He asked, “Are you a banana?”

I said, “No. Why?”

He said, “You speak English fluently and it seems like I never hear you speak Chinese dialect.”

I said, “Thanks. With different people, I will speak in different language. You can’t speak Chinese to a person who can’t understand Chinese, right?”

He said, “True. So, you can speak Mandarin. I thought you are like an overseas Chinese. You are just so Westernize!”

I said, “Haha. Maybe I am just a little bit more open minded.”

He said, “If you go to Western countries, for sure people think that you are a fully Westernized ABC or CBC.”

I said, “Oh really? Is that a compliment? Haha.”

He said, “You bet! Haha.”

• Banana – a type of fruit which has yellow skin and white innings which has been used to describe a person is Chinese outside, hollow inside (can not speak, read or write Mandarin).
• ABC – American-born Chinese
• CBC – Canadian-born Chinese

I am not banana but multilingual.
I am not an ABC nor CBC.

I’m in massachusetts!
it is nice to be in massachusetts with my extended family, that is, two of my aunts and my grandma. today I was talking to my grandma about much of her memories. I think the next time I talk to her I would like to know more about my own mom! and everything she did, as well as my aunts. they had some pretty crazy pasts, and its nice to hear my grandma talk about things, and she likes to talk. I don’t like to talk as much. sometimes I feel very resentful even of my extended family because it feels like they want something from me, they are pushing, even though they are far away, and that is hard to deal with.

but again, focusing on memories, and talking and just people as they are is a good way to move past the UGH please stop asking me things I don’t WANT this relationship to be difficult annoyance that rises up in me.

and, I do feel very disconnected from my own past/family sometimes and maybe in the future I can start to remedy that, so I am not as angry at my parents for not being there for me. stop thinking about the past as a bad thing, start thinking about relationships as forward moving and changing and maybe essentially unfulfilling? that everything has its flaws and goods. and so on. I would like to get a better sense of who I am in terms of my family, my own mother! it may be years before I can have conversations with my dad in any sort of that vein. I’ve always disavowed that family or heritage makes you who you are, but maybe it does in some way, and at the very least its a connection and a talking point. people are so good.

but I do enjoy being here, close to the sea! as well and in a comfortable house where everyone can sit and read in the same room together and it isn’t weird.

things I forgot to add to my should-be-doing-list

looking up more grants and applying to all of them! I found a few but I need to find more, for the campus farm

thinking more about the campus farm

getting a head start on my visa aaaaahhh

researching a consent workshop? for others? meh

I think my priorities are to: get my visa, apply for grants, finish the semester. maybe in that order, maybe not.

Well we finally know which teams will be going to the World Cup.  The less said about France’s progress the better though (see http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/8367418.stm).   All I will say is “What ever happened to sportsmen showing sportsmanship?”  What I’m saying is, no Thierry, it’s not the referee’s responsibility to be omniscient and to call a hand ball, the players have a responsibility to be honest and to play within the rules.   Henry handling the ball deliberately was understandable given the circumstances; after all, who would honestly not succumb to temptation of trading a goal-kick for a goal in that kind of high-pressure situation (he probably even thought there was no way the referee wouldn’t spot the incident), but to avoid admitting it was simply irresponsible, cowardly and an all-round terrible example for aspiring young footballers.

Anyway, putting France’s controversial winner against Ireland aside, there will be 32 teams vying to win the World Cup in South Africa and 2 very important questions to ponder over: who will win (Spain are my bet, though Brazil are always dangerous) and, more importantly, what groups will the World Cup draw in December yield!?   You may think the second a curious question, or, on the other hand, if you’re like me, you’ll have already be pondering over all the different combinations of teams England could possibly draw.   But how do they decide the groups?   Well, you didn’t actually ask, but I’m going to tell you, so you can make your own World Cup (even one where England win)!   Enjoy.

