tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-245150842011-12-14T18:41:53.325-08:00dtam talks about mdtamnoreply@blogger.comBlogger331100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-72670023258713022062011-02-16T11:41:00.000-08:002011-02-16T11:42:31.981-08:00

=== 1 === Earlier this year, Uncle Wah died. Uncle Wah was not my real uncle, but a prominent politician in Hong Kong. He founded a teachers' union in the 70s, helped draft the Basic Law in the 80s, and pushed for democracy in China and Hong Kong, most notably after June 4, 1989. Browsing memorial sites, I came across some of his short articles [0], published every third day in a respected Hong

dtamnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-75405250188741272002008-07-09T08:20:00.000-07:002008-07-09T08:24:51.863-07:00

The best applications not only solves real problems, they put a smile on your face. Here is a fantastic resignation letter generator for yahoo.Honorable mention: PicLens

dtamnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-11163225795781001402008-06-27T08:57:00.000-07:002008-06-27T09:06:00.750-07:00

Today is Bill Gate's last day at Microsoft. New York Times has a nice article. Hate him or love him, the man has delivered solutions for people all around the world. And to dedicate his earnings and his time and energy to philanthropy, I for one admire him.In a loosely related article, Wall Street Journal pokes fun at the relationship between Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google. A delightful read.

dtamnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-50433199516162272082008-06-20T08:03:00.000-07:002008-06-20T08:29:45.552-07:00

Google is amazing. Among other things, their speller does a great job. Which is why it was shocking to me that the other day, when I was comparing Google and Powerset, I found an obvious error.My query "who did leonard marry in yeomen of the guard" got the speller to suggest "who did leonard married in yeomen of the guard". Even a third-grader knows that that is wrong. While plain old n-gram may

dtamnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-22914607176906887942008-06-16T22:48:00.000-07:002008-06-17T23:11:16.216-07:00

As a small, anecdotal evaluation of Powerset, I tried two queries. On both queries, Powerset did not do as well as Google, yet there are promising signs of what PowerSet can do.The first query was a variation of Ron Kaplan's example (see previous post) - to see who John McCain praised I used the query "McCain praises". The top two snippets showed that McCain praised Bush in 2004. The other

dtamnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-7655531275893986932008-06-11T00:35:00.000-07:002008-06-11T01:09:01.989-07:00

Recently I attended a talk by PowerSet's chief scientist, natural language processing guru, Ron Kaplan. He explained how usage patterns in natural languages (e.g. English) make bag-of-word search engines suffer in precision and recall. For example, to search for "who Obama critized" one may use the query words "obama critized". In that case, a bag-of-word search engine (e.g. Google) would return

dtamnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-73389742363743315722008-04-17T08:31:00.000-07:002008-04-17T08:36:26.070-07:00

ye poets in heartwrite to win a thousand bucksovercome black arthttp://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000207461

dtamnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-29548863075613849392008-02-17T21:29:00.000-08:002008-02-17T21:39:15.571-08:00

As a democracy matures, she must let go of the diaper of violence. It may be true that the right to bear arms is still essential in the early days of a free State in the 21st century. Yet as the people of the State become more accustomed to the machinery of democracy, and as revolution by election becomes routine, tolerance for violence must be adjusted. In a mature democracy, where dissent is

dtamnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-1170741684906534462007-02-05T21:57:00.000-08:002007-02-05T22:13:48.663-08:00

Patriots head injurySuper Coaches with CharacterCourt martialGlobal Warming - Scientists silenced?

dtamnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-1162456197585910112006-11-02T00:23:00.000-08:002006-11-02T00:31:59.683-08:00

If anyone had any hope that this award was unbiased, wake up! Check out this year's best website: http://www.michiganupdate.com. In a few days you will see a much nicer layout, but the content itself should give you hours of joy, if you are a Michigan fan.About this websiteIn the twelfth year of Lloyd Carr's reign of Michigan Football, a few fans saw a flaw in the system. No, the flaw was not

dtamnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-1155193109693667902006-08-09T23:42:00.000-07:002006-08-09T23:58:29.703-07:00

