[disclaimer] Just a collection, don’t hold me accountable.
January 23, 2006
Starting an open source software project from scratch
I have some ideas for useful software which I would like to have for my own use on my computer, PDA and mobile phone. Preferably cross-platform and user friendly. Really simple stuff, actually. Mainly tools for study and research. But I don’t have the time nor expertise to program these by myself or to find a good application online.
Any hints where to find help for a project like this? An open forum for software project ideas?
Here some pieces of advice… But where to find a one-stop-shop? http://programming.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=05/01/19/0334244&tid=25&tid=132
Tech news & sites
Created a long collection on links and then boom, web crash. Well, this was open source day so here a couple of links
January 22, 2006
Mobile phone culture in China
A Chinese friend just told me he has sent over 6000 SMS within a half year. Multiply that by the urban population…
Philip K.Dick (science fiction writer)
I used to be an active scifi reader. In fact this was almost exclusively the type of literature I read from around 10 to around 16 years old. Even considered myself bit of an expert on the subject. And I think scifi is a grossly underrated type of craftmanship & influence on the society. The same standards that might hold for “belles lettres” (Fine arts literature (fiction, poetry, drama, etc.) as distinguished from scientific/technical writing, as defined by www.trussel.com/books/glossary.htm) do not apply to scifi. Science fiction is imagination let loose on a field that does not necessarily cater to literary sensibilities, but can still be valuable future oriented social commentary. Or an engineer’s brush with literature.
Despite that, I never managed to run into Philip K. Dick before a couple of years back (which is my only literary regret besides the fact that I never got into belles lettres until I was around 20;a huge regret) I don’t know how that happened, but after reading a couple of his books, I could only wonder why I never had the luck to run into this treasure trove of wacky ideas in my teens. Things might have turned out even wackier for me =) www.philipkdick.com www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.12/philip.html No belittling the great Stanislaw Lem meant here www.lem.pl For some tickling scifi humor, try “Cyberias” by Lem.
Freud
Reading “Das Unbehagen in der Kultur” (discontent in the culture). Writings from 1908 to the 1930’s.
The Literary Encyclopedia has (for example) this to say: “He uses the analogy of Rome’s architectural history to illustrate the sedimentation of memories and impressions in the mind.” www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5736 This is in common with Simmel whom I wrote a bit about earlier. But he is on aesthetics, taking the example of the city of Rome. Seems that this theme was popular at the time… Would be interesting to compare the two essays. If you find the interest let me know. I don’t have the time at this moment.
January 10, 2006
Georg Simmel on the city, fashion, money etc.
Simmel seems to be better known in Europe & German speaking areas than in the US for example. I wonder why… Anyway, here an intro from Switzerland in English. http://socio.ch/sim/biographie/
I picked a collection and read some eye-opening esseys on fashion, the big city, and money. These sociological essays or just observations were written around the start of the 1900’s but they seem valid to this day… Here some picks.
On the modern city:
Large cities have always been dens of monetary economy, because the complexity and concentration of economic exchanges increases the significance of money as a medium of exchange.This does not happen in the countryside because of the lesser intensity of exchanges. Monetary economy and the supremacy of reason are in fact most closely intertwined. What they have in common, is a strict prudence in relation to things and to people; often formal justice goes hand in hand with ruthless cold-heartedness.
Money is only interested in that which is common to all phenomena; namely the exchange value which evens out all qualities and special characteristics to quantitative values.
In primitive environments goods are manufactured for the particular customer who has made the order, and the manufacturer and buyer know each other. The large modern city on the other hand lives almost exclusively from manufacturing for markets; goods are made for strangers, whom the maker will never meet.
January 7, 2006
Learning Spanish
Donde estas Yolanda? (Pink Martini)
Donde estas, donde estas, Yolanda
Que paso, que paso, Yolanda
Te busque, te busque, Yolanda
Y no estas, y no estas Yolanda
Donde estas, donde estas, Yolanda
Que paso, que paso, Yolanda
Te busque, te busque, Yolanda
Y no estas, y no estas Yolanda
Tus ojos me miraron
Tus labios me besaron
Con ese fuego ardiente
Ardiente de mujer
La luz de tu mirada
El fuego de tus labios
Flecharon a mi pecho y de ti me enamore
Donde estas, donde estas, Yolanda
Que paso, que paso, Yolanda
Te busque, te busque, Yolanda
Y no estas, y no estas Yolanda
Donde estas, donde estas, Yolanda
Que paso, que paso, Yolanda
Te busque, te busque, Yolanda
Y no estas, y no estas Yolanda
Dikedikeda!!
