Oriental Freelancer

Practical use for characteristic function & electrical engineering technique in evaluating sines

2011-04-23T13:23:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I was thinking about the uniqueness of the heat equation in both the Cauchy setting and the Dirichlet boundary setting. While thinking about this, the mathematics came down to computing the convolution of the heat kernel with the initial condition which is periodic with fundamental domain $[0,L]$.

After while, I needed to compute the convolution of the heat kernel with a sin function. In probabilistic terms, I need to compute

$$ E[sin(X)] \; X \sim N(\mu, \sigma) $$

Brute forcing the expected value is very difficult. Then i realized that we can use the good old characteristic function if we represent $sin(X)$ as $\frac{e^{iX}-e^{-iX}}{2i}$

If we convolve a sine signal with some kernel, how do we know the output is still a sine signal? Well if the kernel is symmetric (even), that means the Fourier transform will be even. Since sine has a spectrum consisting of two Dirac delta functions at $+\omega$ and $-\omega$, then the output of the convolution will be another sine function of a different magnitude.

Why a strong grasp of history is important for scientists

2010-10-02T18:51:00.000-05:00

The purpose of the study of history is to learn from the past so we can make better decisions in the future. In a geeky machine learning analogy, it is kind of like processing more "training data" so that we can minimize our prediction error. A scientist should have a pretty strong concept of the history of science including
1. The history of development in this sub-discipline. In machine learning, that translates to early inception of the field in A.I., the problems with the A.I. (search space) technique, entrance of statistics (VC, generalization errors), parallel development in neural science, up till the present day. With this, the researcher can better plan his strategy to maximize success in the long run.
2. Also the broader context of the development of scientific thoughts. Scientific revolution, paradigm shifts in scientific progress.

Similarity between orchestra and basketball team

2010-10-02T18:37:00.000-05:00

Last Tuesday I was playing basketball and then went quickly to my weekly university orchestra rehearsal. As much as the two different crowds can be, there are some striking similarity between these two activities.

On an individual level, each player on a basketball team or in an orchestra must maintain individual technical proficiency. The musician practices his/her instrument by spending hours on scales, etudes, and concert pieces to build better facility and musicianship. The athlete spends hours on drills, to improve shooting,dribbling, defending, endurance. Both require tremendous discipline and dedication. On a side note, both also suffer from performance anxiety (like performing at Carnegie Hall or taking that fateful foul shot when you have 5 seconds left in the game)

There is also similarity in the team dynamics. In an orchestra, each musician subjugates his/her individual interpretation of the piece and tries to blend with the whole group. Each musician is also given different parts thus different roles. It can be the solo melody, simmering background accompaniment, or a grand tutti. The violinist must pass off the beautiful theme to the woodwinds and play pianissimo trills so that the entire orchestra can make music together. The basketball player need to pass the ball selflessly and sacrifice your own personal glory for team victory.

On a last note, there is the coach/conductor. Their job is to make sure mend personalities (musicians can have sometimes bigger egos than basketball players) and dictate the team strategy / musical interpretation.

How can PhD in engineering help in music performance?

2010-10-02T18:26:00.000-05:00

In the fourth year of my PhD now and just writing a blog piece about some of my changing habits in violin playing/practicing after grueling through some serious academic research.
PhD students are trained to research. To find interesting solvable problems in existing knowledge, explore and make some advances. The whole process is very amorphous and self-directed. First, a large amount of time is spent finding a good problem. This is very fortuitous and often happens at a "Eureka" moment. Over time, the PhD student develops the ability to seek out interesting problems that are solvable. This is similar to a musician picking a piece that interests him/her and is within the reach of his/her technical ability.
After finding a problem, you are required to analyze it into smaller projects that can be tackled. It also involves a certain about "diagnostics" in the implementation phase, to figure out what stage of your solution has broken down. A violinist must also analyze his/her target piece. Usually there would be two phases, a technical analysis and a musical analysis. In the technical analysis, one must discover trouble spots and usually design efficient and clever "mini-etudes(studies)" to overcome such difficulty. These difficulties can include

Left-hand: lack of finger pressure, side of fingers touching nearby strings, lack of finger dexterity (especially on the fourth finger), dreaded intonation (especially on double stops), getting a nice wide vibrato (difficult on double stops)
Right-hand: awkward string crossing, spiccato, upbow staccato, fast whole bow strokes. Overly noticeable bow changes.

