Decipher Puzzles

How to give a speech without saying anything?
Learn double-talk.
Political language is "designed to make lies sound truthful and
murder respectable,and to given an appearance of solidity to
pure wind."

The Magic City

Huck's immediate supervisor is from Taiwan,so he wants to impress that Taiwanese one day by breaking into a version of his native tongue.Well,it's my distinct honor to assist Huck with his chinese.^_^
His problem with chinese is the fact that two words which sound alike may have totally different characters and he must know the character's meaning because there is no "sounding it out" in chinese.
Although english has far too many exceptions to each rule in its syntax,many redundant words in the vocabulary,a large number of root languages and sources from which they are derived,the words themselves are simply combinations of 26 phonic symbols,each letter representing a sound made in the mouth.Now he's going to order the Rosetta Stone language system,but I think it will take him years to
get conversational.

FreeRice.com

"Every grain of rice is essential in the fight against hunger.
Your correct answer and those 20 grains of rice make a difference!"
Last night,I came across this site,FreeRice.com,which I thought it's very humane and ingenious.It is humane because you can help end the world hunger with FreeRice.It's ingenious because you can enrich your vocabulary while fighting world hunger.This is how it works:you get to play the game,FreeRice get the traffics,advertisers get their exposure and people get the free rice.Well,essentially killing two birds with one stone.

Red alarm

"This is the biggest currency crisis the world has ever seen."
Well,the financial crisis is spreading like wildfire across the world.
The system is paralysed,and it's starting to look like Black Wednesday in 1992,I guess the mayhem may soon trigger a chain reaction within the Asiazone,too.

La Civilisation du Bruit

One thing that makes me uncomfortable is the way some people having their noodles,well...they'd make a loud sucking sound.
"More than tradition,slurping makes the noodles taste better."
Really?To me,it's annoying!
It's nothing about the pretend-to-be-a-lady etiquette,
I just canot bear such irritable noise ,totally ruins my appetite.
If it's a formal dinner,isnot that impolite?
Anyway,it's acceptable in Asia,culture matters,it matters.

Diary of Chickabiddy Baby

I like staying in my light violaceous sanctum to get some peace and quiet so that I can reflect upon my own thoughts and feelings -------
looking for answers deep inside of myself.There are changes afoot,
I can sense it.

Agnus Dei

"O Lamb of God,that takest away the sins of the world,

have mercy upon us."
In Oxford,there's a pub named "Lamb & Flag".The name is very common in Engliand and the symbol is so familiar to me.

Acutally lamb of God is one of the titles given to Jesus in the New Testament and consequently in the Christian tradition.

It refers to Jesus' role as a sacrificial lamb atoning for the sins

of man.

Fearmongering

Wow,Texas to execute ten men in one month,hmm,sounding like
it's one of the best examples of an efficient prison system.
Well,I am not trying to play devil's advocate.
For anti-death penalty activists,it is very frustrating.
Regarding death penalty,my actual stance is that nobody has the right to deprive others' lives.
But in some measure being locked up for the rest of their life in maximum security is even more miserable than execution.
Why not let people choose for themselves,life imprisonment or
capital punishment.

Birds of a feather flock together

According to old British parliament,the conservative usually seat on the right and the liberal or socialist sit on the left.
Well,left-right term is also used to describe politics in forums by Chinese.But the meaning is very different.
My understanding is political spectrum is defined along an axis with capitalism (the right)on one end and Maoism (the left) on the other.

A sight to behold

I saw a funny message the other day which saying :"I got a few pumpkins,havenot carved them yet.I want to do a McCain and an Obama,and keep them there,see which one rots faster."
LoL...talking about pumpkins,those suckers can grow as much as
30 pounds a day at times,incredible!!
There was a contest at the Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-off in Half Moon Bay several days ago,the winner is a
pumpkin with 1528-pound.Whoa...Is it from moon?

Great Depression

UK financial chancellor announced in a new conference the other day,it might take up to 5 years to fully recover from this severe.
Well,althought the housing market dropped dramatically because
of the subprime,I veiw it as a way of saving.
Actually even now,it's still the price of 2004.
The problem is not the price if someone bought it earlier than 2004,it's just slow to sell.As not many buyers and credit is really tight,it might take 6 months or even longer to sell.

Sloan School of Management

Though MIT with technological tradition and best in tech,
I'd rather see Alex take MBA courses.
I wonder Ph.D in academe is the same as what he is pursuing,
no mention he's a Ph.D already.
He has gained indispensable education experience,
isnot now working experience much more important?

Trash or Treasure

A scientist's career is based on their repuation,largely determined
by recent publication record.
In the circle,there is a saying,which also makes sense for publications: "Garbage in and garbage out."
Sigh,Alex's now working like a beaver,eating like a dog,producing papers like a machine.Is it enough?

Ultimate Adornment

Everyone knows "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend".
But when the whole world is dragged into recession,would precious stones still have its value no matter what?
People would only buy gems during good time,when the economy
is bad,luxury items would be first one to go down in price.
And due to different grades,they would never be used as currency.

Gold is Gold

I dont know what the hell the financial crisis is about;but my intuition is that America wont collapse ------ a nation has very perfect capability to revive.We'll see this coming soon.
Because it's the super rich and super power country in the world.
Money can do everything;just look back there wasnot a country called Israel before 1949.From the ancient time until 1949,the Jews were scattered around the world doing business controlling the economy of many counties,that's one of the reason Nazi Germany wanted to terminate the Jews.But now the Jews can even control the US govt.