Looking at AFR, an REIT, the first thing that caught my eyes was the 9.4% dividend. Then I looked at the 5-year graph, which looks rather predictable.If I bought it in Jan 05 at $16, and sold it at $12 in Jan 06, the dividend had better be greater than 25%. I wonder what the deal is with this REIT.

dtamnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-1155095101280257902006-08-08T19:16:00.000-07:002006-08-08T23:15:18.676-07:00

Lately I've been thinking more about my investments. When I was an intern, I put some money away in money market accounts. After I got out of school, I started putting money into indexed funds. Since my investment and retirement accounts are spread out among a few institutions, I never quite knew how my portfolio was doing. A few days ago I collected data from my accounts, and plotted these two

dtamnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-1154933299489648892006-08-06T23:44:00.000-07:002006-08-06T23:48:19.496-07:00

Went bowling last week for the first time in many years. The game itself is still quite boring, although it was great meeting entrepreneur-type folks. I even made it to the video!

dtamnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-1154014427109546552006-07-27T08:26:00.000-07:002006-07-27T08:33:47.110-07:00

The sound quality on Skype seems a little bit better, but Gizmo is free*

dtamnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-1154013518020247642006-07-27T07:48:00.000-07:002006-07-27T08:25:51.746-07:00

Here are some mac tricks i recently learned:1. command-tab switches between applications, command-` switches between windows of the same application. ctrl-f4 does the same, but it's much quicker to hit command-`.2. scrolling on firefox is better done with space, shift-space than page up (fn-up), page down (fn-down). it actually works on other major browser as well.3. active four corners is fun.

dtamnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-1151424220694641952006-06-27T08:59:00.000-07:002006-06-27T09:05:58.103-07:00

The award goes to...Stumble Upon. You could surf the web, search for goodies, or stumble upon sites. This is not new, but it's still good.Runner up: Mashable. This is a good blog about new web tools. I like it.2nd runner up: Free anagram server. I stumbled upon this old site.

dtamnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-1149006122086024602006-05-30T09:21:00.000-07:002006-06-05T20:09:00.833-07:00

[Yesterday was Memorial Day. To a lot of people, myself included, that might just as well be called Barbeque Day. Chatting at a barbeque yesterday, I somehow brought up my old violin teacher, Mr. L, whom I have not seen for over 10 years. It didn't cross my mind at the time, but it struck me later on, that Mr. L fought in the Vietnam war. In fact, he is the only veteran that I know personally. It

dtamnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-1148628043067600932006-05-26T00:12:00.000-07:002006-05-26T08:55:38.806-07:00

Do you know that Amazon started selling groceries online? Well, now you know. And not just any groceries, organic groceries. Search for "Gatorade", and you can find some pretty sweet deals. Don't say I didn't tell you.

dtamnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-1148564974700864132006-05-25T06:24:00.000-07:002006-05-26T00:22:50.123-07:00

I'm a big fan of keyboard shortcuts, vi, gmail, alias...Now thanks to a friend at work, I am more efficient at browsing as well. Especially when combined with search strings, these firefox shortcuts are great.This is all you have to do:1. copy/change the html below into a file ending in .html2. select Bookmarks > Manage Bookmarks in Firefox3. select File > Import... in the bookmark manager4.

dtamnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-1148279786600155202006-05-21T23:24:00.000-07:002006-05-22T00:11:25.120-07:00

The results of this year's bay to breakers is out. Given I barely prepared for this, my time wasn't too bad. I finished the 12K (7.46 miles) race in 1:13:57, which put me at 2860 out of more than 60,000 people. (I ran under a friend's name, so you would have to use bib number 8338 to get my time.)

dtamnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-1148048667202174012006-05-19T07:19:00.000-07:002006-05-19T07:32:31.440-07:00

Check out pictures of the new apple store on flickr. Nice.

dtamnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-1147867805096373062006-05-17T05:04:00.000-07:002006-05-17T08:31:31.220-07:00

For all you lady boarders out there, check out this site: boarderchic.comI met the owners from volleyball, and they tell me everything in the store is made in the USA.

dtamnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-1147831003993534562006-05-16T18:15:00.000-07:002006-05-17T15:59:27.856-07:00

