Wednesday, October 29, 2008

[詩戀] In love of Uncertainty

背著電腦,去歐洲流浪的作者把 Wislawa Szymborska 的詩作 Love at the First Sight 的前四句錄在《再見柏林》那一章(恰好是書籍的第100頁)之首。

初見的悸動和揣測未知的忐忑與興奮,恰是旅人心情的寫真,或許是作者抄錄這首詩的緣由吧;至于我這個很想作旅人,卻從未成行的老宅男,手裡握著打印的 data mining 論文,想到 uncertainty reasoning 正是我們這一行 的頭疼議題(看看這本書 便知我所言不虛)。 "but uncertainty is more beautiful" 不僅是旅人的心聲,也是在學海人生裡漂泊的心聲。

全詩英譯(Walter Whipple 翻譯)抄錄於後,還有一個 Roman Gren 翻譯的版本,就不錄于此了:
Both are convinced
that a sudden surge of emotion bound them together.
Beautiful is such a certainty,
but uncertainty is more beautiful.

Because they didn't know each other earlier, they suppose that
nothing was happening between them.
What of the streets, stairways and corridors
where they could have passed each other long ago?

I'd like to ask them
whether they remember-- perhaps in a revolving door
ever being face to face?
an "excuse me" in a crowd
or a voice "wrong number" in the receiver.
But I know their answer:
no, they don't remember.

They'd be greatly astonished
to learn that for a long time
chance had been playing with them.

Not yet wholly ready
to transform into fate for them
it approached them, then backed off,
stood in their way
and, suppressing a giggle,
jumped to the side.

There were signs, signals:
but what of it if they were illegible.
Perhaps three years ago,
or last Tuesday
did a certain leaflet fly
from shoulder to shoulder?
There was something lost and picked up.
Who knows but what it was a ball
in the bushes of childhood.

There were doorknobs and bells
on which earlier
touch piled on touch.
Bags beside each other in the luggage room.
Perhaps they had the same dream on a certain night,
suddenly erased after waking.

Every beginning
is but a continuation,
and the book of events
is never more than half open.

[Video] 還是筆記本好用

Laptop Computer 在台灣一般習慣叫筆記型電腦,或者簡稱為筆電;大陸那邊則習叫筆記本兒,或者索性叫本本。大陸地區有名的博客 和菜頭最近介紹了一個很有趣的影片,充分說明筆記本比 Laptop 優越多了:


Wednesday, October 22, 2008

[Video] 從狼煙到手機

e的二三事那裡看到一個賣手機的廠商CARPHONEWAREHOUSE廣告片,用簡明流暢的動畫,介紹通訊方式的演進,很有趣味。雖然是“廣告片”,沒有無趣低俗的商業元素,畫面用簡單的線條構成,故事簡單有趣 - Strongly Recommended...


[KDNuggets Poll] Financial Crisis Effect on Data Mining Field

不論學者官員網路名人們怎麼說財務危機,言語或嚴肅或搞笑,救市或沉著或慌張,但這次金融危機帶給我們這些“一般人”的心理壓力是真實而無處不在的。從 Live Traffic View 所見,我這個一畝三分田,最近這些日子最常被訪問的,也是和金融危機有關的《圖解次級房貸》。

搞 Data Mining 專家、顧問、學者也是一般人,當然不能自外於世,KDNuggets 最近一期的問卷調查,主題正是詢問讀者們:這次財務危機究竟有沒有影響2008年第四季的展望?雖然參與投票的人不算多,以管窺天,也未必不能瞧出些端倪,投票結果如下圖,諸君若想了解投票的細節,請拜訪本次問卷調查網頁。

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Latte Art Collections

快拍公園有個主題叫做“咖啡奶泡拉花募集中”,各式拉花爭奇鬥豔煞是有趣,有圖為證:

Search your mind ?

George H.W. Bush 給我們上過一課,讀我的唇(Read my lips: no new taxes)容易,讀我的心很難,所以投他票的選民最終還是發現,增稅是不可避免的。

Revision 3 的一則報導,竟然宣稱使用自然語言處理技術(Natural Language Processing;NLP)的搜索引擎廠商Cognition 竟然打破常識,不僅可以搜尋 web ,還可以搜尋你的心 - Search the web and your ming with Cognition

(主持人齜牙咧嘴的樣子有點好笑,不過全螢幕播放的效果真的很哦!)

Thursday, October 16, 2008

"Latte Art" printer make it for you

義式咖啡的魅力所在除了濃郁的 Espresso 咖啡加上綿密柔軟的牛奶泡沫,在牛奶泡沫上作畫,給飲者加上視覺的刺激,也是許多癮君子的鍾愛的樂趣之一。這種 Latte Art (有人稱之為拉花)技術,自然是許多咖啡吧台師傅(barista)苦練的技術之一,近日 OnLatte 介紹了一款能在咖啡杯中作畫的 Latte Art Printer,讓人嘖嘖稱奇。

根據 OnLatte 的說明,這款 Latte Art Printer 可是在 SIGGRAPH 2008 上大出風頭哦。有圖有真相,下圖即為明證:



Wall Stree Journal 還特地為此專文介紹 Latte Art,並且制作了影片:



YouTube 上也可以找到這款打印機展示的影片噢:

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

凡事都要 2.0

去年十月寫了篇遊戲之作 [Updated] 版本 2.0 升級報告,近日發現我素來鍾愛的咖啡都要升級至2.0了,果真是吾道不孤,凡事都要2.0啊。

如果我的心是一朵蓮花

~ 林徽因 · 馬雁散文集 · 蓮燈 ~ 馬雁 在她的散文《高貴一種,有詩為證》裡,提到「十多年前,還不知道林女士的八卦及成就前,在期刊上讀到別人引用的《蓮燈》」 覺得非常喜歡,比之卞之琳、徐志摩,別說是毫不遜色,簡直是勝出一籌。前面的韻腳和平仄的處理顯然高於戴...