Online Image Tools

Fro those who have an account on worth1000, you most likely will have received the same email about the launch of a new online image editing site: aviary. If you are not those, and you will like creating images, aviary may worth your visit.

Pi to 1,000,000 places

It is the number originally from http://3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592.com. You can now get it as an attachment to pito1millionplaces.

Hope I won't kill the server as http://3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592.com did.

More on reading on an ebook reader

Some pdf come formatted in two columns. As the device's screen is small, I read it in landscape mode and need to go up and down to continue reading after the first column.

Recently, I found papercorp [more info here] which converts pdf into image sequence (and then save back as pdf). The software can detect multiple columns and save them in sequential images - I don't need to scroll up and down anymore.

a very nice tool!

Warner Brothers & The Pirate Bay

If you click on the logo of the Pirate Bay, you will be able to download a pdf announcing the acquisition of TPB by Warner Brothers for 13.37 billion in a stock for stock transaction.

TPB is currently the largest bit torrent sharing website with over 1.6 million torrents on tracker and over 9 million seeders and another 9.4 million leechers.

This news would be the greatest surprise for me! Given today is April 1, I am taking this with a handful of salt. :-)

Sony PRS-505 ebook reader

Recently, I bought a Sony PRS-505 ebook reader. After using it for a few days, I generally like it. Because of my eye sight, I read in medium font in landscape mode. All the reading I have done are pdf files. I can use it under direct sunlight - which is good.

Apart from the default "s" mode (which can stand for standard or small), medium and large fonts are available. However, these later modes are a re-flow of the pdf text. It did not work for a Chinese pdf I was reading. I have not tested on other Chinese pdf yet.

Some of my pdf has a fairly large white margin, if there is a magnifier mode so that I can fill the screen with text and push the margin outside, I would be able to read the pdf without using re-flow.

However there are a few improvements that may make it better.

1. Non-reflective coating of the screen will help in situation where is a high contrast of light and shadow.

2. The processor performance should improve. Yes, the screen refresh is slow compared to other display technology, it does not hence imply a low performing processor. I generally find switching pages in medium or large font mode too slow possibly due to the need of re-flowing.

3. A different magnification mode may also be useful. (see above)

4. A larger display area would certainly help. Given it is an ebook reader, I suppose the target market would be people like me, ie old enough to still read books, have some eye sight issues (need reading glasses all the time). A small screen is certainly no good.

5. My reader come with a leather jacket. I find that I cannot fold the cover back and hence I need one hand to keep the cover open, very ignoring.

Periodic Table with Videos

The famous chemical periodic table with each element linked to video about the element. Interesting online resource to keep handy.

Did you know?

Power corrupts

Today's 4corners on Australian ABC is about a former Federal Court Judge Marcus Einfeld who were sent to jail because of lying about a $77 speeding ticket. It seems that Marcus had a habit of lying about the drivers of his car when caught in traffic infringements.

It is amazing to contemplate how people, a judge in this case, would lie and thus committed crimes just to get out of some relatively small matter. I have met a number of nice people who changed into very nasty selfish person when put in a position of power. What corrupts people? Power? Position?

Whatever the reason, checks and balances must be in place to ensure a fair society.

Burning Mercury Thiocyanide

Mercury(II) thiocyanate (Hg(SCN)₂) is a chemical compound. It was formerly used in pyrotechnics for the long snake-like ash Pharaoh's serpent that forms when a pellet of this compound, often with a small amount of a sugar such as glucose added to serve as supplemental fuel, is ignited. This is extremely dangerous because it produces poisonous mercury vapors. [source]

Fun

That's a fun way of handling the unwelcome tele-marketer.

Walkalong Glider

Watch this to get motivated.

Want to make one for yourself. Here is how from instuctables.

This is a really simply one


The following videos demonstrate how to convert a dead butterfly into a walkalong glider. (a dead butterfly and nail polish were used.)






More info at sites.google.com/site/controllableslopesoaring/.

Play - and why it is important!

A very insightful talk on play. We should introduce more into our schools.

Along the River During the Ching- ing Festival

Click on the title of this post to view the argumented painting. Best view in full screen.

This is a very famous painting in China. This painting was originally painted, circa 1085-1145, during the Northern Song Dynasty. It was repainted during the Qing Dynasty. It measures 528 cm in width and 24.8 cm in height.

