Superinsulator is a Nobel prize worthy discovery. Remember these two names, Vinokur and Baturina, they will definitely get a Nobel prize if superinsulator turns out to be real just like superconductor.
Continue reading Scientists Solve Mystery of Superinsulators
I don’t buy into the hype of 3D TV or 3D movies. 3D TV is just a fad that comes and goes. It happens before and history will repeat itself. Forget about the lame 3D TV. Holographic TV is the real holy grail of next generation TV technology.
Continue reading Researchers say eye strain a concern as 3-D TVs debut
電台節目初稿(3 – 5 minutes)
出場人物簡介﹕
小明 – 剛從基督教轉到天主教的慕道班新丁
小強 – 小明由細玩到大的朋友﹐無特定信仰背景﹐不一定要信天主教
場景﹕ 小明與小強相約出來喝珍珠奶茶聊天
小強﹕ 聽說你最近轉了教會﹐習不習慣新的教會呀﹖
小明﹕ 慕道班OK啦﹐新的教會幾好﹐不過…
小強﹕ 不過乜野呀。
小明﹕ 不過自從我轉了教會後﹐我以前團契的朋友便沒有和我來往了。
小強﹕ 有D咁既事
小明﹕ 以前我地個個星期除了去教堂外﹐還打波睇戲食飯無所不談﹐感情好得像一家人﹐還以兄弟姊妹相稱。豈不知我退出返團契後﹐竟然連電話都沒有一個。
小強﹕ 哈~ 乜你無聽過一句說話咩﹐團契之內冇真朋友
小明﹕ 此話怎說﹖
小強﹕ 看來你誤解了團契的真正意思了。團契fellowship是指一班志同道合的人fellows走在一起﹐沒有負擔沒有承諾﹐大家要開心又有共同目標才會響埋一齊。Fellowship的大前題是以個人利益為出發點﹐合則來不合則去﹐正所謂道不同﹐就不相為謀嘛。團契中的友誼是基於返同一間教會﹐你轉了教會都已經不是那個圈子的人﹐他們和你疏遠也是很自然的事。
小明﹕ 但他們不是我的朋友嗎﹖
小強﹕ 真正的友誼是無私的關懷﹐把朋友放在第一位﹐真正的朋友關心對方真正的快樂﹐希望看著對方朝好的方向成長。你團契的那些所謂朋友﹐你話佢地關心自己所謂的靈命成長多些﹐還是關心你這個朋友多些﹖
小明﹕ 講下講下﹐好似又係喎。有時同佢地講自己唔開心野﹐換來幾句行貨到死的問候﹐都唔知佢地係真係關心我﹐定係交功課做個好教徒的角色。
小強﹕ 不過又唔好一竹篙打一船人﹐fellowship也可以發展出真正的friendship﹐任何友誼也要踏出第一步嘛。不過對團契的朋友﹐唔好期望咁高﹐費時期望高大﹐失望越大喇。
小明﹕ 咦~ 咁你同我係fellowship定friendship呀﹖
小強﹕ 我同你由細玩到大﹐睇住你大睇住你壞﹐梗係friendship喇。竟然咁好朋友﹐今餐就你請啦。
小明﹕ 嘩~ 你真係夠晒好朋友咯。
How far is an Olympic gold medal? To the athletes, it’s thousands of hours of training and many years of hard work. To me, it’s 6 hours standing in line. In the past, normal people can only see the medal on TV or behind display cases unless you happen to know a medalist. For the first time in the Olympic history, the public are allow to touch and hold an Olympic medal. The Royal Mint of Canada pavilion is probably the best free attraction in this Olympic game and always have the longest line up. Other pavilions are either tourist show case from other countries or advertisement in disguise of the corporate sponsors. The Mint gives you a once in a life chance to hold the Olympic medals, so it is a must see.
The line up is very very long. The pavilion opens at 9:00a, but when we arrive at 8:30a the line up is already one block away. I was told the person at the head of line was waiting there since 6:00a. The line is moving very slow because they only let 20 people into the medal room every 10 minutes. Since everyone in line has the Olympic mood and start chatting with each other. For the next 5 hours, I talked with two grannies, two young guys living on the West side, a mother with 2 teenage kids, a couple from HK and a lady with her dad. It is pretty interesting to hear different perspectives about the Olympic and Vancouver. It is the longest wait I ever have. I never know I can be this patient. Luckily, we can take turns go to the washroom and get coffee from the near by Starbucks. To my surprise, all the strangers I talked to are local Vancouver folks, except one family from White Rock, which is only 2 hours drive away. I wonder where all the tourist is. Maybe they are too busy watching the games and don’t bother lining up for the free shows.
The medals definitely worth the long wait. We are allow to pick up the medals, see it up close and take as many photos as we like. They give out white gloves and can only touch it with our glove hand. But we are not allow to pose any V sign nor allow to bite the medal like the athletes. There is an engineers from the Mint today to give us a brief talk about the making of the medals and answer all the weird questions. The Olympic medal is round in shape and the Paralympic medal is slightly square. The Paralympic medal has braille dots on the back for the blind athletes. The medal is heavier than I expected, each piece weight about 0.5kg. I am not going to repeat the information about the medals here. To know more about the medal, please visit mint.ca.
Other than the Olympic medals, the Mint pavilion has other cool stuff to see. There is a $1 million dollar coin made in pure gold in display. It looks like a giant loonie except the face value has 6 more zeros after the one. We can also lift up 400oz gold bar. It is exactly like the gold bars I always see in those bank robbery movies. I can feel how much half million dollars worth of pure gold weight. It’s very heavy. I had never hold something such valuable with my hand. Too bad that the gold bar is chained and guarded by armed policemen. I really want to take it home.
My legs and back is soared when we left the Mint pavilion. Originally I planned to visit three different pavilions today, but after the Mint, I have to call it a day. I am sure I will have a sweet dream about golds in my hand tonight.
As a philosopher wanna-be, I always wonders why privacy seems to be good in the first place. Wouldn’t a total transparent society that everyone knows everything about everyone else at anytime minimize the transaction cost? So far my idea is just a hypothesis without any supportive argument. I need to learn a lot more about privacy theories to work out some thought experiments to test the total transparent society hypothesis.
