Wireless internet browsing killed Sibelius

I don't think I'm IT savvy all the time, but most of the time I know how to negotiate, on the slippery surface of my Apple laptop, a curved path to redemption when ensnared in any system or application trouble.

Based on my experience, once you start improving something or an upgrade process on your computer, you have to be prepared for much more than improvements and upgrades.

My old PowerBook Titanium has been with me since summer 2002 and throughout the course of PhD study. My doctoral thesis was completed on this laptop. With strong camaraderie and my wholehearted appreciation, particularly after it recovered from the champagne incident, I keep working on it, in tandem with the new MacBook Pro, using it when giving lectures.

(Sadly, I have no alternative but to submit myself to the omnipresent PowerPoint. Nowadays those who don't use it when giving presentations seem to be powerless and, even worse, pointless.)

Two weeks ago, I bought a new battery and added a piece of 512M SDRAM for the old laptop, because I wanted to instal Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac, a birthday gift from May, one of my best friends and a channel manager in MSN Taiwan. There came a string of unexpected hard work.

Firstly, there must have been a manufacturing defect in the battery because it couldn't be charged to its full capacity only two weeks later after purchase. Then, after taking it back to the seller for inspection, I found, mysteriously, something went wrong on the new MacBook Pro: The MacOS X MIDI system failed so much so that Sibelius could play any score properly. Well, why did this happen at this particular moment? Why didn't the system conk out three weeks ago? Why wouldn't it go kaput next month?

There seemed to be a program-incompatiblity issue, I guess, triggered by the enigmatic power of the battery. Therefore, while waiting for the battery seller's report, I started a long journey

erase the hard drive
instal one application
run Sibelius to see how it works with the MIDI system
instal a second application
run Sibelius to see how it works with the MIDI system
instal a third application
run Sibelius to see how it works with the MIDI system (I have no idea how many applications there are installed on the MacBook Pro)
... till the dawn

Finally, I found the bane...

It's the software update of AirPort, Apple Computer's implementation of the 802.11a/b/g/n wireless protocols. With the updated software, when accessing the Internet through the wireless network, the two-way signal transmission between the router and the laptop would interfere with the operation of the built-in MIDI device.

Surely, there are no regrets in life. If I had known the cause, I could just have shut down the wireless device when running Sibelius rather than conducted the stupid series of instal-uninstal-instal-uninstallation, which have taken me a couple of days.

Flying penguins on April Fool's Day

I don't think April Fool's Day would be an official holiday in any country but it's indeed celebrated in many by making practical jokes on colleagues, friends, family members or, on a larger scale, all the people in the country.

However, it appears to me that although we see petty jests in Taiwan, Taiwanese people are far less enthusiastic about April Fool's Day pranks than Westerners. Having spent nearly five years in Britain, I found that British institutions, particularly big companies, are quite willing to blow their money on April Fool's advertisements.

For example, each year BMW produces an April Fool's Day advert in the broadsheet press, such as The Times and The Telegraph, to provide their customers, of course as well as the broad readership of these newspapers, with good laughter. The car manufacture proudly takes this as a tradition primarily aimed at BMW drivers as a once-a-year opportunity for them to drop their guard and have a laugh at themselves. Visit BMW Education website in the UK to see some April Fool's ads.

Although I've moved back in Taipei last summer, I'm still watching and reading about what the Briton's are doing. What really captivates me this year is a spoof footage of flying penguins produced by BBC as part of its new natural history series and as a promo for its website for streamed video clip content iPlayer (unfortunately, due to rights agreements, iPlayer is only available in the UK).

It's a classic! As commented in The Telegraph, it is accomplished work of this kind that guarantees the BBC its unique status.

A comment on YouTube even makes me laugh for another five minutes

It is REAL guys! They are already HERE!!! I can see them flying through my windows right now, I meant my Microsoft Windows :P

I have to say that this is really British. I will see nothing in Taiwan comparable to BMW's annual April Fool's Day broadsheet adverts, never ever to mention BBC's footage.

