The Blog Herald reports that the Chinese version of Wikipedia has been blocked again. It’s the Great Firewall of China in action once again.

But Tony Hung thinks this is no big deal, for these reasons:

• The Great Firewall is now allowing access to the English version, anyway.


• The English and Chinese versions sometimes have different depictions of “facts.”


• Knowledgeable Chinese nationals are editing the English edition and updating it with their version of the “truth.”

If you ask me, issues like history are a big deal. These are sensitive issues that can even tend to spark fights among groups of people and even wars between nations. History, though, differs, when viewed from different perspectives. And what do you know, these different perspectives probably also come from across language barriers.

So, this means news like this matters. I mean, not all Chinese nationals can read English! English Wikipedia users are different from Chinese Wikipedia users. And the same goes for Chinese Wikipedia users who can understand English and those who don’t. The Chinese language Wikipedia may be blocked, and those who can understand English probably won’t give a damn. But those whose could only understand Chinese will probably have reason to be concerned.

And hey, there are about a dozen spoken Chinese languages (but with common writing, but not always common meanings). I guess this makes things more complicated than it already is!

[tags]china, chinese wiki,mandarin, chinese wikipedia, great firewall,chinese wikipedia blocked[/tags]

“He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.”
– Winston Churchill

“A modest little person, with much to be modest about.”
– Winston Churchill

“I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure.”
– Clarence Darrow

“He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary.”
– William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway)

“Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words?”
– Ernest Hemingway (about William Faulkner)

“Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I’ll waste no time reading it.”
– Moses Hadas

“He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know.”
– Abraham Lincoln

“I’ve had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn’t it.”
– Groucho Marx

“I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.”
– Mark Twain

“He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends.”
– Oscar Wilde

“I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play, bring a friend… if you have one.”
– George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill

“Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second…if there is one.”
– Winston Churchill, in response

“I feel so miserable without you, it’s almost like having you here.”
– Stephen Bishop

“He is a self-made man and worships his creator.”
– John Bright

“I’ve just learned about his illness. Let’s hope it’s nothing trivial.”
– Irvin S. Cobb

“He is not only dull himself, he is the cause of dullness in others.”
– Samuel Johnson

“He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up.”
– Paul Keating

“He had delusions of adequacy.”
– Walter Kerr

“There’s nothing wrong with you that reincarnation won’t cure.”
– Jack E. Leonard

“He has the attention span of a lightning bolt.”
– Robert Redford

“They never open their mouths without subtracting from the sum of human knowledge.”
– Thomas Brackett Reed

“He inherited some good instincts from his Quaker forebears, but by diligent hard work, he overcame them.”
– James Reston (about Richard Nixon)

“In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily.”
– Charles, Count Talleyrand

“He loves nature in spite of what it did to him.”
– Forrest Tucker

“Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?”
– Mark Twain

“His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork.”
– Mae West

“Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.”
– Oscar Wilde

“He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts… for support rather than illumination.”
– Andrew Lang

“He has Van Gogh’s ear for music.”
– Billy Wilder

[tags]winson churchill,insults,billy wilder, oscar wilde,mae west,class,mark twain,robert redford, ernest hemingway[/tags]

“The American Medical Association says the humane way is to let people starve and thirst to death. If you did that to an animal, you’d be put in jail immediately … In the face of such insanity masquerading as authority, who wouldn’t be strident?”

“[The prosecutor] calls it a crime, a murder, a killing, ... I call it a medical service. Youk came to me and said, ‘Please help me.’ The aim was a final solution to incurable agony.”

“All we have to do to solve the whole controversy is have the medical profession come forward (and) lay the guidelines down, ... The guidelines say only certain doctors can do it, and if you don’t, we’re going to punish you.”

“I intended to do my duty. Not murder,”

“This could never be a crime no matter what words are written on paper… just like it was never a crime to drink beer, even though words on paper said it was, and that women were too dumb to vote,”

“The public can tolerate a Nazi America.”

