Product Reviews

iPhone

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iPhone

iPhone has become the new de facto standard of cell phone. Almost everyone I know who bought a new cell phone since iPhone 3G released got an iPhone. I estimate over half of my friends is already a iPhone user. I am pretty late to the iPhone bandwagon. Actually, I am not really part of the iPhone crowd, the new iPhone belongs to Pat. Her old cell phone dropped in water and totaled. Given the popularity of iPhone, it is quite obvious which phone I should buy her as replacement.

I spent the night setting up her new iPhone. I am never a fans of Apple, but I must praise its elegance. The iPhone is well integrated with iTune, the user interface is intuitive and easy to use. The only hassle I had is calling up Fido customer service to disable the data service in the cell phone plan. It took me awhile to get the customer service agent do exactly what I asked. Pat is using a very cheap $17 monthly plan that does not come with any data package. Data is charged per kbyte, so monthly bill would be quite expensive if Pat turned on iPhone’s 3G data features by accident. It is safer to disable all data services from the carrier side. Pat can still go online with her iPhone using Wi-Fi, just like go online with a laptop.

The iPhone is as powerful as a mini-computer. Probably more powerful than the first laptop I own many years ago. The phone is also a very good deal, the 16GB version only costs $199 after rebate. The cost of the iPhone is heavy subsidized by carrier. The carrier’s plan to turn a profit is using the lucrative data plan come with the contract, which costs $30 a month plus surcharge if the bandwidth usage is over the limit. It is more economical to stay away from the 3G data plan, use iPhone as a phone, a mp3 player and only use its online features at coffee shop with free Wi-Fi. I wonder why people pay extra for the data plan. How often do you need to go online while on move? I don’t think I can surf the web and driving at the same time. If you want to check up something quick, there are Wi-Fi coffee shop every where.

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Mental Wellness

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Tonight I went to a talk about schizophrenia and bipolar disorder hosted by Chinese Mental Wellness Association of Canada. The association invited a UBC psychology professor to give some general information about the two mental problem. The speaker talked about the symptoms of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and corresponding treatment options. The speaker talked in English and a volunteer translate the talk to Cantonese and Mandarin in real time.

The information in the talk is very general, probably less than what is in the Wiki. But the information sinks in much better from a live presentation than reading dry text. Let alone that I probably won’t read the information on my own. Today I learned that mental problem is partly genetic and partly environmental. Mental problem can not be cured, it can only be controlled or maintained. The treatment always begins with the psychiatrist, get some pills to stabilize the problem, then consult with psychologist to work on mental therapy. The hardest part is to get the patient aware of the problem and willing to accept treatment. Many audiences asked questions relate to how to treatment the problem in the Q&A session. Too bad that I forgot to ask the speaker whether smoking will make schizophrenia worse.

In addition to the content of the talk, I have some inspiration about volunteer works. It is the first time I have first hand experience about grass root charity organization. Unlike the big volunteer program, like the Red Cross or charity run by churches, the CMWAC has a total different aura. It is more like a support group for Chinese families with mental problem. The founder and chair person also acted as the translator for the talk. Juxtaposing her side by side with the psychology professor, I can see two difference kind of volunteers. The professor is the technical expert and gives credibility to the talk. The chair person knows a lot about hands on knowledge and very enthusiastic in her volunteer work. It is not that one is better than another, but rather the kinds of two volunteers make a good complement to each other. It is like scientists and research assistants, engineers and technicians, doctor and nurses, it takes two to get the job done.

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FIV

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I just know cats can have AIDS too. I read it from a poster at the animal hospital when I take Charlie to see a vet. There is HIV for human and there is FIV (Feline immunodeficiency virus) for cats. There is about 10% of cats in North America are FIV infected FIV. Cats of FIV basically suffers the problem like human with HIV. Its immune system will stop working and it eventually dies from all sorts of diseases.

Condom can stop the spreading of HIV in human, maybe I should invent condom for cats, so the cats can have safe sex without the danger of having FIV. Then I did a little bit more research and it turns out FIV is transmitted by cat saliva, so my cat condom idea is not that useful. Or maybe I have to make a condom that’s is big enough for cat’s head.

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Interrupt

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Sometimes, you will come across task that is literally impossible to get done. You try very hard to finish the task, come up with clever (you think) solutions to work around the problem but all effort fails. Then you take a closer look at the problem and realize it really can’t be done. You can even prove it mathematically no feasible solution can ever exist. You will find yourself really stupid and wish you had spend more time analyzing the problem in the beginning instead of diving into the problem full throttle.

After spending 3 days writing several thousands lines of code that eventually have to throw away, I learn one valuable lesson: never make any attempt to create an accurate interrupt checker. It is impossible to model the exact moment when an interrupt is triggered and when it is cleared by the microprocessor.

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Sponsor a child

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I know many of my friends sponsor a child through World Vision. It only cost $35 a month to provide food, shelter, education and a hope to a poor kid in a third world country. This week Chalice, a program similar to World Vision but run by Catholic priests, come to our church for promotion. The priest display many photos of poor children from all over the world. Each photo come with a brief description of the child and a donation package. You can select a child and become his sponsor on the spot. Pat always want to sponsor a child. She picked a child in Bangladesh because he say he like playing cricket and Bangladesh is next to India. I guess she pick this child to make fun of me.

I am never very kin on signing up to become a sponsor. It’s indisputable a charity good deed so I am not against it. However, I think sponsor a child is only treating the symptom of the real problem, but will never solve it. It definitely makes a huge difference to the child you sponsor or other children share the same facility. But on a broader scale, it is just like fighting fire with a cup of a water. It is pretty much useless. The real problem is there are too many poor people in third world countries. Those poor children should not come to the world to suffer in the first place. Poor children grew up into poor adult who give birth to more poor children. We have to stop this vicious circle if we really want to fix the problem. I wanted to donate money to get things done right once for all, not just treating the symptom. Actually I tried to search for charity programs that focus on family planning in third world country, but I found none. Making poor people having less babies is a more noble deed than the charity work of feeding a few hungry mouths.