The teams are divided into four pools: the first containing the 7 seeded teams and the host nation, South Africa, the second containing the rest of the European teams, the third containing teams from the remaining African and South American qualifiers and the fourth containing the Asian and North American qualifiers, as well as New Zealand.   The way the seeds will be chosen hasn’t been decided yet, but it will probably be according to a combination of performance in the last World Cup and the current World Ranking.  Assuming this the pools should list as follows:

Pool One: South Africa, Germany, Brazil, Italy, Spain, England, France, Argentina

Pool Two: Denmark, Switzerland, Slovakia, Serbia, Netherlands, Portugal, Greece, Slovenia

Pool Three: Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria, Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay

Pool Four: Australia, South Korea, Japan, North Korea, USA, Mexico, Honduras, New Zealand

(For completeness sake please note that you can find the World Rankings on the FIFA website (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/ranking/lastranking/gender=m/fullranking.html) and the top 7 teams on World Cup form are Italy (Winners, 2nd Round, 2nd Round), France (Finalists, 1st Round, Winners), Germany (Semi-Finalists, Finalists, Quarter Finalists), Brazil (Quarter-finalists, Winners, Finalists), England (Quarter Finalists, Quarter Finalists, 2nd Round), Argentina (Quarter finalists, 1st Round, Quarter Finalists), Spain (2nd Round, Quarter Finalists, 1st Round).

Okay, so you have the pools.  The final step is to make 8 groups of 4 by picking them out in the following way:

1. Put each of the pool 1 teams in each of the eight groups A-H.  South Africa will be in the first group and the rest of the team are randomised (at least this is true following the method in the last World Cup, Fifa, the World Football Association, may yet change this rule).  However, Argentina and Brazil cannot be on the same side of the draw (i.e. if Brazil are drawn in Groups B-D, then Argentina have to be in Groups E-H and visa-versa).
2. Draw the 8 Pool 2 teams randomly into each of the eight pools.  Easy!
3. The Pool 3 teams are also drawn at random.   However, be careful!  No South American teams can be drawn in a group with Brazil or Argentina and no African teams can be drawn with South Africa.   In addition to this the number of teams on each side of the draw must be as even as possible (including South Africa, there are 6 African teams, so three must be between A and D, whilst the other three must be in Groups E-H).   This is the easiest step to make a mistake.
4. Draw the final 8 pool 4 teams into the remaining groups.   The only thing to watch out for here is that the Asian teams (including Australia who play Asian qualifying, but NOT New Zealand),  are distributed evenly.

Behold!   Using this helpful website for random numbers (http://www.random.org/sequences/) here is my official World Cup draw made following these steps!

Group A: South Africa, Netherlands, Paraguay, South Korea 

Group B: Germany, Greece, Uruguay, North Korea

Group C: France, Switzerland, Ghana, USA

Group D: Brazil, Serbia, Ivory Coast, Mexico

Group E: England, Denmark, Chile, Australia

Group F: Argentina, Slovenia, Cameroon, Japan

Group G: Italy, Slovakia, Nigeria, New Zealand

Group H: Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Honduras

Voila! A possible South Africa 2010 draw.   If the order of matches follow the order in the last World Cup, the order matches would be played would correspond to the following: 1 vs 3, 2 vs 4, 1 vs 4, 2 vs 3, 1 vs 2, 3 vs 4.  Now the next important question is who would win if this was the World Cup draw?   I think it would go, a little something like this:

Group A would see South Africa opening their campaign with a gallant draw against a talented Paraguayan side, whilst the Netherlands would edge the enthusiastic South Koreans.  Draws in the second round of matches would see things go to the wire, where the Dutch break South African hearts in a thrilling contest to top the group with Paraguay grabbing second place with a tight win over the Koreans.

In Group B, two comfortable wins against North Korea and Uruguay would see Germany through, whilst Greece require tight barely deserved draws and a victory other the group communist state to squeeze ahead of Uruguay for second.

There is a shock in Group C as Ghana stun last years’ finalists France in the first game and they crash out as they can only subsequently draw with the US and Switzerland.  Ghana  secure progress in first place by thumping the US following an unlucky draw with the Swiss.  Meanwhile, a first round win for the USA over Switzerland seals their progress a Group runners-up into Round 2.

In the “Group of Death”, a thrilling last-gasp Brazilian win against the Ivory Coast is toned down by a turgid 1-0 win for Serbia against Mexico.   The Ivory Coast and Brazil win their remaining games to qualify 2nd and 1st from the group respectively.

In England’s group, our heroes put themselves within a game of winning the group following a win over Chile and a tough draw with Australia.  Denmark meanwhile are level on points, whilst Australia are two behind and hoping for a positive result in the last match.   England beat Denmark 2-0, but Australia cannot find a winner as Chile pick up a first point and go out.

