Huế Mù Sương

Huế dày đặt sương mù trong chiều tà

Đọc bài viết chợt nhớ bài hát “Huế mù sương” (Nguyễn Minh Khôi) mà trong đó luôn vang vẳng những câu hát buồn: Đã lâu rồi anh không về thăm Huế; Huế bây chừ buồn lắm không em? ….
3 tháng rưỡi – có những lúc qua mau, có những lúc lại lâu đến kinh khủng.
Dòng thời gian không bao giờ ngừng chảy, nhưng hởi ôi Lòng người lắm lúc lại đong đưa !! Hay nói như Thu Bồn là “con sông” cứ “dùng dằng”, con sông không chảy!
Hãy dồn lý trí vào tương lai, hãy chôn nỗi buồn vào dĩ vàng, để trái tim nói được nên lời: Ôi ôi nhớ lắm cơ 😡 Sắp được về nhà rồi!! YEAH 😀

ps: Gửi đến e – tình yêu a và nỗi nhớ.

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what the hell is Facebook playing around?

@ gawker.com

At the first glances, the new Facebook’s profile looks cleaner, more visual and a bit more impressive. However, I am certainly not a fan of  this brand new profile due to these following small yet frustrating defects:

  • Below my name at the top of the profile comes a Wikipedia-like mini-biography of my life:

Studied at Hue College of Sciences. Lives in Singapore sity. In a Relationship. Speaking English, Vietnamese. From Hue, Vietnam. Born on Feb 14, 19**, for example. Why we have to show off more and more personal information in FB while we don’t want?

  • Deploying the SAME SMALLER FONT SIZE on the profile pages. I find myself squinting to read the updates whilst the friends’ name are bold, far clearer and occupying great spaces in the left hand side.
  • Mixing up everything around in both sides. I again find myself hunting when doing sth.
  • I myself find it irritating when FaceBook sports an “infinite scroll” feature of all the photos I’m tagged in. No doubt, FB pages seem nicer with an emphasis on images. However, my “Photos” page now seem to become to Google images searching page with keywords: “H**ng H*u Th*nh” LOL
  • The layout and navigation are no longer user-friendly since it has to share too much spaces for images. To post a short message in my friend wall, I have to click many buttons. Wait, see, the ever ambiguous POKE function is “promoted” with great prominence!! (in the upper-right of the profile next to the “message” button)


One of the nice point is you can show off (and marketing) your girl/boy friend, family, relatives and dear friends with their awesome avatars.

BAD NEWS: There will be NO DOWNGRADE once you’ve upgraded your profile. What’s more, the transition will occur sometime “early next year” no matter you like it or not(!!) … unless there is massive user backlash against the new Profile!! So if any of you guys gonna create a page against the new profile, I’m definitely the first one LIKE IT! (and many will do too)

Since Facebook’s provided us a free and terrific service, I definitely not gonna complain anything more than these feelings and suggestions. Looking forward to see better news from U…

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WikiLeaks remarks

WikiLeaks – “the biggest intelligence leak in history”, begins its shocking diplomatic disclosures by the tag-line: We help you safety get the truth out.

wiki leaks

Remarks: WikiLeaks’ leaked documents have been causing a lot of surprises and interests by revelations that…. there is “an intriguing alliance between Berlusconi and Putin”; German Chancellor Angel Merkel is one who “avoids risks and is rarely creative”; members of the British royal family had “inappropriate behaviour”. Hold on, there are more interesting ones:

  • ITALIAN Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is “feckless, vain and ineffective as a modern European leader”, whose “frequent late nights and penchant for partying hard mean he does not get sufficient rest”.
  • RUSSIAN President Dmitry Medvedev is “pale and hesitant” and plays Robin to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s Batman.
  • NORTH Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il is a “flabby old chap” who suffers from “physical and psychological trauma”.
  • LIBYAN leader Muammar Gadaffi is “strange” and “accompanied by (a) voluptuous blonde Ukranian ‘nurse'”.

Before moving on, it’s important to know that: Although many are classified as “confidential”; some “secrets”, a large number of cables are, in reality, incomplete, unclassified, and untrustworthy; plenty of them are first impressions and gossips. Why? Some legitimate reasons are coming here and there:

Diplomats are, albeit clever and better resources than journalists, just human. They do make mistakes! (And it’s somewhat acceptable). Many cables are faithfully recorded. As a result, they are sometimes left with egg all over their faces when reporting some ill-informed gossips.

Diplomats are duty-bound to pass on everything they hear and observe. Sometimes they let analysis and assessment come later. Sometimes reports are thoroughly out of business as NYT pointed out.

Diplomats, in some countries, are not particularly high up the pecking order nor in the loop quite as much as they may hope they are.

