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December 05 Permanent Brain DamagedThose outside of China often imagine hordes of Internet savvy Chinese Web surfers scouring the Internet for cracks in the Great Firewall, avidly downloading precious snippets of information blocked by the government to disseminate among the circle of politically-aware Chinese cybernauts. The hope is that the Internet is having a transformative effect on China by allowing The Truth – or at least some essential truths – to seep into this tightly controlled information environment. And surely (the assumption goes) the vanguard in this process of “peaceful evolution” would be young, English-speaking urban professionals.
Cited:
Denial Zheng: What do you mean, you can visit blocked sites with it? If you can visit them, they aren’t blocked! Me: No, the sites are blocked. You can’t access them directly in China. This site enables you to access them indirectly, through their own server. Zheng: Well, the government must know about this. And since they don’t block Proxzee, it means there actually aren’t any blocked sites. If you can visit them, they aren’t blocked. Maybe the sites you think are blocked are just down from time to time. Maybe you don’t have your browser settings right. Don’t jump to conclusions October 27 厉以宁语录精粹八阕 http://www.popyard.org
August 24 MSN Blog is watching you!Since when this word (see screen shot) becomes a prohibited word? A clear voilation of freedom of speech. August 15 乌克兰总统尤先科被人民要求做DNA鉴定据《俄罗斯新闻》10日报道，乌克兰总统尤先科好容易刚刚把乱了几个月的政局稳住，在8月9日这天又遇到了“大麻烦”：一批“橙色革命”积极分子竟然认为总统宝座上现在坐的根本不是他本人，强烈要求对“假总统”进行DNA鉴定，并将结果公之于众。
这批“革命分子”共16人，领头的是个儿科女医生，叫维多利亚·奥梅里琴科。他们联名致信总统办公厅，强烈要求将台上那个“假冒尤先科的人”送到10个医疗鉴定部门，当着“多灾多难的乌克兰人民”的面，进行遗传基因鉴定，并将结果公之于众。 信中写道：“那个当年在广场上向乌克兰人民允诺要把所有强盗送进监狱的尤先科，根本不可能在短短两年时间内就背叛了人民……真正的尤先科或被毒死了或正在监狱里……签署《民族团结宣言》和任命亚努科维奇当总理的总统令的人，肯定是个假冒的，要对他进行遗传基因鉴定……” 看来天真的乌克兰人民没读过乔治奥维尔的动物农庄 August 04 the future of urban lifeI would sum up my fear about the future in one word: boring. And that's my one fear: that everything has happened; nothing exciting or new or interesting is ever going to happen again... the future is just going to be a vast, conforming suburb of the soul. —J. G. Ballard
From San Francisco: Interactive City Summit info page, found via boingboing
To prove the urban life’s boringness and how people are fighting hard for getting out of the boredom, this is an interesting item for sell at amazon.com- a bottle of milk, yeah that is right. An one Gallon bottle of Tuscan Whole milk, $3.99. If a proper stock photo is not enough, you have three!
In amazon’s famous ‘Customers who bought this item also bought’ section, you are recommended to ‘Chiquita Bananas’, ‘California Green Seedless Grapes’ and ‘Fresh Vine Ripe Tomatoes’, not very surprise. There is a bunch of tags there two: ytmnd (2), funny (1), goatse (1), maddox (1), nedm (1), no wai (1), o rly (1), south park (1), ya rly Here are some stmat-ass reviews:
*** There are few gifts I like to recieve more than milk. Whole milk too. That's the kind of milk that says that it's real. It's right. It's whole. I want that milk to sit there for years because that's what you do with milk. There's nothing better than milk – *** Until I found Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl oz, my life was aimless and without direction. I wandered the streets and lonely avenues in search of something more. What would fill my soul? What was missing from me? *** *** Since listed, guess around 2nd, September 2004, there were 386 reviews received. This celebrity milk is now ranked 9th in Gourmet Food category. I wonder how many people will really mail order a bottle of milk from the vendor ‘Gristedes Supermarkets of New York’ December 01 如果理查德费马考中国政府公务员 (in Chinese)This is a Chinese translation of my blog article 'If Richard Feynman applied for a Chinese Government Civil Servant Job'
' [背景]
最近的热点:中国政府公务员考试.报名参加今年大陆国家公务员考试的考生近百万人，经过资格审查后，剩余五十万人，只录取约一万零二百多个职位，录取率才百分之二，竞争激烈不言可喻. 检查吸引高焦点横跨这个国家。许 多问题测试考验考生的常识、逻辑推理能力、反应速度.