Argentina suffer a huge scare in Group F, as they can only pick up draws with the Cameroon and Japan, who both beat Slovenia.  A last-gasp winner for Argentina, however, ensures their progress as Cameroon beat Japan in an entertaining encounter to finish the group 1st.

Italy and Nigeria comfortably progress from Group G, however in a rather dull group.  Italy and Nigeria share a rusty draw first off, whilst Slovakia and New Zealand play out a low quality 0-0 draw, which the Slovaks should have won.  Nigeria and Italy beat Slovakia and New Zealand respectively before Nigeria win the group by beating New Zealand, whilst Italy can only draw against the Slovak Republic.

In the final Group H, world-beaters Spain and Portugal have more trouble than would be expected from two wins and qualification with a game to spare.  The 1st,2nd place showdown between the two rivals ends with a bore draw, whilst Algeria manage to get the better of Honduras in the other match.  Spain win the group on goal difference.

So the 2nd Round would see the group winners play the runners-up from each of the opposite groups:

Netherlands vs Greece, Germany vs Paraguay, Ghana vs Ivory Coast, Brazil vs USA, England vs Argentina, Cameroon vs Denmark, Nigeria vs Portugal, Spain vs Italy.

First up, I suspect that Greece would lose out to the Netherlands, Germany would come out on top in a goal-laden thriller against Paraguay, the Ivory Coast would edge out Ghana, Brazil would beat the US, England would edge out Argentina in a passionate, dramatic game, Cameroon would knock out Denmark, Portugal would need extra time to break Nigerian hearts, whilst the World champions, Italy, would frustrate Spain only to be beaten in extra time.   The quarter finals, based on 2006, would thus be:

Netherlands vs Ivory Coast, Germany vs Brazil, England vs Portugal (not again!) and Cameroon vs Spain.

This is where prediction gets very subjective, but I’d go for the Ivory Coast to beat the Netherlands, Brazil to beat the Germans, England to triumph against a lacklustre Portugal and Spain to be given a great game by the Cameroon, but still squeeze through.   The semi-finals would then be:

Ivory Coast vs England and Brazil vs Spain.   England would maybe just have the class to beat a very good and physical Ivory Coast side with the inspirational Didier Drogba in a scrappy battle, which could go to extra time.   Meanwhile, a physically imposing Brazil side could find themselves dismantled by a technically brilliant Spanish team, which would relegate them to a 3rd place play-off.

The 3rd Place Play-off would be edged by Brazil once more, whilst in the final I would suspect that England, full of hope and desire, would ultimately be crushed by an excellent Spanish team.   So to summarise:

1. Spain
2. England
3. Brazil
4. Cote D’Ivoire.

I should note that every time I make a prediction the result changes, but then that’s mainly because the groups are different every time I make a prediction!   I’d be interested to see anyone else’s draws or winners predictions if anyone else wants to have a stab.   Until then, bring on the 6th of December for the actual World Cup draw!

“You idiot!  You numskull!  Have you not listened to one word I’ve said about proper worship?”

Jesus was beginning to think he had made a major mistake in picking Peter as a disciple.

Peter, feeling exhausted from helping with the feeding of the 5,000, had made a simple request:  “What you say we all sing ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’”?

Peter had forgotten what was important.  He had forgotten that God didn’t create Christmas songs to have them sung during Advent.    He had forgotten it was Advent, not Christmas.  If Peter was going to be a part of Jesus’ worship elite he was going to have to shape up.

Jesus sighed, thinking, “The next thing you know Peter is going to want us to clap during worship.  I wish Peter would spend less time and energy on feeding the hungry and more on doing worship the right way.”

John 75:15-17 (Goofed-Up Bible)

This has got to be the weirdest and definitly most awsome musical instrument I’ve seen in a while. I usually don’t have an musical instrument fetish, but this one totally stole my heart. I know little about it, other than it’s called a theremin, and that it uses radio waves going through the device and through you body. Obviously you can manipulate the pitch by changing your arms’ distance from the theremin.

I guess this is what they used to make that horribly awsome, yet horribly cliché UFO sound effect from all those low budget thirties science fiction films.

