Dr. Temple Grandin – The Woman Who Thinks Like a Cow (BBC Horizon)

Dr. Temple Grandin has become my latest heroine. She is one super smart scientist. For more, see a previous entry. I’ve included Dr. Temple Grandin as one of my latest “Great Minds of Our Time“.

“The amazing story of Dr. Temple Grandin’s ability to read the animal mind, which has made her the most famous autistic woman on the planet.” – BBC

The Woman Who Thinks Like a Cow (BBC Horizon) on YouTube. Highly recommended.

TEDxHongKong was a success

I am watching TEDxHongKong Live. It is live for the next few hours until 5pm HK time, Tue Aug 31st. (3am MST/Calgary time, Aug 31, 2010).

Update: I watched a good portion of TEDxHongKong and it was really good.

The following a revised edition of my #TEDxHongKong tweets with new comments (in reverse time order, latest first)

- Truly admire what Edward Ng has done to help the villagers and change & shape the minds of his students. #TEDxHK (check out his Bridge to China project)

- Edward Ng: It is not the physical bridge that is important, it is the spiritual bridge that connects people. #TEDxHK

- Edward Ng: Inspiring bridges building projects to help kids and adults in remote villages. #TEDxHK

- Edward Ng: Temp outside school +40 & -20 outside, don’t need cooling or heating. Cool. #TEDxHK

- Edward Ng: Talking about the Bridge to China project #TEDxHK

- Love to see @bengoertzel AGI works in 10-20 years but I am too realistic/pessimistic and don’t expect it to work in the specified time frame. #TEDxHK [Kempton: Check out Ben's main website for more info about him and his research. As someone who has been trained in computer science and actually curious about latest development in AI and AGI, unfortunately I found the speech not as inspiring as I had hoped. I wonder what do the less technical people think about the presentation.]

- Ben Goertzel: Narrow AI (e.g. Chess: Deep Blue) vs AGI (Artificial General Intelligence, Hmmm thinking on its feet AI) #TEDxHK

- Ben Goertzel: 1200 genes diff b/n reg and super flies. 800 genes “related” to human genes #TEDxHK

- Ben Goertzel: Super flies have more sex! :) #TEDxHK

- Ben Goertzel: Super flies have stronger hearts! :) #TEDxHK

- Ben Goertzel: Talk about AI, super flies and possible path to immortality. #TEDxHK

- The Show Choir: Music director Horace Mui has done a wonderful job with the HK kids. Keep up the good work Horace. #TEDxHK

- The Show Choir: http://www.theshowchoir.com/ #TEDxHK

- HK kids singing one of my fav Glee song at #TEDxHK P.S. my Banff interview of Ian Brennan, co-creator/writer of #Glee

- @BASF_Asia Hope you don’t mind me being blunt. Is plastic better described as downcycling instead of recycling? #TEDxHK

- Jane Goodall: … people who tackle impossible problems and they never give up [...] those are the reasons I never give up. #TEDxHK

Happy 80th Birthday Warren Buffett

Happy 80th Birthday Warren Buffett! Here are some Fortune magazine covers of Warren.

P.S. Note to Fortune editors: Why don’t you link to those magazine articles from the covers? Isn’t it an obvious great way to sell some more eyeballs and ads?

P.P.S. This one is too funny considering the baby BRK and the the 1 to 50 split of the baby shares!

“Berkshire’s stock, which Buffett wouldn’t dream of splitting — he sends birthday greetings to friends that say, ‘May you live until Berkshire splits’ — has tracked the company’s success and then some.” – Feb, 2001

TEDxHongKong (Aug 31, 2010)

Update: I watched a good part of the TEDxHongKong live feed, check this article TEDxHongKong was a success.

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Check out TEDxHongKong list of speakers.

There is supposed to be a live Feed Tue Aug 31, 2010, 12noon-5pm HK time, so I look forward to check out some of the proceedings (even it will be quite late in Calgary/Canada time, HK is 14 hours ahead of Calgary/MST).

