Wireless at home

One of the things I've been struggling with since my moving in, almost a couple years ago, is the wireless network. It's been an uphill battle.

What I want is good signal, particularly in the two bedrooms and living room.

As where to place the router, my options are (1) in the room where the desktop is, and (2) in the living room, which is right in the middle of the other two bedrooms. The end-to-end distance between the two bedroom walls is about 10 meters. Desktop is wireless-enabled (but receiver/antenna is at the back).

Until last week, I put the router next to the desktop, so it's wired. But the wireless signal didn't even get to the other (my) bedroom. It was practically wireless only in the living room. I suspected it was because the super thick, 22"- and 7", concrete walls that sandwich the living room.

I bought a wireless antenna last weekend. It did give a bar or two in my bedroom, but it's not consistent. So last Friday I moved the router to living room. This solves the wireless coverage problem, but desktop signal now is weak.

So in the quest of freedom, I am looking at more options: get a wireless signal booster (extender) or replace the router with wireless N router.

Any ideas are appreciated...

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Race no more

The race of the future will be a composite, composed of the many different races on earth today.

"The world has a long way to go before it truly is 'globalized', if by that odd word we mean 'the same everywhere'. No doubt we are on the way. Reading biologist Edward O. Wilson, I discover that in a few dozen generations all human beings will be 'the same', in the sense that whether in London or Shanghai or Moscow or Lagos, the same racial mix would be found," wrote Tim Harford.

That would be interesting, wouldn't it?

No one will bother, or be disturbed, to comment such as this. It will be seen as pure research or study.

There will be no more racial discrimination or stereotyping.

There will be no minorities, bumiputera, or pribumi.

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Asian wife website and women millionaires

Miund is, and so am I, clearly disappointed with this website, managed by a couple, that generalizes Indonesian women (in villages and small towns) in somewhat not a very nice way. "... treated like prostitutes," Miund strongly says.

Other issues aside, what this couple does is kind of providing a marketplace for retired foreigners looking for good retirement life and Indonesian women, as the website claims, looking to know, or marry, foreign men.

Connecting demand and supply, so to speak.

Here's a thought. With all the loose assumptions and connections, what if the situation is the opposite? Retired women looking for good retirement life - whatever "good" retirement life may be.

Especially now in Hong Kong the majority of millionaires are women.

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Another workers survey

There was then the not unhappy Indonesian employees. And now, another survey on workers' attitudes to work and work life-balance, it's the Dutch being the least whining.

While Luxembourg had the highest disgruntled employees, the French now have topped a list of the world's most whining workers.

The Work Whinging findings are based on a number of factors, including percentage of workers unhappy with pay, actual income relative to cost of living, percentage of workers who feel work impinges on private life, and average weekly working hours.

There's no information whether Indonesian or Malaysian workers were surveyed out of these 23 countries.

China, Thailand and Japan were the only three Asian countries mentioned in the press release. Japanese being the lowest morale workers, while Thai workers are the second in term of employee morale, along with Irish workers.

I argued that the Indonesians being the least unhappy in the previous study could be an indication of inferiority complex. Now that it is the Dutch, I am thinking that it has something to do with the long colonization period. Cultural transfer, or something like that. Possible, eh?

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Joosting around

Thanks to Anymatters, I can now Joost around.

What's Joost?

Joost is a new way of watching TV on the internet. With Joost, you get all the things you love about TV, including a high-quality full-screen picture, hundreds of full-length shows and easy channel-flipping.

I was a bit skeptical at the beginning. But it's actually cool as I tried it yesterday. It's definitely not a substitute of the regular cable or satellite TV, but it ain't bad at all. Among the channels available (I only got to try a few so far), Bite TV's Conventioneers looks interesting.

If you're interested, Anymatters seems to have lots of invitations to send.

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Students, MBA, cheating, culture, and disciplinary actions

In the past week, the keyword "Duke MBA cheating" suddenly topped the search coming into this site.

