The influence of the Hitchhiker Guide to the Galaxy (HHTTG) is so profound in today's pop culture consciousness and other aspects of life, that even if you have not read the book or seen the movie, chances are that you have encountered the following in some point in your life:

1. Asteroid Douglasadams was named after the author of HHTTG.
2. The Minor Planet Centre of the International Astronomical Union also named an asteroid Arthurdent after the main character in HHTTG, Arthur Dent.
3. Radiohead's song Paranoid Android pays homage to Marvin the Paranoid Android.
4. Radiohead's album, OK Computer is a reference to a phrase uttered by Zaphod Beeblebrox.
5. The popular instant messaging program, Trillian was named after a HHTTG character of the same name.
6. The popular online translation website, Altavista Babel Fish is named after the Babel Fish, a parasitic organism that is used as a translator, in HHTTG.
7. One of the most popular message boards on the Internet is GameFAQs' Life, the Universe, and Everything, which was named after the third book in The Hitchhiker's series.
8. South Park's Towlie often says, "Don't forget to bring a towel," an obvious nod to the sound advice of The Guide.
9. The game "GoldenEye: 007" features the "Mostly Harmless" multiplayer award for player who earned the least kills in a match. In HHTTG, "Mostly harmless" is the revised entry used to describe Earth.
10. The online children's game Neopets features an item called the Pan Galactic Gargle Slushie. This is the kiddie version of the The Hitchhiker's Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster. According to the guide, the Gargle Blaster is one the best (and most dangerous) adult beverages in this or any other galaxy.

Sources:
http://stuffo.howstuffworks.com/
http://www.google.com/
http://www.msnbc.com/

6/24/2005 12:59:26 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [6]

Movies

After reading Robbie's recent blog entry on career and passion for life and work, I felt I should write something to reaffirm and reflect on my career direction. It is no secret that I intend to continue working in the high-tech industry after graduation. I see the following technologies to be gain prominence in the next 3 years: Biotech, Renewable Energy, Environment, and Advanced Materials (Nanotech). So my rationale is to expose myself to any of these technologies while I am studying at MIT. Thankfully, with the SDM program, I am allowed to take both engineering and management electives. The SDM program is all about cross disciplinary studies, so why not make forays into other engineering discipline like Nanotechnology while I am at MIT. For my engineering electives, I plan on taking a couple of electives in the Material Science and Engineering department. On the other hand, unlike the MBA students, we, the SDM students, get only the breath of management. With a more limited number of mangement electives, I would like to make finance, the lingua franca of the business world, as part of the mangement electives that I will end up taking.

There are still plenty of opportunities for someone with a degree in System Engineering and Management. In fact, Siobhan who is currently interning with Morgan Stanley said, during an earlier conversation this week, that there is a huge demand of System Engineers in Wall Street to help firms build and integrate complex financial systems. Regardless of what one may ends up doing, I believe that opportunities abound and the future is bright. To Robbie, just remember this: Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

6/23/2005 11:24:46 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [18]

Thoughts

I have finally caught up with school last Monday. So in true celebratory fashion, I decided to take a break from school last night by going out for dinner with Rebecca whom I have not seen for a year and was in town for a visit last night. Later, we met up with Jonathan, Melissa, my sister Alisa, and Melissa's 2 friends whose names I forgot, to watch "The Hitchhiker Guide to the Galaxy" at Somerville theatre. I find the movie witty and hilarious, and it is better than I had expected. If you are nerd like I am, watch it. And yes, 42 is still the answer to all questions.

For those of you who remember the $50k team that I was in 2-3 months ago... John have finally decided to reward the team with a nice dinner at Ole Mexican Grill, one of my favorite Mexican restaurants in Cambridge, earlier tonight. It was good to catch up with the rest of the team members since we had practically lost contact (despite working/studying in the same university) with one another after winning the Massachusetts $125k competition. We are still not 100% sure what we want to do with our business venture as our underlying technology is still a little premature to ask for major funding from VCs.

