Friday, March 24, 2006
中國「語」「文」
據報聯合國將劃一使用簡體字。 這又使我想起：孫國父與毛主席兩大偉人，一個把外族語言拿來當國語，攪到 d 人以為唐詩宋詞以至古裝電視劇應該講「普通話」；一個發明了簡體字，以至乾炒牛河會譯成 fxxk fry cow river。短短幾十年就把中國幾千年文化廢了，對中國語言和文字的貢獻實在太大了一點 ...
Thursday, March 23, 2006
1/4 + 1/2 = ?
英國學生嘅數學水平，比香港更高...
話說呢到有個 Game theory in Computer science 嘅 MSc course, 聽眾一般包括 Reader, Lecturer, PhD 學生, MSc 學生及 "Notetaker" 各一名。某日有條數最後係 1/4 - 1/2 + 1, 正當那 MSc 學生要開計數機，那 Lecturer (教的那個, 不是聽的那個) 忽然喝止，於是佢地只好用紙筆計數。雖然那 Lecturer 已說明係等於 1/4 + 1/2, 不過佢仍然攪了半分鐘，仲同隔離對埋，才肯定佢嘅答案: 6/8.
話說呢到有個 Game theory in Computer science 嘅 MSc course, 聽眾一般包括 Reader, Lecturer, PhD 學生, MSc 學生及 "Notetaker" 各一名。某日有條數最後係 1/4 - 1/2 + 1, 正當那 MSc 學生要開計數機，那 Lecturer (教的那個, 不是聽的那個) 忽然喝止，於是佢地只好用紙筆計數。雖然那 Lecturer 已說明係等於 1/4 + 1/2, 不過佢仍然攪了半分鐘，仲同隔離對埋，才肯定佢嘅答案: 6/8.
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Prudence's visit
Yesterday Prudence came to give a talk. I believe there is a more than usual number of people in the audience, including quite some people that has never appeared in any "algorithm" talk.
The dinner was in a south Indian restaurant. While I do not particularly enjoy Indian food, I'm ok with it and the dosa taste quite good. The starter is too "plain" for me though...
I drank more than usual amount of beer in the whole day, but that has nothing to do with the talk, or the St. Patrick's day.
The dinner was in a south Indian restaurant. While I do not particularly enjoy Indian food, I'm ok with it and the dosa taste quite good. The starter is too "plain" for me though...
I drank more than usual amount of beer in the whole day, but that has nothing to do with the talk, or the St. Patrick's day.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Algorithms course
由於最高指示下年要整個新嘅三年班 Algorithms course，我走去睇吓佢地一年班嘅課程。有一科叫做 Algorithms and data structures，內容十分別開生面，包括 Exceptions, Inheritance and Polymorphism, GUIs and event-driven programming, applets 等等。唔，三年班學 sorting...
我就唔係好認為佢地識 Inheritance and Polymorphism 呢 d 嘢。佢地好似連 variable 係有 scope 嘅都唔係好知。其實老細改革課程都好不遺餘力。例如佢地終於 compulsory 要學 semaphore, thread, socket 同 TCP/IP layers 了...
我就唔係好認為佢地識 Inheritance and Polymorphism 呢 d 嘢。佢地好似連 variable 係有 scope 嘅都唔係好知。其實老細改革課程都好不遺餘力。例如佢地終於 compulsory 要學 semaphore, thread, socket 同 TCP/IP layers 了...
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Sunday, March 05, 2006
殺校
閱報得知 N 年前就讀的小學遭殺校。據阿媽說，學校早前想聯絡我，大概都係關於呢件事咁話。其實撻我個朵出來都係無濟於事，不過如果有乜野可以幫到手嘅，我係好樂意做 的。間學校好好係講唔上，但總算係生活左幾年，留有回憶嘅地方，盡下人事都好的。其實佢地捱到今日都算係咁了，不少同學的小學早就倒閉了...
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Bioinformatics, English department, and matrix
話說因為別人家有急事，我早幾日幾乎被召去代課教 database，即係我教緊既嘢 ─ 不過要頂既係 MSc Bioinformatics 既。喺 LG101 混了幾年聽返嚟既幾乎有用到既一日。不過最後唔洗，於是可以繼續去教英文系學生...
