kRiZ cPEc's shared items in Google Reader

報告：長江流域將有更多天災

2009-11-10T05:58:48Z

世界自然基金會星期二（11月10日）發表最新報告稱，氣候變暖將給中國長江流域帶來更多的極端氣候事件。

陳雲的兩個訪問

2009-11-10T04:22:00Z

form: 麥道舞的進行曲

陳雲《蘋果》專訪
http://www.openbooknet.com/blogs/u/maple/2009/11/07/-8702

看陳雲專訪，必有啟發。

文中常引述梁文道和陳雲的兩篇專訪，看得出記者有備而來。不過……唉！陳雲是助理教授啊，為甚麼簡介連最基本的資料都寫錯？
文中的民族學系列，即是懷舊集，筆者看到《農心匠意－－香港城鄉風俗憶舊》，還有兩本未看。

斬妖　6/11/2009
http://www.openbooknet.com/blogs/u/maple/2009/11/07/-8702

【蘋果】梁文道形容陳雲時寫到：「他的職業文章，一切看起來都是那麼不合時宜」。陳雲在這個年頭宣揚傳統中文，旗幟鮮明地反共，的確反大潮流，結果卻因此走紅了。《中文解毒》長期霸佔暢銷書榜，新作《執正中文》同樣放在書店顯著位置。

＝＝＝＝＝＝＝

連帶一個梁文道與陳雲的對談：

解毒中文　替天行道──與陳雲對話

http://www.openbooknet.com/blogs/u/maple/2009/03/24/-5448

The Millionaire Mindset

2009-11-09T08:11:57Z

Do you have the mindset of a millionaire?

You are about to find out.

Let me start off with saying that is not the amount of one million dollars that gives someone a millionaire mindset. That is why people who win the lotto or inherit a large sum of money can still go broke,fail at a business or make incredibly dumb decisions.

The millionaire mindset is a way of thinking. It is unique and special and I would dare to say that the majority of the population do not have this mindset. I have come into contact with about a dozen people who have this mindset (and who are millionaires). It wasn’t until recently that I started seeing similarities in the ways of thinking and doing between these successful people. I was curious to find out if there was a specific way how they go through life that contributed-to and resulted in them being successful.

What I found is the following:

(I will refer to people with the millionaire mindset as MM people.)

The Millionaire Mindset:

Not Scared of Hard Work or Long Hours.

MM people are not scared of hard work. They do not mind waking up and being the first one at their business and the last one to leave. They do not mind coming in on weekends.

To avoid misunderstandings, I am not saying that MM people actually like this. They may very well rather want to be with their families or relaxing at home, but they know that sometimes it takes sacrifice. What must be done must be done.

Knowing There is No Free Lunch.

This ties in with the first point. MM people know that it takes hard work or blood,sweat and tears to be successful. If things happen to go easy and come their way easily, then it is a bonus. They do not rely on things to fall in their lap. They work for success, every step of the way.

Taking Action. Waste Little Time Talking and Spend Time Doing.

No daily meetings. No hours spent in boardrooms. Millionaire mindset people take action. They know what they want and decide fast. They know time is money, and things are not going to happen by themselves. When confronted with a situation and a problem, it is dealt with asap. The longer it lies around, the bigger of a problem it gets.

This is not to say that Millionaire mindset people do not spend time planning. On the contrary. Millionaire mindset people are often the biggest planners I know. Coming up with ideas, new way to do this, other ways to automate that. They mostly do this in their spare time, and when things need to be done, they are done first.

Knowing Strengths and Weaknesses.

People with a millionaire mindset know what their strengths and weaknesses are. They know they are good at certain things, and will admit this openly. Initially I saw this as arrogance, but now I see it as supreme confidence. There is not a doubt in these people’s minds that they are good at what they say they are good at.

On the flip side, these people also know what they are bad at. They will admit this openly too. They will not attempt to do these things (at which they suck) themselves, but will rather outsource the task to someone who is good and pay the price for it.

Not Scared to Spend (Invest).

The millionaire mindset is one of constant opportunity and investment. The MM people will spend thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in the blink of an eye on tools,equipment or whatever else is necessary to make the business grow.

I have seen many business owners who do not want to spend money for tools or equipment. These businesses often do a lousy job, spend much more time than they should on a job, and even get injured because of their foolish unwillingness to spend. (Penny wise,Pound Foolish?)

People with the millionaire mindset will rather take out a loan or work longer hours to be able to buy the best equipment to get the job done. They know that this will pay off in the long run and pay out multiple times the initial investment.

The Little Things Matter.

Even though the MM people may have millions of dollars in the bank, I have noticed that they still care and fuss about the little things. (Sometimes) They will rather go out of their way and drive to another store than pay $5 too much for something. Not because of the $5, but out of principle.

