Tag: t_fuxi

[13]striking back (long letter never sent)

Posted on by tiger40490

Hi friends,

Just some thoughts to share. No need to reply me.
In Singapore, many of my peers are moving ahead on the management track. Some are rising in rank, running more , bigger projects, leading bigger teams, given bigger budgets, involved in more decisions. I feel left behind. (In fact, my peers in China are even more powerful.)
Most Singapore companies including banks value manager contribution more than technical expertise. The C-level decision makers tend to feel technical talent is cheap and easy to replace.
I feel there’s a deep-rooted, pervasive, widespread perception that managers contribute more and are rewarded more (which is also true on Wall St but more true in Singapore) I have a few Singapore-based friends who worry about me staying on the technical ladder and not on the leadership ladder. Many advise me to move first to project management or architect then to higher management.
But are managers more important than hands-on developers? I feel we had better take a deeper look and dismiss the concept of “importance”. On a tight project every worker plays a critical role, but sometimes the DBA earns highest (why?), sometimes the QA guy earns highest (why?), and sometimes the BA earns highest (though usually manager earns highest). Why? Perhaps the project involves a lot of Database work; perhaps QA is very challenging and stringent and there’s a large and experienced QA team… But ultimately, the compensation depends on “market rate” of the skillset. Best example is WPF (Microsoft Windows Presentation Foundation). For a while on Wall St WPF expertise sometimes commands a higher rate than the highest java developer, because it’s in demand and very few guys are available with advanced skill in WPF.
Managers bring special skill to the team — management skill. (Some managers bring technical insight, but many I have seen don’t have the sharpest insight — out of practice.) This skill has a market rate too. I will just talk about project management skill for now. In the US I feel PM isn’t a highly valued skill. It’s a generalist skill. In many Singapore companies it’s valued higher than technical skills.
For various reasons, I am firm in my decision to stay technical. I’m not talented at managing and I won’t be given such responsibilities soon. However, I don’t want to stand still while my peers move ahead. I am planning to do something with my spare energy (if any) to strengthen my career safety and stability ( bullet proof 🙂
* learn more main-stream technologies. My favorites are threading, c++, socket programming, FIX, C#, swing, …
** go in-depth on important details. These are the differentiation factors between experienced developer vs expert developer or top talent.
* learn more financial math. This skill won’t become obsolete like tech skills. Financial math is the hardest part of financial domain knowledge. I much prefer hard knowledge — “soft”, general knowledge don’t differentiate.
* take up algorithm challenges. Most bank interviewers won’t go crazy on this, but some top employers test programmer’s “coding abilities” with on-the-spot algo challenges. I have seen it in Google, Facebook, Amazon and Wall st employers.
* take some mock interviews once a while to keep in combat form
This is my little “strike-back” plan. It takes a lot of time and energy. I doubt I have any spare time.
— TAN, Bin (Victor) http://blog.tanbin.com

clearer thinking->less irrational anxieties #deep#cognitive

Posted on by tiger40490

intelligence, memory capacity, clear thinking, sharp perception … can help the individual deal with depression, pessimism, anxiety, emotional pains…

I think most pessimistic thoughts are irrational and/or biased.

“Explanatory style” .. see [[learned optimism]]

“Mindfulness” is a therapy. This therapy can even cope with brain aging… need to read more.

Memory is a muscle.. I think corrective thinking like my twister SMS is also a muscle one can improve by everyday training.

blogg .. proven to reduce irrational thoughts

— eg: anxieties about teenager kids … often irrational

wechat auth #recovery @new|exist`device

Posted on by tiger40490

k_wechat

— G3 strategies to cope with catastrophic risk of wechat “loss”

  1. use whatsapp/email more, uese wechat less, esp. with wife. Those tidbits of vita info will be less likely locked up in wechat
  2. DRD log-in on “new” phone to flush out any log-in issues, which remain hidden if you remain authenticated for years. If you log in once and never log out for years, then you are bound to forget your mobileNum, password, email address etc.
  3. save chat history to SD card etc .. see https://btv-open.dreamhosters.com/16003/wechat-history/

— minimize Wechat usage .. Wechat is now growing into a dependency for me, but strategically I need to move more stuff from wechat to whatsapp, email or SMS.

  • whatsapp and email data are on-server and easy to recover
  • wechat has horrible tech support (located in China), esp. for log-in/access or history recovery. Whatsapp and gmail have global user base.
  • wechat restrictions/controls are dictated by PRC government (Tenchent is not exactly a private company). Overseas users are treated as second-class citizens during the “due diligence”.

==== account recovery on a phone where my login id (xxx5241) is already registered

3 trusted friends?