In this online version, artists have inserted three animations. Click on the small square on the bottom of the screen to scroll to the hot spot. Click on the hot spot to watch an animation clip showing more details of the time. Enjoy.

Science education view point

About 4:00 into this video, Richard Dawkins gave two insightful approaches of Science education: Carl Sagan's and NASA non-stick frying pan. Personally, I am the admirer of the beauty of the Universe. Enjoy!

Here are some photos which should be distributed widely to teenage girls

Many teenage girls are easily influenced by the images of celebrities they saw on magazine or catwalks. Here are some before and after images which should point them to a more realistic images of themselves. Enjoy.



[more]

Monkey Walking Upright

Although the following video is making round in blogsphere recently, it is in fact an old news[2004]: A monkey at the Jerusalem Zoo has been walking upright after recovering from a stomach flu that nearly killed her [see also]:


Back in 2001:

Monkeys walking on two feet have long been an integral part of circus acts. The way they waddle from side to side appeals to our sense of comedy.
Now, however, Prof. Shigemi Mori and other researchers at the National Institute for Physiological Sciences have succeeded in training monkeys to walk erect smoothly, as humans do, by working with them from the age of 2 1/2 years.
Through this research, the scientists have learned that there is a considerable difference in brain function when an animal walks bipedally and when it walks on all fours. [source]

How do you write the job description of a janitor?

While you are watching the video from TED below, take the following questions in the background.

What is the most difficult part of being a "good" janitor?
How to include the 'good' part of a janitor job into the job description?

How can we educate for a wiser generation?

Obama's magic

Teaching is the art of helping people learn. A good lecture by a Chinese Physics Nobel Laureate, using only words, inspired me to become a Physics student at HKU and then became a Physics teacher for the better part of my life. That was many years ago.

The current USA president has the same gift and magic to inspire Americans in his speeches. Martin Shovel wrote:

The success of Obama and Favreau’s [Obama's head speechwriter] writing relationship is built on a fundamental principle of good communication: if you want an audience to pay attention, you have to begin by getting them to care about what you’re saying.

To inspire, we use narrative. To reason, we use facts and logic. To learn, we need to care enough to change ourselves.

We teachers can learn a lot from reading and studying great speeches. See my other blog Godlessize for some great speeches godlessized.

Just a story, but worth learning a lesson from it

A Modern Parable......

A Japanese company (Toyota) and an American company (Ford Motors) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.

On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile. The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.

Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 7 people steering and 2 people rowing. Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion.

They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing. Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 2 area steering superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager. They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 2 people rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the 'Rowing Team Quality First Program,' with meetings, dinners and free pens for the rowers. There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses. The pension program was trimmed to 'equal the competition' and some of the resultant savings were channelled into morale boosting programs and teamwork posters.

The next year the Japanese won by two miles.

Humiliated, the American management laid-off one rower, halted development of a new canoe, sold all the paddles, and cancelled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses.

The next year, try as he might, the lone designated rower was unable to even finish the race (having no paddles,) so he was laid off for unacceptable performance, all canoe equipment was sold and the next year's racing team was out-sourced to India.

Sadly, the End.

Here's something else to think about: Ford has spent the last thirty years moving all its factories out of the US, claiming they can't make money paying American wages.

TOYOTA has spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants inside the US. The last quarter's results: TOYOTA makes 4 billion in profits while Ford racked up 9 billion in losses.

Ford folks are still scratching their heads, while collecting their bonuses... and now wants the Government to 'bail them out.'

IF THIS WEREN'T SO TRUE IT MIGHT EVEN BE FUNNY!!!

cross posted to Corporate E-Learning

Victoria Bush Fire

Last weekend's bush fire in Victoria turned out to be one of the worse bush fire we have ever faced. The week before, we have the record-breaking 4 consecutive days of temperature over 44C which basically fried every thing dry. On the day, we have a record breaking 46.6C with strong northern wind and single digit humidity. While some fires were spontaneous, unfortunately, the authority has identified cases where arsenic may be involved.



The damage and destruction was widespread. As shown in the photo above, whole towns were wiped out. At this point, there were 181 people confirmed dead, over 4000 people homeless, hundreds were in emergency units with burn, over 700 homes totally lost.

