[Day 93] Who is the best professor in the world

August 11, 2016August 11, 2016 ChipBest professor, Computer Science, CS106A, Mehran Sahami, TeachingLeave a comment

Another of my answers on Quora went viral. It got 300k views and 10k upvotes in 3 days. My friends saw my answer and messaged me “congrats” and I was like: “why?” Are those upvotes going to improve my life in anyway? Can I brag about them on my resume or use them to buy foodstamp?

I like writing answers on Quora. It’s a nice feeling when somebody thanks you for your answer. It’s like, okay, I might suck at life but at least someone on the Internet finds me useful. I just don’t think I deserve any merit when one of my answers accidentally goes viral.

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[Day 90] The cheapest places in the world to live for a year

August 8, 2016August 9, 2016 ChipBudget travel, Cheapest places to live, Quora, SFGate, TravelLeave a comment

Today, I found out that something I wrote got featured on SFGate. Someone asked on Quora about the cheapest place to live for a year. I answered and SFGate republished it.

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I have been to more than 30 countries in Asia, Africa, South and Central America and I would say that if cost is all you care about, regardless of the standard of living, you would have plenty of options to live under $300/month. Below are some of my favorites:

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[Day 73] Let’s make a bet about the future

July 22, 2016October 7, 2019 ChipArtificial Intelligence, Bets, Futurist, Kevin Kelly, Long Bets, PredictionsLeave a comment

I have just found out about a website that totally changed the way I spend my free time. It’s called the Long Bets. We read about Long Bets while checking out the Interval, a retro, steampunk-ish, peculiar-looking place that claimed to be a “bar cafe museum”. As a side note, the Interval is such a pretty place that is definitely worth a visit.

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[Day 72] San Francisco’s Chatroulette on the Go

July 21, 2016October 7, 2019 ChipChatroulette, Random, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Strangers, UberPoolLeave a comment

Living a non-driving adult life in the Bay Area means that I will have to Uber a lot. On an average day, I take two Uber trips, and on days when I go out, I’d easily make 5 or 6 trips. In San Francisco, Uber has “UberPool” in which you share an Uber with random strangers. I always feel slightly excited whenever I take an UberPool because you never know who you are going to meet.

As my friend Tucker put it, UberPool is like a chatroulette on the go. With San Francisco being the heart of all kinds of ideologies, movements, tech, arts, expressions and the home of all kinds of people: startup founders, software engineers, activists, artists, chefs, new age bums, hipsters, nouveau riche, old rich, you never know who you are going to meet.

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[Day 66] Living that Bae Life

July 15, 2016October 7, 2019 ChipBay Area, Berkeley, Chess, El Cerrito, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, StanfordLeave a comment

So guys, I’m back in the Bay Area, and here are some updates about my life at the moment.

I work in San Francisco, room in Berkeley, party like it’s 1920s because it was the Prohibition period and I don’t drink.

I live in a beautiful house on top of a hill, overlooking the bay and several of its bridges. My three roommates are all competitive chess players–they became grandmasters in their early teens and naturally all they ever talk about is chess. They refer to me as their “non chess player friend” in the same loving manner the Malfoys do when they talk about the Muggles.

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[Day 64] Here is $2.50. Can I have your attention now?

July 13, 2016October 7, 2019 ChipAdblocker, Ads, Attention, Attention Economy, Kevin Kelly, Research, Value of Attention1 Comment

When I did the research about the value of attention for my rhetoric class, several people asked me to share the result. Here it is. I’d really appreciate it if you have any feedback for me.

If you speak the English language—I sure hope you do, because this article is written in English—you have probably come across the phrase “It’s not worth your attention”. We nonchalantly point at things and decide their value using the worth of our attention as the benchmark. We affix the verb “pay” in front of “attention” as if it is a currency we can use in a transaction. But what exactly is the worth of our attention? Say, if you have to put a price tag on it, what number would it be?

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[Day 63] Scotland for Dummies

July 12, 2016October 7, 2019 ChipCranachan, Deep fried mars bar, Dreich, Edinburgh, Haggis, Scotland, Travel, WhiskyLeave a comment

When we first arrived in Edinburgh, as an introduction to Scottish culture, they had us sit and listen to two gentlemen in suits talking in a monotonic Scottish accent for 4 hours. They had powerpoint slides and everything, and they just read things off the slides like tenured professors who have stopped giving a flying duck.

I went out looking for water but before I knew it, I was walking to the nearby ice cream shop and ordered myself a nice, mouthwatering scoop. When I came back, Delenn whispered: “My god you missed it. This guy just read Scottish words off a dictionary for half an hour. Every time he finished a word I thought he would stop, but he just kept going.”

Unrelated photo but I took this in Scotland and it’s pretty

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Learn365Project

Every day, I learn something new and write about it