Showing posts with label Chinese. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chinese. Show all posts

Monday, August 17, 2020

Pandemic Atlanta Lockdown - Week 22

Coffee with Amarula
I submitted a journal paper this week, which was dragging for quite some time. This week, I also successfully managed to swap my Tuesday with Sunday, thus shifting my weekend to Saturday and Tuesday. I may try this again later. There are more deadlines coming my way in the upcoming weeks.

Some Teledrama during the weekend

During the weekend, I finished watching a Chinese teledrama series The Disguiser  伪装者. It is included in Amazon Prime with subtitles. However, the last episode (episode 41) had wrong subtitles. Therefore, I had to watch that episode in Viki, with ads. A Twitter friend recommended Nirvana in Fire 琅琊榜 since I liked this drama. Nirvana in Fire seems to have an overlapping cast with The Disguiser. I may watch that one some time.

 

Parallels of COVID19 Pandemic and the HIV AIDS pandemic

The parallels between the COVID19 and HIV AIDS pandemic are becoming harder to ignore. Just like AIDS, COVID19 has also become a humanitarian crisis. No way we can solve this pandemic only by medicine. It is not going to go away. Due to AIDS pandemic, people got more used to safe sex with barriers, many minimized casual sex, others are like "fuck it, if I get an STD, I get an STD" and continue their risky sex patterns. Although there are some medicines that minimize the chances of getting HIV, no vaccine or no curative medicines.

Similarly, we will learn to live with COVID19. Follow some best practices (masks, avoid too much crowds, etc). Others will continue the life as they were before, like, "If I get COVID19, I get COVID19". There may be vaccines or even medicines. But nothing is going to prevent or cure 100%, I fear. So this is going to be a mixture of changes to society, economics, geopolitics, and international relationships, and not just medicine.

Somewhere next year, I think, the world leaders will realize this, and take mitigative actions to minimize COVID19 spread, while resuming life. We also come to the realization that this is the "new normal." A bit more thankful that we are not affected (yet). This is unprecedented (at least, in our recent generations), after all. Another interesting distinction to be made is whether this is to be called an on-going pandemic such as AIDS or an endemic disease such as yellow fever. The differentiation maybe a combination of science, politics, and several other factors.

For how long do we have to live with this new normal of fear is the question. Avoiding AIDS is easy. Avoiding COVID19 isn't. That makes COVID19 a more dangerous pandemic.

Friday, December 25, 2015

Moments with Twitter - IV

It has been a while since I wrote a post on the series of Moments with Twitter. You may find the previous 3 posts by checking out my blog label,

A short term COST action in Croatia. Very remarkable! This gives the entire list of successful STSMs under the same European Project.
  • ~~ Election results of the @Erasmus_Mundus PR election for 2016 https://t.co/wXhF2cUYqc Best wishes to all the EMA Program Representatives! Dec 25, 2015
I am going to be a PR once more. Previously I hold the post for EMDC in 2013.

  • Date Ariane, an interesting "dating simulator" game that has become a YouTube sensation. https://t.co/bZVVFSodx0 Works also in Linux #NSFW Dec 23, 2015
This application is interesting to try once or twice. Irrespective of going viral in YouTube, this game/simulator/application is so depressing. It does not give you much controls, except going on a predefined set of actions in a loop, often random. The "date" in the game itself is more complicated and unfair than the real life scenarios. You may try for fun. If you take it too serious, you will be left irritated.

Erasmus Mundus is surely one of the best things happened to me so far. Actually not one. It is two, as I have been awarded two Erasmus Mundus grants so far - one for masters, and the other (the current one) for doctorate.

  • ~~ Today I presented my work at FCUL. This was also my first guest talk in a university outside Sri Lanka. https://t.co/HJK5isoSTw Nov 20, 2015
I surely love meeting new people, specially the smart ones.

  • The satisfaction you get, when your paper's title has unicode characters that make the editor's job more interesting. :P #∂u∂u -> ?u?u Sep 29, 2015
That tweet was a bit sarcastic. Not sure whether that was a good idea to include Unicode characters in my paper. However, happy about the outcome.

  • #Facebook was down, and now it is apparently back. Reporting real time from #Portugal. :P Sep 28, 2015
Social media has its adverse efforts on the users. I like social media for the network I have built, more than the features it has to offer. I am not actually addicted to any of the sites though. I never check them when I am out. I like to post some interesting updates. However, this year the remarkable events increased significantly, which made me fail to update social media networks altogether. 

  • Thanks @OpenDaylightSDN for reminding me the periodic table again. Hydrogen, Helium, Beryllium, Boron, and more.. :D Jul 30, 2015
Effects of actively participating in the Beryllium release.

  • Listening to the @OpenDaylightSDN VPN Service presentation, while reading on Quagga Routing Suite integration (http://t.co/2FH0spj3wy ). Jul 30, 2015
Updates, real time from the OpenDaylight Summit 2015.
More updates from the summit. I really loved the summit that I did not go out on sight seeing at all, as I did not want to miss any of the sessions. Also since I was in a tight schedule, I could not extend my stay before or after the summit.