On a slightly brighter side, the Bush Fire Relief Fund set up by the Victoria Government together with Red Cross has already reached 28M and several fund raising efforts will be coming in next few days. Record number of people donated blood in the last few days.

Could this bush fire be avoided in the first place?

Scientists are now pointing the fingers towards the worsening weather pattern. While the southern part of Australia is extremely dry (drought for the last couple of years, Melbourne's water storage is at record low), there are flooding in the northern part of the continent (one month's worth of rain was dumped within days in Queensland). Extreme temperatures (two hot weather records were broken within two weeks) are expected to continue.

If we are to put a value to climate change, we now have a vivid case.

cross-posted to Sustaining Future

My brother sent me this. I am sharing with all my friends. English translation after the original Chinese.

人生吧， 0歲出場，10歲快樂成長；20為情彷徨；30基本定向；40拼命打闖；50回頭望望；60告老還鄉；70搓搓麻將；80曬曬太陽；90躺在床上；100掛在牆上...


生的偉大，死莫淒涼！
能牽手的時候，請別只是肩並肩，
能擁抱的時候，請別只是手牽手，
能在一起的時候，請別輕易分開！

2009新概念

一個中心：一切以健康為中心


兩個基本點：
遇事瀟灑一點，看事糊涂一點。


三個忘記：
忘記年齡，忘記過去，忘記恩怨。


四個擁有：
無論你有多弱或多強，一定要擁有真正愛你的人，擁有知心朋友，擁有向上的事業，擁有溫暖的住所。


五個要：
要唱，要跳，要俏，要笑，要苗條。


六個不能：
不能餓了纔吃，不能渴了纔喝,不能困了纔睡，不能累了纔歇，不能病了纔檢查，不能老了再後悔!

Life: [Chinese has no tense. I used a simple present here. Depending on your age, some should be in past tense, some should be in future tense. :-)]
Year 0: come out
Year 10: grow up happily
Year 20: look for love
Year 30: set life's direction
Year 40: work hard
Year 50: look back
Year 60: go home
Year 70: play cards
Year 80: lie under the sun
Year 90: lie on the bed
Year 100: hang on the wall

Live great and die with no regret;
When we can hold hands, do not just walk side by side;
When we can embrace, do not just hold hands;
When we are together, do let separation come easily.

New Concepts in 2009
One focus: health
Two principles: Be cool and be fussy
Three forgetfulnesses: forget age, forget past and forget adversity
Four possessions: a loving life partner, understanding friends, prosperous business and a warm home.
Five verbs: sing, dance, be light-hearted, smile and be slim.
Six do-s [I changed the original negatives into positives except the last one]: eat before hungry; drink before thirsty; sleep before tired; check up before sick; don't get old before regretting wasting the life.

Happy New Year of Ox

A good question and a good honest answer

A mom wrote:

T-5's class was reading a book about chickens and T-5 asked which hole the egg comes out.

"The butt hole or the tummy hole?"

The teacher said she wasn't sure so T-5 told her, "That's okay, I'll look it up on my computer when I get home."

What I like about this story is that the Mom really helped her kid to find the answer and shared with us. Now, I know the answer. Do you?

Computer mouse

A mouse which controls your cursor on screen inside a mouse from pet shop...

End of closed book examination

from The Australian

The multi-million-dollar project was launched in London yesterday by three of the world's leading technology companies -- Cisco, Intel and Microsoft. They said the aim was to resolve the gap between what was taught in schools and the skills required in the workplace.

The project aims to develop a computer-based assessment system that could be adopted around the world and would test students' knowledge in cross-disciplinary problems, spelling the end of closed-book exams testing students' memory.

Stanford University lectures on Darwin and his legacy

via Atheist Nexus

These lectures, given by distinguished and notable experts in their respective fields, have now been uploaded to youtube, including the discussion panels that follow each lecture and the highly informative Q&A sessions.

Here they are
Lecture 1: "Darwin's Own Evolution" with Robert Siegel and "Darwin's Data" with William Durham


Lecture 2: "Evolution vs. Creationism" with Eugenie Scott.


Lecture 3: "A biography on Charles Darwin" with Janet Browne


Lecture 4: "The philosophical importance of Darwin's theory of evolution." with Dan Dennett


Lecture 5: "How and why species multiply" with Peter and Rosemary Grant.


