Getting from here to there

Taking the LEX from Champaign to O'Hare is probably the worst experience in the universe.
This is the view from the back of the LEX (the Lincoln Express). It was crazy! I highly do not recommend the LEX unless you really have no choice. $50 (after tax and tip!). Plus, I hear that the Suburban Express is better. More comfortable for the same price, with newer vehicles. In the LEX, our luggage was dragged out in the trailer outside. The ride was bumpy, it was raining...and leaking! It reminded me of my army days, riding in the dark in the hummer on a mission. Never again! It is not worth it when you can choose your ride. Next on my list of public transport between Chicago and Champaign is the Amtrak.

Having hash browns in O'Hare, Chicago, US.
We finally arrive at O'Hare, Terminal 3, at 6 in the morning. Our flight leaves at 11am! Stupid mid-west weather. We checked-in after a decent wait of about 1 hr, that's good by O'Hare standard. O'Hare is probably the worst airport in the universe. That's just the airport. The people who work in it are probably nice. After passing through the security checkpoint, where we still have to remove our laptops from their covers and take off our shoes, we were in! We navigated to the usual Parklab venue for food while in transit in O'Hare at the Food Court (K Gate area) Macdonald's. And there I am, with my big breakfast combo of which the only thing I really like are the hash browns and scrambled eggs. Macdonald's coffee is probably the worst coffee in the universe.

Arriving at Narita, Tokyo
We flew via American Airlines. American is probably close to the worst airline in the universe, next to United, which is even closer. The worst airline in the universe probably is illegal. There is no free alcohol in flight. That's probably why. And the food is like the kids happy meal in a family restaurant - both in terms of size and quality. But the redeeming point here is the destination - Tokyo. Why else would you pay for this? Well, technically, I didn't pay. This was a mileage claimed trip. After a 13 hr flight, we are at Narita Airport waiting for Charlene's family to arrive. Charlene is having her afternoon tea while we wait. That's two espressos and an ice cream cone which when combined correctly equals Affogato! Narita airport is probably the best airport in the universe.

From Narita to Ueno Station
Charlene's family arrives at 5.30pm. Everyone is happy. And its great to see family again! We took the Keisei Limited Express (1920 yen pax) from Narita Terminal 2 to Ueno Station in the northwest region of Tokyo. Its a direct train and you can purchase tickets directly at the counter in front of the arrival area of the terminal. After a 70 min train ride, we arrive and check into Ueno House (Taiwanese run long-term stay). We appear a little dark in the photo, but that's because my camera is not the best camera in the universe. Its a nice place for long-term stay. We will be staying there for four days and with six people, its definitely a whole lot cheaper than any hotel.

We left our luggage and quickly head out for dinner nearby at a restaurant called Yayoiken. The place, like any standard Japanese small restaurant, had an interesting way of ordering your food. Its basically like a soda dispenser, only it dispenses food tickets. You put in your money, and then push the buttons that indicated the meal you want. A ticket comes out and you hand it to the waiter. And in a few minutes, your food comes out of the kitchen, onto the table, and into your tummy. One thing I have to say about Japanese restaurants...they are haiyai!

After a fulfilling meal, we go back to our apartment to rest from the day of traveling and get ready for the exciting journey tomorrow!

Departure Eve

Getting ready for the flight to Tokyo tomorrow. We just called for a taxi ride pick up (CU Taxi) at 5.30am. Then as we were packing, the phone rings informing us that our flight from Champaign to Dallas had just been canceled. Probably due to bad weather. So we called American, and they informed us that we had been re-ticketed to take the 7.15am from Champaign to Chicago, and from Chicago to Tokyo, arriving at 3.15pm. Whew!

It is Friday night, and there is dense fog all around.

Dinner

We had the bunch come over yesterday. This was the menu:

Steamed Whole Grass Carp
spring onions
ginger
white wine
salt
olive oil
grass carp
cilantro

Steamed Prawns
brandy
prawns

Curried Lamb
lamb
tumeric powder
cumin seeds
lemon
garlic

Vegetable Clay Pot
tofu
cauliflower
shiitake mushroom
carrots

Boiled Kai Lan
kai lan
oyster sauce
garlic

Lotus Root Soup
lotus root
pork ribs
squid
peanuts
red dates

No pictures leh.

Evolution of Hope

Hope in a few things,
Hope in nothing,
Hope in everything,
Hope in one thing.

SFN Conference in DC 2008

Went to the conference to give my talk. It was, in my opinion, okay only lah. But I guess it was fun to take a break from the regular schedule. I decided that I'm only ok with DC. Not my type of city, but tolerable. Too much political buzz around.

Pictures here: http://travelingjosh.shutterfly.com/2824

Jen and Andy's wedding in NC

Follow the link for pics:
http://travelingjosh.shutterfly.com/2692

We had a great time, drove there for 12 hrs (stopped halfway in London, TN to rest for a night), through the Smokeys, attended the wonderful wedding in Nantahala Valley, spent the night in an old fashioned wood lodge, then drove back another 12 hrs.

A Good Wine

For those who can't see, this is a Blackstone 2006 Syrah. It cost us about $6~8 at Shnuck's. And it was good. I think this will be a standard buy. So far, its one that has stuck. Although that's only because we documented this particular one. This syrah as just the right blend of depth and fruit giving it an all rounded body, which is the way I like it. Goes well with pretty much anything...but then really, any good wine goes well with anything.

