Nothing beats playing golf in a Friday afternoon with free beer during office hour and still get paid. Today is the annual PMC golf tournament. We took the afternoon off from the office to tee of in West Wood Plateau Academy. It is a 9 holes half course. I don’t remember when was the last time I played on the green. The view of the golf course is fantastic. It locates on top of the Coquitlam mountain, overlooking Vancouver. Golfing is a relaxing sport. You can enjoy the greenery and chat with friends in the same group. My golfing skill sucks, so I won’t mention my total par number. Some holes has a river running across the fairway, which costs me losing 5 balls.
The secretary is not playing golf, she drive a golf cart around with an icebox loaded with beer. It took us 3 hours to finish 9 holes. Golfing is not a very active sport, it seems won’t burn you much calories. However we have some good exercise walking the 9 holes and carrying the golf bag. I was quite tired on the last 2 holes after the long walk. I couldn’t stay focus and hit quite bad. After the tournament, we have buffet dinner at the club house. The food is not very great, but it seems very taste to a hungry man walking for 3 hours. What a wonderful day!
Once upon a time (i.e. few years ago) I went to Spain with two friends. When we arrived the hotel the first night we met this weird hotel staff at the lobby whose name tag told us his name was Jesus. I was thinking what a name, see whether you can perform a miracle in front of us. My friends were laughing quite inappropriately, as you would if you were in Spain seeing Jesus in front of your eyes.
We were just talking in the lift whether there is a naked girl waiting for us in the hotel room. As soon as I opened the door, a girl covered in bed sheet just sat up and spoke in a foreign tongue which I don’t understand, but from the tone of her voice she was really scared.
The miracle was indeed performed by Jesus.
He gave us the bloody wrong keys of someone else’s room.
Thanks, Wally. This is really a funny joke. Hope you don’t mind I am sharing it in my blog.
When I was searching for the periodic table of visualization methods, I came across this interesting poster. It mocks the debate between Evolution and Creationism. Almost everyone, except a some Christians, knows life evolutes and human is evoluted from some form of pre-historical apes. Those Christians insist on literal word by word interpretation of the Bible, they claim that God really created the world in 6 days, 144 hours. It is not a big deal if they keep their silly idea within their church. Everyone has the freedom of thought to believe whatever stupid ideas.
In 2005, a group of Christians in Cobb County Georgia sues the public school board, trying to force the Biology teachers teach creationism as an alternative theory to Evolution. We all know creationism is not science, it is just a myth. At best it is an interesting story with some moral teaching. What a perfect analogy comparing Periodic Tables vs the 4 Elements to Evolution vs Creationism! Maybe those Christian should also force Chemistry teachers teaching the 4 Elements as an alternative theory to Periodic Table. The Bible didn’t say anything about the Periodic Table after all.
We have to give presentation at work or in school, we often have to prepare Power Point slides. If we have some data, we don’t drown the audience in sea of numbers. If we have some complex idea, we don’t want to bore the audience to death by long descriptions. A picture wroth thousands words. We give our presentation with colorful pictures or graphs help getting the message across. However, most of us only know how to use the few basic graphs come with Excel, namely the pie chart, the bar chart, the X-Y charts. Some of us many be a little bit more advance, know how to use Visio and able to draw some boxes and diagrams.
However, there are thousands of ways to visualize your data and idea. Data visualization is a combination of art and science. On one hand you have to deliver the information clearly and accurately. On the other hand the aesthetic appeal draw the audience’s attention so that they will remember your message long after the presentation has ended. I found a good reference of all common ways of presenting data in The Periodic Table of Visualization Methods. Next time when we prepare our Power Point slides, we don’t have to always stick with those boring pie charts.
I love seafood, especially fish and scallops. I love eating seafood today and I want to eat seafood 20 years from now. That’s why we should eat responsibly by only purchaing sustainable fisheries. Many seafood species are on the verge of extinction due to over harvesting. It is important to maintain the fish stock in the ocean or our food chain will collapse eventually.
Seachoice.org is an excellent website that educate the fish lovers to eat smart. It sorts seafood species into 3 categories: green being harvesting with sustainability, feel free to eat; yellow being with some concern, don’t eat to much; and red being in the danger of extinction, should be avoid until the population recover. They have pocket size seachoice card, so you know want to order when you visit a seafood restaurant next year. Seachoice is not those sissy animal rights saying killing fish is wrong. Seachoice is for the benefit of mankind, so that our future generation can still enjoy eating fish. Therefore, all seafood lovers should support seachoice.