— Using passwd alone .. in Feb 2025, I was able to enter se8 to log in. Note the acccount identifier was pre-populated as xxx5241

— Using voice recognition… (least useful) In Feb 2025 and 2023, I was able to read a prompt in English to log in, but this method is useless when you switch account or set up on new phone.

==== account recovery on new phone, with no prior wechat account

The single most important thing to remember ….  mobileNum. Using smsOtp (without passwd) you can recover your account on a new phone.

MobileNum is +86-xxx5241. My account id is tiger40490 but useless for account recovery.

log in xxxx5241/se8… standard passwd preferred because I prioritize access rather than privacy. In other words, I worry far more about losing access rather than chat content leak

— Using mobileNum + smsOtp  .. in Feb 2025, I was able to enter xxx5241 first, _then_  smsOtp to log in.

— Using mobileNum + passwd  … in Feb 2025, I was able to enter xxx5241 first _then_ se8 to log in

— Using registered email addr … in Feb 2025, I “forgot” my passwod. I entered my gmail and received a link to reset my wechat password

## t-penalty@commute #zsms

Posted on by tiger40490

 

Q: which solutions are proven effective?
A: Short answer — very few, if any, but still we will keep trying.

  • solution: read letters or other compulsory reads
  • solution: read parenting magazines or books
  • solution: print out my blog and read? Fewer than 20% of the time I felt it was effective.
  • solution: fuxi tech books? About 20-30% of the time I found it effective.
  • solution: print out email draft and edit it in pencil? good
  • solution: laptop for coding practice? seldom tried. I am concerned about the warm-up
  • tip: call family?
  • solution: jog part of the journey
  • solution: wfh
  • U.S.tip: wtc route (with a $2.75 cost) — has minimum standing time (only 3 min from ExchPlace to WTC). Can read and blog on subway and also at WTC benches!
  • U.S.tip: Hoboken route — eliminates standing time
  • — now the numerous (subtle) obstacles that make the “toll” really hard to avoid
  • obstacle: no seat. Standing time is completely unusable:(
  • obstacle: dependency on pencil
  • obstacle: train frequency — This issue can effectively adds 20 minutes to the “toll”. You dare not miss the train so you end up coming in early and wait longer.
  • obstacle: concentration — Unless I go all the way to the final stop, my reading concentration is always interrupted.
  • obstacle: transfers — A transfer easily destroys 10 minutes of “concentration”
  • obstacle: brief train journey — due to concentration and other factors, I never made effective use of 5-minute train trips, where the total time taken (including transfer) is 10 minutes.
  • obstacle: train delays as Nirav described

[1] much longer than the station-to-station time.

— The problem of zsms and loss of control
For recreational reading/blogg, try to do that outside commute. Doing so on commute reduces my sense of self-mastery.

magazines/newspaper? higher chance of effective “itch-scratch” for the “toll” problem, than tech books.

— The (original ) problem of the “toll” and “penalty” — the door-to-door [1] time on commute shortens the “free” time I get for email, blogging, learning, exercise, chores etc.

mlphone 3 passwords #browser

Posted on by tiger40490

k_passwd

— Browser

  • Access browser requires Blackberry password (see below)

— optimization: alq-4xxx0. (Latest is in contact.txt)

  • start with a letter or 2 or 3. More letters may resemble part of an English word.
  • .. I like a/l, due to large “hit area” on the tiny touch keyboard
  • .. I also like q/p/z/m
  • then switch to all digits
  • .. last digit should be 0, to be incremented to 1,2,,9, then back to 0

— passcode policy

  • Requirements: min one alphabet among 8 chars; can’t reuse the last six passwords
  • No caps required
  • 5 minute MaxInactivity before autolock
  • 90 day MaxPinAge before user must change passcode
  • 10 maxFailedAttempts before wipeout. https://www.imyfone.com/unlock-iphone/how-many-attempts-to-unlock-iphone/

— big picture: 3 passwords needed on mlphone 1) LDAP password 2) device passCODE described in this bpost

3) Blackberry password — no expiry. Default is uiop something

1000=KB≠KiB=1024 #MiB,GiB #mnemonic

Posted on by tiger40490

Overriding priority is consistency and confusion (reduction). For exactly one billion we should use gigabyte and gigabit (as in telecom).

based on https://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html.

1000 2^10 1 mil 2^20 2^30
symbol #use byte for eg KB KiB MB MiB GiB
pronounce for byte kilobyte kibibyte megabyte mebibyte  gibibyte
consistent with tradition kilometer, kilogram, kilowatt no tradition megawatt, megaton   no tradition
pronounce for bit kilobit kibibit megabit mebibit  gibibit

— mnemonic .. the extra i in KiB means “extra bit” in addition to the 1000

##reduce dependencies @tech #wpress, WPS

Posted on by tiger40490

Scope .. we could talk about all forms of dependency, but to give this blogpost a lasting meaning, we have to restrict ourselves. Just dependency on technologies please.

