Contrast between a women dormitory and a men's

The women's:











And,

The men's...

The Ring or The Ring 2??? Dai Yueqin shows her 4.2-meter-long (about 15 feet) hair in Tongxiang, east China's Zhejiang Province Thursday, March 24, 2005. Dai has kept her hair uncut for 26 years since she was 14 years old. (AP Photo / Xinhua, Pan Lianggan)

Mile High In The Middle: Yao again topped O'Neal in fan voting as both eclipsed the all-time single season record for votes received in the NBA All Star Balloting program. Yao and Shaq started opposite each other in the East's 125-115 victory in the 2005 NBA All-Star Game.
(Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Less Is More? With the Diesel's relocation to South Beach, there are two fewer head-to-head matchups on the NBA schedule between Yao and Shaq. In their first meeting this season on Jan. 30, Yao turned in 22 points and nine boards, however, the Heat scored a 104-95 home win.
(Victor Baldizon/NBAE/Getty Images)

First-Round Exit: Try as they might in last year's NBA Playoffs, Yao and the second-seeded Rockets could not hold down Shaq and the Lakers in the team's first postseason appearance since 1999. The Lakers rolled to a 4-1 series victory as O'Neal averaged 16.2 points and 11.2 rebounds for the five game set, including a 20-point, 17-rebound outing in Game 1.
(Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE/Getty Images)

Tightly Contested: The battle for the Western Conference's starting center position was the tightest race in All-Star voting in 2004. Yao controlled the opening tip for the West after narrowly edging O'Neal by a mere 31,245 votes.
(Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE/Getty Images)

Christmas Presents: In a highly-anticipated Christmas Day matchup, Yao and the Rockets scored a 99-87 win over the Lakers. Yao led the way with 22 points and 10 boards -- his third straight game with double-digit rebounds opposite O'Neal.
(Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images)

Most Dominant Ever: Shaq registered his best game against Yao on Mar. 26, 2003 when he collected 39 points, five rebounds and three blocks in 44 minutes of the Lakers 96-93 victory over the Rockets. Yao struggled, shooting only 3-of-13 from the field for six points to go along with 10 boards.
(Brian Bahr/Getty Images)

Nice To Meet Yao: O'Neal and Yao met for the first time on Jan. 17, 2003. Despite six blocked shots by Yao, Shaq appeared dominant, prompting Yao to remark through an interpreter following the game, "He's like a truck. I've never encountered someone that strong before. He's not crafty, it's just strength. It wore me out playing him."
(Bill Baptist/NBAE/Getty Images)

Yao-Mania: Ten years later, the Houston Rockets made China's Yao Ming the No. 1 overall selection in the NBA Draft. Yao also started the NBA All-Star Game in his rookie season after collecting the fourth most fan votes, starting ahead of Shaq at center for the Western Conference.
(Bill Baptist/NBAE/Getty Images)

NBA.com - Moving Pictures: Shaq & Yao, Mar. 22, 2005-- Yao may be the most recognizable athlete ever to hail from China, but Shaq has three of the most recognizable pieces of jewelry: NBA championship rings. As O'Neal and the Miami Heat continue their romp through the Eastern Conference in search of the franchise's first NBA title, Yao and the Rockets are trying to maintain momentum and return to the playoffs for a second straight year.
Before either can think about the Playoffs, however, there's a little regular-season business to attend to tonight when the Heat travel to Houston to take on the Rockets on TNT (9:30 p.m. ET). It will be the eighth regular-season meeting between Shaq and Yao, with O'Neal holding a 4-3 advantage.

Below is a look back at Shaq and Yao through the years: In The Beginning: In the 1992 NBA Draft, the Orlando Magic used the No. 1 overall selection on Louisiana State's Shaquille O'Neal. Shaq earned Rookie of the Year honors and started the NBA All-Star Game in his first year in the league.
(Michael Cooper/Getty Images)

Another Bout of Fighting Concerning Piracy, iTune the Victim This Time, interesting...

http://www.rising.com.cn/ 2005-3-21 14:07:00 信息源:CNET科技资讯网

　　三位编程人员已经发布了一款新软件，能够使用户访问苹果的iTunes音乐服务，购买、下载没有任何版权保护措施的歌曲。
　　这三名编程人员称，他们的PyMusique 软件是iTunes的一个“干净”界面，主要针对使用Linux 系统从iTunes购买歌曲的用户。但由于他们也发布了Windows 版PyMusique ，可能促使苹果公司采取法律措施。
　　PyMusique 是苹果公司和企图破坏其歌曲版权系统的黑客之间较量的最新一个回合。作为最流行的付费音乐下载服务，iTunes证明了消费者认可付费下载音乐这种业务模式，但同时也是版权系统是否能够经受得住攻击的试金石。
　　PyMusique 的编程人员称，他们开发的软件能够以苹果公司没有添加版权“保护层”之前所使用的格式保存歌曲。他们在网络日记中表示，由于并没有破坏苹果公司的版权保护技术，因此该软件是合法的。
　　但是，苹果公司iTunes服务的服务条款不允许任何未经许可的访问。该服务条款称，用户不能使用非苹果公司提供的其它软件访问该服务。
　　对PyMusique 的测试表明，用户可以利用它从iTunes下载歌曲，而且能够采用没有附加版权保护信息的AAC 格式保存。用户不能在没有创建帐户和付费的情况下下载歌曲。
　　曾经开发了DVD 破解软件的约翰森表示，PyMusique 只针对iTunes。他说，另外二位编程人员特拉维斯和科迪编写了该软件的大多数代码，他负责开发了Windows 版本。

转：[岁月流声]再见旋风舞 From 中国博客

作者：※风景※ 2004年10月20日17时02分



当最初想到要写林志颖的时候，说实话，连自己都吃了一惊，毕竟我已经有差不多整整十年没有好好听过他的歌了。这十年里，我不知道认识了多少歌手，又遗忘了多少歌手。可是往往只要一首歌曲、一个镜头，当初的记忆便又涌上心头。就象那天，无意中在南方电视台看到了《新流星蝴蝶剑》，看到了当时如日中天的“小旋风”那充满青春气息的脸庞，忍不住又将他的老唱片都翻了出来。当熟悉的旋律在耳边响起的时候，我仿佛又看到了十多年前年少单纯的林志颖，也看到了年少单纯的自己。