Behavior Sciences

Eric watchs what's happening in the business world and gives the best answers to these occurrences based on his analysis and rationality.
His area is much related to applied area,that's the reason he is priced more.And his is much broader on everything,instead of financial investment,that interests him and the business world.Well,I suggest him to become a CIO(chief information officer) instead of researching academics for good pay coz he loves pretty women so much.lol.
Accounting ------ the language of business.
Money ------ the language of love & sex.

Unconventional Warfare

Wall street is very close to Twin Tower,where 911 tragedy occurred.
As "911"(1.1.2009) is coming,so coming with the collapse,no?Sigh,now the days,every street is a dead end.
Right now no one wants the US$ to fall too far coz the international trading currency is still the US$.
But a new currency(lined to the gold) that is issued by the Arabic country.Then poeple would use that currency to trade and the Arabs would demand that their oil be paid in that currency not in US$.
If that happens...God helps the US$!

Purified Water

I cannot distill the water myself,luckily those bottled distilled water can be found in supermaret.Well,personally I prefer mineral water,but the question is how many rivers that are clean are there
in China?Distilled water is basically condensed steam so it's pure
water with nothing,no minerals,no germs,no no-trace elements.
Since our bodies need a very tiny amount of those minerals,distilled water problem might not as serious as so called mineralwater.

Gene Change

I like to chat with scientists,hmmm,
I define myself an artist tho.
From aerospace and aviation program to ocean engineering,all are fascinating.
Billy taught me something regarding modern drugs,drugs are what they called designer drugs.He thinks of the structure first and then think of a way to synthesise it in the lab.
Very interesting,huh? Well,as time goes by,I think the world needs a new species,a more complicated kind.Since IQ can be trained(if one has better general knowledge,of course he/she can think faster),it also can be created.Lol,sounding like X-Man.But why not? Nothing is for certain,and nothing is going to be written in stone.

Controlling Economy

When confronted by our worst nightmares,the chocies are few:
FIGHT or FLIGHT.
We hope to find the strength to stand against our fears.
But sometimes,despite ourselves,we run.
What if the nightmare gives chase?Where can we hide then?

Business Observer

Economics in America is one of basic discipline and it's usually in school of arts and science not in business school.
Interestingly,Americans dont care much about what an economist says...kind of different than what we are seeing in China where economists talk trash a lot.So,from then on,if anyone says he gets a degree in Economics,go ask him to go to hell because it is actually a bag of shit.
LoL...Joking,Ph.D degree in Economics still worth something.
But Wall Street basically for MBAs and financial analysts,
of course mostly from business schools(MBA only belongs in and
is founded in business schools).
Though business schools' degree is the one of best with law school
and medical schools,lots of financialists are losing their job now.
Sigh,Wall Street is collapsing.Well,if we don't know where we are going, any road will take we there.

Self-starters

In mainland,nowadays fewer and fewer ppl know about Double Ten Festival.The National Day was established by KMT,well,some people
in my family were high rank members,since it's history,let it go.
Tomorrow is also my grandma's birthday.
The midwife was an Englishman who named grandma therefor actually grandma's Chinese name is transliterated by her English name.In that age,everyday is a winding road,she took the train left
Guizhou for Shanghai,alone,that year she was 11 years old.
Grandma's family was big and rich,she found her uncle and he sent her to study in St. Mary's Hall,she flew to US some years later.
Though grandma and I are not close,hereditarily speaking,
I am brave by nature.
Like grandma,like granddaughter,I like to tackle problems head on and am always eager to learn new things.

Ride out

Most of my friends think travel agents deprive the surprises and spontaneous adventures as a rule,therefor they have never used the services.To a certain extent,travel agency is somewhere that many people might balk at,but I see some sort of brilliance in it.
Well,I used to love travelling along mood of my own,too.
Actually this time I went along with what the crowd wanted to do,hmmmm...I had more fun than I thought I could.
So I'd like to move forward with other travel plans I've had brewing,though I shouldnot sign any legal documents just yet,well,
I'll wait to see if prices go down or a better option crosses my path.

Double Ninth Festival

Today falls on the ninth day of the ninth month of lunar calendar,
so it is known as ChongYang Festival.
In old China,ppl think Yin and Yang are the two opposing principles
in nature-----Yin is feminine while Yang is masculine.
Numbers are related to this theory,too.Even numbers belong to Yin and odd numbers to Yang,today is two Yang numbers meet therefor it's called double Yang.Since nine is the highest odd digit,
today is also become a special day for the elderly.
To me,it's perfect time for outdoor activities like hiking and
climbing due to bright clear weather.Btw,I like chongyang cake.

A Mega Project

To me,Hangzhou Bay Bridge is just a brige,a longer bridge.
Although it's the longest trans-oceanic bridge in the world,
on the brige I felt it's a normal highway and there's no extraordinary spot of interest there.But lots of people have high expectation for that bridge because of its significant position.Well,it's a bridge that would change the fate of many cities and the life of people.

Travel-Worn

Today my tank of energy starts off terribly close to empty,well,there's one word right
for life on the road:EXHAUSTING.
I think touring is also a kind of contest that requires physical stamina and willpower is going to be tested as well.
I guess my hours will be spaced out here and there throughout the day because so far I've flaked out on everything.So let me tidy up the free time tomorrow.

Crab Season

I miss those big fat juicy crabs so I bought some when I saw them in
the supermarket this morning.
But I have never cooked a pot of mud crabs in my life.
Many people I know cannot be wrong about crabs, virtually everybody in my family knows at least a basic way of cooking those sidewards walking creatures.Well,it was very interesting,
though it needed much time to do washing-and-cleaning chores before enjoying the deliciously fresh meat.