[本文起源]
问题: 为什么南极没有熊? 费马: 你肯定吗? 在没有详细研究南极的每寸土地前你不能断言那里没有熊。 面试官: 假设这是事实, 为什么? 费马: 你不能*假设* *事实*。 面试官 : (片刻困窘) 嗯， 假设南极没有北極熊, 为什么? 费马: 如果你假设南极没有熊,那南极就没有熊。就算有也是*南極熊*。 面试官: 我是说, 什么原因导致使南极州不适合为北极熊生存? 费马: 我们并不知道这点。南极没有熊只是表象。南极的环境也许相当适合北极熊居住。 采访者: 考虑北极熊的 数量在下降, 你觉得把它们引入南极好吗? 费马: 我们必须看这个问题背后的深层利害冲突。我認為会有很多利益集团对个问题感兴趣。比如周边的国家游客局也 许欢迎这个计划，因为它将吸引更多游客; 當然野生动物和生物科学家会担心这会打破生态系平衡，威胁原住生物。南极野外科学家也许不欢迎因为这会令到他们的野外考察更危险；但他们的项目经理也许会喜欢 因为他们將能申请更多财政预算... 面试官: (打断费马) 北极熊的权益呢? 我是说, 从北极熊的角度来看呢? 费马: 我们不用担心这个。北极熊不会说话。我们可以忽略它們。 面试官: 动物权益活动组织呢? 他们肯定会为北极熊讲话? 费马: 我们不用担心这个。我们无须在意外部压力。我们有自己的国情。对于和我们没有直接利害关系的，我们不用理它。 面试官: 请等一下; 我要和我的头谈谈。(离开面试室。) (面试官10分钟以后回来) 面试官: 我们希望你能到水库迁移和安置委员会工作。
[注]理查德费马 是世界著名物理学家。 If Richard Feynman applied for a Chinese government civil servant job[The background] Recent Chinese government civil servant exam attracts high focus across the nation. Many of the 90 some questions are testing candidates’ reasoning and analytical skills. I dip out one question and try it here. [The Origin] There is an article mocks Richard Feynman applies for a job at the Microsoft. My answer is a mimic to that. Here’s the question: Why there is not polar bear in the Antarctica? Feynman: Are you sure? Before there are a thorough search over every inch of the land you can’t assert there is no bear there. Interviewer: But just considering the fact there is no bear there, why is that? Feynman: It is not THE fact, just an assumption. Interviewer: (Brushed, after an embarrassed moment) Okay, lets assume there is no bear there, why is that? Feynman: If you assume there is no bear at the Antarctica, then it won’t be one. You have assumed it. Interviewer: I mean, what could be the reasons making the Antarctica inhabitable for polar bear? Feynman: We have to look at what is under the cover to answer that question. There would be many interest groups on this issue. Tourist boards of nearby countries may welcome it because it will potentially attract more tourists. However, wild animal and biologic scientists may worry it breaks the ecosystem balance and become a threat to native local inhabitants. The Antarctica field scientists may not like it because it would become a hazard. But their project managers may like it because they can ask for more budgets… Interviewer: (node and stop Feynman) Do you believe there is a welfare issue for polar bear? I mean, what is the loss and gain if think from the bear’s point of view? (Interviewer returns after 10 minutes) (A Chinese Version to follow soon
November 20 Norwegian female directorship quota systemNorwegian government plans to introduce a ‘quota’ clause to its company law that at least 40% of the directors of a company must be female or the company may face closing down. Writes the Sundays Times (Cut! Directors get sex change, 20th November, 2005). The voluntary code is established at 2003. Now the new elected Jens Stoltenberg and his labour government wants to make it legal bound.
Unsurprising it, this plan receives cold scorn from both sexes. “I do not believe today’s imbalance is primarily the result of a lack of gender equality." “Competent woman should not have to be recruited by quota”.
And surprisingly, Mr. Stoltenberg is an economist himself - not sure how he got his degree. November 18 Freedom of Information Act (FIA)For a pet project, I need to find geocoding information of UK. Geocoding means given an address, town name, postcode etc and finds its geographic data, such like OS Grid reference, latitude, longititude etc. Google a bit, to my shock,i found this sort of information are copyrighted i.e. you need to pay to use it (not owning it). Major data suppliers in UK are National Statistics Office, Royal Mail and Ordnance Survey etc. They all charges a premium for organisational (versus personal) use. Our American brothers enjoy this data from NASA for free. IMHO political boundaries cannot be copyrighted. Copyright does not cover fact, only interpretation of fact in material form. Seeing as the government said "This is Surrey", "This is Greater London" it is a fact and not an interpretation of fact...(-Evilc)
Geocoding is a factual data. It should be free avaliable to public. This information are vital important to public interests, bringing new business oppotunities and better public services. Such like in learning and education service, NHS service, local search and mapping etc. By contrary, thanks to the power of FIA, some political scandals emerged to make headlines of papers. They catch eye balls – um, for 30 seconds – then are flipped over and binned.
I am waiting to see the outcome of Evilc’s FIA court challenge. November 03 Skype Blocked in ChinaIn the name of 'National Security', Skype and other VoIP (voice over Internet packet) is sanctioned in China to stop Internet users to make outbound calls.
It doesn't take an sophisticated mind to figure out this is the state monopoly’s (China Telecom) latest scandal to stop their massive revenues losses fearing millions internet users using VoIP for long distance call.