Nobody Mourns the Wicked

Nothing is at it seems, once a story is told. We hear about the wonderful wizard of Oz, but why is he so wonderful? Follow the story of Elphaba, by musical or by book. Either way, you'll see things have a 'wicked' way of unfolding.

What a wonderful modern musical...and she flies! Wow. On a broomstick! Double-wow. Bam! And most of all, she's green! Definitely, if you can get tickets, you should watch this fantastic display, if only for an evening of wonder and great story-telling, with the most colorful of characters. We got in for $37 :)

Curtis Orchard

We went to Curtis Orchard the other day. Its an apple farm with apple trees. You can pick your own apples from the trees. They give you the special apple picking hook to reach those that are too high (those that tend to taste better too!). We sampled from the trees...although I'm not sure if we took too many because by the time we sampled, we were actually quite full! Anyway, we picked a whole bag full, and its still not finished yet.

The pictures show some red apples, although most of the apples that were ready for picking were green ones. A lot of the apples also dropped to the ground, many were beginning to rot. It seems quite a waste, but I'm sure there must be some use for these rotting apples somehow...

Curtis Orchards open specific rows of apple trees for picking depending on the season. Usually, the different types of apples ripen over the course of several weeks from late summer to the fall season. You could try your luck...or call them to ask when what type of apples are available. But personally, just go there and buy their pre-picked honey-golden crisp apples. That's their signature apple. Its good!

Texas

Just added the Texas roadtrip photos. See them here.

John 4:7-26

The Samaritan Woman

For me, one of the most impressive statement Jesus made resides in this passage, "Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst." Pondering this statement, I realize that as simplistic as it is, it really pushes your perspective about Jesus into a binary, dichotomous, choice. You really cannot afford to treat lightly this statement. Unless you think he was kidding. Which it seems, given the context, that he really was not. So then either he is mad, or what he is saying is really true.

Is it really that great to never be thirsty? Is not part of the human life learning and enjoying change, fluctuations, times of fullness, times of need? To everything is there not a season? So what really does he mean never be thirsty? Surely, he know this when he said this. Do I really want to not be thirsty? Do I really want all my needs to be quenched? What would life be like if everything was as it should be?

These are hard question to which I do not have the answer for myself...yet. More meditation, prayer, and consideration is needed.

John 4:1-6

When Jesus knew that the Pharisees were aware of His increasing popularity, He withdrew to a less busy district, back to His home area up north in Galilee. Perhaps He knew that it was not time yet, or perhaps He has other reasons not to attract attention, or pull away from John's ministry. Whatever the case, the next statement seems somewhat of a shock for some.

"But He needed to go through Samaria".

This has been interpreted as Jesus purposefully desiring to go to Samaria and minister there to the discriminated people. But reading the text, this interpretation may not be a necessity, although certainly possible. Alternatively, Jesus could have "needed" to go through Samaria because of what was happening in Jerusalem. If He were becoming more popular, and He desired to limit this for the moment, then perhaps a good idea would be to take the road less traveled. What can we learn? Perhaps nothing more than that whatever road we walk on, it may lead to something really important...and it may not involve doing anything special but just to walk it with the knowledge of that possibility. In other words, cherish each path.

Samaria. A place filled with people that the Jews regarded as half-breeds. Israelite offspring of ancestors who inter-married. A complex history of external influence and collaboration with Gentiles. In society, there are many example of this. Interesting how even now, although we seek to eradicate such discrimination, it still exists in our heart of hearts, if we are honest with ourselves. Why? Because we are innately not used to accepting people who are different from us. Most of us anyway. And especially so when their beliefs are different. Samaritans, although they believed in God, we are not told the completeness of their concept and faith here. All we know is that they have a different religious center that was not Jerusalem. Therefore they did not treat the Temple as the center, unlike under the Mosaic and Solomonic customs. Did they worship a different God? They acknowledge Jacob/Israel as their fore-father. Did they have different practices in worship and lifestyle? Most probably.

All these question are resolved through one solitary act. Jesus did not care about all that. He wanted to be among them. And He wanted them to be welcomed in. They were white unto harvest.

"Jesus ... sat thus by the well".

Did he know the woman would come? Why didn't He get the water Himself? Or help others?

I Think That I Shall Never See, A Brain as Pretty as a Tree

What if, sunlight to a tree, is as information to the brain? A tree needs sunlight to survive, to produce food. In response to this basic need, the tree spends a lot of its effort to maximize its ability to obtain sunlight. It does this by forming more leaves, and by spreading those leaves out at widely as possible to cover as much area as possible. Pushing this idea even further, to the extent that the tree covers a portion of area, that is the amount of sunlight it can absorb. Sunlight falling on other areas will be lost to the tree (albeit there might be secondary or tertiary transfer of energy via light reflection, diffusion, and other means). One important parameter that would determine the success of sunlight absorption for a tree would then be leaf surface area. Specifically, greater surface area would increase sunlight absorption rate.

Now, we project this idea onto the brain, of course being well aware that the brain is much different from a tree, although, probably not very very different. The brain is in the business of representing information. Its very function is the processing and retaining of all the information fed into it from the moment of its development. It would be interesting to pursue when this onsets, but that is a digression for later. Nevertheless, the brain develops in tandem with its experience with information. Some of that information is hardwired, or genetic. Some of that information is nurtured, or environmentally experienced. The role of each neuron then, in cooperation with all the other neurons in the brain, is to keep EVERY SINGLE EXPERIENCE, whether internal or external.

