a blog about research, art and life 💋

my work ethic | pinned post

Think I’ve kind of learned that the more authentic and genuine it is, the better it will work for you.

December 16, 2023

Tugan Sokhiev with Munich Philharmonic | A Truly Remarkable Finale

The closing performance of the Shanghai International Art Festival, by Tugan Sokhiev and the Munich Philharmonic was nothing short of extraordinary! While high-quality recordings can provide an astonishingly immersive experience for solo or chamber works—especially with a decent set of headphones. But only live orchestral performances can achieve the stunning scale and acoustic intricacies of a grand compositions. The emotional depth of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and the vivid storytelling in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade were rendered with such mastery that no recording could ever hope to capture their full impact....

November 17, 2024

Prelude | Munich Philharmonic Conducted by Tugan Sokhiev Closing Shanghai International Art Festival

Tomorrow (Nov. 17) marks the grand finale of the Shanghai International Art Festival. The closing performance features the esteemed Munich Philharmonic, led by Tugan Sokhiev, with the brilliant pianist Haochen Zhang gracing the stage. Tugan Sokhiev: the man with a baton and a plan. The program offers a sumptuous feast of late-Romantic repertoire, showcasing three well-loved classics: Tchaikovsky | Polonaise from Eugene Onegin Tchaikovsky | Piano Concerto No.1 Rimsky-Korsakov | Scheherazade Interestingly, Tchaikovsky’s Polonaise also made an appearance as an encore during the opening performance in September, presented by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra under Long Yu:...

November 16, 2024

Playing Through Didi's Matching System

Today’s blog is more of an incentive commentary—two intriguing thoughts about Didi’s (the China ride-hailing app) matching mechanism. fake impatience First, it appears that the matching algorithm has a peculiar bias against patient customers. If a someone is willing to wait—say, for a car that’s more than 15 minutes away—the system seems to interpret this as a sign of infinite patience and begins assigning worse matches over time. In other words, the algorithm rewards impatience....

November 15, 2024

the ultimate break down of vanity, fashion and accent

I recently came across a great book. Class: A Guide Through the American Status System by Paul Fussell. The book carefully researched American class system and how they are revealed by how one speak, dress and live. link to Amazon. Based on careful research and told with grace and wit, Paul Fessell shows how everything people within American society do, say, and own reflects their social status. Detailing the lifestyles of each class, from the way they dress and where they live to their education and hobbies, Class is sure to entertain, enlighten, and occasionally enrage readers as they identify their own place in society and see how the other half lives....

November 14, 2024

On Trump in Office and What's Next

The re-election of Donald Trump has stirred a remarkable level of interest in my circle. A friend working in finance was ecstatic about Bitcoin’s surge, while another friend in law school was eagerly anticipating the implications for Congress and the Supreme Court. Trump returning to office is undoubtedly a monumental event, yet it doesn’t feel entirely surprising. It reflects a broader cultural trend—an increasing nostalgia for a perceived better past—that has been simmering for years and is now bubbling to the surface....

November 13, 2024

gerrymandering | from a law-ish perspective

I have a law class this semester and we covered United State’s voting rule today. Gerrymandering caught my attention. Here’s a nice introductory video about it: And if you’re interested in some technical stuff, there seem to be a lot of ‘redistricting’ literature in Algorithmic Game Theory and Econ-CS relevant to this topic. Here’s one as an entry into the citation tree: Nikhil Garg, Wes Gurnee, David Rothschild, and David Shmoys....

November 12, 2024

Lucas Debargue | the Encore No.2 at Shanghai Oriental Art Center

This is the pianist’s own composition and presented as the 2nd encore gift for the Shanghai audience. What an honor and pleasure to hear the original interpretation of an unreleased piece. See the artist’s homepage here.

November 12, 2024

Rachmaninov featured in Enio Morricone's movie score, The Legend of 1900

Keyword: Rachmaninov Symphony No.2 Adagio -> Morricone Before the End. The Legend of 1900 (1998) is an Italian English-language film directed by Giuseppe Tornatore, starring Tim Roth. It’s the story of an orphan music prodigy on a ocean liner who grows up to be a pianist but lived forever on the ship. But the music got more famous than the film itself—composed by Ennio Morricone, it has won the Golden Globe Ward for Best Original Score (2000)....

November 11, 2024

Git Ignore | Exclude a 'Results' Folder from Git Sync and Manage It Manually

When working on projects across multiple computers, while syncing using a remote repository managed by git. you might encounter scenarios where you need to run the same code but keep certain directories, like a results folder, unique to each machine: Machine-Specific Data: The results folder may contain data that’s only relevant to a particular machine. Large Files: Syncing large result files can slow down your version control system. Privacy and Security: Results might contain sensitive information that shouldn’t be shared....

November 10, 2024