I have to cut my blogging short tonight. Right now, I need to finish up my System Engineering homework, which is due in 8 hours. Thankfully, I just have to proof read what I have written.

6/22/2005 11:46:27 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [13]

Personal

I enjoyed today's System Engineering class, it wasn't as boring as the previous one. The materials that we needed to read before today's class were interesting and in some way help me to affirm the purpose of the SDM program and my reason for being in the program.

In today’s lecture, Prof. Clausing introduced the RCI (Requirements, Concepts, and Improvements) framework, which states that the concepts selection phase can only be performed after the requirements definition phase. So here’s my question: What about companies that develop products strictly out of concepts without going through a rigorous phase of requirements definition? Wouldn’t the requirements selection phase of the RCI framework stifle innovation? The design and development of complex products or services have the most benefit from the disciplined approach of System Engineering. However, in today’s competitive business environment, product development is no longer a left-brain driven discipline. In most cases, it is right brain thinking, not simulations and analysis, that brings about breakthrough products. In fact, in a recent Business Week article (I’ll look for the link later), companies are beginning to value right brain employees more than left brain employees for creativity.

6/21/2005 11:46:02 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [10]

School

This don't happen very often but I asked 2 (not 1) very naïve questions during my accounting class today. Well, the entire class burst out laughing at my remarks. I don't if they find the question funny or was laughing at expense. In any case, Rajeev and I stayed on after class and grilled the TA with questions that we found ambiguous while working on the homework last weekend. She said that a good understanding of the fundamentals is critical to mastering the more advanced concepts in the next coming classes. The extended TA session was definitely well worth it, during which she clarified many of the doubts that I have. I finally have much better understand on the concepts such as permanent vs. temporary accounts, write-offs, and allowances.

6/20/2005 8:37:51 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [19]

School

Greg made an interesting point about System Dynamics last night. He said that he has been procrastinating on his thesis for a while. Instead of spending more time on the thesis, he is taking an extra elective that may not have any direct application to his thesis or career. So his rationale is to drop System Dynamics and focus on his thesis. I am in a similar predicament and I couldn't agree more with Greg. Indeed, I was insane to be taking 5 classes during summer semester. For my own sake, I dropped the System Dynamics earlier today. I am now down to 4 classes, which seems more manageable. Overall, I feel really relieved and liberated after that decision. I do like the subject and the professor. The good news is that a similar class will be offered in the fall semester.

6/20/2005 8:10:01 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [12]

School

There has been a lot of discussion on the value and relevance of Systems Engineering. Just for the record, just because I mentioned that axiomatic design is a quack doesn't reflect that the fact that I find other design methods like lean thinking, and Fred Brook's essence and accidental concepts interesting. I am not vehemently oppose to Systems Engineering like Yoav does nor blissfully in love with Systems Engineering like Matti is. My current mood to Systems Engineering is ambivalence (with a slight tendency to dislike). I do confess that I was really bored with the discussion on axiomatic design in the last lecture. Contrary to my earlier fear, I find that the professor seems to value our disagreement on some of the frameworks that were taught in class. This is good. After all this is academia, it is okay to disagree especially in subjective topics like Systems Engineering.

6/19/2005 5:48:32 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [10]

School

When you regard someone's work with high esteem, your expectation of his/her work goes up. But what happens if his/her work does not live up to your expectation? Utter disappointment and maybe betrayal. Well, that's how I felt after I saw "Star Wars: Phantom Menace" a few years ago. Last night, it was Howl's Moving Castle, although it was more of a disappointment and no betrayal.

