Tim Writes

Boise Day 10

timothytehsw — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:18:46 +0000

Did skiing at the Bogus Basin today. But before that, breakfast at a place called Goldys – pancake, hash brown, scrambled eggs and bacon! Then watched superbowl XLVI at a colleague’s place to cap off a full day.

He is the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them—
he remains faithful forever.

Psalms 146:6

Boise Day 9

timothytehsw — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 06:29:58 +0000

Did some hiking at a place called Table Rock today. At the summit of the hill, there is a large cross that lights up during the night. The weather today was perfect for hiking, the only downside was the muddy ground.

Of course, some Indian food before that =)

Boise Day 3

timothytehsw — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 10:02:19 +0000

Be Exalted, O God

One of the lessons I often learn from travelling is that many things are not in my control.
I can’t control whether the plane will land safely, 3 times.
I can’t determine whether the food I eat will agree with my stomach, or my general health for that matter.
I can’t change the cold weather even if I dislike it.
I can’t choose whether the local people will treat me well or not. In the past 2 days, I’ve been on the end of
racially-motivated taunts and jests by some local people. It was not physically abusive, but you know, sticks & stones.
I don’t know if I’ll be able to perform in my work during this business trip.

…and much more.

In this situation, I learn that I need to rely on God.

King David said in Psalms 33,

“¹⁸ But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him,
on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
¹⁹ to deliver them from death
and keep them alive in famine.

God’s love is unfailing, and my faith in his unfailing love is tested in situations like this.
Prior to verse 18 it reads:

¹⁶ No king is saved by the size of his army;
no warrior escapes by his great strength.
¹⁷ A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;
despite all its great strength it cannot save.
What do I respond to the racial incidents?

These words are radical. It even seems counter-intuitive; illogical. But after meditating on these words and much of the Bible I know that nothing humanly contrived can stand against the will of God.

Proverbs 21:30 says,

³⁰ There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan
that can succeed against the LORD.

³¹ The horse is made ready for the day of battle,
but victory rests with the LORD.

These are bold claims, but by the most beloved and wisest Kings of all time. Would you believe these words?
At times my heart is not fully convinced, especially due to the existential indicators, but I put my feeble faith in the future grace of God. That all things will work out for my good. Maybe those claims would not seem as outrageous anymore.

Just look at the birds of the air and the grass of the field. The creator of the heavens and the earth is in control, and so I do not fret.

What then, shall I say in response to the racists? I could say,” Hey, grow up man, get an education!”, or something like that. That would be my human instinct, and is not unwarranted.

Or I could, by God’s Spirit, say “I don’t know what motivated you to say those things, but something’s not right in your life. God knows and He can bring the change that your life needs.”

But in any case, I’m reminded of Jesus’ suffering and how I can share in His suffering. He was crucified by his own people – for their sake. If Jesus could forgive them, so could I, and so should I, for my own sake.

Be Exalted, O God, in heaven and on earth!

Sixth Sense Device

timothytehsw — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:09:01 +0000

Rain Tree

timothytehsw — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 13:23:57 +0000

Jeremiah 17:7-8

⁷ “But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
       whose confidence is in him. ⁸ He will be like a tree planted by the water
       that sends out its roots by the stream.
       It does not fear when heat comes;
       its leaves are always green.
       It has no worries in a year of drought
       and never fails to bear fruit.”

Where’s Occam’s Razor?

timothytehsw — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:04:32 +0000

Stars look down and laugh at me
I ought to take a bow
Don’t have to tell them life’s hard sometimes
There’s one falling now
Nobody’s here beside me
I can talk about it too
All the ways I want you

Inspiration

timothytehsw — Sun, 24 May 2009 13:02:08 +0000

These short video segments called “inspiration” on TV mobile has given some food for thought. Each video is subtitled with a few lines of quotes. Here’s an entree:

If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.

If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.

If children live with security, they learn to have faith.

If children live with acceptance, they learn to find love in this world.

With what are your children living with today?

Mad World

timothytehsw — Sun, 03 May 2009 15:12:43 +0000

Job Speaks

¹ After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. ² He said:

³ ”May the day of my birth perish,
and the night it was said, ‘A boy is born!’

