Little "Monster"

Well, babies are not cute any more... are they monsters?HeHe. Feather start to grow out, sooner or later, they will look like their parents. I can feel the warmth and safety provided by the pigeon mother. She is always great. Baby pigeons get stronger day by day under her care and feed. Now, there are more eyes looking at me ^^;;

Little Pigeon Opened Their Eyes

These little creatures opened their eyes today. Even though their eyes are half open, they start to see the real world. It is really hard to get a family photo, but I did it today. Actually this is the start scene of fighting between pigeon parents about who should feed their babies. The father won. Later on today, the little pigeon was trying to ask food from its mother

Shisha Shop-水烟袋

怀着对水烟袋(Shisha, Hookah, Nargile) 的好奇，今天我和男友终于走进了KAIST附近的一家水烟袋吧。由于听说里面不含尼古丁，不会吸烟的人也可以尝试，所以对于这种新奇的家伙，我早就耐不住迫切要尝试的心情了。一拿到菜单，我们就把注意力集中到了水烟袋的不同选择上。选择有很多，有各种不同的水果味。由于第一次尝试，我们还是采取了保守的路线，让店主推荐一款，推荐的是橘子味的。不一会工夫，一台有着绿色瓶身(水仓)，银色瓶颈(烟仓)的水烟袋就被摆在了我们的面前。并且还提供了2个半透明色的烟嘴。吸的方法很简单，把烟嘴套在烟棒上直接吸饮就可以了。我于是迫不及待的安上了烟嘴。 哦，我的好奇心总算被满足了。 我拿着烟管，模仿抽烟人的样子，深深的吸了一口，并没有什么感觉和味道。然后再模仿吸烟人的样子， 把嘴里的烟吐出来。 哦，有味道了。香香的，烟香味，橘香味？并没有太多的心情去研究，我还是继续沉溺于“吸烟”的新奇感受。哈，这可是二十多年来的第一张“吸烟”的照片，估计被父母看见的话，少不了一顿解释，呵呵 细细端详了一下水烟袋，水烟袋的最上端是烟碗，上面放着烟料。烟碗的下端连有一细管，此细管一直伸到水仓中的液体里。烟料产生的烟也就经由细管经水过滤，而那液体则是被制成不同的味道，随着被过滤的烟一同由吸管引导被吸烟的人吸出。水烟袋的构造，就是根据“隔水吸之”的原理来设计的，这样一来，烟油、尼古丁及杂质大部分留在水里，进入口中的烟似乎要卫生多了。 今天不光体验了水烟袋，又增加了对水烟袋的了解，可谓不虚此举。不过，透露一个秘密，我吸烟时，只让烟雾停留在口腔中，随即便吐出来了，我并没有深深地把它吸入肺里(原因是我不会^^;;)。我当时也没觉得我的吸法不对，只是后来想想怎么吸烟会一点感觉都没有呢， 才想到是方法的问题。赫赫

Baby Pigeons were Hatched~

Maybe baby pigeons know when is the best time to be hatched, that is when there is nobody around ^^;; I had been keeping an eye on those eggs, but I still missed the right time when they were hatched... I came to lab on Saturday in order to not miss their birth, they disappointed me. Then I assumed that if one egg would be hatched on Sunday then the other one would be hatched on Monday, since there is one day interval in between their arrival to the world. With such assumption, I thought at least I wont miss the birth of one of them. But the truth is that I was wrong. When I came to lab this morning, I found both of them were already hatched. They were hidden under their mother's warm, soft body. Some debris of egg shell were abandoned on the side of the nest. Pigeon mother is always extremely cautious to my observation. She immediately hides her children when I start to look at them and do nothing except keeping an eye on me. Pigeon father is much brave. He feeds his offspring in front of me so that I can take photos of those tiny, week, but a little bit ugly creatures ^^;; Baby pigeons are in yellow! He started to feed his babies. Continue to feed. The beak of baby pigeon was inside father pigeon's mouth to get food. Well, I don't really feel good to see that, which the tiny hard beak pokes the insider of father's mouth. But that is the way they live.