After technical analysis, the musician has to think about phrasing, composition background, balance, dynamics etc.

On the whole, my playing is more rigorous and I have gotten better at figuring out how to practice for a difficult piece. (Waxmen Carmen fantasy and Devil's Trill right now)

沁园春和黄河钢琴协奏曲

2010-09-27T22:00:00.000-05:00

昨天路上在我新买的iPad 读《沁园春》。太久没读汉语的词了，所以用iPad 得"Pleco reader"边查字典边读。
虽然沁园春开头是描述“北国风光”和“山舞银蛇“而《黄河》歌颂“黄河船夫” 和“黄河愤” ，但是他们的爱故主义气氛是非常生气勃勃的。（甚至“保卫黄河”还满杀气勃勃的）我觉的这两部艺术作品可以互相搭配，妮布。当然，《沁园春》二阕离开了自然而走向了政治。

其实用大河或者其它地里世贸作为爱国主义歌曲主题还很长见。比如斯美塔那的“伏尔塔瓦河”（从他著《我的祖国》），科普兰的《阿巴拉契亚之春》。所以我们不要忘记了，每个国家都有狂热的爱国分子。但是永远不能让自己国家的利益战胜正义。

Why I left a lucrative financial engineering career?

2010-09-16T09:40:00.002-05:00

The film "Inside Jobs" by Charles Ferguson sums it up quite well.

Piano and Violin learning curve

2010-09-12T21:23:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it's almost nine months since I started playing the piano (casually). I must make some quick comments comparing the difficulty curve of the violin vs. the piano.

In terms of tone production and intonation, the violin is magnitudes harder. You need precise motor control for your left hand fingers, refined muscle control of the right arm for proper bow pressure, and also a trained ear for detecting minor deviations in pitch. On the piano, all the notes are laid out and varying finger pressures do not affect the tone that much. This is very good for beginners because a piano student can start playing nice melodies immediately as opposed to waiting for years before producing a nice tone.

The piano, on the other hand (no pun intended), requires some tricky coordination between the left and right hands. At the advanced level, this can become excruciatingly difficult (Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2). But advanced level violin playing have a slew of dizzying techniques on both hands (left hand pizzacato, quick double stops, spiccato, up-bow staccato). They have comparable difficulty on the upper hand.

Hence, it is reasonable to conclude that violin has a steeper learning curve.

Voila.

Process of innovation from theory to application

2010-09-07T08:04:00.001-05:00

More often than not, science/engineering academic researchers are disinterested in developments and applications in the industry. This definitely has benefits as it allows researchers the freedom to explore new frontiers without the hindrance of a demand for immediate application. However, experiences and trends in the industry should influence academics whose research are more applied in nature.
I see the process of human technological innovation in four stages.

1. Important paradigm shift in the way that humans think (Switch from Aristotlean to Copernican view of the universe, switch from the occult world to reason and rationalism, acceptance of evolution, Godel's incompleteness theorem). I would put disciplines like philosophy and mathematics in this category.
2. The paradigm shift lead to the creation of new fundamental knowledge that are not directly applicable. (Physics, chemistry, astronomy, physiology)
3. These discipline in the arts & science lead to more "applied" vocational fields. These vocational fields create basic technologies (for example, electrical engineering created digital circuits and computers, chemistry created biochemistry & pharmacology)
4. Businesses then generate ideas on how these technologies can be used in clever ways. (For example, using the internet to sell books, using new flat-panel display technologies to read books, using new biometrics for homeland security).