不是每个恋曲都有美好回忆（1992.2）
1.不是每个恋曲都有美好回忆/2.十七岁的雨季/3.凯莉，亲爱的你/4.等待的男孩/5.流浪风中/6.Girl/7.追逐阳光的少年/8.梦的主张/9.爱你不只今天

通过一个广告，台湾的一位经纪人夏春涌发现了当时只有17岁的林志颖。经过他一手的策划和包装，这个还有些害羞的男孩带着一张《不是每个恋曲都有美好回忆》走到大众的眼前，一下子成为当时港台两地最受瞩目的新星。而正是那年开始，我家可以接收到卫视中文台（凤凰卫视前身）了。当时那种港台包装的节目，对封闭太多年的内地、对我们这群稍懂点事又没见过什么世面的初中生来说，不知道多么有吸引力。我们就象一群刚发现了一个巨大宝藏的孩子，乐此不疲地沉浸在里面。谁看到了什么有趣的节目、谁又听到什么好听的歌曲，都成为课上课下热烈讨论的话题。而林志颖就是当时一个立体式进入我们视野的明星。在小虎队暂时解散以后，我们是多么开心地看着又一个少年偶像的冉冉升起。

这张《不是每个恋曲都有美好回忆》以轻快的歌曲为主，好听之余又不会让人觉得累，实在是符合中学生的胃口。同名主打“不是每个恋曲都有美好回忆”绝对是当时热播的一首歌曲，经常都能听到身边有同学哼着“真真假假，当它梦一场”。真是感谢那不识谱的陈大力又带来一首这么上口的歌曲，让多少中国人一下子记住了林志颖的名字。还有那些舞蹈动作，让看惯站桩式演唱的我们大开眼界，我到现在还记得他用手拍打抬起来的脚后跟的动作。“十七岁的雨季”则在动感的歌曲后给了我们一个感动的空间。谁说少年不识愁滋味，看看当年的我们听这些歌时有多么投入。在高一那年的元旦晚会上，我还独唱了这首歌，别人还没怎么着，自己就先感动得一塌糊涂了。前几天上班时，没来由突然哼起了这首歌，笑倒了身边的一帮同事。是啊，都快到二十七岁的雨季了，居然还有人这么怀旧。

霹雳虎吴奇隆用“追风少年”象征着自己单飞后的形象与定位，林志颖则用他招牌式的笑脸成为了“追逐阳光的少年”。这也是当时还没出名的邰正宵送上的作品。经纪人夏春涌则用“夏哥”的名义为林志颖写了两首词——在最初的两张专辑里，创作名单上还能经常看到他的名字，不过之后就比较少见到了——“凯莉，亲爱的你”和“流浪风中”，一快一慢，后者还是已经辞世的蔡宗政的作曲。“等待的男孩”算是专辑中比较出名的歌曲，也算是为当时感觉还有些怯怯的林志颖度身定作的。在这些大同小异的少年情歌中，“爱你不只今天”相对比较出挑，有些摇摆的曲风在里面，下一张专辑也很好地承接、甚至是放大了这一点。

这张《不是每个恋曲都有美好回忆》是一张很明快、阳光的专辑，差不多三分之二的歌曲都是很轻快的舞曲风格，这与当时同样炙手可热的香港第四天王郭富城相当接近。加上两人同样是因为机车广告而被发掘进入歌坛，所以那几年从外型到歌舞再到人气，人们总是不厌其烦地将他们进行对比。能够威胁到天王的声势，也可以想象出当时这股小旋风的威力有多么强大了。


今年夏天（1992.6）
1.今年夏天/2.野菊花/3.用心相信/4.舞出我们的时代/5.寻找梦中的金银岛/6.青春扭扭/7.全心全意I Love You/8.给我一个亲爱的/9.快乐要自己追逐/10.伤心只到这里

距离《不是每个恋曲都有美好回忆》发行才四个月，林志颖就带着新专辑再度走到我们面前，想承接年初旺盛的声势趁热打铁，让他的歌声再次充满我们的炎炎夏日。

“今年夏天”依然出自双陈——陈大力、陈秀男的手笔，延续了“不是每个恋曲都有美好回忆”带给我们的青春动感，还是那么好听。“野菊花”则放在上张“十七岁的雨季”的位置上继续感动着我们。那时坐我身后的一个女孩子是个十足十的林志颖的歌迷，我还记得我跟她说起“野菊花”时，她那无限神往的样子以及长长的感叹：“实在太好听了”，让我不禁联想起《食神》里的薛家燕。不过我也很喜欢这首歌，有一种清新的田园气息，还有一份淡然的怅惘。没想到会是夏哥包办的词曲，真是让人刮目相看。

除了“野菊花”，夏春涌还为两首歌填写了歌词——“青春扭扭”和“给我一个亲爱的”，都是专辑中比较出色的作品。摇摆曲风的“青春扭扭”是当时卫视中文台一个夏日剧场的主题歌，好象正在放的是一部吉田荣作的连续剧。那时日本的三大天王（平成御三家）织田裕二、加势大周和吉田荣作也正是通过这些剧集走近我们的。那些日本偶像剧、还有这首充满夏日风情的“青春扭扭”实在是为我们那年的暑假增添了无限缤纷的色彩。“给我一个亲爱的”则是一首慢板的情歌，旋律非常优美，小志对一些细节的处理也很得当。而相对于夏哥担当起的创作主力，友情赞助的李子恒贡献的“全心全意I Love You”则多少有些行货的的感觉。看来对于飞碟旗下的这些少年偶像，他还是把更多的精力放在了那几只失散了的小老虎身上。

这张《今年夏天》听下来，感觉完全延续了《不是每个恋曲都有美好回忆》的风格，同样是以轻快的舞曲为主，再点缀几首动听的慢歌。不过在快歌的编排上，配合了当时的环境与主题，营造出了夏天的感觉；而在慢歌的选择和处理上，也比第一张时成熟了一些。在那个炎炎夏日，对我而言，这的确是一张清凉宜人的唱片。


为什么受伤的总是我（1992.12）
1.为什么受伤的总是我/2.我对天空说爱你/3.雨季/4.轻轻握住你的手/5.是不是你/6.看着我的眼睛/7.用我的真心宝贝你的心/8.爱情/9.年轻/10.为什么受伤的总是我（卡拉OK版）