Google is Losing the Trademark

These days, people not only use 'google' as a noun but also as a verb. 'Google' is used as a synonym for search in everyday language. People who are likely to use google to search are called 'googler'. It is kind of fashion to use 'googling' than 'searching', but not everybody like it happens. Becaming a generic word, Google will not be able to maintain its trademark, which means Google lost its brand protection and can not renew its protection indefinitely.

There are many similar cases in history. Nylon and aspirin were once trademarks but are now part of the nomal English lexicon. Photoshop is also largely used as verb which means 'editting' photos. Eventhough developers do not hope this happen, at least it shows that their products are popular enough to be imprinted on people's memory and to be generalized in everyday's uses.

Related article:

http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2004_06_26_index.html

Cool Photos of Pigeon Parents

I shot some really cool photos of pigeon parents today. The pigeon father was gazing at me when I took this photos. He is the most beautiful pigeon I have ever seen. He has strong and vigorous body with shining feather. The color and pattern of the feather are in great harmony which make him looks so neat. He did a good pose in front of my camera ^^ I like the following photo, eventhough it is a little bit blured. It shows the greatness of pigeon mother who is always pay all her efforts to protect her offsprings. This photo was taken after the pigeon mother expelled an invader to her nest. The invader was an ungly pigeon who wander around her nest and kept making noise. I don't know exactly what he would do, but I could feel some strange atmosphere. The pigeon mother also sensed it and flew out of her nest to drive that angly pigeon away. I am proud of her!

The Pigeon Father

The father pigeon came back to replace pigeon mother so that she can go and look for some food. I need to take photos when they shift their duty. The pigeon father was highly cautious to me when I was taking photos. He stood there motionlessly and stared at me. It was good since he hadn't hide those two eggs under his body. Maybe those eggs will be hatched on friday.. Let's wait ^^

The Dead Sesame-주근깨? "주근" 깨?

With all materals I have, I designed a "Suncake" and I tried it out this morning. Well, it looks not bad and I am quite satisfied with that ~.~. By looking at the suncakes, I saw huge eyes... Next, I made joke of those suncakes. Here it goes: A face was made with two big and round eyes (suncakes ^^), cute freckles (sesame), and a small red lip (carrot). It turns out I made a food version of Keroro ^^;; Well, this is not my point of this post... There is something very coincidental in my food version Keroro. As I mentioned I used sesame as freckles on the face when I made it this morning. Later on my boyfriend told me that the Korean word for 'freckle' is '주근깨'. It literally means dead (주근) sesame (깨). haha. Those sesame were visually and meaningly became freckles. '주근'깨 -->주근깨! The most important thing is I may remember (주근깨) this word for ever ^.^

My Phone Stand

Suddenly I got an idea to make a stand for my new phone. I began to search in my room for materials that I can use. Finally, I got them. Here are materials in hand: a lid of ice-cream box and a piece of hard paper. Tools for making the stand are knife, ruler, pen, and two-side tape. Cut the paper in the shape illustrated in the photo below. The size of the croped paper needs to be measured with the lid of the ice-cream box. The length of the paper should be a little bit longer than the diameter of the lid. The bottom part of the paper needs to be bended in the same width with the two-side tape, which will be sticked onto the down side of the bended part. The bended part is supposed to be cut in jigsaw shape. To draw something on the paper to add more fun. Bend the paper and stick it onto the inside of the lid. A small support is needed behind the curved paper to add more strengh. Put the phone on it and have a look ^^ How is it? ^^ I like the idea to take advantage of some wasted materials.

New Phone

I can't believe that a phone only sells 10$. But it is true. See, I got this new phone which only cost me 10$ and nothing more. Eventhough I can't appreciate the phone style, the cheap price balanced it. ^^ Here is my new cheap phone: The interface is well designed.

How to restart computer remotely

Here is the memo for restarting computer remotely:

First of all, to set exact ID and password of my computer with the remote computer, Then do the following steps.

Step 1: Start--> Run or input shortcut: window+R

Step 2: input "shutdown-i" in the popup window Step 3: Click 'Add' Step 4: Input the remote computer's IP address. Click OK Step 5: Select 'Restart'. Input anything in the last row, and click OK. Then wait.