⁴ That day—may it turn to darkness;
may God above not care about it;
may no light shine upon it.

⁵ May darkness and deep shadow claim it once more;
may a cloud settle over it;
may blackness overwhelm its light.

⁶ That night—may thick darkness seize it;
may it not be included among the days of the year
nor be entered in any of the months.

⁷ May that night be barren;
may no shout of joy be heard in it.

⁸ May those who curse days curse that day,
those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.

⁹ May its morning stars become dark;
may it wait for daylight in vain
and not see the first rays of dawn,

¹⁰ for it did not shut the doors of the womb on me
to hide trouble from my eyes.

¹¹ ”Why did I not perish at birth,
and die as I came from the womb?

¹² Why were there knees to receive me
and breasts that I might be nursed?

¹³ For now I would be lying down in peace;
I would be asleep and at rest

¹⁴ with kings and counselors of the earth,
who built for themselves places now lying in ruins,

¹⁵ with rulers who had gold,
who filled their houses with silver.

¹⁶ Or why was I not hidden in the ground like a stillborn child,
like an infant who never saw the light of day?

¹⁷ There the wicked cease from turmoil,
and there the weary are at rest.

¹⁸ Captives also enjoy their ease;
they no longer hear the slave driver’s shout.

¹⁹ The small and the great are there,
and the slave is freed from his master.

²⁰ ”Why is light given to those in misery,
and life to the bitter of soul,

²¹ to those who long for death that does not come,
who search for it more than for hidden treasure,

²² who are filled with gladness
and rejoice when they reach the grave?

²³ Why is life given to a man
whose way is hidden,
whom God has hedged in?

²⁴ For sighing comes to me instead of food;
my groans pour out like water.

²⁵ What I feared has come upon me;
what I dreaded has happened to me.

²⁶ I have no peace, no quietness;
I have no rest, but only turmoil.”

Amen

Misnomer

timothytehsw — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 14:21:00 +0000

I wonder why the media describes the financial assets of our present economy as “toxic”, as if it had a life of its own, victimising mankind with its poisonous value (or lack thereof). Such a contorted “euphemism” suggests that our current “predicament” had nothing to do with human greed, and surely nothing to do with the financial officers. They are victims too, you know. It sure sounds like that to me.

Humans – always in self-righteous denial and deflecting the blame.

Flexible OLED

timothytehsw — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:12:13 +0000

LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) make use of the direct recombination of minority carriers (holes or electrons) to emit photons.
The emissive layer is usually P-type (more holes) substrate because the diffusion length for electrons are longer (meaning larger emmisssion volume) – electrons would be injected into the P-type substrate from the N-type (more electrons) substrate.
OLEDs (Organic Light Emitting Diodes) make use of a film of organic compounds as the emissive electroluminescent layer. This time, the emissive layer is N-type, because in organic semiconductors holes are more mobile than electrons.
Because the organic substrate used can be flexible, we got a flexible LED display.

Advantages

- Because each pixel emits light on it’s own, there is no need for a backlight as in the case of LCDs. Hence there is power -savings.

-OLEDs enable a greater range of colors, gamut, brightness, contrast (both DR and static) and viewing angle than LCDs because OLED pixels directly emit light. OLED pixel colors appear correct and unshifted, even as the viewing angle approaches 90 degrees from normal. LCDs cannot show true black because they use a backlight, while an “off” OLED element produces no light and consumes no power.

Disadvantages

-The biggest technical problem for OLEDs is the limited lifetime of the organic materials. In particular, blue OLEDs historically have had a lifetime of around 14,000 hours (5 years at 8 hours a day) when used for flat-panel displays, which is lower than typical lifetime of LCD, LED or technology—each currently rated for about 60,000 hours, depending on manufacturer and model. Toshiba and Panasonic have come up with a way to solve this problem with a new technology that can double the lifespan of OLED displays, pushing its expected life past that of LCD displays. A metal membrane helps deliver light from polymers in the substrate throughout the glass surface more efficiently than current OLEDs. The result is the same picture quality with half the brightness and a doubling of the screen’s expected life.

Ideas for applications: Perhaps these flexible displays could replace textbooks, since they can withstand bending stress, and their low power consumption makes portability feasible. This means less strain on young schoolgoers.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLED