The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Few nights ago, I went with my wife to see "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". A movie that just got 13 Oscar nominations this year. Well, I've not seen any movie for a while, and I'm the one who pick this movie, certainly I should enjoy it. Indeed, I think I've mentally prepared to see this movie as I found out something about this movie before I went, like it is over 2 1/2 hours long, it is a bit slow, and the main plot as well. So, I wasn't surprise by the story or other things. Some people might think that it would take away the fun to see a movie. Well, for this kind of 'art' movie, it is ok to do that. Otherwise, if the movie sucks, I will regret to pay the full price and wasted hours in the theatre for it.

About this movie, I wasn't disappointed at all. In fact, I enjoy it very much. The set pieces, the make up, the specific effect, and Cate Blanchett's acting are all good. Brad Pitt is....well good, but not good enough to deserve to win an Oscar. Cos, maybe due to the character, his performance is quite....subtle. No much ups and downs in terms of display of emotion. Not sure it has anything to do with the makeup, anyway, I think he is doing a fine job in terms of acting, it basically go with the tone and flow of the movie. The 2 1/2 hours went fine and as the story itself is captivating. One thing that I noticed about Brad Pitt is that, when he was playing a 50+ years old character, he really look like Robert Redford!

Anyway, I would say the movie is enjoyable if you know what you expect. My wife enjoyed that, but not as much as I, cos she got a cold that night. Anyway, I would say that I'd good time in viewing this movie.

Parenting 2

Last week, I’d caught up with a good friend of mine, Jacob. We were chatting on our family and stuff. Jacob has a son about a year older than mine. He recently had an argument with his wife, Eve, who happens to be my friend too. Normally, argument between a couple is very normal, but the topic of discussion really interested me. It is about parenting. Eve’s idea is that their son, Samuel is their only son, and she will just give him anything he wants with her best effort regardless. Jacob’s idea is that he will give Samuel what he needs and what’s good for him, rather than simply blindly doing things that simply satisfy his son’s desire.

Certainly, the two approaches have overlapping areas. However, there are gaps. Cos, kid’s desire has no limit and reason sometimes. We were all kids before and we know that sometimes what we wanted were not what we need or are best for us when we looked back. Certainly, our parents couldn’t and didn’t give us everything that we wanted, but Eve’s attitude towards such ‘blank’ check approach simply scared Jacob tremendously. Cos, though their kid is still very young, but with years to come, argument and even fights between Eve and himself seems unavoidable. Also, kid is smart, if he knows that he has an easy way with his mom, will he still listen to his dad? Then, all the discipline, hard works, lecturing, motivation to excel will be thrown out of the window if his son can simply beg his mom to give him what he wants.

I told Jacob that he can only take it easy for now and spend time to talk to his wife on occasion basis. Eve has a point, but it doesn’t mean that he wouldn’t change. Also, he shouldn’t always look at the worst cases. Since both Jacob and Eve love their son, so they can build on trust and understanding from there. We all know that bringing up a kid is hard work, it isn’t easy by any mean. Feeding, bathing are not the hard part, negative returns from parenting effort is the worst nightmare for every parent.

I hope similar things will work out in my nest as well.

Can he do it?

In an extraordinary time, we need extraordinary person to lead an extraordinary nation. Just getting where he is already extraordinary. Whether he can do it or not won't be known till few years down the road. If he can, he should be added to the President Hill, if not what he is going to do while facing such extraordinary situation, he should have probably done his best. Afterall, he is still human....

180 degree turn

Lately, I've been quite stressful on both end of my life: at work and home. On the one hand, I was quite busy at work with conference calls at night. On the other hand, my son has a fever and I'd a cold. So, I remember last night, I was checking some SWIFT messages requirements with a celebrity in my dream. As usual, my dream are very unreal, why would I talk to a celebrity? but the checking part was stressful.

Then, I was woken up by 'knocks knocks' of my bedroom door. My housemaid said that my son has a fever again. So, my wife and I got up and gave him medicine. After that, I went back to bed. I said to myself, how come my dream was so exhausting. Then, I fell in sleep again. After I woke up, I still remember bits and pieces of my second dream. I was in a party on a local island. Seeing some old friends from ex-company that bought his friends and family from Brazil. Also, I was dancing with some college friends, reading some comic books with visual special effects, and it was a really fun dream!

I wish I can command my dream at wish. Theoretically, if I can do that. It means that I can control 1/3 of my life....ha...just a fantasy!

Anyway, I really hope that the recent chaotic events will settle down soon, so my boring but stable life can resume!

An idea about TV ads in future

My thought on TV advertising in future….

Current situation – TV audiences are diminishing in number and they are getting old. Yes, they still do have money to spend, but in the long run, TV programs will be delivered via the web rather than through the traditional TV set. Yes, there is a trend that TV sets are more become a LCD monitor with some PC capabilities. That’s another sorry, it is no doubt that many young folks are watching TV programs on their PC/laptop/netbook than before, most young people just want to watch whatever they want to watch at the time that they want. So, TV Guides will become obsolete if they don’t change in future.

