橫跨美國之旅

七月四日那個長周末，開車載著全部家當從 Seattle 開到北卡羅萊納州的 Raleigh。大致行程可參閱路線圖。

除了 Ohio 那站是順路拜訪高中同學外，其他的停留點都是住宿的地方。第一天因為不確定能開多遠，所以旅館是當晚臨時找的。後來里程比較能掌握時，就晚上用旅館的網路預訂之後幾天的房間。提早訂也比較便宜。建議儘量找 Comfort Inn、Best Western、或 Quality Inn 這類連鎖旅館比較安全無虞。

這次因為家當都在車上，沒辦法沿路一邊開一邊找景點玩，覺得有點可惜。不過 I-90 經過蒙大拿州沿途的美景已經夠值得了。I-90 一直通到明尼蘇達州後路線開始變得比較複雜。懶得事前研究好路線的我，就靠著 GPS 的指示。

經過 West Virginia 時，我的 GPS 決定帶我走狹窄的山路。雖然彎來彎去開得十分有趣，心裡卻一直擔心煞車會不會磨損過度、還有萬一在鮮有人跡的地方車子拋錨的話要怎麼辦。就這樣一邊很興奮一邊很緊張地折磨了好幾小時終於回到比較筆直的公路上。

七月六號中午順利到達新住處，滿足地完成了橫越美國之旅。

後註：不科學統計數字： 在 Ohio 看到的公路巡警比所有其他州加起來的還多。在北卡看到的車禍比所有其他州加起來的還多。

Mom is a Google Fan

Typical conversations between me and Mom go as follows (though the actual ones are in Chinese):

Mom: Could you check the price of 褪黑激素 [melatonin] in the U.S. for me?
Me: How do you say 褪黑激素 in English?
Mom: Google it.
...

Mom: Don't sit in front of the computer for too long, or you'll get 五十肩 [literal translation: "a 50-year-old's shoulder"].
Me: What's 五十肩?
Mom: Google it.
...

Mom: Have you eaten any mooncakes?
Me: What's a mooncake?
Mom: Google it.
...

(Okay, so I made the last one up. I know what a mooncake is.) Almost sound like conversations between a computer guru (Mom) and a noob (me), don't they? ;-)

Why We Shouldn't Get Angry About Spams

Why we shouldn't get angry about spams (caution: the linked audio contains foul language):

• Spams accelerate technology advancement
• Spams inspire arts
• Spams inspire serious arts
• You cannot be eviler than evil itself
• At least we know our e-mail client is still connected

No. Seriously, I hate spams.

Happy Father's Day

It's Father's Day in Taiwan today. 爸，祝您父親節快樂！當天稍晚(Later that day...)

What the Little Pocket in the Pocket is For

Without:

With:

(Inspired by DER's ms-paintings, and my worn-out pockets.)

Life is about Journey, Not Destination

Have you seen Cars or Click lately? I think they are both trying to tell us the same thing: that life is about the journey, not the destination. As the character Morty says in Click when he warns the main character Michael about skipping his life to enjoy only the parts where he celebrates his achievements with a story about a man who's after what he thinks is treasure:

Android 207 Short Film

This short film from Undergroundfilm.org is really awesome.

Synopsis on Undergroundfilm.org's website:

A short film about an android trapped inside of a large maze and has no idea how to find its way out. The maze is vast and filled with many surprises.

To be able to create a real robot like this is perhaps every A.I./machine-learning researcher's dream.