One of the reasons that they think this way, is that they got to where they are by making all the little things count. Lots of little things make a big thing eventually.

Living Below Their Means

MM people live below their means. Indeed they may spend $40 000 on a 2 month holiday, but they will only do this if it is way within their means.

This is the best way to accumulate wealth. Not spending everything you are able to spend, and save or invest the rest.

I would love to hear your view about the above points in a comment below.

30 Sentences for A Millionaire Mindset:

On a related note, I have spent the weekend reading an ebook from Dragos Roua. The book is called ‘30 Sentences for a Millionaire Mindset’. I have been wanting to make a post about this concept for a long time now, but Dragos’s book called me to action.

Besides having a 2000 reader strong Personal Development blog, Dragos has had multiple successful online businesses for the last 10 years. He has come into contact with thousands of successful people and gained much wisdom throughout his entrepeneurship journey.

‘30 Sentences for a Millionaire Mindset’ is truly an eye-opener. Very inspirational and motivational.The book consists of over 90 pages and revolves around 30 principles that form the millionaire mindset. Each principle is explained in detail in its own chapter.

The best part about the book, is that Dragos has included a crash course in ADD (Assess – Decide – Do) and an assessment booklet. The book is not just something that you passively read. . The idea is that with each of the 30 principles of the millionaire mindset, you assess your current situation and decide what you need to change and do to gain that mindset. (And the success that comes with it). You reflect upon your own life and situation and pin-point the things that you are doing or not doing that are holding you back from being really successful.

‘30 Sentences for a Millionaire Mindset’ costs just $27 and is instantly download-able.

I highly recommend it! I am always looking for fantastic resources that can help me improve my mindset. I want to grow, learn and be successful. Drago’s book definitely is one of those resources!

(*Note* : If you wish to purchase a copy through the link below, I will get a commission. It does not change the purchase price for you at all. If you do not wish to purchase the ebook through my link, you can buy it from Dragos himself at Dragosroua.com)

Have a Rockin’ day
Diggy
___________________________________________________________________________________________

Enjoy this article?
Subscribe via Email or RSS and never miss another Upgradereality post!

OR (No-Spam Guarantee)

Weird Food McDonald's Sells Around The World

2009-11-05T08:12:00Z

"QUANTUM SHOT" #597
Link - Article by Chris Mitchell of Travel Happy, and A. Abrams

McDonald's Around The World: Marvels Never Cease, Especially in Asia

If you think McDonald's sells the same burgers and fries everywhere in the world, think again – here in Asia they’ve had to make some concessions to local tastes and come up with some peculiar fast-food variations on Asian favourites.

It all started with the Samurai Pork Burger. I saw this advertised outside a McDonald's in Bangkok back in 2004 and was somewhat perplexed. Why is it a Japanese name when I’m in Thailand? And what do Samurai have to do with pork? Actually, why is it called Samurai at all? Sadly, I never actually found out any of the answers, but it made me start paying closer attention to McDonald's every time I went to another country in Asia.

(Samurai Pork Burger, Bangkok, Thailand (left) and Thai Spicy Fish McDippers (right) - photos via)

Perhaps more traditional for Thailand, the Thai Spicy Fish McDippers (image above right) are a piscine breadcrumb and chili overload. Incidentally, don’t actually expect to eat your fast food in Thailand fast – you will inevitably be handed your burger but have to wait five minutes for your fries, which will be dutifully brought to you – by which time, of course, you’ve eaten your burger…

In Singapore, the national obsession with rice extends to having rice cakes in your burger.

(Rice Burgers, Singapore)

I expected lots of interesting stuff in a Japanese McDonald's – McTentacles perhaps – but the menu was disappointingly ordinary.

Although there were these – Seaweed Flavoured Fries. Also, see below-right: the tasty tentacle snack from Japan. Yum.

In Hong Kong, I nearly got arrested for taking this photo of the Green Tea and Red Bean Ice Cream Sundae. Didn’t realise they guarded their secret bean recipe quite so zealously.

(Green Tea And Red Bean Sundae, Hong Kong)

In Indonesia, as the world’s largest Muslim country, chicken is far more popular than beefburgers (and, of course, the Samurai Pork Burger would be completely taboo). Hence you get combo sets of chicken, rice and Coke:

Chicken, Rice and Coke, Jakarta, Indonesia

Perhaps my biggest WTF moment (Weird and Troubling Food, naturally) in a McDonald's was in the Philippines, when I spotted the clotted mess that is McSpaghetti. (McDo indeed). My Filipino friends explained to me that it was incredibly popular and basically consisted of spaghetti soaked in sugar. Ewwww.

Let me repeat this: Spaghetti - Soaked In - Sugar!.

McSpaghetti, Philippines

I also seem to remember that when I first went to Australia in 2003, there was a Billabong Burger that had tinned beetroot between two patties. Sadly (or perhaps thankfully), I don’t have any photographic evidence, though it tasted as grim as it sounds. There was also a similar one called McOz with only one patty (plus the tinned beetroot that is ubiquitous in Australia – fresh beetroot isn’t nearly as popular).

Spam, Spam, Spam, Eggs, Bacon, and Spam

David Gardner shares his experience: "Did you know you can get Spam, eggs, and rice for a McDonald’s Breakfast in Honolulu? Yup. Right there on Kalakaua St facing Waikiki. Totally cool!"

See this classic Monty Python sketch to truly appreciate the irony.

(images via 1, 2)

In the middle of Moscow, on a busy Arbat street, you can get a take-out for your horse:

(image credit: Kotofei)

Big Macs are a Big Unknown in Chongqing, China

My most memorable experience of McDonald's in Asia, however, is stumbling onto a MaccyDs in Chongqing, China. I’d just completed an excruciating trip up the Three Gorges on an overloaded passenger boat that played earsplitting soap operas the entire journey, and I was in need of comfort food. Chongqing is a vast city with a mind-boggling 31,000,000 inhabitants – and that’s just the official figure. Arriving there just as dusk began to fall was somewhat intimidating to say the least. Things were not helped when I arrived at the front of the McDonald's queue dishevelled and hungry, and found, much to my horror, that the universally understood phrase of “Big Mac” was not understood here.

Managers were summoned despite (or perhaps because of) my increasingly strident pointing at the overhead menu, until a Chinese teenager behind me stepped up and got me exactly what I wanted in 20 seconds flat. He spoke a little English, and I could tell he wanted to practice so I invited my culinary rescuer to join me and we had a great, if slow conversation about his life in Chongqing. “Chongqing is great”, he said. “But I want to go to America”. “Why?” I asked. He broke into a beam of a smile and said “Because I want to meet Christina Aguilera!”

That conversation rescued what had otherwise been a grim day, and makes me smile every time I recall it. And it wouldn't have happened if I hadn’t gone to McDonald's.

Some Other Fast-Food Masterpieces From Around the World

Some are not McDonald's, technically, but very hard to omit when making an article like this. Here is -

Tuna Pie! Seen at Jollibee (Philippines).

(image via)

This is wonderful pizza jigsaw puzzle, where every piece is a tasty morsel:
(Winter Double King Pizza at Pizza Hut, Japan)

(image via)

Peas and potatoes make up the patty in the McAloo Tikki at McDonald's in India -

(image via)

Great travel site Trifter shows more international Mac food variations, among them guacamole (avocado paste) McPollo burger in Chile:

(image via)

Let us know about other interesting McDonald's offerings you found around the world.

When Looking for McDonald's, Beware of Imitations!

(original unknown)

If you’re wondering why I even frequent McDonald's when I’m travelling in the continent of tremendous cuisine, the reasons are threefold:

1) Sometimes you’re so tired or cultureshocked or plain lazy you just want something completely familiar to eat in an air-conditioned, relatively clean environment, however bad it may be for you;

2) McDonald's is actually a great place to peoplewatch because, funnily enough, all the locals go there, and;

3) It irks travel purists no end, so that’s always a winner. (There is a great explanation of why eating at McDonald's while traveling is not to be sneered at by Rolf Potts, with an equally interesting addendum by Pico Iyer, both of which save me having to rewrite it here).

McDonald's Creativity Zoo: Unlimited Imagination from Used Packaging

We wrote about "Bent Objects" sculptures from McDonalds materials before.

(art by Bent Objects)

But now they've got some creepy new sculptures made, right in time for Halloween:

(art by Bent Objects)

But you do not need to use any fast food materials to create monsters: here is how to make (cook and eat) your very own alien caterpillar:

Speaking about post-Halloween cooking, here is another idea:

(original unknown)

CONTINUE TO OTHER "WEIRD FOOD"! ->

Other articles by Chris Mitchell Chris Mitchell of Travel Happy, for Dark Roasted Blend:
Komodo Dragons: They Eat Meat
Plain of Jars: Bombs and Mystery in Laos

Permanent Link......+StumbleUpon ...+Facebook

五四人物與台灣大學 (上)

2009-10-13T03:49:09Z

五四人物與台灣大學 (下)

2009-10-13T03:49:39Z

【文／劉景輝】羅家倫先生羅家倫先生（1898～1969）在北大時，就讀於外國語文學系。他雖與

Be Formless, Be Water

2009-11-05T08:01:48Z

“Empty your mind.
Be formless, shapeless, like water.
If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup.
You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle.
You put it into a teapot, it becomes the teapot.
Water can flow, and it can crash.
Be like water, my friend…” – Bruce Lee

This is the famous philosophy of the most famous martial artist in the world, Bruce Lee. According to him, there is no set technique, there is no fixed form or system that must be followed in combat. If the opponent expands,he contracts. If the opponent contracts, he expands.