1992年底，林志颖带来了一年里的第三张专辑：《为什么受伤的总是我》。高涨的人气自然是他多产的保证，但是他和他幕后的制作班底却并没有因此粗制滥造。相反，我觉得这张专辑是他那段时间最好的一张，直到今天听起来，依然还是那么让人喜欢。

发行了两张以舞曲为主的专辑，大家都不约而同地想到了一个如何转型的问题。毕竟他和他的歌迷都在渐渐地成长，总是那么多欢快的舞曲难免会让人觉得厌倦。于是在这张专辑里，抒情的歌曲占据了较大的比例，从造型到曲风都开始给人一种成长的感觉。

同名主打第一次启用了忧伤的歌曲，也是希望这种成长的感觉能够更深入人心一些。还记得那时林志颖参加电视节目宣传新专辑时就谈到过这个问题。不过那段时间他也在拍电影，嘴唇也受了几次伤，于是主持人就笑话说应该是“为什么受伤的总是我的嘴唇”。劳苦功高的双陈为这张专辑创作了两快两慢总共四首歌曲，除了这首同名主打，在“我对天空说爱你”里也加入了黑人音乐的元素，比起以往的舞曲显得成熟了不少。

“如今已过了十七，天空中又下着雨”，新的这首“雨季”也在昭示着他的成长，同样也是相当的动听。吴剑泓作曲的两首“是不是你”和“爱情”竟比双陈的来得更加入耳上口，风靡了我余下的初中时代。有一晚家里突然停电，我就傻乎乎地翻来覆去地唱着这些歌，没有听众、更没有对象，然而就喜欢这样沉醉在这优美的旋律和歌词的意境中，仿佛在黑暗里看见了自己的梦想。小志的偶像王杰也为他写了一首“轻轻握住你的手”，仿佛是夕阳下的一段恬淡浪漫的小品。在动听之余，对他更有一种特殊的意义在里面。天马行空的“年轻”则比他以往的快歌多了一份肆意的张扬，听起来也有一种新鲜的感觉。

这张《为什么受伤的总是我》是一张非常好听的专辑，也是他的专辑中我最喜欢的一张。黄色的封面中，他那似乎不经意的回眸也显得特别有型。多少个夜晚，这都是陪我入睡的一张唱片。可以说，对小志的情意结更多的浓缩在这张专辑里面。直到今天重新听起来，我那不再年少的心情都会随之荡漾起来。而他的演唱事业也同时达到了个人的颠峰，旋风入境，连年底香港的大大小小的新人奖都被悉数席卷而去，广告、电影的邀约也纷至沓来。只是，此后他的专辑水准开始下滑，不再象之前的几张——尤其是《为什么受伤的总是我》那么强烈地吸引着我。或许，我成长得要比他的歌曲来得快吧。


牵挂你的我（1993.7）
1.牵挂你的我/2.懵懂少年心/3.小心黑夜/4.勇敢接受我的爱/5.全新的爱/6.就是这一天/7.我有一颗炽热的心/8.彩色的歌/9.戏梦/10.童话短路

整个1993年，林志颖似乎都一直忙于电影的拍摄，只在7月份推出了这张全新的专辑：《牵挂你的我》。原本以为又能带来好一段时间的共鸣，可听下来却是基本按照《今年夏天》的那种模式来打造的专辑，甚至还不如《今年夏天》那么细腻，难免让我很失望。

双陈同样带来了四首歌曲，但却把同名主打的位置让给了李子恒的“牵挂你的我”。不过最初听到“牵挂你的我”以及看到很有假日感觉的封面时，我还是对这张专辑充满期待的。感谢李子恒这次总算没有敷衍了事，没有伤害我看到他的名字就象看到经典一般的幼小心灵。这首天高云淡般的歌曲让人听来心情格外舒畅；浪花、白云编织出的悠然画面自然让少年的我们心驰神往。双陈的作品中，“戏梦”是最先听到的。事实上，在这张专辑之前，林志颖先出了一张EP：《戏梦》，里面就包括这里重新收录的“戏梦”和“全新的爱”。“戏梦”也是让人很喜爱的作品，好听自然不必多说，歌词也很有意思。尤其是一句“去年你是天王，今年我是至尊”，让港台的传媒炒做成他向郭富城下的战书，弄得好好的一首歌当时听来都有些火药味。不过刀光剑影下的武侠梦和逍遥世外的少年心，实在让我们不喜欢也难。

除了这两首我很钟爱的“牵挂你的我”和“戏梦”之外，其他的那些几乎清一色的轻快舞曲似乎就没什么好说的了。如果说“小心黑夜”里的黑人街头音乐以及张宇创作的天马行空般想象的“童话短路”还有一些新鲜的感觉的话，剩余那些大同小异的歌曲就真有些乏善可陈的尴尬了。从旋律上说，这些歌都还是蛮入耳的，但多了难免让人有些不耐烦。其实也真难为了还不到20岁的林志颖，这些歌本来是挺符合他当时的年龄的。只是歌迷的口味在不断变化，胃口也在不断增大。尤其是他这种少年偶像的歌迷，成长的速度是相当快的。再用《今年夏天》的那套简单的夏日快歌模式来打发大家，渐渐地买帐的人就会越来越少了。本来《为什么受伤的总是我》所呈现出的一些变化是相当喜人的，然而这一张专辑又功利地回到了老路上，甚至比以前的更单调、更保守；而另一方面，歌迷的要求又在不断提高。此消彼长，不进则退。林志颖的声势也在开始下滑，小旋风也要渐渐地趋于平息了。


火热的心（1994.1）
1.火热的心/2.礼物/3..灿烂女孩/4.我的心是一个美丽的窗口/ 5.Right Here Right Now /6. 心语（心云独白版）/7.心云/8.永不回头/9.梦中的彩虹/10.许愿一千遍/11.想你的时候

