Better Call Shao

I'm excited to announce that all Embodied AI-related content is moving to a new, dedicated podcast: Embodied AI 101 . You can find it now on Apple Podcasts. I plan to update this new channel much more frequently, diving deep into the latest research and developments in the field. For all my listeners who have followed the Embodied AI series, I invite you to join me over at "Embodied AI 101" to con...

I recently stumbled upon a page from my LogSeq journal, written this past May after a night of deep introspection and conversation (with a bit of wine involved). At the time, I realized that my longtime mode of operation—my Old MO —was no longer serving me. In that journal entry, I explored what that Old MO looked like, why I needed to change, and the shape of the New MO I’m working toward. While...

I’ve always wished I had more time to dive into the intricacies of observational astronomy. I want to understand mechanisms that seem too absurd to reason about. What are the margins of error in our knowledge? What does it mean to have an acoustic wave in the early baryonic universe (Baryonic Acoustic Oscillation)? What does it mean to have an inflation of space itself happening everywhere at once...

Ariel By Sylvia Plath in her own voice Stasis in darkness. Then the substanceless blue Pour of tor and distances. God’s lioness, How one we grow, Pivot of heels and knees!—The furrow Splits and passes, sister to The brown arc Of the neck I cannot catch, Nigger-eye Berries cast dark Hooks— Black sweet blood mouthfuls, Shadows. Something else Hauls me through air— Thighs, hair; Flakes from my heels....

Parenting is a wild ride, and today was no exception. It’s 9:30 PM, and I’m trying to convince my toddler son that sleep is a wonderful idea. We’re snuggled in bed, and I pull out my classic argument: "All your friends are already asleep, buddy. If you want to have fun playing with them tomorrow at school, you need to rest now so you’re not sleepy during playtime." To my relief, he starts panning,...

Why did you play with the food and not eat it like I told you? This is what my father asks my toddler, and the answer, if we think about it, is simple: curiosity. Curiosity is so deeply embedded in us that we often overlook it. It’s why we reach out, touch, and explore. I touch things because they’re interesting. I engage with the world because I enjoy interacting with it. This impulse to explore...

On a crisp autumn night, my wife and I found ourselves in the emergency department of UCSF Children's Hospital with our son. As he dozed off in my arms, fatigue overcame me, prompting a walk around the ward. In the lobby, I immediately noticed a group of police officers talking with two doctors. Their attention was focused on a corner room with an open door, their demeanor neither tense nor relaxe...

Guest: Never being born is quiet and peaceful. But to become a sensible being, burdened with the imperfections of human nature, plunges one into pain. It’s messy and worse than never being born. For example, once alive, one suffers from laziness because it takes tremendous effort to understand the world and find one’s place in it. Most cannot manage this and end up living against their nature. Ano...

So. I have a Whirlpool dishwasher that came with my newly built townhouse. A few months ago, there was a minor problem. I called the service center, they sent a technician who fixed it promptly, and it was a good experience I hardly remember. Last week, it broke again for a different reason. I called the service center and, after waiting for 5 minutes while being repeatedly told to book a service...

While traveling in Lisbon, I attended two meetups for entrepreneurs. This was my first peek into the entrepreneurial side of the city. General Observations Meetups in Lisbon are predominantly attended by English-speaking foreigners. Portugal offers a Golden Visa program: Foreigners can obtain citizenship in 4 years by investing €500,000 in real estate. There's no capital gains tax on cryptocurrenc...

1. Why talk about presentations? In teams large or small, meetings often start with a presentation. I sometimes lose attention amongst the slides, unable to understand their relevance to the main thesis. This is especially problematic in technical design reviews due to the large amount of new information presented. In my opinion , we can improve the audience experience, and thus the overall effect...

In September 2018 and January 2020, I twice visited Teotihuacan, often referred to as the "Pyramid of the Sun" near Mexico City. The true names of these massive structures remain unknown, as the city fell a millennium ago, leaving no traceable lineage. Tourists are greeted with obsidian stones and pulque , echoes of an ancient culture. My first ascent of the pyramid remains vivid in my memory: sta...

The Free Software movement once carried a set of values that are no longer influential. It has been superseded by free food and has devolved into ideological freedom . This article is highly opinionated. Freedom My journey with Free Software began in 2012 during an internship at Broadcom, where I hacked the Linux kernel. However, my introduction to its courage and ideals occurred in 2013 when I ad...

COVID-19 has prevented millions of people from returning to their offices after the Lunar New Year holidays. Right now, many software engineers in China are likely coding from their living rooms— working from home (WFH), also known as remote work . Reflecting on my three years of working from home, I’d like to share some lessons learned and insights. In 2015, I lived in Vancouver as a Chinese nati...