This morning, I practiced driving with Xiao Yan, feeling less nervous, while Xiao Yan improved steadily.

Afterward, I took Hamer to dance class and then to her dental appointment for sealants, but three of her permanent teeth hadn’t grown in yet, so we scheduled another visit next month.

For Winter Solstice dinner, Hamer and I bought dumplings—she made hersef the dough while I cooked dumplings.

In the evening, Xiao Yan packed her luggage while Hamer and I cozied up to watch The Muppet Christmas Carol.

2024-12-20 TIL: Photos Privacy, Duffy the Disney Bear, Osborne Effect, and BMJ’s Christmas Issue

💻

They See Your Photos

Your photos reveal a lot of private information.

• “They See Your Photos” is a privacy research experiment that uses generative AI to describe uploaded images.

🏡

Duffy Bear and His Friends

Duffy Bear(达菲熊) is a popular Disney character introduced in 2002 at Walt Disney World, Orlando. Initially called “Disney Bear,” he was later renamed Duffy at Tokyo DisneySea in 2005. Duffy’s Friends:

• ShellieMay (雪莉玫): A teddy bear made by Minnie for Duffy, adventurous and crafty.
• Gelatoni (傑拉多尼): An artistic cat from Italy who paints with his tail.
• StellaLou (星黛露): A lavender rabbit who dreams of being a Broadway dancer.
• CookieAnn (可琦安): A yellow dog who loves inventing new foods, optimistic and passionate.
• Olu Mel (奧樂米拉): A Hawaiian turtle skilled in music, playing the ukulele.
• LinaBell (玲娜貝兒): A curious fox who loves puzzles and nature.
• Tippy Blue: A clumsy seagull and Duffy’s mailman friend.

🌱

Osborne Effect

The Osborne effect is a social phenomenon where customers cancel or defer orders for the current, soon-to-be-obsolete product due to a company announcing a future product prematurely. It is an example of cannibalization.

BMJ’s Christmas Issue

Each year, The BMJ, formerly known as the British Medical Journal, publishes a special Christmas issue. The edition spans a wide array of topics and formats that are unlikely to be published any other time of year.

• What started in 1982 as an experimental roundup of fun research for the holidays has since grown into one of The BMJ’s most highly anticipated issues each year.

Today, I picked up my new passport and exchanged 10,000 baht at the bank after several unsuccessful attempts.

In the afternoon, I got a call from the restaurant where Hamer had left her black pouch, and it was found, which was a pleasant surprise. Hamer was initially too scared to go get it, but eventually, she asked her grandmother for help.

After dinner, I decorated a small Christmas tree with Hamer and watched an interview with Billie Eilish.

At work, I spent the day addressing compile warnings and exploring solutions for TreeView’s ItemDataTemplate, but ended up copying a new one.

2024-12-19 TIL: Nullable Reference Types, ArcGIS Survey123, Bozo Flag, Parenting Advice, and Slang Insights

💻

Enabling Nullable Reference Types

The ability to enable Nullable Reference Types was introduced in C# 8. There are two ways to enable it: via file-based declaration or a project-level flag.

• To use file declarations: #nullable enable
• To enable at the project level: <Nullable>enable</Nullable>

Installed ArcGIS Survey123 Website

Organizations may sometimes need to work in completely disconnected environments or be required to host the ArcGIS Survey123 website and/or Survey123 REST API on their own infrastructure. The Survey123 REST API is used to convert survey configurations into forms for use in the Survey123 apps. The website provides functionality to create and manage surveys and to view and analyze the collected data. Both components are separate but work together to offer the functionality seen in the ArcGIS Survey123 website.

feed.bozo

In the context of feed parsing with Python’s “feedparser” library, “bozo” refers to a flag that indicates whether an RSS or Atom feed is not well-formed XML. Feedparser automatically sets the “bozo” flag to “True” when it encounters a non-well-formed XML feed during parsing.