Temple Grandin: The world needs all kinds of minds & HBO Movie

Here is a wonderful TED Talk by Temple Grandin: The world needs all kinds of minds. Check out Dr. Grandin’s website for more info. Here is talk,

And the biopic starring Claire Danes as Temple Grandin is a must see as the film won awards for Outstanding Made for Television Movie and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie tonight. And the Calgary Public Library has copies of it.

From LA Times “Temple Grandin at the 2010 Emmy Awards“

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Sept 7, 2010 Update: Insightful chat, “Temple Grandin – Conversations from Penn State“

3D Boot Camp

Found this nice and insightful article and a radio segment from NPR: “3D Boot Camp: A New Dimension For Live-Action Film“

Agree with this totally, “No matter how many dimensions, if it is not entertaining, no one will watch it.“

[HT Rodney]

Following Workers’ Trails of Tears in China

An article about Lixin Fan and his insightful documentary “Last Train Home”. See my review of “Last Train Home” and interview with director Lixin Fan.

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Following Workers’ Trails of Tears in China, NYT, Aug 29, 2010

IN the quietly devastating documentary “Last Train Home”Chinese migrant workers huddle together in an overcrowded railway car, sweating through their annual ride home for the New Year holiday. One nattily coiffed young man inveighs against the West, complaining bitterly that American consumers who buy the cheap Chinese goods he makes also get to spend most of their higher salaries on discretionary items, while he, who makes those goods, must send most of his earnings home to support his family.

Lixin Fan, who shot, edited and directed the film, might have chosen to stick with this feisty representative of the new China. Instead his camera cuts away to a middle-aged couple who sit in silence. Zhang Changhua and Cheng Suqin, who make this trip every year to visit the children they left behind nearly two decades ago, belong to a mostly ignored generation of roughly 130 million migrant workers who have sacrificed their productive years, and possibly the integrity of their families, in service to China’s headlong rush into global economic supremacy.

“Many times I was in tears at all this misery,” Mr. Fan said, seated in an anteroom at theLos Angeles Asian-Pacific Film Festival, where “Last Train Home” played in May after winning praise at the Sundance Film Festival. “If you were on this train with hundreds of migrants around us — it stinks, it’s dirty and everyone’s trying to survive, just to see their kids.”

In 2006 Mr. Fan and a skeleton crew of three began documenting the effects of industrial change on this family, with whom he spent three years, on and off.

Mr. Zhang and Ms. Cheng left their village in Sichuan — Mr. Fan’s home province and the country’s largest exporter of labor — to work in Guangzhou, the world’s largest manufacturing source of denim jeans. The film cuts between the factory

2010 CIFF Picks: A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop (三槍拍案驚奇)

Another one of my 2010 Calgary International Film Festival Picks: A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop (三槍拍案驚奇) (CIFF screening time)

The film is acclaimed Chinese director’s Zhang Yimou‘s remake of Coen brothers’s “Blood Simple” (1985). It should be an interesting movie going experience.

From Reuters (emphasis added),

“The first time I saw ‘Blood Simple’ I liked it immediately,” Zhang said. “It was a very cool film.”

Zhang said he had never met the Coen brothers but was in touch with them about the remake. He said he was delighted they sent him an email after seeing a copy of his film.

“I got an email from them. I was very, very touched. They’d seen the film and they said they loved the remake. They said it was very amusing. They took the trouble to write and say they loved the way I changed things. I was very pleased by that.“

Trailer:

Trailer of “Blood Simple”

Calgary family of five pedalled around North America for 13 months

Calgary family completes 13-month, 14,000-km cycling trek across North America, Calgary Herald

“A family of five pedalled back to their home in southwest Calgary on Aug. 23, 13 months after rolling off to bicycle around North America.