Managing this dependency is a lifelong struggle.

Technology is supposed to enhance our lives. I think healthcare and transport technologies are poster boys, but most of the technologies in our everyday life is just for convenience. It could breed over-dependency and weaken our self-reliance.

Technology reliability is improving, but still less reliable than traditional solutions.
— printer, with all the consumables + repairs
Prefer office printer, but ideally  .. “use to the max, but don’t bleed all over if unavailable”
— touchscreen .. on external monitor or laptops
— dual monitor at home .. After I return to office, I could put away the external monitor.
— wpress and git-blogging
Dhost is not free 🙁

Online blogging is dependent on connectivity 🙁 Git-blogging is slightly better.
— email is a better dependency than chat apps. Outlook is a big dependency. Gmail is a lighter dependency.
bold !
— MSOffice is reliable, familiar, but not free. As my cashflow high ground rises, there’s a lifestyle creep tendency to “just pay lah”. It does pre-empt some stressors, since I can pay once and use the same license across my 4+ laptops

Should try WPS office. zqbx, successZ, adaptation

===== above are infocomm dependencies. Below are other technological dependencies
— aircon
— washing machine .. less eco-friendly than manual

linking two bposts

Posted on by tiger40490

4 common formats of “dlink” [directed_link] between 2 blogposts. Below I present them by set-up effort.

Note “dlink” is a shorthand used in this blogpost only. Might become usable outside this blogpost.

[L=usable format for a list of dlinks]

— [L] 1) non-hyperlink ..
like “See the post on xyz of abc when I ddd something”
The description is often enough. Later on if needed, we can enhance this dlink to become an underlined_descriptor .

— 2) raw hyperlink ..
like https://btv-gz.dreamhosters.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=9876&action=edit
🙁 non-descriptive

— [L] 3) descriptor_n_url ..
like “see the post on xyz of abc (https://btv-gz.dreamhosters.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=9876&action=edit)

This underused format is 20-30% quicker than underlined_descriptor, because I don’t need to “select” the descriptor !

— [L] 4) underlined_descriptor ..
like “xyz of abc”
🙁 tcost not worth it when (10% chance) the link gets deleted

##14countries 过亿 #density

Posted on by tiger40490

Based on https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/population-by-country/

#1 in Africa is world #7 — Nigeria
#1 in latam is world #6 — Brazil

Only 14 nations exceed 100M .. 3 African….. 2 Latam (BRZ, MEX) …… 1 European (#9 Russia) …… 1 NA (US).
Among the remaining 7 (all Asian) countries .. 3 Indian [2], 2 east Asian, 2 S.E.Asian (Indonesia, Philippines [1])

[1] Vietnam is projected to break into the club soon as world #15.
[2] #2 India + #5 Pakistan + #8 Bangladesh together is 22% higher than China.

— population growth rates:
China is slower than US, Brazil,,,, and soon to shrink.
— migration rates:
India “drains” faster than China.
World #1 recipient is U.S. but I think each government has its own counting criteria.
— density ranking worldwide:
#3 SG
#4 HK

India is 3x China.

Japan is lower density than India, Bangladesh, Philippines !

— statistical accuracy .. is probably better in rate of change vis-a-vis current population snapshot.

PenguinDay chat about math facetime #less confrontation

Posted on by tiger40490

A Cigna counsellor suggested that I invite my 12-year old boy to a chat and listen to his preferences on math coaching. I decided to be a listener rather than a talker [I still talked about half the minutes, but less than before] The 25 Apr 2021 chat flushed out several /misperceptions/.

Misperception: “his math homework was an excuse to put off my math problems” -> Actually, he didn’t know math homework can wait.

Misperception: “he is not interested in my math problems at all and wants to avoid it” -> Actually he named math as the one subject dad can coach. Boy asked me to give him the problem over phone, in advance.

Misperception: “my problems are quick” -> Actually, only some of my problem are quick, while other problems can take a long time.

Misperception: “his Chinese exam prep is not so urgent so critical, because earlier weeks/months are more important” -> Actually, teacher gave them 20 words and said 5 of them would show up in the exam. So boy needed time to cram the 20 words.

Misperception: “with Chinese compo, he was just dragging his feet. Another day or another time would be the same.” -> Actually, he was overloaded and under pressure in the morning/afternoon. To my surprise, in the evening he was ready to do math practice.

Boy cautioned me “avoid the days before a non-math exam”. Now in hindsight, I see my son similar to the skater.

Compared to the earlier afternoon confrontational face time, I didn’t act tough and stand my ground. Instead, I acted slightly more like a friend, as Aunt Genn suggested.