五師兄字

The Monkey’s Paw

【Warning：This is a scary story!】

Have you ever wonder what you would wish for if you are granted the three wishes? The clip below is a modern adaptation of the classic story “The Monkey’s Paw” written by W.W. Jacobs back in 1902.

To read the original story, please come here.

This story makes me think of a recent movie “The Box” (by Cameron Diaz) and another short film with similar theme “Black Button“.

Bill Gates on energy: Innovating to zero!

Bill Gates, practically the single man who holds largest amount of resources personally in the world, gave a talk about how the planet could be saved in the TED2010 conference. Climate changes and green energy are the hot topics in the recent years. And despite the fact that someone pointed out that it could all be just a “Global Warming Hoax” (and even IPCC admitted that there were some wrong doing during the research process), the topics remain a vital theme of our generation because it is too risky to ignore even we are not 100% sure.

And I won’t choose to ignore it also because it is from the mind of Bill Gates. Imagine the resources and influences that he could have on anything that he endorses. The best part is that his influences are not based on his position (as CEO of a company or the President of a nation) but on his personal merit. That’s something quite different.

Two things to note in his speech. For one, he proposed an equation: CO2 = P x S x E x C. He pointed out that we could not control much on the population growth and reduce much on the services that these population consumes (these two factors are the “demand” component of the equation). I believe that this assumption is somewhat realistic and practical, and thus much easier for a developed middle-class driven country like the U.S. to feel comfortable with. However, I guess he could have also make a wish on how we could “reinvent” our daily life and save a lot of CO2 in the “S” part. I know it is much easier to be said than done, but it would still be very influential if it is coming out from the mouth of Bill Gates (as compared to, say, Mr. Al Gore).

The second thing to note in the speech is about the second part of the equation “E” and “C”. The most significant take away from that is his project in investigating how to burn U238 instead of the existing U235 as a nuclear fuel. It is significant because firstly we have abundance of U238 (as in nature and also as a waste by-product of burning U235), and by doing so we could have a tremendous improvement in fuel efficiency. We know that we need a huge technological breakthrough to achieve this, but if Bill Gates is putting his funds into this, the hope is much higher.

It is truly significant also because it demonstrates how the mind of an entrepreneur (with lots of resources) works: he realised that the existing approaches (of cutting consumptions, lobbying amount nations) won’t work in the long run anyway, so he innovates. He proposes a dramatic solution that other people could not achieve by their incremental improvements. Whether he has already got the best (or even correct) idea, we won’t know, at least for now. And it doesn’t matter, as this approach is more dynamic, innovative and meaningful compared to the argument and frustration we have with all the other approaches.

I admire his effort and his vision. At least much better than how he ran his Microsoft empire.

Further Readings:
2010 Annual Letter from Bill Gates
The Gates Notes

Stay

This is the song “Stay” by Lisa Loeb.  I love this song so much.  It strikes a chord with my soul although I don’t think I could have any experience described in the lyrics.  Perhaps it is the tune or her voice.  Or perhaps it is the movie “Reality Bite“.

It makes me think of Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawk, bad coffee, chain smoking, couch pizza and AIDS (but not much about Ben Stiller or the big mouth girl “Vickie” or the other room mate “Sammy” ~ I don’t even know their real name!). This movie is a 90’s classic. And so as the song.

I am glad that Lisa Loeb is still around (with the same old pair of glasses apparently) and doing well (before I searched for her, I thought she was a one-hit-wonder…)

Seth Godin: Quieting the Lizard Brain

“You Don’t Need More Genius.
You Need Less Resistance.”

Aimee Mullins: The opportunity of adversity

A powerful speech by Aimee Mullins, named one of the most beautiful athlete, actress, and fashion model, without any leg.

Quote:

“The human ability to adapt is our greatest asset.”

About how she feel against the term — “overcoming adversity” “Adversity isn’t an obstacle that we need to get around in order to resume living our life. It’s part of our life.”

“The question isn’t whether or not you gonna meet adversity, but how you gonna meet it.”… … “So our responsiblity is not simply shielding those we care for from adversity, but preparing them to meet it well”.

“Perhaps the existing model of only looking at what is broken in you and how do we fix it serves to be more disabling to the individual than the pathology itself.”

Video source: Ted.com
Photo source: David Shankbone via Wiki

賴床: 藍奕邦 vs. 謝安琪

Two Practical Applications for Augmented Reality

USPS Priority Mail Simulator:

Rayban Virtual Mirror Webcam Application:

動新聞顛峰之作

美國 NBC 電視台的 “The Jay Leno Show” 與 “The Tonight Show” 因為收視問題而引發的鬥爭故事，在台蘋國際版的動新聞中變成一段「超人」對「變形俠醫」的 CGI 強片《美國深夜脫口秀大風吹》，繼上次 Tiger Wood 暴走撞樹事件後又一驚世之作。

多個外國網站和網誌爭相轉載欣賞，雖然大部份人都唔知佢噏乜。

Ricky Gervais @ 2010 Golden Globe Awards

He is hilarious! I didn’t know this guy until the movie “Night at the Museum”, playing that annoying museum manager. Gees.

And at the end I also chuck in the speech of the legendary Martin Scorsese. In these clips you not only could enjoy the great jokes from Ricky and the great speech from Scorsese, but also to see lots of familiar faces of stars and directors including the Terminator Governor! (I was wondering why he was still invited, then I realized that he is the Governor of that place! Silly me!)

Innovation from the “Passionate Amateurs”

I must say I am fascinated by his speech.

Firstly, it was already 5 years ago for God sake, but surprisingly it still sounds alight, mostly. Which means that what he said was the truth.

Secondly, I could actually feel how the idea of “Passionate Amateurs” was very much related to the recent polictial agenda that we are facing now here.

Of course on one hand I would never dream that our big grandfather would invite / need us to join in to the show, but on the other hand it was hilarious to see how the speaker used an example from mainland to illustrate the same point.

Power to the People — for the sake of Innovation! Or, has innovation ever been on our wish list all along at all?