Therefore, please bear in mind that all of these documents are just the WORK OF DIPLOMATS (what they have to do)! In fact, “We were never going to learn very much of substance from diplomatic cables, as diplomats are merely ornaments, the eunuchs in the room. If you want secrets that show something about power, you want to hear from the people who arrange the hit squads – not the people who arrange the cocktail parties.” (Andrew Orlowski @ theregister)

This material, in brief, turns out to be utterly trivial and inconsequential. On one hand, it leaves nothing for everyone to learn, apart from entertainment. On the other hand, it strongly affects the entire world diplomatic relations by revealing not only the first glimpse of U.S against others, but also among others, of course, in the partisan view of US – well, US diplomats (!!), to be precise!

In conjunction with threatening disclosures in Pak-Saudi (Pakistan and Saudi Arabia), China – US, Turkey – US relations (and many more), it’s striking that leaked dispatches also show Beijing is frustrated with military actions of “spoiled child” and increasingly favors reunified Korea.

These massive leak of secret US cables are so appalling that they have been dubbed humorously yet seriously as the 9/11 of world diplomacy! Perhaps WikiLeaks’s gone too far away from their main aim – as listed in their website (wikileaks.org): give people around the world an unprecedented insight into the US Government’s foreign activities. Owing to lots of “additional” “off-topics” and trivia, we have reasons to suspect their purposes…

Spoiled children are mother’s faults

No sooner had the shocking disclosures, allegedly stolen by an American Army intelligence analyst, released than many country representatives and Presidents expressed their frustrations and irritations against these documents. Sympathized replies, if any, are just again diplomatic! In return, embarrassed American have given their heartfelt apologies all around the world. A great deal of acute pains – doubts, misunderstanding as well as embarrassments have been caused by the so-called ‘WikiLeaks’ organization, led by the guy named Assange.

This guy has smartly utilized the so-called “equality and freedom” to fight back against its most advocate (US). He’s absolutely brilliant. In fact, the name “Julian Assange” is being hailed worldwide by different kinds of people, including Ecuador Deputy Foreign Minister (who offered him home) and those who feel interested in the trivia he’s provided. But are what he’s done really great as its first glances?

Unanticipated Effects

“The longer that Wikileaks continues to pump out trivia, and governments issue their theatrical, orchestrated cries that the sky is falling, the longer we’re left in the dark.” Andrew Orlowski, yet again, expresses his worry about the leaked documents.

In deed, though we haven’t seen any direct loss or damage of lives due to the exposure of WikiLeaks documents so far, effects and results of the issue are out of control and remains unknowable. There is in all likelihood a lag between the sensational revelations and jeopardy in reality.

One thing the experts appear to agree on is that “the leaks will make it more difficult for US diplomats and human intelligence operatives to do their jobs. Although that does not present an immediate threat to American lives, strained international relations may create a more dangerous world” (Katie Connolly @ BBC) “They embarrass governments with which the US co-operates. At the very least, they will make governments like Pakistan and Yemen and others, which are collaborating with the US in the battle against terrorism, more reluctant to co-operate. It’s harming some of the vital activities that the US government, the UK government or others engage in, which are protecting us against terrorism.” Max Boot, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, added.

Returning to China – North Korea story, the public still remain skeptical about the “spoiled child” or “reunified Korean” tale that the documents revealed. Despite of this, the fact that such headlines as “China’s ready to abandon North Korea” or “Guesses on North Korea” appear all over newspapers is really terrifying any pacifists around the world: That the North is on the verge of collapsing. That his one and only one friend is planning on what to do hereafter. That his best friend is ready to see him dead …

We’re still left in confusion whether Assange is saving the world, or destroying international relations!? At the moment, the later seems more obvious!!

We want more than just trivia!

One of the most hitherto damaging and shocking documents is a directive issued by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to diplomats ordering them to spy on top UN officials including Ban Ki-Moon. Because of this – which Assange claims to be in violation of the international covenants to which the U.S. has signed up, WikiLeaks founder has called for Clinton to quit! A harsh lesson will be learned by US that they must be much, much better in their mechanisms for democratic accountability as well as foreign policy… However, it would have been much more impressive if Assange revealed more concerned information as Cryptome operator John Young has suggested, including:

War plans of all nations, for and against one another

Files of billionaire political meddlers

Files of the major world banks and their attorneys …

I tend to agree with Daniel Ellsberg, the former military analyst who in 1971 released the Pentagon Papers which detailed government lies and cover-ups in the Vietnam War, that to a certain extent, “lives are at stake as a result of the silences and lies which a lot of these leaks reveal”. But as mentioned, not only trivia the recent released information is, but it also looks as if it’s already been heavily filleted. Notably, revelations about Syria and especially Israel are conspicuous by their absences.

Verdict

There is no doubt about WikiLeaks’s great purposes since its launch in 2006. However, the aim of this biggest diplomatic strike ever is confused. Who and what are causes? What are their real purposes? Who benefits? Is there really a mastermind behind Assange? If so, Who are they?…

Anyway, it’s not a great way to begin a story unless there is an obvious purpose behind.