1994年初，林志颖推出了两年来的第五张专辑《火热的心》。因为之前拍过了几部影片，这张专辑也收录了几首主题歌和插曲。标题曲就是双陈创作的影片《校园敢死队》的插曲。依旧是一首舞曲风格的快歌，还是那么好听上口，可是已不复当年“不是每个恋曲都有美好回忆”和“今年夏天”那般风靡大江南北的势头。夏哥也再提笔为他写了两首歌词：“心云”和“永不回头”，都是蔡宗政作曲，也是影片《卜派小子》的两首歌曲，一静一动，都很动听。尤其是蔡宗政病逝之后，让我听起这些歌更有一种缅怀的心情。“心云”还有一个独白的版本：“心语”，是以“心云”的音乐做背景，由林志颖向歌迷说一些心里的话。主要是诉说他成名以后的感受以及对歌迷的感谢之情。确实，十多岁就成为了万众瞩目的明星，对成长中的少年来说，其实并非一件轻松的事。不仅失去了很多同龄伙伴的成长乐趣，而且多年后即使依然很辛勤地继续工作，却难免总有一种早已不比当年的感慨和落差，尽管本来如今的他们才是应该达到事业高峰的时候。上帝开了一扇窗，总会关上另外的一扇，想想生命终究是公平的。只是我们往往会漠视自己的所有，而总想去追求那些遥不可及的东西。

李子恒也带来了一个很温馨的“礼物”，说来也有意思，我就是在自己生日那天买到这张专辑，把它作为送给自己的生日礼物。“无论你有多少个愿望，无论你有多少个梦想，我的礼物是我的心，陪着你成长。”在生日听到这样的歌曲，难免让人格外感动，比起郑智化愁眉苦脸地对着你唱“生日快乐，祝你生日快乐，握着我的手跟我一起唱这首生日快乐歌”感觉要好多了，尽管后者要更有社会意义。我还将这首“礼物”的歌词认真地抄在了崭新的日记本上，而这也是我和林志颖最后的亲密接触了。

这张《火热的心》是我最后一次买的林志颖的专辑，就在我高一的生日那天。这张专辑还是有许多轻快的舞曲，虽然比起上一张来内敛了一些，但已经失去了早期几张专辑对我的吸引。或许就象我感慨的那样，可能我的成长要比他的风格变化来得快吧。94年11月，年满20岁的林志颖遇到了和当年的小帅虎同样的问题：要履行为期两年的兵役。7月份，他推出了《向昨天说再见》；95年，服役期中的他推出了《梦在前方》；96年退役后又推出了《期待》，精密的幕后策划配合着他服役的步伐，尽力稳固着歌迷减少他们的流失。然而现实的是，他的声势已经无可挽救的下滑。之后他离开飞碟（华纳）来到丰华，基本保持着一年一张专辑的速度。近年来他似乎把更多的工作放到了内地电视剧的拍摄上，我还能间或在屏幕上看到他的身影，然而耳边已经太久太久没有响起过他的歌声。

这次为了写写小志，我把他的好多尘封已旧的老唱片都翻了出来，不经意地又被感染了一次，为了年少时的Jimmy，更为了年少时的自己。如今的中学生们在电视上看到这个脸上有着深深酒窝的大男孩（其实他今年整整三十了），恐怕是想象不出十多年前他是如何成为了一股欲与天王试比高的小旋风，席卷了整个内地和港台。华纳也出版过他的不少精选，有一张的封面和名字深深吸引了我：再见旋风舞。是啊，天下没有不散的宴席，该到了说再见的时候。可我还记得那段时光，记得那些流淌过心间的音符，记得我们都这么大声地唱过：我用我的真心，收集所有快乐，年轻的心象首歌；有梦就去追逐，有爱就有欢乐，回忆永远不褪色…

THE INTERVIEW WITH GOD

I dreamed I had an interview with God.

"So you would like to interview me?" God asked.

"If you have the time" I said.

God smiled. "My time is eternity."
"What questions do you have in mind for me?"

"What surprises you most about humankind?"

God answered..."That they get bored with childhood, they rush to grow up, and then long to be children again."

"That they lose their health to make money...and then lose their money to restore their health."

"That by thinking anxiously about the future, they forget the present, such that they live in neither the present nor the future."

"That they live as if they will never die, and die as though they had never lived." God's hand took mine and we were silent for a while.

And then I asked..."As a parent, what are some of life's lessons you want your children to learn?"

"To learn they cannot make anyone love them. All they can do is let themselves be loved."

"To learn that it is not good to compare themselves to others."

"To learn to forgiveby practicing forgiveness."

"To learn that it only takes a few seconds to open profound wounds in those they love, and it can take many years to heal them."

"To learn that a rich person is not one who has the most, but is one who needs the least."

"To learn that there are people who love them dearly, but simply have not yet learned how to express or show their feelings."

"To learn that two people can look at the same thing and see it differently."

"To learn that it is not enough that they forgive one another, but they must also forgive themselves."

"Thank you for your time," I said humbly. "Is there anything else you would like your children to know?"

God smiled and said, "Just know that I am here... always."

-author unknown

Lyric

《冲动的惩罚》姊妹篇 - 喀什葛尔胡杨

刀郎

从来没仔细想过应该把你放在心中哪个地方
你从来超乎我的想象
才应该把你好好放在一个地方收藏时侯
你却把我淡忘

而我在记忆里面苦苦搜寻一点一滴感情希望
你能够回心转意
你告诉我人一生一世就这一辈子
而你不愿意为我放弃

我觉得我应该换种方式与你相遇
哪怕是今生不能在一起
我愿意等到来世与你想偎相依
你会对我投入新的感情

我会默默的祈祷苍天造物对你用心
不要让你变了样子
不管在遥远乡村喧闹都市
我一眼就能够发现你

任我是三千年的成长人世间中流浪
就算我是喀什噶尔的胡杨
我也会仔仔细细找寻你几个世纪
在生命轮回中找到你
我不怕雨打风吹日晒被大漠风沙伤害
让心暴露在阳光下对你表白
我宁愿我的身躯被岁月点点风化
也要让你感觉到我的真爱