We make calls to China quite regularly - about 1p per minute using VoIP. Cheaper than standard UK national call and much cheaper than China domestica calls which is calculated on callers distance. Primark仓库大火，损失5000万镑，股价不跌反升IT SHOULD have been a disaster. A massive fire at a Primark warehouse destroyed £50 million of the discount chain’s clothes in a blaze so intense that 70 firefighters could not save the building.
But the stock market reacted with delight yesterday, sending the retailer’s shares soaring and adding £130 million to the company’s market value.
就其原因，估计有两点: 1) 市场认为保险公司会赔偿全部损失 2)现在零售市场不景， 一场大火是'dispose'冬季存货的’最好办法。(dispose - 有处理，销售的意思)
申明: Primark无可疑之处。 (下一家就不好说了 ；-) ) October 27 Information SlaveryNot sure what title should give to this article really. What I want to talk about is human is becoming slaves to the information they created. Or more precisely, slave to the tools that help us consuming information.
Following cite bring me to the thought.
"I don’t think IntelliSense[note 1] is helping us become better programmers. The real objective is for us to become faster programmers, which also means that it’s cheapening our labor. " -- Charles Petzold A Talk Delivered at the NYC .NET Developer’s Group, October 20, 2005
[note1] To those of you don't know IntelliSense or don't computer programming, here are some background information in non-technical term. A Microsoft .Net software developer are facing about 60,000 (yeah, 4 zeros) public methods and properties to decide which ones he/she could use to build an application. It is simply impossible to memorize them.
Intellisense is seen as the greatest innovation in the field that developer start typing code and it intellgently making suggestions based on the context and the word/characters is typying and gives usage suggestion.
With explosive volume of information and yet change frequently, morden computer language software developers can’t live without Intellisense. It cuts down the learning curve of one need to overcome immensely. September 19 Art must be created in a way that they can be understood by the people – Kim Jong-ilThe second piece of interesting work I found in British Museum is the propaganda posters from North Korea.
September 15 Train to be a witch (and it is an online course)Now you can be a witch without risk it in a spooky castle. 'The College of The Sacred Mists is that it is able to be followed in the time frame you have available to learn and provides you with an affordable way to grow within a structured Wiccan learning environment.'
The usual bit: '15% discount if order now.'
It declares 'Sacred Mists received a coveted "Best of the Best" award in the recent publication "The Web's Greatest Hits (2004/2005) by Barnes and Noble Books!'
I am not surprise if the site attracts a spetacular high hit rate, but cann't see what is that to do with the courses and tuitions on the offer. How do I found this website? I use dictionary.com to search the word 'esoteric'. The site brings back the context sensitive advertise links including this one.
Don't cheat, you may get 7 years behind bars...According to Beijing Morning Post, the draft of 'Exam Act' (of China) is recently completed and is being review by the State Council before it would be submitted to National Congress of the People for approval. The Exam Act is only applied to national examinations for educational purposes, such like university entrance, post-graduate entrance, collage English level certification etc but not professional certifications or non-national exams. This act is to safeguard the authority and authentication of such exams. It contains details from exam venue arrangement, keeping-secret exam paper, candidate identity validation, anti organized cheating to just peeking others shoulders. The highest penalty is seven years imprisonment.
Be warned: Do not be ‘so kind’ to check your mate’s answer sheet during exam. September 14 Chinese Broadcaster Self-regulated CharterHere is the Chinese Orignal (cited) '严禁使用港台腔、方言和不必要的外语'... '严管个人赢利 不许乱接广告误导消费'... '违令者下岗 取消“金话筒”参评资格'
Chinese State Television and Broadcasting Bureau (the governing body of broadcasting, more involving in administration than OfCom of UK) recently issued the Chinese Broadcaster Self-regulated Charter in a bid to curb language pollution among public media broadcasters and presenters.
The charter pronounces that it is forbidden to use Hong Kong, Taiwan or any local dialect kind of mandarin in broadcasting (note1, note2). It also discourages using foreign language in broadcasting unnecessarily. The charter draws guide lines on public image, appearance that a presenter should observe. Such like dressing, hair-style, make-up,voice, body language etc. The charter tightens control on wealth enrichment by taking advantage of celebrity status. The charter declares that offender may be purged from the annual ‘Golden Mic Award’ candidate list and subject to employment disciplinary.Jingye's Comment As a public face, it s probably all wrong as what the charter has pointed out a presenter should not be doing. But what is the point of the charter. Are all these presenters toddlers that need to be educated? They don't even know how to dress themselves?
Maybe the authority is being nanny. Maybe the presenters should be ashamed.
我好好感动”，“真的很不错的耶”……
Note 1: Mandarin is the official dialect to use in China, but there are also thoudsands of different dialects
Note 2: Hong Kong dialect mandarin is that one mimics Hong Kong people in speaking mandarin. A phenomenon seemed trendy among young generation Chinese. |
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