A Visit to Ohio

It's been nearly three years since I left Ohio. Few weeks ago, my x roommate invited me to attend his wedding. While he wasn't sure that I would go because of the 5 hours drive, I said I would definitely go. There are two reasons. First, he was the best roommate I've ever had. Secondly, it was also a good opportunity to visit other friends in Dayton/Cincinnati area.

I was not disappointed; the three days trip was a memorable experience. Some friends I met reminded me of the situation when I just arrived in Wright State. It was early 2000: NASDAQ was still rocket high and I was excited and hopeful about the new field I was getting into. Life doesn't work the way I expected, but that is another story.

Visiting a place I've lived just like reading an old book. Life is always busy and hectic. A new book became dusty and old over years. One day, you picked it up from the shelf. Probably you never expected to recall much; after all, life makes us forgetful, doesn't it? However, when you turn a page to another, each page woke up the seemingly forgotten stories, and the past memory became so vivid. It was a surreal and emotional experience.

Finally...

Finally, I got the TimedPageRank paper accepted. It is definitely long due. What did I learn from this experience?

1. It is my first long paper. I've learned the framework to conduct research: how to search an orginal idea (motivation), design a problem-solving algorithm (model), assess the designed technique (evaluation), and compose an academic paper(document).

2. The second lesson is not directly related to research. Waiting can be torturing at times, but we have to hang in there.

P.S. I googled my paper title another day, and found there were discussions [1],[2]on our research on searchenginewatch.com! (who knew? ;))

As We may Think

I just finished reading the article "As We my Think" by Vannevar Bush. Its entry on wikipedia claimed that the "memex" system, proposed by Dr. Bush, is "in many ways like today's World Wide Web".

The claim is a bit stretched in my opinion. The entry of "memex" on Wiki considers the memex "a microfilm-based precursor to the personal computer". I think this is a fair assessment.

This article was written in 1945. It is not very easy to read because of many techical terms in Physics. My favorite part must be his comments on how human's brain works.

"It(The human mind) operates by association. With one item in its grasp, it snaps instantly to the next that is suggested by the association of thoughts, in accordance with some intricate web of trails carried by the cells of the brain. It has other characteristics, of course; trails that are not frequently followed are prone to fade, items are not fully permanent, memory is transitory. Yet the speed of action, the intricacy of trails, the detail of mental pictures, is awe-inspiring beyond all else in nature."

Gossip - The Man in Love

I watched Tom Cruise on "Oprah show" a few days ago. The title of an article from Time said it best: "Is Tom Crazy in Love? Or is he just crazy?" If you missed an effusive Tom, you can check a clip here.

I admit it is mean to laugh at a person in love... unless he is an actor.

Mining the web

The book "Mining the Web" just arrived today. The book received very nice reviews on amazon.com. I once borrowed the book from school library, but never got chance to read it thoroughly.

After I finished the first chapter, I noticed the existing Web closely resembles "Memex", which was a brain child of Vannevar Bush more than 60 years ago. Amazing, isn't? Why people don't consider Mr. Bush as "Father of Web"? Electronic computer appeared after "Turing machine" was created, but Turing was still considered as "Father of the Computer Science". I think probably Vannevar Bush only proposed the concept, but didn't get into the detailed mechanism of "Memex".

I will read his classic "As We may Think" in few days.

Everyone is blogging...

Everyone is blogging. Should I join the crowd? I am not convinced yet, but I will give it a try. There are some pros. First, I might find blogging interesting in the long run. Second, probably I need to do something more constructive online besides random surfing. The only question I need to ask myself is: will I have enough time to maintain my blog? I am not the hardest working guy around, but I will make my efforts.

xli