今天是开始上拳击课以来的第二周。运动量每次课逐渐加大，今天是最大的一次，以前看拳击比赛总觉得一回合那3分钟太短了，现在终于彻底体会到那3分钟到底有多难。

其实就算是运动量最大的一次，我们训练的强度跟比赛比也差得远了。今天一共七人，比第一节课时已经少了两个人。两人一个heavy bag， 30秒一换，轮流练习不同组合拳，所以每30秒还可以休息30秒。即便这样，3、4轮下来就已经筋疲力尽，浑身湿透，连胳膊都举不起来，到后来很有中学时候跑3000米的感觉，真的是要咬紧牙关硬撑下来。总共一小时的课下来，比平时两小时的篮球或足球累得多了。

The best tragedy of the year, period.

Different people will have different interpretations of this movie. Some would think it's about love and hate, some would think it's about shame and pride, some would think it's about evil and moral. The amazing thing is whatever the theme you think it is, the movie delivers it in a profound way.

Not to mention the  fascinating performance by Kate Winslet. Not only it's her best performance by far, it also beats many other Oscar winning performances, no exaggeration.

A must see. Just One thing to remember though: it's a very depressing movie. The sensation of the movie comes out in a very repressive, obscure way. Much like the kind of tone you would find in a Kar Wai Wong movie.


Tags: 生死朗读/朗读者/为爱朗读 电影评论

刚加的这组2003年夏的科罗拉多高原之旅照片是第一次开始探索美国的国家公园。8天时间走了内华达、犹他和亚利桑那三个州的5个国家公园 （Zion, Great Basin, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon）。从那以后便彻底迷上了北美大陆的这些自然宝藏，5年来又先后去了13个国家公园。

03年夏天的那次旅行几近完美，除了一路风景美不胜收，同行的好友黄同学与华同学也使得整整8天充满了欢声笑语。时至今日回想起来，从01年底到05年夏天的那几次旅行毫无疑问是几段无与伦比的美妙时光。那一次唯一留下的遗憾，是因为时间不够而放弃了犹他东南的 Arches 和 Canyonlands 两个国家公园。今年夏天，要把这个遗憾补回来。

把这组照片放出来的另一个原因是想做个比较。这一组是我在换DSLR之前用原来的Fuji S602 拍的最后一组照片。接下来8月那次加州的 road trip 是换了 Canon 10D 之后拍的第一组。计划中今年夏天的这次旅行，则很有可能是我换 Canon 5D Mark II 之后的第一组照片。除了要去Arches, Canyonlands等几处尚未去过的地方之外，还会重访 Grand Canyon 和 Las Vegas，自己也很好奇这次会拍出怎样不同的照片。当然最大的不同不在于相机，而是经过6年的修炼，希望现在的眼睛跟6年前的那双眼睛也不一样了（除了从不近视变成200度之外）。现在最期盼的便是到时候能有几天理想的天气，能拍到一些自己满意的照片，毕竟有些地方极有可能一生也就只能去一次。

I am as upset as many other people with the outrageous $165 million AIG bonuses over the past weekend. Rewarding bad performance distorts the incentive mechanism. Even so, I have to say this bill is a pretty dumb idea. What this bill will do is to drive all the good, smart executives from all those troubled companies to other companies that are not receiving bailout money and leave only the bad ones working for the troubled companies!

I think this is totally a political move. Many house representatives voted "yes" on this bill only because it's a popular vote. People are angry, but that doesn't mean the House needs to pass such a bad bill just because of this one stupid thing happened in one company, especially after many of those who received the bonuses at AIG have agreed to give back the bonuses!

Just took the test on Facebook. I don't know, suppose I should feel good about being a "grass mud horse"?^_^

Result: Llama

A lot of people don't realize this, but llamas are the coolest animals on the planet. They are totally laid back, they have stylish hairdo's, and they've got good attitudes towards all creatures, big and small. They're like the "awesome next door neighbors" of the animal kingdom.

You're a llama! Be happy, be proud. Then go out and spread the word that there's nothing cooler than a llama. The world has got to know the truth.

Don't know how many of you guys have seen the new super hero movie Watchmen. I'm totally hooked after seeing the trailer.

Some of you might recognize the song in the trailer, which in my opinion, is one of the most important factors that contributed to the stylishness and attraction of this trailer. The song is a much more adagio, gloomy version of The Smashing Pumpkins' "The beginning is the end is the beginning". The song was originally released on the 1997 Batman movie soundtrack. But that version has a very different flavor, much of a Electronica-style rock.

The original version is great, but the new version is simply much more amazing. Besides the memorizing rhythm of both the song and the visual impression, the darkness saturated the song and the vocal of Billy Corgan makes the new version depressingly addictive. From an entertainment perspective, this is definitely a master piece.