Personally, I think Bruce Lee’s philosophy should be applied not just to martial arts, but to everything we do in life. There is no fixed way to live life. There is no set of rules to follow for a perfect life. It is not necessary to live life the exactly way that somebody tells us to.

“In Jeet Kune Do, it’s not how much you have learned, but how much you have absorbed from what you have learned. It is not how much fixed knowledge you can accumulate, but what you can apply livingly that counts. ‘Being’ is more valued than ‘doing’.”

Jeet Kune Do was Bruce Lee’s martial art. The above quote is the philosophy of Jeet Kune Do. It rejects all restrictions imposed by form and formality and emphasizes the clever use of the mind and body to defend and to attack.

The more rigid,fixed and set in your ways you are; the more vunerable you are to getting taken down or knocked out. Just like this applies to martial arts, this applies equally to life. If you are not flexible or unable to adapt to new situations, you get left behind.

” The only constant is change”

The first time I heard this, it didn’t make sense to me. After thinking about it a little more, it is the most true thing in the world. Everything constantly changes (although many principles remain the same). You start as a helpless little baby, grow into a child, then into a young adult, then an adult, and finally become old and finish your journey on this planet. Friends come and go, problems come and go, good times come and go.

There will be periods in your life that are really good and that you never want to end. Sometimes they do end. For some people this is detrimental, and they spend the rest of their lives living in a shadow of themselves because they cannot get over the fact that that good time ended.

Personally I have adopted the philosophy that everything is temporary. Every moment I do something, could be the last time that I do something. It gives a much greater appreciation for life. This way, I do (almost) everything with much greater passion and interest.

Of course there are things that I do not want to end. In fact there are things I will fight for to remain the same and do everything I can to keep them the way they are (things like friendships and family). Up until I have no control over it anymore.

“Accept the things you cannot change, and change the things you cannot accept.”

If something happens that you have absolutely no control over, and it cannot be changed, you have to make peace with it. There is no sense in wasting your life wishing it will change, or that you could go back in time. We make decisions and don’t look back. That is life. Be thankful for the times that we had what we wanted, and if the time has come for it to end, have a sense of peace about it.

When we accept what we cannot change, we are water. We take the shape of the container we are placed in. We adapt and are ready to live life in the best way we can position ourselves in. This may not always be what we want, but sometimes we cannot choose the container we are placed in.

As for things that we have the power to change, that is exactly what we must do. Even if it will take enormous amounts of hard work and effort, if we cannot accept it, then we must change it. This can be things like your financial independence, your friends, your girlfriend, your freedom. If you are in a situation that you are not happy with you need to do everything in your power to change it. Don’t give up until you get to where you want to be.

“Do not deny the classical approach, simply as a reaction, or you will have created another pattern and trapped yourself there.”

This is very important. In the self improvement and personal development niche, many people speak about breaking away from social conditioning. Freeing yourself from the 9-5 wage slave. The thing is, if you do this just because these people tell you to, then you are not changing at all. You are just changing masters, but you are still a slave.

The whole idea behind what we (bloggers about self improvement) write about, is to get you to be truly free. To think for yourself and find out what YOU want with your life. To find your passions and dreams, follow them, and turn them into reality.

Be formless…be water, my friend.

Have a Rockin’ day
Diggy
___________________________________________________________________________________________

Enjoy this article?
Subscribe via Email or RSS and never miss another Upgradereality post!

OR (No-Spam Guarantee)

Sport idioms: Horse racing

2009-08-14T15:25:20Z

In this episode, The Teacher introduces you to three idiomatic phrases connected with the sport of horse racing: It’s neck and neck; On the home straight or stretch; Down to the wire. The Teacher. 5 November 2009

我愛日本咖啡

2009-11-04T10:28:24Z

我愛日本咖啡

我認為全球咖啡最好味的地方是日本，對咖啡文化最具創意的地方也是日本。我以前不喜歡咖啡，覺得苦澀難喝。及後到日本留學，才知道咖啡是可以如此香濃及温柔，所以成為日本咖啡的中毒者。離開日本後，不再經常喝咖啡，因為無論美式或港式咖啡都不是my cup of coffee。

日本咖啡的實力在於其職人精神及創意。咖啡遲至江戶中期18世紀才由荷蘭人帶來長崎的出島。因出島是西洋人封鎖式社區，所以有機會最初一嘗咖啡味道的日本人大概只有妓女及官吏。首個記載喝咖啡的日人是文人大田南畝，他在1804年寫下「奇臭難耐」的評語。幕末開國後，橫濱的西洋人商館輸入小量咖啡，主要供旅日西洋人飲用。

明治維新，一些西化的日人開始喝咖啡，多以此為「文明開化」的表現，對其味道其實不太欣賞。日本首間咖啡店是1884年在上野開店的可否茶館，但因風氣未開，價格不菲，捱了4年便倒閉。明治末年及大正年間咖啡店如兩後春筍。日人開始以職人精神，鑽研改良咖啡味道的方法。大正年間，咖啡店推出全球最早的凍咖啡。亦有一說謂1891年有店鋪餐單上有「冰咖啡」（氷コーヒー）。日人發明的凍咖啡，在西方要遲至Starbucks出現後才普及。

日本另一發明是罐裝咖啡。1969年UCC推出全球最初的罐裝咖啡。1976年Pokka推出全球最早家庭裝(820千克)罐裝咖啡。

經過百年的鑽研，日本的咖啡達人已掌握秘訣，例如發明用炭燒保持原味，急凍令凍啡香濃及黑色不變。他們也指出要做一杯優質咖啡，要按咖啡豆的產地及種類，採用不同水質及熱度。甚至連奶、糖、茶具都十分講究，簡直成為「咖啡道」了。

YouTube - 《富豪山下》　（改自《富士山下》》

2009-11-01T10:42:39Z

圖書館是否該淪為廠商整併下的犧牲者

2009-10-07T21:30:55Z

圖書館自動化系統廠商 Dynix 公司被 Sirsi 給買下後，原 Dynix的用戶就一直很擔心日後產品的維護或更新上會受到影響，而美國紐約州的 Queens Borough Public Library 更在今年7月向法院提告 Sirsi Corporation，現在大家都在等著看這個案子的審理結果，畢竟這是圖書館告 ILS廠商的先例(?)。 Queens Borough...

Protect Yourself from Phishing Scams

2009-10-30T10:00:18Z

These scams continue to proliferate at alarming rates and are becoming more and
more difficult to detect. It's important for you to understand how to recognize
a phishing attempt and what you can do to protect yourself.

What Can I Do?

Be cautious about all communications you receive.
If it appears to be a phishing communication, do not respond. Delete it. You
can also forward it to the Federal Trade Commission at spam@uce.gov .
Do not click on any links listed in the email message and do not open any
attachments contained in suspicious email.
Do not enter personal information in a pop-up screen. Legitimate companies,
agencies and organizations don't ask for personal information via pop-up
screens.
Install a phishing filter on your email application and also on your web
browser. These filters will not keep out all phishing messages, but will
reduce the numbers of phishing attempts.

For more information, please visit:

Partnerships
Additional information and resources for educating citizens on cyber issues and
implementing sound cyber security practices are available at the following websites:

我们用什么来制约崛起的中国？

2009-10-29T17:00:05Z

《外交杨皮书》系列之五

在上一篇杨皮书里，我提出了一个问题请大家思考：如果冷战不是西方赢了，而是美国四分五裂、自顾不暇，苏联成为一国独大，那么，世界会如何？中国又怎样？

[阅读全文]
[和讯博客 blog.hexun.com]

Gmail account security tips

2009-10-27T20:24:00Z

Posted by Sarah Price, Online Operations Strategist

As part of National Cyber Security Awareness Month, we recently posted about how to pick a smart password. Having a strong password goes a long way in helping to protect your data, but there are a number of additional steps you can take to help you keep your Gmail account secure:

1. Remember to sign out. Especially when using a public computer, be careful to sign out of your Google account when you're finished. Just click the "Sign out" link at the top right corner of your inbox. If you're using a public or shared computer and want to be extra thorough, you can also clear the browser's cache, cookies and history. Then, completely close the browser. On your personal computer, you can also lock your computer with a password-protected screensaver if you need to step away momentarily. Learn the best ways to lock your screen in Windows or in Mac OS X. Forgot to sign out? Open up a new Gmail session on another computer and use Gmail's remote sign out feature to close any sessions that might still be open elsewhere.

2. Be careful about sending certain sensitive information via email. Once you send an email, you're no longer in control of the information it contains. The recipients, if they so choose, could forward the email or post its contents in a public place. Even if you know and trust the people you're emailing, that information may become exposed if their accounts become compromised or they get a virus on their machines. As a rule of thumb, should you need to provide a credit card number or financial account number to respond to a message, provide it over the phone or in person — not over email. And never share your password with anyone. Google does not email you to ask you for your password, your social security number, or other personal information — so don't send it!

3. Enable "Always use HTTPS." Any time you visit a webpage, your computer needs to send and receive information across the Internet. HTTPS is used to encrypt data as it is transmitted between computers on the Internet, so look for the "https" in the URL bar of your browser to indicate that the connection between your computer and Gmail's servers is encrypted. We use HTTPS on the Gmail login page, and you can choose to protect your entire Gmail session with HTTPS as well. HTTPS can make your mail slower, so we let you make the choice for yourself. Open Settings and choose "Always use HTTPS" on the General tab if you want to turn it on.

4. Be wary of unexpected attachments.To help protect you from viruses and malware, Gmail automatically scans every attachment when it's delivered to you, and again each time you open a message. Attachments you send are also scanned. That said, no system is foolproof, so if you happen to get an email from a friend with an attachment you didn't expect, don't be afraid to ask the sender what it is before you decide whether to open it.

5. Make sure your account recovery information is up-to-date. Your account recovery information helps you regain access to your account if you ever forget your password, or if someone gains access to your account without your permission. We currently offer several paths to account recovery. Every Gmail user must select a security question and answer — be sure to choose a combination that is easy for you to remember, but hard for others to guess or come across by investigating. Don't choose a question like "What is my favorite color?" as others may easily guess the answer. We also encourage you to provide a secondary email address and/or a mobile phone number, so we can send you a link to reset your password if you lose access to your account.

You can find additional security tips for Gmail in our Help Center. Learn more about protecting your computer, website, and personal information by checking out our security series on the Google blog or visiting http://www.staysafeonline.org.

Know the Rules of Cyber Ethics

2009-11-09T11:00:34Z

Cyber ethics refers to the code of responsible behavior on the Internet. Just as we are taught to act responsibly in everyday life, with lessons such as "Don't take what doesn't belong to you," and "Do not harm others," -- we must act responsibly in the cyber world as well. The basic rule is do not do something in cyber space that you would consider wrong or illegal in everyday life.

When determining responsible behaviors, consider the following:

Do not use rude or offensive language.
Don't be a bully on the Internet.
Do not call people names, lie about them, send embarrassing pictures of them, or do anything else to try to hurt them.
Do not copy information from the Internet and claim it as yours. That is called plagiarism.
Adhere to copyright restrictions when downloading material including software, games, movies, or music from the Internet.
Do not break into someone else's computer.
Do not use someone else's password.
Do not attempt to infect or in any way try to make someone else's computer unusable.

For more information, please visit:

Partnerships
Additional information and resources for educating citizens on cyber issues and implementing sound cyber security practices are available at the following websites:

YouTube intro to Boolean searching, great for kids

2009-10-26T01:02:11Z

Joe’s Reflection Blog has this fun embedded YouTube video. It’s a great introduction to Boolean searching for kids. See if you agree!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbVY8F7KGfw

ShareThis

那、哪

2009-10-24T00:44:00Z

看 hystericireul 寫《中文有這麼難嗎？》，當中提到：

「哪」和「那」，有那麼難用嗎？哪裡有難度了？

「那」是實指，指示代詞，用來指稱事情、物件，有明確的目標物，與「這」詞義相似，不過「這」是用於近指，「那」是用於遠指。

「哪」則是虛指，疑問代詞，通常在疑問句中用來指稱欲問的事情、物件。在陳述句中也會用「哪」，例如「我知道有哪幾條路可通往中環。」，譯成廣東話便是「我知道有邊幾條路可以去到中環。」

看罷這段文章及幾十條留言，我感到愕然。

我念中小學的時候，「哪」字的唯一用途，是用來寫「哪吒」這個名字。雖然偶爾也見過人用它來表達「那」字的意思，或作感嘆詞用，但印象中這只是北方話的用法，並非傳統中文。

怎料上述文章的留言者竟然多數都認為前述段落的「那/哪」區分是理所當然的。

自問是高學歷粗人，中文沒多少涵養，但是小時侯學業總算不太差，無奶油連「那」字那麼基本的字義都搞錯。

唯有查字典。

我讀中學時用的《學生字典》（商務印書館所編，一九五一年十月修訂）並無收入「哪」字，反而「那」字釋曰「何也。如何處曰那處。何堪曰那堪。」看哪！那個「那」作疑問用，那裏有錯了？

台灣《教育部重編國語辭典修訂本》，「那」條：

（三）表示疑問。如：「他去那裡了？」唐˙王建˙寒食行：「紙錢那得到黃泉？」
（四）表示疑問。通「哪」。為「那（ㄋㄚˇ）一」合音成ㄋㄞˇ，再轉成ㄋㄟˇ。如：「王維是那朝代的人？」儒林外史˙第一回：「縣裡人那個不曉得？」

可見從唐到清，「那」字都可以當疑問用。

《辭海》（一九四七年版）更將「那」列作本字：

【哪】…… 本作那 ……（一）按今語用哪，與啊字用法略同，每以助驚歎之情態；如：「謝謝您哪、天哪」等是。（二）疑問代名詞之那，今亦作哪，讀為上聲。

【那】【乙】（一）俗言那事，見廣韻。按俗言那個，即彼之意，那事意亦同。（二）何也。世說政事：『王謂何曰：「我今故與林公來相看，望擺撥常務，應對玄言，那得方低頭看此邪？」』

走筆至此，相信不用再多說了。

早前我寫了一篇消夜考，主要說香港人講的「消夜」是本詞，而內地人講的「夜宵」才是後來者。誰知引來文友好康說「語言、詞彙，是為人們交流服務的，它是否『合法』，在於是否得到人們的認同，而不在於古代是什麽樣子。別以爲時裝可以不斷復古，詞彙就是如此。」我想好康兄弟誤會了，該文的主旨並非要內地人「撥亂反正」，說回「消夜」，而是說既然「消夜」才是正寫，請內地的朋友別再批評香港人寫「消夜」為顛倒字序。今次對「那/哪」的討論也一樣，要用「那」字抑或「哪」字當疑問用，各有各的喜好，悉隨尊便，但是請大家勿再將「那」字的正確用法說成錯誤一般吧。

伸延閱讀：那和哪；栗子妹的練習場

中國農民調查，為何被封殺？

2009-10-19T02:22:53Z

【前言】《中國農民調查之等待判決》的內容記載著，2004年作者在中國出版的《中國農民調查報告》一書中，報導中國各地方農村改革抗爭的經歷，也如實揭露地方官員對農民進行殘忍剝削的事

石破天驚的中國農民調查

2009-10-19T02:18:34Z

The Seven Sins of Blogging, Sin #6, Being Unfindable

2009-10-18T17:56:20Z

Download MP3
Length: 25 min.

The sixth sin in my ongoing series on the Seven Deadly Sins of Blogging is being unfindable. (The other sins include being fake, irrelevant, boring, unreadable, irresponsible, and inattentive). Admittedly, lack of findability seems more a sin of omission than commission. Being unfindable seems like a sin bloggers commit against themselves.

I’ve written more than 1,000 posts on my blog, but usually the posts on my home page are the only posts people read. In this sense, blogs are like the news. A newspaper that’s several days old lines bird cages. Reading blog archives is like reading yesterday’s news — there’s no appeal.

And yet, many times archive posts have more substance that news commentary. The posts incorporate research and get into issues in depth. They don’t deserve to go into the garbage can once they slide off the home page.

Michael Arrington of TechCrunch.com compares blogging to reaching down and grabbing a handful of sand. The sand slowly slips through your fingers. You have to reach down and grab another handful of sand, and another, and another. In the metaphor, your readers are the sand; your reaching and scooping — those are the new posts. Perhaps if the content were more findable, you wouldn’t have to do so much reaching.

How can you enable readers to naturally find the content in your archives? How can you make the hundreds of posts you write more visible and prominent, especially if readers are looking for it? This is partly what the field of findability is all about.

Peter Morville, author of Ambient Findability, wants to move toward a world “in which we can find anyone or anything from anywhere at anytime.” He admits we might never achieve it, but it’s the direction we’re moving. To start, Morville says to ask three questions of your content:

1. Can people find your website?
2. Can they find their way around your website?
3. Can they find your content, products and services despite your website?

Aggregation Techniques

You can implement several easy aggregation techniques to increase the findability of your content. You can add tags and categories to your posts, and readers can navigate your content this way.

Tags function similarly to categories. You usually add tags as you would index keywords, including as many as you want to describe your content. Categories, on the other hand, are more like folders. You usually have only about a dozen categories on your site.

You can display your categories in a list on your sidebar, which could be helpful except that hardly anyone reads this way. And you can aggregate your tags into one of those jumbled masses of words called tag clouds. But like the list of categories, tag clouds don’t seem that useful to readers. At least I never use them. They’re merely a visual novelty.

Another way to increase the findability of your content is to add a string of related posts below each post. A variety of WordPress plugins do this for you (for example, the Contextual Related Posts plugin). Their matching algorithms vary a bit — some match by tag, others by keyword, others by custom keywords. Mostly, I think lists of related posts help searchers who land on your site from search engine results. These searchers are usually looking for information and sometimes prefer to drill into additional content on the same topic.

You can also aggregate your content through plugins that compile your most popular posts, such as the Popularity Contest plugin. Popularity is defined by hits, links, and comments. Your most popular posts may not be the posts you want to showcase, though. This is why I chose not to implement the Popularity Contest. My most popular posts are apparently posts on grasshoppers that look like aliens, a WordPress image gallery plugin, and notes from a keynote on WordPress 2.7.

You can also manually pull together your best posts. I recommend using the links feature in WordPress to manage your lists. You can also use the Section Widget (a tabbed widget) to show various lists in a compact way. Note that the tabbed section widget slows down your site’s loading time a little (I was intrigued by it earlier, but I removed it). It also seems to consume a lot of memory on the backend.

SEO

Let’s recognize a basic fact about websites. The majority of your readers — anywhere from 50 to 85 percent of visitors — find you through search engines. The web is mainly used for research, so these stats make sense.

But if visitors mainly find you through search engines, shouldn’t your content be optimized to rank high in search engine results? Search engine optimization (or SEO) should be a key influence in the way you write your posts, right?

