Tuesday, December 30, 2014 There was an old man in the room next to us. He had to be in his 80s. At least. He kind of reminded me a real-life version of those two grouchy old men who sat in the balcony and heckled everyone on the Muppet Show. If you ever watched the… Read More Our Neighbor
Monday, December 29, 2014 Last night was a kind of a rough night. My dad was somewhat responsive Saturday morning. He opened his eyes when we called him, and when my mom pointed to me standing at the foot of the bed, he even looked towards me. It only lasted about a minute, but it seemed like… Read More Callous Irony
Monday, December 29, 2014 Twice a day, for four days now, we’ve been in the SICU to see my dad. During the first three days, his lucidity wavered from completely unconscious to opening his eyes when we called him and even looking in our direction, though with no reaction whatsoever. The fourth and fifth days, however,… Read More Love or Duty?
Sunday, December 28, 2014 My dad is a brilliant man. I don’t know why I’m using this as an example of his brilliance, when just the sheer volume of research he’s published says it all, but when we bought home our first Rubik’s cube when I was a little kid, he sat down on his… Read More A Brilliant Mind
Saturday, December 27, 2014 The Surgical Intensive Care Unit at Cheng Kung University Teaching Hospital has a strange ritual…. Twice a day, for half an hour each time, the SICU has open visiting hours. The entrance to the SICU is marked by a pair of sliding metal doors, at the end of a wide hallway.… Read More Cattle Call
Thursday, January 1, 2015 Aside from a few Australian friends, I think I win the race to 2015. I didn’t think Taiwan celebrated the western new year, but lo and behold, when midnight rolled around, Taichung went off in an explosion of fireworks. This was shot from my eighth-story window at around 12:08 AM National… Read More Happy New Year… from the Future
Friday, December 26, 2014 I freaked out yesterday, on just the first full day we’ve been here in Tainan. But I didn’t freak out for the obvious reason. I didn’t freak out upon seeing my dad. No, I freaked out when I found out that the house we’re staying at doesn’t have wi-fi. I need internet!… Read More Freaking Out
Thursday, December 25, 2014 The… uh, celebrity-type person. Not the drink. That would be weird. My dad works in Taiwan because 17 years ago, he got offered a prestigious position as a doctor/professor at one of the universities here. At that time, he had been a doctor at UC Irvine, and it was a tough… Read More My Dad is a Rockstar
Thursday, December 25, 2014 Got in my car and drove to Irvine, where my mom is. Slept in Irvine for the night. Got on a shuttle and rode to LAX. Met my sister in LAX. Flew from LAX to Taipei, Taiwan. Taipei is on the north end of the island. Got picked up by the… Read More Automobiles, Plane, Automobiles, Train, More Automobiles
In case you’re wondering why I’ve basically dropped off the face of the earth, it’s because I sort of have. For over a week now, I’ve been in Taiwan. I haven’t wanted to say anything about it publicly, because saying something about it publicly seemed like I would be turning this into a big deal.… Read More Disappearing Act
I don’t care if you have the most mind-numbing desk job in the world. Listen to this while working, and you’ll feel like your day is a heroic journey of epic proportions….
Man, talk about some intense music. Listening to this stuff makes me want to go out and storm a castle:
… Read More Add Some Urgency to Your Daily Workflow
I just found out that the book The Hot Zone (which describes itself as “the terrifying true story of the origins of the Ebola virus”) grossly exaggerates the dangers of the virus. And I’d say the word “grossly” is pretty apt here. In case you haven’t read it, here’s an excerpt from the book: He coughs a… Read More The Only Thing Terrifying About “The Hot Zone” is How Fraudulent it is
Remember how impressed I was yesterday at Facebook’s photo-recognizing algorithms? Well, a few of you pointed out that it was probably a coincidence, so I guess I’m not that impressed anymore. Besides, I just remembered this….
Last week, I was posting photos from an event Melissa and I attended with her sister and her sister’s husband. And that’s when the aforementioned algorithms asked me to tag Melissa’s sister’s boob:… Read More More Amazing… Horribleness from Facebook’s Algorithms
Facebook’s algorithms have always impressed me with their skillz. So, this is either 1) an example of Facebook’s algorithms being impressive, but tactless, or 2) a coincidence.… Read More Facebook’s algorithms are amazing… ly horrible
Are you a fan of panoramic shots? Then you have to check out this new app called Bubbli.
Using your iPhone’s camera, you stand in one spot, then rotate in place while you scan your phone up and down, capturing every angle of your surroundings. Afterwards, the app stitches everything together into one continuous “bubble,” which you can rotate side to side or up and down to see everything around you.… Read More Panorama-orama
From my experience, most thrill ride operators will err on the side of caution and advise you to be more careful than you actually have to be. But in this case, the safety talk guy was definitely not kidding about needing to use the brake. I think I got about six seconds down the hill before I was sufficiently freaked out that I would fly off the track, and my sense of self-preservation convinced me to start pulling on the brake lever. Talk about holding your life in your hand.… Read More Holding Your Life in Your Hand
All last week, I was in Park City, Utah. I was there for Automattic’s Grand Meetup, the one time a year that the entire company sees each other in person. The Grand Meetup is a combination of both work and play, with the first half of the week leaning towards “work,” and the second half stumbling drunkenly towards “play.”… Read More The Party Suite was My Home for Seven Nights
Yup, I finally figured out who our cat, Mama, reminds me of….… Read More Mama Jabba
As a writer, of course I want people to read my stuff. And the way Facebook’s newsfeed algorithms work, the more likes and shares and comments a piece of content gets, the more it will get pushed to the top of people’s news feeds. When I post a link to an article, and the post ends up getting 100+ comments, Facebook considers that a high level of engagement, and more people will end up seeing the link. It doesn’t matter if half those comments are written by a small group of people who are vehement in their dislike of the article. When it comes to social media and virality, any activity is good activity.… Read More Why I Love Getting Trolled on Facebook
It’s easy to be a fun and upbeat person when things are going great for you. But the true test is how you handle life when things are just going downright crappy for you. And that’s why I have to give some major props to my girlfriend’s cousin, Brie….… Read More Winning at Life
Dennis Hong's Attic 