If I were to teach myself one really useless piece of know-how for the rest of my life, it would have to be to learn how to play the theremin. And I want to learn how to play these songs.

Un om dedublat isi sfredelea creierii intr-o mansarda dezafectata. Se hotari atunci sa-si puna capat zilelor, mult prea invocate in poemele antice, asa ca isi dadu drumul in gol. Ca era vorba de haos, sau doar de distanta dintre etajul 9 si pamant, nu mai avu timp sa-si dea seama. Dublura pieri. Inainte de a-i trece prin fata ochilor toate clipele importante din viata sa de 44 de secunde. Crezuse ca moartea era mai interesanta. Dar se dovedi a fi doar o anosta, si putin cam brutala, intalnire cu pamantul ud, de toamna. Si mirosul acela ingrozitor… Probabil gatea iar batrana infioratoare de la parter. Ce mizerabil sfarsit. Nu tu instantanee dramatice, femei ce-si aruncau, disperate, lacrimile, in speranta ca asta il va face sa se razgandeasca. Avea nevoie de cineva care sa i se arunce la picioare, oferindu-i, precum intr-un troc barbar,  iubirea sa in schimbul sinuciderii. Nimanui nu-i pasa de nevaloroasa marfa pe care era dispus sa o comercializeze omul dedublat. Asa ca piciorul ii aluneca, fara a-l salva cineva. Macar de si-ar fi terminat  cafeaua inainte. De-ar fi inceput romanul pe care abia si-l cumparase, de s-ar fi plimbat prin parc, ca un ultim suflet dezradacinat, alergand dupa frunze imbacsite de noroi…  Si totusi se arunca. De-ar mai fi asteptat cateva vieti. Poate ar fi invatat sa se joace de-a singuratatea. Se uita in jur. Se apropia. Pamantul umed. Macar de n-ar fi auzit bufnitura. In ultima lui inspiratie simti mirosul ranced al corpurilor in putrefactie.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda_Laputa

Roughly translated as the “Mazda Whore”

Scurtă introducere

Dacă te întrebi la ce or fi bune plugin-urile astea jQuery, îți voi spune eu: îți permite extinderea întregii librării jQuery prin adăugarea de noi metode și funcții la aceasta. De exemplu, ai putea crea un plugin care, printr-un singur apel, va parcurge toate link-urile unei pagini, și la fiecare link către un fișier PDF va adăuga o iconiță descriptivă. Apelul va arăta ceva în genul:

$("a").adaugaIconitaPDF();

Idei pentru plugin-uri sunt multe, prea multe chiar, și ca să te convingi poți intra pe pagina de plugin-uri jQuery unde le vei găsi ordonate după categorie. La momentul actual, acolo sunt 3684 de plugin-uri! Deci idei sunt cu tonele, și tot apar plugin-uri zi de zi. Așa că, ori poți sta să cauți plugin-ul care-ți trebuie, ori poți învăța să creezi propriile plugin-uri, lucru despre care voi discuta în următoarele câteva articole.

Să intrăm în pâine!

Pentru început, e nevoie de puțină teorie interesantă. În caz că nu știai deja, jQuery e renumit pentru faptul că poate fi folosit cu ajutorul unui singur caracter: simbolul dolar ($). De puține ori, însă, vei da peste probleme folosind simbolul $, fiindcă nu este singurul framework care face uz de acest simbol. Așa că, pentru a evita conflicte, când este cazul, se poate folosi cuvântul “jQuery“. De exemplu:

jQuery("a").fadeIn();
jQuery.variabila = 2;

Acum să îți spun și care sunt acele puține cazuri când pot apărea conflicte cu simbolul $: când creezi plugin-uri, și când folosești încă un framework împreună cu jQuery, de exemplu ExtJS + jQuery. Știind acum aceste lucruri, să începem cu plugin-urile! Pentru a putea crea plugin-uri, e nevoie să știi jQuery, evident, și care sunt obiectele extensibile din jQuery:

1. jQuery
   • se ocupă cu procesarea internă
   • extinde metode (în alte limbaje de programare sunt cunoscute ca metode statice, sau metode de clasă)
2. jQuery.fn
   • se ocupă de elemente HTML și interacțiunile dintre ele
   • extinde funcții (în alte limbaje de programare sunt cunoscute ca metode de instanță)

