红酒·绿茶 / Red Wine & Green Tea / Vin Rouge et Thé Vert

Having had great pleasure in reading "The Prince" by Niccolo Machiavelli , I can't help but writing down some thoughts I had in mind. With all due respect, Machiavelli's advice to a new prince may seem novel to the Greco-Roman world but are almost trite to the Sino-centric world. For example, Cesare Borgia's plan of letting Remirro de Orco, an extremely cruel person (酷吏), do all the dirty job of purging the unruly lords in the newly acquired Romagna then cutting him in half to please the people, which Machiavelli praised as an excellent example of political maneuver, was in any Chinese princes' playbook since probably the beginning of written Chinese history. What was new to me was Machiavelli's proto-scientific treatment of politics, which draws conclusions on logical analysis of the actual results of each political decision. For example, "it is better to be feared than loved." Modern political science's reliance on polls and data is sim...

I know I haven't blogged for a really long time but I can't help but paying tribute to Steve Jobs (1955-2011). Ever since I got my first Apple product, a Powerbook G4, I have never looked back. Life is too short to be wasted on figuring out how to use a computer, or using a computer that fails randomly. It should make you life easier, not harder. It should just work, like a Mac. His 2005 Stanford commencement speech is the best I have ever heard. You should watch it if you haven't already. The world would have been much more boring if it wasn't for Steve Jobs. We will miss you.

“It would be an honor if you could be my advisor.” That was what I told Fred six years ago. It still is and will ever be. (For the record, upon hearing the flattering words, he smiled and said, “We will see after we finish this project.”) As anyone who has gone through a PhD should know, the relationship between a student and his/her advisor is, for the lack of a better word, complicated. The student, out of deep respect for the advisor, has a constant desire of proving him/herself to be smart; the advisor, out of deep love for the student, has an occupational habit of setting the bar even higher. I definitely felt the pressure during my PhD years with Fred, whose towering achievements only made it sometimes overwhelming. Fred had such a reputation as a tough advisor that when the Chief Scientist of my company heard that I was his student, he congratulated me for having “walked the fire”. As someone who has honorably “walked the fire”, I would like to share you the things I have lear...

Call me an Apple fanboy but this is too good to be passed: From NYTimes Bits .

It is hard to believe that I bought this Lego Inventor: Wild Wind Ups (4093) in 2003 but kept it unopened for 7 years! Yesterday I finally decided to open it and spent a few hours building it up with my dear wife. It was a lot of fun. Without further ado, I present you: the Stirrer!

Mao Mao is our 7-month-old Chow Chow . He likes eating, sleeping and traveling. Recently he discovered Quatchi , one of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games mascots, and really enjoyed playing with him. Video courtesy of my dear wife. :)

This IS a reason when Katie Couric (or maybe Brian Williams?) told Jon Stewart that "more and more Americans are getting news from your show" despite the fact that "The Daily Show" is on Comedy Central . In a time when CNN is going so down as to be ecstatic when Anna Nicole Smith died or so desperate as to read out loud Twitter feeds as "news" and Fox constantly slaps itself in the face by contradicting its own "story" just a few years/months/days ago, journalism curiously lives on in a satiric faux news show. Take, for instance, the episode on March 9, 2010 when he had a heated conversation with a conservative guest about how far you can go to defend your country. Because the conversation was so emotionally, it easily lasted more than the allocated 10 minutes. However, you can watch the whole, unedited, three-part version online . For some reason, the debate reminds me the movie "A Few Good Men" , which is a good movie, where Demi Mo...