Older blog entries for sye (starting at number 451)

14 Jul 2015 (updated 18 Jul 2015 at 17:10 UTC) »

translation exercise "Chinese --> English" in traditional Chinese libertarian's fashion

受村上春树启示,人们常把弱小的民间比作“蛋”,强大的政府比作“墙”。站在“蛋”一边,不仅政治正确,道德上更是无可非议。问题在于,墙有墙的毛病,蛋有蛋的问题:以“墙”“蛋”作为判别政治是非的标准,中国只会永陷轮回。

Inspired by 村上春树's writing-on-the-wall, we tend to see weak clan in any political make-ups as 'egg shell', established main faction as 'great wall'. Solidarity placed with 'egg shell', one not only see himself as courageous but also righteous. The polemic hidden in this dichotomy, seeking best ways to fix a crumbling wall, to prevent bad odor from egg shell requires more than naming things alone: judging right and wrong from simple proclaimation of allegience to 'egg shell' party or 'great wall' party. Rigging party lines shall forever make great national relations like China/US falling under the spell of Dalai Lama's re-incarnation of animal farms.

more later...
[受村上春树启示,人们常把弱小的民间比作“蛋”,强大的政府比作“墙”。站在“蛋”一边,不仅政治正确,道德上更是无可非议。问题在于,墙有墙的毛病,蛋有蛋的问题:以“墙”“蛋”作为判别政治是非的标准,中国只会永陷轮回。]

辛亥之前,满清曾是墙,革命党是蛋。在孙中山领导下,蛋推翻了墙,结果是百年动乱,几千万人死于非命。

本朝之前,地主曾是墙,农民曾是蛋。在共产党领导下,蛋打倒了墙,其结果怎样,蛋最清楚。(土改消灭数百万地主,十年后大饥荒饿死数千万农民。两造之间,难道没有因果?是非恩怨,谁又说得清楚?)

在墙的眼里,蛋是刁民,必须镇压;在蛋的心中,墙是暴政,必须推翻。墙击碎了蛋,人肉宴席继续;蛋推翻了墙,主客易位,宴席照旧。

几千年来,墙镇压了一批批刁民,结果是更多的刁民;蛋推翻了一座座高墙,结果是更高的高墙。试看哪朝哪代的刁民,有今天维权律师专业?与无产阶级专政的高墙相比,历代王朝的城墙,不过是一道土坎。

那种认为刁民只能镇压,三天不打,上房揭瓦的说法,自然不可取。那种所谓既得利益集团不可能放弃自身利益,民主只能靠底层倒逼的说法,也是自相矛盾。因为它无异于是说,民主永无可能。既然任何在台上的人,都不会放弃自身利益,凭什么说你上了台就会例外?既然你不能例外,打倒台上的人,又有什么意义?

事实上,恰恰是既得利益集团放弃自身利益,使人类社会得以缓慢而稳定的进步。毛泽东说,反对派不打不倒;扫帚不到,灰尘照例不会自己跑掉。结果是,扫帚不仅扫走了灰尘,也扫走了文明。革命创造的问题,几乎总是超过它想解决的问题。

华盛顿遗孀解放黑奴,不是因为黑奴倒逼,是出于自我利益的考虑;文革后大学招生、留学生出国,不是因为学生倒逼,是改革开放的需要;中国数千年农业税废除,不是因为农民倒逼,是政府衡量得失的结果;四中全会提出依法治国,也不是因为精英倒逼,是国家治理现代化的需要。

权利,有些是争出来的,如印度独立和黑人人权;但更多则源于自然的生长,是顺应潮流、潜移默化的结果。争出来的权利写在纸上,长出来的权利印在心里。

24 May 2015 (updated 24 May 2015 at 16:33 UTC) »

From Xi xiaoxing's Temple Univ. profile:

Biographical Sketch

Xiaoxing Xi is the Department Chair and the Laura H. Carnell Professor of Physics at Temple University. Prior to joining Temple in 2009, he was a Professor of Physics and Materials Science and Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University. He received his PhD degree in physics from Peking University and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, in 1987. After several years of research at the Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Center, Germany, Bell Communication Research/Rutgers University, and University of Maryland, he joined the Physics faculty at Penn State in 1995.

Research Interests

Xiaoxing Xi’s research focuses on the materials physics underlying the applications of oxide, boride, and transition metal dichalcogenide thin films, in particular epitaxial thin films and heterostructures at the nanoscale. Using various deposition techniques including Laser Molecular Beam Epitaxy and Hybrid Physical-Chemical Vapor Deposition, his group is currently working on the atomic layer-by-layer growth of artificial oxide heterostructures, magnesium diboride thin films for electronic and radio frequency cavity applications, iron pnictide superconductor thin films for phase sensitive measurements, and thin films of 2D layered materials transition metal dichalcogenides. He has published over 300 papers in refereed journals, book chapters, and conference proceedings, and holds three patents in the area of thin films of high-Tc superconductors and magnesium diboride.

Another arrest as reported by New York Times that put to an end a scientist's public service at whose expense and cost ?

Art for Aunty's sake

Art Appraising and it's Lunacy

I find this below the fold dialogue on able2know.org posted in 2010 interesting after reading "Chaotic Art Fraud Case Ends in Guilty Verdict by Ross Todd, The Recorder " as verdict/sentence coming down upon the mockery in court ...



Harris, who was wearing a business suit, said Brugnara was making a "mockery" of the court and making it impossible for the government to get a fair trial by talking over objections.

"If any attorney did what Mr. Brugnara did today, they'd be thrown in jail," she said.