不過，結果今日都係頂左一堂。同三年班學生溫習 matrix multiplication。我都唔知點解 2x2 既 matrix 乘數都可以講到四十分鐘...
不過，結果今日都係頂左一堂。同三年班學生溫習 matrix multiplication。我都唔知點解 2x2 既 matrix 乘數都可以講到四十分鐘...
Saturday, February 25, 2006
TV
As if my research isn't bad enough, I finally got (after being here for several months) a mind-distracting machine from a colleague.
I don't really understand how they come up with this system of paying a "licence fee" to watch TV. I think we can guess how well the system is working when letters are continually delivered to the ex-tenant here (or ex-ex, or ex-ex-ex...) asking him to pay. "Sophisticated equipment" to detect whether you have a TV. Sounds quite interesting...
I don't really understand how they come up with this system of paying a "licence fee" to watch TV. I think we can guess how well the system is working when letters are continually delivered to the ex-tenant here (or ex-ex, or ex-ex-ex...) asking him to pay. "Sophisticated equipment" to detect whether you have a TV. Sounds quite interesting...
Monday, February 20, 2006
Miscellaneous
(1) One day I was flipping through an MSc application. It says the applicant has a term with GPA 4.0 in MIT, but clearly he has never studied outside of his third-world home country. After 5 seconds I realized that MIT stands for "Master in Information Technology"...
(2) Alan Smith:
(3)
【明報專訊】就特首曾蔭權任用民主派出身的劉細良為中央政策組全職顧問，民建聯行政會議成員曾鈺成與立法會議員鄭經翰展開罵戰，曾鈺成日前在報章批評鄭經翰﹕「主人都未出聲，狗唔需要吠住﹗」
不唔係通常主人未叫，狗就吠定先，要主人喝止架咩...
就好似你咁，上面都未出聲，你就...
(2) Alan Smith:
When I looked, the leg was lying one way and my ankle
was pointing towards Hong Kong so I knew I was in
serious trouble
(3)
【明報專訊】就特首曾蔭權任用民主派出身的劉細良為中央政策組全職顧問，民建聯行政會議成員曾鈺成與立法會議員鄭經翰展開罵戰，曾鈺成日前在報章批評鄭經翰﹕「主人都未出聲，狗唔需要吠住﹗」
不唔係通常主人未叫，狗就吠定先，要主人喝止架咩...
就好似你咁，上面都未出聲，你就...
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Exam meeting
We have the exam meeting today. No, I'm not going to tell you anything. Except that I possibly over-worried - our module (i.e. course) is perhaps the only one among third year modules that does not require the application of some continuous bijective mapping from a compact set to itself. These mappings are not arbitrary, e.g. they must be piecewise-linear, and have at least two fixed points, one more than the theoretical minimum. We discussed how to design mappings that optimize different objectives, e.g. the power mean of order 1, or the difference from the required statistical distribution.
Saturday, February 11, 2006
Yum Cha
Today I go to Yum Cha with Thomas, his wife who is from Hong Kong, his daughter, and Rajeev.
We have it at Peking restaurant. I know it but have never been there since it is an expensive place. It looks like all staff there speak Cantonese. And for the food, it is very close to Hong Kong standards except maybe the Har Gow which tastes a bit strange.
Thomas's wife is an alumni of HKU. She lives in a very different spacetime from me: she asks "Is 黃麗松 still the vice-chancellor?" I list out all the vice-chancellors after 黃麗松, none of which known to her, and I keep on wondering "did I miss someone?"
We have it at Peking restaurant. I know it but have never been there since it is an expensive place. It looks like all staff there speak Cantonese. And for the food, it is very close to Hong Kong standards except maybe the Har Gow which tastes a bit strange.
Thomas's wife is an alumni of HKU. She lives in a very different spacetime from me: she asks "Is 黃麗松 still the vice-chancellor?" I list out all the vice-chancellors after 黃麗松, none of which known to her, and I keep on wondering "did I miss someone?"
Monday, February 06, 2006
becoming a student again
Today we have the first regular meeting of the course Postgraduate Certificate in whatever blah blah blah. I am given a student card. That's perhaps a good thing since there is no such thing called "staff card" here and I always wonder how people prove themselves to be a member of staff. And perhaps I will finally remember to purge the HKU student card, Octopus card, etc. out from my wallet.
