Tuesday, December 25, 2007

On Holiday....

Cuppa would like to wish all my dear readers a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

I am currently staying in my hometown. Will publish more when I am back. :D

Friday, December 21, 2007

想加薪?看看这。。。

在网上逛看到的。。。

[转帖]:中国老板对员工要求加薪的回复

首先,就你提出来涨工资这件事,我代表公司和我本人,向你表示感谢。你的出发点是好的,也说明了你对公司是信任的,是有所期盼的。有了像你这样的员工,我们公司的未来就有了希望。就我个人来说,非常体谅你的心情,也很理解,将心比心嘛。只是,你的要求公司暂时还不能满足,这个,也请你多多理解。在公司有了更大的成绩以后,肯定会考虑到员工的福利待遇问题,这点,我绝对可以向你保证。

  不能说十多年来工资都没怎么涨,这个说法是不合适的。就我的父母来说,他们工作的时候才二十几块钱的工资,现在是农民的年收入也有了三千多,怎么能说工资没涨呢?我们国家改革开放取得了那么大的成就,怎么能说没有进步呢?举个简单的例子说,如果没有改革开放,你可能还在农村务农呢。所以嘛,还是要相信党相信国家,不要听到小道消息就动摇,要以官方的数据为准嘛。

  农民工的工资12年来涨了68块?这个,也许是真的,不过坦率的说,已经很不错啦,怎么说平均每个月也上涨了5毛多嘛,你看看现在城里有多少职工下岗?他们能拿到补助金已经不错了,我们国家那么大,花钱的地方多啊。多亏了我们的社会体制好嘛,不然,就他们的职业素质,在外国还不得喝西北风去!

  城里的情况更别提了,不能老盯着那些拿高工资的眼红,得看看人家遭的是什么罪。张朝阳的工资高吧,可人家干的你能干吗?杨利伟的待遇高吧,人家那是飞天飞出来的。咱们应该多看看那些普通的职工,他们的工资也不咋地,还得小心地跟老板处好关系,一不小心连工作也保不住了。为什么?竞争激烈啊,你嫌工资低,还有好多人盯着眼红呐!

  先听我说,我知道公司这几年发展不错,我也知道你这几年为公司做牛做马,有功劳也有苦劳,但是这不意味着就得给你涨工资嘛。你想想看,你的工资怎么说也是按时发放的,没有拖欠吧?你再看看隔壁建筑公司,他们的老板每到过年都要出去躲一段时间。你们扪心自问,我对你们怎么样?就是嘛。

  从我个人的角度来说,当然也是想给大家涨工资的,你好我好大家都好,谁不高兴?可是公司有公司的难处啊!公司是在发展,可是花销也大呀?各种费用在涨吧?水费电费每个月都在增加吧?公司效益不好的时候,你们的工资也是铁打不动吧?更何况还有很多额外的费用,公关费用多高啊,工商税务卫生都是钱,连 TMD在门口挂个牌子都有城管的来收费,什么世道!好好,咱们不发牢骚,不发牢骚,他们也不容易。" t& G! ]& Y*

  涨不涨工资,表面上是我说了算,但实际上,还是你说了算。你想想啊,如果公司真的缺了你不可的话,还用你来申请吗?公司主动就会给你涨了。给你说句讨心窝子的话,公司每年给市委书记的小舅子交的顾问费,不是每年都上涨吗?这还用人家主动提吗,是不是? ( V5

  别看现在的用人单位都要求本科研究生学历,不要误会,这不是说那些工作就非得什么学历的才干得了,水涨船高啊,现在满大街都是大学生,下岗的研究生一抓一大把,买方市场有什么办法?你看我们公司的那几个要长相没长相要学历没学历的女职员,能力就更别提了,虽然是因为领导的亲戚才到公司来上班的,但实事求是的说,干的也差不多。对大多数公司来说,没有什么大不了的职位,也没有缺了谁就干不了的职位,又不是研究两弹一星,缺了谁地球不照转呢?

