K's Learning Diary

I just had the pleasure of watching the BBC documentary Wild China, and was completely captivated from start to finish. This cinematic masterpiece blends everything I love about travel documentaries into one stunning package. From the sweeping aerial views of China's varied landscapes, to intimate cultural encounters in remote villages, Wild China whisks you on an immersive sensory journey. The expert camerawork makes you feel a part of its magic, rather than just an observer. Adding to the splendor is the soundtrack of serene, traditional Chinese music. Its notes dance in perfect rhythm with the visual poetry on screen. Moments of quiet awe are allowed to linger thanks to thoughtful pacing. While visually lavish, the documentary also has real depth and heart. It explores China's incredible biodiversity, shining light on endangered species and environments needing protection. Interviews with locals offer insight into ancient traditions still thriving in remote corners. Wild Chi

Following my previous post looking into whether it is save to sell your old computer or mobile devices ( Is it safe to sell your old computer? ), it has emerged that it is indeed becoming a security concern that consumers may want to be more careful about. Some helpful advices: 1. At least go to Settings and encrypt your device!

Chris Domas gives a phenomenal demonstration of the power of visualization and the fact that we are hard-wired to be better at processing images - a lot better than texts or 1s and 0s. This is something we kind of know through everyday experiences, but not often utilized consciously. Even is science and engineering, visualization is still pursued by only a small group of experts rather than the norm in scientific discoveries. With the progress of the digital age and the advent of Big Data, Visualization holds the key in our ability to interpret all the collected information. Perhaps the art of Data Science is not just in one's ability to sieve through mountains of different data quickly, but also equally if not more important in one's ability to illustrate and interpret the results in meaningful ways that can be shared with fellow citizens easily.

This is yet another great TED video that I wish I had seen a long time ago. The lessons on making hard choices: why is it so difficult to make what we perceive to be 'difficult' choices? If the choices are difficult to make, then perhaps none of them is better or worse than the other; if it's easy to tell which is better, then it wouldn't be difficult. We can't judge the intangibles with quantifiable measurements, and we should not make choices by trying to compare which one is 'better'. Sometimes there are no better answers, only what we prefer and what makes us feel 'right'. It is when faced with difficult choices that we show who we truly are. And we become who we are by making those difficult choices. I have learned something rather useful today :) Hope it inspires you too. ********* Do you use wifi in public places or travel abroad often? Do you worry about cyber security? Get added security with a reliable VPN.   Get a reliable VPN  today for l

Randomly came across some stunning images of the Earth's wind and ocean on this blog .  Looks like there is quite a lot of wind hitting the UK! The interactive visualization of wind patterns all around the world is created by a computer program that downloads weather data from the Global Forecast System at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction, part of NOAA/the National Weather Service. This raw data is then rendered in your browser in the form of a globe that can be moved (drag with the mouse) and zoomed in and out of (use your mouse scroll wheel). The data is updated every 3 hours, so it is pretty close to real-time considering that this isn't just a small local dataset but covers the whole planet. I wonder what the poles look like: Amazing! That is a lot of activities! These images are just beautiful. You can play with it and look for your region on here . Just one more image: Looks like it's going to be windy, I better ta

This BBC business report shows some staggering statistics of how much food is being wasted globally. And apart from household waste, a lot of food actually never made it to our fridge. It is encouraging to see individual farmers partnering with local charities or businesses to make use of perfectly edible produce which were excluded by supermarkets due to less than perfect appearances. Charities and environmental agencies should actively pursue this type of win-win ideas. It is a brilliant policy (although it could take sometime for restaurants to get used to) to require New York City's restaurants stop sending food waste to landfills in 2015 and encourage the use of alternative operations. However, I do hope that restaurant businesses are not financially worse off because of these new requirements. If anything, corresponding environmental policies should ensure it is not more expensive or difficult in any way to send waste to these alternative operations. The project

I like the fact that every now and then there will be a preachy documentary or TV program that reminds us how wasteful we are - because we tend to forget. This BBC2 program 'Men that made us spend' asks some very valid questions. The companies of this world have become very good at creating, producing and making a profit. However, there doesn't seem to be enough economic incentives to complete the product life cycle loop, one that includes converting obsolete products back to usable raw materials. To the extent that usable older products that are still in boxes that have never been opened are being thrown away. Why? I don't blame people for wanting to buy things, but if the world is going to operate under this model then surely we also need satisfactory solutions to deal with its weaknesses for it to be sustainable. Is there a missing component in our modern economies? Is it due to lack of the technologies required? I have heard that it's more expensive to r