It was a cold Summer

It's a few days past Labor Day, and according to my recollection, San Francisco did not have a single day over 80 degrees all Summer. While the rest of California (and the world) is burning like the fall of ancient Rome, the warming part of global warming have yet to reach our neck of the woods. It's been a traditional British summer through and though; that is to say, windy and cold. 

No complaints from me - I've always preferred cold weather over hot, but it does get a bit worrying when "Summer" weather gets completely obliterated like this. It feels like the pendulum is at it's zenith on one end and the return towards the other extreme will bite us hard. Climate change is massively affecting other parts of the world (Japan just got hit with the most epic typhoon in a quarter century) so we won't be so lucky to escape the consequences for much longer.

I remember not so fondly of last year's Labor Day weekend where it was a consistent 100 degrees for three days. Lacking in any sort of air-conditioning capabilities in most of its houses and buildings, San Francisco was (and still is) simply not prepared for such sustained high temperatures. Fans and portable air-con units were sold-out immediately at hardware stores. 

Having endured that experience I had planned to purchase an air-con machine for my room in case we get a repeat this year. Procrastination and other money goals prevented me from buying one, but it turns out I didn't need it after all. The house was two-layers comfortable the entire Summer. San Francisco is like one large air-conditioning unit of its own. 

Meteorologists are predicting a particularly harsh winter this year, and after recent years of mild winters, I'm ready for the mercury to stay in the 40s. Places like New York City will be inundated with an ungodly amount of snow for sure, but I don't live there (my friend does. Sorry, friend). I'm excited to break out the winter jackets, hats and scarves again. 

Sunset hour on campus is the best hour. 

Don't let fear stop the great

Yesterday I talked about getting a motorcycle for commuting to and from work. As is my wont when it comes to these sort of things, I dove way deep into research. As mentioned, the positives of owning a bike is obvious: low purchasing and running cost, the ability to filter through traffic, great gas mileage, and ease of parking. 

As with anything in life, there are potential negatives, too. I live in an apartment with a gated communal parking lot, so the bike will expose to the weather elements, and more worryingly, potential thieves. Any two men (or burly women) can simply pick up the bike and load it onto the back of a truck. No amount of locking device can foil this simple act of plain physics. 

Naturally I agonized over this prospective deal-breaker, spending hours reading up on theft deterrents and best practices. It seems the consensus is that if you rather not worry about your bike getting stolen all the time, it's best to not buy one at all unless you've got secured parking (i.e. a garage). At one point I gave up on the idea of motorcycle ownership entirely because I'm the type of person who tend to have anxiety about these things. 

But then I realized that this is all incredibly stupid: why should I let fear - and the potential actions of people I cannot control - dictate my decisions? As someone who loves cars, getting into motorcycles is a natural extension and something to experience in life. I shouldn't let the possibility of theft deter me from checking that off to my list. Practically anything we do in life carries negative potentialities so either we can stay home, be a loser and do nothing, or ignore what we can't control and get after it. 

It won't be easy to not be obsessive compulsive about people stealing my bike, but I've got to learn to accept it. The best antidote is insurance: just as I do with my expensive camera gear, the bike will be insured for theft. I'd be made financially whole should some guy decides he wants my motorcycle more than me. I should let that be my peace of mind and focus instead completely on enjoying the ownership experience.

Mustn't let fear stop the great. 

Walking on the roof garden. 

When even the buses are too crowded

One thing I realized in the contrast between taking the bus at night and taking the bus during "normal" commute hours is just how much more passengers there are in the latter. Honestly I was slightly annoyed the bus had to stop at every stop to let people off, compared to the bus at night in which it'll breeze through all the stops until my destination. Now that schools have begun Fall semester the negative effect is compounded: last Friday it took me a solid hour to get home, where it usually takes 40 minutes.

The population density of my neighborhood is only going to go up (there's two huge housing constructions happening on the western and eastern end), so if the buses are crowded now, I'm not sure how they are going to handle the additional thousands of people. There's but two main road arteries that leads out of the neighborhood, and even now it's already super congested during rush hour. Street parking is already impossible so let's add another hundreds of cars? Good luck with that. 