  每个人都追求美好的生活,都不希望被社会摒弃,这不假,但这不意味着公司就意味着要给你涨工资啊。现在是市场经济了,什么都看供求关系,懂不懂?现在的就业形势你知不知道?就是了。公务员有国家财政管着,旱涝保收,公司谁管?哪一分钱不是从自己身上割肉啊?国家不是说了吗,要减小贫富差,在那么多人没有工作的时候给你涨工资,是不是意味着拉大了贫富差距呢?所以嘛,考虑考虑别人,人总不能自私嘛-----

  不能光看着有钱人有钱,也得看到人家所承受的压力。说不定什么时候就被那些刁民都盯上了,昨天还有报道说某个大款被绑票了,真闹心啊。钱是身外之物,要那么多有什么用?生不带来死不带走的,没有意思,把钱看淡一点,有利于平衡人的心态嘛。

  所以啊,年轻人,还是要脚踏实地把工作搞好,要以事业为重嘛。如果整天就想着待遇什么的,还能把心用在工作上吗?把工作做好了,工资的问题不用操心。公司就是你们的家,家里富裕了,才有你们,不,是我们每个人的事业!

  好了,就先说这些。你这个星期天加加班吧,把这个工程的标书弄好,别出差错。内部的关系我基本上都打理好了,咱们别在这些小事上栽了跟头。别忘了,把加班的公交车票交给会计报销啊。


这老板的回复可以浓缩为以下几点:
  1. 人才市场供过于求
  2. 要求加薪的员工并没有公司极为需要的技术或能力
解决方案:
  1. 努力自我增值,实行蓝海政策

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Don't Use The Latest Offerring

As there are a lot of hoohaa's recently on many users downgrading Vista back to XP due to a myriad of reasons. It seems Microsoft itself is doing the same on its own servers.

On Dec 15 the server was still running Windows Server 2008, but the next day it was seen running Windows Server 2003. Interesting!

Before we jump to conclusion, there are a few reasons why this could happen.

First reason could be there are a lot of servers behind the IP address (so called the server farm), and the servers are running a mix of Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, and some 'unknown' OSes (it will be very entertaining if it were Linux...).

Or, is this plain negligence of the site administrators?

Or, the servers were just being downgraded to a better and stable old platform?

You decide.

Cat Family

This afternoon saw a mother cat brings along her four kittens. As usual, played with these cats.





Wednesday, December 19, 2007

On Mathematical Sophistication

Whenever you study a theoretical textbook, the author usually will specify what kind of mathematical maturity or sophistication he/she is expecting. Luce and Raiffa have the following say, which I find interesting and honest:

Probably the most important prerequisite is that ill-defined quality: mathematical
sophistication. We hope that this is an ingredient not required in large
measure, but that it is needed to some degree there can be no doubt. The
reader must be able to accept conditional statements, even though he feels the
suppositions to be false; he must be willing to make concessions to mathematical
simplicity; he must be patient enough to follow along with the peculiar kind
of construction that mathematics is; and, above all, he must have sympathy
with the method — a sympathy based upon his knowledge of its past successes
in various of the empirical sciences and upon his realization of the necessity for
rigorous deduction in science as we know it.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Thursday, December 13, 2007

The Look


This is a picture is in the context of rising food price, and I feel bad every time I look at it.

There are quite a lot of things I can think about by looking at this picture alone:

  1. The rising food prices, and the ramifications
  2. Why old people, specifically, this old lady, has such expression when paying for the food?
  3. What are the challenges ahead for countries that have agricultural produces, and those that don't?
  4. What are the nascent business opportunities, given food is more and more scarce and prices fluctuate much more violently?
All these can be independent essays by themselves.