Why does the brain want to do that? Well, that's the same as answering why does a tree want so much sunlight for? We can only provide partial understanding here, because this borders on the domain of philosophical and religious pursuits. Biologically, a tree seeks sunlight as part of its nutritional source for the purpose of ultimately creating more trees. That is about as far as we can describe based on observation. This is, in a way, a tautology. Because what we impose as the purpose of the tree, is in fact, what we see the tree already doing. Therefore, such an answer may not satisfy some, but it is a partial answer at the least. Turning back to the brain, again, only a partial answer is given. The brain seeks to contain as much information as possible, because that's what is already observed that it is doing, and perhaps, this information helps the organism to survive, and to produce more organisms of this kind.

More importantly here, we shall consider how does the brain perform this function of representing as much information as possible. The tree does it by increasing surface area exposed to the sunlight. The brain's equivalent would be to increase the number of neurons it has, the connections between these neurons, the variability in the way these neurons can activate. Some smart person might be able to come up with an equation that tells us how much information a given brain with a given number of neurons and connections, and variability in activity, can hold. This could somehow be mathematically related to the concept of surface area...

However, there is a problem in terms of space. While the brain is fantastic and has way superior computational capacity, it is still finite. That is, there may come a time when a given person's brain can no longer process anymore new information. Maybe it has come already, just that we don't know it or that its not as big of a problem as we might think, given we have external aids for our memory now, through things such as computers, books, paper, language, and symbols. This finite capacity is indeed a problem, but our brains have a rather interesting way of solving it, at least to a great extent. Lets turn back to the tree for a moment, because its a greener thought. Lets say that to get more sunlight, the tree has two ways of doing it given a fixed amount of material. It can send more branches out with many leaves, or it can make fewer but bigger leaves. If it sends out more branches, it would have to content with using some of that material to make tree-parts that don't absorb sunlight (branches). If it makes bigger leaves, it may have to content with those leaves blocking each other out, since they will be close together as there are no branches to help spread them out. In the same way, the brain might have two ways of holding information within a limited amount of material. It can create more and more connections with more neurons, or it can use the existing neurons and connections in different ways. Here is where the tree analogy might break down. Unlike information, sunlight to a tree is a one-dimensional problem in the sense that it only needs to worry about expose area. Information, however, is obviously multi-dimensional, with auditory, visual, tactile, odor, taste modalities in the sensory domains, and countless of types of dimensions when you think about concepts and their associations, temporal information etc. Another dissimilarity between a tree and the brain is that most trees only make one kind of leaf, or grow with a certain fixed physical structure. The brain is able to flexibly use neuronal connections to group neurons in very dynamic ways. So, while a tree either has small or big leaves, the brain may use both small groups of neurons encoding some type of information, as well as bigger groups encoding other types of information.

The maximum surface area of the brain (meaning the physical ability of the brain to differentiate between its billions of states of activity using its neuronal connections), limits the total amount of different information the that brain can keep. This will be developed in later blogs. Here are some teasers. One brilliant way of reducing the space needed would be to encode information in terms of similarities and differences. And also, unlike a tree, the brain in the organism makes decisions about what the organism should do, affecting the environment and modifying subsequent experiences, as opposed to being completely at the mercy of the experiences.

Next time...."Similarities and Differences", and "The Brain, The Tree, Intentions, and Decisions".

Why The World Should Use BrainVoyager

Gardening Site

Charlene and I have just added a garden to our corridor. As with all growing things...we'll see how it turns out! Stuff of earth. Check out the blog of the garden's progress at http://jcofgardening.blogspot.com/

Charlene Sees/Hears Dinosaurs...NOOOOOO!

Mother says: Would you like to go on the choo choo train?
Child replies: Noooooo!

We went to the Chicago Botanic Garden with Nina, Rich, and Atsunobu. Flower after flower, scene after scene, the colors, touch, smell all filled our senses. Simply put, it was a very happy time. It is quite amazing how the simple delicate things can reach deep down.

Now, the serious business though. While I was taking a scenic shot. Someone amidst our group saw or heard something quite phenomenal. I wonder if we should report this to the Paleontological society? Hmm...here...this is what I mean:


You can check out photos of our Chicago Botanic Garden trip, with all the flowers in their glory by going to my Shutterfly Collection, or by going to The Daily Josh.

Those Darn Geese!

Charlene and I took a break at the Kickapoo State Park. The other Singapore students were there too. They took the wet route...canoeing! But we decided to have a quieter time with picnic and my Fables comic. Ha ha ha. By the way, if you don't know about Fables, shame on you. I'll tell you about it next time. Back to Kickapoo...

The day was great. Sunshine and blobs of clouds. When the sun er...shinded down on us, we got warm. But when the clouds went by, it was chilly. Acherly hor, the weather these days are siao lah. Its supposed to be warmer, but for some reason, they never turn off the outdoor air-conditioner. But ok lah. So the rest of them went canoeing, and according to the reports from Qinwei, they got really really wet and cold...in fact, they almost dieded. We also took her camera hostage, for reasons I shall not elaborate.

Anyway, we were hanging around the lake and saw a bunch of geese chillin out there. But oddly, they had a strange behavior...perhaps they were trying to show us some attitude? Here...take a look and see for yourself:

Earthquake!!!

