Visiting Honolulu for vacation, I chanced upon a view of the sun shinning on Pacific ocean waves. I see a certain pattern of light that shines only upon top part of waves. I think i finally understand what these japanese artists are trying to depict. Japanese painting of waves have a portion of white on top of the waves. Previously I had imagined that they were trying to draw foam produced by crashing waves. But now I see, the white parts are actually golden or silver colored reflection of the bright sun. They’re so bright that white probably is the closest color we can use to draw them in contrast to parts of the waves that do not receive the same amount of sun.

I have, around thanksgiving of 2021, posted a slew of very positive reviews on Amazon products. These products were all non-American brand products, obviously made in China or India. My review pointed out their many many faults, but also included positive aspects and 3 or 4 stars.

In one particular instance, I purchased a flugelhorn (that’s just German for the trumpet). It was clearly made in India based on seller name and many many comments complaining about its country of origin. This item’s name starts with “New…”, but it’s price is $160ish which is about half the price of the next flugelhorn more expensive than it. The next horn with higher price is plastic.

I happily ordered one, and then 3 more, after discovering the first “New..” horn stinks of saliva. The next 3 were also not new and all stinks. I can see white residue that could be mold or rust or mildew in the bell of the horn. But the horn makes a nice sound. So I kept the best looking one.

Needless to say, I had to do a lot of work to get it playable. First a warm soapy bath. Oil and grease everything. Buy a new mouthpiece since the one it came with is way too small. Then I appoint played on it for an hour or two before discovering that I couldn’t empty spit out of it. These horns make a crackling sound when there’s liquid inside. The water key spit outlets all look right, except after careful inspection I finally understand why these horns were all returned with saliva inside: their foremost water key closest to the bell have the external anatomies of a water key spit drain, but under the cap there is no hole.

That one is easy to fix, an eighth inch metal drill from the Home Depot did the trick. And honestly, I never realized drilling metal, even into the thin wall of a brass pipe, is much harder than drilling wood. It took a solid minute to make it through the wall of the tubing. I almost wonder if this horn is made of steel instead of brass. Because I’ve seen some light bumps dent brass instruments, I can’t imagine them being this hard. Anyways, it drains now. Another two baths, vinegar followed by baking soda, to remove white chunky mildew and de-acidify the inside of the horn. and the horn now plays and smells great.

After another week of play, I discover that the leadpipe leaks air. This is an unexpected bug for me as the trumpet I played in my pubescent years did not have a tuning leadpipe. This is a piece of popping that plugs into the horn before the mouthpiece. It is adjustable and you can pull it out for a longer horn. Anyways, this is a hard problem because the water keys also leaked air. I had to re-cork them by gluing two 4mm cork pads together to increase the spring tension. But after plugging those three hole, it still took too much air to play. Finally, I took my saliva soaked fingers and placed it next to the leadpipe and felt a leak. This particular problem was fixed by gingerly wrapping. The unthreaded sliding tuning pipe with plumbers thread seal tape, again from Home Depot. (This is the 2” white tape you put around a pipe before screwing on the bolt-end. The process can be aided by inserting a toothpick between the screw holders to temporarily widen the outer tubing) Alas, the horn plays again, and I can actually hold a high-C for more than a few seconds. But sadly the pipe seal tape has a slightly dampening effects that makes sounding out notes slightly harder for me.) anyways, it works now…

I write my experience on Amazon with a 4 star, because I feel the horn actually does play fine. I don’t care if it was Indian made or not. (There are, btw, Chinese made horns costing north of >$600. These obviously benefit from western productization and QA management thinking. Everything is beautifully packaged, completely clean, correctly sized mouthpiece, well made and easy to play in every sense. The improvement in experience from <$200 to >$600 makes me want to try all those European horns at >$3k price, but, alas, I cannot afford that experimentation.) Amazon flatly rejected the review and the 4-star review including some short instructions on how to make the cheaper horn work completely.

Later I repost a all negative review with 1 star and it is quickly accepted.

A few other flugelhorn horn replaced purchases like the mouthpiece all suffered similar fate. Positive reviews from me are invariably rejected due to non-compliance with posting guidelines. Completely negative reviews are accepted quickly with gratitude.

I know Amazon have been banishing many Chinese companies from their market place. But this kind of editorial intervention is very manipulative. I should be permitted to be encouraging to the seller if I want to be. By providing information I give value to the company by improving other customers shopping experience. I mean I review my posts very carefully, they probably have better spelling and grammar than this blog.