In another word, at the one end of scale is a philosophy/method of thinking that explains theories which explain specific phenomenons that can solve our specific problems. The other end are immediately useful things which are only useful immediately. (Credit this sentence to Olivier Bosquet's blog)

I think it is important for a researcher to know some of all four stages albeit with different weights. They all feedback on each other and would benefit innovators at each of those four stages. I would place myself at the third stage leaning towards the fourth stage. However, I have to do innovation at stage 2 sometime in order to solve a problem that I'm trying to tackle at stage three. Other times, the problem I'm working on in stage 3 is inspired by an application idea coming from stage 4.

Future of the publishing industry

2010-09-05T23:04:00.000-05:00

As I was forced to clean my room today I inevitably thought about the waste & hassle printed books caused. Then I asked the question of what will be the future of printing?
Here is a very good article on the topci
http://publishing2.com/2007/12/06/the-future-of-print-publishing-and-paid-content/

Why the courses that we forgot might still be useful?

2010-01-23T23:25:00.002-05:00

This article is merely speculation. Recently, the popular book "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell explains that much of the human thought process is subconscious. Although I can only remember few details from that class, perhaps it is still helping me shape my subconscious decisions.

恋爱期间坚决反对同居......(转)

2009-12-16T13:37:00.001-05:00

你还有过在床上想念(她)他并忍不住电话到天亮的经历吗？

你还有过送她回家或者宿舍时的恋恋不舍吗？

你还有周末终于到了，你们又可以快乐地共渡一个周末的激动与欣喜吗？

你还有在灯下静静思念她(他)，并手写一封短信给(她)他的甜蜜吗？

你还有看着她(他)突然换了个新发型、买了件新衣服或者体型有了新变化，给你带来的惊喜吗？

你还有和朋友逛街，突然想到要给她(他)也买一件东西的冲动吗？

没有了，什么都没有了，因为你们同居了。

你们同居了，抬头不见低头见，想念的甜蜜没有了，
而吵架、厌烦的情绪却日渐增多了；

你们同居了，你不用晚上送她回去，但你却盼星星盼月亮一样盼她离开一晚，这样你可以一个人看看DVD，或者上网打游戏，或者和朋友出去疯狂一晚；

你们同居了，周末的快乐也没有了，还有那么多的衣服要洗、房子要打扫，而她也嚷着要去购物，而你除了睡觉，根本就不想动弹；

你们同居了，别说写信，就是发个短信你也觉得手指疼，因为要说的话都说得差不多了；

你们同居了，她(他)任何变化已经不能引起你的注意了，因为你们对彼此身体的任何一个部位都了解得清清楚楚，甚至包括体毛的数量和颜色；

你们同居了，你们都缩小了彼此的生活圈子，陪她购物是你天经地义的事情，而每一次经历，你都可能痛苦厌倦得想死去。

更为可怕的是，你的财务计划突然变得一塌糊涂，你的工作、学习、事业还没有成型，你却发现你已经开始承担一个家了，于是你变得患得患失了；
这就是，你们想要的同居生活？

古人说的人生四大喜中有两件就是：洞房花烛夜，金榜题名时。可见事业和家庭一直就是联系在一起的。古人还说：成家立业。说明没有一定的基础，婚不是那么好结的。

而你们为了不可抑制的快乐，在没有能力开展婚姻生活的时候，突然把自己陷入了婚后的生活中。短暂的快乐没有了，换来的是生活的琐碎。

即使说，婚姻是爱情的坟墓。但至少进入坟墓之前，还有个隆重的、像摸像样的葬礼，还有一些陪葬品和仪式帮助你去天堂过日子。但同居，却是你们一不留神掉进了一个坟坑，周围的人甚至还不知道，你们就开始了地狱的生活。

而你，还在自欺欺人地自我感觉良好：我还是未婚人士；你已经在承受婚后带来的种种压力和痛苦，你却还是浑然不知，说自己还没有结婚的心态，还没有想好要承受婚姻。

同居，一种糟糕的生活方式：你用未婚的心态去承受婚后的生活。这如同，你本来只是在学开车，却一不留神把车开上了路，并开始了全球历险；你本来只想玩玩过家家，却付出了真实的衣食住行的成本。

