Cow’s Life - Thinking Outside Of The Barn

I consider myself a fairly good engineer. I built-a..hmm… well… anyway, I must have built something meaningful in the past a few years. I just can’t remember now. Maybe my “software engineer” title is an exaggeration, ‘cause when I am looking at this picture, there is just no comparison between my type of “engineering” and THIS type of engineering:

A magnetically levitated train takes you from New York to London in 54 minutes! You will go 5000 mph through a 3100 mile long tunnel that was itself floating in the Atlantic Ocean.

About a year ago, I saw this on the Discovery Channel. The hour long program explained theoretically how this will work which I still clearly remember. The main idea is simple. We can’t achieve high speed because of friction. With the air friction and the contact between the rail and the train itself, today’s engineering can only achieve about 200 miles per hour speed. In order to achieve 5000 mph speed, friction has to go away, meaning that the train has to flow and the tunnel can’t have air. So, what’s gonna happen? Use magnetic field and suck all the air out of the tunnel.

Discover website just put this Trans-Atlantic Tunnel project into an interactive tool. It’s pretty cool to check out it’s “Extreme Engineering” design. I don’t know if any giant company is funding this project or not. But if this theory can really become reality, I’d be tempted to find out how my guts would feel while traveling 5000 miles per hour… Hehehe… \
\

For those of you who don’t know the East part of the World War II history, Japan invaded China in 1937, ruined the entire country for nearly 8 years. My grandparents escaped from the village in Canton and migrated to Shanghai, which at that time was under the ruling of several Western countries. I was born in the old French district of Shanghai where my grandparents settled down in early 40’s. 60 years have gone by but the hate for the Japanese are still in the blood of majority of the Chinese including the younger generations like myself who were born way after the War was over. I can’t forgive them for slaughtering my three aunts like pigs by cutting their stomachs open. And I am still deeply insulted by the fact that they killed 300,000 people in Nanjing in one night and destroyed nearly every city they had touched from 1937 - 1945. If you dare to see some most disturbing killing and raping pictures, you can click the following link. Take my warning seriously; they are VERY DISTURBING because I CAN’T finish viewing them. I went through page 2 and I was about to vomit.

Nanjing Massacre Exhibit

As much as the hatred I have carried ever since I’ve learned the history, it never prevents me from falling for the beautiful Japanese culture and the arts. The stunning wood architecture, floral arrangement and the traditional painting have always captured my heart.

Although I can read only half of the Japanese characters, I would still spend hours wandering in a Japanese bookstore admiring the visual arts they have created. I watch Japanese anime and I play mostly Japan made console games such as my favorite Final Fantasy series. When Aeon Flux came out last weekend, I went to see it twice because of its anime background and the Japanese influenced architectural production settings.

I sometimes do feel guilty but I also feel that I have the freedom to appreciate whatever I appreciate. The love and hate conflict runs so deeply in my vein that I don’t think I will ever forget or forgive. But I do hope such battle can end in my generation. After all, we all need to move on and let the history become history.

Although I am injured and not able to snowboard, I tagged along this weekend to hang out in Vail with my friends. The 1 – 2 foot fresh powder was just too good to pass. After struggling nearly 4 hours on the road, we finally arrived in Vail Village. The entire Denver must came here ‘cause the only empty parking spots were for the handicapped. After circling around a few levels in the garage, we noticed that we must have passed by a few empty handicapped spots on each level.

“Can handicapped people ski and snowboard? Don’t you think those people who ski and snowboard shouldn’t be classified as handicapped?” My friend was getting frustrated. I started to count and didn’t see a single handicapped spot being taken and we had this army of late arrivals who were still desperately circling around the garage hoping to get lucky.

I used to have a blind roommate and we always used her handicapped parking permit to get the best spots. Her sight was permanently damaged and that was how she got the handicapped blue parking tag. I don’t know if my broken tailbone qualifies me as one of those handicapped parkers. But in reality, I don’t have a permit and I really need a closer spot at this time. What are the practical use of these spots anyway if the injured people can’t park there and the handicapped people don’t come here?

I accidentally came across this picture last night. Hmm, maybe I was wrong… Maybe the disabled do snowboard so Vail needs to designate 50 handicapped spots by the lift chairs.