The idiom '... and pigs might fly' expresses that there is no chance at all of something happening. I suggest that BBC produce another spoof of flying pigs next year, and probably a new usage of this idiom will be introduced.

Central Asian Pop

(Be patient, wait until the third contestant starts playing the traditional instrument to accompany his freestyle and see how fancy SuperStar KZ is)

Either looking for a change or jumping on the bandwagon after the blue camp won their parliament election, Taiwanese people elected Ma Ying-jeou, of KMT, the new president. Although disappointed by the result (I'm definitely not a fundamentalist green supporter but I'm still on the green side), the sentiments of letdown didn't really last long as I had been immersing myself in Central Asian pop music.

By Central Asia I mean the five new independent countries of the former Soviet Union, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistna, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, while considering broadly the cultures, histories and languages in this roughly defined region, UNESCO expands it further to include Mongolia, Tuva, Xinjiang (a Chinese province), Tibet, Afghanistan, Pakistan and part of Iran.

I have been preparing a lecture on music from Central Asia to be delivered to students at NTU, a subject not covered in the course World Music I offered at NTUE last semester and thus requiring meticulous work from scratch. Rather than dealing only with 'traditional', 'folk' or 'classical' genres, I'm very much keen on integrating into the course recent development of the music industry, particularly the so-called 'pop' in this region.

Therefore, I've spent much time poring over books, journals and trade magazines as well as searching for audio-vidual products over the Internet. Because compared with Algerian raï, Nigerian jùjú, Bollywood dance or Persian pop, popular music in these five post-Soviet republics is much less known to audiences in the international market, in addition to Amazon, iTunes Store, Play.com and some other mainstream online music shops, I had to 'google' in order to discover special distributers.

In the course of the music quest, I found a marvellous compilation album and an interesting fact, both of which had been there for a while but I didn't realise until recently. There is actually a very active pop market in Central Asia.



Following its successful Colors Magazine, the renowned clothing brand Benetton launched an audio CD series Colors Music with a view to introducing to a wider audience musics from unexplored corners around the globe. The latest in this series, Inner Asian Pop, is a compilation of pop songs from the above mentioned five post-Soviet republics. Visit Colors Music to know more about this album and this online shop to listen to sound samples.

I ordered this album without any hesitation and then on YouTube bumped into a video clip of the audition for SuperStar KZ, the Kazakh version of Pop Idol. This show has so far broadcast fourth seasons. Obviously, the fact is that, beyond our sight, the grassland in the heart of Asia has long been percolate with excitement of the Idol-style talent contest.

Generally speaking, 'traditional' music from Central Asian is characterised by its blending of the Persianate-Islamic classical tradition and the Turko-Mongol nomadic folklore. Although in Central Asian pop we sometimes hear instrumentation, rhythmic pulsation and singing styles resembling Anglo-American popular music, there is still images of maqamat (Middle Eastern melodic patterns) and reverberation of epic singing from steppes.

While Ma's campaign successfully turn Taiwan's presidency from green to blue, I hope these new aural and visual experiences will divert students from the mainstream pop, be it Anglo-American, Japanese, Korea or so, to pop of this unexplored region.

A pork steak for a classical Chinese text

(image from My Food My Love)

Fanne's younger sister Cindy will soon relocate to Singapore and be reunited with her husband there. Blissful as she is, there is certainly a pile of paperwork awaiting her, part of which is an English translated and notarised copy of their marriage certificate.

Before she can proceed to the Department of Notarisation at Taiwan Taipei District Court, I have to decipher a passage of literary Chinese on the original certificate and translated it into intelligible English.

In Britain, a couple usually have their wedding solemnised by a minister of religion or civil registrar and then, with all legal requirements fulfilled, a marriage certificate will be issued by a local registrar's office accordingly.

However, in Taiwan, a couple produced at the ceremony their own certificate, which usually bears the personal seals of the newlyweds, officiators and witnesses, together with those of the 'presenters' who present to the guests biographical accounts of the bride and the groom. Bringing this self-issued certificate, the couple register their marriage with their district household registration office (for example, click here).