Alsup agreed. The judge said he'd "never seen such an abusive performance" as Brugnara's cross-examination of Long, adding that she'd likely have some sort of "post-traumatic stress" as a result of the experience.

Read more: http://www.therecorder.com/id=1202725294902/Disruptive-Defendant-Keeps-Testing-A
lsups-Patience#ixzz3ahIfsQGQ


BusterSiren

1

Reply Tue 24 Aug, 2010 09:51 am

I've found this conversation very helpful - even stuff that was posted in 2004, 6 years ago!

I too got caught up in a Picasso scam involving Yamet Arts. A woman named Rose Long who presented herself as an art dealer/appraiser from Memphis, TN was here in New York and she sold me a Picasso litho (don Quixote) for $4,500, which she said was an original numbered Picasso. However, when she delivered it, I noticed it wasn't numbered. I asked her about that and she said "oh, that doesn't mean anything"!

Not knowing much about art, I didn't think much of it until a few months later my girlfriend said, "hey, how come that's not numbered!? And where's the certificate of authenticity!"

So I called Rose and asked about the CoA and she said she'd send me one. Well, what she sent was a fax from 1971 from Yamet Arts simply stating that they had "the following Picassos in stock"! Then it listed several Picassos. That told me nothing! How was that a certificate of authenticty?

So now I started to get mad. I called her up and said "how is this a certificate of authenticity - it's merely a statement of inventory - from 1971!" She went through some long convoluted explanation and then said, "hey, if you don't feel comfortable with it or if you feel like I'm in some way lying to you or cheating you, then you can always return it."

Well, being the sucker that I am I decided that Mrs. Long (wife of Memphis attorney Mike Long), must be telling the truth so I said, "no, no problem, don't worry about it."

Well, a few years later my girlfriend said, "Why don't we take that to Sotheby's and get them to give you an appraisal." I had no idea you could even do that! But that's what we did. When the appraiser walked out and saw it she immediately began shaking her head as if to say "that's worthless"!

She walked over, took a look and said, "$300". Which is basically her way of saying, "worthless." I think the frame was probably worth $200 of that!

Anyway, I got scammed by Rose Long on this Picasso, using a 1971 fax from Yamet Arts. I don't think Yamet had anything to do with this, but a search on Yamet turns up a lot of stories of involvement in scams.

Oh, I keep meaning to finish a website I put up about Rose Long and this art scam, Edit [Moderator]: Link removed. I want to copy all the unbelievable emails I got from her husband Mike Long, as well as a copy of the Yamet supposed "certificate of authenticity."

URL: http://able2know.org/topic/21658-4

Poll --> Can you see the character of Mr. Brugnara in any of our beloved K5 superhero?

I'll be traveling from this Thursday for 10 days. May Peace and wonder surround y'all.

http://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-i-fired-top-performing-employee-yuriy-boykiv

place marker to Gary Benson...more later
10 Dec 2014 (updated 10 Dec 2014 at 20:51 UTC) »

my last entry was Nov. 30th. There were 25 other people's entry between then and now. Need to mail a package to my brother in Shanghai. And also work on streaming data from WeChat to other data sources. site monitoring service:

http://www.isup.me/

I'd like to know how to turn-off my BIGmon.net account alerts.

New Jersey Lawyer Magazine Dec. 2014/No. 291
"LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT LAW"

Message from the Special Editors
Brian R. Lehrer is with the law firm of Achenck, Price, Smith & King, LLP and is a member of the New Jersey Lawyer Magazine Editorial Board
Francine Esposito is a partner with the law firm of Day Pitney LLP.

When one individual inflicts bodily injury upon another, such injury that death results, we call the deed manslaughter; when the assailant knew in advance that the injury would be fatal, we call his deed murder. But when society places hundreds of proletarians in such a position that they inevitably meet a too early and an unnatural death, one which is quite as much a death by violence as that by the sword or bullet ... its deed is murder just as surely as the deed of the single individual...

When Friedrich Engels wrote these words in The condition of the Working Class in England, he was discussing more than the conditions of the workplace. Engels was sickened by the abject poverty of a working class experiencing true income inequality with no recourse against their employers. Of course, Engels would go on to co-author the Communist Manifesto with his hero Karl Marx, and ignite a catastrophic experiment in social engineering. Meanwhile, in the United States, capitalism thrived, after surviving the Great Depression. Within that framework, laws were passed to protect employees, and courts interpreted those laws to balance the interests of employers and employees in the workplace.

The 23 articles in this issue of New Jersey Lawyer Magazine demonstrate the continuing importance the Legislature and courts have placed on that balance, and our society's belief that the workplace should be tolerable and productive -- from the wages paid to the conduct of supervisors. Whatever side of the fence you are on, the authors demonstrated the complexities of the employer-employee relationship and offer everything from practical tips in drafting severance agreements and restrictive covenants, to a discussion of cutting-edge issues such as medical marijuana in the workplace and the potentital dilemmas involving unpaid interns.

....

Darren Wilson resigned from police force. He married his fellow officer Barbara who had a child from a previous relationship. They are expecting their first child. Wilson has supporters. For another local news, parents are looking for missing college senior since eve of thanksgiving day. $10,000 reward posted for any info lead to his safe return.

Whats-that-poem-on-Slit-of-Cloud

八雲立つ 出雲八重垣 妻籠みに 八重垣作る その八重垣を
WAKA0001

Izumo as the 'Other Japan'

万葉集

見渡せば 花も紅葉も なかりけり 浦のとまやの 秋の夕ぐれ



WORD of the day: JAD - Joint Application Design

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