“You can’t walk yet? But you will soon? Sorry, no handicapped spots for you! Keep circling!”

When I was at the Doc’s office, the guy told me a few things I shouldn’t do. You know, things like snowboarding, rock climbing, exercising, etc… Nothing surprising. But I am tell ya, the doc’s list is not even close to the real life experiences.

That day after I broke my tailbone, my friend took me to the ER. He is a funny guy who always makes me laugh. As usual, I laughed at his jokes and boy, my ass hurt like hell! I had to yell at him, “Don’t make me laugh, my ass hurts!”

A few days later, I had my first sneeze. I didn’t realize that my entire body shakes when I sneeze, tailbone included. I had to lie down on the couch to recover from the pain after each sneeze.

Unfortunately, I am relatively a happy person who laughs a lot and just caught cold at this moment. Talking about the perfect timing. I guess this is the once in the life time chance (I hope once is enough) for me to laugh/sneeze/cough my ass off.

Update on Dec 6 :
Defintely don’t take a flight. Stupid me flew to San Francisco 8 days after the accident and the 3 hour flight sitting in a middle seat was as miserable as you could imagine. What the hell was I thinking!? Durh..

Da Vinci helped revolutionize science. And sometimes he just dreamed up fanciful concepts. Always, he thought in ways no one else had.

#10 Mirror Writing

Was it a ploy to thwart Renaissance copycats peeking at his notes, or just a way to avoid the inky mess of writing left-handed? Whatever his motives, Da Vinci sure liked mirror writing: most of his journals are scrawled in reverse.

#9 Scuba Gear

Da Vinci’s fascination with the sea spurred many designs for aquatic exploration. His diving suit was made of leather, connected to a snorkel made of cane and a bell that floated at the surface. Proving the artist was also practical, the suit included a pouch the diver could urinate in.

#8 The Revolving Bridge

Always a fan of the quick getaway, Da Vinci thought his revolving bridge would be best used in warfare. The light yet sturdy materials, affixed to a rolling rope-and-pulley system, allowed an army to pick up and go at a moment’s notice

#7 The Winged Gilder

Da Vinci’s imagination was filled to capacity with ideas for flying machines, including several gliders equipped with flappable wings. This open-shelled model, fitted with seats and gears for the pilot, did not include a design for a crash helmet.

#6 The Triple-Barreled Cannon

More thinker than fighter, Da Vinci’s distaste for conflict didn’t stop him from dreaming up designs for more efficient cannons like this one. His jacked-up triple-barrel would have been a deadly weapon on the battlefield, fast and light with lots of extra fire power

#5 The Aerial Screw

Modern scientists agree it may never have lifted off the ground, but Da Vinci’s “helicopter” design is still one of his most famous. The curious contraption was meant to be operated by a four-man team and could have been inspired by a windmill toy popular in Leonardo’s time

#4 The Ideal City

Living in a Milan wrought with plague, Da Vinci envisioned a more efficient city he’d be proud to call home. His architectural draughts are highly detailed and even include horse stables with fresh air vents. To the bewilderment of modern Milanese, he did not make room for a soccer stadium.

#3 The Self-Propelled Car

It’s no Ferrari, but Da Vinci’s designs for a self-propelled vehicle were revolutionary for his day. His wooden “car” moved by the interaction of springs with geared wheels. Scientists at one museum in Florence built a replica in 2004 and found it worked as Da Vinci intended.

#2 Geologic Time

Plate tectonics? No sweat. While most of his contemporaries explained inland, mountain-top mollusk fossils as leftovers from the Great Flood, Da Vinci thought otherwise. He supposed (right) that the mountains must once have been coastline before many years of gradually shifting upwards.

#1 The vitruvian Man

Da Vinci modeled his perfect human form after the proportions laid out by Vitruvius, an ancient Roman architect. The angry-looking man drawn by Da Vinci has reason to smile – he’s now considered one of the most recognizable figures on earth

IMAGE CREDIT: By Permission of the British Library Arundel 263, f.4v,11
IMAGE CREDIT: Courtesy of Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia
By Heather Whipps

Ok, I know a lot of guys have super sensors turned on for the hot snow bunny but lack of ability to recognize the dust bunny. So I figured I’d do the human society a favor in finding an effective method to turn the lazy butts into housekeeping supermen!

