My Land And My People: A book review

No wonder why I purchased this book. But the Dalai Lama is always a mystery to me. That could be the reason why I spent some dollars three months ago.

For some reason, I’d like to write this post in English. This is the “one more thing” I learned from Dalai lama. If you want to be really popular, you’d better learn to speak and write in English.

My Land and My People
My Land and My People by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet

Since Dalai Lama is still a taboo in mainland china. His books are literally not available anywhere. When I visited Seattle in 2009, I had the chance to purchase one copy of The Art Of Happiness. It’s a printed book. There’s a picture of Dalai Lama on the cover. It’s hard to hide that in public. Therefore, I didn’t finish that book till today. Thanks to Kindle, the book finally has a disguise. Nobody could guess what I was reading. I can read Dalai Lama’s book in a place like Tian’anmen Square (It’s a political joke which foreigners hardly understand.).

Dalai Lama was not a daily topic in public propaganda. I can’t remember the first time when I heard his name. But I bet it came with terms like “reactionaries” and “secessionists”. When I have access to internet in late 1990s, I was somehow confused. Dalai Lama was not a bad figure overseas. He looks like an ordinary old man, a highly knowledgeable monk and nice guy. But why his name must be censored? I got no answer. I even didn’t know he is a laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize until the 2008 Tibet unrest. This ignorance made me sad and angry. That’s why most books I read on Kindle are biographies and memoirs.

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再见,黑莓

是的,终于到了这一天,我放弃了黑莓,投奔Windows Phone 7。

Blackberry
放弃黑莓,投奔Windows Phone 7

这次分手都是一些小事引起的,比如:悄无声息的死机,莫名其妙的失去响应,输入法时不时来个崩溃。但集腋成裘,这些小破事多了就烦了。如果它重启的速度再快一些,也许我不会直接把它扔掉,但这破玩意儿重启一次要三分钟啊。刚才用Quickpull重启,从Blackberry字样和进度条出现开始到验证完安全软件为止,实测为三分零七秒。

人无完人,金无足赤,我当然不是吹毛求疵的人,我知道所有的电话或多或少都有点毛病。当初我换黑莓是因为 Symbian 不争气,但我深入使用黑莓之后,才发现有些毛病是如此讨厌,根本没办法适应,即便是用掉一年多的时间。

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我爱遥控器

我一直觉得某些科学技术的发展来源于人类的懒惰,比如遥控器这玩意儿吧,难道不是因为懒得动身才被发明的么?你看,坐在沙发上看电视多舒坦,但是要起身换台就不够意思了。

本来我家客厅只有一个电视机遥控器,可以换台、调整音量,也可以更改视频源、变换屏幕亮度。但后来,因为小区有线电视升级,客厅里硬是被增加了一个机顶盒,遥控器也多了一个。

这么一来,这下子就天下大乱了。

我们全家都不怎么爱看国内的电视节目,我们会下载美国的电视剧,或者是点播台湾的综艺节目。这种情况下,我家的电视机更像是电脑的一块屏幕,切换输入视频源是常见动作。机顶盒所带的那个遥控器其实也蛮高级的,至少有几个按键可以学习电视遥控器的功能。但仅限于开机关机,切换音量(功能还不怎么到位)而已,想用这几个按钮来实现切换输入源的话,我觉得不太靠谱。

所以,那段时间我就会先拿起机顶盒遥控器打开机顶盒和电视机,然后扫一下从两百多个垃圾频道中精选出来的十几个还 OK 的,看看都有什么节目在播。大多数情况下,不能找到什么值得看的。这个时候我再去找电视机的遥控器,切换输入源从 HDMI 1 (机顶盒)到 HDMI 3 (电脑),然后开机唤醒我家的 HTPC ,开始看美剧。

这里涉及到切换遥控器环节,说起来简单,但实际操作起来相当的复杂。首先,作为一名不幸罹患“喜欢乱扔东西说八百遍‘用完放回原处’也记不住综合症”的患者,我不能很快找到所需要的遥控器。其次,经常切换遥控器导致我不能熟悉地找到所需要的功能,你知道现在一个遥控器可能带有一百个按钮。

因此,我十分痛苦,直到我发现了罗技出品的 Harmony 万能遥控器……

Favorite Channels
罗技公司出品的 Harmony 650 万能遥控器

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新玩具:惠普LaserJet Pro P1108激光打印机

我觉得摩登家庭是需要一台打印机的。

上个世纪九十年代末期,我就发现了自己的这点喜好,当时学校的图书馆低价处理英文打字机,仅售人民币五十元一台。于是下单,并总结了前一段那个名言的第一版,原文是:“摩登家庭是需要一台打字机的”…… 是的,现在的我认为打字机除了装饰作用之外一无是处,所以自己偷偷地升了一下级。

以前一直在用惠普的喷墨打印机(从D2668升级到D5568),但遇到了一些问题。今天入手的这台惠普Laserjet Pro P1108打印机就是为了解决问题而来。

HP LaserJet
惠普 LaserJet Professional P1108 激光打印机

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《思维之火》读后感

终于利用春节假期把 Scott Berkun 的这本 MindFire 看完,它的全称是“MindFire: Big Ideas for Curious Minds”。我想说,这是迄今为止唯一一本读完之后还想买印刷版的 Kindle 电子书。

发生这种情况的原因非常简单,这本书的文字过于隽永,值得买一本“看得见而且摸得着”的书赠与友人阅读。

MindFire, the Book
思维之火,一本有趣的小册子

嗯,这么说的意思并不是说我真的已经买了一本印刷版并准备随时借给你看。我的意思是,你可以自己买一本,然后用一个月的时间看完。

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