I guess this is partially to say that I feel I owe Amazon’s services a statement of gratitude. All this free next day shipping and free returns. I am pampered beyond my wildest dreams before Amazon. I mean, I believe a lot of human culture around frugality and acceptance of the present (you get what you get and you don’t complain) exists because we didn’t have Amazon all those millennia. We couldn’t try pants and socks and return without causing grotesque disruption to the sellers, makers and marketers of products. We had to build curbs to our enthusiastic desires in order for our society to be viable. No, Amazon is not evil and it is not making people evil by offending some common traditional personal ethical prescriptions. For these I am very grateful.

But, we must now contend with modern ethical dilemmas of fairness with liberty. It would be unethical for Amazon to deny positive reviews based on country of product origin. It would also be unfair to me if it restricts my reviews in a specific way to reduce the influence of opinions of people based on my protected attributes. It is also kind of disappointing for amazon to claim that it made the decision “after very careful review” without being able to expend just slightly more effort (either human or AI based) to justify the decisions to me. We can choose to prioritize this over flying to Moon and Mars, imho.

This another episode of friends don’t let friends commit bugs into main. I was reading a previous post here on the FAM blog. It gave me a flash back of the one time when I discovered hash tables.

…to bucket a String, s, say in the jvm, you might like writing “s.hashCode() % bucketCount”

Except that expression will produce, as you will quickly discover if you had the whole hash table, negative numbers half of the time for strings with just a few characters.

The ‘%’ operator returns a remainder that has the same sign as the dividend of the division in question, and in this case the dividend is the hash code which is negative sometime due to overflow of 32-but integer range. One replacement operator you probably can use is “math.floorMod(s.hashCode(), bucketCount)”. The floor modulo operator produces remainders that always has same sign as the divisor, in this case the bucket count. This behavior is well documented since C and backwards, so hopefully you will find this information corroborated by many webpages.

Python, (and other scripting languages like Perl and Ruby) on the other hand, has the opposite convention. ‘%’ operator is C/Java’s floorMod. In the python ecosystem, ‘numpy.mod’, ‘tf.math.mod’ and ‘torch.remainder’ all correspond to floor division and return remainder having same sign as the devisor. Confusingly, to get C/Java ‘%’ method in python, you have to call something these all call ‘fmod’.

Some websites suggest masking the number to take the lower bits then %, which may be slightly different from computing the hash in long integers followed by %. Another (stack) overflow post adds the module calculation inside the String.hashCode implementation so that only remainders accumulate, thus avoiding the negativity entirely.

In any case, if you had to write this, mostly likely the slight imbalance between positive and negative numbers would not bother you and floorMod is easiest method to call on any generic “hashCode()” implementation.

Friends don’t let friends drink and drive.

Friends don’t let friends err and merge.

A few years ago, I stopped being a W4 employee. I had a midlife crisis that I feel too much of me do not want to work in this economy and politics. (That was long before this post-Covid anti-Asian movement) I am sad about it, as we Chinese-Pennsylvanian Americans are steeped, doubly , in work ethics indoctrination. It is the modus operandi for generations and it is for me.

But the opposition in my mind was great, and for many varieties of reasons, and so I stopped working.

Recently, President Biden announced a second round of raising benefits for seniors. The first round already hit my parents monthly deposits. This is some serious money movement that people can see and feel. I feel it because my parents spends more on me, yes even when I’m fast on my way to my semi-centennial.

Today, I feel an ever so slight bump within, like that earthquake I felt sitting on the toilet, it shook me in a weird way: a sudden thought of, “wait, I want to do that.” stirs. I don’t resent taxes as much as before. (Don’t worry, I’m sure that will recover though) It feels good that this happened. It feels good that a suffering populous is treated with dignity and deserved priority.

The sad thing about this is that I can definitely see my own and many other peoples selfishness eventually push us all to vote against the next president who want to continue these elderly benefits.

Sad that it is good but will surely be both hated and terminated. Even sadder, is the fact that I actually like these increase in elderly benefit. Am I so old? Or am I dreading poverty in old age? Are my happiness mere faint echos of those of my parents? Why do I like it? Is it because I’m Chinese ?

So sad !

And I don’t even know why.

First instincts are, as Jackie Chen suggests in one movie of his, “run!”