你号称未婚，却没有未婚的自由；
你号称结婚，却没有婚姻的保证，等有一天分手了，你们甚至都没法为分割财产去打官司。因为你们的关系，是如同赵忠祥老师所说那样——非法述求。
未婚的不快和结婚的不快，这两个本应该矛盾的东西，你却都感受了。
知道了这些年，你一直不快乐了吗？因为你同居了。

如果你没有想好结婚，就不要同居，因为你还是个孩子，你还无力承受生活的压力。

如果你想要感受婚姻的生活，那就付出你的努力，家是一件很重要的事情，你们都玩不起。恋爱，但不要同居

Duals Duals Duals

2009-12-13T14:41:00.003-05:00

Is there a connection between all these "duals" in math?
There seem to be two main classes of duals.
One from linear algebra / functional analysis, and one from optimization theory. (Lagrangian/convex duals)

Well actually there is.

Recall that dual space of a vector space V is simply the set of all linear functionals of V. To put it another way, dual space is simply all the row vectors if the original space is finite dimensional.

Dual norm comes up in convex optimization. Dual norm of z is defined as sup_x { | ||x||<=1}. This is actually the same as the operator norm of the vector z when you think of z as an element of the dual space (row vector). In great generality, we can think of dual norm as INDUCED NORMS ON THE DUAL SPACE.

This really plays a role in Lp duality. Lp dualtity says that the dual of Lp space is isometric to Lq. Here we are talking about infinite-dimensional spaces. Also the dual norm of an element of the dual space of Lp will be equal to the Lq norm of that linear functional when mapped into Lq. (See any real analysis text)

What about the dual cone?
You can think about the dual cone as one way of generating a INDUCED CONE IN THE DUAL SPACE. (Again, we think of row vectors as elements in the dual space)

I don't see the relation between the Fenchel dual (Legendre transform), Lagrangian dual, and the dual space though.

Syndicated from another blog.

2009-12-09T22:43:00.001-05:00

“男人有老婆又有情人是男人的本事。请放心，情人不会成为老婆，两个概念不一样。男人的大部分心思还是在你身上，因为你是他老婆，是孩子的妈妈，名正言顺，任何时候都改变不了。而情人只不是婚姻的一种补充，是成功男人一种精神上的追求和情感上的需要，其实也是挺正常的事情，也不必太认真。”——这是昨天中午我在一个案宗中看到的，记录着一个成功男人的一段非常有代表性的“经典话语”，这就是他们奉行“家中红旗不倒，外面彩旗飘飘”，今朝有酒今朝醉，自嘲“自己喜新不厌旧，风流不下流”。

俗话说：“一个巴掌打不响。”不管是成功男人招惹了女人，还是女人勾引了成功男人，都是一种人生不道德的表现，都是一种社会公德的缺失。男人往往想要的是女人美貌与身体，女性往往想要的是成功男人的金钱与物质；成功男人用下半身思考问题，解决自己的私欲，女人用上半身思考问题，解决自己的私囊；当他们一拍即合、鱼水之欢的时候，就没有想到自己的老婆孩子（老公儿女）了，他们忘我尽情地只管彼此享乐放荡不羁，不管家人朋友的心受到无比的伤害打击，他们丧失天良把“婚姻的外衣”即刻抛到九霄云外去了。

　　人生短暂，即使你通过努力拼搏成功了也不要为自己找许多漂亮的借口，而去三番五次的寻找情人当作自己的“标志”。虽然在你的脸上贴上美丽好看的“情人标志”，但那都啻是你一厢情愿的虚荣心在作怪罢了，人们一定会对你深恶痛绝而讥笑藐视你的，同样你也将会是臭名远洋、遗臭万年的。之所以，你还是做一个洁身自好的成功男人为好，这样人们就会对你另眼相看而铭记你的忠贞气节，却给以你流芳百世。