TV programs are popping up on the web in many ways: in the official websites of the TV broadcasting companies, in blogs, in various websites with online TV weblinks, Youtube, Joost, Hulu, etc. Based on what I see in many cases, the broadcasters are just using similar tactics are they did on traditional TV, i.e. attach TV ads to TV programs, kinda force folks to watch them before they watch the TV clips.

Thoughts for the future – As I said before, people want to watch whatever they want whenever they want. It also means that they will not tolerate the ‘enforced’ ads that they need to watch in order to watch the shows of their choice. That just not only apply to TV shows, it applies webpage as well. Cites an example of Forbes.com, how many times I will look up the ‘x’ at the top right corner to turn off the whatever ad they want to show me when I just want to read the article that I want. Those intrusive ads just annoy me, I would say, don’t show what I don’t want to see, I don’t care how good your product or services are! However, does it mean that ad has no role in future? No, they just need to do that differently. There is something call ‘product placement’ in movies or TV shows. Like you see a guy pulling a bottle of Pepsi slowly in an ‘awkward’ position just want to show you the ‘Pepsi’ logo. That was bad! But, if product placement can be done wisely, it should help a lot.

For example, when you are watching ‘Desperate Housewife’, some might want to know where do those actresses get their clothes from, or when you watch CSI, you may want to know where you can buy those cool gadgets, like torches, or the nice suits that the actors wore. If someone can develop a technology that can allow folks to ‘freeze’ the screenshot, and show ‘links’ and ‘pointers’ to describe where are those clothes or products on the screens are from, then that should fit the idea of getting whatever viewers want whenever they want it. E.g. they may put a yellow dot at the top right corner of the screen showing that product placement info is available for that screen. If there is none, then the yellow dot will disappear. I know that would be able distracting as well, but certainly, showing the dot is optional and per user request. Somewhat like to on-screen script for the visual impaired. I’m sure that if I want certain product information on that screen that I watch, when I get my butt moving to click those links to view about those product info, I more likely will go to buy that product that just viewing some blind advertising that wasting my time. Like, if I saw the actor is driving a nice car on the show, if I want to know about that car, I can click the links to view the info about that car, or click other links to view the detail spec of the car, where can I get it, and what price. You know what I mean? That is more a smart advertising approach than the current one. Cos, I think this kind of ‘Pull advertising’ is much more effective than the ‘push advertising’ that are prevalently done in today’s media.

I know there are still a wide variety of considerations involved, like what kind of products can that applied? The cost involved? The nature of products, etc. However, what I just mentioned is an idea that must be further built upon in order to be effective. Just two cents from me!

Hope to get well soon

I’ve been sicked for 2 days, my doc’s medicines don’t seem to help to much. I hate being sick, though it is just a cold (not a flu, as I took a flu shot last month), it just makes me weak and sad. I’ve to get well soon, so I can play with my son again. Kinda miss it….

Corporate Life

I've working in few companies before. Different companies have quite different environment, culture and atmosphere, even though they are in the same industry. We are in a highly stressful industry, job is demanding, we have clients to deal with who are always demanding and difficult. As we can deal with them alone, cooperation among folks internally is a must, in order to satisfy client's requirements.

A lot of pressure is coming from working with internal folks. There are people above you, beside you and under you. Pressure and frustration are coming from all sides. Yes, there are barriers and filters to select the so-called 'right' people to join the firm. Hopefully, you can find someone who are capable to do the job. I think it is very important to do that, cos in my ex-companies, there are folks just not capable to do what they suppose to do. Well, they are exceptions, but just a small group of them would make a hell for many folks. It is sometimes not that easy to get rid of the incapable, especially when their bosses want to keep them around for some reasons that doesn't need to make to us.

For the 'normal' folks that are capable doing their jobs, a lot of times, it doesn't mean that they can also make you doing your job. The way they do their job, or do that better is to make other people's life more difficult. Also, there are folks that are 'X-men' (include women). They are so special, they have strange abilities that just weird in work place. Like they never give straight answers, never take person responsibilities, never do what they told you, never cooperate with anyone except their bosses, etc. I assume that they have 'normal' intelligence more or less 100, but they just have low EQ or just being difficult with others.

Cos, my industry is not facing robots or machines, there are people all around. We need to talk, ping, call, others. So much communications are going on everyday that, for anyone that is not trying to be helpful, it means hell!

Certainly, I've different levels or aspect of difficulties working in different companies. Nonetheless, such problem are just not going away. Cos, we are all people, we have our characters. There is no way everyone can match everyone else. So, I'm telling you, if you can work with a group of people that you find comfortable with. You won the lottery. Stay there! Yes, there are also other stuff like job security, prospect, promotion, rotation, restructuring, benefits, learning opportunities, pay policy, etc that are important. But, most of those things can be seen, whether you can get along with folks around you is not a given or policy. It can change along with change in personnel. So, just cherish what you have if folks are nice to you, and suck it up if they aren't, unless you can find a better place to go.