The meeting turns out to be a discussion where participants complain about universities turning into vocational-training factories, business-oriented management of universities, taking more students and thus lowering the quality, and continental Europeans complaining the spoon-feeding system here etc etc. The instructor hopelessly, repeatedly mention something like "well that's very much a double-sided sword" etc. After all, isn't that the whole point of the course - to transform us into whatever they want us to be?
The meeting turns out to be a discussion where participants complain about universities turning into vocational-training factories, business-oriented management of universities, taking more students and thus lowering the quality, and continental Europeans complaining the spoon-feeding system here etc etc. The instructor hopelessly, repeatedly mention something like "well that's very much a double-sided sword" etc. After all, isn't that the whole point of the course - to transform us into whatever they want us to be?
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Chinese restaurant review: 東方酒樓
今日年廿九，我黎到呢間「東方酒樓」試試... 本來我諗住黎食叉燒飯，不過我見佢 buffet 都有叉燒，又有飯，咁就 buffet 把啦。
呢間只須4.2鎊，一星期七日都係呢個價錢。也是市中心，裝修很正常。侍應很兩文三語...
食物方面呢，都係咁上下嘅嘢，未來來去去都係 D 豬肉牛肉瓜瓜菜菜咁。比起上次，種類較少，無點心壽司，不過就好食 D ，同埋 D 春卷個樣好好多。 D 食得飽嘅炒粉麵飯反而有成四五款。D 叉燒... 好鹹。其實其他嘢都係。又其實上次個間都係。
總結黎講幾好，應該多 D 幫襯。
呢間只須4.2鎊，一星期七日都係呢個價錢。也是市中心，裝修很正常。侍應很兩文三語...
食物方面呢，都係咁上下嘅嘢，未來來去去都係 D 豬肉牛肉瓜瓜菜菜咁。比起上次，種類較少，無點心壽司，不過就好食 D ，同埋 D 春卷個樣好好多。 D 食得飽嘅炒粉麵飯反而有成四五款。D 叉燒... 好鹹。其實其他嘢都係。又其實上次個間都係。
總結黎講幾好，應該多 D 幫襯。
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Exam results
我想問吓當年 Isaac 嘅 OS 試卷平均分係幾多呢... 話唔定我可以超越 Isaac，甚至迫近當年 HB 佬嘅 Solid state...
好在我只係出咗半份卷... 不過我已經可以想像，遲 D Examiner's meeting 俾人插嘅情形：「點解同一班學生, 做人地個三題好地地，做你個三題就咁差，你點出題目架？」
好在我只係出咗半份卷... 不過我已經可以想像，遲 D Examiner's meeting 俾人插嘅情形：「點解同一班學生, 做人地個三題好地地，做你個三題就咁差，你點出題目架？」
Friday, January 20, 2006
Exam
So my students have their exam today. I am invigilating another exam in the same timeslot, so I don't know how they are doing it. It is not a bad thing, though, to invigilate a lot of students taking "Renaissance poetry". (You know what I mean, right?)
Talking about my own exam, I think it is a easy paper. This is to be understood together with the fact, if you don't know it, that almost all tests and quizzes I have set in the past are believed to be of reasonable difficulty by me but not so by students, and sometimes proved to be deadly.
In the days before the exam there are students troubling, of course. I particularly dislike guys who keep on asking for hints. I mean, why do you think I would give hints to you? You ain't pretty gal, huh? (And even that won't help, of course...)
But at least I was out of office for the whole day before the exam, which possibly avoided some trouble. That is to attend an introduction session of a course on postgraduate certificate in higher education, or something like that (I never remember the name). I thought only HK secondary school teachers need to take a PCEd. A year's work to come. A probation requirement. Pooh...
Talking about my own exam, I think it is a easy paper. This is to be understood together with the fact, if you don't know it, that almost all tests and quizzes I have set in the past are believed to be of reasonable difficulty by me but not so by students, and sometimes proved to be deadly.
In the days before the exam there are students troubling, of course. I particularly dislike guys who keep on asking for hints. I mean, why do you think I would give hints to you? You ain't pretty gal, huh? (And even that won't help, of course...)