No wonder. On April 26, Fuqua’s Judicial Board, following the procedures set forth in the Honor Code, found 34 members of our first-year class guilty of cheating on a take-home final examination. These students will receive disciplinary actions ranging from expulsion to failing grades.

This incident definitely doesn't help the case of MBA students being the ones who mostly to cheat, a survey found out last November.

A survey of 5,331 students at 32 graduate schools in the United States and Canada found an "alarming" amount of cheating across disciplines, but more among the nation's future business leaders. The study found 56 percent of MBA students acknowledged cheating, compared with 54 percent in engineering, 48 percent in education and 45 percent in law school. The study asked about 13 different types of cheating, ranging from copying a classmate's test answers to lifting sentences from the Internet without attribution.

I agree with the school's decision - to take disciplinary actions and to make it a big deal out of the Honor Code. Cheating is cheating. Incoming students signed the Honor Code. Instructions are typically clear on what students can and can't do during exams or assignments - at least from my experience.

Although I don't have strong opinion on the actions taken, these actions show how serious Duke in not tolerating cheating. I think it's particularly good to incoming students, prospective applicants, and recruiting companies.

Duke has also been continuously informing the 2007 incoming students as well as alumni. The Fuqua Dean confirmed that the students involved were from multiple countries on four different continents.

With no intentions to stereotype, I'm not that surprised international students were involved. I feel that there are many "common" practices, at least in Indonesia, that would've been considered cheating in the U.S. For instance, copying others' assignments. Other practices, like cheating in the in-class exam, also exist (or existed in the 90's).

Two most common cheating practices in this region are probably corruption and bribery. Like copying assignments, they perhaps are more common rather than exceptions. It's like, it's not smart to not corrupt if you get to certain positions. That's THE reason people want to get there. That's probably one of the reasons why people are interested in getting into politics or working for the government.

It will be another long discussion on how to eliminate corruption and bribery. But one thing we can do is to do what Duke did. Consistently and correctly take disciplinary actions to the cheaters.

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The naked mile and peer pressure

It's this time of the year that the naked mile usually held in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The Naked Mile is a tradition at the University of Michigan where graduating Seniors run through campus naked the evening of the last day of classes. It started in 1986 and finally was banned in 2004.

I went to the event while in Ann Arbor, 1998-1999. The crowd was superb - the runners as well. Some runners would shout "pervert!" to the spectators. But no one seemed to care. Everyone was too busy taking pictures.

And it was cold too. Late April in Michigan can be as cold as in the 40's degree Fahrenheit.

No, I'm not sharing any naked mile pictures in this blog. An article from the Michigan Daily has a considerate picture of naked mile in 1998. And of course, there are websites selling pictures and videos of the naked mile. Just google "naked mile"...

One would wonder why these students would do such things. Some would say fun. Others would say keeping the tradition.

The rest were under peer pressure, as implied in another Michigan Daily article written by an ex-runner sharing her experience, and an article where a student was having an inner battle whether to run or not to run.

I agree with Cam who said: "It appears to me that the power of peer pressure and social acceptance is the main attraction here. The old saying, "Would you jump off a cliff if everyone else is doing it?" certainly pertains here. Most people would say no, but when confronted with the actual decision, they cave in and conform."

Peer pressure is, loosely, a concern with being accepted by others. Here's a brief TV ad that we used while discussing peer pressure as a motivation for conforming to others. It's quite a big challenge for teenagers. It's a mix of positive and negative influence, and may include things from fashion to alcohol, and from way of life to getting actively in sports.

By the way, it is actually illegal to run naked through the streets. But at the same time it is not illegal to take pictures of naked people. There was a period where most runners were wearing underwear to avoid arrest. That way, the only violation was interfering with traffic...

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Shar-Pei

When Miund brought up Shar-Pei in her comment on circum(de)cision, I didn't know exactly how they look like.

Here are some selective info about Shar-Pei from Dog Breed Info Center. Things that both the owner and master need to know...