N.T. Wright, Bishop of Durham, gave a sermon at Menlo Park last sunday. I am glad I got to hear him speak. Like the music of Bach, I found N.T. Wright to be wonderful in many levels. He comes across immediately as a deep thinker and a serious scholar, but at the same time, he was very approachable and had a great sense of humor. He talked about three current issues that the Western world faces:

dtamnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-1147154616012058772006-05-08T22:50:00.001-07:002006-05-08T23:04:23.683-07:00

Here's the long-awaited tool of the month - zillow.com! How on earth did I pick zillow over google calendar? I'm the decider, stop asking questions.Zillow is a fun little tool, you can check out how much your friend/boss/enemy's house is worth.Enjoy.

dtamnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-1147153672802097092006-05-08T22:41:00.000-07:002006-05-08T22:47:52.816-07:00

In the last month or so, this blog has brought in a grand total of $12. My little experiment on ShareBuilder, over $200. My day job...phew, I'm glad I have my day job :-)

dtamnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-1146721078790268612006-05-03T22:31:00.000-07:002006-05-08T08:49:42.253-07:00

Some freebies that maybe of interest:Free access to wall street journal online Free access to napster songs (up to 5 times per song)Free investment money $25 from sharebuilder if you open a new account by referral (from me, for example)

dtamnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-1146457131591468172006-04-30T20:40:00.000-07:002006-04-30T21:18:51.613-07:00

As part of my attempt to help doug move, I will now write up some of my first impressions about the San Francisco bay area, in particular the south bay area where I live and work in.I have lived here for a little over 3 months now, and I like it. The Bay Area is quite spread out, so when I say bay area, I really mean Sunnyvale and Palo Alto. Palo Alto has a great downtown area - lots of nice

dtamnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-1146190096161750132006-04-27T18:50:00.000-07:002006-04-28T08:56:14.080-07:00

People are sometimes crazy about their sports teams. This blogger, for example, writes up a play-by-play after every Michigan football game. Another blogger refused to talk to any one for a whole week after Duke lost. I myself have spent countless hours cheering for the Michigan football team. But when it comes to my favorite sporting event, it's not the rose bowl or the super bowl or the NBA

dtamnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-1145226367448138812006-04-16T14:53:00.000-07:002006-04-30T10:28:33.856-07:00

[In order to help Doug move I decided to write up some thoughts on Austin. I have lived there on and off for about 30 months.]What I like about Austin:1. Great BBQ - Ribs that melt in your mouth are hard to find outside of Texas.2. Awesome community - Most of my friends there were from the Austin Chinese Church. They are some of the most friendly and easy-going people. On any given week

dtamnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-1145224417269710192006-04-16T13:35:00.000-07:002006-04-30T21:24:48.070-07:00

My college housemate, Doug, has been out in Macedonia with the Peace Corps. After a little over a year of setting up water treatment plants and teaching English, he is now starting to look for jobs back in the States. Doug spent most of his life in Michigan, and is curious what other places have to offer. This is what he says:"I want to know what you feel about where you live and your community

dtamnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-1144648124407907762006-04-09T22:38:00.000-07:002006-04-12T22:54:50.736-07:00

Once in a while I would come across great tools - slick and pretty tools that work well. In March, I started using bloglines, and have found myself using it every day. It is basically a web-based RSS reader that has been around for quite some time. If you don't already have a nice RSS reader, try bloglines, I think you will like it too.[Honorable mention: riya.com - an awesome tool that does

dtamnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-1143012861693142242006-03-21T23:04:00.000-08:002006-04-12T23:05:27.366-07:00

A coworker showed me something interesting today: the latest beta from Google, Google Finance, appears to have a slight problem.In the management section about Symantec from Google Finance, towards the bottom right of the page, the CEO is apparently caucasian.However, according to Symantec the CEO looks a little darker. In fact, according to my coworker, Mr. Thompson was one of the first black

dtamnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24515084.post-1143008766992231172006-03-21T22:24:00.000-08:002006-04-17T20:35:13.563-07:00

A wise person once said, “Bad habits are picked up at work.” For most people, blogging is a bad habit - it takes up a sizable amount of time and energy, while contributing little to life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness. So I started reading blogs at my last job. The more blogs I read, the more I am convinced that blogging is a powerful way of communication. Often times invaluable

dtamnoreply@blogger.com2