• Why the name “bozo”? Informally, “bozo” is a slang term for a silly or clumsy person, making it a fitting analogy for a poorly structured or non-standard feed.

🏡

Should You Let Your Kid Quit Something?

The advice given in the show was to first reflect on your own intentions, consider your child’s personality, ask how they feel, create a non-binary action plan together, and, finally, have a reflective conversation with your child.

🌱

Tough It Out

To deal with a difficult period or situation without becoming less certain or determined in your plans or opinions.

Body Count

Slang. Refers to how many people you’ve had sex with.

• A “high body count conversation” typically refers to a discussion where someone mentions or boasts about having many romantic or sexual partners.

Hamer’s missing coupon pouch didn’t cause her much worry. After dinner, we arranged some flowers with fairy lights in a tote bag and reviewed her daily schedule together, referring to each other as “teacher.”

At work, I discussed session structures with colleagues, resulting in new ideas, including adding a fun game segment. In the afternoon, I clarified some portal item issues and organized my 230 Earth tips project, which aligned with a tip ChatGPT gave me.

I also spent time at the gym and listened to 3 hours of podcasts, including one on handling kids quitting activities, which gave me useful advice.

Today is a special day—seven years ago, Xiao Yan and I got our marriage certificate. To celebrate, our family went to Sultan for dinner. Hamer wanted finger-shaped ice cream, but there were no finger waffles. Noticing her disappointment, the waiter thoughtfully broke a large waffle into smaller pieces with ice cream. Hamer smiled brightly, holding four small ice creams.

Today, I spent time solving the S123 JS API offline installation issue and researching Arcade expressions for edit summary.

These past two days, Hamer has started using the big alarm clock to wake herself up.

I didn’t write in my journal yesterday because I was busy adjusting and improving the iOS writing app I’m developing.

2024-12-16 TIL: iOS Launch Screen

💻

iOS Launch Screen

• All iOS apps must include a launch screen storyboard, even if the rest of the app is built without storyboards. Without it, the app defaults to supporting only older 3.5" (or possibly 4") iOS device sizes, resulting in black bars (letterboxing) on larger devices. Including a launch screen storyboard ensures the app can accommodate all screen sizes.
• For SwiftUI, simply adding an empty image name to Info.plist should also work.

This morning, Hamer, like usual, woke up early (although I don’t know exactly when). When I went to wake her up at 7:10, I saw her flipping through a book. I said, “It’s already 7:10, time to get up.” She replied, “Oh no, it’s not even daylight yet.” I guess she might have gotten a bit worried because the teacher told her on Friday not to come too early. To solve her habit of waiting for daylight before getting up, I went to IKEA after work to buy an alarm clock, hoping to give it a try.

Today, I spent almost the entire day using Cursor, trying to see if I could create a complete iOS app with it. So far, I haven’t had any success. The results always turn out much different than expected, and I’ve run into many problems I don’t really know how to fix, which has been making me increasingly frustrated. Now, I can use Cursor to build a simple framework and create beginner-level apps, but when it comes to implementing more advanced features, it’s still not quite right.

I feel like I still need to take a nap at noon; otherwise, it’s really hard for me to concentrate in the afternoon.

Today, I drove on the road for the first time by myself. Though my instructor was in the passenger seat, I felt nervous from the start. Every lane change, turn, or U-turn made me panic, forget to check my surroundings, or freeze. The two-hour session was tense, but also rewarding. I realized that, beyond my mindset, my driving skills need a lot of improvement. I’ll keep practicing to get better.

In the morning, Hamer was doing her homework when I left for driving practice. She and Xiao Yan later went to Pop Mart and the mall, returning in the evening.

After lunch, I lay down on the sofa to rest and watched a movie until around six in the evening, when the exhaustion finally started to fade away.

