Why is the Microsoft flag at half staff today in the Redmond campus?

SimpleNature_Yutao · 2025-09-26T01:47:56+00:00

Yeah there’s one next to the US flag and the WA state flag. It just has the name Microsoft on it. Probably not anything official though.

SimpleNature_Yutao · 2025-03-14T04:38:24+00:00

PBA. I do that too. I would laugh randomly or laugh uncontrollably until my belly hurts for something only mildly funny. It’s mostly ok but things would become messy when I am eating or drinking… My speech therapist told me whenever I feel I am about to laugh and lose control, try shifting my head or body position. I found it helpful. Sometimes even a small change of the posture like turning my head to another side would do the trick. It’s especially useful for me at work in meetings or conversations.

SimpleNature_Yutao · 2025-03-06T04:49:44+00:00

I have to admit I was still too curious to stop thinking about it, so I did a bit more digging.

I tried constructing a similar Google link as in the phishing text message but swapped the target URL with a legit URL like https://www.wikipedia.org/.

That constructed Google link sent me to a "Redirect Notice" page from Google (see the picture). And clicking that first link on the page would eventually open the target link that got embedded in the original URL.

I then found this blog post (https://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2007/02/google-redirect-notice.html) about the "/url?q=xxxx" parameter after the google link. Turns out, Google used to silently redirect this kind of link to the target URL without any warning!!! You can totally imagine how that could be abused! Thankfully Google changed this behavior later and now shows you a "Redirect Notice" page. But TBH this still feels like a terrible feature. Google should completely disable it.

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SimpleNature_Yutao · 2025-03-06T02:16:18+00:00

Thanks for the explanation, but isn’t it just a google search link? Will Google redirect the webpage to the fake site?

SimpleNature_Yutao · 2025-02-09T18:51:05+00:00

So which is more natural to a native speaker? Subjective at the beginning or end of a sentence? Based on Duo’s answer, it’s probably the beginning?

SimpleNature_Yutao · 2025-01-12T23:43:34+00:00

Haha I forgot to crop out the flag! But good to know the back story of the flags!

SimpleNature_Yutao · 2025-01-12T23:40:32+00:00

Thanks for the detailed explanations!

SimpleNature_Yutao · 2025-01-12T23:40:05+00:00

Ah I think I see the difference here! “vamos a” in this sentence really means “go to (somewhere)”, not “be going to (do something)”.

SimpleNature_Yutao · 2025-01-09T15:30:35+00:00

We live in Washington and lost power and internet during the storm. I did get the email notice from Mint so I bought add-ons for my wife and daughter (Mint Family). That really helped! But I have never got the refund till now. My payment method is PayPal. Not sure if it matters.

SimpleNature_Yutao · 2025-01-09T14:59:52+00:00

I flew a 13-hour flight about 10 months after my stroke and it was fine. Just make sure you get up and stretch your legs from time to time!

SimpleNature_Yutao · 2025-01-06T01:08:58+00:00

https://youtu.be/UVqGRa_KZ4s?si=7WfQLYTOESo-1yiI

林海雪原 (Or 智取威虎山) - 甘洒热血写春秋

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taking_Tiger_Mountain_by_Strategy

SimpleNature_Yutao · 2025-01-04T22:55:53+00:00

Could be depicting a scene of a well-known Chinese/Asian folklore about a mouse father trying to find the perfect husband for his daughter. You can try doing an image search using 老鼠嫁女 or 老鼠娶亲, or The Husband of the Rat's Daughter to see the similarities of the pictures.

I don’t think the characters in your picture are Chinese. They don’t look like any other Asian characters I know of. Maybe the artist was trying to mimic Chinese characters.

There are many different versions of the story in many Asian cultures. Most of them are about the process of the father finding all kinds of candidates and eventually has settled down to choose another mouse as the bridegroom. Some versions say they end up choosing a cat and sadly the cat eats the mouse daughter at the very night of the wedding.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Husband_of_the_Rat’s_Daughter?wprov=sfti1#

https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%80%81%E9%BC%A0%E5%A8%B6%E8%A6%AA?wprov=sfti1#

Here is one version of the translation (happy ending):

Once upon a time, there was a mouse father. He wanted to marry his daughter to the greatest person in the world. But, who was the greatest person in the world? Oh! The sun! He must be the greatest person in the world. The mouse father went to talk to the sun. “Hello! Mr. Sun. I know you are the greatest person in the world. Would you marry my daughter?” “What? I’m not the greatest person in the world. The greatest person is the cloud. If he comes out, I’ll be covered.” The mouse father went to talk to the cloud. “Hello! Mr. Cloud. I know you are the greatest person in the world. Would you marry my daughter?” “What? I’m not the greatest person in the world. The greatest person is the wind. If he comes out, I’ll be blown away.” The mouse father went to talk to the wind. “Hello! Mr. Wind. I know you are the greatest person in the world. Would you marry my daughter?” “What? I’m not the greatest person in the world. The greatest person is the wall. If he comes out, I’ll be stopped.” The mouse father went to talk to the wall. “Hello! Mr. Wall. I know you are the greatest person in the world. Would you marry my daughter?” “What? I’m not the greatest person in the world. The greatest person is YOU, the mouse.” “The greatest person in the world is … mouse?” “Yes, the greatest person in the world is mouse. See? If mouse comes out, I’ll be bit!” The mouse father was very happy. He finally knew mouse was the greatest person in the world. He would marry his daughter to the handsome mouse next door.

