The use of 'learned' and 'learnt'

Today, when I was revising my statement of purpose (SOP), I felt confused how to use the word 'learnt' correctly, and I think the information in this post is more convincing.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070317112122AATO9XB

In short, 'learnt' is the past tense of the verb 'learn' in British/European English, whereas 'learned' is the past participle of the verb 'learn' and (sometimes) can regarded as the past tense verb in American English.

BTW, you cannot use 'learnt' as an adjective neither.  Use 'learned'.

For example:
I want to learn French. (correct)
I learnt French last summer. (correct, more British)
I learned French last summer. (ok in American English)
I have learned French since last summer. (correct)
I have learnt French since last summer. (INCORRECT)

To sum up:
learned: past tense verb (American), past participle, adjective.
learnt: past tense verb (British/European).

I would like to use them in this way:
simple present verb - learn
simple past verb - learnt
past particle - learned
adjective - learned

Feel free to correct me if there is any misunderstanding, thanks!

身體若不好，人生和學習都會是黑白的

在連續暴肝以後，我的身體終於在大抗議了，今天曠課了一天，有一堂課還是要報告的...


我是個身體越差就會越胖的人，這兩個月來我的體脂已經從16暴增到接近19了，這還是在每週至少有運動兩天的情況下喔！我也知道我太勞累（特別是熬夜）的話，會有心悸的情況，心臟會痛，這我也知道。而今天是第一次遇到這種情況：除了左胸以外，連右胸也有感覺了，我甚至沒有辦法坐起來看書。於是只好果斷的翹掉早上的機器學習課程，好讓身體休息。

幸好，補眠了幾個小時以後，心痛的情況紓緩很多，但是勒...
在硬是起床把下午要用的簡報處理了一下之後，去小歇一下的結果就是...


哈囉！吃晚餐了喔～～


囧大了，我的學習、我的身體。

[食譜] 麻油雞 black sesame oil chicken soup

麻油雞（或稱燒酒雞、雞酒），簡單來說就是使用胡麻油（和老薑）提香的雞湯，主要是用來冬令進補、或是婦女坐月子（胡麻油可幫助子宮收縮）。
Black seasame oil chicken soup is a famous, traditional Chinese cuisine, very popular in Winter days (to warm up body).  It is also recommended for women after menstruation or childbirth.

我一樣是寫比較道地口味的作法，然後會在後面FAQ補充可調整的部份。
In this post, I will make it more authentic, you can also make some changes to fit your preference, I will put some suggestions in the FAQ section.
I strongly recommend you to read the FAQ before start if you have no idea about this dish (do not waste food).

食材Ingredients

雞肉
Chicken
老薑
Ginger
胡麻油（胡麻油大多是黑芝麻，香油大多是白芝麻，為了怕有人搞混，所以我特別寫胡麻油而不是簡稱麻油）
Black sesame oil
米酒
Rice wine（widely used in many Chinese cuisines）
其他的油，如沙拉油或橄欖油（不要用胡麻或初榨橄欖油）
another kind of oil e.g. oliver oil (never use "Extra virgin", it is for cool dishes)
糖，可有可無
Sugar(optional)

步驟Steps

1. 把老薑外皮刷洗乾淨，切薄片；或是把它拍碎（越薄會越入味）
Clean and slice (or squash) the ginger (the thiner ginger, then stronger flavor of it)


2. 熱鍋以後，單下雞皮逼出雞油，或是直接下沙拉油（如果你雞皮的量不夠或懶得皮肉分離的話）
Fry the chicken skin to get some oil from it. Or just use your oliver oil

3. 煸炒薑片，炒出香味，此時火不要太大
Fry the ginger with medium temperature.


4. 下雞肉炒至變色（半生熟）
Fry the chicken quickly, do not make it done.

Before

After



換個大的鍋子（嗯，因為我這邊只有平底鍋，如果你是圓的那種就不用），加入胡麻油跟米酒。不要加水！！！
Use your pot, add black seasame oil and LOTS of rice wine. NO WATER!!!

6. 大火煮滾後轉小火悶雞肉
Boil the soup, then lower the temperature to make the chicken more soft.


7. 放點糖據說可以讓口味溫和一點，不要放鹽!
Add some sugar, NO SALT!

8. 單吃太燥或太無趣的話也可以加點高麗菜、菇類、麵線、枸杞之類的（推薦可加麵線、因為裡面有內建鹽巴）
You can also add other ingredients such as mushrooms, vegetables, etc.

FAQ

Q1:
我不喜歡這麼辣的味道耶？不加水不加鹽？你是喝醉了嗎？？
Excuse me, I think it is bland and too hot.  Did I make it wrong? Can I add some salt or spice, or water?