But there are other options. The less manly men might be able to conjure the idea to “get help” before the rumble.

Also, my contemporaries may know of many forms of bribery or coercion available to them that work great without the actual physical act of conflict and infliction. (Most prominently things like dozing, hacking,… and other forms of intimidation)

And if all that fails, maybe then join them, huh?

Or, I guess the thing that can happen is one can just take a beating. But we probably want to avoid that if possible.

Interesting news late Q3 2021, the US federal just reached some kind of agreement with a Chinese company named Huawei to release her by requesting extradition from Canada.

It’s kind of strange to think the whole thing through. On the one hand, she was captured due to her involvement in a company that allegedly sells equipment to Iranian government. Iran was then a terrorizing enemy of USA and… presumably stopping Huawei from selling equipment to Iran because that equipment when used in Iran could cause USA harm.

However, at the same time, under the same former president Trump, the US lead several countries such as Canada, France and England to officially ban purchase of Huawei equipment for use in their countries. Because presumably the equipment is substandard for some reason.

The details of these political decisions are not clear. From a technical perspective, it might be really interesting to know exactly what spying capabilities Huawei equipment has. On the other hand, it would also be very interesting to find out why that same disabling capabilities are not useful to us when sold to Iran.

The US being unable to deal with Huawei network equipment might be a technical failing as well. One wonders why we couldn’t develop mitigating systems to counter sabotage the alleged spying capabilities? I may be very naive, but honestly, didn’t the US invent wire tapping? I mean we invented the wires and telephones to start with… and who invented the internet but the American military? why is it that we can’t deal with a few piece of internet equipment ?

Overall, another aspect is that the lack of serious competition will also slow down the democratization of internet services. In all honesty, a country like America, shouldn’t we have had a mini-musk or a mini-jobs that comes to the foreground to kick that PRCPLC company’s ass? It can even be lead by a former soldier in the Is army! Or maybe the much lauded marine can have an ex that creates a company and fights back, the proper capitalistic way.

Because for gosh sakes I sure can appreciate cheaper, or at least slower appreciating, cellphone and internet prices, equipment, subscription and all. (and I will quickly hope superfluously that it is a result of free market competition)

The fact that American intelligence can’t get basic information from Chinese counterparts about Iran, once their equipment is deployed, is quite troubling.

I would have thunken that the two country were on better terms than this. Bombs exploding on home soil is to be prevented, and our super powers should absolutely be aligned on this matter. If China knew Iran has a very successful plan to sail a ship into the Statue of Liberty, wouldn’t they tell us? It sure doesn’t hurt them any, but would save innocent peoples’ lives—obviously many of those tourist had been mostly Chinese nationals anyways. And if US has eyes o a Uighur faction setting up a bit rocket to blow up Ürümqi wouldn’t we tell somebody so all those innocent people, and many tourists of American origin, don’t have to die?

Perhaps with a new era being ushered in by this radical president Biden, the world can move to a significantly more peaceful and happy time for all. Ending the war in Afghanistan, ending this stupid and self-contradicting extradition of Huawei, … man, this real world is more exciting than watching all the Star Trek series coming out on NBC! More exciting than Dune and Foundation debuting in the same week! And definitely much more exciting than billionaires flying themselves and friends to “the space.”

Real world radical changes are afoot!

Let’s see what happens next!

Cauliflower cut into rounds of about a cubic inch in size and shape. Scallion whites cut to inch lengths, greens kept whole. Sapphire grapes washed and separated from vine. Heat a thick pan with scallion whites, grapes and oil until oil is popping hot. Add generous amount of oregano, let grill for 30 seconds or just before anything is burnt which ever comes first. Dump cauliflower in to the pan. Let it fry for a bit before stirring. Periodically stir in more salt, oregano, dill, oil, black pepper, and splashes of water for up to 30 minutes. Each time ingredient is added, turn on high heat while storing, then low to medium heat to cook. The scallion greens may be mixed in to add to the taste during cooking and removed before serving.

Serve steaming hot over steamed rice or bread.

The grape and spices all add depth to the flavor of cauliflower. An added benefit is that there is a beautiful purple color to the dish after cooking the ingredients through.

Ulteriorly, this is a good way to use that expensive organic grape you bought from farmer’s market but left out of the fridge overnight… maybe some fruit flies have developed, but it all adds to the taste and color once fully cooked through. It may work differently if you have all fresh ingredients, but what we had was dried oregano and dill.