It happened at 4.30am. Fast asleep. Then the rattling started. The heating pipes. At first, I thought it was those cars with loud boom boxes. But it seemed an unnaturally loud rattling this time, much louder than a normal boom box could cause. Then, it started. The bed began to shake, the ground vibrated, and the rumbling. The slow but purposeful moan of the earth, turning on its side.

Thoughts raced through after. Was it a meteor that hit nearby? Was it a bomb? Are we at war? Was it tanks driving through the city? Was it some monster that has appeared? Was it aliens landing? I could not totally sell myself to the idea that I had just been shaken by an earthquake. The very foundation under my feet were loosed.

The next morning, the morning show reported: 5.2 earthquake originating about 300 miles southeast of Champaign at 4.30am. Felt even in Chicago.

I am still alive. No one was harmed.

The White Chapter

The White Chapter

Water in sight
Robbed of life
Sealed with unrelenting grip
Incapacitated by apathy
Unable to do anything
Unable to be

The color of dry
In stark sarcasm to its nature
Smirking at our hope for the future
Hope for a better world
How do we know?
For all that is seen
Is the wind
Blowing away the white powder
That was unable
Unable to cling to family

Extreme Winter Sports Action Footage (EWSAF)

It snowed yesterday, somewhere between 4 - 8 inches. Which, to the well-informed, means one thing and one thing only...SLEDDING!! So after lunch, while we decided to take a look at what winter wonders there were in the Japan House and Arboriteum area, we see Nina and Michael, with Nina's childhood sled, just itching to slide down the hill on Orchard Downs. The hill was crowded. Families with children hitting the slopes. The cold winter wind did not prevent them all from having fun in the white powder. And it shouldn't have, because for all the blistering frost, it is honest-to-gosh fun in the purest. Letting yourself go with the snow.

But of course, you have to have the right equipment. Michael decided to do an experiment. Using our extraordinary knowledge in physics, we know that objects at rest, tend to stay at rest, unless acted upon by another force. Michael decided to test this using his car windshield sunshade as a sled. Now, theoretically, this should work. The snow should provide enough lubrication to offset the friction. And Michael's weight should be enough for gravity to pull him down...theoretically. The movie clip below shows the outcome of this experiment. Empirical trial number one.

Go Michael Go!!

Undaunted by human limitations, we next decide to perform a stunt which has never before been attempted in human history. We decided to record sports action footage of extreme sledding. What you are about to see is the shot as seen from the video camera mounted in front of a model 3000 sledding machine, with all the latest upgrades and safety features. Hold your breath, because your eyes will now be witness to one of the most amazing sports action perspectives ever.

Extreme Sledding!!

This concludes our winter episode of sports olympics. Tune in next time when we go to Extreme Summer Sports Action Footage or ESSAF!

Crepes at Carmon's

Carmon's is a French Creperie located in downtown Champaign. This would be my fourth time there. The decor is homely, bright with a tint of sophistication, yet not too modern, nor is too old fashioned. In other words, it is just nice. Which, to the senses, can sometimes be more delightful than either extremes. For one wishes to be at the crossroads between the past and the future, totally dwelling in the present. I've tried the beef stroganoff (good with reds), pork chutney, onion soup, curry chicken chutney, ratatouille, banana foster, peach streusel, and the suzette (which the movie clip below shows part of the making process involving flaming the grand marnier, and the photo top left is the finish product). All I can say is, this is one place, which every dish on the menu is worth trying once. And it is fortunate that the menu is short enough for that to be a realistic endeavor. Every dime is well spent to fill your senses with delectables.

Flaming the Suzette

Waffles and Bacon

This is a fantastic western style breakfast. Charlene made this. Good blend of sweet and salty. Crispy and juicy. Great to wake up to.

Ingredients
Ready waffles (either pre-made, or you can make from your own mix, if available)
Sweet potatoes (cut for fries)
Bacon
Pears
Maple syrup
Salt
Pepper

Method
Prepare the waffles using a toaster and set aside.

Fry the bacon strips in a pan till crispy. Once done, remove the bacon and place between napkins to soak excess oil, but save the oil in the pan.

Cut the sweet potatoes for fries, and fry them in a pan with bacon oil till crispy. This will take a few minutes.

Peel and cube pears. Place everything on dish. Add salt and pepper to fries, and syrup to waffles. Ready to serve.

Tilapia with Capers

This is a very unique filet dish. The fish is cooked so that the meat is flaky but moist. The capers add a sweet, sour and juicy flavor. The rice adds a plain contrast to the rich sauce.

Ingredients
A filet of white fish meat (Tilapia, Cod, Bass)
White rice
Capers
Vinegar
White wine
Butter
Spring onions
Salt
Pepper

Method
First, cook some white rice in a rice cooker, then go ahead and start preparing the fish.

Bring some water to boil in a pot. Once the water is boiling, place the fish filet in. This will cool the water for a while. Let the fish cook until the water is back to boiling again (this will take a few minutes). Once the water is boiling, take the filet out, and place on a dish. Now prepare the sauce.

Melt some butter in a pan. Cook the melted butter until it changes color. Then pour the hot butter onto the filet. Next, heat some vinegar and wine in the pan, reducing it. Once the mixture is boiling, pour it also onto the filet. Sprinkle salt and pepper. Add the capers and some slivers of spring onions. Place some white rice on the side, sprinkle some dried seaweed if desired.

Ready to serve.

Thanksgiving 2007: E-Poem

It was time.

Time to do anything
Anything but work.
This Thanksgiving break
We headed to Starved Rock.

We forded the streams
We conquered our fear
We reach to the top.