Ans:
傳統補品是沒在加鹽的，而且正統麻油雞如果加水的話應該會被我們這種酒鬼大聲問候喔。不過呢！料理當然是吃的高興最重要，不夠味的話就在起鍋前加鹽，太辣或不喜歡酒味就加點水也是很ok的！
Yes! It is hot! Because it is the authentic one (remember? we eat it to warm up body).  However, you are more than welcome to add salt, reduce the wine, add some water etc.  Just make it tasty and enjoy it!

Q2:
為什麼不是直接用麻油去炒？要用另一種油？
Why you use two kinds of oil?

Ans:
胡麻油不耐高溫，所以要換一種油去炒，不然會苦
Black sesame oil will become bitter in high temperature (as well as the extra virgin oliver oil).

[OSX] MacVim

The way I see it, as a programmer, it is strongly recommended that use plain text editor to develop at the beginning; By doing so, you won't rely on the IDE too much thus you learn more fundamental and important things.

On the other hand, when the project become larger and larger, a powerful IDE is needed to help us to solve boring and trivial things such as file renaming, auto-completion, syntax highlighting, indent checking, etc.

But sometimes, I just want to write a simple script! And I don't want a  plain text editor nor complicated IDE.  So I need a powerful text editor with some fancy plugins like auto-completion, indent checking.
Today, I want to write down some notes to set up MacVim, Macintosh version of vim,


vim configuration:
~/.vimrc

MacVim configuration
~/.gvimrc

MacVim will load .vimrc first, then .gvimrc, so put general configuration in .vimrc, and set up GUI in .gvimrc.


Install MacVim via MacPort rather than official website:

sudo port install macvim + cscope + python27

[Git] How to use git on bitbucket

What?
Git is a distributed version control system, widely used for software developing, can work locally or remotely.  In a joint project, people usually use a git server for team cooperation so that the members can synchronize the source and logs remotely.

The most popular git server might be github, free and well-developed; however, you need to pay for the private repositories.

Bitcket is another solution for those newbies like me to try git.  The private repositories are free of charge, although they can be only accessed by 5 members at most, that should be enough for a small project :)

How it works?

1. Let your local directory be a git directory
2. Make ssh connection between this directory to a remote one on bitbucket
3. Synchronize the sources between the remote and local repositories on different clients 

Setup
Install git on your client
For OSX
http://spencerimp.blogspot.tw/2012/02/git-git-on-your-mac.html
For Windows
http://spencermurmur.blogspot.tw/2013/07/git-quick-tutorial-for-git-on-windows.html

Register an account and create a repository, assuming
account: spencerimp
repository: icelandictionary
local dir: /home/spencer/iceland (yes, both of the names can be different to the remote)

Add your ssh key to the bitbucket so that you do not need to enter the password every time

ssh-keygen

Use default file (/home/spencer/.ssh/id_rsa)
Enter your passphrase
Copy your content of public key (~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub)

cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

Paste the key to your bitbucket account (Manage account -> SSH keys -> Add SSH key)

Edit your  ~/.ssh/config

~/.ssh/config

Host bitbucket.org IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa

Note: There is a space before IdentityFile
Note2: If you encounter problem locate the ~/.ssh directory with your GUI, try it via the following command:
vim ~/.ssh/config
press i
type or paste the text
press esc, then press :wq and enter

If you are using Linux, add the following into ~/.bashrc (of course, based on what shell you are using)

.bashrc

# For ssh connection to bitbucket SSH_ENV=$HOME/.ssh/environment # start the ssh-agent function start_agent { echo "Initializing new SSH agent..." # spawn ssh-agent /usr/bin/ssh-agent | sed 's/^echo/#echo/' > ${SSH_ENV} echo succeeded chmod 600 ${SSH_ENV} . ${SSH_ENV} > /dev/null /usr/bin/ssh-add } if [ -f "${SSH_ENV}" ]; then . ${SSH_ENV} > /dev/null ps -ef | grep ${SSH_AGENT_PID} | grep ssh-agent$ > /dev/null || { start_agent; } else start_agent; fi ##

Simple case
Initialize the local directory

git init

Add the remote repository to your project
(the origin is a alias for the remote repository, you can also change it)

git remote add origin git@bitbucket.org:spencerimp/icelandictionary.git

Assign the sources to be synchronized (in this case, all of them)

git add .

if you want to remove (unmonitor) some sources

git rm unwanted_file_path

Untrack a directory

git rm -r --cached your_directory

Log the change of all your (monitored) files with a message

git commit -am 'Eyjan mín!!' 

Upload (the master branch) to the remote (origin) repository

git push origin master

Update/Synchronize the local (master) branch with remote (origin) repository

git pull origin master

Remove your last commit, and you have to commit again for your new modification

git reset HEAD^

Show the tracked file list

git ls-files

Want to reset the git? 
Just delete the .git directory!

Rule of thumb
Push before leave.  Pull before start.