Diary Ramblings

When I used to see phones with capacities like 512GB or 1TB, I always felt it was a bit excessive/wasteful.

The storage capacity here rivals that of a standard laptop. What exactly do phones even store that requires this much space? My previous understanding was very simple: just photos, videos, and WeChat data. You regularly transfer them to your computer, and you’re done cleaning up the phone.

I later realized that this judgment was actually heavily influenced by my own personal biases/habits.

I recently revisited this issue, and the conclusion is quite straightforward: It’s not that Huawei “cannot use TSMC”; rather, it is that U.S. regulations have severely constrained its compliant pathways. Xiaomi is able to access TSMC simply because it was never included in the same export control list as Huawei.

The most interesting thing about AI short dramas is not that they can immediately replace live-action short dramas, but that they turn genres that were previously considered “too risky to bet on” into viable subjects for experimentation.

Zombies, armies, spirit beasts, fantasy—these elements are incredibly difficult to execute in traditional live-action short dramas. It’s not a failure of screenwriting; it’s that every single step requires funding: extras, costumes and makeup, sets, special effects, staging/choreography, safety measures, and post-production. Furthermore, the commercial logic of short dramas demands speed, low cost, and high-frequency uploads. The greater the imaginative scope of a theme, the easier it is for costs to spiral out of control.

AI first revised this budget sheet. It doesn’t guarantee that every shot will be high-end, but it manages to constrain elements that previously required building sets, hiring massive crews, or doing elaborate special effects, down to a feasible/experimental scope. Zombies no longer need to organize 100 extras; mythical creatures don’t automatically drain a cinematic-level VFX budget; and army scenes don’t necessarily have to start with costumes and locations.

I saw that Fanqie Novel was embroiled in another controversy about AI-written content in the past couple of days. My initial reaction wasn’t surprise, but rather a sense that this issue will eventually come to the surface. Considering the combination of free platforms, the pressure for daily updates, and algorithmic distribution, it is almost inevitable that authors will turn to AI to supplement their content capacity.

But honestly, I have a consistent feeling about many books on Fanqie: they are readable, and even the first hundred chapters are often quite good. However, the further along you get, they tend to be nothing more than tropes and speed, lacking that inherent power that classic Xuanhuan or cultivation novels possess. This ‘power’ is hard to explain—it’s probably that feeling when you know it’s a bit over-the-top/cringey (“zhong er”), but you still want to follow the characters all the way through.

It’s something worth noting, and this isn’t meant to criticize the platform. Fanqie being completely free definitely attracts a lot of readers; there’s no arguing that point. However, for someone like me whose taste was spoiled early on by Tian Can Tu Dou, Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi, Er Gen, and Chen Dong, AI can match the output volume, but it cannot replicate the flavor/quality.

In the last few months, while writing code using tools like Claude or Codex, my most striking realization wasn’t that “programmers are obsolete,” but rather that many tasks that used to be given to newcomers for practice can now generate a basic first draft themselves. Whether it’s creating a scaffold, adding several tests, or making small modifications on the fly—after running through these operations, the speed is genuinely fast, so fast it feels almost bittersweet.

For someone like me, who graduated ten years ago, frankly, this is more about increasing efficiency. Because I generally know where it’s reliable and where it isn’t; where something looks functional but actually has pitfalls hidden further down the line. But for fresh graduates, this topic isn’t so straightforward. AI isn’t just here to take over a few hours of manual labor; it feels more like it is compressing the traditional path of how a newcomer goes from zero knowledge to proficiency. This is also why I wanted to write about it separately.

Over the past few days, I came across the news that Zhang Xuefeng passed away due to sudden cardiac death, and it truly made my heart drop. It wasn’t because I usually pay much attention to him, but rather, when something like this happens to someone who looks so vigorous—who is still running and working—people naturally project it onto themselves. Recently, I sometimes experience chest tightness myself. After scrolling through too many such updates, a thought popped into my head that was incredibly foolish yet profoundly real: Could next be me?

To be honest, I am increasingly feeling that this chest tightness isn’t necessarily purely a heart problem. Of course, you have to take your body seriously—especially with recurring chest discomfort that worsens after activity but slightly eases after rest. These signals cannot be ignored; public health campaigns have already warned quite clearly about this. But the other half is probably because people have been suspended in life’s limbo for too long. Long-distance couples, jobs that are stagnant, savings built up without knowing what purpose they serve. Even when taking occasional leave and not working, you don’t feel relaxed; you just feel emptier. Any news of sudden death, when you are in this state, turns into a persistent question: What exactly are you striving for

“Loa A” is a recently trending internet meme (particularly on platforms like Bilibili, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu) in China, primarily referring to an overseas blogger named “Squish the King” (also known as Squish), and his narrative system about American society.

Simply put, you can understand this term from the following dimensions:

1. Origin of the Name: Playful References and Nicknames

• “Lao” Generation (Surname “Lao”): This prefix originates from the internet meme “Mamba Mentality” and the Kobe Bryant reference (“Lao Da,” “Lao K,” etc.). Within the current Chinese internet subculture, “Lao” has evolved into a playful and slightly mocking term used to refer to certain figures with specific controversial or profound labels.
• “A”: Represents America (United States).
• Combined Name: Due to this blogger’s long-standing coverage of the harsh realities of American life, netizens adopted the “Lao” generation naming rule and playfully nicknamed him “Lao A.”

2. Core Concept: “The American Kill Shot Line”

“牢A” went viral because he introduced a highly contagious concept – “The American Kill Shot Line.”

I’ve gotten used to buying investments on Alipay, and I plan to handle my personal pension all in one place, investing entirely in broad market indices. After a lot of trouble finding customer service and getting the account properly linked, I was completely blindsided: Alipay only showed an account balance, and I couldn’t see any details of the funds I’d previously purchased. The data synchronization is really lacking! Is this some kind of bug?