I sold my own car, electing to take public transportation, to avoid the above hassles. A few years from now however I can foresee that even taking the bus might be untenable due to the increase in passengers. Won't do me much good if I can't get on the bus and have to keep waiting for the next one (or one after that). I don't think I can live with the amount of wasted time if my combined commute to and from extends well beyond two hours.

For the sake of curiosity, I started to look at alternatives.

One would be the motorcycle. There are no laws prohibiting lane-splitting in California so a bike can simply weave through heavy traffic to get up front (as I see motorcyclists do all the time). Compared to cars, bikes are dirt cheap to buy and insure (no $21K Ducati Panigales in my future), get impossibly excellent fuel mileage, and are stupid easy to park. I plan to stay off the freeways so I don't think it'll be all that dangerous, either. 

I reckon an M1 license is in my future. 

At least it isn't busy on the weekends. 

Students on an early afternoon bus

I take the bus to work at 1:30pm, and to my surprise I constantly find students on the bus. Not hordes, but there's always a few. Isn't it just a bit early for these kids to be out of school? Perhaps they are delinquents.

The earliest school dismissal I ever experienced was back in middle school: 2pm, and even then I thought it was nuts to be let out that early, because it meant school started at an ungodly hour of 7am (I was never a morning person). As I reflect about it now, my teachers had to arrive earlier than that. Sleep is overrated, I guess. 

My first two years of primary school was in China, and school in Asia is an all-day affair: the day begins promptly at 8 o'clock, and we didn't start walking home until after 5. It was de-facto, full-time daycare service for the parents because school hours complemented normal adult work schedules perfectly; no one needed to take off work early to pick up their kids. In that regards I think the system in Asia is more conducive to workforce productivity. 

There was a two-hour break for lunch and nap time, so cumulatively classroom learning hours was the same. There weren't beds or anything for naps, we were tiny enough to lie down on paired desks or chairs. I didn't appreciate it back then (I've hated naps since I can remember) but looking back now I think structured naps are an excellent idea, especially for little children. Not only is more sleep always beneficial, kid's attention spans being short as they are, having a sleep break in between morning and afternoon ought to help learning retention tremendously. 

Obviously, such a system would never get implemented in America (because "freedom"), though I bet a sizable amount of parents wouldn't mind sticking their kids in school for longer hours. Children sleeping on desks and chairs (or floor even) would be considered torture here in the States so schools would need dedicated dorms, and who has the money for that? 

So instead we've got kids let out of school early in the afternoon and making a ruckus on the bus, as they are wont to do. Perhaps I'm just an misanthropic curmudgeon who's getting old.  

19th and Holloway. 

VR technology not ready for prime time

One of the computer labs on campus got newly setup with VR stations. I've never tried VR so I was eager to have a go. After adjusting the HTC Vive unit for my unusually large head, I was dropped right inside the International Space Station. The ability to traverse the station unencumbered in all directions is indeed quite awesome, though cognizant of my motion sickness tendencies I knew the experience would have to be brief. 

Even without my dizziness propensities, VR is not something I'd want to do for an extended period of time. The weight of the Vive unit becomes burdensome very quickly, putting excessive  pressure on the neck. Headset manufacturers should utilize lighter materials such as carbon-fiber, but that would absolutely balloon the purchase price. Until that become economical, VR is best enjoyed in spurts (for me at least). I can't picture myself watching an entire movie wearing a heavy VR device. 

Wouldn't it be hilarious if the next Avatar movie shot in VR format. 

Being a first generation product, I found the HTC Vive headset's resolution to be wholly inadequate (I guess the University couldn't afford the Vive Pro). When the "screen" is this close to the eyes, the outlines of each pixel is readily apparent. A resolution of 1080×1200 per eye may read high on the spec sheet, especially compared to the typical 1920x1080 HD television, but I think it needs to be at least doubled for true immersion. 