We even ourselves "caught" a deer.

A few days later,
we were out again,
this time it was noisy
But all the same
We were happy


We were out late
Late into the night,
And that's when it all started
We began to see some lights.


After which, we went in
for turkey and a din.
Prepared by Nina
Nina and Mr Lin.

The feast was a great
It was a fantastic
It filled our stomachs
We were almost ballistic

After all is eaten and said
All is said and done
We each one of us
Noticed it was fun

So for each and every year
Once a time
Time and again
We remember to be thankful
To be sober
and sane.

St Louis

St Louis is a pleasant 2 1/2 hr drive south-west of Champaign. We met Sam there as he was on his way up from Nashville after a friend's weekend wedding. We arrived at the St Louis Botanical Garden in time for lunch, and sat at the nice outdoor cafe area for a simple, but delightful meal amidst the beautiful plant life. The weather was awesome, and walking in the Gardens was definitely a much wanted breather. Click here for the [photos].

We also visited the famous arch of course. There is a museum at the base of it. And you can actually go up in it, but we missed the closing time at 5pm.

Downtown St Louis itself was a little quiet. For city like St Louis, it was actually hard to find a place where we could sit down and have a satisfying meal. We walked around the riverside area, saw a few pubs, but nothing eye-catching. We decided to drive around a bit further away from downtown and ended up around Washington University area. But still nothing inviting. We ended up eating at the hotel restaurant, which was actually not bad.

So all in all, a nice day trip, but plan your restaurant locations ahead.

Chicken Rice

Once of the most standard dishes in Singapore, the famous Hainanese Chicken Rice. Easy to make, light to the taste, and adaptable for all situations.

Ingredients
Chicken
Cilantro
Cucumber
Sesame oil
Light soya sauce
Rice
Ginger
Salt

Method
Cook your rice as per normal in a rice cooker, but add your chicken meat whole as well. This saves on cooking time, but it will taste better if you cook the chicken separately, however, if you do this, you would have to use chicken stock to cook your rice. Following our original plan, add the chicken into the rice and cook it together, also add a few slices of ginger, some sesame oil, and salt. Cook the mixture. Slice the cucumbers and cilantro for garnish. Once the rice is done, take out the chicken, slice it up. Serve on plate with garnish, add some light soya sauce and chilli sauce if required.

Dobin Mushi

This is a classic Japanese soup dish that has one of the most unique tastes. There is a slight burnt flavor that comes from the dashi stock cooked in a clay pot, an earthy flavor from the mushrooms, and a sour tinge from the citrus lime that is added. Definitely worth the effort on a cold night. This soup is typically served in a small clay tea pot with a small drinking cup. The size of the pot seals the flavor in, but if you don't have a clay pot, you could use any other pot that can be used to boil soup on low heat for extended times. Also, the typical soup is cooked using Matsutake mushrooms, which are very very expensive. I've used Shiitake mushrooms as substitute here, for the the poor man's version, but of course, nothing beats the original ingredients. Try as best you can to secure the freshest matsutake.

Ingredients
1. Matsutake or shiitake mushrooms (fresh is best, but if dried, soak overnight first)
2. Fish dashi (best made using the fish flakes you see on tofu dishes, that curl and move when served)
3. Soya sauce
4. Sake or rice wine
5. Cilantro
6. Shrimp
7. Chicken
8. Lime

Method
Soak the dashi overnight. Cut the mushrooms, shrimp and chicken into small bite size pieces, you don't need too much of this, just a small portion. Bring the dashi stock to a boil for about 10-15 min. Once the dashi flavor is cooked into the stock, remove the dashi, leaving the stock. Add a spoon of soya sauce, and a spoon of sake. Add the mushrooms, shrimp and chicken into the boiling stock and cook for about 10-15 min. Add lime juice from half a small lime, garnish with cilantro, and serve.

Grilled Steak

Oo La La. Fresh off my $10 grill from Walmart. Steak seasoned in red wine and thyme, asparagus, green peas, potatoes, and oh-so-good dinner rolls from the beefhouse, all done on the grill. Nice cool weather outside 52F, and sitting beside the glowing embers.

How To Make Teh Tarik

Teh Tarik, literally, pulled tea, is actually an Indian method of making milk tea. The milk tea containing condensed milk is poured from one container to another, which cools the tea down, and at the same time, introduces air bubbles. This gives it a lighter texture, and, as with most interactions between liquid consumables (such as wine) and air, brings out more flavor. Although, the average tea drinker will probably never notice the difference, watching the process of making this tea is a treat in itself.

The name Teh Tarik, is in fact a Malaysian word. Tarik means pull in Malay. This meshing of words and cultures is a result of exchange happening in the South East Asian regions because of the multi-cultural backgrounds present.

Presenting, how to make teh tarik...

Park-O Tex-O

As part of the lab shift to Dallas, we went down to check it out in the Lone Star state. I shun bian say hello to Mei. There are several ways to get to Dallas from Champaign. Drive = 12 hrs, Direct 6am flight from CMI airport to DFW airport = 2 hrs, mid-day flights with transit from CMI-ORD-DFW = 4hrs, staying put = priceless. Anyway, we took option number 3 and, as you can see, we start out strong. The flight was pretty good, from ORD to DFW, we got personal TV units, slightly larger plane. But then at touchdown, we had to wait pretty long for luggage, because it was such a big flight. Then we wait for Mr Hebrank to come pick us up after his game of Ultimate.

