Angel Island Hike

Went with some friends on a half-day hike around Angel Island. I had a lot of fun. I enjoyed the weather, which was cool with a mild breeze. I particularly enjoyed the ferry ride across the bay. I saw...

(awesome photo taken by Steve)

Massive domes of white whirling fog completely shrouding San Francisco and parts of the peninsula for pretty much the whole day, giving the landscape a mysterious feel.... Yet the the sun was completely out. And small, white sailing boats cut along the still yet churning green-blue waters. Against the backdrop of cute houses dotting the tree-lined hills of the Tiburon peninsula. Motion admist stillness....

4 down, 2 to go....

Finished Goblet of Fire. Good stuff... more ominous and perilous from the get-go. The pages really flied for me. Works well as an adventure and mystery novel. And there's a slight shift of the episodic formula to an ongoing story of conflict against the forces of Voldemort. Interesting characters and good villains. Additional backstory and development for all characters. Have to say, Rowling is most adept in the art of story-telling. Can't wait for the next book....

The coming e-book revolution?

I'm beginning to see an accelerating trend toward a feasible, mega-resolution, inert electronic display. There are still design, technological, and legal hurdles toward mass adaptation. However, I think we will eventually do a good chunk of reading on electronic paper. Why? Much of our paper consumption is used on single-use viewing. The amount of paper we consume during our meetings at work that we probably won't really look at again is fairly sizable. This plus it's a cheap substitution for throw-away prints like newspapers, manuals, legal disclaimers, etc....

There's more boring stuff I can talk about, but the electronic distribution of text holds lots of promise. Just the possible of requesting dynamically user-specified formatted documents (for example getting books in overlapping Chinese and English translations, or Sanskrit, or anyother way you like) over the server is awesome.

I think I'll just post a picture of a latest e-reader prototype from China. And leave a link for more details, here.


Neat....

Indian Pilgrimage: Nepal is no-go

Sailu asked me yesterday if I wanted to go to Nepal. Since we'll already be in the Eastern edge of Uttaranchal State, bordering Nepal, it shouldn't be too far to hop on a bus and cross over the Nepal and Kathmandu, the capital. Nepal isholds the geographic birthplace of the historic Buddha, and supposedly the country is full of interesting expressions of Buddhism.

It's very appealing, except for a full-on raging civil war, pitting Maoist rebels and a Monarchist government. Throw in previous incidents of bus-bombing, tourist detainings, Regicidal patricide, matricide and suicide, and explusions of foreign reporters. All this suggests a later tour date. So, we're most likely not going to Nepal. Oh well....

Going to India

I have been planning an Indian Pilgrimage trip. I'm now definitely going for sure. A college roommate initially invited me to go, and subsequently, we were permitted to stay at a Hindu Ashram for 3 or 4 days. The Swami who we heard it from really likes the place. I will be gone for a little more than 3 weeks from, November 17 to December 12.

Right now, all that we have planned is that we'll fly into Delhi, and hang out at Uttarancahl State (that's the brown state in the North) in the low Himalayans for a while.

I'm not sure what to expect....

3 Down, 3 to go

I finished reading the 3rd Harry Potter book, the Prisoner of Azkaban. It was good, but not as good as the previous books. I think it's because the ending wasn't as statisfactory as the previous two. It's still an enjoyable read. I won't spoil the ending except to say that the plot device Rowling used at the end was majorly deux ex machina. Let's just say, the ending made me feel like I was watching a particularly lazy Star Trek episode.

I still want to watch the movie though.

Under New Management

I decided I'm going to write in a more engaging style. Expect shorter, more immediate commentaries about day to day stuff....