　　现在和谐的社会需要更多的是老实敦厚、温文尔雅的成功男人，同样也需要更多的是安分守己、贤惠善良的温柔女人。只有男人永远不再做纸醉金迷、拈花惹草的男人，女人不再做水性扬花、放任自流的女人，那么整个世界将会是更加充满人情味的，而幸福的婚姻家庭就会是永远的牢固不破了。

Why it's hard to be a moderate

2009-11-28T19:16:00.002-05:00

I was playing basketball with a group of Chinese students in the other day. It was great and a lot of fun. We were playing half-court basketball and one end of the court was empty.
At the end of one of our match (about 10 people), around six non-Chinese (Lao Wai) students came and asked us whether we wanted to play full court. We got into a debate about playing one full court game vs. playing two half court games. I thought that the opinion among Chinese students might be diverse so I asked everyone to hold their hands up if they want to play full court (which was my preference). The vote didn't pass.
After the night ended, a few Chinese students half-jokingly / half-seriously accused me of siding with the foreigners. I merely tried to reach a democratic consensus without holding onto ethnic divisions. If a game of basketball can lead to ethnic hard-liners speaking out, no wonder racial genocide will still occur in the world. Not only that, I feel sympathy for those people who do not let their ideologies and decisions fall into racial groups. Such as the moderate Hutus. They are perceived to be extremists by the opposing group and traitors by their own group.

贝多芬的爱情和他后期音乐

2009-11-24T11:31:00.001-05:00

今天早上听了几首晚期贝多芬作品（第九交响乐，后期弦乐四重奏），好像能感觉出来音乐历史家议论的贝多芬“永久情人”。老贝一辈子都没结婚。在1805-1812 年（晚年）时期他爱上了一位女士。学者至今还搞不清楚这位女士的身份，统称叫她“永久情人”。可惜好像是单相思，带给了这伟大的艺术家不可衡量的痛苦。
贝多芬第九交响乐前两个乐章很有报复，激情，起伏，我觉得是代表了他暗恋和得不到回应的感情。几乎能体会到他当时的内心矛盾和在痛爱中欲哭无泪的迷失。
第九交响乐第三乐章听起来好像是表现了贝的爱情的抒情一面。丰满的法国圆号现表示了他感情的纯真和伟大。过几分钟弦乐朗诵着美丽的旋律。但是不是那种年轻人热恋的感觉，而是包含着一种成熟感，责任感，还有付出的精神。

很快，第三乐章结束了，第四乐章开始了。马上对比很明显。就像从一场甜蜜的梦醒来，发现了现实是多么残酷。

还有给我印象很深的是四重奏作品号135，第三乐章。 (Lento Assai). 整个乐章都标着“pp" (安静的）。主旋很单薄，简单，朴实，给人一种绝望的感觉。

可见老贝晚年挺惨的。又失去了听力与失去了情人。

卡拉扬指挥的柏林爱乐表演第九交响曲可以在 youtube 上找到。

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2AEaQJuKDY&translated=1

Funny Chinese names

2009-11-24T11:26:00.001-05:00

Sorry this is untranslatable to English because the humour lies in all the homonyms.

据公安部姓名查询系统, 全国最爆笑的人名 :
刘产赖月京 (还是个男的)
范剑姬从良
范统夏建仁
朱逸群秦寿生 (亏他父母想得出)
庞光杜琦燕
魏生津矫厚根
沈京兵杜子腾
杨伟
排名第一的 : 史珍香
不准笑 ! 群发一下 , 大家捡捡牙(减减压) .Fu

PhD vs. Undergrad+Masters / 博士 vs. 本科

2009-11-14T15:58:00.003-05:00

Xingbo and I were discussing the difference between PhD and Undergrad/Masters. We reached the following analogy.
If you're a undergrad/masters student, and you're given a paper to read, all you're required is to comprehend the technical points in the paper and know how to reuse it. If you're a PhD student, you need to write a significantly improved paper.