我俩的爱情
停留在哪个世纪
从来临到离去
她化作了那里的风景
我俩的爱情
躲进哪里的土地
是什么让她这样伤心
变成忧伤的声音

Music and Sex

电脑里听的多是Chinese songs, 也有英文歌充数，也不少。听来听去，听出个最大的不同还是有没有旋律。有些英文歌，特别是所谓的Rap，hip-hop，他妈的就不能入耳，通通通堂堂堂炒了一顿后，搞玩了都没听见有个旋律出来，而中文歌，不管是粤语的也好国语的也好，至少有个主旋律摆在那儿，不管是一个庸俗古典的还是个标新立异的。音乐和噪音的不同就是是否有rhythm，推理来只要是有节奏的就是音乐，那就姑且承认乒铃乓朗的那些歌也是音乐了。英文歌讲究火暴，有节奏就好，直接，中文歌讲究轻柔，除了节奏，还要有美丽的音符，婉转。这就像东西方人的行为方式，当然，包括making love ;)。两者竟然惊人的相似。这是个good thought with some philosophy savvy，还是我忽发奇想的无稽之谈？

Holy shit, this is crazy...In the seats at right, Stratosphere spokesman Mike Gilmartin (L) and a reporter take a spin on 'Insanity,' a new thrill ride, over 900-feet above the Las Vegas Strip at the Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas, Nevada, March 10, 2005. REUTERS/Sam Morris/Las Vegas Sun

Simply Sold strikes online auction gold

There's a store at the corner of Queen St. E. and Woodbine Ave. that's like the Seinfeld version of a retail establishment — the store that sells nothing.

Instead of fully stocked shelves and rows of merchandise, Simply Sold's glass storefront reveals only bleached-blond wood panelling, a counter and on top of it, a computer.

But it's the computer that's key.

And Simply Sold uses it to open the portal to one of the world's biggest virtual stores.

The retail establishment that looks as if it sells nothing will sell your items for you on eBay.

Google moves beyond beta with desktop search

Google has introduced a full version of its desktop-search software, with a developer's kit and support for the Firefox and Netscape browsers.

The Mountain View, Calif., company on Monday released a PC application for searching Microsoft Office documents, images, e-mail and Internet Explorer Web pages. Google Desktop, which had been in public beta for nearly five months, now includes search capabilities for video and music files, full PDFs and Web surfing history in three Web browsers, including the fast-growing Firefox.

It also includes a software developers kit, or SDK, so that outsiders can build new search plug-ins. Already, Google has built a plug-in to search conversations in the Trillian chat software.

History of China in English

I do like to review some sort of quite sinified stuff that can be rightfully expressed in English, such as the brief history of China that is excerpted from the encyclopedia of answers.com:

history of China

China is the world's oldest continuous major civilization, with written records dating back about 3,500 years and with 5,000 years being commonly used by Chinese as the age of their civilization. Successive dynasties developed systems of bureaucratic control, which gave the agrarian-based Chinese an advantage over neighboring nomadic and mountain dwelling cultures. The development of a state ideology based on Confucianism (100 BC) and a common system of writing (200 BC) both strengthened Chinese civilization. Politically, China alternated between periods of political union and disunion, and was often conquered by external ethnicities, of which many were eventually assimilated into the Chinese identity. These cultural and political influences from many parts of Asia as well as successive waves of immigration and emigration merged to create the familiar image of Chinese culture and people today.

Prehistoric times

China was inhabited more than a million years ago by Homo erectus: the excavations at Yuanmou and later Lantian show early habitation; however, any connection between these people and modern Chinese is tentative. The Homo sapiens or modern human might have reached China about 65,000 years ago from Africa. Early evidence for proto-Chinese rice paddy agriculture dates back to about 6000 BC and the Peiligang culture of Xinzheng county, Henan. With agriculture came increased population, the ability to store and redistribute crops, and to support specialist craftsmen and administrators: in short, civilization as we know it. In late Neolithic times, the Huanghe valley began to establish itself as a cultural center, where the first villages were founded; the most archaeologically significant of those was found at Banpo, Xi'an.

Ancient history

The earliest written record of China's past, and therefore the beginning of its history, dates from the Shang dynasty in perhaps the 13th century BC and takes the form of inscriptions of divination records on the bones or shells of animals—so-called oracle bones. However the earliest comprehensive history of China, the Historical Records written by Sima Qian, a renowned Chinese historiographer of the 2nd century BC, begins perhaps 1300 years earlier with an account of the Five Emperors. These rulers were legendary sage-kings and moral examplars, and one of them, the Yellow Emperor, is sometimes said to be the ancestor of all Chinese people. Following this period Sima Qian relates that a system of inherited rulership was established during the Xia dynasty, and that this model was perpetuated in the successor Shang and Zhou dynasties. It is during this period of the Three Dynasties (Chinese: 三代; pinyin: sāndài) that the historical China begins to appear.

Sima Qian's account dates the founding of the Xia to some 4,000 years ago, but this date has not yet been corroborated. Some archaeologists connect the Xia to excavations at Erlitou in central Henan province, where a bronze smelter from around 2000 BC was unearthed. Early markings from this period, found on pottery and shells, have been alleged to be ancestors of modern Chinese characters, but such claims are unsupported. With no clear written records to match the Shang oracle bones or the Zhou bronze vessel writings, the Xia remains poorly understood.
Archaeological findings provide evidence for the existence of the Shang dynasty (ca. 1600-1046 BC), and the archaeological evidence is divided into two sets. The first, from the earlier Shang period (ca. 1600 to 1300) comes from sources at Erligang, Zhengzhou and Shangcheng. The second set, from the later Shang or Yin period, consists of a large body of oracle bone writings. Anyang in modern day Henan has been confirmed as the last of the six capitals of the Shang (ca. 1300-1046 BC).

Chinese historians living in later periods were accustomed to the notion of one dynasty succeeding another, but the actual political situation in early China is known to have been much more complicated. Hence, as some scholars of China suggest, the Xia and the Shang can possibly refer to political entities that existed at the same time, just as the early Zhou (successor state of the Shang), is known to have existed at the same time as the Shang.

By the end of the 2nd millennium BC, the Zhou began to emerge in the Huanghe valley, overrunning the Shang. The Zhou appeared to have begun their rule under a semi-feudal system. Nevertheless, power became decentralized during the Spring and Autumn Period when regional feudal lords began to assert their power, absorb smaller powers, and vie for hegemony. The Hundred Schools of Thought of Chinese philosophy blossomed during this period and such influential intellectual movements as Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism and Mohism were founded. After further political consolidation, seven prominent states remained by the end of 5th century BC, and the years in which these few states battled each other is known as the Warring States period. Though there remained a nominal Zhou king until 256 BC, he was largely a figurehead and held little real power.