Lecture 6: "Darwin's life and work" with Niles Eldredge


Lecture 7: "The history and consequences of social Darwinism" with Melissa Brown



Lecture 8: "Darwin's legacy in medicine and infectious disease" with Paul Ewald.



Lecture 9: "Evolution, Brain and Behaviour" with Russell Fernald


Lecture 10: "Learning to see Darwinian ways of meaning" with George Levine


[cross posted to Atheist Bible Reading and Forum]

One Laptop per Child program is downsizing

Cut staff by 50% and remaining will have a salary reduction.

Our technology initiatives will focus on:

1. Development of Generation 2.0
2. A no-cost connectivity program
3. A million digital books
4. Passing on the development of the Sugar Operating System to the community.

Happy New Year 2009

How Perceptive are You?

Simple to prepare and very good for delivering content. Just change a text in several places and ask the students to spot the error.

An example is linked to the title of this post.

Disclaimer: I am an atheist. I totally condemn the teaching of bible to any young children as truth. I also think that the moral lessons in bible is anything that we should try. See my viewpoints at Atheist Bible Reading and Forum, in particular this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this and this

Scientific Method in medical research

via Richard Dawkins Net
This is a very good discussion about the honesty system that has been built into scientific experiments between Richard Dawkins and Prof. Michael Baum (Professor Emeritus of Surgery at University College London).



or the playlist at http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=13C076E8CE7FCD4D

Newton's 1st law

Atheist Bible Reading and Forum

I have started a blog: Atheist Bible Reading and Forum

Hope you can visit it and participate in the gentleman debate whether religion should be included in education.

Astronaut demos drinking coffee in space

Creativity Quotes

I am matching some quotes that I found on the web with my two conditions of creativity:

Sufficient condition of creativity
Alan Alda: The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself. [Every journey starts with a first step, then a second step, then a third step. Keep on trying.]

Edward de Bono: It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.

Linus Pauling: The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.

Ray Bradbury: Life is "trying things to see if they work."

Eureka Moments
A. A. Milne: One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries. [This is an excuse of being disorderly rather than fostering creativity. ;-)]

Albert Einstein: You can never solve a problem on the level on which it was created.

Peter Senge: New insights fail to get put into practice because they conflict with deeply held internal images of how the world works ... images that limit us to familiar ways of thinking and acting. That is why the discipline of managing mental models -- surfacing, testing, and improving our internal pictures of how the world works -- promises to be a major breakthrough for learning organizations.

William James: Genius means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way.

You'd better watch out

A friend just sent me this. Like to share with you all.

You'd better watch out
You'd better not cry
You'd better keep cash
I'm telling you why:
Recession is coming to town.

It's hitting you once
It's hitting you twice
It doesn't care if you've been careful and wise Recession is coming to town.

It's worthless if you've got shares
It's worthless if you've got bonds
It's safe when you've got cash in hand
So keep cash for goodness sake, HEY

You'd better watch out
You'd better not cry
You'd better keep cash
I'm telling you why:
Recession is coming to town!

Finance products are confusing
Finance products are so vague
The banks make you bear the cost of risk So keep out for goodness sake, OH

You'd better watch out
You'd better not cry
You'd better keep cash
I'm telling you why:
Recession is coming to town.

Which direction should the screens face in a computer classroom

Today, I was talking to Dr Ki Wing Wah, a good friend from Hong Kong University. We touched upon the monitoring issues of students working in a classroom with computers. As a teacher, we cannot deny the duty of care including the kind of websites the students are accessing. In Hong Kong, many such classrooms have the computer placed in rows with students sitting facing the teacher. Effectively, there is no way the teacher can see what is happening on those screens.

Ki mentioned that he has seen a teacher who arranged the students' computer screen to face the teacher. When the teacher is talking, all the students will turn around to face him. Hence no one will be using any computer. When working alone, students will face the screens with backs towards the teacher. The teacher can effectively see all the screen activities and provide necessary assistance.

A simple change in screen orientation, a great improvement in classroom management!

How to say "I" in Chinese

My brother sent me this.
{translation in brackets like this}

有一個老外為了學好漢語，不遠萬里，來到中國，拜師于一位國學教授門下。第一天老外想挑一個簡單詞彙學習，便向老師請教英語「I」在漢語中應該如何說。
(A foreigner, wanting to learn Chinese, travels a long distance to China to find a Chinese Literature professor. On first day, the foreigner wants to start with a simple term. He asks the professor the Chinese equivalant of "I".)


