Why USA speaks English?

Why USA speaks English?

by Forrest Sheng Bao http://fsbao.net

Before the Civil War, people said "United States are". After the Civil War, people said "United States is"
-National Treasure II: Book of Secrets (I watched it this morning and not sure whether I remembered this tips correctly.)

This is a phenomena hard to explain. Why?
Coz according to US census 2000, English is not the most major ancestry. The top one is German(15.2%), followed by Irish (10.8%)
Then, it's English(8.7%). But Italian and Scandinavian are of similar percentage.

So why the States speaks English? Funny. But it's good. 80% population of USA speak English. It is better than Europe, especially Switzerland, and better than Canada in the north. O/w, we have to study German, Irish, Italian, Norwegian and Svenska.

There are many "irrational" things in USA. For instance, this country has no official language. Many important stuffs are provided in several languages. It is ironic that such words are also written in English: If you can't read these languages please ask for an interpreter. Webpages of US gov are also written in several languages. When applying social security card, I read English pages first and then the Chinese pages. The page looks like the homepage of Wikipedia-links to different language links surrounding the seal of US. The explanation is that all ethics are equal. According to US census 2000, there are 336 languages used in USA. So, there is a way to "play" cops if you are arrested. You refuse to answer any questions unless he brings you the interpreter speaking the 336-th least frequently used language. O/w, his problem is racial discrimination.

Many city names of the States are the same as other countries. When Dutches came, they named a place New Amsterdam. Later Englishes came and renamed it New York. There is a town in the middle USA called Bismark(Deutschland über alles) whereas another town is called Napoleon(Vive La France!). There is a city in Georgia called Athen, a very famous city in Greece. ("Shut up Forrest! We all know this") There are also a town called Peking, named after the capital of China. But no king's palace this time.

So are street names. People from all over the world use their hometown names to name streets, such as Frankfurt Ave., Oxford Ave., etc. When I was in China, I lived on a street called Guangdong(Canton) Road. Now I am on Canton again. But this time it's not No.38 but No. 1030. Am I kidding? Try Google maps: 1030 Canton ave, lubbock, tx, usa. You will find the Experimental Sciences Building of Texas Tech at this point.

So this morning, when I rode to the theatre to watch National Treasure II, I left from Canton (Ave.) to Frankfort (Ave.). But this time, no Miles-and-More award.

美国怎么会说英语呢？

by Forrest Sheng Bao http://fsbao.net

南北战争前，人们都说“联合州是(United States are, 复数)”，南北战争后人们都说“合众国是(United States is, 单数)”
--国家财富2：古籍迷辛（我早上才看的，不知道台词记错没有）

这是一个非常不正常的现象
为什么呢？
因为美国人口普查的数据表明，英国人不是最大的族裔
最大的是德国人，15.2%，下面是爱尔兰人10.8%
下来才是英国人，8.7%
而且和英国人数量不相上下的还有意大利人和挪威－瑞典人

这怎么搞的最后美国说英语了呢？好奇怪阿。很好很好，美国80％的人会说英语，比欧洲好，特别是比那些用好几种语言的国家，比如瑞士要好，至少比北边的加拿大也好。不要搞的还要学德语，爱尔兰语，意大利语，挪威语和瑞典语。

美国想不通的事情太多了，这个国家居然没有官方语言
什么和人命相关的东西都是5，6种语言写一遍，居然还非常搞笑的用英语再写一遍：如果你看不懂这里的文字，请提出需要翻译的请求。
你看看美国政府有些部门的网页，比如我申请社会安全号码的时候，我先看一遍英文的
再看一遍中文的。那个网页中间一个国徽，周围一圈语言，感觉像看Wiki百科首页一样。

这样作的理由是，所有民族都是平等的—2000年人口普查数据表明，美国共有336种语言在被使用
OMG，如果警察抓住你了，你有一个好好玩他的办法，你挑出使用频率最低的那第336种语言，然后对警察说，你给我找翻译，我不和你说英语，他要不带你找他就犯法，他就种族歧视

