Today's news

A few days ago Zhou Du let me know that my blog could not be accessed in China - I did not feel very uncomfortable about that. I started using Blogger in 2007 and I was quite used to its occasional unavailability.

What really suprised me today, is that Zhou Du told me he could not read my blog via Google Reader (subscription attempt will get error message).

When I'm wondering if Google is having a technical problem (and feeling a little bit upset), Zhou Du swiftly opened his new blog in Sina (www.sina.com.cn).

I really don't know what to do, and I will just wait and see what happens. I don't want to open a new blog elsewhere, I mean, I love Sina.com, I always read interesting blog stuff there, and even advised my dad to use it... I think I will continue to make posts on Blogger. I'm sure people in China will be able to view it sometime in future, just like everyone else in the world.

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By the way, here's one insteresting blog I just found

Beijing Notebook - Random observations noted in Beijing
http://beijingnotebook.blogspot.com/
(By a friendly lady who is enjoying her life in capital city of China)

去休斯敦机场

最近没啥事儿，但还是来胡写几句吧：

上周日晚上去休斯敦机场接老兵同学，飞机从芝加哥过来，因为这边雷雨所以晚点半小时，11点半到的。我因为没在美国出过远门，出发前花时间准备了一番：查了从college station到机场的详细路线（还画了个草图），拿上老兵的GPS，把车检查了一下。尽管怀疑车的油泵有问题，但凑合着开了。晚上10点出发，出发前很搞笑，先是Joshua打电话过来，跟我讲他现在有空，如果我没把握不敢去了，他就去接老兵；我刚把车开出小区，老高又打电话来，问我出发了没，要不要让他一起跟着去，我跟他们说不用担心，我能行。看来让我去接人搞的大家比我还紧张，呵呵。路程110英里，绝大部分是高速，跟宣化到北京的路程差不多。

我没什么夜间行驶的经验，发现夜间行车又紧张又枯燥，在远离城镇没有灯火的地方，除了前面那100米的路面，四周就是一片乌黑！幸好路程不长，路况也好。进城以后上了beltway，算是环城线吧，有5车道，我在最右道60mph的速度走，在左边其它的车就快速的超过去。这beltway是收费的，而且收费站就会设在路中央，跟国内一样，呵呵。交费时可以走coin only通道，那里无人执勤，需要自己把六个quarter向扔石子一样抛到一个喇叭型圆筒里，咣铛一声之后挡在车前的栏杆就打开了，挺搞笑的。

到机场后走arrival这个路线，没有去停车场。这个时间要算准，我已经到passenger pick up的位置了，赶快给老兵打电话，但他还在取行李；这里车流繁忙，交通引导员在不停的把车往外赶:-) 我就只得绕这那个航站楼又走了一圈，再回来的时候才把人接上了。

回来的时候出了些差错，先是忘开近光灯了，以至于一个开卡车的人跟我并行了一小会儿，还探出车窗指着我的车头向我示意，我跟老兵居然过了一会才反应过来怎么回事，糗阿～ 然后是被GPS带错路了，多绕了半小时，最后索性不理GPS了，回头开到我认识的路上才算找对方向。

回来的路上几乎看不到车了。我们孤零零的跑在得州6号高速上，车里放着我最喜欢的那些“口水歌”，高兴的时候俩人就扯着嗓子跟着吼几句。然后就是跟老兵兴奋的胡扯。3点半到家。

＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝

最近通过晓昕的博客得知他目睹了一次事故和悲剧，让我们再次感到生命脆弱且宝贵。我想，对在外漂泊闯荡的我们而言，一定要做到小心谨慎、远离是非，当然，还有安全驾驶。

LCD brightness issue on ubuntu & X61

My Lenovo X61 (running Ubuntu 8.10) got the problem of not to adjust LCD brightness. This really annoyed me! I thought that this could be inconsistency with the sophisticated hardware... Luckily, someone hacked the problem!

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1071216

Briefly, modify two files under: /etc/acpi/

Append line ``echo 4 > /proc/acpi/ibm/cmos'' before exit for file ``thinkpad-brightness-up.sh'',

and similarly line ``echo 5 > /proc/acpi/ibm/cmos'' for file ``thinkpad-brightness-down.sh''

Ubuntu install from USB stick and what

Well, I just made a successful install of Ubuntu from USB stick, not a live CD.

This turns out to be very simple: you just download a Ubuntu install CD image onto a Ubuntu machine, insert a working USB stick (make sure there's no important data), and use the ``USB startup Disk Creator'' to do the thing. It is crucial for the version of system you're running and the CD image to be the same (version 9.04 was tested to be working).

After this, plug the stick onto a PC which can boot from USB device and install the system. I got a Dell studio computer and the installation worked fine.

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I went to the library this afternoon, where I saw a kind of ceremony for the graduating cadets (the students going to be officers in military). I joined with their families to watch them.








下午去图书馆的时候在路上看到了一个小的仪式，应该是为毕业的军校生(cadets)举行的。人群很安静。肃立在人群中央的学生（男女都有哦）被叫到名字后就会走上前去与一个军官模样的人，敬礼，然后握手交谈几句，退下。围观的人中应该不少都是学员的家人，忙着用相机记录这一幕，或者静静的注视。

Texas A&M有四千军校生，所以校园里经常能看到最后一张照片里打扮的学生。我在research park跑步的时候还遇见过全副武装的学员背着制式步枪在拉练，有点像在媒体上见到的驻扎在海外的美军士兵。这个学校还有个Memorial student center，那里的草坪是禁止踩踏的（在美国很少见），草坪上的一块小石碑告诉了你原因：这里是专门用来纪念从这个学校毕业的、为美利坚合众国捐躯的军校生。

Frog thinks

Congratulations to adug, who just have his first first-author paper accepted by a scientific journal. Congratulations to Xiaoxin, who has just made important discovery in his studies. My friends are all doing well. Congratulations to you all! Though I'm right now like ``frog in the well'', I'm really inspired by that. Stop complaining! Hit the gas, change the gear, and journey into the new world ->

很棒的消息！师弟adug刚刚有他的第一篇文章被接收了，“手中有paper，心中不慌了”，:D 恭喜！另外我的好朋友Xiaoxin也在他的实验中得到了重要结果，希望科学史上能留下你的一笔！恭喜你们！

尽管我一直在坐井观天中，但我也一直在不懈努力，而且要更加努力了！

Great clouds

I love watching clouds -- that is, literally anything in the sky.

Here in College Station we have a climate that always changes drastically, and a sky usually full with turbulent clouds. Just now towards noon this day, I stood outside the building to enjoy the air, and saw those majestic clouds there. I instantly took a few pics, but the effect was poor -- partly due to mist air this day, a lot of moisture. After a while, the battery was drained, and I had to get back.

祝妈妈母亲节快乐！

祝亲爱的妈妈母亲节快乐！

照片老早就照了，是在borlaug center旁边的一个什么楼，忘记名字了。楼前有一座老模老样的雕像，挺有派头的老牛仔，仔细一看，腰上怎么还挎个鸟巢？里面还蹲着个小家伙？？哈，原来有个斑鸠在很合适的位置筑巢育雏了，真有意思

发现college station的斑鸠真是多啊，一个个胖乎乎的，也不是很怕人。哪天专门讨论一下。



The picture: a dove made a nest in a fine position in a statue, in front of a building near my office. I took the picture when I'm running one afternoon (in May 1st?)

Happy Mother's Day, my dear mother!