Howl's Moving Castle, which was adapted from an English novel by Diana Wynne Jones, is still a great animation with delightful visual textures and out-of-this-world imagination. But compared to Miyazaki's recent works, this movie is a disappointment. The cause of my disappointment lies in the continuity and pace of the story. Like Roger Ebert, I found that the weird and incoherent events and characters introduced in unlikely parts of the story disrupted the continuity of the plot. Halfway through the film, the plot becomes unclear and I found myself getting a little impatient even for a Miyazaki movie. The worst part (spoiler alert) was the plot development in the last 5 minutes of the movie. I rank it to almost to the same level of corniness as that of the dialogue between Skywalker and Amidala in "Star Wars: Attack of the Clones." Overall, I still like the movie because I am sucker for Miyazaki's work just I am for Lucas's. Would I recommend the movie? Well, only if you are a fan of Anime or Miyazaki. I would recommend Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke if you haven't seen any of Miyazaki's films.

6/19/2005 5:47:59 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [14]

Movies

This is the second week into the SDM summer semester. So far, with 5 classes this semester (yes, I am insane), I finding no time for anything else. I was literally passed out last night from a 16 hours day of work/school. I planned on completing my Systems Engineering homework today but I just wasn’t motivated to do it. Being absolutely unmotivated to do school work, I called a few friends to invite them over for a cookout at my deck and thence to watch Howl's Moving Castle, a movie by Hayao Miyazaki of Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke fame.

6/18/2005 9:20:39 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [14]

Social

I have had plans to go to Montreal with some friends over July 4th but I decided against the idea since my summer course load at MIT is more demanding than I had previously anticipated. Therefore, I will stay in town for the entire July 4th weekend, something that I have done for many years. As a consequence of this decision, Yoav and Ilana asked if I would volunteer my deck to host the first SDM barbeque cookout. With self-serving reasons not only to show off my deck but also my culinary prowess, I agreed to host the cookout on July 4th. Even better, Brian called me 2 nights ago to invite me to a Red Sox game on July 1st for free. Score!!! See, staying in town on July 4th weekend isn’t that bad after all.

6/17/2005 11:25:57 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [14]

Social

Why the hell am I doing up at 2:00 am in the morning? I am just finishing up on reading the 3 articles on Axiomatic Design theories that were assigned to us as part of our reading for Thursday’s Systems Engineering class. So far, the reading has been painful and slow because of:

1. 47 pages of single-spaced reading material.
2. Reader-unfriendly format.
3. The subject itself is not necessarily complex but it is certainly deep and require sufficient time to digest and understand.

I really don’t know what to think about these readings. The more I read about axiomatic design, the more I think of it as a quack or voodoo engineering. In my mind, it seems to give us a false sense of precision in system design? In any case, I still think that this is the worst reading assignment so far. Time for bed now.

6/16/2005 2:24:25 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [14]

School

I can't believe that my team, consisting of Kevin, Jeff, and myself, spent over 4 hours working on the last 2 questions in our System Dynamics assignment on Monday. It wasn't our inability to come out with coherent solution in a timely fashion. In hindsight, we began to develop a serious case of tunnel vision, which severely impeded us from thinking clearly, halfway through the assignment. Consequently, our productivity was severely affected. As Matti may attest, this is obviously not a case of lean studying. In the end, the team came to a consensus that we just hand in whatever we have at the time. Being persistent, I continue to pursue for solutions to the 2 questions the following day after a good night of rest. To my surprise, I was able to come out with solutions in less than 30 minutes. The improvement in mental capacity was evident. I have a clearer understanding of the 2 questions than what I was able to the day before.

The moral of the story is to stop working as soon as you develop tunnel vision; it is unproductive and unfulfilling. Sleep, exercise, just do whatever you need to do to clear your mind!!!

6/15/2005 8:39:50 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [11]

Thoughts

So I finally got that piece of paper on June 9th (last Thursday) after almost 5 years of attending the Harvard Extension School at night to pursue a Masters in Extension Studies in Information Technology (or ALM IT). I actually completed all 10 required courses within the first 1 1/2 years of the program (3 years ago) but I procrastinated for another 3 years before I finally got my act together and wrote the thesis, which is required in order to graduate from the program.

