ProTeXt 2.0 is out!

After... what was it? 2 years? There's finally a new version of ProTeXt! It features MikTeX 2.5, TeXnicCenter Greengrass and TeXMaker (w00t! I loved it on Debian! Still not quite sure how it fares against TeXnicCenter on Windoze though)!

It seems though that localtexmf is no longer supported under MikTeX 2.5, apparently it provides other ways of configuring user's own TEXMF trees. We'll see how that works out, but I definitely need to get up to speed with this for the LaTeX workshop.

Well, download time.

LaTeX Workshop!

I got an invitation from Dr Dhanesh to conduct a LaTeX tutorial/workshop for the upcoming Postgraduate Co*******m! (Sorry, still some repressed memories from 3 years back there.)

The initial idea was to give a tutorial on using my usmthesis LaTeX template. But then we realised that the available slot is only 1 hour, and it's hardly practical to assume the audience having prior knowledge about LaTeX. (Now that's a vision, don't you think?)

So by today, Dr Dhanesh suggested to keep it as an "Introduction to LaTeX" walkthrough, and only talk briefly about the thesis template if we have enough time.

Boy, I am rather thrilled about this. I hope I'll be able carry it off.

VladStudio Wallpapers

Vladstudio.com 依然是我最喜欢的网络艺术家。他的笔触有种温暖的油灯感觉，又像冬天的晚上等着你回家的壁炉里的火焰……当然，更过瘾的是他还时常恶搞名画及网络2.0。

Bash commands and scripts

I love Bash shell commands and scripts. Really, I do. Where would I be without all them one-liners to *bang* *zip* process those huge dictionary text files in less than 5 seconds?

Except that sometimes I need 30 minutes to look for an obscure option and how to use it exactly to get the result I want.

For instance, sort is cool. It sorts lines so fast no spreadsheet application is worth a second, nay, even a first thought. Heck, it even ferrets out unique lines calmly!

Then I have this file, which is all fields of numbers, e.g.

1   1    0    0    0
1   2    2    0    2
...

And I needed it to be sorted by the first field, then the second. Running plain sort on it gave me

1     1     0     0    0
1    10     0    10   10
1    11     ...
...
1  1921   ...
1     2      ...

OK, so it's not seeing the numbers as numbers, it's seeing them as ASCII strings. A man page look-up later, I tried sort -n. Then sort -k, then with both options. To no avail. Time to Google.

30 minutes of surfing later, I finally found this nugget of an example that did the trick:

sort -k 1n,1 -k 2n,2

See, you have to state explicitly (via -k) that the first key starts and ends at field 1, and to treat it as a number, and repeat it with field 2 (or any other fields you'd like to use as the sort key) as well.

I love Bash commands.

Sumatra PDF Viewer

http://blog.kowalczyk.info/software/sumatrapdf/

Finally -- a PDF Viewer on Windows that supports document reloading! No more wrangling with Acrobat Reader DDE commands during TeXnicCenter + pdfLaTeX!

当研究生们开始脑筋不正常

点题！当大家都开始被无理的压力搞得疯疯癫癫，这就是咱的研究室的下场！


我们非常极之迫切需要一个出气筒，一个供我们暴力以待的沙包！！


然后，我们也需要一个软绵绵又温暖的大玩偶，让我们可以紧紧拥抱……（虽然也有人较喜欢也对它暴力以待啦。）

总之。我们很想要 go crazy 啦！

Penang Bridge Traffic info via SMS

While crossing the Bridge this morning, staff gave out little bookmarks re the launching of the "Online Traffic Information Management System" (OTIM) via SMS; thought I'd share it...

SMS:
(to Penang) OTIM kepen OR OTIM topen
(to Seberang Perai) OTIM keprai OR OTIM toprai

to one of these numbers: 012 344 6900; 013 388 3131; 016 339 0999

I gave it a try and here's what I received:

OTIM
CODE:toprai
DEST:To Seberang Perai
INFO:Bayan Baru=Clear; Udini=Clear; Main Span=Clear; Juru=Clear; Seberang Jaya=Clear
[Estimated time travel on the bridge: 15 minutes]>
Drive carefully & wishing you a safe journey!

