Search for the perfect belt is over!

Reversible, reasonably priced, nice colors, and doesn't crack.

PowerPoint Mistakes -- from a usability standpoint

I saw a presentation today. Some of its fonts were really tiny.
That prompted me to google "powerpoint mistakes". Got many hits, including this funny and informative YouTube video by Don McMillan.

Interestingly, these sources often only tell you what to, or what not to do, but don't really tell you why.
For example, some would tell you "don't read the slides", "use a minimal font size of 24", "don't use more than 7 bullets on a slide", "don't use dark color text on dark background", etc.

But what are the common rationale behind all these dos and don'ts?
Usability -- that is whether it is easy for your audience to "use" (read, understand, see, etc.) your slides.

If you think about your slides' usability as the first priority, then I expect you can naturally fix many of your slides' problems. For example, you won't:

• use fonts smaller than 24, because audience in the last row of a room can't see the text
• use more than 7 bullets, slide gets visually complex, straining your audience's eyes
• use dark color text on dark background, because your audience will find it hard to read
• read slides, because your audience will find you boring,
• and the list goes on...

I think it's much better to only remember one thing -- the principle of good slide usability -- rather than having to remember a laundry list of dos and don'ts.

Usability is one focus of within the research area of Human-Computer Interaction. I think it also applies to slide design.

Aggregate bitwise OR in SQLite

The following SQL snippet applies bitwise OR on all the values in numbers table's value column. This example supports up to 8 bits; you can easily extend it to support more.

CREATE TEMP TABLE numbers(value INTEGER);
INSERT INTO numbers VALUES(2);
INSERT INTO numbers VALUES(3);
INSERT INTO numbers VALUES(15);


select 
((sum(value>>0)>0) << 0) + 
((sum(value>>1)>0) << 1) +
((sum(value>>2)>0) << 2) +
((sum(value>>3)>0) << 3) +
((sum(value>>4)>0) << 4) +
((sum(value>>5)>0) << 5) +
((sum(value>>6)>0) << 6) +
((sum(value>>7)>0) << 7) 
from numbers;

The Best, Easy, Delicious Desserts for Potluck Parties

I didn't like potluck parties. I didn't like how my home-cook dishes look like. They're just not appealing.

One day, I decided I had to fix this --- to learn to make one thing that I could bring. Something that's delicious, easy to make, *and* unlikely that other people would bring.


So I found this 5-star Brownie Chocolate Chip Cheesecake recipe.
It needs very few ingredients, and you basically just mix them together, and it tastes fantastic. Brownie bottom layer, plus cream cheese top layer filled with chocolate chips. Yummy. None of my friends could resist. (Mr. V, you should try it, but don't eat so much. Watch your tummy.)

And I'm using this springform pan. Sturdy and doesn't leak. Hasn't failed me for 1.5 years!


This Christmas, I learned another recipe: Rice Krispies Treat. It needs only 3 ingredients, and 10 min to make (really 10 min, unlike other recipes that lie). Delicious. A good dessert to make when I don't have much time. There's Kellogg's version, but I like my friend's ingredient proportion better:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 4 cups marshmallows
• 5 cups Rice Kripies cereal

I use one of these nicely-built pyrex containers (3 QT) to hold the rice kris pies.

Pittsburgh (Being Grad Students)

Before I came to Pittsburgh for grad student, someone told me there's nothing to do here. And I would freeze to death.

Well, it's certainly different from Hong Kong. But it's a great city. It's medium sized, and you can find a bit of everything, without the craziness of big cities.

First off, CMU has a diverse student population, with students coming from every parts of the world. I haven't counted, but I'm sure my friends come from more than 20 counties. (Just counted, it's roughly 25!)

Pittsburgh has a fantastic football team (Steelers) and an ice hockey team (Penguins). Ahem, and a baseball team, the Pirates. Sorry to say, but the Pirates hasn't been doing that well. Yet, I have only been to Pirates games. Their tickets are cheap.

Whoever says Pittsburgh is cold lies. Don't listen to him. Or her. I have traveled to other cities in the states that are much colder. Try those cities north of Pittsburgh closer to the lake, and you'll know what real cold is! And of course there are even colder ones further north. And it actually doesn't snow that much in the winter. But I never have to shovel snow.

The nicest thing about Pittsburgh is perhaps its cheap housing. As a grad student, I could have afford to buy a house. Though I didn't. And I regret. Many of my friends bought those. Good investment indeed. The Pittsburgh housing market wasn't affected much at all in 2008. People here really buy houses to live in them.

More later.

Steamer instead of iron (Being Grad Students)

No one likes to iron clothes. It takes so much effort and space. Clearing space in my tiny apartment so I can open up the ironing board is already a chore. Then you warm up the iron. All you want is to just iron one shirt!
Then lately, I learned of a much better alternative -- using a steamer! No ironing board needed. It's fast to heat up the steam (and it only uses water). It has a small footprint. And since it stands upright, you can hang clothes on it. Plus, you can use it to sterilize curtains and other things. Handy.

Decorating student apartment (Being Grad Students)

If you're like me, a grad student renting an apartment, chances are that you have some rather bare (and boring) walls, because your landlord (or landlady) warned you not to hammer any nails, or they will take a big chuck out from your security deposit.

How do you hang a clock then? What about some frame photos?

I found some fantastic "command hooks" by 3M which can be removed from the wall cleanly. No glue left behind. They also won't pulled wallpaper (unless it is peeling anyways). 3M also sells strips for hanging pictures, among other "command" products.

Thumbs up.