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San Francisco, USA

 

Fortress

fortress

fortress

We have some fun building the fortress at home :)

2015.04.26 comments

 

Popularization of Mapping

Reading Sunday's newspaper, I have found this map. What does it try to say? It turns out this is a full page ads for a windows replacement company. They are telling us that 13,011 Bay Area homeowners have chosen to use them to replace their windows. Online mapping has come a long way since they are available to the public some 10 years ago. This company could have just said they have many customers all over Bay Area in nearly every city. Instead plotting them as dots on a map looks lot more impressive. Now this becomes a Wow! rather than yet another day in business.

Windows Ads

The first time people put their data on a map, it looks as if they have discovered some hidden pattern. Some time ago someone has created a map to explore the relation between tech shuttle stops and the opening of restaurants and cafes. He has a theory about the "Clusters of Affluence" and the newspaper covered the story. Unconvinced, I pulled some unrelated data like crime location and plotting another map overlaying violent crime and tech bus stop. It just look much the same as the restaurant map.

Tech Bus and Crime

My explanation is these maps are simply showing a pre-existing population pattern, not necessary a discovery of some unknown relation. Many dots on the map may make it looks like a Wow! But it is simply yet another day in business.

2015.04.19 comments

 

Cockpit and Computer Dashboard

When I was younger, I was quite amazed by the dense wall of dials and controls in an airplane's cockpit. It was so overwhelmingly complex. I always wonder how is it humanly possible for the pilots to comprehend it all and to control the components of a machinery as complex as this.

Cockpit controls

Now that I work with computer system, I have to look at pages and pages of dashboard to keep tab on many different aspects of the computer systems across a cluster of machines. We also have some of these dashboards showing in a large screen on a wall. Does it reminiscent of the wall of meters on a cockpit?

Computer Dashboard

I think our computer system actually have far more control than a airplane. Each computer have tens to hundreds of tools (like basic Unix tools and other software). Compares to the switch and knobs on an airplane, each computer tools can support a wide array of parameters so that you can do complex things than just turning it on or off. Thinking about it this way, perhaps the cockpit control isn't so complex after all.

2015.04.17 comments

 

Hang Hang's New Toy


handcuff

Hang Hang loves to play with his new toy - a handcuff.

2015.04.06 comments

 

past articles »

 

BBC News

 

Prague gunman killed himself on roof as police approached (22 Dec 2023)

 

Bodycam footage shows police hunting Prague gunman (22 Dec 2023)

 

Alex Batty: Police launch abduction investigation into disappearance of British teen (22 Dec 2023)

 

Banksy stop sign drones art removed in London (22 Dec 2023)

 

Martin Kemp refunds disabled ticket after fans' difficulty with seller (22 Dec 2023)

 

Queues at Dover as Christmas getaway begins for millions (22 Dec 2023)

 

New £38,700 visa rule will be introduced in early 2025, says Rishi Sunak (22 Dec 2023)

 

UK at risk of recession after economy shrinks (22 Dec 2023)

 

Mohamed Al Bared: Student jailed for life for building IS drone (22 Dec 2023)

 

Andrew Tate denied request to visit ill mother in UK (22 Dec 2023)

more »

 

SF Gate

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