Although a couple may design their own certificate, using fancy calligraphic fonts, adding traditional auspicious symbols, or even decorating it with gilding, most of the time people just buy a mass-produced template at a bookshop or somewhere which sells office stationary and fill it out with adequate details, such as names, birth details, the marriage date and so on.

Obviously Cindy's mother-in-law never anticipated that an English translated copy would be required in the future, so she bought one extravagantly embellished with a passage of literary Chinese. It's so interesting to see this text (there isn't any on mine!) that I feel it's worthwhile to quote all the lines.

For readers who don't read Chinese, please skip to the English translation to see how 'fancy' Cindy's marriage certificate is. For those who by any chance read it, please don't be impressed by the absence of punctuation, as it is always the case in classical Chinese writings.

兩姓聯婚一堂締約良緣永結匹配同稱
看此約桃花灼灼宜室宜家卜他年瓜瓞綿綿爾昌爾熾
謹以白頭之約書向鴻牋好將紅葉之盟載明鴛譜

Be joined the two clans at this hall by marriage troth.
Be bound the love match evermore thro’ charmed kismet.
The knot tied begets in the bloom of youth a harmonious home.
The comin’ years promise with timeless lineage thriving prosperity.
Truly the lifelong commitment inscribes this blessed folio.
Fairly the terms of endearment records the wedding chart.

I was awarded with a succulent fried pork steak for dinner at Junyue Pork Steak (Junyue paigu 君悅排骨) at the end of the day.

Cioccolato su San Valentino

For the second time since 1996, I bought Fanne a pack of chocolate as a Valentine's Day gift. I seldom arrange anything on this day when I was in Taiwan but I did deliver flowers with a cuddle bear through online gift service every year when studying in Scotland. As it was the first St Valentine's Day after we became man and wife, I just wanted to prepare something different for this special occasion.

According to the Patron Saints Index from the Catholic Community Forum, the Valentines honoured on the 14th of February are Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni, the former being a priest, possibly a bishop, who suffered martyrdom in Rome about 269, and the latter a bishop who was murdered in secret on the way between Rome and Terni about 175. Some scholars believe that the two are the same person.

There are a couple of attested theories about the origin of Valentine's Day celebrations, tracing it to a Graeco-Roman festivals Lupercalia (a rite connected to fertility and prosperity) in mid February, to the belief that birds court one another on this day, or to the commemoration of the anniversary of Valentine's decease or entombment. The last suggests that Valentine was executed for secretly solemnising marriages for young couples in defiance of the decree issued by Roman Emperor Claudius II, who believed that single men made better soldiers than those with familial burdens.

Nevertheless, it doesn't matter to me in whichever way St Valentine may have become connected to romantic love. The festival just offers Chinese people a second opportunity apart from Qixi (七夕) to express care and adoration for their significant others.

I was so delighted to see Fanne's face beaming with happiness when she discovered a case of Italian Slitti Gran Cacao 73% on her dressing table.

Marry a wife to enjoy new year

(Menu for the 'reunion dinner' 2005)

Having celebrated Chinese New Year abroad for five consecutive years, I am now back in my homeland spending this traditional holiday with my parents and wife.

I left Taiwan in autumn 2002 to present those 30s and 40s Shanghai popular songs to the academic world, and from 2003 onwards I didn't have 'reunion dinner' (團圓飯 tuanyuan fan) with my parents until this year.

• In 2003, the year of the goat, I was in a flat with my then fiancée and two Chinese flatmates at Murray Place, Stirling.
  
• In 2004, the year of the monkey, during my fieldwork in Mainland China, I was invited by one of the Stirling flatmates to his home town, Taiyuan (太原).
  
• In 2005, the year of the rooster, I hosted a reunion dinner with the landlady's family and a few local friends at Clarendon Place, Stirling.
  
