User Comments - bill
bill
Posted on: To do
June 13, 2009 at 3:34 AMHey gang,
Seems your 12mb MP3 file is really 0mb.
请问，帮助我 ...
Bill
Posted on: Delegating Tasks
June 6, 2009 at 11:04 PMHi Henning,
I was also thinking about "conventions." These seem to be more about showing goods rather than talking about them.
Hey, Verona is very cool ! Have a good time and definitely enjoy some of that great Italian wine and pizza. And right, the world's greatest coffee.
Bill
Posted on: Delegating Tasks
June 6, 2009 at 6:32 PMHere on the West coast of the US it seems that meetings and conferences are quite distinct.
Meetings are small gatherings usually about the day-to-day job related issues, and conferences are larger gatherings, say from 50 to 1000's of people. For example, last week's JavaOne conference in San Franciso, or the HICSS conference where Henning and I have crossed paths twice.
What's weird is that in my 10 years at Sun Microsystems, all of the rooms where we scheduled our meetings were called conference rooms even if the maximum meeting size for a such a room was 8 people. Somewhat schizo.
So, I always thought that a conference was 大会. The 大 being the give away for big meeting.
Otherwise, I think this lesson is fine. One picks up a couple of vocabulary words, and the listening experience is very good.
Bill
Posted on: Saying Good-bye at a Tavern in Nanjing -- 金陵酒肆留别
June 2, 2009 at 3:25 PMHello Pete,
Yes, it is definitely a shame that "Poems with Pete" is being discontinued. From my perspective, it is the only CPod series that approaches a university level course in Chinese literature, a series that permitted each of us to explore these beautiful 唐诗 with your guidance.
When I was as UC Berkeley I took a similar semester course in Spanish, "The Literature of 1898 and after." This course was entirely in Spanish, and we studied authors like Federico Garcia Lorca and Miguel de Unamuno. I learned more Spanish in this one semester than in my previous 5 years of Spanish classes (high school and at UCB).
And while the earlier course work is mostly forgotten, the pungent stories we read in the Spanish literature course are still with me. Si, yo hablo español, oui, je parle français 和我现在会说中文. But, the banter in all of the course work from Spanish to French to 中文 will be forgotten while I don't think I'll ever say goodbye to what I've been introduced in "Poem's with Pete."
Speaking of saying goodbye, for me the literature, and music of the deep emotions felt by the parting of lovers always come to mind. To be honest I first thought of a line from Romeo and Juliet, and then a beautiful love song from my youth by Leonard Cohen. The first is familiar to all of us, and the 2nd may not be so I've included the full lyrics below.
My wife and I still have our first Leonard Cohen album that was released in 1967, and of course we have volumes of Shakespeare.
Hoping the on the flip side CPod comes up with another in the series of "Chinese Literature with Pete."
I've really appreciated this course. It is the first thing on CPod that I can discuss with my Chinese friends and believe it or not, they know all of the poems we discussed and have a lot to say about them.
All the best,
Bill
PS> And sure, I'll always recall the super CPod staff. All of you are what make CPod so great!
From Romeo and Juliet
by William Shakespeare
Parting is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.
Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye
by Leonard Cohen (1967)
Verse 1
I loved you in the morning,
Our kisses deep and warm,
Your hair upon the pillow,
Like a sleepy golden storm.
Yes, many loved before us,
I know that we are not new,
In city and in forest,
They smiled like me and you.
But now it's come to distances
And both of us must try.
Your eyes are soft with sorrow.
Hey, that's no way to say Goodbye-e.
Verse 2
I'm not looking for another
As I wander in my time.
Walk me to the corner,
Our steps will always rhyme.
You know that my love goes with you
As your love stays with me,
It's just the way it changes
Like the shoreline and the sea.
But let's not talk of love or chains
And things we can't untie,
Your eyes are soft with sorrow.
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.
Verse 3
I loved you in the morning,
Our kisses deep and warm,
Your hair upon the pillow,
Like a sleepy golden storm.
Yes, many loved before us,
I know that we are not new,
In city and in forest,
They smiled like me and you.