No! It isn’t where a Chinese chef requires no more than 239 grains of sesame to be used on a 烧饼(barrel toasted pancake) lest one achieves 240 and expel excessive wind.

Instead of an undirected 20% project, one may plan for each employees to participate on two projects investing 40% of their effort into each. The extra 20% is headroom for coffee/tea drinking, context switching, teaming and other human overheads. (Such as your 20% project)

Obvious tunable parameters include whether the tasks are performed exclusively or simultaneously with prioritization at any moment. The interval of processing—beginners should start with 1 day for each task switching 4 times a week for a normal work week. Staggering project phase is usually a big plus. The usual management tools like OKR’s, setting deadlines and priorities, having daily blocker analysis, and standing up once in a while all apply.

Effectively, a lot of people already do this maybe with even more tasks at different stages of completion out of self-optimization or joy. It has similar effect as computer multitasking. When one of the tasks becomes blocked, often due to either externalities, monotony or fatigue, a different task can be worked on using available resources. It is reported by researchers that human have yet to developed widely deployable means of correctly and efficiently multitasking with one brain. But for most people, switching between just two tasks balancing cognitive and physical load is doable.

In the post-COVID work from home era, we lose some valuable commute time where our mind and body recover its depletions, this 240 rule can produce superior personal aggregate performance over extended period of time.

Let’s get 240!

I’ve been feeling uneasy about the huge push by big media and Hollywood (neither of whom I associate myself with even on friendly terms) are pushing so hard to have more minority presence in stories they tell. (As in movies, TV shows and other fictional work like novels.

Let’s drop out of warp speed and into a space where we can and do consider race in their self centered perspective. Majority Caucasian people in America decides they want to integrate more of minority and foreign cultures to enhance their own lives. Better stories because of variety. Or perhaps they want to absorb some good bits that foreign people and culture has experimented for a long time (like yoga and meditation). Okay, this makes complete sense.

The minority races, those that do come to America, are eager to provide these aspects of their persons and culture because they were essentially free for them to get and otherwise valueless. It makes sense to dish out the sacred teachings of yogis, mavens and senseis because those wisdom and secrets are kind of useless because everyone there knows them well. But to your red blooded white American boy, it is the heavens and nirvana combined.

At least, that’s what the producers and show creators are thinking when they scream for more minority presence on screen. YMMV though depending on the exact mixture of ingredients.

There could also be rational explanations for why American minority stories are being sought. The essence of this truism, btw, this is one of those cultural secrets from China: is that many minorities suffer from creatively engineered indignities and pains. The centuries or lopsided society created by white majority discriminating against colored people have not only given white people comfortable lives, but also the leisure and freedom to engage in active, sustained and targeted tormentation of minorities. The result is that American minorities had to work much harder to get anything from basic living necessities to comfort items. The net result is that true minority stories tend to be more interesting because of the straining and maneuvering they had to perform to live here.

It’s hard to describe. For example, if white peoples were naughty boys and they had nothing better to do than to rip off two legs from the left side of an insect. They discover that the 4-legged creature, after some struggling times, figured out how to crawl in gradually shifting circles in order to achieve a forward motion towards its food which it continues to strive for in order to bring it to its children. The insect is surely in miserable pain and horrific depression. But to the boys, this dance looks beautiful! He might even reward the insect by feeding it and taking it away from its children to dance for him full time. Modern version of this story may inspire the boy to use reinforcement learning to train a tiny robot that he trains to mimic the biological insect… how absolutely fascinating are our lives!

Of course, it is quite possible that American minorities, despite their sufferings, did not create interesting stories. This would be the ultimate sad story, that we minorities not only got the worst end of the birth lottery, but also that it happened to no greater good that we can claim part of. We suffered for naught.

That insect might have stepped on its trailing entrails and pulled everything out thereby accidentally committing suicide. It’s children eventually finding him will eat his corpse out of hunger. Disgusting and not that interesting… at least not to me atm. Please do not make a movie about that!

All these thoughts, mainly because I see a lot of Asian-centric entertainment coming online in America. But I do not feel like there are very identifiable, trustworthy, reasonable, powerful and honorable cultural leaderships in America.

Maybe music stars and movies stars did this for previous generations? Maybe presidents and other politicians did this for previous generations? Maybe school teachers and maybe even police provided this for everyone in the past? Who is showing us the way today? Who will show modern American minorities the way today?