Meanwhile, neighboring territories of these warring states were gradually annexed, including areas of modern Sichuan and Liaoning, and governed under the new local administrative system of commandery and prefecture (郡縣), which had been in use since the Spring and Autumn Period and was very loosely a primitive prototype of the modern system of Sheng & Xian (province and county). The final expansion in this period began during the reign of Ying Zheng, the king of Qin. His unification of the other six powers, and further annexations in the modern regions of Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi in 214 BC enabled him to proclaim himself the First Emperor (Shi Huangdi), forming the first Chinese empire under the Qin Dynasty.

Qin Dynasty: The First Chinese Empire

Though the unified reign of the Qin Emperor lasted only twelve years, he managed to subdue great parts of what constitutes the core of the Han Chinese homeland and to unite them under a tightly centralized Legalist government seated at Xianyang (in modern Xi'an). His sons, however, were not as successful; as soon as the Qin reign ended, the Qin imperial structure collapsed.

The word China was probably derived from 秦 qín, which is pronounced similarly to "chin".

Han Dynasty: A Period of Prosperity

The Han Dynasty emerged in 202 BC; it was the first dynasty to embrace Confucianism, which became the ideological underpinning of all regimes until the end of imperial China. Under the Han dynasty, the Chinese civilization made great advances in historiography, arts and science. Emperor Wu of Han China (Han Wudi) consolidated and extended the Chinese empire by pushing back the Xiongnu (sometimes identified with the Huns) into the steppes of modern Inner Mongolia and wrested the modern areas of Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai from the Xiongnu; this enabled the first opening of trading connections between China and the occident: the Silk Road.

Nevertheless land acquisitions by elite families had gradually drained the tax base. In AD 9 the usurper Wang Mang founded the short-lived Xin Dynasty and started an extensive program of land reform and innovative monetary and economic reforms. These programs, however, were never supported by land-holding families; and, though they favored the peasant and lesser gentry, the instability they produced brought on chaos and uprisings. Emperor Guangwu of Han China reinstated the Han dynasty with the support of land-holding and merchant families at Luoyang, east of Xian; hence the new era is termed the Eastern Han Dynasty. Han power declined again in the midst of land acquisitions, invasions and struggles of consort clans and eunuchs. The Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out in 184, ushering in an era of warlords. In the ensuing turmoil, three states tried to gain predominance in the Period of the Three Kingdoms, a time that has since been greatly romanticized in works such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Jin, Sixteen Kingdoms, and the Northern and Southern Dynasties: The Chinese Dark Ages
Though these three kingdoms were reunited temporarily in 280 by the (Western) Jin dynasty, the contemporary non-Han Chinese (Wu Hu) ethnic groups ravaged the country in the early 4th century and provoked large-scale Han Chinese migrations to south of the Chang Jiang. In 303 the Di people rebelled and later captured Chengdu. Under Liu Yuan the Xiongnu rebelled near today's Linfen County; his successor Liu Cong captured and executed the last two Western Jin emperors. More than Sixteen states were established by these ethnic groups. The chaotic north was temporarily unified by Fu Jian who was defeated at the Battle of Feishui when he attempted to invade South China. Later on, Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei reunified north China again, marking the beginning of the Northern Dynasties, a sequence of local regimes ruling over regions north of Chang Jiang.

Along with the refugees from the North, Emperor Yuan of Jin China reinstated the Jin regime at Nanjing in the south; from this came the sequence of Southern dynasties of Song, Qi, Liang and Chen, which all had their capitals at Jiankang (near today's Nanjing). As China was ruled by two independent dynasties, one in the south and the other in the north, this is called the era of Southern and Northern Dynasties. The short-lived Sui Dynasty managed to reunite the country in 589 after almost 300 years of disjunction.

Tang Dynasty: Return to Prosperity

In 618, the Tang dynasty was established, opening a new age of prosperity and innovations in arts and technology. Buddhism, which had slowly seeped into China in the first century, became the predominant religion and was widely adopted by the royal family. Changan (modern Xi'an), the national capital, is thought to have been the world's biggest city. The Tang and Han are often referenced as the prosperous ages of China; the Tang, like the Han, established jurisdiction on trade routes. However, the Tang dynasty declined in the end, eventually succumbing to the ambitions of warlords; another time of political chaos followed, the Five dynasties and the Ten kingdoms.

Song Dynasty and its northern neighbours, the Liao and the Jin

In 960, the Song Dynasty (960-1279) gained power over most of China and established its capital in Kaifeng, establishing a period of economic prosperity, while the Khitan Liao Dynasty ruled over Manchuria and eastern Mongolia. In 1115 the Jurchen Jin Dynasty (1115-1234) emerged to prominence, annihilating the Liao Dynasty in 10 years. It also took power over northern China and Kaifeng from the Song Dynasty, which moved its capital to Hangzhou. The Southern Song Dynasty also suffered the humiliation of having to acknowledge the Jin Dynasty as formal overlords. In the ensuing years China was divided between the Song Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty, and the Tangut Western Xia. Southern Song was a period of great technological development which can be explained in part by the military pressure that it felt from the north.

Mongols

The Jin Dynasty was defeated by the Mongols, who then proceeded to defeat the Southern Song in a long and bloody war — the first war ever in which firearms played an important role. A period of peace began for nearly all of Asia. This era, called the Pax Mongolica, made it possible for adventurous Westerners, like Marco Polo, to travel all the way to China and to bring the first reports of its wonders to their unbelieving compatriots. In China, the Mongols were divided between those who wanted to remain focused on the steppes and those who wanted to adopt the customs of those they conquered. Kublai Khan, being of the latter group, established the Yuan Dynasty (meaning "first"). This was the first dynasty to rule the whole country with Beijing as its capital. Beijing had been ceded to Liao in AD 938 with the 16 Prefectures of Yan Yun (燕雲十六州); before that, it had been the capital of the Jin, who did not rule all of China.