It'll take quite the computer to push 2160x2400 pixels to each eye at above 90 Hz (ideally 120 Hz), assuming a headset of such stature is even currently possible.

The bottom line is that I don't think contemporary VR hardware and form-factor is ready for long term, sustained use. Headsets needs to be exponentially lighter in weight, and the screens inside must be 'Retina Display' levels of pixel density (whatever that is for a device mere inches from your face). Until that evolution, I see VR as nothing more than a novelty item akin to a theme park ride. 

Some shadow play before leaving for work. 

First time night commute on MUNI

Heading home from work last night was the first time I took the bus this late (I get off at 10:30pm), and I have to say it was not anything out of the ordinary. The only small hiccup is the duration between buses is absurdly long compared to normal commute hours. I thought the app was malfunctioning when I checked schedules on NextBus and saw the next train wasn't for another 25 minutes. Had I drove I wouldn't been home already in that time. 

Fortunately the prolonged intervals is offset by the lack of traffic at that time of the night, so the trains and buses are quite quick. There's immensely less passengers too, which meant fewer stops and pickups. I was amazed that my connect bus got from Balboa Park station to my house in 10 minutes, where it'd normally take 25 minutes when the sun is out. Even with the extended wait times, the trip home last night ended up taking the same amount of time when I worked "normal" hours. 

One negative though is that San Francisco, as famously usual, is bitterly cold at that time of night. Yesterday was no different: (Karl the) fog rolled in heavy and there was an ever so slight of a drizzle; standing at an unprotected bus stop for 20 minutes was not exactly the most comfortable occasion. I think I'll start packing a beanie.

Do I miss having a car, then? The time saved by driving compared to an hour on the train and bus is significant (~45 minutes). However, to achieve my current financial goals I am willing to trade that time for more money. Compared to the fiscal outlay of car ownership, a MUNI unlimited monthly pass is but 78 dollars. There's always UBER if a train never arrives or I really need to get home quickly. 

But let's see how day two and onwards go. 

A train station all to myself. 

Fall semester 2018 begins

Fall semester starts up at work today, and for the first time in three months the campus will be teeming with people, largely wild-eyed freshmen not knowing which building is which. Summer is officially over as far as I'm concerned (suck it, Labor Day) and pretty soon it'll be pitch dark before 6pm. Once the calendar turns over to September, the rest of the year goes by super swiftly.

My own brother is also about to start his final year of undergrad. He is majoring in sociology, which on one hand more knowledge is always great, but on the other what the heck is he going to do for money armed with such a degree? What other paths are there for a sociologist other than remain in academia? Hindsight being what it is, I think my brother chose the wrong major; even he knows it's large useless. 

Children of rich households can afford to study a silly subject for a diploma, but sons and daughters of the poor and lower middle-class haven't got the luxury of a parental safety chute. The purpose of college for people like us is to enhance our ability to attain a well paying job. A big reason why I chose to major in business was because I figure business skills are paramount and applicable to all industries. I would've loved to major in philosophy and have heated discussions about the differences of Platonic and Socratic thought, but like sociology that won't pay any of the bills unless I continued on further and  become a researcher. 

I wonder how many incoming freshmen are cognizant of the monetary utility of the major they selected. Most probably don't care because it's infinitely more fun to think about all the alcohol-fueled sex college is fertile ground for. But student loan debt is at record highs; don't high school counselors have a duty to direct kids to the proper channels so that the debt incurred would be worth the future income?

Some of these kids would be a better served not by a standard four-year institution, but rather an accredited trade school. Despite being maligned and stigmatized by society as low-rung, blue-collar jobs can pay equally well as the office desk. The growth potential can be the same, too: the auto mechanic, can after years of service, open his own shop and reap all the profits. One does not need to wear a white-collar to make six-figures.

I think it'll benefit the university system and society as a whole if some forethought and advice is given to kids beforehand, that college is not the only option to a good career. Because one can always become a Youtuber or Instagram influencer. 

This is the sound of settling...