Rick and Tanya McFerrin cycled 14,000 kilometres through Canada, the U.S. and Mexico with their sons Sampson, 9, Markos, 7, and Tarn, 5.“

For more info check out the McFerrin Family Blog and the charitable organization Two Wheel View.

2010 CIFF Picks: Kings of Pastry

Another one of my 2010 CIFF Picks: Kings of Pastry (CIFF screening time)

Are you a food lover? Well, I not only love food, when it is great food, I also want to see and experience the exquisite preparation of food. Kings of Pastry is a film about sixteen French pastry in pursue of excellence.

Here is a trailer of the film.

Here is a clip from the film.

Here is some info about the film from the filmmakers’ site (emphasis and link added),

“Imagine a scene never before witnessed: Sixteen French pastry chefs gathered in Lyon for three intense days of mixing, piping and sculpting everything from delicate chocolates to six-foot sugar sculptures in hopes of being declared by President Nicolas Sarkozy one of the best. This is the prestigious Meilleurs Ouvriers de France competition (Best Craftsmen in France). The blue, white and red striped collar worn on the jackets of the winners is more than the ultimate recognition for every pastry chef – it is a dream and an obsession.

Filmmakers D A Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus secured exclusive access to shoot this epic, never-before-filmed test of France’s finest artisans. The film follows chef Jacquy Pfeiffer, co-founder of Chicago’s French Pastry School, as he journeys back to his childhood home of Alsace to practice for the contest. Two other finalists are profiled in the film — chef Regis Lazard, who was competing for the second time (he dropped his sugar sculpture the first time), and chef Philippe Rigollot, from Maison Pic, France’s only three-star restaurant owned by a woman.

During the grueling final competition, chefs work under constant scrutiny by master judges and the critical palates of some of the world’s most renowned chefs evaluate their elaborate pastries. Finally, these pastry marathoners racing the clock must hand carry all their creations including their fragile sugar sculptures through a series of rooms to a final buffet area without shattering them. The film captures the high-stakes drama of the competition – passion, sacrifice, disappointment, and joy – in the quest to become one of the KINGS OF PASTRY.“

This film is made by the same team (co-directors Chris Hegedus and D A Pennebaker) that made The War Room. Here is an insightful “Kings Of Pastry – Doc Talk” with the co-directors.

P.S. Incidentally, love Ang Lee’s classic “Eat Drink Man Woman” and it makes me want to eat or cook some good food after every viewing. If you love food and haven’t seen the film, check it out.

2010 CIFF Picks: Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie

Here is my first 2010 CIFF Picks.

- Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie (CIFF screen time) is one cool movie at the 2010 CIFF and kicking off the 2010/2011 season of Doc Soup. Check out the 6 “Force of Nature” clips at NFB. As a sushi lover, watching clip 6 “Bluefin Tuna Auction” really made me think. (On a personal note, it was great seeing Suzuki in person for the second time at the 2010 Banff World TV Festival talking about another great documentary “The Cove”.)

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Sept 24 update:

Here is an article and interview from Calgary Herald “Warning from an elder”.

2010 Calgary International Film Festival (Film Listing & Schedule announced)

The Full Film Listing & Schedule for 2010 Calgary International Film Festival has been announced! Yeah! will be announced today (Aug 27). I will be posting my 2010 CIFF Picks as I find interesting films.

Here is my list of 2010 CIFF Picks.

(See article at examiner.com)

Trapped Chilean Miners’ Video Messages

From NYT blog,

“Relatives of 33 miners trapped in a collapsed mine shaft far below in Chile’s Atacama Desert have been shown new video of the men in which they send greetings to the surface, show the space they are confined in and sing the Chilean national anthem.

[...] In the 45-minute video the miners are shown shirtless, most with mustaches and beards. One miner, with his helmet light illuminating the area, tours the space where the miners are holed up and describes the conditions.