Revival of Chinese culture

Among the populace, however, there were strong feelings against the rule of the "foreigner" (known as Dázi 韃子), which finally led to peasant revolts; Mongolian rule was pushed back to the steppes and replaced by the Ming dynasty in 1368. This dynasty started out as a time of renewed cultural blossoming: Arts, especially the porcelain industry, reached an unprecedented height; Chinese merchants explored all of the Indian Ocean, reaching East Africa with the voyages of Zheng He (original name Ma Sanbao 馬三保). A vast navy was built, including four-masted ships displacing 1,500 tons; there was a standing army of 1 million troops. Over 100,000 tons of iron per year were produced. Many books were printed using movable type. Some would argue that Ming was the most advanced nation on Earth.

Zhu Yuanzhang, (Hongwu Emperor of China or Hong-wu) the founder of the dynasty, laid the foundations for a state little interested in commerce and more interested in extracting revenues from the agricultural sector. Perhaps because of the Emperor's background as a peasant, the Ming economic system emphasized agriculture, unlike that of Song, which had preceded the Mongolian and relied on traders and merchants for revenues. Neo-feudal land holdings of Song and Mongol period were expropriated with the establishment of the Ming. Great landed estates were confiscated by the government, fragmented, and rented out; and private slavery was forbidden. Consequently, after the death of Yongle Emperor of China, independent peasant landholders predominated in Chinese agriculture. These laws might have paved the way to social harmony and removed the worst of the poverty during the previous regimes. The laws against the merchants and the restrictions under which the craftsmen worked, remained essentially as they had been under the Song, but now the remaining foreign merchants before Ming era also fell under these new laws, and their influence quickly dwindled.

The emperor's role became even more autocratic, although Zhu Yuanzhang necessarily continued to use what he called the Grand Secretaries to assist with the immense paperwork of the bureaucracy, which included memorials (petitions and recommendations to the throne), imperial edicts in reply, reports of various kinds, and tax records.

During the Mongol rule, the population had dropped 40 percent, to an estimated 60 million. Two centuries later it had doubled. Urbanization thus progressed as population grew and as the division of labor grew more intricate. Large urban centers, such as Nanjing and Beijing contributed to the growth of private industry as well. In particular, small-scale industries grew up, often specializing in paper, silk, cotton, and porcelain goods. For the most part, however, relatively small urban centers with markets proliferated around the country rather than growth being concentrated in a few large cities. Town markets mainly traded food with some necessary manufactures such as pins or oil.

Ming: from exploration to isolation

Despite the xenophobia and intellectual introspection characteristic of the increasingly popular new school of neo-Confucianism, China under the early Ming Dynasty was not isolated; foreign trade and other contacts with the outside world, particularly with Japan, increased considerably. Emperor Yongle strenuously tried to extend China's influence beyond her borders by encouraging other rulers to send ambassadors to China to present tribute. The Chinese armies conquered Annam while the Chinese fleet sailed the China seas and the Indian Ocean, cruising as far as the east coast of Africa. The Chinese gained a certain influence over Turkestan. The maritime Asian nations sent envoys with tribute for the Chinese emperor. Domestically, the Grand Canal was expanded to its farthest limits and proved to be a stimulus to domestic trade.
The most extraordinary venture during this stage, however, was the dispatch of Zheng He's seven naval expeditions, which traversed the Indian Ocean and the Southeast Asian archipelago. An ambitious Muslim eunuch of Mongol descent and a quintessential outsider in the establishment of Confucian scholar elites, Zheng He led seven maritime expeditions from 1405 to 1433 with six of them under the auspices of Emperor Yongle, probing down into the South Seas, across the Indian Ocean, and perhaps as far as the Cape of Good Hope. His appointment in 1403 to lead a sea-faring task force was a triumph of the commercial lobbies that sought to stimulate conventional trade, not mercantilism. The interests of the commercial lobbies and those of the religious lobbies were also linked: both were in conflict with the neo-Confucian sensibilities of the scholarly elite. Religious lobbies encouraged commercialism and exploration to divert state funds from the anti-clerical efforts of the Confucian scholar gentry. The first expedition in 1405 consisted of 62 ships and 28,000 men — then the largest naval expedition in history. Zheng He's multi-decked ships carried up to 500 troops but also cargoes of export goods, mainly silks and porcelains, and brought back foreign luxuries such as spices and tropical woods.

By the end of the 15th century, Chinese imperial subjects were forbidden from either building oceangoing ships or leaving the country. The consensus among historians of the early 21st century is that this measure was taken in response to piracy. In any case, restrictions on emigration and shipbuilding were largely lifted by the mid-17th century.

The Qing Dynasty

The last dynasty was established in 1644, when the Manchus overthrew the native Ming dynasty and established the Qing (Ch'ing) dynasty with Beijing as its capital. The Manchus over the next half-century consolidated control of many areas originally under Ming, including Yunnan, and further stretched their sphere of influence over Xinjiang, Tibet and Mongolia at great expense in blood and treasure. The success of the early Qing period was based on the combination of Manchu martial prowess and traditional Chinese bureaucratic skills.
Some historians have viewed the Qing as continuing the decline started in the Ming, while others have argued that the early and mid-Qing were periods of growth rather than decline. Emperor Kangxi commanded the most complete dictionary of Chinese characters ever put together at the time, and under Emperor Qianlong, the compilation of a catalogue of all important works on Chinese culture was made. The Qing Dynasty also continued the growth of popular literature such as the Dream of the Red Mansion. Agricultural advances such as triple cropping of rice and the introduction of new crop types discovered in the New World (in particular corn) enabled the population of China to more than double from between 100 million in 1700 to 220 million in 1800.

During the 19th century, Qing control weakened, and prosperity diminished. China suffered massive social strife, economic stagnation, explosive population growth, and Western penetration and influence. Britain's desire to continue its illegal opium trade with China collided with imperial edicts prohibiting the addictive drug, and the First Opium War erupted in 1840. China lost the war; subsequently, Britain and other Western powers, including the United States, forcibly occupied "concessions" and gained special commercial privileges. Hong Kong was ceded to Britain in 1842 under the Treaty of Nanjing. In addition, the Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864) and the Nian Rebellion (捻軍起義) (1853-1868), along with Russian-supported Muslim separatist movements in Gansu province and Chinese Turkestan (i.e. Xinjiang province), drained Chinese resources and almost toppled the dynasty.

