I Need Help

I need help. This is what Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson said during his commencement speech. The son of my friend graduated from college last week. I hope this message help him making the world better.

Here’re some readings to cheer you up and understand why I need help:

• Traditionally, most of Australia’s imports come from overseas. – Keppel Enderby
• I love California. I practically grew up in Phoenix … – Dan Quayle
• Half this game is ninety percent mental. – Danny Ozark, Philadelphia Phillies (1973 — 1979)
• I’ve never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body. – Winston Bennett, Kentucky Basketball (1983 — 1988)
• Statistics show that teen pregnancy drops off significantly after age 25. – Newspaper Headline

Stand On Love

The popularization of Instagram and Flickr bring lovely memory of photography back for me — standing long time to capture a memorable moment.

I learned basics decades ago when my father bought some cameras for me — what we called 120mm and 135mm cameras. Throughout years, I practiced to love nature — water, soil, rocks, and animals. I either stand on feet or knees to get a better angle, light, and exposure.

Some are very cooperative, such as meerkat. They are not afraid of playing with human and taking us as part of landscape. However, many have their own game to play. One needs to be patient and stand on love.

Beauty And The Beast

The video makes it looks like a fairy tale. Beasts, including bees, butterflies, beetles, birds, bats, and flies, are vandalizing beautiful plants and flowers. But their devastating actions also spread love seeds around. Next season, new plants and flowers are sprouting up.

Growing up, I did not know the pollination process. Each afternoon, I would chase butterflies, catch dragonflies, and pick up beetles, when I returned from kindergarten. I kept some beautiful ones, but would torture the rest like all boys do. In a sense, I was a beast to go after all I could reach. The only thing I would not touch are those bees and wasps, since I could not power over them.

Yet, beauty and beast are relative. At any moment, we might be spoiled to rough up the beauty. Nevertheless, we could be mused to see a beautiful process when we step back. So, don’t be too hard to focus anything narrowly. Let’s beasts run the course and learn from the beautiful process.

Environmental Friendly Floating Car

Do you like to drive an environmental friendly car with no wheel through city street? I was speechless when I saw the picture for the first time last week — a floating car in a neighborhood of Chengdu, a city located in Southwest China.

The fascinating car is a brain child of a female student who studied computer animation in college. Unlike many girls, she liked to play with toy cars when she was young. After watching an advertisement of The People’s Car Project of Volkswagen, she began to work on the prototype drawing — a car could floating around like in animated movies.

The captivated design utilized a rare geological mark of Chengdu where its underground minerals form a perfect magnetic field. Similar to high-speed rail cars, magnetic levitation makes it possible for cars to float around. The archetype has no wheel and zero emission. It could also recognize traffic patterns intelligently to avoid accident.

It would be fairy tale to drive this floating car around city in the future.

Don’t Complain If You Have Fingers

After watching following video that a girl played piano without fingers, I promise myself that I’ll never complain again.

She was born twenty years ago without fingers in her right hand, and she faced many discriminative looks when she grew up. Once, she fight with a boy when he laughed at her right hand. But, she never complained again after she learned a story that her father resisted calls to abandon her when she was young.

She did not know piano until she attended a vocational school to become a kindergarten teacher four years ago, and amazed to hear incredible music coming from the big black instrument. Afterward, she devoted herself to learn how to play piano. She rode her bicycle for forty minutes to practice everyday. She never complained when her hand sour.

Last year, millions people watched her fascinating piano performance when she competed in a talent search. No one paid attention to the fact that she don’t have fingers in her right hand until music stop. She stand tall and touched heart of audience. She inspired me and invoked awe over billion people. No one should complain but accept life challenge.

What’s The Miles Per Hour?

I smiled through the whole 4 minutes and 35 seconds video when Chelsea could not answer a simple question asked by Travis: how long it take to travel 80 miles if a car travel 80 miles per hour?

She was avoiding the abstract math calculation by going through intuitive route, and argued with her personal experience:

• she was out of shape after running one mile in 9 minutes (about 7 miles per hour);
• tire might not have enough air;
• speed might be different when driving a stick shift rather than an automatic.

She gave three answers:

• let’s time it;
• her rule of thumb was to cut numbers in half — 40 minutes;
• her best guess was 58 minutes, which did not relate to any of her reasoning.

True, miles per hour is an average measure and many factors could affect its accuracy in real-time. Yet, the answer is straight forward for a person with rational thinking. No one needs to jump through all the loops for an answer, or dancing around like Chelsea did to make things complicated.

Often, we do not to think outside the question, but to think through the question.

Valentine – Chickened In or Chickened Out

I chickened out. I was in middle school and I wanted to ask a nice girl out. We talked some mutual interests in and out of classes, like what movie she like and what book she read. Yet, we never touched the sensitive topic — date.

I chickened out when it’s the time to ask. My heart beat was travelling like in a vaccum and I could not speak. At the time, we did not have telephone for each family. The only way to ask is to approach her in person. I went to the building where she lived. However, I could not lift my feet to climb stairs.

Hopelessly, I left a hand made gift box at her door with an affectionate note, and waited in the shadow of a big tree. I chikened out while only fancy she would read the note and come out to meet me. Unfortunately, it never happened. Her little brother brushed the box into shoe racks.

That’s a vivid memory I’ll never forget. After several decades, I learned how to chickened in. I don’t need to be super romantic to get a date, or pick up expensive gifts to impress a girl. I simply show up and ask. Worst case scenario, I could get a polite no.

I don’t even need to speak any charming words. There’s even an iPhone app for that. Seriously, I don’t like playing a robot. All I want is to chickened in and follow the flow. I learned that it’s the lovely thought she could remember and appreciate.

So, what’s your experience or advice for the big boy?

No. 1: Hawaii – Janet Novack – Forbes

Via Scoop.it – Tax Talks

Top rate: 11%On: Taxable income over $400,000 per couple, $200,000 for a single.Hawaii is first on this list because its top rate kicks in at a lower income level than Oregon’s matching 11% top rate.
Via www.forbes.com

Tebow Shirtless in New Jockey

Sex sales. And Tebow proves it again.

He is a hero for many of us simply because he represents little guys. No one believed he could be a NFL quarterback, he proved everybody wrong. No one believed he could win games, he showed everyone how. When it comes to the one game playoff, he manifested his will and determination. Tebow threw an eighty yard overtime touch down last Sunday when Broncos beat Steelers. He inspired the world.

Yet, no one could blame Tebow. He is human. He is one of us. Just before the next playoff game against the behemoth Patriots, Tebow rides the underwear train

Fresh off a sensational win for Denver Broncos in the playoffs, quarterback Tim Tebow is heating things up off the field with his new shirtless underwear ad.

Via Scoop.it – Economy Stupid

The Jockey ad, which features Tim Tebow’s shirtless and muscular physique accentuated by well-placed shadows, went live on the Jockey website on Monday.
Via www.dailymail.co.uk

Boycott SOPA: There’s An (Android) App For That

Via Scoop.it – Be Productive

Armchair activists now have a tool that can transport their SOPA protestations into the real world: Boycott SOPA, an Android app that scans barcodes and tells you whether an object’s manufacturer/publisher is a supporter of the much maligneStop…
Via www.extremetech.com

This is a cool app to stop SOPA.