What will you ask a spirit?

I had a dream last night about encountering a dead local celebrity. It was like a gathering of fans and the dead in a party or something, it was by no mean scary. As I was about ask question to that celebrity in close up encounter, I was woken by my alarm. The dream does linger a bit in my mind this morning and get me thinking...what questions I will ask in this encounter? Provided that, it is in a nice and calm environment. Come to think of it, I think I will ask the following:

1. What have happened since XXX (the act that caused his/her death, or discretely the date/time of his/her death)?
2. How did you feel during the time of 'passage'?
3. What have you done, where do you go and normally where do you stay since then?
4. Where are you planning to go, or where can you go ultimately?
5. What do you miss the most?
6. Would you do anything differently (if it is a suicide)?
7. How do you feel now?
8. Anything you want us know?

What will you ask if you have such opportunity?

Korea's Education Initiatives on Teaching Chinese Characters

Just came across few articles about this topic. Something that I've never known before. Just wanna share with all interested.

国际先驱导报：韩国离不开中国“汉字”

韩国国内围绕汉字的争议背后，始终是民族主义情绪的躁动

　　“每当用古诗、成语或典故介绍名胜古迹时，日本游客一般都会听得津津有味，而韩国人却似乎无动于衷。”一位经常给韩日游客做导游服务的中国人士深有感触地说。

　　一百年前，韩国的官方文字还仅限于汉字，但如今，在韩国年轻一代的眼中，汉字已显得那么陌生。韩国古代很多书籍大多是用汉字撰写，年轻一代却视其为外文，难以理解。韩国有识之士因此忧心忡忡，“韩国年轻人如果不懂汉字，那韩国传统文化的精髓必定将日渐流失。”

　　正是出于此担忧，日前，首尔南部一地区教育部门宣布将在小学重新引入强制学习汉字计划。此消息一出，再次引发韩国社会对“汉字教育”的争论。

　　韩国再掀“汉字教育”之争

　　韩语学会最先站出来反对。9月18日上午，该学会发表声明称，“此举是韩国的一大倒退。”

　　韩语学会的声明得到了相当一部分韩国人，尤其是年轻人的认同。他们认为，韩国人应该重视自己的语言，能不用汉字尽量不用汉字，“如果有时间学习汉字，还不如花时间来学习英文。”

　　在北京大学就读的韩国留学生李庾珍告诉《国际先驱导报》，韩国人对自己的语言和文字感到很骄傲，国家还特地设立了“韩语节”加以纪念。

　　正因为民间酝酿的这样一种情绪，2004年7月，韩国政府部门曾向国会提交决议草案，要求推行韩国法律文书的韩语化，去除法律条文里的汉字。韩国的一些议员甚至认为，这是弘扬民族自主精神的表现。然而，这一法案的支持者和反对者互不相让，最终该决议草案不了了之。

　　“汉字”始终是韩国敏感话题

　　韩国国内围绕汉字的争议背后，始终是民族主义情绪的躁动。

　　在古代韩国，汉字是上层社会与下层社会的分界线。能写一笔好的汉字书法，能用汉字写诗作赋，是上层社会的身份标识。而下层社会的庶民则与汉字无缘，其所使用的语言也没有相对应的文字。

　　公元1443年，朝鲜世宗大王下令创造专为庶民使用的表音文字（现在的韩文），此称为“训民正音”。但是，在之后相当长的一段时间里，上层统治阶层还是使用汉字，而庶民使用表音文字，用表音文字写的文章被称为“谚文”。

　　清朝末年，韩国人开始摒弃汉字，从前的“谚文”开始占居主导地位。之后，韩国沦为日本的殖民地，日本殖民当局确定了“日汉文字并用”的政策，并把表音文字学者视为反日分子加以迫害。就此，表音文字打上了反日、爱国的民族主义标识。

　　1948年，摆脱殖民地地位的韩国颁布了《表音文字专用法》，规定公文全部使用表音字。但出于历史的缘故，暂且允许兼用汉字。到了1970年，事情发展到了极端，当时的朴正熙政府一度下令废除汉字，学校教育中只教授韩语。这直接导致了韩国有整整一代人完全不懂汉字。

　　韩国淑明女子大学中文系教授咸恩仙告诉《国际先驱导报》，上世纪60至70年代，韩国对汉字教育的争论十分激烈。认为应该多爱护自己国家语言的韩国人很多，且态度强烈。而支持汉字教育的人认为，汉字已经成为了韩语中的一部分，应该尊重。到了80年代以后，汉字教育才开始逐渐恢复。

　　韩国离不开中国“汉字”