Finally, after seeking advices from a wise woman from a far-far-away land called Australia, I’ve found the magic spell! It’s called “Beer”!

Check this out: The best way to get the guys to clean the house! (It’s a 750K video file. So be patient please).

Thanks to Kimmi for the video file.

If you think this whole pixel business is crazy, wait until you see what this dude did. Jon Jacob just spent $100,000 on a virtual space station in a game called “Project Entropia” (Teleporters map shown below). Earlier this year, David Storey spent $26,500 buying Treasure Island , a private piece of virtual land in Project Entropia.

I have never heard of this game, but I know for a fact that a lot of people are spending handsome cash on the virtual armors and weapons to advance in “World of WarCraft” or “Final Fantasy XI”. You can get 2 million Gils (currency in FF series) for 38 bucks and 500 pieces of World or WarCraft gold for $47.

I don’t exactly know how these businesses work by selling virtually nothing in exchange for real currency. But whoever gets the ins and outs of the business such as IGE.com can truly make themselves rich instantaneously without invest much.

Too many of us are working days and nights for a tiny paycheck while there are those creative thinkers breaking new grounds of economy everyday.

There are billions of possibilities on the Internet! I am curious to see what’s gonna happen 10 years from now. Maybe we would all have two different lives, one in a real world and another in a virtual reality world! Good God! Finally the guys can test the water to see how it is like to live as a woman!

Thanks to RJ for the link.

Before I say anything, take a look at the following chart:

(source: www.crutchfield.com/TV)

The Tube CRT offers the best quality of picture in the 13” – 36” range. A 36 inch CRT old fashion Tube TV costs probably 400 bucks while a same size Plasma costs $1999! I don’t know if I can convince myself to spend $1500 more just to get a flatter look. It seems kind of waste of money. So I am going to stick with my 100 dollar 27 inch old fashioned Panasonic CRT for a while.

For the very first time in my life, I broke a piece of my bone.

I was unloading from a lift chair when my right foot slipped. My butt landed pretty hard on the binding. It was so painful that my tears came out right away involuntarily. I probably took a hundred falls on my butt ever since I started learning snowboarding and this one was by far the worst. I didn’t know I broke my tail bone at that time. I fell so many times that the pain was already part of the game.

After 15 minutes of struggling, I strapped my feet back in and rode down the hill with the rest of the class. An hour later, I found myself having difficulties sitting in the cafeteria. Even my favorite hot beef stew couldn’t keep my mind off the pain.

Three hours after the fall, the pain was still so persistent that I started having a hard time walking down the stairs. Finally, my friends put me in the back seat and drove me back to Denver. I still didn’t think I broke anything until the doctor gave me an examination in the ER and told me I broke the tip of my tail bone. I was very disappointed when I heard the news. I have the next two weekends planned to go to Wolf Creek and Vail. Now, I can’t even rock climb. Bummer!

Although I can still walk (slowly) and sit on a donut shaped cushion for coupe of hours, driving still gives me a lot of ass-ache. I tried to go to the nearby Target today and the 2 mile roundtrip was quite a struggle when dealing with the road bumps. I probably pissed off a lot of drivers by going 10 miles an hour.

My friends showed so much caring after I got injured. A girl I met just a few weeks ago postponed her night out with her friends and drove me from Breckenridge back to my apartment. A close friend of mine also missed a portion of his party and took me to the ER and got me medications and food. A few people called today to let me know that they are only a phone call away if I needed anything.

I wrote a very moody post just a week ago when I felt very lonely. But when a situation like this happens, people do care and they do anything they can to help their friends. I am truly grateful that after just a short period of time living in Denver, I’ve had a few people whom I can rely on if I am ever in trouble. This is a very comforting thought.

Thank you guys for helping me to grow my tail back. I will do the same if you ever have problems with your tails or paws. Hehehe..

I DON”T BELIEVE IT!!!

Someone paid $15099 for the new XBOX 360!!

This is the first speechless post on Yunasville, ever….