contemporary and contemporaneous

Contemporaneous

     formal happening or done in the same period of time [= contemporary]

Contemporary

    1 belonging to the present time [= modern]

   2 happening or done in the same period of time
    E.g. contemporary with

Notably vs. Particularly

[from Longman dictionary]

Notably: 1. Used to say that a person or thing is a typical example or the most important example of something; 2. formal - in a way that is clearly different, important, or unusual

     E.g. 1. Emigration has notably increased over the past five years.

     E.g. 2. Notably absent from his statement was any hint of an apolog

Particularly: more than usual or more than others

     E.g. 1. The restaurant is particularly popular with young people.

             2. We are hoping to expand our business, particularly in Europe.

Karine's haiku practice 10/28

Am I getting old?
I can't help myself but think...
Old style is better.

I don't know why, but I just keep listening to 80's and 90's English songs recently. There's an unexplained inner drive. Although I do think some of Lady Gaga's songs are incredible, I still feel songs like 'Everything I do, I do it for you' or 'Making love out of nothing at all' are much easier to my ear...  
Okay, I AM getting old. I admit it!   ha ha  XDDDD

Karine's current favorite ipad game: RoomBreak: Escape NOW!!!

    RoomBreak: Escape Now!!! This game app developed by Gameday Inc. is my favorite ipad game so far. Why I enjoy this game so much? There are three major reasons.
    First, RoomBreak has a story for each of it's episode. Every episode has it's own introducing and ending animation. However, players will never know what really happen in the end unless they manage to escape from the 5 rooms of each episode. The underlying stories turn players as the main character in the game in stead of just being outsiders, thus significantly increasing the fun of the game.
    Second, RoomBreak has great features, including beautiful graphics, odd dialogue, and suspenseful background music. All these features create awesome atmosphere for the game.
    Finally, complex strategies are required to solve the puzzles of the game. Different tools or objects are required in different rooms. Players not only have to search for them, but also have to brainstorm for how to use them. Sometimes different objects need to be mixed  to create a new object, and sometimes an object has to be divided into different parts. Furthermore, players are required to resolve a certain amount of puzzles to get hints for opening the doors. The difficulty of the puzzles increase when the game toward its end, providing great challenges to players.
    If you have no idea of what to play with your ipad, RoomBreak is recommended as a must try. In addition, there's a super advantage that I haven't mentioned... It is FREE!

The game trailer on Youtube:

Karine's haiku practice 9/13

I love this island.
Although it is not perfect.
Taiwan, my homeland.

龍飛鳳舞(Flying Dragon, Dancing Phoenix) A Taiwanese comedy movie for celebrating the new year 2012 (Lunar calendar). The director may want to metaphor the difficult international situation of Taiwan. He may also simply just want to describe the struggling struggles of a disappearing traditional art (outdoor Taiwanese opera). It is said that "all the world is a stage, and all the men and women merely players." The characters are players on the stage and behind the stage in the movie; they may also play the lives of ours. (another try: The characters in the movie are players on a stage playing a role's life of the stage. They are also players of their own lives in the movie. Furthermore, they may also play the lives of ours.)

For full length version of the background song :

Brief summary of Monday's talk - by Karine

I think what makes transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) so attractive is that tDCS seems to bring us some "hope". Not only because it brings hope to patients, but also to normal people.

It's an interesting topic we had on Monday. The discussion started with an argument. Expert swimmers can improve their performance after tDCS stimulation. However, beginner swimmers can also improve their performance by being told to reduce concentration on their body movements. It seems that we can improve our own performance by either external stimulation or internal control. So, what's the difference between these two strategies? I don't know the correct answer actually. Here's what I thought. Here are some thoughts.

Our brain is an energy consuming machine and different parts of our brain compete with each other for the limited energy resources.Take motor performance as an example. Several particular parts of our brain work together to perform motor control, forming a system I would call 'motor control system'. However, the productivity of this 'motor control system' is affected by other systems in our brain, such as the emotion system or the cognition system (which participating participants in the concentration process). Therefore, for the beginner swimmers, if they reduce concentration on their limbs and keep relaxed, they perform better. On the other hand, tDCS may improve the capacity of the motor control system to perform better, perhaps by increasing information delivering delivery speed within the system. Thus, with tDCS, the motor control system may work better with less energy needed, I guess. Although I don't know which aforementioned strategy which of the aforementioned strategies  is more powerful than the other, it is interesting to think about what may happen be underlying them. : )

[Quick note] tdcs+passive vs. tdcs + task-oriented. which one is better? on impairment level and on functional level.

Karine's haiku practice 8/23

The kiwi angel.
I will search you among stars.
Have a good rest there.

Write at the 7th day after the last glance I had at my dear classmate's face. Thanks to him for the wonderful time we shared together once. Those memories are still shining in my mind~