老師解釋道：中國是一個官本位國家，當你處在不同的級別、地位，「I」也有不同的變化，就像：
(Teacher explains: Chinese respects status. As your rank or status changes, “I” also has the different form. For example:)


你們英語中的形容詞有原級、比較級、最高級一樣。比如，你剛來中國，沒有地位，對普通人可以說：「我、咱、俺、余、吾、予、儂、某、咱家、洒家、俺咱、本人、個人、人家、吾儂、我儂。」
(Like adjectives in English has different comparative degree, so is I. For instance, you being just came to China, do not have any status, you may use to an average person: “我、咱、俺、余、吾、予、儂、某、咱家、洒家、俺咱、本人、個人、人家、吾儂、我儂。”)


如果見到老師、長輩和上級，則應該說：「區區、僕、鄙、愚、走、鄙人、卑人、敝人、鄙夫、鄙軀、鄙愚、貧身、小子、小可、在下、末學、小生、不佞、不才、不材、小材、不肖、不孝、不類、走狗、牛馬走、愚小子、鄙生、貧生、學生、後學、晚生、?學、後生晚學、予末小子、予小子、餘小子。」
(If you see a teacher, an elder or a person at a higher authority, then should use:"區區、僕、鄙、愚、走、鄙人、卑人、敝人、鄙夫、鄙軀、鄙愚、貧身、小子、小可、在下、末學、小生、不佞、不才、不材、小材、不肖、不孝、不類、走狗、牛馬走、愚小子、鄙生、貧生、學生、後學、晚生、?學、後生晚學、予末小子、予小子、餘小子。")


等到你當了官以後，見到上級和皇帝，則應該說：「職、卑職、下官、臣、臣子、小臣、鄙臣、愚臣、奴婢、奴才、小人、老奴、小的、小底。」
After you become an official, when you see the higher authority and emperor, then should use: "職、卑職、下官、臣、臣子、小臣、鄙臣、愚臣、奴婢、奴才、小人、老奴、小的、小底"


見到平級，則可以說：「愚兄、為兄、小弟、兄弟、愚弟、哥們。」
(When you meet other colleague, you can use: "愚兄、為兄、小弟、兄弟、愚弟、哥們")


見到下級，則可以說：「爺們、老子、大老子、你老子、乃公。」
(In front of the subordinate, then may say: "爺們、老子、大老子、你老子、乃公")

如果你混得好，當上了皇帝或王爺，則可以說：「朕、孤、孤王、孤家、寡人、不轂。」
(If you become the amperor, you say:"朕、孤、孤王、孤家、寡人、不轂")

如果你不願意當官，只好去當和尚、道士，則應該說：「貧道、小道、貧僧、貧衲、不慧、小僧、野僧、老衲、老僧。」
(If you are not willing to be an official, and become a buddhist priest or taoist priest, then should say:"貧道、小道、貧僧、貧衲、不慧、小僧、野僧、老衲、老僧")


最後一點必須注意，一旦你退休了，便一下子失去了權利和地位，見人也矮了三分，只好說：「老朽、老拙、老夫、愚老、老叟、小老、小老兒、老漢、老可、老軀、老僕、老物、朽人、老我、老骨頭。」
(Last, once you have retired, then all of a sudden you have lost the right and the status, you had to call yourself: "老朽、老拙、老夫、愚老、老叟、小老、小老兒、老漢、老可、老軀、老僕、老物、朽人、老我、老骨頭")


上面一百零八種'I'，僅僅是男性的常用說法。更多的'I'明天講解。
(The above 108 kinds of 'I', is for the male only. More ' I' explanation tomorrow.)

老外聽了老師一席話，頓覺冷水澆頭,一個晚上沒有睡好覺。第二天一大早便向老師辭行：'學生、愚、不材、末學、走。'退了房間，訂了機票，回國去了。
(After hearing all these, the foreigner feels like a bucket of cold water has poured all over him. That night, he cannot sleep. Next day, he says to the professor: "學生、愚、不材、末學、走。" Checks out from the hotel, buys an airplane ticket, returns home.)