Bill Maher took on religion with his new documentary.

It is brutal, it is mean, but it is hellishly funny. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. But he is not ONLY making fun of certain people, he actually raised a very serious question to all of us, regardless what religion you believe or whether you are religious at all.

For some, you may not want to watch this. So, consider yourself warned.


Tags: 宗教的荒谬 电影评论

最近发现觉睡的越少人越精神。昨天一夜没睡，除了中午犯困一小时，余下时间都思路清晰，效率很高。本来以为下午肯定要早点回家休息，可是一杯double green tea下肚就精神起来了。论文写到晚上七点还不想回家。

如果真是两天才需睡一觉，岂不等于寿命增加25%？

昨晚一夜没睡，今天一早要给国内打电话面试，索性早早爬起来吃了早餐去上班。坐进车里才意识到这似乎是工作以来头一次早上八点以前到办公室，窃喜，心想等下到办公室一定要把办公室门开着，让后来的同事们都知道我也可以最早到，省得他们平时老拿我到的晚这件事开玩笑，连秘书在排电话面试时间的时候都笑着问我早上9点到是不是有困难。

车还没开进停车场我就吓了一跳：大半个停车场已经满了！我低头一看，还差几分钟才八点。上到5楼，电梯门一开我就崩溃了：所有同事的办公室门都敞着，我还是最后一个到！

这实在太郁闷了。假设大家上班的时间是一个正态分布的话，我觉得期望值怎么也应该在9点左右啊，我平时到的时间毫无疑问是属于outlier，但今天这样看来，期望值起码是在7点半，不然就只能是正态分布的假设错了......

这两种可能都很令人震惊啊。

Having four different kinds of alcohol in one night is NOT good.

The good day I had yesterday didn't lead to a good night sleep. I woke up at around 5:30am, after only 3 hours of sleep, couldn't fall asleep again. So I got up, turned on TV and laptop, had breakfast, and made into the office before 9am for the first time in a long time.

Of course, the rest of the day has only one theme: caffeine.

It didn't start out very well.

I struggled with the theoretical model section of a paper that I'm writing. I'm not developing a new model, but the wording to describe the evolution of the models tortured me for a whole afternoon. In the end, by around 7pm, I finally worked it out and drew up a page and a half.

Went playing indoor soccer for 90 minutes after grabbing dinner at Subway. Had 2 goals and 2 assists, that felt good.

Came home, took a shower while listening to the Dave Koz CD I recently got. Unlike the old jazz, smooth jazz never makes you feel sad or lonely. Smooth jazz is pleasant, makes people feel good.

The day ended with a movie: 疯狂的赛车。What better way to end a day than a good laugh?

It's a very normal kind of day, nothing big, nothing too exciting. But it's one of those normal days you would just say to yourself when lying in bed at the end of the day: life is good.

这是到现在为止我看到的对刺激法案作为反对意见陈述得最好的一篇文章，虽然这些反对的意见是针对一个虚拟的构想，但其理论依据对于刺激法案内的内容却也适用。

背景：Thmoas Friedman （The World is Flat 《世界是平的》的作者）。他最近在纽约时报的专栏撰稿建议将10亿美元投给前20名的风险投资公司。他的原文在这里。
 
Great columnists know how to spark discussion, something Thomas Friedman certainly accomplished when he proposed that government stimulus money should go to the top 20 venture capital firms instead of the auto companies. On TechFlash and other blogs, some readers applauded the idea of rewarding innovation while others pointed out flaws in the concept.

But what do venture capitalists and angel investors think? I emailed several Seattle area investors this morning to get their take. The reactions-- from Ignition's Brad Silverberg, NWVA's Tom Simpson, Rolling Bay's Geoff Entress (pictured) and others -- might surprise you. Nearly every VC disagreed with Friedman's proposal in some way.

Brad Silverberg, Ignition Partners: 

"Friedman is a smart guy and well intentioned here; dumping more good billions after bad into failing industries is a bad idea. But I don't think the answer is to dump money into VC, either. In general, there is too much money already in VC.

After a bunch of firms raised $1 billion funds in the early 2000's, they found out it was too hard to invest that money well in early-stage companies, and their next funds were much smaller. Giving a startup too much money is a sure path to failure. Most of today's startups require less money, not more, especially at the beginning."

Tom Simpson, NWVA: 

"I agree that devoting more capital to emerging businesses is a very worthwhile initiative given the current economic environment. My question is where those dollars would be targeted for investment. I sense that many VC funds are already flush with cash. Yet, they are being very cautious in identifying and making new investments.