我和师弟Xingbo 那天谈了谈博士和本科的区别。最后达到了此下比喻：
如果把一篇技术文章给他看，他只需要理解里面的技术内容还有领会此技术的应用。但是，一个博士生就需要创造出更好，更深的新技术。

Science vs. Engineering / 科学 vs. 工程

2009-11-14T15:54:00.004-05:00

I was discussing with my friend Xingbo today about the difference between engineering and science. He gave a good definition. Engineering research results in immediate added value to society while science research requires engineering efforts before their fruits can be reaped by the society.
IEOR Department joke: "When does engineering become science? When it stops being useful"

Xingbo 和我讨论了一下科学和工程的区别。他很英明的发表出一对很吻合的定义。工程研究是可以直接产生社会价值，而科学研究是须要工程研究的加工才能导致可用产品。两个都一样重要，往往科学更加难，名利少很多。
我们系的玩笑是：当工程研究变得没用了，它就变成科学了。

Finite Simple Group

2009-11-05T23:06:00.001-05:00

The path of love is never smooth
But mine's continuous for you
You're the upper bound in the chains of my heart
You're my Axiom of Choice, you know it's true

But lately our relation's not so well-defined
And I just can't function without you
I'll prove my proposition and I'm sure you'll find
We're a finite simple group of order two

I'm losing my identity
I'm getting tensor every day
And without loss of generality
I will assume that you feel the same way

Since every time I see you, you just quotient out
The faithful image that I map into
But when we're one-to-one you'll see what I'm about
'Cause we're a finite simple group of order two

Our equivalence was stable,
A principal love bundle sitting deep inside
But then you drove a wedge between our two-forms
Now everything is so complexified

When we first met, we simply connected
My heart was open but too dense
Our system was already directed
To have a finite limit, in some sense

I'm living in the kernel of a rank-one map
From my domain, its image looks so blue,
'Cause all I see are zeroes, it's a cruel trap
But we're a finite simple group of order two

I'm not the smoothest operator in my class,
But we're a mirror pair, me and you,
So let's apply forgetful functors to the past
And be a finite simple group, a finite simple group,
Let's be a finite simple group of order two
(Oughter: "Why not three?")

I've proved my proposition now, as you can see,
So let's both be associative and free
And by corollary, this shows you and I to be
Purely inseparable. Q. E. D.

What it's like at Columbia Operations Research.

2009-11-01T16:56:00.000-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0FULHGwPkw&feature=player_embedded

为什么有些人那么没有正义感？

2009-10-20T20:53:00.000-05:00

今日根一个匿名同学谈话。开始聊学术，发现他人很投机。那个山高靠那个山。没有对一个学科的忠义和献身。

后来又谈了谈政治。谈到了台湾问题。他说台湾应该是中国的。这是说的没有特别离谱，但是他跟的原因让我很吃惊。

“有了台湾，就可以采到南海的石油，还可以控制南海的运输。在多了，可以在台湾建立军事基地。”

我觉得，这个理由太自私了。国际社会，虽然说是自由法则，但是人类也正在逐渐走向一种道德规范。国家应该有一种正义感，公平对待所有民族。像美国，为石油大伊拉克，被全世界大骂。像英国，为了殖民地和赚钱抢香港买鸦片。像希特勒，为了所谓的“德意志民族生存空间”霸占澳洲。这些是多么自私和不正当的行为啊！不能总想着民族利益。如果民族利益战胜了人类正义，这就是纳粹。如果”国家之上”战胜了人类正义，这就是最狭隘的丑恶，野蛮行为。

为什么有些人那么物质？ / Why are some people so materialistic?