2024-12-15 TIL: A Map Rap

💻

A Map Rap

This rap is absolutely brilliant for GIS day! For the list of Inspiration From Other Famous Mappa Rappas, each name combines rap artists with GIS terms for a fun crossover:

1. Mapplemoore: Based on Macklemore, with a mapping twist.
2. Way-Z: A play on Jay-Z, referencing way (map data term).
3. Lil' Pane: Refers to Lil' Wayne, with “Pane” for map window.
4. Cardi-(graphic)-I: Based on Cardi B, adding “graphic” for mapping interfaces.
5. Post ma-layer: A play on Post Malone, with “layer” for map layers.
6. Known Bugz ‘N’ Symbology: A twist on The Notorious B.I.G., also known as Biggie Smalls, referencing bugs and map symbology.
7. Fat Geo: Based on Fat Joe, with “Geo” for geography or GIS.
8. The Notorious G.D.B.: A play on The Notorious B.I.G., with G.D.B. for Geospatial Data Base.
9. Ludaclips: Refers to Ludacris, with “clips” for map sections.
10. Snoop Catalogg: A twist on Snoop Dogg, with “Catalogg” for map data catalogs.
11. MXD: A reference to Max B, with a nod to the MXD file format in ArcGIS.

Yesterday, Hamer woke up exceptionally early and was ready for school by 7 AM, but arriving too early prompted her teacher to ask us not to repeat it. I reassured Hamer that I’d keep her company in the mornings if she wanted to wake up early. Later, our product’s new version was released, marking the end of one phase of work.

Today, after a late start due to a midnight meeting, Hamer made a toast breakfast. In the afternoon, we met her best friend after dance class, enjoying a park stroll and roast duck. Meanwhile, I explored building iOS apps with Cursor, gaining insights after initial challenges.

2024-12-12 TIL: Web-to-App Linking and Situational Awareness

💻

Web-to-App Linking

🌱

Situational Awareness

This morning, Hamer had a mild nosebleed but quickly recovered with Xiao Yan’s help. She got ready for school, and I started my day listening to an English news podcast, Up First, which has become a refreshing morning habit.

At work, I focused on the App Link, identifying potential bugs and improvement areas, which fueled my motivation.

On the way to the gym, I had the idea for an app to help parents and children learn Chinese characters. After returning home, I dove into building a prototype, using Cursor to write code, and got fully immersed in the project.

2024-12-11 TIL: Snapdrop, Sora Technology & Driving Instructors

💻

Snapdrop

A local file-sharing tool in your browser, inspired by Apple’s AirDrop.

• Frontend: Vanilla JavaScript
• P2P connection: WebRTC/WebSockets
• Backend: NodeJS
• Clients: Progressive Web App

中学生能看懂：Sora 原理解读

Key steps and technology behind Sora video generation:

1. Input Data Processing: Using a video compression network to compress images or videos into low-dimensional representations, simplifying processing while retaining rich visual data.
2. Spatiotemporal Patch Generation: Sora breaks down the compressed data into spatiotemporal patches, capturing both spatial and temporal information for complex video content.
3. Text-conditioned Diffusion Model: Sora uses text prompts to guide a Diffusion model that progressively denoises and generates visual content matching the text description.

🌱

Driving Instructors

• 易通行汽车陪练
• 雷厉风行汽车陪练
• 手把手汽车陪练

This morning, Hamer woke up early, getting herself dressed and packed with a joyful energy that warmed my heart while I enjoyed some extra sleep. On the way to school, the soft pink glow of the rising sun made the morning feel particularly gentle.

At work, I finished the Popup content, though I felt fatigued in the afternoon from missing a nap. In the evening, after shopping at Hema, we ended up making noodles at home.

Hamer’s upper left incisor started to loosen, and I looked into finding a driving instructor, planning to schedule a trial session this weekend.

2024-12-10 TIL: Interview Success Strategies & Top Podcasts of 2024

💻

Interview Success in SV

I interviewed at six top companies in Silicon Valley in six days, and stumbled into six job offers

• Structured Preparation: Focus on coding problems, system design, and company-specific technologies. Use resources like LeetCode and HackerRank to practice.
• Daily Consistency: Dedicate regular time to solve problems and review core concepts.
• Mock Interviews: Simulate interviews to build confidence and refine communication.

