A crystal radio kit. A Radio Shack 101 experiments in one. A basic Stamp kit. Mindstorms. A chemistry set. Magnets. Rocket kit.
Even something more technical that a parent or grandparent would enjoy doing as a project together with the kid. I've got fond memories of designing circuits with my father, building things with my grandfather, etc.
So, anything remotely involving technology is considered geeky these days. I'm sure lots of people would be tickled to receive an iphone Christmas card, but the only hack involved is creating the actual paper card part.
In the past, I've made birthday "cards" with PICs and monochrome LCDs. Now that is geeky.
When I was in the fourth grade I wrote a letter to Jack(or Sam, I don't recall) Tramiel, the president of Atari. I had a few ideas for video games, and I got a personal letter back. Quite an awesome experience for me at the time. I need to dig out that letter.
Three times. I did not exactly make a card- two times I made a board with a PIC and a 2*16 LCD, the third time I simply coopted a spare Renesas dev board. All I did was display some message on the LCD. And the girls LOVED it. You can never discount how much the girls will love something you take the time to make- girls do dig the geeky stuff.
Re:If you ever lived in a foreign country
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Censorship By Glut
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Having lived in China and Thailand in addition to the USA, I somewhat agree with you. In each place, the local culture has a way of sorting news that is palatable to their taste. In the USA, night time news gives no depth to important international issues and feels like an interlude between drug commercials. In China, the dynamic is somewhat different since the information is centrally controlled. I have observed a few things present in all places I have been- people tend to see the world as they want to see it, in a way that reinforces what they already know. Second, tv tends to dumb down people everywhere. That nightly tv news programs contain any news at all is a byproduct of other forces at work.
After briefly looking at your project page, I am sure you can find a job that involves C and signal processing. Dublin might not be the right place. Why not look into moving to an area with more telecom companies? I think your skills are very marketable..
I know you are referring to the baseline 8 bitters, but there are now 16 bit pics, some with a DSP core, and 32 bit pics that use a MIPS core. Things have come a long way.
A few points from a Westerner who has lived in China.
1. Must supporting Tibet and the Olympics be mutually exclusive?
2. Talking to my Chinese friends (I have many), almost none have ever actually seen CNN. They have A. read www.anti-cnn.com or B. read or seen about it in Chinese media.
3. China is not the last bastion of independent thought, nor is the USA for that matter. Chinese people almost never seek out secondary sources of information, either because of lack of education (cannot read English, etc), Western media is blocked (i've lived there, don't tell me it is not true, though it is accessible if you know where to look), or lack the desire, or discipline, to seek out other perspectives.
When I lived in Beijing from 2004-2006, I got the general feeling that Chinese were enamored with Tibet and thought they were doing no wrong when they brought development to Tibet. So naturally, Chinese think they are in the right. By human nature, people will believe what they want to believe, and furthermore, people develop strong convictions based on little or no information.
Another thing is that the Chinese have demonized the Dalai Lama, which is somewhat absurd. They cannot in any demonstrable way connect him to the violence. Furthermore, the Dalai Lama is a wily politician who has forged relationships with powerful people in the West, whereas the Chinese have little guanxi outside their own nation, save countries they are pouring money into.
Like I tell my Chinese friends, if I want to know what bad things Taiwan has done this week, I'll read Xin Hua or People's Daily. They are at least as crappy as CNN, though they are a different kind of poison than CNN.
One lesson China should be taking from this, and I have seen no evidence of this so far, is that they really need to do a better job of Public Relations. Frequently my Chinese friends, try to make the argument that Bush would not let Texas separate from the USA (I am from Texas), just as China would not let Tibet separate. To which I reply, Texas was already an independent nation, and if you really want a compelling argument, read about the American Civil War on Wikipedia (har har).
I have a fair number of friends from Taiwan as well, and I have guaged their reaction to be a combination of A. Apathy, because Taiwan has been going through this sort of nonsense for a long time, and they are sick of it B. Not agreeing with violence from either party C. Some empathy for the Tibetans, because the Olympics presents them with a rare opportunity to gain media attention.
So, what to take from all this. I'm not quite certain, because I do not have all the information. I am sympathetic to both sides. Living in China was the happiest part of my life.
My feeling is, if China wants to be a great nation, they need to act like a great nation, not whine on anti-cnn online forums.