2009-10-17T14:13:00.001-05:00

(English below)
昨天跟一个同学聊天，说到了工作和人生志向。

她说好多同学顶破头挤进了高盛（Goldman Sachs) 做金融，但是一天工作十六十七个小时，人很不开心。去做那工作就是为了赚些钱，但是赚到了钱又丢到生命的快乐。我就跟她说， “那他们就辞职干其它工作吧？” 她说， “谁舍得穿的好还有住五星宾馆啊？”

我想了想，难道这些都受过中国最好大学教育的青年思想怎么拜金啊？他们觉得奢侈和金钱可以带了真正的幸福和精神满足吗？现在中国经济发展，确实有创业家作了极大的贡献，但是我觉得一个创业家最自豪的不应该是他/她赚了多少钱，而是他/她战胜了多少挑战而做出了一件伟大的事业。

只知道穿名牌和住五星宾馆，他们一辈子的志向就怎么短见啊？自己不想给人类留下一种影响吗? 我的最大愿望就是能死前发现我做的一切努力让人类社会变得更好，能让其他人更幸福。

所以我选择了科学可科技。我特别喜欢用数学作医药研究（model-based drug development, bioinformatics). 希望我这辈子可以帮助解除一些人间疾病造成的痛苦。这样或者才有意义。光自己享受太狭窄了。

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Yesterday I was chatting with a young female colleague about life and career goals.

She mentioned that many people worked tireless at getting into Goldman Sachs, only to find out the miserable long work hours after they enter. These people enter GS mainly to earn good money. But they cannot find time to enjoy the material that the money can buy. So I mentioned to her, why don't they just quit and find a different job? She said, how could anyone forgive a life of wearing brand name apparels and living in five-star hotels?

I was shocked. How can the best educated students in China be this materialistic? Could they possibly think that money can bring true happiness? As the current economy of China booms, we must admit to the great contributions that new generation of entrepreneurs made. However, their satisfaction should be based on the accumulation of account balance but rather from a sense of achievement for overcoming obstacles.

If you only know about living in luxury hotels and wearing expensive clothes, isn't that a rather short-sighted view of life? Ask yourself, what impact do you want to leave on society? What do you want your legacy to be? A life time of ostentatious hedonism? My own personal goal is to leave the world seeing that it is better place based on my efforts.

This is why I chose science. I hope to use science and technology to make people's lives better. To discover knowledge that would benefit mankind for years to come and to lay foundations for future generations. Living like this instills meaning in life. A lifetime of self-enjoyment is not for me.

Veteran

2009-10-11T17:17:00.002-05:00

I was riding on the train and met this fellow Joe. We chatted a bit about baseball. Soon, he told me he spent five years in the U.S. Marines. You can see that such experience had made the man immensely mature and determined.
Before he got off, he showed me his uniformed services card. With shocking casualness, he mentioned that he's discharged now because he got "blown up a few times". It was hard for me to tell but I think one of his leg was a prosthetic attachment.
Now I feel even worse about Bush. For he sent such brave loyal young souls to die for the rich man's oil.
Joe, take care.

Amazing O.R. Analyst, Officer, and Rhodes Scholar from West Point

2009-10-08T17:30:00.004-05:00

Check out the incredible story of Joshua Lospinoso. Top graduate from West Point Operations Research, NSF Scholarship recipient, and Rhodes Scholar. This man is incredibly intelligent with a strong sense of service and duty.

远在异国他乡华人的婚姻其实很传统

2009-10-06T15:00:00.001-05:00

http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4bf5868d01000708.html

身在异乡，深有体会。但这个作者也太以偏概全了吧？我有个加拿大好友是混血人。人家家里也活得挺好的。吃惊的是，他爸是华裔（马拉），他妈是犹太人。两个特别保守的文化居然碰到一起了。

每人有每人的选择。现在世界通讯特别方便，人不受地区的局限性了。

只不过每人应该做出一个成熟，真诚，长期，负责任的决定。不要被媒体谣言迷惑住了。很多老实的老外男女（男的多一些）想找亚裔女/男因为他们喜欢亚洲人的传统文化。但是也有一些，像上面的作者描述的, "是本国的垃圾和losers。混不下去，找不到对象，才到中国凭着一张洋脸来混口饭吃泡个中国姑娘“. 要睁大眼睛把人看清楚了。