Revealing the Logic in China's History

The following is my book review for Ray Huang: 1587, A Year of No Significance. Originally written on January 3rd,  2007. Wording slightly revised. 

The history of China is long and it is very difficult to get a clear idea about the logic behind the countless events happened during the last several thousand years in China. I've read many books on China’s history, both Chinese ones and English ones. This book has been the most inspiring one among those I've read.

Systematic Approach to Solid Composition

The following is my book review for Michael Freeman: The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos. This review was originally written on February 14th, 2009. Wording slightly revised here.

To maximize the quality and visual impact of a photograph, solid composition is essential. The figure I uploaded, "composition triangle", illustrates my understanding to major aspects of a solid photo composition after reading Michael Freeman's book The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos. Three vertexes are tool, skill, and intent. To maximize the area of the composition triangle, all three vertexes need to be well positioned.

Carsharing in Germany

It's a great honour to have been invited as an author for the quality blog Asif Khan. This entry is an English translation of an entry that I wrote a while ago, about a niche of the car industry and my vision of its future.

Mr. Asif Khan was my classmate and teammate during our Finance course work at Stanford Venture Lab (now Stanford Online), 2012/2013. Asif was a great team player during the course and contributed with his knowledge, diligence and warm support to me (I was the team leader at that time). The performance of our team ranked 18th out of 800+ teams from all over the world. Thank you very much Asif, I'll always dearly recall the time when our team worked together, and I'm very glad that you offered me a chance to share my thoughts and vision at your highly active and quality blog!

 Here we go.

(More information about the finance professional Mr. Asif Kahn is available at his website)

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Many are familiar with the car renting business. Car renting companies such as Sixt, Avis, Hertz are operating all around the world. In recent years, in Europe, especially Germany, a more flexible and efficient business model of car renting, namely carsharing, has emerged and flourished.

乐评： 风生水起 Kui Tuuled Pöörduvad

印象中， 倪飒璐（Sandra Nurmsalu）唱罗穆思 (Sven Lõhmus) 写的歌， Rändajad，Skorpion 和 Väike Eestimaa， 清晰精致的面部轮廓， 配以矜持凝重的台风， 像是从史诗中走出来的女神。 她的声音, 通透清丽的同时， 力量充盈而毫不飘忽， 清纯和 sophistication 并存。 Eesti Laul， 即 “爱沙尼亚之歌”， 是一年一度的欧洲歌唱大赛前，爱沙尼亚国内的选拔赛。 五年前， 他们的 “行者” （Rändajad）， 以纯刚性的意象群讲一个沙漠苦旅的故事： 烈日， 狂沙， 寒夜， 和不息的信仰。 今年她和罗穆思以新歌 “风生水起” （Kui Tuuled Pöörduvad） 再度出战 Eesti Laul， 昔日的战神雅典娜在歌中化身成邻家小男孩， 波罗的海轻轻扬起地中海海风， 令人耳目一新。

Music Score of Kui Tuuled Pöörduvad, for Covering Purpose

Sandra Nurmsalu is again in the Eesti Laul 2014, her song "Kui Tuuled Pöörduvad (When the Winds Turn)" is again made by Sven Lõhmus. This entry surprised me very much the first time when I heard it....It's not typical Nurmsalu....After listening it for several times, I understood Sven and Sandra. Yes they've picked a good strategy for the ESC 2014. Winning songs have been usually very approachable, Sven and Sandra are in it for a winner, so this "Kui Tuuled Pöörduvad" is highly approachable in many ways....More thoughts about this song I'll post later, but first thing first, it is obvious that with such a musically uncomplicated song, Sven and Sandra want all of us to sing along. Having comprehended this, today I wrote down the score of this song. Just to make things simpler, I omitted the prelude and interlude. My purpose is to help fans of Sven & Sandra singing. I am no professional musician and I am not very familiar with the Southern Europe style rhythm in this song, there may be a lot of mistakes in my note, any correction will be highly appreciated (please drop a message to

horizondeutschland@gmail.com

if you want me to correct, or simply post your own version. ).

Please do not be put down by the not so well-known Estonian language. The pronunciation sounds very regular and close to the German pronunciation. I find it much easier to sing along than French....okay, let me stop my "lange Rede kurzer Sinn", here we go:

Google 收购 Nest Labs: 家电智能化时代终于开启

1 月 13 日的新闻： Google 以 32 亿美元现金收购制造家用智能恒温器和烟雾报警器的 Nest Labs。

这是 Google 史上第二大收购案，当中可以见出 Google 对未来家电智能化的 vision，信心，和决心。 

2006 年网主在准备毕业论文的时候，有在两个选题中权衡。 这两个选题灵感都来自于当时本人生活上的不便：

一则笑话与 GEMA

去年年底那几个月的项目中有许多琐碎而需要注意力高度集中的事情。 有一天下午 coffee break 时， 我掏出手机说，放点音乐来拯救我们疲惫的灵魂吧， 这个音乐不太复杂，歌词反正也听不懂不至于打扰思路， 比较适合做事时作为背景音乐。 放出来的是 Hildegard von Bingen 的中世纪宗教清唱曲。 同事听了面面相觑。 一位同事打开他的手机说，“用这个拯救灵魂太逊了吧？ 我有 Lady Gaga 你要不要啊？”  von Bingen 和 Lady Gaga 是绝配。 这位同事太好玩了。 

无人驾驶技术的意义

已是一个多月以前的新闻了。 Amazon 美国开始测试用小型无人驾驶飞行器递送特急快件， 预计将于 2015 年在美国投入商业运营。 最新消息又说， 美国航空协会已经批准了六个“飞行投递” 测试区域。 网主相信， 长远来看， 无人驾驶的飞行器， 乃至配备自动驾驶技术的汽车，将对人类生活的许多方面产生深刻的影响。