Mmm, cool. I hope this one doesn't break down ever!

S.H.E. 中国话

谨此将这首歌，献给所有看不起中文，看不起华校生，看不起会说中文的人的人们。

中国话
唱：S.H.E.
曲：郑楠 词：郑楠／施人诚

伦敦玛莉莲 买了件旗袍送妈妈
莫斯科的夫司基 爱上牛肉面疙瘩
各种颜色的皮肤 各种颜色的头发
嘴里念的说的开始流行中国话
多少年我们苦练英文发音和文法
这几年换他们卷著舌头学平上去入的变化
平平仄仄平平仄 (仄仄平平仄仄平)
好聪明的中国人 好优美的中国话

扁担宽 板凳长
扁担想绑在板凳上
板凳不让扁担绑在板凳上
扁担偏要绑在板凳上
板凳偏偏不让扁担绑在那板凳上
到底扁担宽还是板凳长
哥哥弟弟坡前坐
坡上卧著一只鹅
坡下流著一条河
哥哥说 宽宽的河
弟弟说 白白的鹅
鹅要过河 河要渡鹅
不知是那鹅过河
还是河渡鹅

全世界都在学中国话
孔夫子的话 越来越国际化
全世界都在讲中国话
我们说的话 让世界都认真听话

纽约苏珊娜 开了间禅风Lounge Bar
柏林来的沃夫冈 拿胡琴配著电吉他
各种颜色的皮肤 各种颜色的头发
嘴里念的说的开始流行中国话

有个小孩叫小杜
上街打醋又买布
买了布 打了醋
回头看见鹰抓兔
放下布 搁下醋
上前去追鹰和兔
飞了鹰 跑了兔
洒了醋 湿了布
嘴说腿 腿说嘴
嘴说腿 爱跑腿
腿说嘴 爱卖嘴
光动嘴 不动腿
光动腿 不动嘴
不如不长腿和嘴
到底是那嘴说腿 还是腿说嘴

折纸 Origami

I know of at least one reader of this blog who'll click on this link: Star Wars Origami.

其他较合我口味的折纸：

• Joseph Wu's Origami
• Origami Database
• WannaLearn: Origami
• British Origami Society
  

News about the Bridge Closure

News story about the Penang Bridge closure in International Herald Tribune

Another official of the Penang Bridge Sdn. Bhd. ... said it was not immediately clear how badly traffic had been affected because of the move.

[Insert 10 expletives of your choice here]

Not immediately clear. Not immediately clear? NOT IMMEDIATELY CLEAR???? Holy schmolly, didn't you even try putting your head out the window?!?!!?! Wait, I thought you even had a real time camera trained on various spots on the Penang Bridge and roads leading to it!!

Update on 5 April: A more coherent story from the Star. I'd say for a very possible bomb threat, 2.5 hours closure was quite short. Well done. (...or is it the low-M'sian-expectation bar at work again?)

Bomb Scare on Penang Bridge

...So I left the lab at 5.10pm. So the bridge was closed to traffic. D*mn.

So I turned off and headed towards the ferry terminal. I mean, inched towards the ferry terminal.

7.40pm I'm finally in front of the LHDN building!!!

7:50pm D*mnd*mnd*mnd*mn they closed off the junction to turn right into the ferry terminal!! More pileup to endure, arrgh!

8:05pm Sara SMS'ed me back and seems that the bridge was re-opened.

8:07pm Mom called, she heard on the news that they received a report about a BOMB on the bridge, hence the closure earlier.

8:20pm THAT'S IT I'VE HAD ENOUGH!!

So I turned off towards Pulau Tikus and got past Penang GH and turned towards Bayan Lepas, to get to the bridge via Green Lane.

9:20pm Woo-hoo!! Butterworth!! Roti Telur dinner at Zamrud@Raja Uda!!

...but I still don't know if there was really a bomb. And I'm not in the mood to listen to news on the TV right now. Well I guess I'll read all about it in the morning.