But let's not talk of love or chains
And things we can't untie,
Your eyes are soft with sorrow.
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.
Posted on: Tea Tasting
May 27, 2009 at 3:25 PMrjberki,
Drinking "loose leaf tea" has always been popular here in the SF Bay Area. There are tea shops and "Salons de thé" nearly everywhere and one never sees a tea bag in these places. Chinese restaurants always serve loose leaf tea, and often there are many choices.
We are tea drinkers in my family, and for those special occassions we take out the porcelain tea set that was hand painted by my wife's great-great grandmother. Our friends from England and China really appreciate such an occasion, and often bring special teas.
I don't think a tea bag has ever touched these cups. Hmm... maybe I am a "tea snob (-:"
Bill
Posted on: Podcast Language 1
May 24, 2009 at 3:23 PMHey, rjberki, good to see you back.
Otherwise, one often wonders as he or she silently listens to lesson after lesson, and religiously does all of the exercises if something is sinking into one's mind.
Happily, this "teaching talk" is absolutely trivial now. Such a 请问 would've been nice to have about two years ago though.
And, bobt_2062, no problem here with the "defected." I felt like Amber deserted us too. We all adored her, and it is normal to express the pain we felt in a mild manner like you have done.
And everything worked out just fine. We still have 朱琦, 程康艺, John, and Ken as constants along with pete's scholarly twist on things, and his 唐诗 that is very cool.
Bill
Posted on: The Brocade Zither -- 锦瑟
May 13, 2009 at 4:01 PMI asked a young friend of mine who lives in 桂林 if she was familiar with this poem. She remarked that, yes I am, it was in my high school text, and a part of my entrance exam to the University.
She then continued, that given my mood right now, I don't want to talk about this poem because "总觉得这诗写得很悲伤也有点消极." Or, essentially, that she always feels the poem is very sad and a little negative. My friend is preparing to leave home for the first time, and head off to graduate school in the US. It's a time of change in her life and so as all great poems do, this one resonates with her current feelings as she goes through what is really a major change in her life.
I've taken some time to think about this poem, and I really, really like it. It's an amorphous beast, a chameleon, it magically plays with ones thoughts, ones moods, much like the music of the 锦瑟.
A brocade zither will play music with 50, 25 or even one string. All that is required is that a string have a peg to hold it in place so it can vibrate with the tension of its youth, middle or old age. Quality stringed instruments like wine improve with age. My classical guitar is now 42 years old. It was hand made by Sakazo Nakade who was at that time one of the world's best luthiers. You can look at it and hear its beautiful sound.
And this poem's beauty is that its music resonates with our current life whether one is 22, 40, or nearly 70; whether one is a philosopher who dreams he is a butterfly or, of all things, an emperor who shares the secrets of his love life with a cuckoo.
It brings to mind the experiences on this magical voyage that everything shares. That both the living, you, me, poets, philosophers and emperors, and inanimate things share, speaking of pearls that cry in the bright moonlight, and jade that gives off smoke,
And, yes, the present is at times baffling, confusing, and filled with contradictions. Reflections on things past may seem to put these events in perspective, clarify and put them neatly on a book shelf. But, then we are left with the question of just what is real. Is the recollection as real as the actual experience? Am I a person dreaming I am a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming I am a person?
Well, "some guy" is quoted in the diamond sutra as saying, don't mistake your finger for the moon. When you imagine a fire, your brain does not burst into flames does it.
Bill
Posted on: To do
June 13, 2009 at 5:35 AMHi Pete,
I actually download rather than listen to the audio stream. I downloaded twice and the result each time was a 0mb file.
Seems the 3rd time is a charmer. I didn't change any state on my browser prior to do the 3rd attempt.
So, it looks like one of those transient phantom bugs visited us.
A note on such and so: Their usage is not straight forward. For example: Such a statement is incorrect. Here such is an adjective. This ice cream is so good!! Here so is an adverb.
So, can also be an adjective, pronoun, conjunction and interjection (SO!!). Similarly, such can also be an adverb and a pronoun.
Ah grammar .. such a trip.
Bill