这国家的城市名字到处和世界各地的重复，荷兰人来了，就叫新阿姆斯特丹，英国人来了，就改名叫新约克，中部有个城市，估计是德国人去的，就叫卑斯 麦，大概旁边是法国人去的，就叫拿破仑，Georgia有个城市，估计是希腊人去的，就叫雅典。美国连叫北京的城市都有，可惜这个北京不是首都了，皇帝的 大宫殿也没了。

街道的名字也是一样，世界各地的移民把世界各地的城市名字都带来命名街道，你看南京最多什么广州路，上海路，青岛路，这些城市太不够劲了。偶们这里 可NB阿，什么法兰克福街，牛津街，等等，咱中国地方也有份。 偶以前在广东路上吧，飞了大半圈地球，我又跑到广东路上了。只不过上次是广东路38号，现在是广东路1030号了。你不信？ 去Google Maps一下，1030 Canton ave, lubbock, tx, usa 边上就是俺在的ExperimentalSciences Building. 这个广东路比南京的广东路好阿，没有城管队员，但有日尔曼美女阿，穿的好性感阿，比衣服邋遢的城管队员好多了。

美国这边说街道光说个名字，不说广东路，法兰克福街，你要问我早上怎么去看电影的，我就是从广东到法兰克福，吓人吧。可惜这次没有汉莎的里程了，哎，骑了40分钟的自行车还没有积分.

Install MNI brain imaging tools via apt-get

by Forrest Sheng Bao http://fsbao.net

About one year ago(2006), I began to use MNIC tools developed by BIC, MNI, McGill University. It cost me much time on compiling them. Now, it is good. The repository for 64-bit Ubuntu Linux is available.
http://packages.bic.mni.mcgill.ca/ubuntu-feisty-amd64/
So you just need to do some very easy things:

1) Add you reponsitory

deb http://packages.bic.mni.mcgill.ca/ubuntu-feisty-amd64       ./

2) Install

sudo apt-get install arguments bicinventor bicpl brain-view classify conglomerate display ebtks glim-image inormalize libgetopt-tabular-perl libmni-perllib-perl minc mincblob mincdti mincfft mincmorph mincsample mni-autoreg mni-models-* n3 oobicpl postf ray-trace register volperf volregrid

3) Add /usr/local/bic/bin/ into your $PATH variable.

Handling two monitors for nVidia card on Linux

by Forrest Sheng Bao http://fsbao.net

I like using many monitors while working, laying different stuffs on different monitors. So I don't need to switch between different windows. There are many ways to handle multiple monitors on Linux. Here is the simplest way-just editing xorg.conf file.

First install proper driver. Then follow the instruction on this page: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/XineramaHowTo

Add these lines into Section "Device"

         Option      "TwinView"                 "true"
         Option      "RenderAccel"              "true"
         Option      "UseEdidFreqs"             "true"
         Option      "MetaModes"                "1280x1024,1280x1024;1024x768,NULL;800x600,800x600;640x480,640x480"

Set proper modes in Section "Screen"

                Modes           "2560x1024" "1280x1024" "1024x768"      "832x624"       "800x600"       "720x400"       "640x480"

My configuration to Section "module "

Section "Module"
        Load            "glx"
EndSection

I am the 10-th generation academic descendant of Carl Friedrich Gauß(Gauss)

by Forrest Sheng Bao http://fsbao.net

(In German, ß = ss, ö=oe, ä=ae)

Yes, that Gauss, the Gauss on your high school text book. But now the world center of science has migrated from Switzerland, Germany, France and Britain to a new place, United States. I do not write papers in Latin, French or German. I use a language with less culture, which is called the American English. And today I know that mathematicians all over the world are generally descendants of Gauss and Euler. These two groups of people are related to two legendary universities, Universität Berlin and École Polytechnique. This reminds me that a newly-founded university can become a first-tie one by its good tradition and academic environment. Of course, the investment from government and freedom on academics are very important. Investing education, no country doesn't benefit from it.



