塵世何處覓知音
馬不停蹄尋佳人
可愛伊人近咫尺
姻緣天賜定終生
這首詩每句的第一個字組合成我老婆的名字﹐原本寫來備準結婚當日接新娘用﹐可惜玩新郎環節玩印度主題﹐這首詩沒有機會用。可惜﹐可惜。
兩週一聚﹕笑話一則
前言﹕這是一個叫「兩周一聚」的活動。是網友米雪兒發起。每月十五日﹑三十日﹐一班住在世界不同角落的香港人都會一起寫同一個題目。今天是第十六次相聚，由Zone出題﹐主題定為「笑話一則」。
一間大多倫多市的中學舉行職業講座﹐請來三位垃圾工人講述他們的工作。
來自Etobicoke市的垃圾工人首先說﹕「倒垃圾的工作雖然辛苦點﹐但我毫無學歷中學還未畢業﹐每小時有二十元人工已是不錯了。」
來自Toronto市的垃圾工人接著說﹕「倒垃圾的工作雖然辛苦點﹐但我毫無學歷中學還未畢業﹐多得市政府工會替我爭取加薪﹐每小時有三十元人工很不錯呢。」
最後一個自己開私人垃圾公司的工人說﹕「倒垃圾的工作雖然辛苦點﹐但我毫無學歷中學還未畢業﹐多得市政府的垃圾工人搞罷工﹐我愛收多少錢便收多少錢﹗」
注一﹕多倫多市的垃圾工人正在罷工﹐現在大多市臭氣薰天。
注二﹕文中的人工只是約數﹐可能有錯誤。
注三﹕我正在練習Toastmaster的幽默演講手冊﹐運用手冊中的幽默原理創作這個笑話﹐請多多指教。
其他笑話﹕ Zero、南杏 (下期出題)、加燦、 Humptidumpti、 michelle、 athrunz、 Petit_melon、 Haricot、 best actor、C9讀與食、wiwiana、 The Man Who Loves Everton、石先生、洛言、mad dog、chilli mom 、hevangel、longqt、audreyma、lomichee、amy、軍師奶、Mugen C
Selection bias in politics
US is ruled by lawyers, China is ruled by engineers, literally.
House Inspection
Before buying a house, it is very important to have a house inspection before signing the final offer. It is much better to hire a certified house inspector then trying to do the inspection yourself. Many people tends to only look at obvious problem, like whether things turn on, is water running, any obvious leaks, etc. The house inspector will check those things too, but they are also train to look for structure problem, which would cost a lot more to repair than just fixing the switch or the pipe. You want to get a good estimate on repair cost before you sign the contract. If something is really bad, you can bargain for a lower price to cover the repair cost.
There are many house inspection company on the market. Pick one that give you the best report. What is a good report? First the inspector has to be through, but you don’t really know unless you have reference. Second, the report has to be easy to read. The report often come in a from of a huge check list. A list of code word on the check list is not very useful information to the home owner who don’t know how to interpret the data. You want to hire a house inspection company that use the Home Reference Book for their report. It is not only a check list, it has detail descriptions on everything you need to know about a house. Highly recommended for first time home owner.
Some people just let the inspector do their work and read the report afterward. To get the most worth of your money, go to the house inspection, follow the inspector around when he is inspecting and ask him if you any questions. You are not buying a few pages of paper, you buying an inspection. The best way to get all the information is seeing the inspector do his work. Of course don’t obstruct his work or he will kick you away. Most often the inspector are welcome to have someone accompanying him. It is less boring to talk with someone during the job. It is a lot easier to understand what’s wrong if the inspector points out the problem right in front of your eyes then trying to tell the problem in words when reviewing the report. Moreover, you can pick up a lot of useful house maintenance tips and details about your house. I would never know which circle breaker control which socket or how radian heat system works if I didn’t follow him around.
DesignSync to Subversion
The IT department of our company love to change software in the name of cost cutting, but they often neglect real cost of switch over, the time cost of retraining everyone to learn the new software. Their book looks better in the expense of the engineers who have to take the burden of using the new software. Last year’s switch our back end tool from Synopsis to Cadence is an textbook case of costing millions for trying to save thousands.
When we first hear the switch over our revision control software from DesignSync to Subversion, we all complain about hassle we got from the IT department moving to open source just to save a few thousand dollars of license fee per year. Then I found out company that made DesignSync is acquired by another company, which is acquired by the third company. The parent company is in a totally different business and DesignSync is pretty much dead. DesignSync is not even listed on the parent company’s website. No one want to stay with a discontinued product line with no future road map. You don’t get any support and you have no idea when the company will shut the light and leave you sitting in the dark. Moving to a new software is inevitable, so it makes perfect sense moving to Subversion this time.
Subversion has a very different design philosophy than DesignSync. DesignSync is just a glorified CVS, which Subversion is developed by the CVS forks when they sick of the CVS code base. Subversion work flow suppose to be better than CVS, but we have to relearn some basics of revision control. I volunteered to test drive the training session for the past two days. The more I learn about Subversion, the more I like it over DesignSync. Once you grasp a few key concept of Subversion, using the tool is pretty easy. I just need some practice to get familiar with the commands and aware of their side effects.
I can foresee the transition won’t be easy. Either you get the key concepts or you don’t. If you don’t get it, you are hopelessly lost. And I can’t understand those concepts by just reading the online document. I finally get it after asking lots of questions back and forth, left and right in the class. The IT department plans to roll out Subversion only with online video-taped training. Good luck.