“I did, ... But it could be manslaughter, not murder. It’s not necessarily murder. But it doesn’t bother me what you call it. I know what it is. This could never be a crime in any society which deems itself enlightened.”

“Either they go or I go, ... If I’m acquitted, they go, because they know they’ll never convict me. If I’m convicted, I will starve to death in prison, so I will go.”

[tags]doctor death, euthanasia,suffering,famous jacks,life issues, ethics[/tags]

The first use of the name ‘Union’ appears in 1625. There are various theories as to how it became known as the ‘Union Jack’, but most of the evidence points to the name being derived from the use of the word ‘jack’ as a diminutive. This word was in use before 1600 to describe a small flag flown from the small mast mounted on the bowsprit, and by 1627 it appears that a small version of the Union flag was commonly flown in this position. For some years it was called just ‘the Jack’, or ‘Jack flag’, or ‘the King’s Jack’, but by 1674, while formally referred to as ‘His Majesty’s Jack’, it was commonly called the Union Jack, and this was officially acknowledged.

In the 18th century the small mast on the bowsprit was replaced by staysails on the stays between the bowsprit and the foremast. By this time the Ensign had become the principal naval distinguishing flag, so it became the practice to fly the Union Jack only in harbour, on a specially rigged staff in the bows of the ships, the jackstaff. It should thus be noted that the jack flag had existed for over a hundred and fifty years before the jack staff came into being, and its name was related to its size rather than to the position in which it was flown.

It is often stated that the Union Flag should only be described as the Union Jack when flown in the bows of a warship, but this is a relatively recent idea. From early in its life the Admiralty itself frequently referred to the flag as the Union Jack, whatever its use, and in 1902 an Admiralty Circular announced that Their Lordships had decided that either name could be used officially. Such use was given parliamentary approval in 1908 when it was stated that “the Union Jack should be regarded as the National flag”.

Quoted from the article on the flag’s name at the website of the Flag Institute, by Cdr Bruce Nicolls OBE RN (Ret’d)

[tags]union jack, england, OBE, flags, scotland, famous jacks[/tags]

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes ‘Awww!’”

“I like too many things and get all confused and hung-up running from one falling star to another till i drop. This is the night, what it does to you. I had nothing to offer anybody except my own confusion.”

“I hope it is true that a man can die and yet not only live in others but give them life, and not only life, but that great consciousness of life.”

“My fault, my failure, is not in the passions I have, but in my lack of control of them.”

“Maybe that’s what life is…a wink of the eye and winking stars.”

“Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion.”

“What is the feeling when you’re driving away from people, and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.””

“All human beings are also dream beings. Dreaming ties all mankind together.”

“My witness is the empty sky.”

“I had nothing to offer anybody except my own confusion”

[tags]people, celebrities, jack[/tags]

“I have a theory of relatives, too. Don’t hire ‘em.”

“You were very good playing a bitch-heroine, but you shouldn’t win an award for playing yourself.”

“I’ve got America’s best writer for $300 a week.”

Some ticket buyers think they don’t like Jews.”

Career:

Worked in brother Harry’s shoe repair store in Baltimore; 1905—sang illustrated song slides in nickelodeons; with brothers opened Le Bijou nickelodeon in Pittsburgh; 1906—formed the Duquesne Amusement Supply Company; opened production studios in St. Louis and Santa Paula, California; 1917—My Four Years in Germany established Jack as a major producer; 1918—took sole charge of Warner Bros. Hollywood operation; controlled the studio until 1967, then independent producer

Awards:

Academy Awards for The Life of Emile Zola, 1937; Casablanca, 1943, and My Fair Lady, 1964; Irving Thalberg Award, 1958; US Medal of Merit; Order of British Empire. Died: Of heart disease in Los Angeles, California, 9 September 1978.

[tags]hollywood, jack, Jack Warner, actors[/tags]

“No doubt Jack the Ripper excused himself on the grounds that it was human nature.”