Ok, here is the story:


Carl Friedrich Gauss (Universität Helmstedt 1799)
|
Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen 1810)
|
Heinrich Ferdinand Scherk (Universität Berlin 1823)
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Ernst Eduard Kummer (Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, 1831)
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Lazarus Immanuel Fuchs (Universität Berlin, 1858)
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Issai Schur (Universität Berlin, 1901)
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Richard Rago (Universität Berlin, 1933, also another PhD from University of Cambridge, 1935)
|
Kenneth A. H. Gravett (University of London 1955)
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John Newsome Crossley (University of Oxford, 1963)
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Roland Hock Chuan Yap (Monash University, 1995)
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Yuan Lin Zhang (National University of Singapore, 2003)
|
Forrest Sheng Bao (Texas Tech University, 2012)

Thanks to God, we got the $35, 000 research grant.

by Forrest Sheng Bao http://fsbao.net

We are now the winner of Research Enrichment Fund Grant Competition of Texas Tech 2007. The total amount is $35,000, including my salary and travel expenses.

Although this grant is available for 1 and a half year, since I spend less than 1, 000 dollars per month, I don't need to look for money in the next 3 years till I get my PhD degree on Computer Science and MSc on Electrical Engineering. My salary now increases to $1,700/mo.

Neat! It's really neat. I can live on my intelligence and doing research I like without worrying about hunger. I love "Republic of Texas". Since I moved to Texas 3 months ago, I have got a $25, 000 scholarship and this $35, 000 research grant. Since the policy of State of Texas to attract human resources, I don't need to pay Texas state tax in the next 5 years. I would like to be a graduate student all my life. It is really important to keep graduate student above property line, o/w it is impossible for them to focus on research but other life issues. I had a friend in China who gets only 400 bulks in 3 months from his supervisor. Man, I wanna ask his supervisor "Are you going to let your student do research or not?" Someone in somewhere is really talking about "mission impossible"- to build a first tie university in the world without paying graduate students the stipend higher than minimum social security benefit.

Hmm, I am rich now. I plan to purchase a Chevrolet gas-free hybrid-model car, using ethanol, rechargable battery and fuel cell. It's only $10, 000.


I plan to engineer it using solar cells. Even I wanna apply AI techniques to improve its energy efficiency. This is a candidate topic on which I plan to earn my PhD on Electrical Engineering. It is a faith in my heart that biomedical engineering and green energy are field with great expectation of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. So I decided to ask the sales representative of Chevrolet, "Do you open source your car? What microprocessor do you use on your car?" I want this car which is the most advanced toy I can afford. It is much funnier than LEGO robot. When I was in the high school, I programmed LEGO MCU in LabVIEW(the LabVIEW modified by LEGO from National Instruments) to control a mechanical arm through motors so that the robot can shot basketball. I am no more a kid so it is not fun to me now. I need some high-tech one. Since I watched the sci-fi TV show "Knight Rider", I wanted to have a car armed by AI and running on endless energy. Since I watched the environmentalist cartoon "Captain Planet and the Planeteers", I wanted to contribute the environmental protection. I still remember the words of Captain Planet: "By YOUR powers combined, I am Captain Planet!"

This is the power of the dream. Many animals standing on the ground by 4 arms/legs. We just need 2 legs because we have dream, the most powerful crutch. We stand on the ground not by legs, but by dreams. Dreaming, makes us different from our monkey relatives. Do you like dreaming? If you like, go to study engineering to "fly yourself". Engineering our dreams!

So we should thank God to empowering us the ability to dream.
Thanks God, for giving me the chance, when I was a kid, to not study hard but watch "Knight Rider" or "Captain Planet and Planeteers", clarifying me the meaning and motivation of my life rather than losting my live in straight-A records.