Seems pretty interesting to dig the history.

At some point in this year, I really felt  Lisboa airport was like my second home.

  • #MEOCloud, a good alternative to #Dropbox. It gives 16 GB free space, and also has a Dropbox-like referral system. https://t.co/KOAmagkAlB Mar 28, 2015
May be because of its Portuguese interface; it is not that popular. Probably it is intentional as they want to limit their user base to inside Portugal.

This year, in fact, Dropbox introduced the Campus Space Race again for 2 more years. Predictably, this year the universities (at least the ones that I am affiliated with) underperformed compared to the previous, the first time they introduced this. Probably, just like me, many others got annoyed with the migration requirements at the end of two years. In 2013 race, my university was able to secure 25 GB out of the 25 GB maximum advertised. This time, it was just 15 GB.

I love maps and data.

  • I never get any message in #Twitter #Messages #Inbox. Whenever I get one, it is always a spam message. Dec 28, 2014
 Except when I initiate the communication myself. This is not even an exaggeration, though it sounds like one.

Some fun stuff.

The Internet offers an unlimited amount of learning resources.

  • A guide to sleeping in the airports - http://t.co/unTcJgB5IJ This comes handy in deciding the transits.. Sep 14, 2014
I am not really good at sleeping in the airports. I often stare at the small "vehicles" that move the elderly or differently-abled, or the ones that clean the airports in the nights. Often I just go into a long train of thoughts.

  • Found that it is a spam company called @AdCeylon is who spamming me using @madmimi. Created a filter to delete all the mails from adceylon. Aug 08, 2014
That was a heavy spamming that time. Like a few mails a day, directed to my inbox, short-circuiting many of my unsubscribe and filter attempts.

  • I scored 26012 points at 2048, a game where you join numbers to score high! #2048game http://t.co/vcQmTxIDr8 via @gabrielecirulli Jul 10, 2014
Another way how I spend time in the airports during the long transits, specially the ones that come in the nights where the shops in the air-side are often closed. I have a love-hate relationship with the airports. Often loving it for holding strong memories and nostalgia, while hating for the long wait specially for check in and other procedures.

This is to combat scammers.

Mozilla's yearly effort.

  • Read #Tipitaka online. Collection of Pali language texts which form the doctrinal foundation of #Theravada #Buddhism. http://t.co/3NZsMEtfYh Apr 12, 2014
  • Download the free #school text books provided by #Sri #Lanka government from http://t.co/oJdhfnZHFg for grade 1 to grade 11. So convenient. Jan 17, 2014
Memories. Old memories. (Should I say, young memories?)

  • China's first moon rover lands — and rolls onto lunar surface - http://t.co/XrEW93ra8f After almost four decades. First time in my lifetime. Dec 14, 2013
Must have been a cool feeling when the man landed on the moon for the first time a few decades ago. Not much new exciting breakthroughs recently, compared to that. I would consider a Mars landing equally ground-breaking. Nothing else.

I tweeted this long ago. Have to re-read now, as I have forgotten what was this about. After a few minutes of scanning the page again, I still hold the respect for this hero, after 2 years.

  • ~~ Someone is trying to reset my #twitter password. Considering I am a harmless and no-politics person, that is really funny.. :D Dec 06, 2013
After my somewhat political posts in social media in the recent past, I am not sure whether I am still a no-politics person. However, I am still a harmless person, and always will be. I just want everyone to be happy!

I am still not a master.


  • What is the origin of name Pradeeban? Probably Switzerland. According to http://t.co/cLtm55JhMQ :D #smh Nov 10, 2013
Seems it is US now. There are pros and cons of having a long name, that is hard to remember and pronounce. Not sure whether pros outweigh the cons though.

I used to buy colouring books as a young kid.

Just like I developed this habit of booking seat number 55A in the flights, recently.

  • It's not normal to get your testicles bitten off, of course, but it can happen, especially now in Sweden. http://t.co/pJGz1scaU1 Aug 14, 2013
ouch! I love the Swedish lakes. Should be more careful. lol.


  • Closed #Railway stations of Sri Lanka - http://t.co/AZavXMCFcl || It seems previous generations had a better railway in the country. Aug 07, 2013
Luckily the northern lines are back in service now.

The days before clickbaits were mainstream.

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Stockholm - Month 4

Scenic beauty of the lake..
[15/12/2013] - Finally we are completing our 4th month in Stockholm tomorrow. Few more days to complete the third semester, when all of us will disperse to different countries from Sweden. This month was interesting, but was dark with very little sun shine. Interestingly it didn't snow much yet here. Just snowed twice. Earlier this week once and today with rain. No evidence of snow remains either. All the snow has melted down. 
  
At the examination
[12/12/2013] - Today at the examination, the invigilator looked at my Swedish Residence permit with the photo taken just 100 days before, and then looked at me. Then again at the ID, then at me, and then asked me, "Is it really you?" (with a big smile of course). I said, "yes, it is me. Now I look older in the winter". She certainly was not satisfied. She asked from her colleague. He too was kinda confused. Then they decided to trust me. Probably they were just playing with me, because they were smiling. Probably my appearance has indeed changed drastically over the 100 days, away from the motherland of Sri Lanka and the loveland of Portugal. haha.. Nevertheless, that was fun. Blame my laziness for not shaving even past the Movember-deal.

Philosophy of Science 
We have received the results for the Philosophy of Science. An "A" for my essay, "Creation-Science vs. Evolution. An induction based analysis". I am happy about that, as I had done a considerable research on that area for the paper. We had so many presentations. I love student presentations. :D

Lots of Music
I have spent lots of time listening to music, or I often do other things having the music as a background. In the city of darkness, music keeps me alive. ♥ I am listing some of the music I enjoyed most in 2013 below. These songs are pretty old and not really released in 2013. But I happened to listen to them for the first time in 2013. So for me, they are music of 2013. :D I hope you will enjoy these songs, as much as I do.

1. Inna (Romania) - Amazing (video in Praia das Maçãs (The Apples beach), Sintra, Portugal).
 

2. The Myth (China) - Endless Love. [bilingual song - Chinese and Korean].
 

3. DaiQing Tana (China) - Qinghai Lake (video in Qinghai Province, China). [bilingual song - Chinese and Mongolian].
 

Monday, December 2, 2013

Death by PowerPoint - Cantopop

Today we did a presentation showing how not to prepare a PowerPoint presentation for our Scientific Writing and Communications class. As an example, we created a presentation titled "Death by PowerPoint", depicting the improper use of PowerPoint. We discussed Cantopop, Cantonese Popular Music.

We intentionally made the presentation to be a lousy powerpoint presentation to make a point. Although we made this presentation as a joke, we firmly believe that Chinese pop music is the best. :D

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Moments with Twitter - III


After a few months, I did another round of tweet analysis, on my own tweets. I have shared quite a few interesting links, over the past couple of months. Also have a look at Moments with Twitter.. and Moments with Twitter - II to see some of my previous tweets.

Agia PDF Search is a useful search site that lets you search and read the PDF documents online. Oct 15, 2012

Just enter your academic email address to increase the space in your existing #Dropbox account by 3 GB or more https://t.co/GPKJrJPu Oct 15, 2012
Dropbox is interesting, and their business model is even more interesting! All the students love Dropbox, which is mostly a free cloud storage system, though paid premium packages are available.

End of Day Light Saving Time!
DST started on Sun, 25 March, 01:00 local standard time; Ends on Sun, 28 Oct, 02:00 local daylight time - http://t.co/prM3aRj4 Back to GMT. Oct 21, 2012
From the coming Sunday onwards, we will be back from the natural time, from the daylight saving time. This will make Portugal to go with GMT, and this will make the time difference with Sri Lanka, -05:30.

Changed my #twitter profile picture for the first time, since I created the account. Almost 4 years, and I didn't change much though. ;) Nov 02, 2012
Changing the profile pictures and the short bio in these profiles are becoming a harder task considering the ever increasing online presence of myself in multiple social media platforms.

An interesting, yet idiot's way to grab more visitors to your blog - Write a blog post titled, Is {SOMETHING} dead? For e.g., "Is SEO Dead?" Nov 30, 2012  
Another way, Write a silly post with a numbered title, with superlatives. For e.g: 7 worst mistakes that horse owners make in the night. :D Nov 30, 2012
OK. We all have this curiosity to click that link!

The adventures of young student backpackers with Eurail passes, 1970. 1970's photos of train travels in the Europe. http://t.co/EMN3IIMk Jan 03, 2013
Student backpackers - this term probably fits the Erasmus Mundus / Erasmus students, at least in some points of our life. One of my favourite backpacking blogs is, Breakaway Backpacker.

A ҉ Y ҉ U ҉ B ҉ O ҉ W ҉ A ҉ N ҉ Mar 03, 2013
Hello, Sri Lankan Style!

Shenzhen Window of the World.. http://t.co/w9DQqOyXct Mar 11, 2013

What is my #IP? http://t.co/DPaIw2cMtB Jul 26, 2013

CHINAKNOWLEDGE - a universal guide for #China studies http://t.co/2whemOIDrw Jul 30, 2013
This is an interesting resource to learn about China, its culture, and the Chinese language. MIT OpenCourseWare too has Simplified Chinese and other Chinese courses under the foreign languages and literature section. For me, listening to Chinese songs with the lyrics written in pinyin appears easy. Everything else seems just Chinese. :D

Collection of oddities.. the odd stuff.. http://t.co/GcXkqAP7iP Aug 02, 2013
These odd stuff are interesting. Bored Panda is a similar online magazine. However, I don't find anything these articles report odd. I find the mainstream news these days more 'odd'. One news was "Vietnam to ban discussion of news on social media sites". The situation globally doesn't look nice to me. Have a look at the Press Freedom Index of 2013.