Monthly Archives: February 2017

Wiki Vacation 2009: Trunk Bay

Posted on February 26, 2017 by Xinhai Dude 辛亥生

This is a mini-post, a part of the Wiki Vacation series of posts from my tour of the US Virgin Islands in 2009. The trip to Trunk Bay was our first visit to Saint John, and was limited to half a day, where we went with family and friends. Our second trip to Saint John followed a few day after, where we went alone, documented on the post on Caneel Bay. Continue reading →

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Wiki Vacation 2009: Caneel Bay

Posted on February 26, 2017 by Xinhai Dude 辛亥生

I dug up more Wiki Vacation pictures from my 2009 to Caneel Bay, following the first in the series from the trip back to Taiwan. Caneel Bay is a resort on the northwest side of St. John, one of the US Virgin Islands, with seven private, picturesque beaches. Continue reading →

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My Favorite Wiki Vacation Pictures: Taiwan 2009

Posted on February 25, 2017 by Xinhai Dude 辛亥生


I’ve been uploading vacation pictures to WikiMedia since 2015. I call some of my vacations Wiki Vacations, because I go to places with an explicit intent of taking pictures, processing them afterwards, and then uploading them to WikiMedia, for use on Wikipedia articles. I don’t actually know how other Wikipedians refer to this mode of vacation. But I do know the official definition of WikiBreak, nicknamed Wikivacation, means almost the opposite.

Regardless of the terminology, I do find the experience rewarding. As reported earlier in Some of my Most Popular Pictures, time spent getting good, useful pictures for Wikipedia is more than made up by seeing some of these pictures widely distributed online, with or without credits. Here I posted a few of my favorite Wiki Vacation pictures. Not all of them are well appreciated though. But it doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
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Some of my Most Popular Pictures

Posted on February 20, 2017 by Xinhai Dude 辛亥生

I have been uploading my best photographs and images to Wikimedia since 2005. Some of these pictures have made it to major Wikipedia articles in many languages. A few have been voted as Quality Images. As a result, I sometimes come across my own pictures when browsing reddit and other online media.

For instance, this autostereogram (MagicEye picture) of a shark is often pirated by online media, even though it is of relatively low-resolution by today’s standard. This is because I made it the article picture of Autostereogram on Wikipedia when I wrote that article. Continue reading →

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Music sung by Vocaloid Miriam

Posted on February 20, 2017 by Xinhai Dude 辛亥生

In 2005 I was mesmerized by Vocaloid, a singing voice synthesizer from Yamaha. I composed a three-part acapella piece, with all three voices sung by Vocaloid Miriam (also see this).

Your Fish Tank was writen in 2005. It is the first piece of music I synthesized using Vocaloid Miriam. Bruce Yates graciously allowed me to use his underwater pictures in my YouTube video showcasing this music. See lyric at the end of this article.
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Music Inspired by Richard Dawkins

Posted on February 20, 2017 by Xinhai Dude 辛亥生

Richard Dawkins is a great man. From the first book of his I picked up, River Out of Eden, to the last one I read, The Greatest Shown on Earth, I’ve never ceased to be amazed by how his passion of biology and his talent at articulating the grandeur of nature ooze out of every single page.

Dawkins is the person who helped me find my atheistic voices in the vocabulary of evolutionary biology. And for that I’ve dedicated many work of art to the great man. For instance, The Lost Cause was wholly inspired by the dozen of books on evolution penned by the man that I’ve read. Similarly, I have written Wikipedia articles on some of his books, such as River Out of Eden and The Ancestor’s Tale, to help guide those who are still searching for their voices.

Here, however, I collect music I have written that are inspired by Dawkins’ work.
Continue reading →

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Vocal Music from 2006 and 2007

Posted on February 20, 2017 by Xinhai Dude 辛亥生

These are some vocal music I wrote between 2006 and 2007, while attending Conrad Cummings’ evening music composition class at Juilliard. Some of these were sight-readings in class. One was performed at a bar.
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Rearrangements as Gifts 2007-2010

Posted on February 20, 2017 by Xinhai Dude 辛亥生

Here are a few examples of music I rearranged as gifts for special occasions in the past. None of these are complex nor recorded. Sorry about the MIDI-quality mp3 files. I know they hurt your ears. They do mine, too. Continue reading →

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Wedding Suite 2007 for Clarinet Trio and Brass Quintet

Posted on February 20, 2017 by Xinhai Dude 辛亥生

The Wedding Suite 2007 includes piano trio pieces I wrote in the past, and brass quintet I wrote specifically for the wedding. The suite was performed at Krystina and Mike’s wedding on April 28th, 2007. Clarinet trio recording was done a week before, performed by Gilad Harel, Alistair MacRae & Wei-En Hsu on April 20th, 2007. Th brass quintet rehearsal was recorded on April 26th, 2007, sight-read by Mike Blutman/Chris Venditti (trumpets), Kelly Csillam (horn), Nick Hagen (trombone) and Edward Vinson (tuba). Continue reading →

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