The car rental place is a 7 min shuttle bus ride from the terminal itself. And once you arrive there, its a humungous air-conned art museum, with car rental outlets just lined up for you to choose. Our Ultimate man came by, we rented an SUV, and drove to our hotel, Embassy Suites at Lovefield, Dallas. We then quickly got ready for dinner with Mei and John. Which was at a nearby steakhouse.



It was nice to catch up again. And it was fun to have the lab people along too.

After which, we checked into our huge room in the Embassy Suites.

The next day, we went to the Brain Health Center, which is just a few minutes away. Very impressive building. Very artsy. Definitely a good place to work. Right now, the lab space is still under construction, but when its done, it will be awesome.










After that we went to where the scanner is at the hospital. Also another artsy building. We got some scans done, and then, for us, we had to head back to good ole Chambana.














So of course, what would flying be if there were no delays? So they introduced a little 1 1/2 hr delay for us at DFW. But otherwise, the flight was ok. Got back...showered. And bed = priceless.

Check out the rest of the pictures by clicking here.

Oh yeah...this has got to be the best introduction ever...

Models that Account for the Same Data: The God Account

In reference to my post about models that account for the same data, one possible explanation for why there are so many religions is because of the principal component function in our minds (refer to the post). Here, we have the same data. But we refer to different dimensions to explain the data. Sometimes even omitting certain dimensions. Such omissions would lead to certain biases in explaining the data. And to the extent that the bias is critical (that is, to the extent that these biases are necessary for accounting for the truth), our explanation of the data will be off from reality. To the extent that the biases are not critical, we will not be off from reality.

The most accurate model therefore, is the one that most closely matches reality. Yet how are we to know reality? This is the problem of knowledge. Can we truly ever know anything since we are limited to our senses, five in all, and perhaps a little more. We have 5 dimensional information, and perhaps a little more. What if the data were more multi-dimensioned than our senses can experience? Even if we had secondary ways of measuring data from dimensions beyond our perception, our experience is still bounded by our perceptions. Thus, it appears that to ascertain reality, we need to transcend our 5 senses. But even then, how many senses or dimensions should we transcend? In theory, infinite. Which is of course, flatly impossible.

Therefore, the question is not about empirical proof anymore. We realize empiricism, limited to 5 senses, cannot ascertain reality. Really, all empiricism does is to come up with models to account for data within the 5 senses. Which has no consequence on reality itself.

We are back to the question: How can we know what reality is?

Models that Account for the Same Data

Perhaps what our minds are doing is accounting for the data. The data is everything around us that we experience with our senses. This information is fed into our neurons, which, by virtue of their network organization, perform some sort of operation on this information. This operation can be likened to a form of model fitting (for those of you who are familiar with the modeling world). Our neurons constantly flux in an effort to represent the information we encounter in the most stable possible way, that allows us to incorporate new information as well as to maintain old information, and even to allow old information to modify new ones.

Consider the method called principal components analysis. This is nothing but redefining the data in terms of another set of dimensions. It thus appears that the same data can be understood in different ways, without changing the data one bit. Furthermore, using one set of dimensions over another set is simply dependent on one's goals or assumptions when trying to arrive at an explanation or investigation.

So then, the question is, which approach is scientific?

On The Way...

So you see ah...so busy until the blog fresquenscies is so slow lah. Anyway lah. Updache all a bits. First, Charlene birthday happened. We celebrated with homemade spaghetti: shrimp, mushrooms, marinara sauce, red wine, and these three cakes from Cake Artist Studios on Bloomington Rd, Champaign, IL. Very good! If I remember correctly, one is called black berry something, one is called cappuccino something, and the last one is called chocolate something...something.

Then I had to go to Ann Arbor, MI to give a talk. This was kind of a last minute thing. But then had to go lor. Drive for 5.5 hrs (acherly, Charlene drove lah, atta girl!). Then stayed over night there before giving the talk the next day to the bunch at UMich. Quite a good crowd acherly. Met Ah Yu there, he was giving a talk too. We ate at some Korean restaurant thingy. Then after the talk, we drove back (another 5.5 hrs) but via Indianapolis, to go to The Beefhouse. Note: Beefhouse is at exit 4 on I-74 heading west, just before crossing the Indiana/Illinois border. Very good meat! Mmmm...can go back again...so by now, you should be able to tell, that I am somewhat broke oredi. Donations are welcome [www.gimmemahni.com].

And finally, I got my Master's in Psycho. Now, I am a certified genius, I'm sure! Certified man. got paper leh. Hopefully this paper can hepped me earn more mahni. If not, then is din deh lah. So all in all, although got many thing going on...its moving lah. Slowly but surely. For more good years!

Why is existence better than non-existence?

This is a toughie.

Formosa Formosa!

Ok ok. It may seem like I very the free, traveling everywhere. But really, you have to see me in between. I is very the busy one. Only rare chance got time to go see see things, meet meet people. So must cherish the moment. Anyway, Taiwan. Shiokanadenmatology!

I got a free ticket because I claim mileage on Singapore Airlines. SQ hwaaa! Is good man. So much better than all the other airplanes. Acherly, I think any Asian airline is much better than any US airline. Ok back to the story...

Touchdown at Taipei airport and went to Bei Pu to have lei cha. This is where you use the stick and grind the tea leaves into powder. And eat muah chee. And grind and grind and grind until your chiu sng already. Then the tea become oily oily. Then ask the lady add water. Then and only then, can you drink your tea. Maybe is because you work so hard. The tea taste great. Then, after tea, we head to Changhua. Spend the night there, get pampered. Wake up to lots of fruits! Very healthy breakfast. And then, its off back to Taipei.