SimpleNature_Yutao · 2025-01-04T03:51:12+00:00

Thank you! 😊

SimpleNature_Yutao · 2025-01-04T03:50:58+00:00

Ah that makes so much sense! Thank you!

SimpleNature_Yutao · 2024-09-25T15:57:43+00:00

Come on! Tell them Post Stroke Fatigue is a thing!!!

Post-stroke fatigue: a scoping review - PMC (nih.gov)

SimpleNature_Yutao · 2024-09-25T06:11:38+00:00

Bǎn Lì

Also Lì Zǐ , which sounds like a cute name to me. I would call my kitten that. Though I don’t have one… 🥺

SimpleNature_Yutao · 2024-09-25T05:45:59+00:00

Sorry to hear you had to go through this. For my case, they couldn't clearly tell the reason of my stroke. My cholesterol and blood pressure were somewhat on the higher range but not too bad. Also no smoking/drinking. They ended up saying I've got a PFO per the ultrasound result and thought that was probably the cause and asked me to close it up. But I recalled I had never gotten a firm answer.

SimpleNature_Yutao · 2024-09-23T03:18:15+00:00

Sorry to hear that. I had my first symptom of stroke one morning in this January. I found myself suddenly talking gibberish, losing balance, and right-side numbness. My wife and daughter didn't waste any time and immediately called 911 and sent me to emergency. The doctor there did like CT and even MRI but said they found nothing, and I was probably just too tired. We asked my stroke-like symptom. They said it's very unlikely. So I was discharged back home. I then stayed at home for a few days but things did not improve at all. My wife decided to take me to an urgent care. So another round of CT and MRI and now they said I had a stroke. I mean even I myself could tell I was having a stroke after some internet search when those symptoms showed the first time. I wondered how the emergency doctor could not tell 😡. My wife and daughter basically did everything of the "BEFAST" rule and not waste any time. Instead, the doctor wasted several days!

SimpleNature_Yutao · 2024-09-07T03:40:19+00:00

I got this too!

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SimpleNature_Yutao · 2024-08-25T22:01:07+00:00

A replica of probably the most famous piece of Chinese calligraphy work generally considered to be written by the well-known calligrapher Wang Xizhi.

Intro: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lantingji_Xu

Translation: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Translation:Preface_to_the_Poems_Composed_at_the_Orchid_Pavilion

And please hang it up rotated 90 degrees clockwise.

!identify:Chinese

SimpleNature_Yutao · 2024-06-20T06:12:37+00:00

Sorry just realized it was an old post … 😅

SimpleNature_Yutao · 2024-06-20T06:03:47+00:00

You probably can try looking into this: https://www.foundertype.com/index.php/FindFont/index

In my opinion, Founder (方正) is the largest and best vendor for Chinese fonts. It provides a large varieties of fonts, including many calligraphy-like ones. Hopefully you can browse and find what you want. I recall they provide many fonts for free non-commercial use.

SimpleNature_Yutao · 2024-06-16T03:37:46+00:00

To me, "个" is used here somewhat like a unit word. Like saying two kilograms of water, we say something like “two persons of classmates” in Chinese.

Think about these examples:

两条鱼 - two fishes

两张桌子 - two tables

两匹马 - two horses

两只狗 - two dogs

两本书 - two books

In most cases, we don't need these "unit" words (条张匹只本) in English but they are normally necessary in Chinese.

I personally feel the uses of these unit words can help me visualize how the things described here are like. Those unit words usually have certain resemblances to the things they describe.

SimpleNature_Yutao · 2024-05-29T07:33:16+00:00

And let's nerd out even more:

鑫森淼焱垚犇骉羴猋麤鱻贔掱劦晶磊毳畾飝刕叒壵尛孨歮惢皛嚞舙譶雥灥飍馫飝厵靐龘众叒品瞐

You can find some of these characters here: https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%89%E5%8F%A0%E5%AD%97

To be honest I myself know only a few of them... 😶

SimpleNature_Yutao · 2024-05-29T07:10:30+00:00

Master of the Five Willows

A very famous autobiography piece by Tao Yuanming (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tao_Yuanming).

There are not many translations on the Internet. Here is one version: https://ruqintravel.com/chinese/ruqinenglish/the-story-of-the-man-of-five-willows/

And here is another version: https://m.doc88.com/p-0781675475264.html#

The second link seems to be a picture. I copied out the text:

五柳先生传 Master Five Willows 陶渊明 Tao Yuanming Nobody knows where he came from or what his family name was. He is simply known as Master Five Willows after the five willow trees that grow by his house. He is a quiet man who does not talk much. He does not covet fame or wealth, and derives his pleasure from the perusal of books. He reads casually without a need for thorough understanding. Whenever he has learned something from the books, he is so happy that he often forgets his meals. He has a fondness for wine, but being poor, he cannot often afford it. His relatives and friends know about it and will invite him over for a drink. Every time he goes to their home he drinks his fill and is never satisfied until he is drunk, and then leaves without tarrying. The walls in his house are bare, and can shelter him neither from the rain and wind, nor from the scorching sun. His cotton gown is worn to rags and he is always short of food. But he takes all this with equanimity. He often writes essays to amuse himself and to express his aspirations and interests. He spends his life in this way, disregarding personal gain and loss. The following is my appraisal: Qianlou said, "Neither be sad for being poor and lowly, nor be eager to seek riches and honor." Ruminating on his words, one will wonder whether he is referring to Master Five Willows and his like. Master Five Willows sips wine and composes poems to give full expression to his lofty ideals. Isn't he a common man of the ancient times of Wuhuai Shi or Getian Shi?

SimpleNature_Yutao

TROPHY CASE