　　汉字在韩国的命运可谓一波三折，数度浮沉。那汉字在韩国语言和文化当中，到底有着怎样的作用？韩国终究能够离开汉字吗？

　　其实，这个问题一直是韩国人面对的尴尬。韩文是表音文字，没有像汉语一样有四个声调的变化，当遇到同音字时，就只能通过上下文语境来猜测词的含义了。即使这样，在很多情况下，韩语还是不能准确表达出含义，这就需要借助汉字来理解。并且韩语当中多数词汇来源于汉字，很多成语、典故，也只有通过汉字才能完全理解。因此，韩国的多数法律条文中夹杂有大量的汉字。

　　自然，如果不懂得汉字，不仅无法阅读古典文学，查阅古代朝鲜的书目，还不能理解现代法律文书。这对于一个现代韩国人来说，是不可想像的。“要去除法律条文里的汉字，不太可能，对废除汉字教学更是不认同了。”北京大学的韩国留学生李庾珍向《国际先驱导报》指出。

　　一个耐人寻味的现象是：在韩国民间废除汉字呼声日高之时，韩国政府2005年2月宣布，在所有公务文件和交通标志等领域，全面恢复使用已经消失多年的中国汉字和汉字标记，以适应世界化的时代潮流。

　　有评论认为，中华文明是韩国的母体文明，韩国废除汉字的行为，将使他们逐渐失去母体文明的灵魂，脱离了汉字的韩文，就犹如没有灵魂的文化“木乃伊”。因此，韩国政府全面恢复使用汉字是必然的、明智的历史选择。（国际先驱导报记者梁辉发自北京）


[世間萬象] 韓國的漢字教育

朝鮮日報評論員 金東燮 (2009.01.12 15:23)
“将‘南北통일（统一）’中的韩文部分用汉字写出来。”结果有超过一半的学生莫名其妙地把答案写成“남북（南北）”。因為不知道“部分”和“漢字”的意思，所以連提問都看不懂。还有很多人把背水阵(배수진)读成“부수차（部水车，音）”，把幼稚(유치)读成“절치（节稚，音）”，把文化写成“文花”，把学科写成“学校”。這是首爾大學幾年前對1280名教養國語課聽課生進行漢字基礎能力測試的結果。

辭彙就是語言實力的基礎。韓文學會《大辭典》中的16.4125萬個辭彙中，漢字詞達8.5527萬個，占52.1%.小學國語書中的55%，醫學、哲學等領域專門用語的95%是漢字。如果不懂漢字，就無法提高辭彙能力和學習能力。即使是同一個韓文辭彙，根據漢字的不同也有完全不同的解釋，這種詞語有很多。例如，与“사기”同音的汉字有士气等22个，“전기”则有电气等18个汉字。

漢字從1970年開始在小學、初中、高中教科書中消失。雖然1975年重新出現在初中、高中教科書中，但不是採取混用方式，而是把漢字放在括弧裏的並用方式。現在，小學已經取消了漢字課，在初中和高中，漢字課也和德語、法語一樣是選修課，因此在高考中只有17%的人選擇這個科目。北韓在相當於韓國小學五年級的高等初中至大學期間共教授3000個漢字。

據說，全國漢字教育推進總聯合會向青瓦台提交建議書主張從小學開始教漢字，已經有20名健在的歷任國務總理在該建議書上簽名。除了臥病在床的91歲高齡的劉彰順以外，從金鍾泌（第11屆）到韓悳洙（第38屆），所有健在的歷任總理全都參加了聯合簽名活動。據說，漢字教育推進總聯合會理事長陳泰夏利用一年多時間東奔西走，終於說服了他們。盧武鉉政府執政時期曾擔任國務總理的李海瓚、韓明淑和韓悳洙也一同參與令陳泰夏“頗感意外”。由此可見，和理念及政治立場無關，所有人都深刻認識到了漢字教育問題的重要性。

在學習漢字方面，僅靠死記硬背效果不大。也就是說，如果將“龍須鐵（彈簧）”解釋成“像龍須一樣的鐵”。那麼孩子們也會學得很有意思。如果多多瞭解漢字，縮短冗長文章的概括能力和創造新語句的創造能力就會提升，從而使語言生活豐富多彩。漢字教育不是外語學習，而是韓語正常化過程中所必需的前提條件。

朝鮮日報中文網 chn.chosun.com

[Opinion] Teaching Chinese Characters

There is an effective way of teaching the Korean language to teens who have returned to the country after a long stay overseas: teaching commonly used Chinese characters. As 70 percent of Korean is derived from Chinese, a student can learn Korean much easier if he or she has knowledge of Chinese characters. It is like having a map when traveling. Many words in European languages such as English, French and German originate from Latin, which was the official language of the Roman Empire, which ruled much of Europe. Latin is inseparable from American and European school curricula no matter how badly students complain about the difficulty of learning it.

Young Koreans are not good at Chinese characters because the subject has been neglected for a long time. Seoul National University administers a reading test for Chinese characters as part of its entrance exam. Though easy Chinese characters appear on the test, many test takers find it very challenging. Jobseekers fresh out of college are also poor at Chinese characters. Sadly, their poor understanding of Chinese characters mirrors their poor comprehension skills in Korean. Though it could be argued that Korean language education is the most important, in reality, it cannot be properly done without teaching Chinese characters.