Went to eat xiao long bao at the original Ding Tai Feng with Zhimao. The bao is so juicy. I say, better than the Ding Tai Feng in Singapore. Very good. Can go again. There were a lot of people waiting in line. For some weird reason, they were mostly nihon-jin. Don't ask me why. So we eat eat eat. Then we walk walk around Taipei. Go to the 101 building. Their MRT exactly the same as Singapore one man! They also got the LOVE sign.

Then during dinner, we also meet Charlene's lab people to eat eat eat again at some Japanese teppanyaki style thing. Then we went to her small sister's place to spend the night. Next morning, we got up, went to get tau hway and Taiwan mian sian for breakfast and watched Transformers movie. Then its off to Hualien!

Hualien is beautiful. The place where mountains run into the ocean. The Pacific ocean to the east, the mountain ranges, Taroko Gorge to the west. Cliffs that hit the ground at ninety degrees. Water as blue as the sky. The sky as blue as the water. Rocks with lines and holes and rivers. All the color and texture coming together to make you feel that you are at home in the earth. We spent the night first at Bright Moon home stay in Hualien, which is a very cool and quaint place where you stay in a family like situation. We check out the ye shi there also. Eat and eat some more. The famous niu pai of course! And guan cai ban. And bbq sticks. I miss ye shis. And then we spent the next night at Taroko Gorge, Formosa Hotel.

Then we came back to Taipei and had dinner with the sisters at this cool yakiniku place. Very nice food and a fun time. Spent the night at Yuan Shan hotel (check out Ghost in the Shell, SAC 2nd Gig). Next day had niu rou main. Then fly fly away back to sg. Going back there again soon!
Check out the other pics [click here]

Nihon Nihon!

Some of you may or may not be aware (what kind of stupid statement is that anyway?), that I went to Japan for holiday. Shiokanaden! Subarashi! Hontoni hontoni! The food is good. The service is great. The people are gentle, and ...interesting. The sights and sounds are captivating. And did I mention the food is good? I never bluff.

The first day, we arrived at Narita. Took the Kensei line to Ueno, transferred to Ginza line to go to Asakusa. This took all about 2 hrs or so. But it was a pleasant ride. The most impressive thing about it was the train itself. Absolutely quiet! Acherly its going very fast lah. But then you don't feel it at all. How do they do it? Some weird nihon-o technology must be.

Then we arrived in Asakusa. This is where the Kamenarimon is. The Thunder Gate! Mon= men2 = door, by the way. We stayed at Ryokan Shigetsu. Very decent priced, very nice experience. Sleep on tatami floor and all that. There was also an onsen on the roof. I soaked in it. You are supposed to do it with other people naked. Separate for guys and gals lah, of course. Koki, a friend we met at a conference in New York, brought us around there with his girlfriend.

After Asakusa, we went to Hakone. Dai kirei da! This is near Fuji-san and lake Ashi. Take the romance car, the odakyu-sen, to Hakone-Yumoto. Then take a bus to Hakone-machi. We stayed at Ryokan Yugiriso. The whole package man! One night. Dinner and breakfast. Sushi lah, hot pot lah, pickled stuff lah, and a lot of other things dunno what it is. And of course, got onsen. Sleep on tatami. Can cry ah. Then after that, can see see the area. Very nice scenery in front of the lake. And also can go shopping at Hakone-Yumoto, very nice rustic charm.

Next is back to Tokyo, Shinjuku. We toured Akihabara where there weird people acting out anime and singing on the streets. We also met Niwako who brought us around the Meiji Shrine and also dinner at a sushi place in Shinjuku station. I tell you, so many cool things...can die already.

I took so long to put all these down because it seems that words cannot describe lor. Anyway, next time coming again. Check out the pictures [click here].

Goose or Noose?

This is a simple way of collecting data. Please indicate whether you think the two birds below are from the same species or no. Please also indicate your ethnicity and which country you come from.

Use the following template:
Answer: Same / Not the same
Ethnic Group:
Country:
1st Language:
Age of Acquisition:
2nd Language:
Age of Acquisition:

Reverse Engineering Brain Networks: Testing the Brain like One would Test a Neural Network

Typical steps in a neural network modeling study are the definition of a particular cognitive phenomenon, the creation and definition of the network model by specifying the neural architecture, activation functions and the learning rules. One then sets out to test
how well the network model matches up with the phenomenon, and to the extent that it does and is parsimonious, and has neural plausibility, it is a good model.

It is then not difficult to imagine how we can do the same thing with the brain by treating it as a neural model that's already built, and we're just trying to discover its architecture, its activation functions and its learning rules. Thus, we run the brain through simulations, observe the input and resulting output, and hypothesize the parameters that led to the observation.

We can then reverse engineer these parameters into the model (which is what we do anyway), and again, test how good the model is.

Neurotree

This is a cool website that tracks who was taught by who, and through it, you could trace how ideas get formulated and how they evolve...or not!!!

My Neurotree

HBM Conference 2007 Chicago

Went to Human Brain Mapping Conference last week. Stayed at Sheraton Hotel. We ate at several places during that time, so hungry...because always using brain, so all the sugar used up. But it was fun. First night we arrived, there were fireworks and the Blues Fest was on in Grant Park. Anyway, no photos because too busy working. Check out what was cool at the conference [click here].