• In 2006 and 2007, years of the dog and of the pig respectively, I arranged new year's eve dinners for the landlady, colleagues and several locals at Victoria Place, Stirling.

At each dinner in the last three years, in order to keep all the guests informed of what they would consume as well as to brighten up the table, I prepared home-made menu cards with, apart from food details, Chinese artwork featuring the zodiac animal of the year.


(Front and back of the menu)

I still keep all these cards. Images given in this entry are from the menu for 2005, the year of the rooster.

A Chinese saying goes, 'Whether loaded or penniless, marry a wife to enjoy new year (有錢沒錢, 討個老婆好過年 youqian meiqian, tao ge laopo hao guo nian).' I'm still un-full-time-employed, and hence in one sense penniless, but I do have a wife, a dutiful and loving wife (although she failed to follow the minister and made a mistake by saying 'beautiful and lovely wife' when pledging her troth in our wedding).

I'm so glad I don't have to design a menu and put it into practice on my own in the year of the rat, but I do wish in the near future I can be the host again for those who supported me in all aspects of life in Stirling.

Climbing up Mt Tao

As time goes by, we've already moved into February. I really should have uploaded this picture. I reached the summit of Mt Tao (Taoshan 桃山, literally 'Mt Peach', nothing to do with Taoism) in January, but somehow, I just couldn't bother to transfer the picture from the camera to my laptop until today.

Two weeks ago I joined NTU Botany Class '98 (I graduated in 1997, so they were my 'junior department mates') to have a weekend hiking break in the Wuling Farm (Wuling nongchang 武陵農場). As Mt Tao, numbered 44 among the so-called 'Hundred Peaks of Taiwan' (Taiwan baiyue 台灣百岳), is in close proximity to the farm, nine of us planned to climb the peak while the other nine members of the group rambled in the vicinity of the trailhead.

(Follow the link and scroll down a bit for a brief introduction about mountain ranges in Taiwan.)

In the end only two reached the summit and I was one of them.

The last time I climbed up a mountain in Taiwan and reached the summit was on a day out with Botany Class '97 to Jiufen (九份 literally 'nine portions') in 1993. That was Mt Keelung (Jilongshan 基隆山), actually just a hill (588 m or 1.929 ft).

As I've never been regarded as manly, athletic since my childhood nor am I really a sporty, outdoor type, I had no idea if others in the group were impressed by my achievement, but I was quite sure my wife Fanne wasn't at all. She knows it all the time that I'm mentally tough enough to endure hardship and pain, and thus sometimes so self-assertive that once I set a goal, I must attain the goal.

There is apparently a huge difference in elevation between Mt Tao and Mt Keelung. However, I don't think I have become any physically fitter or sturdier over the years so that I am in place for mountain challenges. I owed my gratitude to those team members who carried cooking kits, water and food. Without their support, I wouldn't have been able to reach the summit.

PCR song

(MV from Bio-Rad)

The PCR Song

There was a time when to amplify DNA,
You had to grow tons and tons of tiny cells.
Then along came a guy named Dr. Kary Mullis,
Said you can amplify in vitro just as well.

Just mix your template with a buffer and some primers,
Nucleotides and polymerases, too.
Denaturing, annealing, and extending.
Well it’s amazing what heating and cooling and heating will do.

PCR, when you need to detect mutations.
PCR, when you need to recombine.
PCR, when you need to find out who the daddy is.
PCR, when you need to solve a crime.

---

From May, I came to know this interesting MV, a commercial mimicking the 1985 best-selling 'We are the world'. I then spent some time searching over the Internet for more information about the production and found it so entertaining that I couldn't help but embed it on my blog.

The MV was released by the Bio-Rad Corporation to promote their new PCR machine – 1000-series of thermal cyclers.



Just like May, I am also a deserter from the biology camp, with a degree in botany but now settling down in the field of music. PCR reminds me of the undergraduate days, particular the fourth year when I, together with my wife, then girlfriend, worked with DNAs in Prof San-San Tsay's microbiology lab.

