Looking for that young man
Due to the need for part-time work, I often search for some software. On September 12th, I opened an automatic shutdown software called "iCloseDown". The interface is very retro. It was a product from 19 years ago. The author was 15 years old at the time. When he was 9 years old, he suffered from nephrotic syndrome and there was no specific medicine. He relied on hormone therapy. The condition kept recurring and he did not fully recover. The author's father was afraid that the illness would affect his studies and future employment, so he bought him a computer. The author made up his mind to learn a skill on the computer, so he created iCloseDown and a website called "Programming Hut".
The website is no longer accessible, but the software can still be used. I checked the content of the website in 2004 through the Wayback Machine. The author was very dedicated. In addition to iCloseDown, he also developed several other small tools, but it is unclear what happened afterwards. It was a software made with love, but he also wanted to use this software to lighten the burden of his parents' medical expenses. In the "About" section, he expressed his hope that people with the ability would pay for his software to fulfill his wish of reducing the burden on his parents. If you want to see the author's original content, you can click on this link to view it.
Today in 2023, reading the words he left 19 years ago feels like having a conversation across time and space.
I posted the above content on Twitter, and many people left comments, retweeted, and liked it, all concerned about the current situation and condition of this young man. Soon, a Twitter user named @CBunhaku discovered the author's personal website in 2013 through a search. He expressed that his condition was basically cured and he found a job as a programmer. In 2016, he continued to update the software, but did not disclose any personal information. I found out through a domain name whois search that his domain name was renewed once last year, and there was no more information available.
When I posted the tweet, I made a small mistake. In my memory, 2004 was only 10 years ago, so I wrote "10 years ago" in the tweet. It was not until @陈仓颉 reminded me that I realized that 2004 was almost 20 years ago.
Originally, this matter would have ended here, until I saw the article posted by 和菜头 - "Things I Like to Write About". He said that there were many things he could have written about that day, such as Apple's press conference or Elon Musk's biography, but he chose to write about my search for the software author. From my tweet to the participation of other netizens in the search and providing information, this whole chain of events was included in the article. Fortunately, he didn't screenshot my tweet, otherwise it would have been embarrassing.
One sentence that impressed me:
He won't appear in today's tech news headlines, but I like his life story. Just like I like the fact that netizens followed an old software from 19 years ago to find the original author. Because it's warm, and because it's powerful.
That day, I left a comment in the article's comment section saying that I am the Bruce.Hu mentioned in the article. Many netizens replied to my comment, expressing their gratitude and thanking me for creating a heartwarming story. 和菜头 also thanked me for having the motivation to search for that young man online and for sharing everything I found.
Actually, I didn't do much. After reading the author's words, my first reaction was a sense of emotion and touched. Then I wanted to explore his subsequent story. We often spend too much time focusing on celebrities and internet celebrities, caring about their daily lives and activities. But what's the point? Ordinary people and ordinary things may not catch our attention, but their seemingly insignificant actions and things can often leave us with the most sincere warmth.
Interview
A while ago, I submitted my resume to the human resources department of SF Express through their campus recruitment website. On the afternoon of the 13th, I participated in the first interview. It was a group interview, conducted in the form of leaderless group discussion. Six candidates discussed the content of a PDF file.
The general idea was that a foreign food company wanted to further expand its market in China and gave us four products to choose from. We had to choose two of them as the main focus for promotion, with a budget of 2 million yuan. We had to consider the health and taste level of the products, and also provide a marketing plan.
I am not good at leaderless group discussions, especially when it comes to discussing topics unrelated to my major. At the beginning, the six of us each stated our personal opinions and choices for the products, and it happened that two camps were formed. But shortly after the discussion started, the other two people who had the same choice as me changed their minds. Helplessly, I had to go along with their consensus and continue participating in the discussion.