I was delightfully impressed with Harvard commencement, which I found it to be very colorful and entertaining. To Siobhan's chagrin, I have always appeared apathetic to the Masters program at the Harvard Extension School. I finally realized (or affirmed) why I felt this way during my commencement last week. My apathy stems from the fact that I hardly know anyone in the program. I have nothing or nobody at Harvard to identify myself with. The social dynamics and community engagement, in my opinion, are weak since most students are working professionals who attend the school part time during evenings. I am hoping that my current academic experience at MIT will be different from that of Harvard. In the end, I am glad I made it through the program.

6/14/2005 9:18:34 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [16]

School

For my friends or blog fans who are into music listening, consider using Audioscrobbler to share your taste of music with the rest of the world.

6/14/2005 8:46:07 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [13]

Music

It has been a while (a week) since I blogged. I even had people asking me to update my blog. Unfortunately, I had too much going on last week ranging from commencement to managing condo trivial politics, all of which had consumed a substantial amount of my precious time. To matter worse, last week was also the opening week of my summer semester at MIT. I spent the last four days trying to catch up with school work. Today, with this week's assignments completed, I finally have the chance take a breath from the crazy schedule.

6/14/2005 8:17:03 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [9]

Personal

Holy smokes!!! I can't believe this. As announced by Steve Jobs today, the beloved Apple Mac is switching over to Intel microprocessor. Until now, all Mac software code uses big endian for addressing and integer representation. With an Intel x86 based Mac, Apple will need to address how legacy code will continue to run on little endian based architecture. Today's software code is highly dependent on the compiler and the underlying class libraries. I am pretty confident that code change won't be substantial and a recompilation on the updated code should suffice. This should ease software developers in transitioning to the Intel x86 architecture. Furthermore, I am sure that the upcoming Intel-based MacOS X operating system will feature an emulator that will enable users to continue running existing PowerPC based software.

As an engineer, I feel that switching from one computer architecture to another presents significant challenges. But historically, Apple has shown resilience and success in implementing 2 major transitions for the Mac. First, from M68k to PowerPC. Second, from MacOS to MacOS X. I have no doubts that Apple will make its third transition from PPC to Intel x86 architecture a success. From a business perspective, I believe that the transition to Intel x86 is a good strategic move for Apple in the long run, it may even provide Apple the competitive advantage over Microsoft and UNIX/Linux based products and solutions. However, I won't be surprised if sales will suffer between now and the time when the first x86 based product is shipped. Who will want to buy a PowerPC G4/G5 Mac knowing that it is going to be obsolete soon? Indeed, Apple will face an uphill battle, marketing and convincing the customers the benefits of getting a Mac now. It is also not clear if Apple will eventually exit out of the hardware business and focus solely in software, MP3 players, and music downloads. In addition, I am not clear if the upcoming Intel-based MacOS X will run on existing Intel PC or Apple brand of Intel based hardware. Let's suppose Apple decides to become a pure software player, it is most likely going to go after the existing x86 PC market. In turn, this can seriously undermine Microsoft's dominance in the computer market. On the other hand, are the revenues from the sales of MacOS X enough to sustain Apple operations? Is hardware the bread and butter of Apple business? I can babble on and on with Apple's transition to Intel x86 architecture but I will stop for now.

So how about it? What are your thoughts on this? I am interested in to hear your thoughts from a business or/and engineer perspectives.

6/7/2005 12:31:39 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [18]

Computers

I had my first class of the summer session today. Like Yoav, I was pleasantly surprised by Prof. Plesko. I was expecting someone with an accounting background to be dry and boring. On the contrary, Prof. Plesko is engaging and energetic. He also mentioned something in class today, which made me like this class even more. He said that this class is not to make us to become accountants, because we can easily achieve that goal far more cheaply at community colleges. The goal of this class is to enable the students to make intelligent decision making and judgment with accounting statements. Nice!!! That's exactly what I am looking for from an accounting class.

6/6/2005 10:52:11 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [18]

School