“There is no female Mozart because there is no female Jack the Ripper.”

“One day men will look back and say i gave birth to the twentieth century.”

“Depart from me, I never knew you.”

“Any linkage between the British government and these terrorist outrages is completely without foundation.”

“I woke up last night at 3 a.m., 4 a.m. and 6 a.m., and although I am very nervous I am also extremely excited and happy today.”

“From a number of people, and you know who you are.”

“I have read all four of the books and think they are absolutely wonderful.”

“She is obviously an extremely tenacious lady who does not want her extraordinary deductions to be contradicted by the evidence.”

“Bemused by her obsession.”

[tags]jack, history, jack the ripper, society[/tags]

We’ve been writing much about famous personalities named Jack these past few days, but with Halloween just around the corner, why don’t we talk about yet another famous Jack in history, the Jack O’ Lantern.

In modern times, the Jack O’ Lantern is simply a pumpkin hollowed out and carved with a face (usually a scary one). A light source is then placed inside the Lantern. While this is usually a candle, other practical light sources may also be used, such as a light bulb or even an oil-based lamp.

History

The Jack O’ Lantern traces its roots in folklore. One Irish legend tells of a farmer named Jack, who was able to capture the devil by trickery and only let him go on the condition that the devil would never let Jack into hell. The devil complied and was set free. But the cunning being that he is, he knew Jack wasn’t getting into heaven either (Jack was quite the sinner). So when Jack died, he was turned away by both heaven and hell, and was destined to roam about the Earth forever. Being a farmer, he hollowed out a turnip from his farm and placed a candle in it to serve as a lantern. Jack roams the Earth in search of a final resting place.

Twists

While Jack O’ Lanterns are traditionally simply carved out with a scary face with just eyes and a mouth, people are beginning to carve more complex images. Here’s an example of some geek-oriented Lanterns from the Joy of Tech (and here are instructions on how to make them, for the artist in you!).

Mac Addicts would love the Steve Wozniak lantern.

Microsoft haters would dig the Steve “I’m gonna #$%#@ kill Google” Ballmer one!

Here’s another one of my favorites: George W. Bush.

Now that’s scary!

[tags]halloween, jack, jack o lantern, history, holidays[/tags]

“A champion is someone who gets up when he can’t.”

“By forgetting the past and by throwing myself into other interests, I forget to worry”

“All the time he’s boxing, he’s thinking. All the time he was thinking, I was hitting him.”

“Tell him he can have my title, but I want it back in the morning.”

“Tall men come down to my height when I hit ‘em in the body.”

“Nobody owes anybody a living, but everybody is entitled to a chance.”

“Honey, I just forgot to duck. (to his wife, on losing the World Heavyweight title)”

“A champion owes everybody something. He can never pay back for all the help he got, for making him an idol.”

“A good fighter usually knows, to within a very few seconds, when a three-minute round is going to end.”

You know what a champion is? A champion is someone who’s ready when the gong rings—not just before, not just after—but when it rings.

[tags]jack dempsey,boxing,top jacks,champions,mike tyson,heavyweight[/tags]

“I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.”

“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”

“The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.”

“There is an ecstasy that marks the summit of life, and beyond which life cannot rise. And such is the paradox of living, this ecstasy comes when one is most alive, and it comes as a complete forgetfulness that one is alive.”

“A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog.”

“The scab is a traitor to his God, his mother, and his class”

“Darn the wheel of the world! Why must it continually turn over? Where is the reverse gear?”

“I wrote a thousand words every day”

“There was about him a suggestion of lurking ferocity, as though the Wild still lingered in him and the wolf in him merely slept.”

“I write for no other purpose than to add to the beauty that now belongs to me. I write a book for no other reason than to add three or four hundred acres to my magnificent estate.”

[tags]jack london,wolf,author,top jacks, God, ecstasy,writers[/tags]