Illiteracy in Chinese characters incurs a big loss to the nation. The combined population of China and Japan, two countries whose people use Chinese characters, is 1.5 billion. Good knowledge of Chinese characters is a must for someone wishing to learn either Chinese or Japanese. China and Japan are Korea’s major rivals and partners. A good grasp of Chinese characters is also essential to better understanding of the cultures of the two neighbors, which is of paramount importance.


Most of Korea`s cultural heritage is preserved in Chinese characters. As the number of people illiterate in Chinese character swells, precious cultural legacies of Korea such as classical literature are growing useless. This has also resulted in widening the generation gap. Twenty former prime ministers recently urged the government to enhance Chinese character education. It shows their grave fears over the young generation`s growing inability in Chinese characters. It is pointless to split the nation into two groups involving one insisting on using Korean characters only and another demanding the use of both Chinese and Korean characters. Instead, the two sides should quickly find common ground and lay the foundation to strengthen Korean-language education.


Editorial Writer Hong Chan-sik (chansik@donga.com)

日本人“汉字造词”功力高 汉语国货很少

Just came across an interest article about sources of 'modern' Chinese wordings, would like to share with anyone can read Chinese:


全球有三大国际性文化圈，即基督教文化圈、伊斯兰教文化圈和儒家文化圈。儒家的核心价值观:仁、义、礼、智、信、忠、孝、廉、耻、节。日本，属于儒家文化圈国家，对儒家典籍比较重视。

　　在日本，用汉字造作词汇或庄重的命名，大多到中国的儒家典籍中去探源取典。体现了深厚的儒学功底和汉字造词能力。

　　比如我们比较熟悉的、常常引起风波的那个“靖国神社”。其“靖国”二字，就典出我国的《春秋左传·僖公二十三年》:‘叔伯曰:“子若国何？”对曰:“吾以靖国也。”’“靖国”即安定国家、安邦治国。现在成为日本右翼分子参拜场所。这大概是美国占领军的麦克阿瑟将军故意留下这一小块空间，让战败的军国主义分子及余孽每年去“阿Q”一下。

　　“靖国神社”正殿旁边还有一个展馆，展出有死者有关的事迹、物品，名叫“游就馆”。“游就 二字”语出荀子的《劝学篇》:“故君子居必择乡，游必就土。”之句。含有招唤亡魂回归故土之意。

　　“物理”一词，最早典出道家典籍《冠子》，冠子（约公元前300—前220年），战国末期道家，楚国人。《冠子·王斧第九》云:“庞子曰:‘愿闻其人情物理’，所以啬万物与天地总，与神明体正之道？”

　　还有，“明治维新”的“维新”一词，也是出于《诗经·大雅·文王》:“文王在上，於昭于天。周虽旧邦，其命维新。”日本人经常提到“文明开化”时期，“文明”二字，典出《书·舜典》“睿哲文明”，“开化”，典出顾恺之《定命论》:“夫建极开化，树声殆则。”

　　日本皇宫的御花园，后更名为“后乐园”，则取典于北宋范仲淹《岳阳楼记》中“先天下之忧而忧，后天下之乐而乐”之文意。

　　日本的“厚生省”相当于我们的民政、卫生、劳动部门。“厚生”二字，典出《尚书·大禹谟》:“禹曰:…德惟善政，政在养民…正德、利用、厚生惟和。”意思是，端正人们的德行，方便人们的物用，丰富人们的生活，让人们生活在和谐的环境中。

　　再如，日本天皇的年号，均由公卿、重臣、学者们从中华典籍选取文词，呈天皇确定，天皇幼，则由摄政定夺。这种办法在日本成为传统定制。举几个近（现）代天皇年号为例:

　　江户末期孝明天皇（1846—1867在位）曾用过“文久”、“元治”、“庆应”三个年号。

　　“文久”，典出《后汉书·谢该传》:“文武并用，成长久之计。”

　　“元治”，典出《周易·乾·文言》:“乾元用九，天下治也。”

　　“庆应”，典出《文选》汉高祖《功臣颂》:“庆云应辉，皇阶受术。”现在日本的“庆应大学”就是套用这个年号吧。

　　明治（1868—1912），名睦仁，为日本第122代天皇。“明治”典出有三:《周易·说卦》:“‘离’也者明也…圣人南面而听天下，向明而治。”

　　《周易·乾》:“用九…大明始治，六位时成，时成则六龙以御天。” 《孔子家语》:“长聪明，治五气，设五量，抚万民，度四方。”

　　大正（1912—1925），是明治天皇的儿子嘉仁的年号。“大正”典出于《周易·革卦》:“《彖》曰:文明以说（读悦），大正以亨，其悔乃无。”