Ca să fiu sigur că nu mă vei pierde, îți voi explica ce reprezintă metodele și funcțiile. Dacă ai deja experiență în programarea orientată pe obiecte, poți sări peste paragraful acesta. Deci, metodele pot fi apelate direct, fără a instanția o clasă. Funcțiile, pe de altă parte, pot fi apelate doar asupra unui obiect ce reprezintă o instanță a unei clase. Dacă nu știi nici ce reprezintă instanțierea, e cazul să te oprești aici și să iei un tutorial de POO în C++ sau orice alt limbaj vrei.

Știind acum ce obiecte jQuery pot fi extinse, voi crea un simplu plugin care afișează un mesaj la încărcarea unor elemente HTML. Apelul va fi simplu:

$.mesaj("mesaj la comanda");     //metodă
$("div").mesaj("m-am incarcat"); //funcție

Și acum iată codul, trivial de altfel:

//codul pentru metodă
jQuery.mesaj = function(msg) {
   alert(msg);
};

//codul pentru funcție
jQuery.fn.mesaj = function(msg) {
   alert(msg);
}

Ți se pare complicat ? Dacă da, e grav, fiindcă în următoarele articole se mai complică, fiindcă voi discuta despre:

• variabile locale și globale
• ascunderea variabilelor
• orientarea pe obiecte
• setările plugin-urilor
• funcții cu opțiuni și parametri
• template-urile cele mai utilizate pentru plugin-uri
• și în final, o listă de guidelines, adică un mic ghid

Înlănțuire clară

Probabil știi deja că unul din avantajele jQuery este înlănțuirea metodelor. Dacă nu știai, hai să-ți explic pe scurt cam ce e: odată ce ai folosit un selector, poți manipula acel selector într-o singură linie de cod, de exemplu:

 $("#container").find("#obj1").css({ opacity: 0 }).fadeTo(400, 1).end().find("#obj2") 

Așadar, toate metodele apelate mai sus vor afecta ultimul obiect HTML selectat cu jQuery. În cazul de mai sus, metoda find va acționa asupra obiectului container, apoi metodele css, fadeTo și end vor acționa toate, pe rând, asupra obiectului #obj1, ș.a.m.d. În alte limbaje de programare nu am văzut facilitatea asta, fiind nevoit să apelezi pe câte o nouă linie o altă metoda asupra aceluiași obiect.

În caz că ești curios, codul de mai sus caută obiectul HTML cu id-ul container, apoi caută printre descendenții (copii) acestuia elementul #obj1 pe care îl ascunde cu metoda css setându-i transparența maximă, apoi îl reafișează puțin câte puțin scăzând transparența într-un interval de 400ms, apoi metoda end se întoarce la ultimul obiect HTML găsit înaintea lui #obj1, și anume #container, după care caută printre descendenții săi obiectul #obj2.

Acum, revenind la oile noastre, o practică foarte bună a tuturor programatorilor este să scrie codul cât mai clar, citeț, ușor de urmărit. În cazul nostru, JavaScript ne permite scrierea codului de mai sus în felul următor:

$("#container").find(#"obj1")
                  .css({ opacity: 0 })
                  .fadeTo(400, 1)
               .end()
               .find("#obj2")

Crede-mă, te va ajuta enorm când vei umbla prin fișierele JavaScript pentru a depista erori, de exemplu, sau când vei încerca să-ți reamintești de ce ai făcut ce ai făcut.

Na linha verde do metrô em São Paulo está acontecendo o “‘Poesia no Metrô”, uma forma criativa de divulgar e trazer ao público a forma mais bela de demonstrar emoções e sentimentos por meio de palavras.
Podemos encontrar autores consagrados como Carlos Drummond de Andrade (já citado nesse blog), Haroldo de Campos e Alberto Caeiro (mais conhecido como Fernando Pessoa).
As poesias estão literalmente coladas na parede por meio de adesivos, com grandes e vistosas letras.
Inicialmente esse projeto irá durar 3 meses e em 2010 não só a linha verde do metrô será contemplada, mas todas as demais linhas também receberão belas poesias coladas na parede, teto, etc.

Irei postando em breve as poesias, passando por cada estação que puder.