Donde estas, donde estas, Yolanda
Que paso, que paso, Yolanda
Te busque, te busque, Yolanda
Y no estas, y no estas Yolanda
Donde estas, donde estas, Yolanda
Que paso, que paso, Yolanda
Te busque, te busque, Yolanda
Y no estas, y no estas Yolanda
Me dicen que paseabas
En un carro Yolanda
Muy guapa y arrogante
Y todos te silbaban.
Si un dia te encontrara
No se que puedo hacer
No se me vuelvo loco
Si ya no te vuelvo a ver
Donde estas, donde estas, Yolanda
Que paso, que paso, Yolanda
Te busque, te busque, Yolanda
Y no estas, y no estas Yolanda
Donde estas, donde estas, Yolanda
Que paso, que paso, Yolanda
Te busque, te busque, Yolanda
Y no estas, y no estas Yolanda
Learning Chinese through songs
Will input pronunciation later…
花事了
歌手：王菲 Faye Wong
作曲：Sophie Zelmani, Lars Halapi
填詞：林夕 編曲：郭亮
趁笑容在面上 就讓餘情懸心上 世界大生命長 不只與你分享
(smile lingering on face; letting your feelings hang above your heart; world is large life is long； i share its pleasures not only with you)
讓我感謝你 贈我空歡喜 記得要忘記
(let me thank you; for giving me empty infatuation; remember to forget)
和你暫別又何妨 音樂正歡樂
(separate from you for a while – why not?; music is the real pleasure)
你叫我寂寞 怎麼襯 這音樂
(you call me lonely; ??; this music)
是我想睡了 受不起打擾 時間比你重要
(i want to sleep; cannot stand disturbance; time is more important than you)
是我安定了 幸福的騷擾 我都厭倦了
(i have stabilized; the troubles of happiness; i hate them)
是我懂事了 甚麼都不曉 連你都錯認了
(i understand now; nothing i understand; not even you)
若說花事了 幸福知多少 你可領悟了
(if you say flowers bloom now; that is how much you know happiness; you start to understand)
Yes I’m going home I must hurry home Where your life goes on
So I’m going home Going home alone And your life goes on
(does that make sense?!? maybe not but that’s why this is a constantly updated learning diary)
January 1, 2006
Singlish and Klingon
Does anybody know of good online translation services that could do English to Singlish (Singaporean English) text translations? And Klingon, Elvish, Esperanto etc…
Google has a good set of languages but unfortunately so far no translation to / from these ones. www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en You can use google in “Elmer Fudd”…
Me language freak?
New year, new blog, special day!
This will be an extension & my new tool for learning. Initial list of all kinds of things I like:
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French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Cantonese, Korean etc. languages
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Literature & thoughts springing from books
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Sociology & anthropology or whatever you would call those lines of investigation..
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Science, tech & cool gadgets
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Geography, news, developments around the world
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Random ramblings connected or unconnected to any of the above
I won’t be writing very personal stuff in this blog, I guess. Maybe will start a blog like that later. Haha, cool, now starting!
Reading right now:
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Das Schloss (Franz Kafka)
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Selected Poems and Pictures of the Song Dynasty (China Intercontinental Press)
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Shuo Guangdonghua (textbook on Cantonese by Yuanfang publishing co.)
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Shou Huo (Chinese literary bimonthly formerly edited by the late Ba Jin)
Kafka das Schloss was a nice (or weird) surprise which he often is. I was expecting some long and tedious reading but in fact there is some crazy stuff in this book… Looked up some link to this book, this is what came up (not meant as an ad for Amazon, but they had some good commentaries on the page) www.amazon.com/gp/product/0805210393/103-7495648-1472665?v=glance&n=283155
As for who is (or was) Ba Jin, see here http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/people/A0930476.html