Thanks God, for giving us the food.
Thanks God, for giving us the land, the Promised Land, the Land in God We Trust.
Thanks God, for giving us the chance to understand the mythic universe you created.
Thanks God, for giving us the possibility to create an intelligent system to honor your glory.
And finally, I pray again to you to endow me a beautiful wife.
===========================================================================
感谢上帝，我们终于发财了。

by Forrest Sheng Bao http://fsbao.net

我们刚刚成为2007年得克萨斯理工促进研究经费的获胜者。 总额高达3.5万美金。其中包括我的工资和旅行支出。

虽然这个经费的周期是一年半，但是由于我每月花不到1000美元，在未来3年内我都不用再去找钱了，直到我获得在计算机科学上的博士学位和在电机工程学上的硕士学位。我的工资现在已经涨到1700美元/月。

太爽了。真的太爽了。我可以通过我的智慧而谋生，并且无须考虑饥饿就去研究我想作的研究。我爱“得克萨斯共和国”。自从3个月前我来到得克萨斯，我已经从德州政府手中获得了2.5万元的奖学金和这个3.5万元的研究经费。并且由于德州吸引人才的优惠政策，我在未来5年内，不需交纳德州的州税。我简直想一辈子都做研究生。让研究生不至于落入贫困线以下，真的很重要，否则他们就无法集中精力在研究上。我有一个朋友在中国，他的指导教授3个月内才给了他400块钱。我简直想问问他的指导教授“你还想不想让你的研究生作研究”。某些地方的某些人总在讨论“不可能的任务”－创建世界一流大学但是却不给研究生高于最低生活保障线的工资。

哈哈，我现在有钱了。我决定去买一个雪佛莱不用汽油的混合模式汽车，使用酒精，蓄电池和燃料电池。它只要1万美金。



我还想把他改装成能够使用太阳能电池。我甚至准备把人工智能技术应用到提高它的能源效率上。这是我准备用来获得我电机工程学博士学位的一个候选课题。我自认为生物医学工程和绿色能源是大有前途的电机工程与计算机科学的应用领域。所以我决定去问雪佛莱的销售代表，“你开源你的汽车了吗？你的汽车用什么处理器？” 我想要这俩汽车，目前我有能力购买的最高级的玩具，比乐高的机器人好玩一点。我在高中时候用LabVIEW(其实是乐高改造过的LabVIEW)给乐高的单片机编程，让他控制电机转动一个机械臂，去使得机器人投篮。但我不再是小孩，所以现在我已经玩腻了这个东西，我需要高级一点的。自从我从小看了科幻电视剧“霹雳游侠”以来，我就想拥有一个具有人工智能和用之不尽能源的汽车。自从我从小看了环保动画片“地球超人”以来，我就想为环保而贡献力量。我依旧记得地球超人的话语：”把你们的力量结合起来，我就是地球超人！“

这就是梦想的力量。很多动物要用4条腿／胳膊站在地上。我们只要2条腿，因为我们有梦想，最强大的拐杖。我们不是靠双腿站立的，而是梦想。梦想，使我们有别于我们的猴子亲戚。 你喜欢做梦吗？如果喜欢，那么就去学工程来让你飞翔。工程我们的梦想！

所以我们要感谢上帝，赐予我们做梦的本领。
感谢上帝，赐予我从小不好好学习，而偷看“霹雳游侠”或者“地球超人”之类电视节目的机会，因为他们让我明白了我生活的意义和动力，而不是沉迷于90分100分当中却迷失生活的方向。

感谢上帝，赐予我们食物。
感谢上帝，赐予我们这片应许之地，这片“我们相信上帝”的土地。
感谢上帝，赐予我们理解你所创造的神奇宇宙的机会。
感谢上帝，赐予我们创造智能系统来彰显你的荣耀的可能。
最后，我再次向你祈祷，请求你赐予我一个美丽的妻子。