The second pigeon egg

The second egg came out. The mother pigeon came back

The first pigeon egg

The pigeon couple outside my lab's window laid egg again. It's been 6 monthes after they settled down outside my window and hatched the first pair of baby pigeons.Unfortunately, only one baby pigeon survived. Today, they have a new begining of raising their offsprings. Let's wish them good luck ^^

SSIMZ DESIGN

In Busun KOSES Conference, I met a lady from NHN. She came to me after my presentation and expressed her interest in my study. Today, we communicated by email, and she told me that she wrote a summary of my study on her blog. She asked me approvel. I was quite happy since she did really nice summary. Check the address:

http://blog.naver.com/ssim98/150017983764

I read her blog and I can feel her passion towards design and research. I am really happy to know her.

KOSES Best Paper Award

Last Friday, I went to BuSun to attend Korean Society for Emotion & Sensibility Conference 2007. And I presented my paper there. Surprisely, I got Best Paper Award in the conference. I couldn't believe my ear when I just heard about it. I never thought I could get any award. I thought I was just lucky. After I heard that the selecting process was carried out with justice, I believed it was the award for my efforts. But not only mine, Professor lee and all lab members did contribution as well. I am really appreciated their help to make this paper awarded.

-Professor Lee was awarding me in the ceremony

An interview with Professor Lee

Professor Lee was interviewed by BusinessWeek last year (-_-;) to talk about Korean design and culture issues on product design. The original article is here: http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jan2006/id20060123_015425.htm

写论文引发了新兴趣

由于最近正忙于书写论文的Literature Review部分， 我阅读了很多关于文化的书籍，探讨东西方的差异。东西方间的差异不光是行为层次的不同，还有思维的不同。 就任于耶鲁大学(Yale University) 和密歇根大学 (Michigan University) 的心理学教授Nisbett曾著有《The Geography of Thought》一书（2005）。书中提到现代东方人和西方人的思维差异源自古希腊思想和古中国思想， 并且阐明了为什么古希腊人和古中国人会有不同的思维。通过阅读此书， 我突然对历史产生了兴趣。 现在觉得学习历史会对理解文化有不可估量的帮助。 回忆起中学时学习历史的痛苦， 真是有种遗憾的感觉。

今天我从VeryCD上下载了由剑桥出版的《剑桥插图世界史》， 打算从头再学学历史。 现在一想起学习历史就有种冲动，怎么中学时候就不能有现在的冲动呢？！不管怎么说， 从论文的学习当中，我体会到了很多乐趣，汲取知识的乐趣。

"OST" 闹了我的心情

早上兴致勃勃地打开KiTAS movie community网页， 看到有人请求[OST] Soul Mate. 啊~ Soul Mate, 我看过，整个电视剧就在我们实验室的电视剧服务器里， 我想这次我也能上载一些东西与大家分享了，于是高高兴兴地开始拷贝文件到电影服务器。

不知怎的，我突然被 “OST”缠住了思维， “OST”是什么？从我的记忆中，我仿佛意识到每次看到OST都是和歌曲联系在一起的。 难道，那人是想要Soul Mate中的主题歌曲？ 这种想法越来越强烈， 迫使我终止了传输文件。 我想删掉已拷入电影服务器的文件，但又删不掉。。 这是服务器管理者的设计，拷入的文件是不能被任何其他人删掉的。

这下子真窘大了，， 看似“OST”是众人周知的词儿，可偏我就不知道。。我也只好问오빠那是什么意思，并让他帮我把那个文件从电影服务器里删掉。 后来才知道“OST”=Original Sound Track 就是电影里的原声歌曲。 今天倒是学了一个新词儿，可是我开始那兴致勃勃的心情却被糟蹋得所剩无几：就是那种本来想显呗自己有些东西，但是没得逞； 而且最糟的是当我问오빠 帮我的时候，他正在教课，很明显我打扰了他教书，只因为我不想让更多的人看到我的愚蠢行为， 便一刻也不能多等似的。 总之，一大早我经历自己狠虚荣的一面，， 自己的都觉得可悲。。 上午大好时光就在这虚荣心中惭愧地度过了。

鹅过马路

校园里的池塘是一些动物的游乐园。傍晚， 嬉戏游玩了一天鹅要回栖息地了。瞧，此时它们正大摇大摆地过马路，完全无视过往车辆。 想必他们知道，车辆不会跟他们计较的。我们将车放慢了速度，等待他们过马路，呵呵