Accordingly, just like what has happened with TARP, it is not clear to me that additional cash would stimulate a higher level of investment. Moreover, the top 20 VC funds don’t need to raise money from the US government, nor would they want too adhere to the restrictions (salary caps) that would be associated with taxpayer money.

Alternatively, I would suggest any such program be targeted at regional venture capital funds. For example, local candidates may include funds like Fluke or Buerk Dale Victor that invest in a broader array of businesses (retail, consumer, manufacturing, distribution, etc.) and in smaller dollar amounts.

There are many emerging companies outside of tech that are rapidly growing and don’t need the minimum level of investment otherwise mandated by the top 20 VC firms. Many of these companies need an equity infusion, but the sources of equity capital catering to such businesses are severely limited."

Andy Sack, Founder's Co-op:  

"$20 billion on the auto industry is definitely a waste. I think Friedman's point is directionally correct even if the specifics of his proposal are wrong. Giving $20 billion to the top VCs will only serve to make the VC partners at those firms mega wealthy off of management fees and would lead to an even larger supply of over-funded start-ups to nowhere... Not more Googles.....(Or Amazons given we're in Seattle).

I'd rather see the $20 billion go toward: 1) A tax credit or investment match that stimulates business investment -- what about lowering cap gains to 10 percent. 2.) Energy research the likes of which Friedman (has) talked about before. I'd like to see NASA stop trying to shoot for the (moon) and rather work on energy-related technologies."

Geoff Entress, Rolling Bay Ventures: 

 "Although I completely agree with Thomas Friedman that we need to be funding innovation rather than keeping dying industries on life support, I also agree with the comments from Fred Wilson and others that the answer does not lie with the VC industry, but rather with giving angel investors an incentive to keep supporting startups at the top of the funnel.

Angels, traditionally providing the early life blood for innovation, are quickly becoming an endangered species. Tax breaks to support investment would go a long way."

Greg Gottesman, Madrona Venture Group:  

"I agree with Thomas Friedman's premise that we should focus a portion of the stimulus money on sources likely to produce a new generation of innovative companies. The best way to do that, in my opinion, is to fund research more aggressively at our great research universities like Stanford, MIT and the UW.

This type of investment is unlikely to have immediate-term impact, but it would have the greatest long-term benefit for our country in terms of creating new technologies and industries. I don't think funding the top 20 VCs is a realistic alternative. Most of them do not need more capital and would not want the oversight that taking significant taxpayer dollars would (and should) require."

Ron Howell, WRF Capital:

"I think the government is at its best when it provides services that are uniquely functions of government: roads, military, fair playing field for a capitalist-based economy. I don't think it's a good idea to have the government giving $20 billion to the venture field any more than I think it's a good idea to reward bad design and management in the auto industry.

Venture capitalists have raised their money from sophisticated investors that have a risk budget into which their allocations to VCs make sense. The government would do well to change the tax breaks for companies trying to transition from private to public over giving money to VCs."

 UPDATE: Bill Bryant, Draper Fisher Jurvetston: 

"Thank god Friedman isn't heading up TARP. While we can debate whether the auto industry is worth saving, one thing that venture doesn't need is an extra $20 billion to 'invest.' Access to capital is not the issue. What we need are entrepreneurs working on breakthrough technologies (not 'financial engineering') that will transform existing industries and create brand new ones that did not heretofore exist.

I'd much rather see money flowing to research institutions (universities, government labs and private think tanks) in support of truly fundamental research that will help America reestablish itself in the decade starting 2010. Otherwise, our future is going to look an awful lot like the Back to the Future world where Japan is today."

Lost the presidential election, lost the senate election. Yes we know GOP is in trouble, but we didn't know that it's so f***ed up until today.

First, it's Rush Limbaugh, the narrow-minded, despicable right-wing radio host came out and spoke as if he is the face of the republican party that he wants Obama fail, which is not surprising given the kind of character Limbaugh is.

Then on Saturday, the new chairman of the Republican National Committee, Michael Steele, when asked about whether Limbaugh is the de facto leader of the party in a interview on CNN, responded “Rush Limbaugh, the whole thing is entertainment. Yes, it’s incendiary. Yes, it’s ugly.”

But what's really messed up is that, he called Rush Limbaugh today and apologized to him!!! Saying "I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh. I was maybe a little bit inarticulate."

Without a doubt, GOP is having an identity crisis right now.

It's so interesting to see how much similarity there is between the U.S. and Taiwan politics over the past eight years.

Both GOP and the Democratic Progressive Party need to stop thinking about what tactics they need to win, but rather what direction they want to go.

It's not about win or lose, in power or out of power. it's about what's the best for your people.

The same thing can be said about CCP.