China was not a backward country unable to secure the prerequisite stability and security for Western-style commerce, but a highly advanced empire unwilling to admit Western and often drug-pushing commerce, which may explain the West's contentment with informal spheres of influence. China, unlike tropical Africa, was a securable market without formal control. Following the First Opium War, British commerce, and later capital invested by other newly industrializing powers, was securable with a smaller degree of formal control than in Southeast Asia, West Africa, and the Pacific. Western powers did intervene militarily to quell domestic chaos, such as the horrific Taiping Rebellion and the anti-imperialist Boxer Rebellion. For instance, General Gordon, later killed in the siege of Khartoum, was often credited with having saved the Manchu dynasty from the Taiping insurrection.

By the 1860s, the Qing dynasty had put down the rebellions with the help of militia organized by the Chinese gentry. The Qing dynasty then proceeded to deal with problem of modernization, which it attempted with the Self-Strengthening Movement. However, the Empress Dowager, with the help of conservatives, initiated a military coup, effectively removed the young Emperor from power, and overturned most of the more radical reforms. Official corruption and cynicism made most of the military reforms useless. Some of China's new battleships did not even have gunpowder, because the officials in charge had embezzled the maintenance money. As a result, the Qing's "New Armies" were soundly defeated in the Sino-French War (1883-1885) and the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895).

After the start of the 20th century, the Qing Dynasty was in shambles. Corruption was rampant and population growth had impoverished the people. The Qing court was dominated by Empress Dowager Cixi, a conservative figure who resisted most efforts at reform. The death of the reformist Emperor Guangxu, one day before the death of Cixi (some believe Guangxu was poisoned by Cixi), effectively destroyed any chance China had at effective leadership.

The Republic of China

Frustrated by the Qing court's resistance to reform and by China's weakness, young officials, military officers, and students—inspired by the revolutionary ideas of Sun Yat-Sen—began to advocate the overthrow of the Qing dynasty and creation of a republic. A revolutionary military uprising, the Wuchang Uprising, began on October 10, 1911 in Wuhan. The provisional government of the Republic of China was formed in Nanjing on March 12, 1912 with Sun Yat-Sen as President, but Sun was forced to turn over power to Yuan Shikai who commanded the New Army and was Prime Minister under the Qing government, as part of the agreement to let the last Qing monarch abdicate. Yuan Shikai proceeded in the next few years to abolish the national and provincial assemblies and declared himself emperor in 1915. Yuan's imperial ambitions were fiercely opposed by his subordinates and, faced with the prospect of rebellion, Yuan broke down and died shortly after in 1916, leaving a power vacuum in China. His death left the republican government all but shattered, ushering in the era of the "warlords" during which China was ruled and ravaged by shifting coalitions of competing provincial military leaders.

A little noticed event (outside of China) in 1919 would have long-term repercussions for the rest of Chinese history in the 20th century. This was the May Fourth Movement. The discrediting of liberal Western philosophy amongst Chinese intellectuals was followed by the adoption of more radical lines of thought. This in turn planted the seeds for the irreconcilable conflict between the left and right in China that would dominate Chinese history for the rest of the century.

In the 1920s, Sun Yat-Sen established a revolutionary base in south China and set out to unite the fragmented nation. With Soviet assistance, he entered into an alliance with the fledgling Communist Party of China (CPC). After Sun's death in 1925, one of his protégés, Chiang Kai-shek, seized control of the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party or KMT) and succeeded in bringing most of south and central China under its rule in a military campaign known as the Northern Expedition. Having defeated the warlords in south and central China by military force, Chiang was able to secure the nominal allegiance of the warlords in the North. In 1927, Chiang turned on the CPC and relentlessly chased the CPC armies and its leaders out of their bases in southern and eastern China. In 1934, driven out of their mountain bases (as the Chinese Soviet Republic), the CPC forces embarked on the Long March across China's most desolate terrain to the northwest, where they established a guerrilla base at Yan'an in Shaanxi Province.

During the Long March, the communists reorganized under a new leader, Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung). The bitter struggle between the KMT and the CPC continued openly or clandestinely through the 14-year long Japanese invasion (1931-1945), even though the two parties nominally formed a united front to oppose the Japanese invaders in 1937, during the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) portion of World War II. The war between the two parties resumed after the Japanese defeat in 1945. By 1949, the CPC occupied most of the country. (see Chinese Civil War)
Chiang Kai-shek fled with the remnants of his government and military forces to Taiwan, where he proclaimed Taipei to be the Republic of China's "provisional capital" and vowed to reconquer the Chinese mainland.

With the proclamation of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949, China was divided yet again, into the PRC on the mainland and the ROC on Taiwan and several outlying islands of Fujian, with two governments, each of which regarded itself as the one true Chinese government and denounced the other as illegitimate. This remained true until the early 1990s when political changes on Taiwan led the ROC to cease actively portraying itself as the sole Chinese government.

Maria Olivia da Silva, 125, poses for a portrait at her home in Astorga, in the Brazilian state of Parana, on Feb. 10, 2005. She was born on Feb. 28, 1880. (AP Photo/Maurilio Cheli)

Picture(s): Jeff Foott/DCI |

The Bald Eagle: Endangered in Canada
Bald eagles like this one are worth hundreds of dollars on the black market. North American aborigines use their claws and feathers in sacred ceremonies, but most do not condone poaching.

Picture(s): AFP Photo/Torsten Blackwood |

'Milking' a Snake for Venom
A reptile specialist "milks" the fourth most venomous snake in the world, the eastern tiger snake (Notechis scutatus), at the Australian Reptile Park in Somersby, Australia. The majority of Australia's 130 terrestrial snake species are venomous members of the Elapidae family, which includes the deadliest snake of all, the inland taipan.

Fraud Concerns No Match For eCommerce Growth

The growing threat of phishing attacks and increased incidences of identify theft weren't enough to keep consumers from buying online this past holiday season as e-commerce rose 88 percent, according to VeriSign's latest Internet Security Intelligence Briefing.

The fifth annual report shows the online payment service company processed $12 billion in Web sales between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, 2004, up from $6.4 billion in sales during the same period in 2003. The volume of online transactions increased 39 percent.

The survey, which monitors trends in Internet usage, commerce, fraud and security, points to an increase in consumer confidence, growing broadband access and the availability of inexpensive goods on the Internet as driving a dramatic rise in e-commerce spending.