Ok, that outlandish advice has actually worked well for me, though I bet most foreigners get tired of the same old tired questions the students ask. "Where are you from, why does the usa support taiwan, do you like chinese food, how long have you studied chinese, what is your job, can i have your phone number, how old are you, are you a cunning linguist(ok not really)etc"
My experiences: My first English Corner- girl I am dating asks if I can go to her University's English Corner. I grudgingly agree.. I get there and... I am the only foreigner there! What's more, I am a guy who has been suckered into going to an all girls' uni.. Sweet!
Second, a year later, a girl outside my university(BLCU) solicited me to go to her school's EC. Later she and I had some crazy dates- her consumption of beer probably correlated to being a physics masters student.
Most of the other times were favors where I could not say no. All in all, the English Corners were good fun, though not the best place to practice speaking chinese. You could definitely get a sense of peoples' politics and personal beliefs. Plus, it is fun to play the part of the eccentric foreigner...which is not a stretch for me.
I lived a within walking distance of Hou Hai lake, and I loved it. It is mostly little chill bars, which is my scene. If you like more bumpin places with lots of girls, go to Gongti (gong ren ti yu chang- people's stadium) or San Li Tun (San Li Tur in Beijing speak).
One thing I never saw but wanted to was the Underground City. Looks like it is in the easter part of central Beijing. Xiang Shan is fine, if you like hiking. Personally it was ho-hum for me, but chinese love walking up mountains. Summer Palace is a must see. I never saw the Ming tombs; I hear there is not much there.. Pan jia yuan is a market with lots of artsy craftsy stuff. There is another market similar to that, but I forget the name.
A note about the national history museum at Tiananmen Square- it totally sucks. Very few of the artifacts date from before the Cultural Revolution.. And, when I went there, the top floor had a wax museum with the commie bigwigs in full wax grandeur and, I kid you not, Bill Gates and David Beckham, maybe Michael Jordan, too.
Now, the reason why I say the museum sucks is because I have been to the national history museum in Taipei, and the treasures there are magnificent. Mainlanders complain that Taiwan stole all the historical artifacts, Taiwan claims it rescued them. Sharing my Taiwan anecdotes with my mainlander friends was always interesting..
You ought to check out the Temple of Heaven and Lama Temple, though temples are not my thing.
If you want an interesting experience, walk around the universities. You'll probably have people 1. offer you a translation job 2.ask you to tutor them in English (language rape you). The best eventuality is to have cute girls walk up to you and start a conversation (language rape you... then sex).:D I went to school at Beijing Language University which is located near the Wudaokou light rail station. That area has a TON of universities, including Tsinghua(China's MIT, whatever) and Beida (China's Harvard, double who cares).
You might have noticed I have a love hate relationship with the place.:D
You are sure to encounter "tour guides" wherever you go. These people are usually helpful, but as a foreigner, you have sucker written on your forehead. Don't let me give you the wrong impression about Beijing people, they are actually very personable once you get to know them.
White wine does NOT mean white wine- it means paint remover.:)
Definitely learn a few chinese sayings before you go, something more than "ni hao".
I could go on and on.. There is really more to see than you probably have time for. Try to make some local friends, that will make your experience so much better.
If you're going to be in China, try to hop over to Xian- in my opinion, the Terracotta Warriors blow away the Great Wall. Simply because all the "touristy" sections of the great wall seem rather fake to me after being rebuilt. I've been to the Badaling and Mutianyu sections near Beijing, and they are alright, though Mutianyu is marginally better in my opinion. Other sections seem less traveled, which might make for a more "authentic" experience. The more remote the better.
Also, don't forget to bargain at the Great Wall or other touristy places, or you will get totally screwed like the silly laowai that you are. Offer 1/10th the asking price and walk away if they don't concede.
Slashdot Mirror
He didn't forget- they are not one country.
The BASIC Stamp- microcontrollers for hobbyists.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_stamp
A crystal radio kit. A Radio Shack 101 experiments in one. A basic Stamp kit. Mindstorms. A chemistry set. Magnets. Rocket kit.
Even something more technical that a parent or grandparent would enjoy doing as a project together with the kid. I've got fond memories of designing circuits with my father, building things with my grandfather, etc.
So, anything remotely involving technology is considered geeky these days. I'm sure lots of people would be tickled to receive an iphone Christmas card, but the only hack involved is creating the actual paper card part.