Working on Thesis-为论文奋斗

由于论文的缘故， 我需要找西方人和东方人来参加我的测试。 东方人还好说，发MSN消息给我的中国朋友，很快就联系好了一批人。 可找西方人就有些困难了。首先，为了确保测试的有效性，最好是找以英语为母语的人，比如美国人，加拿大人，澳大利亚人等。而恰恰在KAIST， 并不多见这些人。眼看要发表论文了，如此紧急情况逼得我去尝试各种方法。除了发邮件邀请一些外教，和让我认识的寥寥几位西方人邀请他们的朋友，我还做好了随时“抓”人的心理准备。 现在在路上一看见西方长相的人，我就立即开始紧张的思维活动。为了论文，什么都不管了。。 我主动上前搭话， 介绍我的测试，幸运的是，他们都被我说动了来参加我的测试。 不幸的是，我发现他们是法国人。 今天又碰上一个伊朗人，但我没有邀请她。法国人做测试，测试缺乏Reliability(可靠性)，因为测试的模型是英文的。最后，只好决心放弃他们的测试数据。。真可惜， 好不容易找到的西方人。。看来我需要更精确地分辨人的外貌（真没想到我会上前跟伊朗人说话，不过我们倒交了个朋友，赫）， 这样才会更有效地帮助我的论文 ^^;; 不管怎么说，主动和老外说话对我来说倒是新鲜，为了论文，我改变不少。。呵呵呵

I need both Westerners and Easter Asian to participate in my experiment which is for my thesis study. It is much easier for me to recruite Asian peope (Chinese). I just simply recruited many chinese people by sending MSN messages. But for recruiting Westerners (in this case: American, Australian, Canadian and so on), things become difficult. There are not so many Westerners in KAIST. . Thesis presentation is on next Tuesday. The situation pushs me try any methods to recruite Western participants. Besides asking my American friend to invite his friend and sending invitation letter to English teachers in KAIST, I also planed to "catch" people on the street. Whenever I see someone in Western looking, my brain begin to work busily.. I approach them and introduce my experiment. Yesterday, I was lucky to ask 3 people to participate in my experiment, but the unlucky thing is that they are French.. It may affect the validation of my research, because the prototype is in English (English is second language for French). I decided to drop the data collected from French. Today, I encountered an Iranian. I talked to her, but I didnt invite her. It seems that I need to improve my ability to distinguish people's nationality, which may help my experiment more effiently. hehe. Anyway, talking to foreigner on my own initiative is fresh to me. Thesis could change me a lot .. hehehe

Music and Lyrics- Way back into love

Way Back Into Love by Hugh Grant and Haley BennettSoundtrack of Music and Lyrics Movie by Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore

I’ve been living with a shadow overhead

I’ve been sleeping with a cloud above my bed

I’ve been lonely for so longTrapped in the past,

I just can’t seem to move on

I’ve been hiding all my hopes and dreams away

Just in case I ever need em again someday

I’ve been setting aside time

To clear a little space in the corners of my mind

All I want to do is find a way back into love

I can’t make it through without a way back into love

Oh oh oh

I’ve been watching but the stars refuse to shine

I’ve been searching but I just don’t see the signs

I know that it’s out there

There’s got to be something for my soul somewhere

I’ve been looking for someone to shed some light

Not just somebody just to get me throught the night

I could use some direction

And I’m open to your suggestions

All I want to do is find a way back into love

I can’t make it through without a way back into love

And if I open my heart again

I guess I’m hoping you’ll be there for me in the end

There are moments when I don’t know if it’s real

Or if anybody feels the way I feel

I need inspiration Not just another negotiation

All I want to do is find a way back into love

I can’t make it through without a way back into love

And if I open my heart to you

I’m hoping you’ll show me what to do

And if you help me to start again

You know that I’ll be there for you in the end

你有几条毛巾？

最近我发现新韩国室友的生活中有一点令我很好奇。每次见她的洗完衣后，凉衣架上总是有5，6条毛巾，但我平时并没有见她把毛巾挂在外面啊。经历几次后，我忍不住问她此事。她说，她每天洗两次澡，早晨洗完澡后用一条毛巾，然后便把毛巾放在衣筐里。晚上洗澡用另一条毛巾。全部的毛巾用完一轮，便一次全部洗了。于是便出现了开头我提出的“好奇”场面。 她还说他的男朋友有20条毛巾！