　　《周易·临卦》:“彖曰:“说（悦）而顺，刚中而应，大亨以正，天之道也。” 《周易·大畜卦》:“彖曰:刚上而尚贤，能止健，大正也。”

　　昭和（1926—1988）是大正天皇的儿子裕仁的年号，典出于《尚书·尧典》 :“九族既睦，平章百姓。百姓昭明，协和万邦。”

　　《史记·五帝本纪》:“九族既睦，便章百姓，百姓昭明，合和万邦。”

　　平成（1989——）当前在位天皇年号。据说是从“平成”、“修文”“正化”三个候选年号中选中的。经查，《尚书·大禹谟》有:“地平天成，六府三事允洽，万世永赖”。《史记·五帝本纪》有:“（舜）举八元，使布教于四方，父义、母慈、兄友、弟恭、子孝、内平外成。”寓意国内外、天地间，均和平兴旺，充满吉祥。

　　日本天皇的名字，多择自我国儒家经典，近代天皇的名字均带“仁”字。《论语》“子曰:仁者，爱人。” 《尔雅》曰:“太平之人，仁也。”

　　《东宫切韵》曰:“理政事而至成功，谓之仁。”

　“明治”天皇名“睦仁”。其实他既不“睦”，也不“仁”，发动甲午战争，强迫清政府订立《马关条约》，出兵占领青岛。

　　“昭和”天皇名“裕仁”，取其“国裕民安”之意。其实也没“裕”起来，发动侵华战争，以失败投降告终，还挨了原子弹，人民吃尽苦头。当今在位的“平成”天皇，名“明仁”（1933—）；当今皇太子名“德仁”（1960—）

　　日本平民百姓的名子也同样带有某种儒文化色彩，忌讳不吉、不雅汉字。

　　例如:人名中的忠、孝、仁、义、礼、智、信等表示伦理道德；

　　良、吉、喜、嘉等表示吉庆；龟、鹤、松、千代等表示长寿；君代等表示远久；广、博、浩、洋等表示智慧。

　　男子的名多表示威武、英俊、忠信等内容，目前以郎、雄、男、夫等字结尾的名较多。以排行为名也是男子名的一个特征，如太郎、一郎、次郎、三郎等。

　　女子的名一般多用秀丽优雅、读音柔和的字词，如百合子、花子、纯子、春子、幸子、芳子、千惠子、秀子、友子、良子、智子等。另外，以江、代、美、枝等字结尾的名也不少。

　　随着对外交流的加剧，日本取名的一些传统吉利汉字组合还要考虑“欧美”读音，比如“涌大”，本来很有气势，但与英语“You Die”（去死吧）读音相近，所以诸如此类的字被拒用。

　　值得一提的是，近代有不少词汇是先由日本根据中国经典造出来，又输入回中国，因为都是汉字组成，我们并没有把它们作为“外来语”，甚至有人误认为是“汉语固有词汇”，其实这是误会。例如，日常用惯的下列词汇，就是日本人首先造出来的:

　　白夜、半径、饱和、保险、保障、备品、背景、编制、采光、参观、常识、场合、场所、成分、成员、承认、乘客、出口、出庭、储藏、储蓄、传染病、创作、代表、代言人、德育、登记、登载、敌视、抵抗、发明、法律、法人、法庭、反动、反对、分配、分析、封锁、否定、否决、服务、服用、、概括、概略、概念、概算、固定、固体、故障、关系、广告、广义、归纳、化石、化学、化妆品、集团、集中、、机关、机械、积极、基地、计划、记号、记录、建筑、鉴定、讲师、讲坛、讲习、讲演、讲座、教养、教育学、阶级、接吻、节约、结核、解放、紧张、进度、进化、进化论、进展、经费、经济、经济学、经验、精神、景气、警察、剧场、决算、绝对、科目、科学、可决、客观、客体、课程、肯定、空间、会计、扩散、劳动、劳动者、劳作、累减、类型、理论、理念、理事、理想、理性、理智、力学、立场、临床、领海、、领空、领土、论理学、论坛、论战、落选、脉动、漫笔、漫画、漫谈、盲从、媒质、美感、美化、美术、民主、敏感、明确、、命题、母体、母校、目标、目的、内阁、内幕、内勤、内容、内在、能动、能力、、偶然、派遣、判决、陪审、批评、平面、评价、骑士、企业、气体、气质、前线、强制、侵犯、侵略、勤务、、清算、情报、权威、权限、权益、权利、人格、人权、人文主义、人选、日程、商业、社会、社会学、社会主义、社交、社团、身分、失效、时间、时事、时效、、思想、死角、所得税、、探险、探照灯、特长、特务、同情、同计、体操、体育、、唯心论、唯物论、卫生、文化、文库、文明、文学、无产者、舞台、物理、物理学、宪法、相对、想象、象征、消防、消费、消化、宣传、宣战、选举、学府、学会、学历、学士、学位、演出、演说、演习、义务、议决、议会、、艺术、意识、意义、银行、银幕、、元素、园艺、原动力、原理、愿意、原则、运动、运动场、原子、杂志、展览会、战线、哲学、政策、政党、支部、支配、支线、知识、直观、直接、直径、直觉、直流、制约、质量、终点、仲裁、主动、主观、主人公、主食、主体、主义、资本、资本家、资料、自律、自然淘汰、自由、宗教、综合、总动员、总理、总领事、组成、组阁、组合、组织、最惠国、左翼、作品、作物、作者、座谈等等。