Several news organizations have posted parts of the new video online. Near the start of a clip uploaded to YouTube by The Associated Press (embedded above), one miner can be seen telling the rescue workers above: “It takes courage to not leave us abandoned. We know everything you’ve been doing outside.””

More news from: The Guardian “Trapped Chilean miners sing national anthem in footage from inside mine”, CNN “Video of trapped Chilean miners shows patriotism and humor”.

It is good to see the trapped miners well and in relatively good spirit. In our age of videos and YouTube videos, it is good and important to see them well. I hope the NASA scientists and other experts can help to bring out these trapped miners as soon as possible in a safe manner.

It’s time to stand up for our troops against the gov of Canada

Here is an excerpt from the Ottawa Citizen Op-ed by Vets Ombudsman Pat Stogran, “It’s time to stand up for them – Canadians may not agree on why our troops fight in far-off lands, but they overwhelmingly support them. So should their government” (emphasis added)

“Many veterans are struggling to get the services they need. It is widely recognized that the system is broken. We send our military and police into harm’s way and when they come back sick, injured and wounded, the system makes them jump through hoops to get benefits, and often treats them as if they are trying to get something that they do not deserve. This has to stop.

The system controls access to all information, adjudicates in secret, communicates infrequently and in a language that only a government lawyer can understand, and then sets up an equally convoluted and secretive appeal process to address unfair departmental practices.

There is no impetus to change the system from within. The original design of the ombudsman’s office was set up to address complaints, not to address systemic issues. No wonder the Office of the Veterans Ombudsman has had so little success in trying to make substantive changes, and no wonder veterans are speaking out. Now is the time for change.“

Draft bill to reinstate mandatory long-form census

“More than 300 groups representing a broad spectrum of Canadian society have voiced opposition to a decision to make the census voluntary. The government says the long-form census will instead be sent to more homes but statisticians argue that the results inevitably be biased.” – Globe and Mail

- Liberals unveil bill to reinstate long-form census

- Liberals draft bill to reinstate mandatory long-form census

- Liberals plan to take census issue to Commons

- Liberals to table census bill

- The full text of the proposed bill is here. [HT Maclean's]

Biosynthetic corneas offer hope of sight

Although more research will be needed but here is some very promising news from a join Canadian and Swedish research. This is really cool, “The implants provided an environment for the patients’ own cells and nerves to grow into, resulting in a cornea that looks and functions like a normal, healthy cornea, said senior author Prof. May Griffith of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute.”

Lab-made corneas offer hope (CBC News with video, emphasis added),

Corneas made in the lab may help restore human vision to the same degree as scarce donor corneas, Canadian and Swedish researchers have found.

The cornea is a thin, film-like layer that covers the surface of the eye and acts like a window. It needs to be transparent to allow light in and focus images properly on the retina at the back of the eye.

But diseases that cloud the cornea are a common cause of blindness. A severe worldwide shortage of donated corneas results in about 10 million untreated patients globally and 1.5 million new cases of blindness each year, studies suggest.

Now an early-phase clinical trial involving 10 Swedish patients with severely distorted or obstructed corneas showed artificial or “biosynthetic” corneas helped regenerate and repair damaged eye tissue and improve vision, researchers report in Wednesday’s online issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine.

The implants provided an environment for the patients’ own cells and nerves to grow into, resulting in a cornea that looks and functions like a normal, healthy cornea, said senior author Prof. May Griffith of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute.

More info from,

- Biosynthetic cornea implant in humans is a resounding success, (Nature blog, highly technical but informative)

- Eyes on the prize: research making waves with fake corneas (Montreal Gazette)

- Biosynthetic corneas help restore light–and sight (CNet News)

- Biosynthetic Corneas Show Promise in Transplants – They improved vision without side effects, small study found (Businessweek)(emphasis added)

Dr. Mark J. Mannis, chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Science at the University of California, Davis Eye Center, said the findings in the study appear to be valid. “This is true cutting-edge work and brings an exciting new option to the repertoire of corneal transplant surgeons,” he said.

