User Comments - matt_c
matt_c
Posted on: Valentine's Special
February 13, 2009 at 2:21 AMMy wife and I don't buy into Valentine's Day, but due to cultural conditioning we both still feel the need to spend the day together (and work our schedules so we may).
Anyone got rose sales figures for Valentine's Day in China?
Posted on: 学术抄袭
February 12, 2009 at 3:05 PMIndeed, referencing is key, but some people will acknowledge their sources, even quote them, whilst just reworking the word order (with an extra tweak or two) of the source text without any original thought of their own - not to be mistaken with paraphrasing.
I always prefered the classes where marks were awarded for how you developed an original/unique analysis of a 'problem', using sources not as a crutch but for the acquisition of background information that enabled you to make an even more informed analysis - the emphasis being on developing one's own original analysis.
Posted on: 学术抄袭
February 12, 2009 at 9:10 AMWhere is the line drawn between plagiarizing and 'creative editing'?
Posted on: Funny Business -- 搞笑， 好笑， 可笑
February 12, 2009 at 1:42 AMUPDATE!!!!:
See John's latest ChinesePod blog post about this great new Firefox pinyin plugin
@a1pi2 Excellent to know. I think the problem with pinyin conversion is that because many Chinese characters have multiple meanings and pronunciations, they are coded to often over compensate and provide us with as many options that are available for the pinyin of the converted character. Like 行 would convert as xíng/háng/hàng - then you just delete the unwanted choices (but this is tedious), so perhaps could it be programmed to 'learn' context for the uses of various characters and their meanings and pronunciations etc. But it seems a mighty mammoth task, and coding is NOT my strong suit.
Am interested to see what you come up with mate! :D
Posted on: You First
February 11, 2009 at 4:25 PM@xemrac thanks for the link, it was great. 饭桶 fàntǒng （rice bucket) can also refer to someone as being a bit thick too. lol.
Posted on: Funny Business -- 搞笑， 好笑， 可笑
February 11, 2009 at 4:09 PM@bababardwan I know that in Wenlin, when you type ni3 it automatically becomes nǐ, and so on.
I know that NJ Star was popular with some of my old classmates, and Dimsum was a little bug ridden but ok none the less. You can enter a URL into a box and it opens up another tab in Safari/Firefox/Opera(etc.) with annotated popups.
UPADTE:
Ah, you mean typing pinyin without copy/paste - I will have to look into something that can directly type pinyin into any documents. Currently use IMKQIM to type simplified and tradititional characters on my mac.
Posted on: Funny Business -- 搞笑， 好笑， 可笑
February 11, 2009 at 9:19 AM@xemrac Another poddie mac user - Woot! What are you running? I myself am using the latest macbook: 2.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo, 4Gb DDR3 RAM, 250GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400rpm, 256Mb NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics card. It's pretty good but I think it was released without full Quality testing (the headphones/speaker hardware or firmware has a couple of minor problems.
As for pinyin annotation there a couple of free programs out there. Wenlin isn't bad either but I don't think it is free (despite it being freely available). As for programs that will fully annotate text for you - I have yet to find something perfect (and that's after drawing on the knowledge of our team of experts here at Praxis/Cpod office)
Posted on: You First
February 11, 2009 at 6:47 AM@xemrac 你的lineage那么有趣啦！ (nǐ de ... nàme yǒuqù lo) I wonder if the 'raw' flavours of regional cuisine of which the 'mish mash' bespeaks has been watered down at all from the 台湾的 （Taiwanese） influence? I found that whilst Taiwanese food is rich in variety, the flavours are never quite the same as good ole regional home cooking. I think the word that comes to mind is 'fusion'. BTW yeah, you caught me out for the shameless 'live to eat' epicurean that I am (some say 饭桶 （fàntǒng）lol). Either way I'm sure dinner time at your parent's place is something to look forward to each time.
Posted on: Simple Electrical Stuff
February 11, 2009 at 6:03 AM@Bababardwan That is a bloody classic mate. Wish I could tell which beers they were drinking, then we could make a guess as to where it was taken - unless it was a beer theme party where they were sampling various imports - then we are up sh.. 'the proverbial' creek without a paddle in the guessing department. roflmao.
Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 8: Trimming the Fat at the Office
February 16, 2009 at 2:16 AMDo we have any lawyer poddies who could shed some light on how an unfair dismissal claim would/could play out here in China?