哇！ 真的是出乎我的意料！ 我于是也问기태오빠有几条毛巾。 他说有10条毛巾！生活习惯完全和我室友描述的一样。而且，在韩国人的家里，毛巾不是个人财产，而是公用。一条毛巾用过一次后便会被放进衣筐里等待漂洗。所有的洗好的毛巾都被放在衣柜里，而不是放在外面。

想想中国人的生活习惯，和韩国人真是很不一样。在我家里，家人每人有自己的毛巾，毛巾纯粹是个人财产。一般是每人有两条毛巾，一条擦脸用，另一条擦脚用。所以在洗浴室里，墙上挂满了五颜六色，形状不一的毛巾。每个人只照顾自己的毛巾，从来不问津他人的。

入乡随俗的话，我是不是也应该尝试尝试用多条毛巾呢？ 赫赫，待议。但不管怎么说，拥有20条毛巾的话，总觉得每次给搬家带来不小的负担。 我用两条毛巾生活的也挺好。赫赫

对KAIST研一学生实施全面英文授课

从这学期开始， KAIST全面实施对研究生一年级学生的英语教学计划。 我们系也一致贯彻下来了。看来KAIST真的要向国际化和最高学府进军了。 英语教学大大方便了外国留学生。 我还记得上学期的韩语专业课上的我甚是艰难。 我想在清华美院开设英语教学一定还是困难重重，教师和学生的英语水平都有待提高。 相比之下， 清美离国际化还差得远一些。

Soap from UK

Here are some handmade soaps from UK. They are so beautifully made with joyful fragrance. Dont they look like delicious cakes? I want to have a bite~ Ao~ao

My digital family

Take a look at my digital family:

Funny icon design

Check out these funny icon designs. They are quite emotional. Have a close look at each icon, you may find interesting things and brilliant ideas. ^^

Cowon D2

Yesterday,기태오빠 bought me a new MP3 player: Cowon D2. I am so excited about it. ipod is my original plan, but Cowon D2 made me even dont want to think about ipod now. Features of Cowon D2 are much better than ipod. It has touch screen, which make the controling so easy and interesting. It also integrates DMB, FM, and recorder function. After installing firmware, a dictionary will be added, which perfectly fits my needs. Besides playing MP3 files, it can also play video files. Converting these D2 video files is just a click away in JetAudio. If the storage is not satisfying (eventhough it is large enough, 4G), an extra SD card can be added as well.

The interface is also well designed, any settings can be easily done. A small-scalene triangle-shaped 'stylus' acts as a supporter as well to support the player stand up vertically. The angle of the standing player even can be adjusted . This is especially designed for watching DMB, which make the watching more enjoyable.

Take a look at this nicely designed Cowon D2:

论文历程

挣扎于论文中已经有些时日了。可以说昨天因为论文的缘故，身体和精神都痛苦和糊涂到极致了。实验的设计存在众多的漏洞，和理论的连接也是缺乏逻辑，头脑里有些想法，但是就是组织不成一个合理的实验设计。 苦闷于论文当中，却不知觉得睡着了，伴着台灯的照耀，电脑运转的嗡嗡声，手里攥着眼镜和手机，头脚颠倒着睡着了。。

今天和教授讨论了我的论文，短短的10分钟内，他就把我的想法组织成比较像样的研究计划。 他对我的一些工作的肯定也相当地推动了论文的进展。 我为什么就不能自己肯定自己呢？否则，我想我的论文进展应该没有这样艰难。 今天看了一本关于做研究的书， 书中就提到focus, problem solve, and make decisions的能力对于顺利完成论文会有很大的帮助。 而我恰恰在这些方面很弱。

李教授解决问题的干净利索真的不能不叫人佩服，他清楚的知道什么应该肯定，什么应该否定。只有这样，工作才会很有效率的进行。 我也应该培养这方面的能力才行。

The God

A Christian came to me try to persuade me to believe in the God. I asked her where the God is. How does it look? She said God doesn't have concrete form, but spirit. He can let you born again with hope in life. He can make your life more valueable…

I couldn't agree much. I have been thinking why people are so sincere to a creature so called God. I could never imagine how he exists, how he leads people's life. I believe people make decision by themselves. I would decide what I am going to do, what I am going to be, but not God. Eventhough sometimes I believe the supernature could exist, I would not depend on it. I can make wishes by believing the supernature, but I won't live in believing supernature.