- Canadian doctor restoring sight with artificial cornea (Globe and Mail)

““I characterize this work as a major advance in the direction that we need to go,” said Dr. Alan Carlson, cornea transplant chief at Duke University’s eye center, who wasn’t involved in the research. To “make this mimic donor tissue to the extent that your own cells ultimately become incorporated in this tissue, I think that’s the most exciting aspect.”

Call regular phone numbers free from Gmail

You can now call regular phone numbers from within gmail. (for more see NYT, PCWorld, CNNMoney, NYT Pogue’s Posts) I’ve tried calling Calgary numbers, there were some time delay but it was pretty neat.

According to Google, calls within Canada & US will be free for the rest of 2010 and calls to “U.K., France, Germany, China, Japan” will be $0.02 per minute.

Looks like Skype is going to have a tough competitor.

Here is an excerpt from the NYT article,

“Sure, you could reach for your cellphone instead of dialing your browser. But my extensive use of Skype and smartphones  has shown that most of the time an Internet phone call has better voice quality. People don’t ask me to repeat myself. There are sometimes annoying delays of up to four seconds between the time someone says something at one end and the time it pops out at the other end. These delays come from the Internet itself, which will make them hard for even Google to fix. And every now and then, Internet calls get dropped just like a cellphone.

What’s in it for you? If you already use Skype and Gmail, you can move to having only one Web page and one address book that combines e-mail, IM-style chat, and phone.”

Go and Pay to See Scott Pilgrim Right Now

My better half and I had a ton of fun watching Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Here are glowing endorsement from Vanity Fair,

“[...] as opposed to the stale, trite, and cliche, because whatever Scott Pilgrim is, it is definitely not stale, trite, or cliche. It doesn’t redo old ideas, revisit threadbare conceits, or remake twice-told stories in a tired way. In fact, it’s good. Or, if you’re searching for movie-critic adjectives, you could call it “different,” “fresh,” and “innovative,” if not “cool,” “fun,” “heart-warming,” “intelligent,” and/or “awesome.”

[...] But really, the best reason to go see Scott Pilgrim is because it’s a good movie. It takes a stab at saying something honest in a new way, and has a lot of fun doing it. If you like that kind of thing, and would like to see more of it, please go and pay to see Scott Pilgrim right now.”

Butterfly tech team: chemical sensing properties found in the nanostructures of butterfly wings

I came across this post “Butterfly tech team: DARPA nod ‘detonates’ status quo” and found it fascinating (emphasis added),

Late last year as part of our GE Genius Series, we were introduced to Radislav Potyrailo and his team’s startling work on the chemical sensing properties found in the nanostructures of butterfly wings. A principal scientist at GE Global Research’s Chemical and Biological Sensing Laboratory in upstate New York, Radislav’s goal is to replicate those nanostructures, which change color in the presence of different compounds, to create sensors that would enable highly selective, near-instantaneous detection of chemical threats.

Manila Bus Hijacking Tragedy & Flashpoint

Update: Here is a Wikipedia entry on the Manila hostage crisis.

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From CNN “Philippines police: Authorities botched hostage rescue” (with video) (emphasis added),

“”The investigation has got to find out, what was the turning point? What happened?” Philippine National Red Cross Chairman Richard Gordon told CNN Tuesday.

Gordon told CNN that interviews with survivors have revealed that the situation inside the bus changed dramatically toward the end of the 10-hour standoff.

“Apparently the man went berserk. He was telling everybody he was not going to harm [them]…He said that nobody’s going to get harmed. He said that he was probably going to die, but not the hostages,” he said.

A woman who was on the bus told reporters her husband was killed when he tried to stop the gunman.

“My husband was very brave. He rushed out from the back of the bus to try to stop the killer,” said the woman, who identified herself as Alicia Leung.