In the past, I've made birthday "cards" with PICs and monochrome LCDs. Now that is geeky.
Reminds me of something similar.
When I was in the fourth grade I wrote a letter to Jack(or Sam, I don't recall) Tramiel, the president of Atari. I had a few ideas for video games, and I got a personal letter back. Quite an awesome experience for me at the time. I need to dig out that letter.
Who knows. Are we talking, say, 8051 or ARM11 here?
Three times. I did not exactly make a card- two times I made a board with a PIC and a 2*16 LCD, the third time I simply coopted a spare Renesas dev board. All I did was display some message on the LCD. And the girls LOVED it. You can never discount how much the girls will love something you take the time to make- girls do dig the geeky stuff.
Want some cheese with your WhINE? :)
Having lived in China and Thailand in addition to the USA, I somewhat agree with you. In each place, the local culture has a way of sorting news that is palatable to their taste. In the USA, night time news gives no depth to important international issues and feels like an interlude between drug commercials. In China, the dynamic is somewhat different since the information is centrally controlled. I have observed a few things present in all places I have been- people tend to see the world as they want to see it, in a way that reinforces what they already know. Second, tv tends to dumb down people everywhere. That nightly tv news programs contain any news at all is a byproduct of other forces at work.
Don't be a wuss, go, you may not want to come back. ;)
Somebody who knows what he is talking about! I lived there for a short time in 2006 and had the exact same impressions.
That statement has the profundity of fortune cookie wisdom.
After briefly looking at your project page, I am sure you can find a job that involves C and signal processing. Dublin might not be the right place. Why not look into moving to an area with more telecom companies? I think your skills are very marketable..
Surely you are joking about the translation not being correct- the sign says "Translate Server Error."
But Ok, the Chinese characters say "can ting" which means restaurant.
What about pinyin?
Great, so you googled some shit. Maybe he wants to get some people's experiences with them? What is good or bad?
Yes, impeccable logic, bravo. More than likely, they see the open source stuff as a viable means to an end, not as an idealist pursuit.
I was in China in Fall 2004 and from Aug 2005 until August 2006, and it was not blocked during that time. At least not where I was, mostly in Beijing.
I know you are referring to the baseline 8 bitters, but there are now 16 bit pics, some with a DSP core, and 32 bit pics that use a MIPS core. Things have come a long way.
A few points from a Westerner who has lived in China.
1. Must supporting Tibet and the Olympics be mutually exclusive?
2. Talking to my Chinese friends (I have many), almost none have ever actually seen CNN. They have A. read www.anti-cnn.com or B. read or seen about it in Chinese media.
3. China is not the last bastion of independent thought, nor is the USA for that matter. Chinese people almost never seek out secondary sources of information, either because of lack of education (cannot read English, etc), Western media is blocked (i've lived there, don't tell me it is not true, though it is accessible if you know where to look), or lack the desire, or discipline, to seek out other perspectives.
When I lived in Beijing from 2004-2006, I got the general feeling that Chinese were enamored with Tibet and thought they were doing no wrong when they brought development to Tibet. So naturally, Chinese think they are in the right. By human nature, people will believe what they want to believe, and furthermore, people develop strong convictions based on little or no information.
Another thing is that the Chinese have demonized the Dalai Lama, which is somewhat absurd. They cannot in any demonstrable way connect him to the violence. Furthermore, the Dalai Lama is a wily politician who has forged relationships with powerful people in the West, whereas the Chinese have little guanxi outside their own nation, save countries they are pouring money into.
Like I tell my Chinese friends, if I want to know what bad things Taiwan has done this week, I'll read Xin Hua or People's Daily. They are at least as crappy as CNN, though they are a different kind of poison than CNN.
One lesson China should be taking from this, and I have seen no evidence of this so far, is that they really need to do a better job of Public Relations. Frequently my Chinese friends, try to make the argument that Bush would not let Texas separate from the USA (I am from Texas), just as China would not let Tibet separate. To which I reply, Texas was already an independent nation, and if you really want a compelling argument, read about the American Civil War on Wikipedia (har har).
I have a fair number of friends from Taiwan as well, and I have guaged their reaction to be a combination of A. Apathy, because Taiwan has been going through this sort of nonsense for a long time, and they are sick of it B. Not agreeing with violence from either party C. Some empathy for the Tibetans, because the Olympics presents them with a rare opportunity to gain media attention.
