盲仍一億多，半文盲更不計其數，相反，在臺灣，依然是繁雜的正體字，可由於政府注重教育，扶助平民子弟入學，到七十年代就掃除了文盲。由臺灣與大陸這組比較實驗我們可以看出，普及教育的關鍵不在文字筆劃的多少，而在政府用心的多少。
贊成簡化字的人認為，漢字不就是個代號嗎？代號不是越簡單越好嗎？與其花那麽多時間來學認字，不如多花時間來學習真正的文化。其實這是種誤解。漢字每個字本身就是一部濃縮了的文化，一個固化的資訊模組，在學認字寫字的同時就是在學習中國的文化。比如奮的簡化字把中間的'隹'字簡化掉了，隹是什麽？它是種候鳥，下面的田代表鳥的棲息地，這個字說明候鳥只有奮力展翅，才能完成南北遷徙，去掉隹就丟掉了奮的最本質的資訊。
六十年代的簡化方案使漢字由平均16筆劃降到了10.3畫，到1977年共產黨又想推行第二套簡化方案，欲將筆劃降到十以下，後因民眾反對強烈而停止。這讓我想起一個笑話，英文中有很多字也很長很難記，我們能不能把它也簡化了呢？難道文字最重要的就是它書寫的繁簡程度嗎？為了簡單，廢除文字，不寫字不更好嗎？這當然是笑話，但也說明一個問題，在全球能對祖先的文字大動干戈，橫砍豎切的，恐怕只有中國共產黨人了。
談到這大家都明白了，繁體字簡化字各有優缺點，文字的繁簡難易都不是主要問題，那我們不禁要問：為什麽非要搞簡化字呢？簡化字的背後是什麽呢？
我們發現這裏面有個巨大的陰謀，有個很深的陷阱。
中國老百姓有句俗話：三代出一個貴族。意思是說，一個人文化氣質的培養是個漫長而艱巨的任務，要經歷三代人的努力才能培養出一個氣質高貴的人，事實果真如此。無論一個人還是一個民族，文化的傳承沈積都要求有個繼承過程，只有繼承了前人的，站在了前面巨人的肩上，我們才能看得更遠，才能有所發展。所以我們說，簡化字最大的弊端就是割裂了文化，使延續了幾千年的文化命脈被簡化字割斷了。由於那麽多新字出現，廢除了那麽多正體字，六十年代後出生的人，哪怕是大學生，也很難閱讀40年前的報刊，更別說在那以前的古籍了，中華文化被攔腰砍斷了。一個最生動的例子就是全國最高學府，北京大學，在百年校慶時發行了一百張限額的「百年書簽」，印刷精美，成為海內外校友爭購的珍藏品。誰知裏面錯字連篇。如「桃李芬芳」錯成「桃李紛芳」；「直掛雲帆濟滄海」錯成「直掛雲帆濟蒼海」；「坐擁書城，富甲一方」錯成「座擁書城，富甲一方」。北大文人都鬧這樣的笑話，可見中華文化後繼無人也。
在中華歷史上，出了秦始皇的焚書坑儒，斷送了先秦以前的先皇教導和春秋戰國時期的百家爭鳴外，對文化的巨大損傷就數這次的簡化字了。活生生地把後來的炎黃子孫隔在了祖先文化長河的外面，讓新中國出生的人成了「文化無根人」，成了文化荒漠裏的人。有人說新文化運動不是宣導學習西方文化，搞拿來主義嗎？可學來學去，事實又如何呢？很多時候都是邯鄲學步，沒學到別人的，反而把自己以前的好東西也丟了。
為什麽說這是個陰謀呢？因為傳統的中國文化教育人要做到「仁義禮智信」，要「知天命，敬鬼神」，這與共產黨「槍桿子裏面出政權」的暴力革命基本理論是相反的，這和共產黨的「與天鬥與地鬥與人鬥」的鬥爭哲學相衝突的。共產黨為了使中國人跟隨他聽命於他，於是利用簡化字來砍斷其他文化養料的來源，讓其一言堂的文化封鎖和精神洗腦得以順利實現，從而鞏固其政治統治。這就是簡化字背後的陰謀。
可惜的是，有著同樣聰明想法並擁有同樣暴力的秦始皇，剛傳三代就垮臺了，成了歷史上最短命的王朝，我們知道，歷史是從來不寬恕那些破壞文化的人，因為他們的罪過遠遠超過殺人放火。
(http://www.dajiyuan .com)

Cisco Networking Academy Program

Cisco Networking Academy Program

http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/trad/hi/newsid_4800000/newsid_4801400/4801414.stm

呢個係 一般人如何看繁簡字

http://www.stlcls.org/s-words/Simplified_word.htm

简化字总表

96 AL-COMP STUD I-11

b(ii) Complete the current instruction cycle.

Change PPL to become the value of IPL.

Carry out the corresponding interrupt routine.

Change PPL to 0.

Retrieve original contents of PC and processor status.

Resume program execution.

(iv). Store the instruction 'JUMP' to F16A(hex)' in address 65(hex).

choke[(+back/down/off)]
抑制,壓住
I managed to choke back my tears.
我設法止住淚水。
Mr Tsang choked back tears.
Strata(Plural), Stratum(Singular)
社會階層
Under my leadership, the thrid government will present all social strata.
Overcast
(adj)多雲的(n) 陰天(v)變陰，變得沮喪

Refute(v.)駁斥
Altruistic(adj.) Opposite of selfishness
Predator(n.) 捕食者

曆法定義(陰曆 [朔望月]→陽曆→陰陽曆, ie 夏曆) B
農曆與農業的關係 D
二十四節氣 (七十二候) C,L
二十四節氣名稱含義簡介 (選取一兩個重點講) C
閏年 → 雙春兼閏月 (2033) C, L
天干地支的簡介(十干十二支) L
60甲子(丁亥) D
紀年月日時 B
(轉日期) HEI
通勝 HEI

大網

1. 曆法定義
2. 曆法起源(農業與農業的關係)
3. 暦法轉變(阿sir 建議刪除)
4. 二十四節氣(七十二候) (i) 起源 (ii) 介紹 (iii) 閏年，雙春兼閏月(2033)
5. 天干地支 (i)紀年、紀月 (ii) 年月日時干 (iii) 日期
6. 看通勝