Recent life updates:

1. After more than half a year of deliberation, I finally ditched my BlackBerry and switched to the Galaxy Note.

The dilemma on the right occurred when choosing a new phone model. I had always intended to stick with BlackBerry, so the 9780, 9810, and 9900 were all in consideration. Ultimately, I somewhat settled on the 9780 (second from the right). However, endless network disconnections, a lack of apps, and a small screen were major factors that deterred me from continuing with BlackBerry.

As for the iPhone 4S, it was also one of my options for a new phone. Unfortunately, having used iOS for too long, I had grown weary of it. The terrible input method (without jailbreaking), the small screen (too small for two hands, yet not enough for one), and the limited storage at a high price (16GB is simply insufficient) were significant drawbacks. Additionally, the ubiquity of the iPhone made bumping into someone with the same phone quite frustrating. The pricing is also outrageous: 16GB for 5000 and 32GB for 6000, with an extra 1000 for an additional 16GB of storage, while a 16GB TF card costs only 80 yuan on the market. Generally, phones like Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone see price adjustments shortly after release, often dropping quickly. However, the iPhone’s price only drops when the next generation is released, making it a severely overpriced product.

The Nokia Lumia 800 with Windows Phone was also considered, but there are too many uncertainties with WP. It’s fine for trying out, but not a reliable plan.

After considering all these frustrating factors, I finally bought the Galaxy Note. The Hong Kong version, along with a 16GB C10 card, a leather case, a screen protector, two 2500mAh batteries, and a universal charger, ended up costing more than the 16GB iPhone 4S. However, I feel much more at ease. Holding an Apple product always gives me the feeling of being cheated, like a naive farmer.

2. This website has undergone another migration.

At some point, I heard a notification in the “♂Painful Biology Research Institute♀” QQ group about registering a new hosting account. I thought it was just for fun, but later found out that the previous shared VPS was about to expire (?), so we had to hastily migrate. The Kloxo global backup package was about 110M, expanding to 800M after extraction. After filtering out many abandoned websites, the uploaded tgz file was only about 30M.

The new hosting is still unknown, with a cPanel interface but no SSH, which is quite frustrating. Even free cPanel hosting spaces allow SSH through SFTP ports, which is a bummer.

Well, no SSH means no way to bypass internet restrictions on my phone. (I’ve always believed that hosting with SSH is more cost-effective than SSH accounts.)

3. I’ve completed a year of check-ins on Xiami Music.

I don’t know when this habit started, but I’ve used the recovery tool card at least 10 times (to restore to the highest historical check-in days). Anyway, the check-in days slowly increased, surpassing 365 days, and I received a reward of 100 Xiami coins from Xiaomi (enough to download 130 songs).

For a year of check-ins, you get 2 Xiami coins for every full week, totaling 104 coins for 52 weeks; 10 coins for every full month, totaling 110 coins for 11 months; plus 100 coins for a full year, totaling 314 coins. After deducting the dozens of coins spent on tool cards, it’s essentially one song per day (0.8 coins).

4. Somehow, I caught a cold these past two days.

The weather has been erratic, swinging between 28°C and 12°C. It’s that time again when one nostril clears while the other gets blocked.

I once researched whether drinking milk is good when you have a cold, and my previous conclusion was that you should definitely not drink milk when you have a cold.

Damn, today I suddenly found another version:

Many people believe that drinking milk during a cold is a terrible idea because it supposedly increases mucus production. However, in reality, milk does not cause excessive mucus secretion. You can drink milk freely without it affecting your cold.

The previous information I found was:

After eating, the body’s basal metabolic rate increases, raising body temperature, especially after consuming protein. Eggs and milk are high in protein, and consuming them while feverish not only fails to lower body temperature but can actually raise it, hindering recovery. Other high-protein foods like lean meat and fish also add extra body heat and should be consumed sparingly.

5. Watched over a hundred episodes of the “National Geographic: Megastructures” documentary series.

The U.S. is indeed the U.S., answering countless childhood questions. For example, the principles behind aircraft carrier steam catapults, how fighter jets and helicopters operate, tank assembly, urban design, and the construction of giant oil tankers, among others.

Since the documentaries were filmed some years ago, many technologies seem outdated compared to today’s rapid advancements.

There are about 160GB of files, which I downloaded continuously for a week at work. Tencent’s offline download service is quite impressive, though the storage space is a bit small, currently only 60GB. It took several attempts to download all 100+ videos.

[Offline Download]

As a paid service, Tencent’s offline download, despite its limited capacity, is quite cost-effective compared to Thunder, which is one of the main reasons I still maintain a QQ membership.

PS: Just discovered that QQ Whirlwind 3.9 has added a new feature, Whirl Disk, which allows storing offline downloaded files in the Whirl Disk. The storage space and duration have significantly increased, with 100GB of space and 100 days of storage.