I am not criticizing Christian here. I believe everybody has the freedom to choose what he or she believes. I believe in myself not in God. I hope those Christian don't try to persuade me to believe what they believe any more.

That is silly.

今天我当姨了 :)

阴历大年初一， 表妹生了个儿子， 听说是早产了13天。 虽说早产了，可也真够幸运的，赶上了新年的第一天。 以后每年过大年，都拉不了他的生日喽。恰逢今年猪年，小伙子被美其名曰为“小金猪”。赫赫，还真不赖。

我也突然当了姨。妈妈也当了姑奶。我们都成了老一代人了。。表妹那姑娘，自己还是个孩子，现在倒养起孩子来了。突然感觉整个世界都变了。 也许是因为对身份变化的一点感触吧。

只可惜今年春节没回家，没能见上一面那“小金猪”。 真是后悔啊。估计要半年之后才有这缘份了。

祝母子平安，猪年快乐 :)

Oshidama-an elegant game

Oshidama is a simple and elegant flash game just released by Game-Pure, the creators of Speed Cluster. The goal is to nudge a white orb to the exit point on each screen. Walls, pits and other obstacles stand in your way, forcing you plan your path and be ready for a last-second save at any moment. It's an interesting mix of strategy and fast-paced cursor shifting delivered in an astounding audio and visual atmosphere reminiscent of flOw.

Tap the white circle with the cursor to give it a push, creating a satisfying "click" sound when you do. The orb travels forward based on where you touched it, sort of like hitting a ball with a cue stick in billiards. You can't control the circle's speed or distance, only the direction.

The game is divided into levels each containing four stages. Within a level you have a set number of pushes you can use to complete the stages. If the counter hits zero, it's game over. Fortunately Oshidama saves your level progress so you can take a break and pick up where you left off.

Analysis: Restricting your control over the orb and limiting the number of pushes gives Oshidama a nice strategy element to go along with the action-based gameplay. Plan a basic route through each stage before you start tapping so you don't run out of pushes. The orb doesn't always do exactly what you intend, so be ready to adapt your route at any moment. Also be ready to swing the cursor around for a quick save from the bowels of a deep, dark pit.

Oshidama is beautifully designed with appealing visuals and a great soundtrack. The echoing "click" sound when you push the circle gives the impression that you're deep under water, which matches the music quite nicely. Easy to play and an excellent mix of action and strategy all wrapped up in a beautiful media package.

The original link of the game review: http://jayisgames.com/archives/2007/02/oshidama.php

SpeedCluster-Card game with Creative interface

I found a card game that with new and creative interface. It seems a combination of the default card game in computer and the instrument playing game. With the clear and cute interface design, it becomes one of my favorite games. Have a look ~

The link of the game is: http://www.game-pure.com/flash/speedcluster/

Bad usability example

If you want to change the ring of the incoming call of mobilephone, which menu would u like to choose?

• My phone
• Organizer
• Entertainment
• Setup

My first choice was "Setup". When I tried to change the ring of my phone(Samsung, SPH-E3000), I searched all submenu in "Setup", finding out nothing I can do to change the ring. Then I tried to search "My phone", I also failed to change it. Next, I began to search "Setup" again, with the hope that I may missed some submenu in the first trial. Finally, I end up extremely exhausted with finding the function.

Some times later, my desire to find the ring changing function rised again. I searched all menus that I thought could content the function. At the end, I found out that the function is in the last menu that I would like to search, "Entertainment". The path is "Entertainment"--> "Music Box" --> "Bell". I was kind of angry with the menu structure design. It is so confusing and lack of usability. Eventhough I learned how to find the function this time, I am not sure how long can I keep it in my mind. The classification doesnt make sense to me at all.

I heard some people also complained their mobilephone is difficult to use because of menu structure. Now I feel that the user-friendly interface is more important than the product appearance to me. Without usability, no matter how pretty the product is, it can only be called craftwork, not a product.

SamSung SPH-E3000