鸟语花香

PhD Comics Soap

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=843

Oh no, no no no... how could this happen? I hate you, Jorge... just when I'm just recovering from this headache/fever, too...

数学诗之美（英文版）

我妈将上回的“数学诗”派给她的学生们后，就有几个学生说了： "Teacher, I don't know Mandarin..."

说得真是可怜啊，别担心，英文版的多的是呢。这里有一堆，节录如下：

How I wish I could calculate pi.

How I like a drink, alcoholic of course,
after the heavy lectures involving quantum mechanics.

Sir, I bear a rhyme excelling
In mystic force, and magic spelling
Celestial sprites elucidate
All my own striving can’t relate
Or locate they who can cogitate
And so finally terminate.
Finis.

But a time I spent wandering in bloomy night;
Yon tower, tinkling chimewise, loftily opportune.
Out, up, and together came sudden to Sunday rite,
The one solemnly off to correct plenilune.

这里还有个超长篇的，把 Pi 的 740 个小数位都写进去了。

死亡笔记电脑

哇哦……但还真是酷毙了。全球只有三十台，绝对限量，绝对珍贵。原文

“名字被写在死亡笔记本里的人类，必死无疑”……那，用死亡笔记型电脑处理名单资料库的话……哇咧效率不就提高几百万倍了？还可以编程 bot 去自动 Google 呢……

瓜拉牛拉生态之旅 Trip to Kuala Gula

这其实已是三个星期前的事了，但当时实在是太忙了，没时间写博。不过迟到总好过没到吧？

(This was actually three weeks ago, but I was really too busy with work then and didn't had time to blog properly. Well, better late than never, right?)

瓜拉牛拉 Kuala Gula 位于霹雳州 Kerian 区，是个小渔村，同时也在 Matang 森林保护区内，并号称东南亚其中一个最重要的候鸟“驿站”。三月十、十一日，我们随着大马自然协会的旅行团来到了这里。

(Kuala Gula, a small fishing village, is situated in Kerian, Perak. It is also within the Matang Forest Reserve, and the Kuala Gula Bird Sanctuary is one of the most important stops for migratory birds in South East Asia. So my husband and I joined a trip to Kuala Gula organised by the M'sian Nature Society on 10th and 11th March.)

闲话少说，去片！

(Enough of words, on with the pictures!)

瓜拉牛拉同时有着西马最大的沼泽红树森林系统，而高质量的红树木正是烧木炭的来源。所幸这里的烧炭业者及树木砍伐都由森林保护局妥善管理。这是其中一个烧炭厂：

(Kuala Gula also has the largest mangrove ecosystems in Peninsular Malaysia, and the mangrove trees here are excellent material for producing high-quality charcoals. Fortunately, the charcoal industry and logging activities here are all systematically managed by PERHILITAN. This is one of the charcoal factories.)




我的相机没那么“好料”，所以……观鸟时都拍不太清楚……

(My camera wasn't all that powerful, so I couldn't get any clear shots of the birds.)

但我们看见了海豚！四、五只吧，据说是跑进河口来找鱼吃的，但太快了，实在来不及按快门。照片反而看起来像是尼斯湖水怪……绝对、绝对不是大白鲨哦。



But we saw DOLPHINS! There were four or five of them, apparently they swim into the river mouth areas to look for fish to eat. But they were too quick for us to take any good pictures. The photos look almost like those of Nessie... but that's certainly no Jaws, ok? OK?

More on Google Themes

Well someone compiled (almost?) all the possible cutesy Google themes here. And they've even thrown in some Easter Eggs!

Google Themes

漂漂哦~~ ^o^

快疯了

想去一个远远的地方。
没有人认识我。
找一个安静的角落，静静的躺下来，静静的睡着。
然后，再也不要醒来……

Quest of the Holy Sticker: 夺贴奇兵

For those who know about my long, heart-wringing story about my hunt for the elusive car sticker...

I FINALLY GOT IT TODAY!

That's right, y'all! I'm not a student, not yet a full staff but Heck, they finally acknowledged my name as a research officer in their databases!