holy $#!7, it’s snowing!
big sticky plops pelting down
end of poverty
since I mentioned I was going to see jeffrey sachs, I thought I’d give a mention to his latest book, the end of poverty. it sucks. he’s a terrible writer, and a narcissist to boot. the gist of his book is: “[insert country here: Bolivia, Poland]’s economy succeeded because of my work, and [insert country here: Russia] failed because they … Read More
wee hens
recently finished john ralston saul’s latest book: the collapse of globalism and the reinvention of the world. as the title might indicate, saul chronologically maps the rise in the idolatry of globalism (i.e., viewing the world through an economic prism) and then its miserable failure to deliver: the rising tide of globalization alone is just not enough to pull the … Read More
dictionary of finance terms
SHARK REPELLENT: measure undertaken by a corporation to discourage unwanted TAKEOVER attempts. Also called porcupine provision. For example: 1. fair price provision requiring a bidder to pay the same price to all shareholders. This raises the stakes and discourages TENDER OFFERS designed to attract only those shareholders most eager to replace management. 2. GOLDEN PARACHUTE contract with top executives that … Read More
chinesepod
I love this chinese podcast that hm directed me to–I’m somehow drawn in enough by the people conversing (they’re in shanghai, and include at least an american and brit whose chinese is pretty good, as well as a chinese who learned english abroad), that I want to know more about them! it’s pretty sweet that they have different levels too. … Read More
penguin graphic classics
penguin has started a new line of classic books with cool covers by modern artists–they look awesome! see also us.penguinclassics.com
chinese idioms
甜言蜜语 (tian2 yan2 mi4 yu3) Sweet talks and honeyed words; to fool people with beautiful but deceptive words –from oneaday.org
wikigoogle it, just a little bit
my new verb: wikigoogle. or maybe wiki-oogle? wikoogle? how would I know anything if I couldn’t wikigoogle??
darlie
posted in: cross-culture, words
2
I was looking for toothpaste in taipei, and I laughed as soon as I saw this. 黑人 means “black man” — and I like how the english translation is just a shade off of ‘darkie’. Not in Canada, indeed.