But at least I was out of office for the whole day before the exam, which possibly avoided some trouble. That is to attend an introduction session of a course on postgraduate certificate in higher education, or something like that (I never remember the name). I thought only HK secondary school teachers need to take a PCEd. A year's work to come. A probation requirement. Pooh...
Monday, January 16, 2006
epidemic
From here:
The death rate among aunts and grandmothers of college-age students is phenomenal, far beyond anything actuarial. It is biased toward exam time. A death in the family is the standard excuse for missing classes and examinations. Although some students are remarkably inventive in concocting stories, most are not. Faced with such an excuse, be aware that the student may be working you. These things are also cyclical. If one student gets away with it, others follow and you have a veritable epidemic among your students’ relatives.
The death rate among aunts and grandmothers of college-age students is phenomenal, far beyond anything actuarial. It is biased toward exam time. A death in the family is the standard excuse for missing classes and examinations. Although some students are remarkably inventive in concocting stories, most are not. Faced with such an excuse, be aware that the student may be working you. These things are also cyclical. If one student gets away with it, others follow and you have a veritable epidemic among your students’ relatives.
Sunday, January 08, 2006
AAIM'06
I think I ought to advertise this conference: my ex-boss is a co-chair, and the PC members include my current boss, my PhD examiner, 4 of my co-authors, HKU-related people, and many online algorithms and scheduling algorithms experts.
And I am not submitting a paper there.
And I am not submitting a paper there.
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Chinese restaurant review: Flame
由於各位對我咁耐都未幫襯過呢到既中國餐館感到十分驚訝，今日 lunch 忽然諗起，於是去了幫襯一間叫 "flame (焰)" 的，自助餐，每位五鎊 (只限 weekday lunch，weekend 要九鎊)。
這間餐館位於市中心，裝修很 "in"，紫色燈光(!)，外表横看豎看都不像中國餐館。
先說小食，除了那些蝦片沒有蝦味，與及春卷很蚊形(當然唔脆)外，大致上都OK的。
至於熱盤，有十多款普通過唔普通的，例如炒西蘭花，甜酸雞之類，部份菜式有點怪味，但大致上唔算難食。
這裡還有點心和壽司。點心共三款，分別貌似牛肉，燒賣與餃子，不論外表與味道都是公仔點心那個水平。壽司也無謂多說了。(五鎊你想有乜你食?)
最後是甜品，那西米露很啱我胃口，而諷刺地，全店最好食的似乎是那個西式的 cake。
總的來說，味道過得去，五鎊任你食，食乜都抵啦，算係唔錯。如果九鎊就可免則免了。
這間餐館位於市中心，裝修很 "in"，紫色燈光(!)，外表横看豎看都不像中國餐館。
先說小食，除了那些蝦片沒有蝦味，與及春卷很蚊形(當然唔脆)外，大致上都OK的。
至於熱盤，有十多款普通過唔普通的，例如炒西蘭花，甜酸雞之類，部份菜式有點怪味，但大致上唔算難食。
這裡還有點心和壽司。點心共三款，分別貌似牛肉，燒賣與餃子，不論外表與味道都是公仔點心那個水平。壽司也無謂多說了。(五鎊你想有乜你食?)
最後是甜品，那西米露很啱我胃口，而諷刺地，全店最好食的似乎是那個西式的 cake。
總的來說，味道過得去，五鎊任你食，食乜都抵啦，算係唔錯。如果九鎊就可免則免了。
Sunday, January 01, 2006
back to UK
I've come back to UK after this very short vacation (oops, no, should be research visit). Boarding the flight with no problems after a quick recovery from a fever the day before. For the first time, some officers appeared in the customs, although I still regret for not smuggling a lot more things...
People at tube and rail go strike causing the King's Cross St. Pancras station closed, and I need to go to the nearby King's Cross Thameslink station to take another train and involve a change in Bedford in order to get back. I have been around King's Cross for an enough number of times so that isn't much of a problem, fortunately.
People at tube and rail go strike causing the King's Cross St. Pancras station closed, and I need to go to the nearby King's Cross Thameslink station to take another train and involve a change in Bedford in order to get back. I have been around King's Cross for an enough number of times so that isn't much of a problem, fortunately.
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