a blog about research, art and life 💋

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

Adobe Flash Player was retired by Adobe and major browser vendors since the beginning of 2021. By the time of 2025, major browsers (Chrome, Edge that works on Chromium core, and Safari) all DON’T support Flash. Which makes some interactive operations inapplicable. But if you ever have the misfortune to still need the Flash function. Here’s how to do it (works on Mac, guess similarly you can make it work on Windows too)....

The courier job in China has long been regarded as a tough, low-paying, and insecure occupation. With limited benefits and high risks, it’s a job that many take on for part-time hours or as a side hustle. In our previous posts, we’ve touched on the struggles of delivery riders before: Blowing in the wind—perhaps because I’m no stranger to ordering takeout and shopping online too often! However, JD.com, one of China’s largest e-commerce giants, has recently announced a groundbreaking decision: starting March 1, 2025, they will provide full social security benefits—the complete “five insurances and one fund”—for its full-time food delivery riders....

An interesting paper recommended by Professor Kimon Drakopoulos: Strategic Experimentation with Exponential Bandits Abstract This paper studies a game of strategic experimentation with two-armed bandits whose risky arm might yield a payoff only after some exponentially distributed random time. Because of free-riding, there is an inefficiently low level of experimentation in any equilibrium where the players use stationary Markovian strategies with posterior beliefs as the state variable. After characterizing the unique symmetric Markovian equilibrium of the game, which is in mixed strategies, we construct a variety of pure-strategy equilibria....

The food rescue project has officially come to an end, so I’m now looking forward to a series of joyful months leading up til graduation. I have a mix of delightful tasks ahead—tidying up both the physical and digital clutter, organizing books and papers, and even enjoying a few indulgences: concerts, ballet classes, and some long-overdue shopping. Among the tasks on my list is a thorough clean-up of the RMAB project....

As title suggested, here’s an excerpt from Eugene Onegin Chapter 3’s ending: But today, dear friends, I’m too exhausted to relate the sequel to this unlooked-for meeting After so long a narrative I must go for a stroll and have a rest I’ll finish of my story later somehow. See you tmrw!

When I took CS101, my professor shared a well-known truth: “For every hour you spend coding, expect to spend three hours debugging.” While I never officially timed it, I can confidently say that the ratio often feels closer to five… However, debugging doesn’t have to be an endless struggle. With a clear mind and a more organized approach, it can be surprisingly efficient. Today I faced a frustrating issue when checking my blog: the changes I pushed earlier never updated....

A new paper is out: Contextual Budget Bandit for Food Rescue. The picture shows volunteers and donation regions in real food rescue database. Region color indicates the richness of volun teer resource. Connected lines indicates how volunteers and real-time donation tasks are matched by food-rescue platforms. Abstract Volunteer-based food rescue platforms tackle food waste by matching surplus food to communities in need. These platforms face the dual problem of maintaining volunteer engagement and maximizing the food rescued....

Really? The best way to make everyone read a book is to BAN IT… (Hermione, Harry Potter) DeepSeek AI ban: What’s going on and why it matters (Techcircle): Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup DeepSeek that has rocked the global AI landscape by recently launching R1 LLM model, is facing crackdowns from several governments, including India, the US, Australia, Taiwan, and South Korea, due to concerns over its security and data practices, particularly on government devices....

Told you so— Sabrina Carpenter won Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Pop Solo Performance of 67th Annual GRAMMY Awards. she didn’t prepare her acceptance speech obviously (here). Advice: always prepare for every possible public speeches you might anticipate. also, here’s the link to Grammy’s official page if you want to check out more winners. Previous posts on Short N’ Sweet or her music: the IDGAS energy in Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Nonsense’ told you so | Sabrina Carpenter’s Rise to Stardom....