Description
- Both heavily wrinkled dogs with large heads and smaller headed dogs with tighter looking skins occur in this breed.
- It has a square profile with a broad, full head and wide, padded muzzle.
- Puppies have more wrinkles than adults.
- Shar-Pei slowly loose their wrinkles as they get older.

Temperament
- The Shar-Pei is very loyal to his handler.
- It is an intelligent dog that does not always follow orders slavishly.
- Playful, active, dominant, and brave.
- They bond with their family, but are not unfriendly toward strangers.
- The Shar-Pei needs a confident handler.
- If you are too uncertain, too inconstant, too soft, or too mild in the dog's eyes, it will take over as the boss.
- Shar-Pei need firm, but gentle and extremely consistent training.
- They need an owner who as the ability to be "Top Dog".
- Shar-Pei generally hate water and try as hard as they can to avoid it.
- Mixing other dogs can sometimes be a problem and socialization is important.
- Some Shar-Pei tend to slobber, especially when in pain.
- Good Shar-Pei lines will get along well with other dogs and will not have skin problems, which is a hereditary condition.

Living conditions
- The Chinese Shar-Pei will do okay in an apartment if it is sufficiently exercised.
- It is moderately active indoors and will do okay without a yard.
- Because of their padded head, the Shar-Pei is very sensitive to heat.
- Shade and water must always be available.
- Provided they get enough exercise, they will be very peaceful indoors.

Exercise
- The Chinese Shar-Pei have a considerable need for exercise, but keep them on a leash in public so they do not fight with other dogs.
- Do not over exercise them in the heat, as they are sensitive to it.

Grooming
- The Shar-Pei should be brushed regularly.
- Bathing about once a week and brushing the coat daily during this period will remove the old dead hair and allow the new coat to grow in.

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The best of the best

Norman Hubbard of Soccernet.com selected a football (soccer) team from the top two in the English Premiere League: Manchester United and Chelsea. See interesting read on the side bar.

His choices were: Cech (Chelsea); Neville (Manchester United), Carvalho (Chelsea), Vidic (Manchester United), Evra (Manchester United); Ronaldo (Manchester United), Essien (Chelsea), Lampard (Chelsea), Giggs (Manchester United); Drogba (Chelsea), Rooney (Manchester United)

As a Manchester United fan (and trying to be as objective as possible), I think he got it quite right. I would consider Scholes to replace Essien, but Scholesy didn't start the season excellently.

If these are the selection for fantasy football on Yahoo!, the team score today would be only 2711 (3295 if everyone plays all 34 games). Current leader is 3494.

Cech - 201 (17 games)
Neville - 159 (24)
Evra - 161.5 (22)
Carvalho - 206.5 (30)
Vidic - 120.5 (24)
Lampard - 399.5 (34)
Essien - 135 (30)
Ronaldo - 464 (31)
Giggs - 223.5 (27)
Rooney - 303 (31)
Drogba - 338 (34)

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Never gonna give you up

Nah, I'm not being romantic. A bit sentimental, perhaps. Or just don't want to admit it... :)

Anyway, I'm referring to Rick Astley's "never gonna give you up". I think it was in 1988 when the song became a hit in Indonesia. I heard it again today after so many years. Yeah, I'm that old...



Rick's voice is not my favorite, but it's so unique I guess.

I always thought that Rick Astley was an Australian. (I found out today that Rick Astley is an English.) Perhaps because Kylie Minogue was also a big hit at the same time. (She's an Australian, right?)

What's Rick doing now? It seems that he's still doing some music works, but there's rarely any news.

An unofficial Rick Astley website writes: "It's not easy being a Rick Astley fan right now, there seems to be very little news however we are expecting to hear something soon. This quiet period is different from the past, Rick has no intention of hanging up his mic just yet and therefore we do expect Rick to be active in the very near future."

So if there's any Rick Astley fan out there, never give up.

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