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The O'Reilly Open Source Convention is the bazaar of open source technologies, welcoming new voices and projects alongside the platforms, languages, and apps that started the open source movement.


Okay, I haven't done watching the Where 2.0, but this seems equally interesting. Got to take a look in summer vacation.

比別人稍微突出時不透露愉悅，若是落後也不就這麼在家裡讓淚水潰堤。盡情享受勝利的榮耀，輕輕地懊悔那失敗的關鍵。品嚐人生瞬息萬變的每個節奏。

最近幾個接二連三的小挫折，讓已經很久沒有懷疑過自己的我，開始質疑起自己的能力及想法。自己腦袋是不是不夠好？還是思考總是太過狹隘、沒有邏輯？是不是連做人都有問題？這些無中生有的煩惱和雜念，卻都只是自找的，難怪從小我老媽便掛在嘴邊說：「人最大的敵人就是自己。」我們不但要超越自己，還要不被無謂的憂慮給干擾。

到底是什麼挫折？你問？其實，事情哪有這麼嚴重，不過就是報了某大企業的暑期實習(網站上明明寫日文日常會話程度即可)，卻被施以日文出題矩陣題目大魔法，想當然我贏不了日本人了。再來就是，學費減免申請的結果下來了，只拿到半額的補助，我還得繳剩下的14萬日幣。其實，比沒有好很多了(至少好了一半)。東京地鐵裡，為了生活跳月台的戲碼幾乎每天都上演著，我應該要珍惜自己得到的。

當初，想念都市計畫、都市交通，想到東京來，都是自己的選擇。在金門當兵的時候，連糞坑都挖了，現在這點小挫折，是算得了甚麼？


執著，人生必備的態度。是台灣人就知道：打斷手骨顛倒勇！手就是要斷過，才會變更強壯。

我老婆說：鬼に金棒，意思大概也跟台灣人講得「打斷手骨顛倒勇」一樣。

加油

Should I change research topic? It's a rather difficult question. Both directions seem very promising and I am equally interested in them.

First one, is the main area I've been working on, namely MM or TDM, is Mode Choice Behavior Considering Social Interdependence. The approach is based on knowledge of mode choice models, microeconomics, socio-psychological theories, and analysis of existing policies aimed at forcing or encouraging people to change to public transportation or non-polluting modes, such as bicycle.

As the title suggests, the main idea is to create awareness through building or making more explicit the social interdependence. Social interdependence is supposed to exist when an individual's goal achievement is not only influenced by his or her own action, but also influenced by other people's action. In terms of sustainable transportation, people's goal of traveling, is to move from origin to destination to access their activities (personal goal) while at the same time, maintain the environmental quality to pass this right onto future generations (joint goal).

In other words, there should exist social interdependence when people make transportation choice between private vehicles and PT, because the environmental pollution created by motorists ultimately also aggravates the quality of life of transit users (known as externalities). However, social interdependence will not exist either when people cannot perceive or there is little actionable information or data with which people can take action on.

Therefore, the chief goal of this research is to build such kind of social interdependence through the use of information technology. All the information required is right there ready, but so far there is no appropriate mechanism linking the pro-environmental/pro-social group and the pro-self group. If it is properly devised, more people will be changed just by using existing information smarter and more efficiently.

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The latter one, which I found interesting during pondering on the initial topic, could be more useful for my career path? I don't know yet how to call it. Let's just say it's Dynamic Optimization of Mode Share. Traditional mode choice models can predict and estimate modal split very well, but the result is not dynamic. Yet more relevantly, the predicted figure is a number derived by Max-U that describes the present condition. It's more of a factual description of what kind of combination of transportation choices people will make.

Nevertheless, I believe there is a need that urban/transportation planners and government officials will want to know what on earth the sustainably optimized modal split would be in the following 5 to 10 years, what the pattern of transit use growth should be, or what kind of pattern of motorist reduction is better, given the available PT infrastructure, social-economic characteristics, and industry structure (whether automobile industry plays a big role) in the city or country.

This topic will be mostly based on optimization theory and modeling (linear, least-squares, or convex) including a deal of mathematical topics, which if well absorbed could be much more useful if I want to do more in analytics in my career life, whereas with the first topic I can learn more about practical skills of programming and information technology, which are absolutely hot and will remain so in the foreseeable future.

Ah, "which part you have more interest in", you asked?
I am equally passionate about the two.
"Then, why don't you do both?"
Yeah, right. You bet.

Over the past two or three months, I've started feeling that all the tools I need to equip with for fulfilling the dream (as the description of this blog) are just there handy. An idea does not need to remain just a thought; it can be realized by design, programming, and engineering process.

The things I could create is becoming much more than a future beautiful picture or a well-Photoshopped and written planning report, increasingly with strenuous attention to details and concrete, step-by-step instruction as without these nothing in the plan will really happen.

I am extremely satisfied with what I am learning everyday at school and on the Internet, from urban transportation systems, mathematical dynamic optimization, web technologies, and programming. When I see a problem, I've always been able to come up with criticisms and alternatives. What has becoming different now is that I am becoming able to put those thoughts into reality.

Being a graduate student literally means that I could learn everything I want to and dream everything I am passionate about without getting any stress from family and friends. If asked what the meaning of going to graduate school is, without contemplation ,I would say it is exactly a process of realizing your dreams.

A must watch short clip, Al Pacino’s classical speech. The background music, the tones, the examples, are just so inspiring.


Life is gaining inches. So is football.

To find and die for that inch.

Either we heal now as a team, or we will die as individuals.

No matter how many times I've watched it, everytime I felt touched.