Here are the eatery reviews:
Happy Chef Chinatown
Always my standard place to eat...we had dim sum there, although usually for dinner, you can do a set meal for very cheap (works out usually to be ~$8), and it comes with free lobster or crab.

Oysy
Japanese sushi place. Not bad...but probably Sai Cafe is better but more expensive. Anyway, its one of those modern sushi places. There's two outlets, one on Grand, and one one Michigan. Average cost ~$20-$30, depending on what you order.

Dao Thai Restaurant
Good food and cheap prices (~$6). Has some pretty authentic Thai dishes, and the restaurant has nice Thai looking decor where you sit on floors with wells in them so that you are the same height as the table...get it?

Gino's East
Took a while to get our pizzas, but that's because they were making it fresh, as any good pizza should be. The pizza is pretty good. Nice and thick. We had a mix of supremo and vege. The sauce was not too sweet or rich, so its good. ~$15. Giordano's near the Water Tower still has my vote.

John Hancock, the Signature Room on 95th Floor
What would a trip to downtown Chicago be without a brunch at the Signature Room? $20. Best view with food combination. Menu changes. Brunch is from 11.30am to 2.30pm. This is the same view you get as when you go to the observatory, for which you must pay ~$15. So go do the math...

Andy's Jazz Pub
In my opinion, this is the heart of Chicago, and the most worthwhile place to hang out for good music. Don't come here to have deep conversation. Come here to listen to the depths of music. Cover $5-$20. Drinks are decent, not too wide ranged, but enough, serves dinner too. Historically, several notable musicians have jammed here. I like the way you can sit right in front of the band, and also the jam nights...informal, naughty, crazy, eclectic, and it all gets into your ears. Trumpets, guitars, drums, piano, bass, the whole shebang.

House of Blues
Significant venue where many musicians have performed including Louis Armstrong. Its a theatre set up inside. Cover is more expensive, concert based. You'll have to check online to get tickets in advance. Serves food. I think its worthwhile to visit once.

Red Fish
Cajun style. Food is pretty good. ~$20. They have a live band. Plays rock.

Some Tapas bar somewhere...

Cool Studies at HBM 2007 Chicago

Day 1
Cultural Neuroscience
Thinking of culture using a top-down versus bottom-up framework. Trey Hedden (MIT) and Angela Gutchess (Harvard University)...notable speaker presentations.

Visual Field Maps, Plasticity, Reading
Discovery of retinotopic visual representation in visual cortical areas other than V1. Apparently, V2, V3, even V4 and MT have some retinotopy. Speaker session by Brian Wandell (Stanford University).

Day 2
Brain Noise
Didn't attend this one, but it seems that people are looking into neural noise as a predictor of subsequent brain activity and behavior. McIntosh was one of the speakers.

Manipulative Neuroscience
Awesome talk by Mitsuo Kawato (ATR, Kyoto). He is the brainchild of DB, humanoid robot that is able to mimic human movements by visual observation, eg drumming, juggling, dancing. The talk covered latest research about controlling robot movements through brain-computer interface as well as visual and tactile feedback.

Perceptual Decision Making
Great talks relevant to the visual discrimination project. Generally, I got ideas about how to proceed with the project in terms of possible analyses, and also the fact that others have done this before. The main question is, how does the brain make perceptual discriminations of visual information? What are the mechanisms and neural correlates? Most notable speaker for me here was Paul Sajda.

Day 3
Dual Brain Systems
Control vs Representation systems in the brain. Typically showing that the control network resides in frontal, parietal regions, and representations in the primary and secondary unimodal areas. Check out www.walterschneider.net.

Repetition and the Brain
Another notable symposium of talks. Kalanit Grill-Spector hosted this one. The topic is self-explanatory, but there were some main novel directions. There is distinction between repetition suppression for immediately repeated stimuli vs stimuli repeated over interspersed trials (Grill-Spector). There is an interesting finding that for interspersed trial repetition of object naming tasks, pre-op patients for removal of lateral anterior temporal poles showed normal repetition suppression of repeated objects was observed in the ventral visual areas. But after operation with temporal poles removed, suppression disappeared even in lower perceptual areas suggesting that suppression has a top-down source in this case (Rik Henson). Another contention was Grill-Spector's testing of the fatigue vs facilitation models of adaptation effects. She found evidence for fatigue rather than facilitation, but note that her design involved immediate repetition.

Day 4
Representation and Processes
Didn't attend all, but most notable for me was John-Dylan Haynes' talk on reading hidden intentions in the human brain. They used classifier algorithms on clusters of voxels in the whole brain to identify brain areas that would reliably discriminate between stimuli. This could be applied to the visual discrimination project.

HBM: Ideas: Visual Discrimination Project: General Questions

1. Is there poorer behavioral perceptual discrimination with age?
2. If so, what are the neural correlates? Is it a perceptual representation problem (ventral visual dedifferentiation)? Or is it a selection/decision-making/control process problem (noise, non-selectivity in frontal cortex)?
3. Is this the same across all types of stimuli (eg faces, patterns, random shapes)?
4. Is there a constant in terms of brain activation pattern across all individuals which is necessary for discrimination?
5. Which parts of the brain are predictive of whether the individual is able to discriminate visual stimuli (classifier algorithms on whole brain)?
6. What leads to individual differences in performance? And if all individuals are equated at some level of performance, do the individual differences disappear?