User Comments - barryb
barryb
Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 3: A Call for Innovation
September 17, 2008 at 8:37 PMHi, a1pi2.
Yes, I was puzzled by Rogers' comment about a lack of Chinese DVDs in NYC. Has a journalist mangled his words? "I've just bought her 25 DVDs in Chinese, as Chinese DVDs are hard to find in New York", doesn't really make sense.
As for him being a "putz" (fool?) - well, he's a very rich putz. Together with George Soros, he founded the Quantum Fund, which outperformed the S&P Index by a factor of dozens in the '70s. He "retired" in 1980, to explore the world on his bike and write investment books. Not a bad life!
As far as I know, "Socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor," isn't Rogers' expression. I inserted it (NB square brackets). Sloppy of me. I've seen several mutations, lately. I think it began as something like: "Private profit, socialised risk." The point is that Wall Street (with the City of London)has created financial structures which cannot be allowed to fail, the fallout would be too great. So, when things go well they keep huge profits, but when things go badly the government (ie taxpayer) has to bail them out. Heads we win, tails you lose.
Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 3: A Call for Innovation
September 17, 2008 at 2:34 PM老王公司的业绩不太好. Never mind, he can go to the USA.
Daniel Mudd, the outgoing CEO of Fannie Mae, could receive more than $9 million...
Departing Freddie Mac CEO Richard Syron may collect as much as $14.1 million.
************************
Fannie/Freddie Bailout Makes America 'More Communist than China', says Jim Rogers.
[But it's socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor.]
Rogers is an outstanding investor and he's ultra-keen on China. He explored Fujian by motorbike as long ago as 1986 and biked round the whole country in 1988. He has hired a Chinese nanny for his daughter. Rogers on his daughter's progress:
"She is barely four years old, but she already speaks Chinese like a native. I've just bought her 25 DVDs in Chinese, as Chinese DVDs are hard to find in New York. We do not have a television at home. She only gets to watch Chinese stories on DVD. The most sensible skill that I can give to somebody born in 2003 is a perfect command of Mandarin."
Here's a link to the story: businessandmedia
Posted on: Cosmetic Surgery and Mooncakes
September 16, 2008 at 2:33 PMPeople were superficial 4,000 years ago, long before "the West" existed. Here are some excerpts from a description of Ancient Egypt. Chopped lettuce to cure baldness, eh? I shan't bother trying it.
Cleanliness and beautification were considered as essential practices in ancient Egyptian society. Ancient Egyptians were pioneers in several fields, including the field of beauty, in which they excelled...
Cosmetics played an important role in the beautification process. Eye make-up was especially important, not only for enhancing one’s beauty but also for its medicinal and magical functions...
The Egyptians also used wigs to defy the signs of aging and balding. They used henna to cover up gray hair, and a wide variety of remedies were available for stimulating hair growth in bald men. Some of these included the application to the scalp of fats derived from ibex, crocodiles, snakes, lions, geese, cats and goats. A number of oils such as rosemary oil, castor oil, and almond oil were used to facilitate hair growth. Bald spots were also smeared with chopped lettuce.
(from IslamOnline)
Posted on: Trip to the Vegetable Market
September 12, 2008 at 4:05 PMNice word! --> 卷心菜 - juan3xin1cai4 - cabbage - "curl heart veg".
卷 - juan3 - curl - is tone3, the curly tone. 卷 is used for curly hair, too, isn't it? What about straight hair? Is that 直 - zhi2?
Posted on: Trip to the Vegetable Market
September 12, 2008 at 11:38 AMThe XTC original, with great video (sorry, i don't know how to embed):
Posted on: Trip to the Vegetable Market
September 12, 2008 at 11:33 AM1) Good, that's got me thinking about, and checking, vegetable names.
2) How about a recipe video? We could learn nouns + verbs (stir-fry, steam...) + life skills, too. There must be a keen cook at Chinesepod who'd love to present it.
3) How about a video of bizarre fruit and vegetables that look like body parts? That way we learn two sets of vocab at once.
4) Xuchen, this is a gentle cover of XTC's "Making Plans for Nigel", 1979. XTC damaged my hearing! Whatever happened to Nigel, he didn't have a "future in British Steel", as the song suggests. A once great company, now a minor part of the mighty Tata, of India. In 1979, nobody would have imagined that could happen. As Bob Dylan sang "the wheel's still in spin..."
Posted on: At the Hair Salon
September 6, 2008 at 6:22 PMInland, thanks for pointing me to the "War Zone" lesson. I must have missed that. Yes, you, Changye and others had an in depth discussion of 冲 - chong1 - charge, flush, rinse... Very helpful.
Hopefully, that connection will stick, now.
The other nice connection I've made today is with 吹 - chui1 - to blow. We had it in "The Dice Game" lesson: 吹牛 - chui1niu2 - "blow bull" = blowhard, braggart, boast. I'll think of some show-off boasting to the 理发师 - li3fa4shi1- stylist (a trendy poser called Lee Fashion) as he has his locks blow-dried in the salon, while I stand outside with my bald head.
Posted on: At the Hair Salon
September 5, 2008 at 4:59 PMI love these snippets of everyday life.
Interesting to see the red-and-white pole outside a Shanghai barber shop (but red-and-white check, not stripes). Are barber-poles widespread in China?
According to barberpole.com the Western version survives from days when Western "barber-surgeons" used their shops for some unhygienic procedures.
Posted on: At the Hair Salon
September 5, 2008 at 11:56 AMI was wondering about the character 冲 - chong1 - to rinse. Why does it have the "ice" radical in it? Then I looked on zhongwen.com - the traditional version uses the "water" radical. Just to save one dot? And 洗 - xi3 - to wash retains the water radical. Odd.
Zhongwen.com says 冲茶 - chong1cha2 means to make the tea. "Rinse tea" - very logical. Is that the most common way of saying "make tea"? What about 沏 - qi1，泡 - pao4?
Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 3: A Call for Innovation
September 18, 2008 at 12:34 AMBTW, Jim Rogers has moved to Singapore. He really does believe in Asia.
I promised I'd shut up about this kind of thing, but I think my first post on this lesson was relevant to learning Chinese. And I get so angry! Last irrelevant rant, then I'll be quiet:
Heads Wall St. wins, tails you lose
- thousands of families lose their homes
- thousands of cleaners, clerks, and "little" people in financial firms lose their jobs
- the world loses trust