Throughout the process, I felt that my performance was not very good. After my opinions were rejected, my enthusiasm decreased. In addition, there were many marketing-related knowledge involved, and I couldn't provide very accurate opinions. Just when I thought I would be eliminated, I received a notification from HR that I passed the initial interview and asked if I had time for the final interview.
At 11 am on the 15th, I participated in the final interview through WeChat video. This one-on-one interview was much easier, mainly focusing on the content of my resume, such as personal information, family background, extracurricular experiences, school experiences, and a brief introduction to the job position and tasks. Throughout the process, I was confident and smooth in my narration. I am currently waiting for the follow-up results, and there may be a third interview.
Passenger Etiquette
On Thursday morning, my roommate and I went out to take ID photos and suddenly realized that I looked good in a suit.
In the afternoon, I took a high-speed train to go somewhere. The journey there was relatively smooth, and the train was quiet, even if there were videos playing, the volume was low. But the experience on the return trip today was a mess.
It was also a high-speed train, a journey of over 50 minutes, but I was disturbed by a group of elderly ladies on the train for at least 40 minutes. From my rough observation, they seemed to be a group of elderly ladies traveling together. They were talking and laughing during the return journey, and even snatching red envelopes in their WeChat group. When they saw someone who hadn't snatched it, they loudly called out, "Hurry up and snatch it!" I had hoped that the passengers nearby would remind them to keep quiet after a while, but it was clear that I was expecting too much. Despite repeated reminders from other passengers and train attendants passing by, it had no effect. They would just say, "Okay, okay, we'll get off soon," and then continue to talk and laugh loudly. Is it an excuse to say that they will get off soon?
In the afternoon, people are easily tired, and most people just want to rest for a while after getting on the train. I had my headphones on, listening to music, but it still couldn't drown out their voices.
A similar experience happened on August 26th. After getting off the train that day, I wrote in my phone's notes:
If I have my own children in the future, I will definitely tell them, with their understanding, not to play videos or music out loud in public places, not to talk loudly or make noise, not to take off their shoes or socks; try to minimize any unpleasant odors (such as body odor) on themselves; and to maintain civility and politeness.
It's difficult to change the previous generation and the same generation, and I don't want to change them. What I can do is to change myself and influence the next generation through efforts.
Don't let our next generation become the people we dislike.
Interesting Things and Objects
- 和菜头's article "Things I Like to Write About": Ordinary people look up to greatness, but it is also ordinary people who can look down and discover greatness in the ordinary. Believing in the beauty that still exists in this world is important, just like believing that ordinary things and great achievements are equally important.
- YeungYeah's article "The Power of Expression: Writing and Emotional Venting": Expression or output is an effective tool for showcasing oneself and a way to release emotions. There is an image in the form of a cartoon, where a person is full of emotions, and through writing and recording, the emotions are transferred to words and paper, which is an effective way to release emotions.
- Watched "Train to Busan 2: Peninsula": Although I haven't watched the first part, it didn't affect my viewing. Four years after the outbreak of the zombie virus, South Korea was isolated from the rest of the world, and the remaining refugees fled to Hong Kong. Later, someone couldn't resist the temptation of money and risked their lives to return to the Korean Peninsula to steal a large amount of US dollars. My feeling is that it was average, you could say it was "Train to Busan meets Fast and Furious".
- Currently watching "The Bad Kids": The plot is very exciting, but there is a constant sense of dissonance. On Mount Longhu in Jiangxi, wearing Daoist robes to practice, and then taking selfies with a phone, playing games on an iPad... The character played by Peng Yuchang perfectly embodies the qualities of being pretentious, mischievous, and shameless.
- Currently reading "Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future": A biography published on Tuesday. There has been a lot of discussion on Twitter, and I read a few chapters out of curiosity. It starts from Musk's childhood and goes all the way to April 2023. These stories answer a question: is the demon that drives Musk in his heart also necessary for innovation and progress? There are already Chinese versions available online, but I recommend reading the original English version and comparing it. The Chinese version has been edited and modified. The publisher must regret putting the e-book on sale so quickly.