She told reporters that she pretended to be dead in order to survive.
“Why did authorities not rescue us? There were so many of us on the bus. Why did no one come to rescue us? It is so cruel,” she said.”

From New York Times “Philippines Criticized Over Hostage Standoff” (emphasis added),

“The Philippine government faced a wrenching public discussion on Tuesday over how its police handled a 12-hour hostage standoff that unfolded on live television and ended with the deaths of eight tourists from Hong Kong and their armed captor.

Growing criticism of the police response underscored what may be an early test for President Benigno S. Aquino III, who was elected in a landslide this spring. Chinese officials said they were appalled by the killings, and one prominent member of the Philippine government blamed the police for mishandling the siege. The Hong Kong executive complained that he had been unable to reach Mr. Aquino throughout the crisis.

[...] Mr. Mendoza appeared to exploit the live coverage by posting placards on the bus windows specifically addressed to the news media. He even gave an interview to a radio station. As night fell, negotiations grew tense.

Shortly after the live broadcasts from the scene showed a brother of Mr. Mendoza being detained, he opened fire inside the bus. It was 20 minutes later when the police stormed the bus.

At a news conference after the siege, Mr. Aquino said officials with the Philippines National Police had decided to “wait it out” because they believed the standoff “could be settled peacefully, without loss of life.”

In some quarters, there was also speculation that police officers used to a culture of graft and favoritism might have had a level of sympathy for Mr. Mendoza that blinded them to the seriousness of the situation. Mr. Mendoza claimed that he had not been given a fair shake as he fought the charges of extortion and that he only wanted the chance to be heard.

Ian Bryson, an analyst in Singapore at the London-based consultancy firm Control Risks, pointed out that the police were not centrally controlled and said, “Clearly, the message of Mr. Mendoza’s grievances gained traction within members of the PNP.””

From CTV “Canadian, two daughters, killed in bus hijacking” (with video reports including an interview with a security expert) (emphasis added),

“A Canadian and his two daughters are confirmed to be among the dead in Monday’s hijacking of a tour bus in Manila, Philippines.

CTV News has identified the killed Canadian as Ken Leung, 58, and his two daughters, as Jessie Leung, 14, and Doris Leung, 20.

Ken Leung’s wife was unhurt, but their son, Jason Leung, 18, remains in hospital. There are conflicting reports of whether he was hit by gunfire, or by a hammer when police stormed the bus by breaking windows.

Ken Leung was a dual-citizen, living in Hong Kong. Witnesses said he sacrificed himself to try to save other passengers.

“Ken Leung was killed trying to protect his family, trying to protect other hostages,” Ben O’Hara-Byrne, CTV’s China Bureau Chief, reported Tuesday.”

More from CBC “Canadians killed in Manila hostage-taking: reports“.

P.S. It has been painful to watch how the Manila police botched the negotiations and how the whole situation escalated out of control and resulted in the death of 8 tourists at the scene and the hijacker.

It pains me to see how far off the mark did the Manila police perform compare to the scenarios depicted in the CTV/CBS TV series Flashpoint which is styled after the Toronto Police Emergency Task Force.

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Update: From Apple Daily, there are total nine deaths and the list of names. “康泰公佈死者名單 – 2010年08月24日 (12:34 pm)“

康泰馬尼拉 4天團意外，造成 8死 7傷。另新華社報道，新增 1名香港女居民不治，死亡人數升至 9人。

8名死者包括：

1. Leung Song Yi Jessie（ 14歲，女）
2. Leung Doris Chung See（ 21歲，女）
3. Tse Ting Cheunn Masa
謝廷駿（ 31歲，男領隊）
4. Fu Cheuk Yan（ 39歲，男）
5. Yeung Yee Wa（ 44歲，女）
6. Yeung Yee Kam（ 46歲，女）
7. Wong Tze Lam（ 51歲，男）
8. Leung Ken Kam Wing（ 58歲，男）