Megastructures 1: USS Ronald Reagan Megastructures 2: German Autobahn Megastructures 3: Channel Tunnel Megastructures 4: Sears Tower Megastructures 5: Kansai International Airport Megastructures 6: Akashi Kaikyō Bridge Megastructures 7: Itaipu Dam Megastructures 8: Petronas Towers Megastructures 9: Super Casino Megastructures 10: Golden Gate Bridge Megastructures 11: Alcatraz Megastructures 12: The Pentagon Megastructures 13: Port of Singapore Megastructures 14: TauTona Gold Mine Megastructures 15: Las Vegas Megastructures 16: Oil from Sand Megastructures 17: Ekati Diamond Mine Megastructures 18: Sea Launch Megastructures 19: North Sea Barrier Megastructures 20: Dubai’s Palm Islands Megastructures 21: Indianapolis Motor Speedway Megastructures 22: Port of Rotterdam Megastructures 23: C-5 Galaxy Megastructures 24: North Branch Correctional Institution Megastructures 25: Airbus A380 Megastructures 26: USS Virginia Megastructures 27: Luxor Hotel and Casino Megastructures 28: Superman: Escape from Krypton Megastructures 29: NORAD Megastructures 30: Berlin Hauptbahnhof Megastructures 31: Boston’s Big Dig Megastructures 32: Extreme Oil Drilling Megastructures 33: Satellite Launch Site Megastructures 34: Millau Viaduct Megastructures 35: Super Tanker Megastructures 36: Berlin Wall Megastructures 37: Rion-Antirion Bridge Megastructures 38: Øresund Bridge Megastructures 39: Hoover Dam Megastructures 40: Inside NCIS Megastructures 41: Garbage Mountain Megastructures 42: Tank - War Machine Megastructures 43: Super Tanker Megastructures 44: Missile - War Machine Megastructures 45: Raw Materials - Steel Megastructures 46: Apache Helicopter Megastructures 47: Guns - War Machine Megastructures 48: Panama Canal Megastructures 49: Small Bricks, Big Uses Megastructures 50: Raw Materials - Cement Megastructures 51: Super Factories - Ferrari Megastructures 52: Money Factory Megastructures 53: Great Bridges of China Megastructures 54: Super Submarine Megastructures 55: Ice Hotel Megastructures 56: Mining Tools Megastructures 57: Super Pipeline Megastructures 58: Giant Tunnel Boring Machine Megastructures 59: Super Helicopter Megastructures 60: Super Factories - Harley-Davidson Megastructures 61: Super Factories - John Deere Megastructures 62: Super Factories - Peterbilt Megastructures 63: Super Factories - Abrams Tank Megastructures 64: Big Move - Cathedral Megastructures 65: Big Move - Ancient Ruins Megastructures 66: Big Move - Giant Machines Megastructures 67: Big Move - Entire Town Megastructures 68: Maglev Train Megastructures 69: The World Islands Megastructures 70: Burj Al Arab Megastructures 71: Mostar Bridge Megastructures 72: Super Crusher Megastructures 73: Bahrain World Trade Center Megastructures 74: Hawaii Superferry Megastructures 75: Queen Mary 2 Megastructures 76: Antarctic Research Station Ancient Megastructures 77: Chartres Cathedral Ancient Megastructures 78: Colosseum Ancient Megastructures 79: Great Pyramid of Giza Megastructures 80: Super Factories - BMW Megastructures 81: Super Factories - Corvette Megastructures 82: Beijing Water Cube Megastructures 83: Geothermal Drilling Megastructures 84: China’s Ultimate Port Megastructures 85: Shanghai Super Tower Megastructures 86: Ultimate Skyscraper Megastructures 87: Super Factories - Fire Truck Megastructures 88: Super Factories - UPS Megastructures 89: Super Factories - Caterpillar Megastructures 90: Super Factories - Winnebago Megastructures 91: Large Hadron Collider Megastructures 92: World’s Largest Casino - Venetian Macao Megastructures 93: Bridge Demolition Megastructures 94: Sinking Aircraft Carrier Megastructures 95: Iceland’s Super Dam Megastructures 96: Beijing National Stadium - Bird’s Nest Megastructures 97: Earthquake Glass House Megastructures 98: Sun Engine Megastructures 99: Great Wall of China Megastructures 100: Building Green Beijing Megastructures 101: Super Factories - Alvis Armored Vehicle Megastructures 102: Super Factories - Lamborghini Megastructures 103: Super Factories - Chevrolet Camaro Megastructures 104: Super Factories - F-18 Fighter Megastructures 105: Super Factories - Porsche Megastructures 106: Super Factories - Rolls-Royce Megastructures 107: Super Factories - Budweiser Megastructures 108: Super Factories - IKEA Megastructures 109: Alaska’s Giant Megastructures 110: Earthmovers (Giant Excavators, Loaders, Bulldozers) Megastructures 111: Grand Canyon Skywalk Megastructures 112: Super Factories - New York Subway Express Ancient Megastructures 113: Machu Picchu Ancient Megastructures 114: Petra Ancient Megastructures 115: St. Paul’s Cathedral Megastructures 116: Super Factories - Audi R8 Megastructures 117: Bugatti Supercar Megastructures 118: Custom Hot Rod Ford

6. Spent another birthday alone.

After another birthday, I realized an increasingly harsh reality: marriage is like handing in an exam paper. The first to hand in are either genuinely happy or just think they are (and might end up retaking the exam). The last to hand in either check their answers multiple times or randomly fill in the answers. Seeing others hand in their papers makes most people rush to finish theirs.

I hope everyone doesn’t hand in their papers too early; it puts a lot of pressure on me.