　　还有，无产阶级、社会主义、共产主义、共产党，等政治名词及诸如无线电、发电机、蓄电池、干电池、电压、电流等科技名词都是日本词汇。

　　如此看来，现代汉语词汇真正的“国货”不多。

　　日本人能在浩瀚的中国古籍中查询到如此深奥的典故渊源，造出“祖师爷”老家都能接受的丰富词汇，可以看出日本人深厚的汉家儒学功底和汉字造词能力。这对我们国人来说，也有值得深思借鉴之处。有些人患有崇洋媚外症，总觉得自己先人留下的东西落后，今日“批”明日“破”，弄得人们无所适从。到头来，与其到洋人的垃圾堆里捡破烂，还不如到自己的典籍中去挖掘瑰丽宝藏。仅此愚见，未免有管窥蠡测守旧之嫌。（文/宇闻）

编辑：王雅坤

Pretty Women

While having lunch with my colleagues today, we were having a discussion about topics. One of them is about a common interest - Movies. Then, a topic about who are the prettiest actresses was brought up. As a movie buff in their eyes, I told them my choices. Certainly, there were discussion back and forth, and they suggested their selections. One of the funny things was that the only female colleague that thought that Julia Roberts is pretty. Others asked me what I thought, I said her mouth is too big. She has a great smile, but pretty?....nah. Then, other said what about Angelina Jolie? I said she has big lips, not big mouth! That's different. They seems to agree with my comment.

Then, I mentioned who are my choices, like Charlize Theron, Sharon Stone, Natalie Portman, Winonna Ryder, LeeLee Sobieski, etc. Certainly, some of them are not at their prime. I think except Sharon who they disagree a bit and Leelee who they really can't recall. I think they said my choices are generally pretty. Certainly, there are other names mentioned among us, like Catherine Zeta Jones, Scarlett Johanson, etc, and other suggestions that were 'shot down, like Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lopez, etc. Well, I was a fun conversation and we all seems to enjoy it.

I think 'Pretty Women' is such a common topic that unless you can't see or you can't remember names, it is always a fun topic to chat about. Definitely it depends on how far you wanna go in your conversation, but it is topic that can be quite interesting and informative. I can say that I enjoy the conversation very much!

Matrix style flipbook animation

Cool!....

War

What is going on in the world lately? Of course I'm not talking about those celebrity gossip news. The biggest story, besides the ongoing financial tsunami episode X, it is the war in Gaza.

Well, I'm not in the position to tell who is right or wrong. Cos, for me, all I saw are destruction of propeties, loss of lives and suffering of the surviors. Their blood is red, like all of us. I understand that violence aggression is part of human nature, it makes us human and help us to survive. Yes, there is an ongoing shortage of resources, but with cooperation and love, things can be worked out to help each other. We are not put into a position that we have to kill another human being for our own survival. That makes me sick to see the civilian victims. That just doesn't make sense to me.

Violent conflicts between individuals are understandable. Cos, some of their acts are results of emotion, mental sickness, or impulse. However, when groups go into organized violent conflicts or war, that just stupid. If they read 'Art of War' CORRECTLY, to get something without going to war is always the preferrable way. War causes so much destructions that there are always implications, such as revenge, hatred, retailation as aftermaths. Cycle of violence can last for generations, are those really something we want? Do human beings ever learn? I don't think so. Cos, war is main theme of human history, peace is only oddity. I remember that I read an article long ago saying that out of recorded human history, only a small portion of time that there was no recorded war. So, I guess we humans just don't learn. That's why it is so common to wish for world peace as new year resolution. I guess as long as there are humans on earth, there won't be peace.

Prophecy

My last blog mentioned about 'Prediction'. That makes me think about Prophecy. There are many famous prophets, Nostradamus, Edgar Cayce, etc. Certainly, everyone of them has their own predictions and the accuracy are subjected to interpretation. Cos, the bottomline is that you won't know if they are accurate until things happen. Anyway, in the last decades or so, there have been increasing interest in prophecy due to the approach of millennium. So, there were many doomsday scenarios, especially after WWII. Then, Hollywood were making tons of those movies, like Deep Impact, Armageddon, End of Days, etc. They have not stopped that, the latest one will be coming out soon - '2012'. It is about prediction by Mayan thousands years ago about the end of the world. As it was told that the Mayan calender will be ended on Dec 23, 2012. Certainly, Hollywood would not let go of such thing, that's why X-Files last episode is also about 2012. Another prophecy movie is 'Knowing', also about how a bunch of mathematical codes can predict future events. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that Prophecy is such an interesting topic for many of us, as many of us are 'helpless' humans that often look to God or else for advice on what is gonna happen, either good or bad.