Sunday, December 09, 2007

一只特立独行的猪. 王小波著

这篇散文我一年都会读几次,很有意思。

一只特立独行的猪
王小波

插队的时候,我喂过猪、也放过牛。假如没有人来管,这两种动物也完全知道该怎样生活。它们会自由自在地闲逛,饥则食渴则饮,春天来临时还要谈谈爱 情;这样一来,它们的生活层次很低,完全乏善可陈。人来了以后,给它们的生活做出了安排:每一头牛和每一口猪的生活都有了主题。就它们中的大多数而言,这 种生活主题是很悲惨的:前者的主题是干活,后者的主题是长肉。我不认为这有什么可抱怨的,因为我当时的生活也不见得丰富了多少,除了八个样板戏,也没有什 么消遣。有极少数的猪和牛,它们的生活另有安排。以猪为例,种猪和母猪除了吃,还有别的事可干。就我所见,它们对这些安排也不大喜欢。种猪的任务是交配, 换言之,我们的政策准许它当个花花公子。但是疲惫的种猪往往摆出一种肉猪(肉猪是阉过的)才有的正人君子架势,死活不肯跳到母猪背上去。母猪的任务是生崽 儿,但有些母猪却要把猪崽儿吃掉。总的来说,人的安排使猪痛苦不堪。但它们还是接受了:猪总是猪啊。


对生活做种种设置是人特有的品性。不光是设置动物,也设置自己。我们知道,在古希腊有个斯巴达,那里的生活被设置得了无生趣,其目的就是要使男人成为亡命 战士,使女人成为生育机器,前者像些斗鸡,后者像些母猪。这两类动物是很特别的,但我以为,它们肯定不喜欢自己的生活。但不喜欢又能怎么样?人也好,动物 也罢,都很难改变自己的命运。


以下谈到的一只猪有些与众不同。我喂猪时,它已经有四五岁了,从名分上说,它是肉猪,但长得又黑又瘦,两眼炯炯有光。这家伙像山羊一样敏捷,一米高的猪栏 一跳就过;它还能跳上猪圈的房顶,这一点又像是猫——所以它总是到处游逛,根本就不在圈里呆着。所有喂过猪的知青都把它当宠儿来对待,它也是我的宠儿—— 因为它只对知青好,容许他们走到三米之内,要是别的人,它早就跑了。它是公的,原本该劁掉。不过你去试试看,哪怕你把劁猪刀藏在身后,它也能嗅出来,朝你 瞪大眼睛,噢噢地吼起来。我总是用细米糠熬的粥喂它,等它吃够了以后,才把糠对到野草里喂别的猪。其他猪看了嫉妒,一起嚷起来。这时候整个猪场一片鬼哭狼 嚎,但我和它都不在乎。吃饱了以后,它就跳上房顶去晒太阳,或者模仿各种声音。它会学汽车响、拖拉机响,学得都很像;有时整天不见踪影,我估计它到附近的 村寨里找母猪去了。我们这里也有母猪,都关在圈里,被过度的生育搞得走了形,又脏又臭,它对它们不感兴趣;村寨里的母猪好看一些。它有很多精彩的事迹,但 我喂猪的时间短,知道得有限,索性就不写了。总而言之,所有喂过猪的知青都喜欢它,喜欢它特立独行的派头儿,还说它活得潇洒。但老乡们就不这么浪漫,他们 说,这猪不正经。领导则痛恨它,这一点以后还要谈到。我对它则不止是喜欢——我尊敬它,常常不顾自己虚长十几岁这一现实,把它叫做“猪兄”。如前所述,这 位猪兄会模仿各种声音。我想它也学过人说话,但没有学会——假如学会了,我们就可以做倾心之谈。但这不能怪它。人和猪的音色差得太远了。


后来,猪兄学会了汽笛叫,这个本领给它招来了麻烦。我们那里有座糖厂,中午要鸣一次汽笛,让工人换班。我们队下地干活时,听见这次汽笛响就收工回来。我的 猪兄每天上午十点钟总要跳到房上学汽笛,地里的人听见它叫就回来——这可比糖厂鸣笛早了一个半小时。坦白地说,这不能全怪猪兄,它毕竟不是锅炉,叫起来和 汽笛还有些区别,但老乡们却硬说听不出来。领导上因此开了一个会,把它定成了破坏春耕的坏分子,要对它采取专政手段——会议的精神我已经知道了,但我不为 它担忧——因为假如专政是指绳索和杀猪刀的话,那是一点门都没有的。以前的领导也不是没试过,一百人也这不住它。狗也没用:猪兄跑起来像颗鱼雷,能把狗撞 出一丈开外。谁知这回是动了真格的,指导员带了二十几个人,手拿五四式手枪;副指导员带了十几人,手持看青的火枪,分两路在猪场外的空地上兜捕它。这就使 我陷入了内心的矛盾:按我和它的交情,我该舞起两把杀猪刀冲出去,和它并肩战斗,但我又觉得这样做太过惊世骇俗——它毕竟是只猪啊;还有一个理由,我不敢 对抗领导,我怀疑这才是问题之所在。总之,我在一边看着。猪兄的镇定使我佩服之极:它很冷静地躲在手枪和火枪的连线之内,任凭人喊狗咬,不离那条线。这 样,拿手枪的人开火就会把拿火枪的打死,反之亦然;两头同时开火,两头都会被打死。至于它,因为目标小,多半没事。就这样连兜了几个圈子,它找到了一个空 子,一头撞出去了;跑得潇洒之极。以后我在甘蔗地里还见过它一次,它长出了獠牙,还认识我,但已不容我走近了。这种冷淡使我痛心,但我也赞成它对心怀叵测 的人保持距离。