🌱

Top Charts of 2024

• Apple shares the most popular podcasts of 2024
• The above list of podcasts is available as an OPML file for your podcast player

After dropping Hamer at school, I felt guilty reading an article about programmers preparing for interviews—something I’d aspired to but never pursued. I later browsed Apple’s 2024 U.S. podcast rankings, adding episodes to Overcast for future listening.

I discovered my passport had expired and applied for renewal online, but the initial review failed. Concerned about needing to apply at my registered residence, I rushed to the Beijing Exit-Entry Administration Bureau. Thankfully, the staff resolved the issue on-site without an appointment and eased my anxiety.

In the afternoon, I worked on PopupManager issues. In the evening, I played badminton and admired Hamer’s self-motivation to study, a remarkable change from her younger years.

2024-12-09 TIL: Genie 2, Conventional Commits, and Playful Tech Terms

💻

Genie 2

• A revolutionary foundation world model by DeepMind that transforms single images into fully interactive 3D environments.
• Enables unlimited training scenarios for AI agents by generating diverse virtual worlds.

Large-Scale Foundation World Models vs. Large Language Models (LLMs)

• Purpose: Generate and simulate 3D environments vs. Understand and produce human-like text
• Training Data: Visual data like images and videos vs. Extensive text data
• Applications: Gaming, simulations, AI agent training vs. Chatbots, translation, content generation

Genie 2 vs. World Labs' AI System

• Functionality: Transforms text or images into interactive 3D environments vs. Creates editable 3D scenes in a web browser.
• Technology: Latent diffusion model simulating physics and interactions vs. AI estimating 3D geometry for coherent, plausible scenes.
• Use Cases: AI training and rapid game prototyping vs. Immersive environment design for gaming and film.

Conventional Commits

A commit message standard that integrates seamlessly with SemVer.

• Types:
  • fix: Bug fix → triggers a PATCH version bump.
  • feat: New feature → triggers a MINOR version bump.
• Footer:
  • BREAKING CHANGE: API incompatibility → triggers a MAJOR version bump.

Cursor AI Review (Beta)

• The AI Review feature has transitioned to a “Bug Finder” tab, designed to identify potential bugs in your codebase.
• No longer included in subscriptions; costs may be high.

Mintlify

• A modern standard for creating beautiful, user-friendly public-facing documentation.
• Built to convert users while being easy to maintain.

🌱

h-api

• A playful alteration of “happy” with a focus on APIs, expressing joy or enthusiasm about API development. Example: “I’m feeling h-api today!”

Fayre

• Fayre: An old English term for a fun gathering featuring local goods, akin to a fair or bazaar.

Lately, the sun has been rising later and later. This morning, Hamer didn’t wake up as early as she usually does. When I went to wake her, I noticed five or six little birds perched on the tree outside the window. The scene was so peaceful.

After dropping Hamer off at school, I stopped by Nanchengxiang to buy breakfast. Today’s breakfast was especially hearty, but in the end, we couldn’t finish it all. Later, I practiced English with Speak and tried out a theme I had created myself—it felt pretty effective.

I spent the day working efficiently using the Pomodoro method, and I completed the task of saving a Layer as a KmlTrack. It’s now basically done.

In the evening, I came home early. Although I didn’t do anything particularly special, just relaxing and spending time with my family made the simple moments feel especially fulfilling.

2024-12-08 TIL: Notre Dame and Bullpen

🌱

Notre Dame

巴黎圣母院

• “Each day we have 20 difficulties. But it’s different when you work on a building that has a soul. Beauty makes everything easier.”

Bullpen

牛棚

• In baseball, the bullpen refers to the area where pitchers warm up before entering the game. It also symbolizes the team’s group of relief pitchers.
• Origin: The term comes from Major League Baseball, where a Bull Durham tobacco advertisement hung near the pitcher’s practice area.