Jakob Nielsen agrees. He says,

Web users are growing ever-more search dominant. Search is how people discover new websites and find individual pages within websites and intranets. Unless you’re listed on the first search engine results page (SERP), you might as well not exist. So, the first duty of writing for the Web is to write to be found.

Yes, you must write to be found. To do this, to make your posts SEO rich, you have to integrate the right keywords into your title, first paragraphs, headings, image alt tags, and other places (without going overboard).

However, in Google’s search engine results algorithm, links pointing to your content from other sites matter more than anything you can do alone. So more than anything, write compelling content. Compelling content invites links back to your site.

One trick that allows you to get the best of both worlds is the All in One SEO plugin (if you have a WordPress blog). This plugin allows you to make two titles: a title that Google sees and a titles that readers see.

For me, I sometimes don’t bother with SEO because I’m not sure my content would rank for a specific topic. I’m not necessarily writing just to attract more hits. Maybe with some posts, sure. With other posts, not so much.

Formats

Another technique for increasing findability is to push your content across as many formats as possible. Recognize that readers have a variety of preferences. Some like Facebook, others Twitter, others email, others RSS readers.

You can automate all of this so that when you publish a post, notification of the new post is syndicated across each of the formats. The RSS feed is automatically pushed out (if you’re using any standard blog platform). Twitterfeed allows you to hook up your RSS feed with a Twitter account. Facebook allows you to pull in a Twitter feed. And Feedburner allows you to create email subscriptions for RSS feeds.

Audio and Text

One challenge that still remains with formats is the interchangeability of audio and text. I regularly publish podcasts, and people who don’t listen to podcasts often request transcripts of the podcasts. It can take hours, however, to record and produce a podcast, and 5+ hours to render a transcript of the audio. It’s a tall order to fill just to make the content more accessible.

I believe Adobe Sound Booth will transcribe audio (though this is application isn’t free). You can also outsource transcription for about $1 a minute (and a two-week turnaround). A direct transcription of the audio, however, often sounds incoherent and unreadable.

Going from text to audio is much easier. Services like Odiogo will automatically read your post. For an example, see Todd O’Neill’s Doing Media blog. The problem with these text-to-audio services is that they’re read by a machine, so it sounds like robot. Additionally, people who are blind probably already have screen readers that perform with similar functionality. Odiogo is really designed for people who want to listen to your content on the go, while they run or drive or work in the yard.

Nevertheless, if you want to make your blog perceivable, a conversion to other formats is what Glenda Watson Hyatt recommends. In her book How POUR Is Your Blog, she writes,

Content must be perceivable through sight, hearing or touch. Since not everyone has the same abilities or equal use of the same senses, one of the main keys to accessibility is ensuring that content is transformable from one format into another, enabling your blog readers to perceive it in multiple ways. (p.6)

(POUR stands for perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust.)

Apart from making your content findable for the disabled, rendering your content into text and audio increases your reach. An hour long podcast transcribed into text theoretically gives you rich SEO keywords that will bring in many more search results from Google. (Of course, the extra time you spend transcribing the content means less time to produce new content, so perhaps it balances out.)

Mobile Platforms

Finally, as you design for different formats, make sure your content is visible on mobile platforms. Mobile browsers are getting to the point that they can display many websites well regardless of whether you have a mobile stylesheet, but it’s still a good idea to add a mobile plugin.

Hyatt recommends going to http://ready.mobi to test how your blog displays in a mobile browser. If you receive a poor rating from MobiReady, try installing Alex King’s WordPress Mobile Edition plugin and rerun the test.

MobiReady also has several emulators that show you how your blog looks on various phones.

Other Findability Tips

To wrap up findability, I suggest adding a few more simple, commonsense practices.

Let your URL match your blog title. This helps readers remember how to get to your site without having to google it each time.
Include an About page. Your About page is one of the most visited pages on a blog because people want to see information about the person whose opinions and advice they’re reading.
Use Feedburner to route your RSS feed. If you ever change platforms (for example, from Expression Engine to WordPress), you can update your RSS feed on your new site so you don’t lose all your readers who subscribed to your old RSS feed.

To conclude, remember that the goal of findability is to help your audience connect with your content. On A List Apart, Aarron Walter writes,

The fundamental goal of findability is to persistently connect your audience with the stuff you write, design, and build. When you create relevant and valuable content, present it in a machine readable format, and provide tools that facilitate content exchange and portability, you’ll help ensure that the folks you’re trying to reach get your message. A website that ignores findability is whispering into the wind, hoping that someone passing by might catch a hint of its message. (A List Apart)

Don’t whisper to the wind. Don’t let your content blow around aimlessly. Make it findable. When it’s findable, you get to keep it forever. When it’s not, it disappears into the wind.