我已经四十岁了,除了这只猪,还没见过谁敢于如此无视对生活的设置。相反,我倒见过很多想要设置别人生活的人,还有对被设置的生活安之若素的人。因为这个原故,我一直怀念这只特立独行的猪。

Sage: Open Source Maths Program

Heard of mathematica, maple, or matlab? All these are commercial maths program for manipulation of symbols, plotting graphs, crunching numbers, and other equally fun stuff under the sun.

Side Note: Excel doesn't count as a maths program, though a lot of people are treating it as one. It has its own merit though, as we will discuss below.

Sage is an open source mathematics software which has a grand vision of rivaling the commercial ones.

To recap the advantages of open source software (OSS), first it is free, both as in free beer, and also as in free speech. An added advantage that commercial softwares will not have is the source code for the whole program is available for your reading pleasure. This is a double-sided sword though, especially in situations when your simulation results don't agree with your theoretical results, and the dead line for submitting the conference paper is 3 hours away. At this time, OSS will burn you because as a graduate student, you are not only required to write the paper, you also need to have the ability to fix bugs in your program, in your computer, and those that crawl around in your office. If you have the source code for the software already, what excuse can you give to your professor except to open the window and jump from there?

Now, if you are using M$ products, the story is different: if we were using Excel, swiftly we can push the blame to M$: "Well, Excel just plots the results that way! It was a piece of shit because yesterday I tried to compute 1+1 it said the answer was 10!! " and remember to put on an innocent look. Here is a classic one for your reference. (obviously you won't tell your professor you were computing binary numbers the day before, will you?)



Personally I haven't tried Sage yet, but from the first look its features are impressive. One thing I particularly admire is the use of Python as the script language.

Take it out for a spin, for those lonely people who are boring bored enough to read my blog.

Saturday, December 08, 2007

Is Years of Experience Important for Job Applicants?

There is an insightful article on this topic here. I think it applies to most jobs, though the article specifically talks about on software development.

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Making Decisions

I am sick of all those terms like 'social contracts', 'people must be grateful', 'our tolerance is limited', etc.

Come on, get out from the coconut shell and look outside. Do you see Thailand? do you see Vietnam? Do I need to mention China, Russia, Romania, and India?

I am amazed at some people who are still harping on racial identities and discriminatory policies. Other countries already know what to do, start exploring the uncharted water, and drafting contingency plans for the arrival of digital convergence, escalating health care costs, graying of populations, rising raw material costs, and the rising sea level.

What is the parliament talking about? Air Asia's stewardess should dress more appropriately??

Really I don't know what else to say. Yes, this isn't new, but I am just pondering upon some key decisions. I am more and more disappointed.

Sunday, December 02, 2007

Trivial Sunday Notes

I went to Tampines, which is at the east, for a walk. Had mixed rice for lunch, and found out the so called fried fish fillets were so over-fried that I couldn't really tell if it was fish, pork, beef, potato, or even just a piece of bread.

Note to myself: If I were to cook a dish, deep fried stuff will be the way to go.

It is a sultry afternoon, and Cuppa will need to cool himself down.

My 10-year old alarm clock died recently. May it rest in peace and reincarnate into a Rolex in its next life (if any). Meow.