June 2008 Archives

Linode is a VPS service provider. I signed up Linode 360 one month ago and then upgraded to Linode 540. Until now, I am very happy with their services. I want to share some of my feelings here.

1. Easy sign-up and payment. It is said phone verification is required, but I didn't receive the call (maybe because I am in Australia), and about half an hour later, the account was activated.
2. Easy OS installation. If I mess up, just re-install in the Linode manager.
   
3. Guaranted resources. Linode 360 guarantees no more than 40 linodes on a host. Linode 540 gurantees no more than 30. The memory will not be shared with others, but the CPU time can be burstable. If the CPU slice of neighbors is idle, it will be shared with others. On my linode, the host load is always idle or low according to the graph. My host is Lighttpd based (has a personal website and a Movable Type blog). Current memory usage is about 50M. 
   
4. Data centers at different locations. It is pretty good for users at different areas. I chose the data center at Fremont CA. While SSH, it has a very little lag.
5. On the dashboard of Linode manager, the CPU usage, network usage and  I/O rate are presented with graphs, so the linode can be easily monitored.
6. Easy upgrade. If upgrade is required, just open a support ticket. The staff will response shortly. If the new host is in the same data center, the IP won't change.
7. Increased resources. The resources of each linode increase. Several days ago, the disk storage increases 20% because of 5 year anniversary.
   

Above is my feelings after one month use. Hope they are useful for you.

最近真的好忙，机票，签证，找房，买电器... 机票好贵啊，好不容易才找到一个相对便宜的，但也要2700多澳币，还好导师可以资助我去开会，以后投欧洲的会议千万要慎重，机票贵不说，路上耽误的时间 太多，20多小时在飞机上，真是痛苦，而且还要倒时差。签证下周三出，希望不要出什么篓子。房子依然没有着落，现在已经把预算扩大到350一周，但依然还 是找不到比较令人满意的。电器已经差不多了，还差一个电视，究竟是买二手的还是全新的呢？
又要开始准备下一篇paper了，initial idea是有了，但是具体的算法，方案还值得进一步思考。不过感觉这个idea如果做好了，应该可以投很好的会议，加油吧！

I really don't like the conversation view of Gmail. When a conversation contains too many threads, it becomes very inconvenient to find the mail I want:( Anyway, conversation view should be an option for users, not a compulsory.

转自太傻澳洲留学移民申请版 http://bbs.taisha.org/thread-1063178-1-1.html

post-doc不是必须
' z7 o+ Z* g- L* L英国的等级制度是lecturer->(senior lecturer)->reader->(senior reader)->professor，其中两个senior不是必须。
4 C5 ~& C  c& o+ z美国的等级制度是assistant professor->associate professor->professor0 j2 K. S# g  l2 I
澳洲有点混合，lecturer->associate professor->professor, s3 [% Y* G3 R- l! g' G3 N
tenure track是美国特有的一种制度，只针对新近的assistant professor，按周期（一般8-10年）评选和晋级，如果没有通过tenure评选的话就lose job了。英国没有tenure这一说，从lectuer开始就是终生任职的
/ I8 {" y/ `" m, M/ D! w  ]0 Xlecturer分纯teaching和teaching加research两种，基本没有纯research的，但是一旦升级为reader或者professor就都是同时teaching加research了
' n/ I+ E* o' N2 A7 t纯research的通常都不是正规的academic路线
4 [9 G; u+ g& C+ h$ K( ^美国有很多种 research assistant, research associate , research scientist* I5 }9 L1 @$ a7 X: X
英国基本只有 researh associate
4 V1 E6 _- S7 R: c9 Q* `; h, g* T0 S5 L澳洲比较乱 researcher->(senior researcher), research fellow->(senior research fellow), p2 x& S7 ~$ _0 t, i
research分支没有必然的升级路线，assistant通常是没doctor学位的，associate/fellow/scientist是有 doctor学位的，researcher可能有也可能没有，而且这些都是签contract的，不是终生职位，根据级别不同薪水有差别
, r* l  ^6 [  |. _4 D英国的Professor似乎不能在外面开公司，澳洲可以: x$ h# o: c. O# d; Y6 X9 ?
research associate, research fellow, research scientist都是post-doc的一种

Just now, I got a paper submitted. This is the third paper during my postgraduate study. Finger cross now.