According to a textbook I read when I was a 2^nd-year botany undergrad, PCR, the acronym for polymerase chain reaction, is

a method for amplifying DNA in vitro, involving the use of oligonucleotide primers complementary to nucleotide sequences in a target gene and the copying of the target sequences by the action of DNA polymerase.

To be brief and simple (if you are not familiar with the biological dialect at all), PCR is a molecular biology technique invented by the Nobel laureate Dr. Kary Mullis, through which multiple copies of a specific DNA piece can be reproduced in high amounts.

Although now PCR seems alien to me, I'm so glad that what those scientist sing in the video is still intelligible to me.

Facebook and masala bhangra

(Be patient; the streaming is a bit slow, or alternatively go straight to YouTube)

In this cyber age, a great number of people, if not all, rely so much on the Internet. It seems to be the end of the world to some of them when they cannot access their e-mails, on-line forums, instant messenger services or social networking websites to 'communicate' with others.

I read an article in the Guardian about the networking site, Facebook. The author, Tom Hodgkinson, argues that Facebook isolates people from the real society by trapping them in cyberspace with nonsensical virtual applications. By giving details of 'who is who' behind the scene, he believes that Facebook is actually an heavily funded American neo-conservative libertarian plot to convert its users' personal preferences and relationships with friends into commodites on sale to giant global brands.

As I'm not a Facebook addict and only connect myself to those whom I have already known but do not meet on a regular base due to geographical limitation, I am not concerned with the author's contention. However, I do learn a lot from the Internet, mostly from news sites, on-line magazines and web content in all sorts of format forwarded by friends. Seldom worrying about being gullible or manipulated, I am oftentimes enraptured by news articles or feature reports which cast new ideas into the cell where my mind dwell.

Yesterday Eric forwarded passed one me the link to a special report in Forbes on the 20 trends which are sweeping the globe, drawing particular attention to K-Pop among those 20 items.

I read K-Pop carefully, but was soon caught by Naachercise when browsing through the rest. Naachercise, also known as Bollywood aerobics or masala bhangra, is a mix of Indian folk moves and Western booty-shaking, created by Sarina Jain. I've never been into dance (As I'm super slim and not short, I suppose I look like a spider when dancing), but this is so attractive that I rose from the stool and started shaking my stiff torso and limbs with the video clip.

Perhaps because I've recently given a lecturer on Indian classical and film music in a World Music course, I'm really fascinated by those shakes and steps of masala bhangra. It's really fun and I don't care whether I'm bewitched or misled or something in cyperspace on this occasion.

Green or blue?

(image from mozilla0211)

Last year, on an ordinary day, with a firm belief, as induced by the announcement on Blogger, that the original settings could be saved and all the changes reversed if desired, I followed the instructions on the 'manage your blogs' page to try out the new fancy customisable template for this weblog. However, I discovered in the end that there was no return.

I changed the background and most page elements of my weblog from grey or something I couldn't remember to 'green', which, originating from the colours of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), represents the political camp that favours Taiwan independence over Chinese reunification. Perhaps because of my own political view or just due to the colour's most common associations with nature, growth or hope, I chose green unconsciously.

While a change of colouring on a personal blog doesn't mean anything to others, a shift of the majority colour in the parliament is definitely significant to the people.

The results of the parliamentary polls in Taiwan yesterday proves that the legislature is going to be 'blue', which, derived from the party colour of Kuomintang (KMT), stands for the camp that leans towards a Chinese nationalist identity and advocates greater economic linkage with the People's Republic of China.

Taiwan's opposition nationalist KMT has won a landslide victory, securing 81 seats in the 113-seat chamber. Trounced by KMT, DPP gained only 27 and suffered the worst setback since its founding in 1986. Some people believe that there will be a bandwagon effect where KMT will continue to win the presidency in March, whereas others predict a pendulum effect where the 'green' camp will galvanise greater support and catapult their candidate to victory.

Will we see a pendulum or a bandwagon? Whichever the case may be, the colouring of Principal Wei's Weblog stays green.