So, what to take from all this. I'm not quite certain, because I do not have all the information. I am sympathetic to both sides. Living in China was the happiest part of my life.
My feeling is, if China wants to be a great nation, they need to act like a great nation, not whine on anti-cnn online forums.
I don't follow how a lack of ground vegitation inside Beijing will prevent dust storms blowing in from the Gobi desert.
You like to drink beer, eh? China has really cheap beer. You can buy a 500mL(?) bottle of Tsingdao or Yanjing for about 50 cents.
Go to English corners? Holy Jebus! :D
Ok, that outlandish advice has actually worked well for me, though I bet most foreigners get tired of the same old tired questions the students ask. "Where are you from, why does the usa support taiwan, do you like chinese food, how long have you studied chinese, what is your job, can i have your phone number, how old are you, are you a cunning linguist(ok not really)etc"
My experiences:
My first English Corner- girl I am dating asks if I can go to her University's English Corner. I grudgingly agree.. I get there and... I am the only foreigner there! What's more, I am a guy who has been suckered into going to an all girls' uni.. Sweet!
Second, a year later, a girl outside my university(BLCU) solicited me to go to her school's EC. Later she and I had some crazy dates- her consumption of beer probably correlated to being a physics masters student.
Most of the other times were favors where I could not say no. All in all, the English Corners were good fun, though not the best place to practice speaking chinese. You could definitely get a sense of peoples' politics and personal beliefs. Plus, it is fun to play the part of the eccentric foreigner...which is not a stretch for me.
I lived a within walking distance of Hou Hai lake, and I loved it. It is mostly little chill bars, which is my scene. If you like more bumpin places with lots of girls, go to Gongti (gong ren ti yu chang- people's stadium) or San Li Tun (San Li Tur in Beijing speak).
:D I went to school at Beijing Language University which is located near the Wudaokou light rail station. That area has a TON of universities, including Tsinghua(China's MIT, whatever) and Beida (China's Harvard, double who cares).
:D
:)
One thing I never saw but wanted to was the Underground City. Looks like it is in the easter part of central Beijing. Xiang Shan is fine, if you like hiking. Personally it was ho-hum for me, but chinese love walking up mountains. Summer Palace is a must see. I never saw the Ming tombs; I hear there is not much there.. Pan jia yuan is a market with lots of artsy craftsy stuff. There is another market similar to that, but I forget the name.
A note about the national history museum at Tiananmen Square- it totally sucks. Very few of the artifacts date from before the Cultural Revolution.. And, when I went there, the top floor had a wax museum with the commie bigwigs in full wax grandeur and, I kid you not, Bill Gates and David Beckham, maybe Michael Jordan, too.
Now, the reason why I say the museum sucks is because I have been to the national history museum in Taipei, and the treasures there are magnificent. Mainlanders complain that Taiwan stole all the historical artifacts, Taiwan claims it rescued them. Sharing my Taiwan anecdotes with my mainlander friends was always interesting..
You ought to check out the Temple of Heaven and Lama Temple, though temples are not my thing.
If you want an interesting experience, walk around the universities. You'll probably have people 1. offer you a translation job 2.ask you to tutor them in English (language rape you). The best eventuality is to have cute girls walk up to you and start a conversation (language rape you... then sex).
You might have noticed I have a love hate relationship with the place.
You are sure to encounter "tour guides" wherever you go. These people are usually helpful, but as a foreigner, you have sucker written on your forehead. Don't let me give you the wrong impression about Beijing people, they are actually very personable once you get to know them.
White wine does NOT mean white wine- it means paint remover.
Definitely learn a few chinese sayings before you go, something more than "ni hao".
I could go on and on.. There is really more to see than you probably have time for. Try to make some local friends, that will make your experience so much better.
If you're going to be in China, try to hop over to Xian- in my opinion, the Terracotta Warriors blow away the Great Wall. Simply because all the "touristy" sections of the great wall seem rather fake to me after being rebuilt. I've been to the Badaling and Mutianyu sections near Beijing, and they are alright, though Mutianyu is marginally better in my opinion. Other sections seem less traveled, which might make for a more "authentic" experience. The more remote the better.
Also, don't forget to bargain at the Great Wall or other touristy places, or you will get totally screwed like the silly laowai that you are. Offer 1/10th the asking price and walk away if they don't concede.