Interesting links:

Bush slams WikiLeaks
Ecuador offers WikiLeaks’s founder home
Accused whistleblower ‘just wanted to live a normal life’
Letters between Wikileaks and the U.S. Government 
The decisions to public diplomatic documents

Comment: Don’t get me wrong, I generally support Assange’s actions, his courage and philosophy. Just regret if only the information could have selected more careful…

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“What have you learned?”

It’s toward the end of my third course. So there would be some questions asked:

1. What did they teach you?

Basically,

Operating system (OS): Kernel, Distributed systems, Concurrent transactions, Deadlock, ACID, some applicable (yet not practical for me) OS algorithms and much more (bullshit topics)

Data management n handling (DMnH): basic data strutures and (search n sorting) algorithms

Entrepreneurship: Entrepreuneur n Intrapreneur “myths”, Creativity, Innovation, 4Ps, Business plan, Environment assessment, legal structures n issues and some small (interesting) topics

Software engineering (SE): honestly, I didn’t notice what they taught exactly (just recognized the slide’s always overwhelming by words :)) though, on the other hand, I’ve learned “something” in the lecture-times. Perhaps, there were some topics such as … pseudocode !?, refactoring and SW constructions (’cause they occured in the exam) LOL

2. What have you learned?

Well,

OS:

  • “(Microsoft) Windows is extremely fast after a fresh install. If you want to make it stay that way: – don’t use it!!” (use Linux instead!!!)
  • Know how to justify a doc in M.Office. haha

DMnH:

  • How to come home in the shortest way after getting lost…
  • Don’t put your loves into a stack!
  • Oh, I haven’t learned so much in my dear subj 🙁

Entrepreneurship:

  • “Life is not fair, get used to it!” (though I believe life itself is absolutely fair!)
  • If I copy information from one source (without credits), it’s called “Plagiarism“. But if I copy from multiple sources, it’s called “Research“!?
  • “Talk is cheap!!” (yah, almost all ppl can talk the talk)

SE:

  • How time is wasted and how long it is!!
  • “There is always one more imbecile (as well as genius) than you counted on”.
  • How stupid I was and I am!

3. What did you do?

  • Evaluated some kind of input.
  • Read, Copied and pasted; Read, copied and … 😀
  • Wrote my most professional journal and many “useful” articles 🙂
  • “Tricked n Cheated” !?

4. What have you achieved?

Fortunately, a lot!:D But most of them are intangible. So hard to tell! 

5. What do you regret?

  • Absent all deadlock lessons
  • Absent only few days
  • Spent too much time out-of-interest!!
  • Didn’t do any/many useful things (in different areas)

6. Was it worth it?

My heart says YES, but my head says NO. lol

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Protected: Anh Yêu Em Nhiều Lắm

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Empathy

To Students who is taking the UEE in the WORLD CUP periods

Between passion (World Cup matches, favorite teams) and study (a vital exam), what would you choose? Well, generally we would choose both, but it is not the case. There must be a smart trade-off!

FACTS

With the current studying structure in Vietnam, there are two big exams, that is High School Exam at grade 9 and the most important one – University Entrance Exam (UEE) at grade 12. In respect to the World Cup and UEFA Euro – the two biggest football competitions in the world, happenning once in every four years, it is expected that all student – football fans  will experience the dilemma once (and only once) in their student lives!!
To be honest, it is a bit unlucky to take the exams, particularly UEE, during World Cup period. For me, I am so “lucky” that I do not have to take the UEE during World Cup period, but I did experience the quandary at grade 9. I still remember that my mother was crying when I watched my dear Italy in the last World Cup at the night before the exam. What is more, my results lamentably were not as expected although it is never to blame.

SOLUTIONS?

Anyway, it must be conceded that World Cup somewhat affects students’ spirit, preparations and therfore results of the two biggest exams. The fact that the number of student – football fans, whether male or female, is definitely not small if not huge, give us a big question, is there any solution, any smart trade-off between the two? With the senior experience, I however have no advice to the students. It is very difficult to give a ‘right advice’ in the case. Instead, I would leave it up to the students – they are the only one who knows their actual strengths, weaknesses and how to deal with it. Do enjoy the World Cup, but please also remember to fulfill your exams and never let your parents worried. For the parents, why don’t you let your sons choose and decide by themselves because at this age, they are no longer the kids. Had you better apply the so-called “Freedom in Discipline”!? Also, please never put too much pleasure and expectations on your sons! They are too young to fail!

Most importantly, Exam is nothing but a “real challenge”. And its result is just a tangible part of a very intangible thing called Education. I wish you luck in your exams! Take it easy!

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Welcome 2007!

Hello

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