Do we really want to know the future? I think that most impressive story about knowing the future is a old Chinese sci-fi fiction about a guy who has the ability to know what is gonna happen in future. To him, reading newspaper is a depressing act, cos everyday, the news are not new to him. The worst case is that he can't change the future, even his thought about changing the future is already known to him. He even knew how he is gonna die - in the operation room for brain surgery - the final act that he wanna his future-knowing ability to be taken away but fail.

So, the thing is a paradox: if future can be changed, then prophecy is not accurate. If future cannot be changed, then all surprise of good things will be taken away, but the bad things would depressive and more depressive if you know all the efforts that you make to change the bad things from happening would make the bad things even more difficult to accept.

I just think accept who we are, what we did, and just do what should and want to do. Let's see what will happen and that's it!

My 2009 NBA All Star Games Prediction

Well, I'm a fan of NBA since I was a kid. Anyone who know NBA knows that NBA All Star Game is show of popularity and glitz. What I want to talk about is that I think something unpleasant to Chinese fans will happen in this year's All Star Games.

The 5 starters of each coast are voted by fans, the rest players are selected by NBA insiders. For the past years or decades, things have been fine. i.e. star players on winning teams usually got high votes. Those star players are usually quite talent and entertaining. As NBA was largely an U.S. centric game, though the champion has been called the World Champion. Those votes were come from U.S. fans mostly. However, as NBA is a 'global' business in these days, you can tell how David Stern, the commissioner of NBA has been salivating the Chinese market. Then, we got Yao Ming. Yao has been in the All Star Games since he joined NBA. Luckily, he is a talent and has getting more and more dominant in the center post. So, with the decline of Shaq, Yao has been voted as the starting center for the west coast for few years. Fans and critics are largely ok with that, because he is really talented in his position. If he is not the best center in NBA now, he is certainly in the top three, so it has been fine.

Nonetheless, 2009 is a different story. The cause is Yi Jianlian. He is a good player, but not a star, at least not yet. However, he is second in vote after Kevin Garrnett so far. That's not good from basketball prospective. His votes, undoubtedly mostly of them are from China. I can understand they want to see their player in All Star Games. However, they got Yao already, if they just blindly vote whoever is Chinese, that's not good. Cos, my prediction is that if Yi Jianlian is voted as a starter for the East Coast. Then, the other 4 starters and the rest players of the East will not actively pass balls to him and he will be hacked by the 4 starters and all the rest of the West (excecpt Yao, but I doubt he will help Yi out as he plays the opposite team). If you think that is not gonna happen, you will be surprise! Cos, it happened before, I remember that when Shaq was young and stupid, he verbally challenged the centers of the west in one of the All Star Game in the 90s, then he got hacked by Kakeem and David Robinson whenever Shaq wanna go to the basket, u know playing defence in All Star Games are usually a second thought, people just wanna dunk, slam and striking poster post. So, Shaq got hacked.

For Yi, he will be hacked not because what he said or what he will say, but because he will be voted blindly by the Chinese fans. Those players will punish him to show that he doesn't belong there, at least not yet. That would be embarrassing for Yi and for the Chinese. I hope that won't happen, but based on the current signs, it is very likely that will.

First blog in 2009....just another blog....

I've been lazy updating my blog in the last 2 weeks or so. It's because I've been on vacation. Usually, I've more 'personal time' to update my blog during my work days. While in vacation, my time has been occupied by many other stuff, just couldn't find the time alone to update my blog as I did before. Anyway, I think things will get back to 'normal' from now on....

Well, new year has just begun. My thought is....SO? I don't see how Jan 1 is any different than let say....Jan 12? Maybe, the weather is a bit different, but we still have 24 hrs a day, the world still goes on, so do our lives. The poors are still poor, the riches are still rich for the most part. Arabs and Jews still fight, and the economic tsunami is still going on. I just don't see what is the big deal about a new year. I think people just need to find an excuse to do something together. To me, that's about it. What's up with those countdown? Fireworks? Oh! come on, if those are not excuses, I don't know what they are then.

Am I anti-social? am I a party-pooper? am I just trying to be different? Well, I don't think I care how other see me on this issue. As long as I don't hurt anyone and I think I'm entitle to what I think and I still respect what they think and do, so that's why I don't really care. Don't get me wrong that I'm upset or unhappy of new year. I'm not. My mind is calm and my thoughts are clear and steady. Just want to point out the hollowness of the 'new year' celebration 'gift-wrapper'. To me, if you are a Christian, Christmas is meaningful. If you believe in labor rights, May 1 is meaningful. If you are self-center, your birthday is important. If you need an excuse to 'start' something, Jan 1 would be the day for you. That's my point.