From TED
October 23, 2012
Iron curtain
This book should be a required reading for dictators all over the world.
Quote from the Economist review:
Human beings, as Ms Applebaum rousingly concludes, do not acquire “totalitarian personalities” with ease. Even when they seem bewitched by the cult of the leader or of the party, appearances can deceive, she writes. When it seems as if they buy into the most absurd propaganda—marching in parades, chanting slogans, singing that the party is always right—the spell can suddenly, unexpectedly, dramatically be broken.
October 17, 2012
Party like a panda
(Realization after a lunch part today at the University Lodge, aka the president’s office)
I am one who attends parties like a panda: eats (all the good food while available), shoots (some really bad and cold jokes), and leaves (before people realize I am a jerk).
October 2, 2012
Trend following
To all these students who want to do data mining and think you have to join a database group:
I do not miss you at all, because you are just following trends instead of making your own decisions. Independent thinking is a necessary quality for succeeding in research. And you probably do not even comprehend the meaning and scope of data mining; I can find much more interesting ideas and applications in graphics and HCI than database.
How to adjust for jetlag
I have a very simple trick that works very well for me (I am a frequent time-zone hopper) and I believe it will work for everyone with sufficient will power.
Exercise. A lot of it.
The reasons are simple.
It is very unlikely for one to fall asleep during exercise, while very likely for one to after a long arduous one.
And it is extremely healthy, compared to alternatives (e.g. taking drugs).
All cardio-exercises will do, but my favorite is swimming; it is the least likely place to sleep within (especially if the water is not too warm) and most likely inducement for sleep afterwards (given the same amount of workout time).
Mail server blacklisted
To those who collaborate with me through svn:
In case you are wondering about the recent mysterious disappearances of our automatic post-commit svn email notifications, the relay server has been blacklisted. For details, see the support mail below from my hosting service.
Needless to say, I will monitor all svn activities, but feel free to ping me if you think your check-in needs my particular attention.
Happy crunching!
Hi Friend!
The mail relay server ‘crusty’ that processes most mail from your webserver has been listed in an industry-wide blocklist of known spam sources. Our mail block team is working quickly and diligently to have this situation resolved as soon as possible and our mail server de-listed. I have passed your support request to them to assist in their efforts.
Unfortunately, during the time the server is on the blacklist, mail from it may be rejected by any receiving mail server that uses the blacklist to filter spam, including our own mail servers. Emails blocked from sending are not lost, but bounce back to the server user who hosts the site that sent the email. You can view them (they are just text files) in the Maildir/new and Maildir/cur directories on the webserver. Mail sent using SMTP to mail.yourdomain.com is sent directly to the mail server and is not affected by this issue.
If you have any other questions or issues, please let me know, I’m always happy to help!
Thanks,
XOXO
Update: looks like the mail server got retired from the blacklist on October 3 2012 11:59 pm PDT. Whew. It was like shooting in the dark without these automatic svn notifications.